He’d ruined everything.
A warm hand slipped around the fingers I hadn’t realized I’d curled into a fist. Her cotton-candy scent blew across me, and she put her other hand on my forearm. “It’s okay,” she said under her breath.
Dad’s gaze fell to where she was touching me. Again I felt a resurgence of pride I usually only experienced when it came to my job. I stuffed the feeling down.
“Hank, this is Autumn James. My wife.”
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t played out how Dad would react. He’d yell at me like he used to do when he drank the hard stuff. When he had too much beer, he got loopy. He’d think he was charming. When he drank liquor, he turned mean.
Would he collapse from shock instead? Would he be so stunned he’d gape at me and then rage? He’d have to know I was doing this to stop the sale. The easiest part would be getting him to believe my intentions of wanting the family land to pass on to my own family. I didn’t have to believe it myself.
I didn’t know a damn thing about children.
Autumn’s hand tightened around mine. I might’ve squeezed back. I wasn’t paying attention to extremities or how her skin was impossibly softer than I could’ve imagined.
A wide grin broke out on Dad’s face, lifting the sides of his horseshoe mustache. “Hot damn, that’s wonderful news.” He charged down the porch stairs. When his boots hit the sandy path bordered by dry grass, he opened his arms wide. “Autumn James now, huh?”
“Yes, sir.” She crowded into my side, much closer than we had sat on the plane. Her body heat seeped into me, and I got a good feel of her curves from my arm down to my thigh. I could tuck her under me, but as Dad grew closer, she broke away.
I missed her touch instantly.
He encompassed her in his wiry arms. “Sir isn’t for family. Call me anything but sir or Mr. James.” He stood back. Lines flared from the corner of his eyes, carved deep into his skin, like one of Mom’s fans. “Congratulations.”
He stepped toward me, but I yanked Autumn back into my side. A clear “no hugging” signal, and maybe an excuse to have her close again. “You’re happy?” I sounded dismayed.
Was I?
He laughed. “Ecstatic.”
I’d worried about him buying the ruse. Was he delighted because he thought I wouldn’t be a pain in the ass anymore?
He clapped his hands together. “A celebration is in order.” My veins flooded with dread. He caught myalarmed expression and his smile dipped. “A meal,” he clarified.
“That’s not necessary,” I said at the same time Autumn said, “How wonderful.”
She wrapped an arm around my back and hugged me. Hard. “I’d be delighted to get to know you and tell you how your son swept me off my feet.”
“He takes after the old man.” Dad’s eyes twinkled. I wanted to be sick. Whenever the subject came close to Mom, he got melancholy. Then he’d drink until he blacked out.
Autumn giggled and rubbed my back like she could feel the tension vibrating through me. “I’m sure he does.”
Dad shook his head, grin back in place. “I jest. It was his mother who had to hit me over the head with a rock to get me to notice more than my own good time. But once I came around, she was the center of my world.”
My heart slipped and slid down into my gut. He was talking about Mom. And he was smiling.
Mom had chased him? I doubted it.
He used to surprise her with wildflowers and leave me with grandparents to take her on dates. He was always trying to woo her.
Memories of various bouquets over the years popped into my head, clear as a cloudless sky. I hadn’t thought about those since I was a kid. I used to tease Dad when he was stooped in a ditch, searching for the perfect cone flowers.
“We’ve still gotta spread the news,” I said abruptly. “We haven’t told her family.”
Dad’s bushy brows lifted high. “Oh my. There’s a story there.”
Autumn patted my chest. “Vegas. What can I say? My friends and I stayed at the casino he works at and the rest is history.”
His grin remained in place. “When did this happen?”
