Vicki’s eyes lost their hard edge and started to mist. “He’s my only son. He’s all I got.”
“He’s a pretty tough guy. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”
“He is standing right here, and wouldn’t mind a cold beer and a couch.”
His words snapped Vicki out of her I’m going to put my energy into hating Trina trance.
They bumped around each other in an effort to help Wade get comfortable.
Vicki brought him a beer and held up her bandaged hand. “You’re going to have to wait on that pie until this hand is better.”
“I think I’ll be waiting longer than that.”
Vicki smiled.
“I can bake a pie,” Trina offered.
Vicki and Wade both turned to stare.
“What? I can cook. I just don’t do it very often.”
Vicki shook her head. “It’s all over now.”
Wade chuckled as his mother left the room.
Trina helped him remove his boots.
He slapped her ass when she straddled his leg to find the leverage she needed to wiggle a boot free.
“Hey!” She tossed one boot aside and moved to work on the other.
“I do like this view.”
She left his other boot on the floor, and then turned to straddle his hips.
He pushed her hair over her shoulders before resting his hands on her waist.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
She blushed. “Wade.”
“You’re a flower unfolding in spring, the last rays of a sunset before the light is gone, stars in a clear Texas sky, you’re breathtaking.”
Trina looked up and tilted her head. “Go on . . .”
Wade chuckled. “I heard what you said back there.”
“When I said what?”
He squeezed her hips. “That you loved me.”
“Oh, that . . . well . . .”
“There are a lot of women that tell me they love me.”
Trina pushed her thoughts about all those women aside and looked Wade in the eye. “But I’m the one that means it.”
He ran his hands up her sides and pulled her down to his lips. He was slow and easy, and he filled every ounce of her.
“I’m a traditional man,” he whispered between his kisses. “I wanted that fancy dinner and walk in the moonlight when I told you I loved you.”
She smiled and looked him in the eye. “You don’t always get what you want. Besides, I don’t need fancy anything. I just need you. I was a walking shell when we met, half empty in every way. Now I’m so full I’m spilling over.”
“Oh, darlin’, you sure you’ve never written a sweet song before?”
She giggled. “If you think my words are sweet . . .” She wiggled her hips over his lap, and the edge of his jeans tightened. “Just wait until those ribs of yours are well enough for me to show you how full I am.”
He cupped her butt and crushed her closer. “Honey, the doctor said my ribs were broken, the rest of me is workin’ just fine.”
Her eyes widened.
They both looked toward the stairs that led to the bedrooms.
Trina hopped off his lap and reached out her hand.
“Show me.”
The letters arrived a week later, certified, with no return address.
Half the letters were opened.
Wade sat beside Trina as she read each one.
Dearest Trina,
By now you and my son have undoubtedly searched for any possible reason for my changes in my will. But they are painfully simple. Leaving my estate to you will keep my son, and possibly even my sisters, alive. If left to Fedor, Ruslan will undoubtedly have him killed. I cannot bear the thought of my impending death risking his life. Ruslan has killed, and will do so again. Enclosed evidence, twenty-six years old, of the murder of his mistress.
The guilt I have harbored all these years is only abated by the fact that Natasha’s death would never put Ruslan in prison for his entire life. The evidence I obtained was from an investigator I hired to track Ruslan at the time of our marriage. My thoughts were to find proof of his crimes and use the evidence to escape my tortured marriage. I never thought I’d be witness to a murder of an innocent woman.
I’m sorry, Fedor. I’m sorry to burden you with any of this after my death. But I didn’t see another way. I know about you and your wife. I also see how you look at her. I hope that you will both use the year I’ve given to adjust to this change and find a way to stay together. But even if you don’t, the money has to stay with Katrina. Or he will kill you to get to it.
Hold on to the evidence and wait until he makes a mistake.
He will.
I just pray it isn’t lethal for any of you.
Alice
The second letter proved even more enlightening.
Dearest Fedor,
These letters are coming to you from your half sister. I have no doubt she is reading these before they come to you. I have absolute faith that she has investigated Natasha’s death and has learned who her father is.
I could not prevent her mother’s death any more than I could stop cancer from killing me. I have done everything I could to give Sasha a life and the skills she would need to survive if the day ever came that Ruslan learned she was alive. I used charities to disguise the path of money given for her education and home during her young years, and then hired her to watch over you and Trina from the moment you married.
I hope my deception is met with understanding. Your father’s reach is so vast that had he known she was alive, or worse, that I was her secret benefactor, he would have had her killed.
Now she has the skills to learn of her heritage and stay alive. I pray, out of some loyalty to me, that she honors my wishes and delivers these letters to you.
Family is all you have when you leave this world.
I hope you all find it in your hearts to accept each other.
While your bond is through a monster, that doesn’t make either one of you evil.
I love you, Fedor. And I have grown to love your sister as if she were my own.
My last letter will come after the anniversary of my passing.
The delay is my way of giving your father time to make some kind of mistake that Sasha can use against him. I have left your sister a tidy sum to help in her efforts, and hope that if she needs more you and Trina will provide it for her.
But I doubt that will be needed.
It seems Trina has a very powerful group of friends that, once they learn of these letters, will see to it she is safe.
Be kind to one another.
With all my love,
Mama
The last two letters weren’t opened. They came directly from the law offices of Dwight Crockett.
Dearest Katrina,
I know you care for my son. Although I had hoped it would be deeper than what I know to be true. I can’t, and won’t, ask you to return the estate to him. To do so while Ruslan is still alive simply puts a target on his back. Ruslan can’t get to you. I’ve seen to it with my choices.
I have seen your heart and know you will do the right thing if the day ever came. I have been honored to call you my daughter-in-law, if only for a short time. I’m humbled that my son loved me so much he would take such extreme measures to see me smile in my last days.
Be kind to each other.
All my heart,
Alice
My loving son,
It pains me to say goodbye but know I am no longer suffering, and I am watching over you. If there is a way to reach out and prove I’m there, rest assured I will.
Your aunts will always see to your needs, you know that. Money has never ruled your life, and I’m certain you won’t let it now.
I love you.
Mama
Trina finished reading the letters and waited for Wade to catch up.
It took well over an hour before they could talk about them. Even then, it wasn’t to go over any single piece of information, but to discuss the collective whole.
“So what now?”
Trina sat up on Wade’s balcony, overlooking the vast span of his property. The world worked below while she stretched out on a lounge chair, contemplating life.
“I’ve already tried to give back everything to Diane and Andrea. They refused. Said they wanted family more than the money. They thought, with everything that had happened, I’d find plenty of ways to spend my share of the company that would prove worthwhile. They said if it wasn’t for me, Ruslan would have never come to justice and would always be a threat for them and their own families.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You have a whole lifetime to figure it out.”
“First thing I need to do is sell a few houses.”
“New York?”
“That’s the first to go. Avery wants to fly back next month and continue where she stopped.”
“You’re kidding.”
Trina didn’t like the feeling in her gut about the whole situation. “She’s battling some personal demons. I’m going to go with her.”
“You sure about that?”
“It doesn’t have the hold on me that it once did. But if you wanted to come along . . .”
“Is there a question?”
“Of course there’s a question. I’m not assuming anything. Well, other than spending all my time here at your place. Stella and the Folsoms think I’ve abandoned my place.”
“You should sell.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I’m not selling.”
“Fine, keep it. But we won’t be there very often.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, if we have a fight, I’ll sleep on the couch like any normal man, not let you leave to your own house three hours away.”