These people had so many screws loose their entire town was falling apart.
“Uh, these are the lawyers,” Dr. Dickhead said with a rasp. “They’ve been working out the logistics of Townsend Community now that Townsend has ascended.”
Well, fuck, that had old Garth raging again as he started for the doctor this time. The first suited man spoke before he could reach them. “I am Donald Osbourne of Osbourne, Schultz, and Myer Legal. We have all the paperwork as filed through us by Jeremiah only a few weeks ago.”
If looks could kill, the lawyers would be preparing their obituaries because Garth apparently was not keen on this information getting out into the world when there were two outsiders in this room. Especially one who’d been excommunicated from the cult.
Rhett, meanwhile, was trying to coax his mother up off the floor and didn’t seem to give a single fuck what the lawyers said. My heart ached for him, but I knew I needed to leave him to fight this alone. At least for the moment. Mary hardly needed a stranger in her face when she was barely functioning.
“Normally, this would take more time,” the second suited lawyer stated, “but considering the sensitive nature of this inheritance and the current distress within the Townsend Community, we have hastened the process.”
Get. The. Fuck. On. With. It. Then.
Lawyers, totally in love with the sound of their own voices. And charging by the minute, no doubt.
“As per the paperwork filed at seventeen hundred hours, on this date,” he rattled off a bunch of numbers, which apparently translated to two weeks ago, “Jeremiah listed one Nathan Townsend as his next of kin. This was paperwork filed as part of his application to have the testing done for a liver transplant. Nathan Townsend inherits Townsend Community and every asset it contains.”
This got Rhett’s attention, his head snapping up, and while he didn’t smile, he was satisfied about something. “Allow her to speak with me. Allow her to acknowledge her damn son.”
Garth opened his mouth, then slammed it closed again before he released a few harsh breaths. “Mary, you can acknowledge Nathan Townsend. He is no longer banished from the community. He is the new Father.”
Garth stormed from the room in the next second, and that was when everything went to shit.
Mary finally looked up and met Rhett’s gaze, and when she did, her eyes widened so much that in her gaunt features, it almost looked like her eyeballs were going to pop out of their sockets. She started to scream.
A hysterical, gut-wrenching sort of scream that just went on and on, no matter how much Rhett talked to her. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to rock her back and forth, but she was beyond his help.
A few seconds later she started to seize, the wide-eyed stare fading as she spasmed, and Rhett bellowed for a doctor.
Dr. Dickhead rushed over, clearly hoping to garner favor with the new “leader,” and he managed to get Mary stabilized as he assessed her. Nurses rushed in as well. All of them helped to get Rhett’s mom up onto the bed, and she was immediately hooked up to drips and a bunch of machines.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rhett demanded.
I was no doctor, but she looked like she’d suffered years of horrific abuse. That had to have taken its toll, and with the shock of today, it was clearly all too much.
Dr. Dickhead confirmed my thoughts a few seconds later. “It’s the shock; she needs rest and medication,” he said quickly, no disdain in his tone when he addressed Rhett now. The man was an excellent actor. “I think it’s in her best interest that we treat her immediately for her health issues, and then afterward, we will commit her to our psychiatric ward for further testing. Much of this, I would guess based on her history, is psychological. We will need to work through her many”—he hesitated briefly—“issues and assess where to go once her physical health, at least, is back on track.”
Rhett looked a lot like he was about to wrench his mom out of that bed and run from this place. For the first time, I moved closer, needing to show my support now that his mom was off the floor and being assessed. Rhett wrapped his arms around me as soon as I got close, and I felt the tremble in his limbs. “Do you want to leave her here?” I asked in a whisper.
He hesitated, before his chest rumbled in annoyance. “Under other circumstances, I’d have her out of here so fast this hospital would spin, but now that I’m the sole beneficiary of Jeremiah’s estate, she’ll get nothing but the best treatment here. Jeremiah only ever had the best and most qualified people working for him.”
Dr. Dickhead almost preened at that, before he seemed to realize that there was still so much fucking loathing in Rhett’s voice that he’d be a fool to do anything except keep his head down and shut the hell up.
“I support whatever decision you make, Zepp,” I whispered to him. “No matter what. Trust your instincts.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I love you, Thorn. I couldn’t do this without you.”
I hugged myself hard against him, my throat so tight I wondered if I could keep it together any longer. I’d been trying so hard not to react to Rhett’s pain and the absolutely heartbreaking scene with his mom, but the tears were near refusing to remain on the inside any longer.
“I love you too,” I choked out. “Should I grab us some coffee while you chat with the doctor? We might be here a while.”
He kissed me again, a little longer this time then we parted to watch as the doctor and nurses fussed around Mary as they continued to take all her vitals. “That would be amazing,” he murmured. “Don’t go far, though, and take security with you.”
“I will,” I told him, and with one last kiss, I hurried out of the room, desperate for a second to fall apart somewhere I wouldn’t make Rhett feel any worse than he already did.
In the corridor, though, there were people everywhere, and they were rushing around like the end of days had arrived. I guess when a cult’s leader dies, it kind of is the apocalypse for them. The noise was loud, and as thenewcomerwho’d brought Rhett back, I was the center of freaking attention. It seemed word had already spread about the newFather of Good.
I had no idea how Rhett was going to handle this, since for the moment, he was focused solely on his mother and getting her the help she needed. My chest tightened again, and I desperately searched for an empty room or small hidden space to break down.
