There.Done.Confessed.Could he carry on with his work now?But Gunner, clearing his throat, clapped a hand of understanding on Michael’s shoulder.
“That doesn’t sound loony at all, mate.Not at all.”
Chapter Four
Scottie
She was a Tennessean.A southerner.A commoner.An O’Shay.Yet the blood of the Blue royals, the long-reigning family of the North Sea Island Nation of Lauchtenland, also flowed in her veins.
“…should’ve done this more,” her father muttered as they crested one of the rolling hills of Dad’s hobby farm.His horse, Nova, snorted against the clean evening air.“Only trouble is I don’t come out as much as I want.I let stuff get in the way.”
Dad rested forward with his arm on the saddle horn like an old cowboy, looking over the green rolling acres of Bar T Ranch.The scent of warm leather and honeysuckle led Scottie and her gelding, Dart, through the soft dusky light.Along the horizon, the paddocks of Bar T created a checkerboard on the ryegrass.
“You’ve been busy building an empire,” she said, keeping her voice light.
“Still, if you don’t enjoy the fruit of your labor—”
“You think ole Grandpa Loom O’Shay envisioned this when he arrived from Ireland with a bolt of cloth and pair of shears?A glass-and-steel headquarters off River Road, a production plant, and an international sales force?”
“Maybe.My grandfather always said he was a dreamer.”Dad stroked Nova’s neck and whispered, “Good girl.”Then, “I’m feeling the pull, Scottie, for fewer meetings and more afternoons on the golf course or riding Nova.Your grandpa stopped by the office last week and asked me to go on his dream fishing trip to Alaska.Neither one of us are getting any younger.I don’t want him to leave this good earth hoping his son will set aside work long enough to fish with him.When he ran O’Shay, he took time for me.Came to all my games, took me fishing, skiing, rafting.”
His silhouette looked crumpled in the saddle as if he wore the weight of his words.Still, to Scottie, sixty-two-year-old Trent O’Shay was fit and broad-shouldered with thick silver hair, leading O’Shay Shirts with a young man’s energy.The lines around his eyes and mouth had carved deeper in the last six months.
“Dad, is everything okay?You’ve been sighing a lot lately.”Scottie leaned to see his expression.“Is it Remi?”Dad’s new love.
“There’s just a lot going on with the board,” he said, tipping his head back as Nova walked on, knocking off his worries.“It happens every so often.One of them gets an idea in his head and won’t let go.”
“What kind of idea?”She nudged Dart forward.She attended board meetings.Never witnessed anything concerning.
“Nothing, Scottie.”Dad regarded her for a long moment, sighed, then said, “I’m in love with Remi.”He urged Nova into the breeze.“She’s got me thinking I don’t need to score another O’Shay touchdown.Maybe I should kick off and let the next player run with the ball.”
“I’m the next player, Dad.”Though lately, she wondered if the corner office she’d prepared for all her life really was her future.“And I can tell you’re in love.I’m happy for you.Remi’s great.”
“You don’t have to be the next player if you don’t want to be, Scottie.”
She laughed but not in a ha-ha kind of way.“Are you serious?You, Fritz, Shug, the extended family and half the staff at O’Shay have been preparing me to take the ball my whole life.”
“I’m just saying…you have options if you want.”Dad steered Nova around the large sprawling oak and headed for home.“What’s happening with you and Cap?Wouldn’t now be a good time to get married, start a family?Give yourself some breathing room before taking over the company?”
One would think, yes.“We broke up,” Scottie spoke in rhythm with the slow clop of hooves against the hard ground and the distant rumble of an unforeseen storm.
“You what?When?”Dad exhaled and Nova stopped and then reached down to snack on the tall grass.
“A week ago.He’s in love with the ex-wife.She’s in love with him.He didn’t know there was even a chance of getting back together.Anyway, they’re getting remarried.”
“If that don’t beat all, Scotto.If he loved his ex, why was he dating you?”
“It’s a recent thing and to be honest, I wasn’t all in with him.I wanted him to be the one but work always took priority.Same with him.”
Dad watched her for a moment with that fatherly look of sorrow, then started Nova moving again.“How about we grill out steaks tonight?Watch one of our favorite movies?”
“Dad, the night Cap told me about his wife, I called Kate.”
“I see.”He brought Nova around to face her.Scottie urged Dart to take a step back.“Is this a thing now?You talking to her instead of me?”
“No, it was spur of the moment.I felt like talking to her.I thought she’d be more objective than you or Shug.She never met Cap.Anyway, it was late here, early there, and I called.Done deal.”
“Well, was her advice sound?”
