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“I do get it,” Joy said. “But Gramps fell and hit his head, and he wouldn’t go to the hospital.”

“Then you phone me and let me handle it!”

“How could you handle it when you were all the way in Canada, William? I just went to check on Gramps. That’s all I did.”

“And all you got for your efforts was another arrest record.”

Joy was arrested before, right in the lobby of William’s corporate headquarters building, before they even met. “Yes, they arrested me for nothing just like they did in Chicago. But that’s Gramps. I had to go check on him. You aren’t listening to me.”

“You aren’t listening to me, gotdammit! You aren’t listening to me! When I tell you not to do something, it’s not debatable, Joynetta. It’s not multiple choice pick and choose. It’s one choice. Because what you are not ever going to do is disobey me!”

That crossed the line. Even Cory saw fire beginning to burn in Joy’s huge hazel eyes. “And what you are not going to do,” she fired back, “is treat me like I’m some child! Gramps was hurt. I went to see about him. If he gets hurt in the future, I’m going to see about him.”

“Whether I like it or not?”

“Whether your ass likes it or not, yes! You’re damn right!”

Max and the driver glanced at each other with one of those who does this bitch think she is look on their faces. It was a defiance against William that nobody in that vehicle would dare attempt. But Joy did it. That was the Joy that Cory knew and loved. But he was scared for her. Mr. Skeffington crossed a line by his tone towards her, but had she crossed a different line?

To Cory, William looked as though she’d crossed several lines.

But Joy wasn’t taking a word of it back. And when they arrived at the airfield and piled out of that SUV, Joy started heading away from William’s idling aircraft, not towards it.

“Where do you think you’re going?” William asked her.

“I’m going to see about Gramps,” Joy responded as she continued to walk away, “and then I’m getting in my car and driving back to Chicago.”

“Get on this plane, Joy, at once!” William ordered her.

But Joy kept walking.

What Max and Minnie didn’t understand was why William looked so flustered, as if he didn’t know what to make of her. Nobody defied him. Not even Max, who’d known him for over a decade. But William seemed unsure. He seemed baffled by Joy.

Max and Minnie and even Cory couldn’t understand why he didn’t just get on the plane and let her be. But instead, William just stood there as if he was making a decision.

And then he decided. “As if I have time for this bullshit!” he said angrily and out loud, but then he did something remarkable to everybody on that tarmac. He began hurrying behind Joy. At some point, he even began running to catch up to her. Cory barely knew the man, but even he knew that had to be out of character.

Max knew William well. It was completely out of character. That was why he stood there, mouth wide open, stunned.

When William made it up to Joy, he grabbed her by the arm and turned her around. “I said get on that plane.”

“And I said I’m going to see Gramps,” Joy responded, and then she snatched her arm away from him. “I have to make sure he’s alright just like he made sure I was alright when I was a kid and my mama was in the streets and wouldn’t feed me or take care of me. I would have starved if it hadn’t been for Gramps. He won’t come to live in Chicago, and I’m not about to go back and live in Bridell. So I have to check on him. I can’t let anything happen to him.”

William was touched by her devotion. And he realized, in that instant, that he wouldn’t want her to be any other way. He realized, in that instant, how much he respected this young lady.

He, not her, gave in. “I’ll take you to see about your grandfather,” he said, “and then we’ll drive home together.”

Joy was inwardly pleased that he wasn’t dismissing her any longer. But she was still concerned. Because she realized something, too, on that tarmac. She realized that he wasn’t going to magically change just because she married him. He was still going to be domineering. He was still going to be hard-charging. He was still going to be William. She could only hope that the other part of him, that womanizing part, wasn’t coming along too the way Tess and Cory always were insinuating that it was. Because if that part of William was still a part of William, they were doomed.

William reached out his hand to her. “Let’s go,” he said.

She took his hand, and followed him back, not to the plane, but to the SUV.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

She felt as if she was wrapped up into a big, warm overcoat on a blistery wintry night whenever his arms were around her. Because of his work schedule, he wasn’t around nearly as much as she would like, but he made every moment they were together count.

That was why it was no surprise to her when she woke up that next morning to find his big warm arms around her, and the front of his big warm body pressed so hard against the back of her own body that it took her a moment to realize the position he was really in. When she realized he wasn’t just pressed against her, but was deep inside of her too, and was still moving, she let out a morning sigh that took her back to relaxation. Her morning grogginess was replaced with a calmness she adored. This was what she’d always wanted. Moments like this. She and William, together forever. It was everything to her.