“Come on, guys. Hug it out like Mom always used to make us do,” Xavier said with a deep chuckle as he motioned with his hands for them to come together. Caleb and Landon let out groans but followed Xavier’s suggestion and hugged.
Just then the clicking sound of the door opening drew their attention to the doorway.
“Sorry to keep you boys waiting,” an older woman said in a husky voice as she crossed the threshold and entered the library. Dressed in a floor-length caftan, Ugg-style boots, and dark leggings, Hattie Stone sure knew how to make an impressive entrance, Xavier thought. As many times as he’d imagined coming face-to-face with his grandmother, he hadn’t been fully prepared for the full effect of the imposing woman. The lady standing before them did not look as if she was in ill health. Nor did she resemble the little old woman he’d imagined. At a commanding height of at least five foot ten, she entered the room like a runway model. She was striking in every way possible, from her pecan-colored skin to the blue mane of hair she was sporting.
“She’s got blue hair,” Landon hissed in a loud stage whisper.
Xavier resisted the urge to slap his youngest brother in the back of his head for being so rude, but he was trying to be kinder and gentler toward him. Instead he sent Landon a pointed look that spoke volumes. As usual, his glare worked. Landon stopped talking.
Hattie let out a deep-throated cackle. “I do, indeed. My hairdresser calls it royal blue.” She ran her hand over her hair. “It makes me feel like a queen. At my age I deserve it. YOLO.”
“Indeed,” Caleb drawled, sending her a nod of approval.
Xavier couldn’t take his eyes off her. The only word that came to mind wasbadass. For some reason he hadn’t been able to find any current pictures of her online, and he hadn’t wanted to ask his mother for any, so his imagination had run wild. He couldn’t have been more wrong. She was no little old lady. Instead she was vibrant and lively. A firecracker.
“I know we haven’t seen each other in a very long time, but I’d love a hug or two.” For a moment none of them moved. A hug seemed so intimate as far as Xavier was concerned. Other than some DNA, there wasn’t anything tying them together.
Nope. He was wrong. There was something else. Yukon Cider and their inheritance. His path to a better future. A way to start fresh.
Caleb was the first one to step forward and wrap his arms around Hattie in a tight bear hug. When he was done, Landon tentatively walked over and awkwardly embraced their grandmother. Before Xavier could decide on how to approach the situation, Hattie rushed toward him, reaching him in a few strides. She threw herself against his chest and said, “If it isn’t my little X-man all grown up.” When she finally let go of him, Hattie brushed tears away from her cheeks. “Forgive my emotion, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the three of you again.”
“It’s been a long time,” Xavier said, patting her arm. He didn’t know what had prompted him to comfort her, but in the moment, it felt right. At the same time, Xavier felt bad that he wasn’t feeling the same emotional response to seeing her again. She still seemed like a stranger to him. Had they once been close?
“I can’t tell you how tickled I am that you’ve come to Moose Falls,” their grandmother said, her face lit up as if she had just won the lottery. “I’m sure it was a difficult decision, but I think you’re going to love it here as much as you used to.” She clapped her hands together. “I can’t wait to show you my cider company, among other things.”
“We’re looking forward to it,” Caleb said, flashing his signature Hollywood grin. “And for the record, we’re all really sorry about your illness.”
“Thank you for saying so,” Hattie said, returning the grin. “I am dying,” she said. “But I’m also living.”
Hattie’s comment was pretty profound, and it said a lot about the way she lived her life, Xavier realized. He wasn’t sure he would handle a death sentence quite as well as his grandmother.
“Is that why you went to Vegas?” Landon asked. “To kick up your heels?”
“One hundred percent, Landon. I’m going to be sick wherever I am, so why not hop on a plane and give the blackjack tables a whirl?” Hattie asked.
“Makes sense,” Xavier said, “especially if you won.”
Hattie, Landon, and Caleb all chuckled, which eased the tension in the room. He couldn’t put into words how surreal this whole situation felt for him. He imagined his brothers were experiencing similar emotions. Throw in travel fatigue, and they were all operating on nothing but fumes. He could barely keep his eyes open.
“I can see you’re all bone tired from the journey. Why don’t you retire to your rooms until dinnertime?” Hattie riffled through her desk drawer and pulled out three folders. Hattie beckoned them toward her. “These are for you. It’s a contract that I’d like you boys to look over. Signing will mean that you agree to stay in Moose Falls for a full year to work at Yukon Cider, at which time you get to decide whether to stay on and run the company or sell. There’s a lot of legalese in there, but it’s pretty straightforward. I’m here to answer any questions and walk you through the agreement if necessary.”
Within minutes they were all settled in their individual rooms. Their luggage, courtesy of Jacques, had been placed in the hall outside their doors.
Xavier’s bedroom was a large suite with a bathroom and walk-in closet attached. The walls were a soothing eggshell color. A red velvet sofa sat at the base of the mahogany-colored sleigh bed. An antique mahogany desk sat by the window.
Although he was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to lie down on the comfy-looking king-size bed, Xavier couldn’t resist a look at the contract. As a former professional football player, he knew a lot about contracts. Good ones. Bad ones. And those in between. He sat down at the desk and began thumbing through the paperwork, feeling pleasantly surprised at the transparency of the agreement. He and his brothers would be getting a salary for their work at the company over the course of the next year. As the contract stipulated, if they couldn’t reach a consensus about remaining in Moose Falls and running Yukon Cider, they would forfeit rights to the company. They were being asked to keep the contents of the contract confidential so as to avoid town gossip about the arrangement. It wasn’t untilhe reached the last page of the document that he froze in his tracks. He couldn’t believe what he was reading.
“There’s no way in hell,” Xavier murmured.
He read the sentence once. Twice. Three times.
Of course there was a catch. In life, as he’d always experienced it, there was always a catch. Anger rose inside him at the thought that he and his brothers had been bamboozled. Tricked. They’d come all this way and uprooted their lives for a setup. They were being treated like puppets on a string.
No matter how many times he read the sentence, it continued to send chills down his spine. He could feel the beginnings of one of his headaches coming on, a lingering side effect from his traumatic brain injury (TBI). He read the words once again. These headaches caused extreme tension and blurred vision.
It is stipulated that Caleb, Landon, and Xavier Stone must work with Paul Stone during their year at Yukon Cider. Failure to do so will render this agreement null and void.
Paul Stone, aka their deadbeat dad. Their grandmother was trying to force them to have a working relationship with a man who’d left his sons in the lurch for decades. A sorry excuse for a dad. Absentee father. There was no way this was going to fly with him or his brothers.
