"Yeah, I know. Let’s just get there and find out."
I told him where to drive and soon we were sitting in front of my father's house. I looked over at Conner and he winked at me and grabbed my hand. "You ain't doin' this alone, darlin'."
"I know."
I just hoped that when he found out about my own little secret, he'd still be saying that.
Chapter 35
Conner
Finally, after almost a damn year of wanting to have a real relationship with this woman, I felt like I had it. The first step was her wanting to leave. I think early on she knew that she didn’t want to be with him anymore, but now it was different, she was determined to get out of there.
We approached the door to her father’s large rancher and she took a couple breaths before knocking on it. I held her hand the whole time, letting her know that I was right there next to her. She’d told me all about her father and their estranged relationship.
I hated that he’d turned his back on her. I lost my father when I was too young to appreciate having him in my life, there was no way in hell I would ever be able to push my own child out of my life. When or if I ever had children, I would always be around.
An older man, who appeared to be in his late sixties, answered the door. His eyes got really big as he looked from me and then to Amy. I think her hair caught him off guard. “I never pegged you as a redhead.”
“Hi, Dad.” They just stood there, not moving from their positions.
I extended my hand to the man to break the awkward stare between them. “Hi, I’m Conner Healy.”
He noticed that Amy and I were still holding hands. “Come in, will you?”
I nodded as we walked through the doorway and into a large foyer. He guided us back to the kitchen area and pulled out two chairs. As we sat down I couldn’t help but notice their body language. Both of them seemed completely uncomfortable being around each other.
“I gotta say, I’m a little taken back by this visit. I was under the impression that you never wanted to talk to me again, especially after you never mentioned any of my letters, until this year and it didn’t make any sense to me.”
“Dad, I never got any letters from you. That’s why I’m here. I found something in Rick’s truck and I wanted to know what is going on.” Amy folded her hands in front of her on the table.
“Three months after you married Rick and moved out, I reached out to you. He told me that you refused to talk to me and wanted nothing to ever do with me again. It broke my damn heart, but I knew it was because I’d been so stubborn when it came to you. I still kept sending you letters, hoping that one day you would call me or write me back. After a while, Rick started replying and talking to me.”
“The first time I saw a letter was when I just found a stack in Rick’s truck. What about the letter I sent you? I left my contact information.”
“Amy, you need to understand that your letter made no sense to me. I’d been reaching out to you for so long and all of the sudden you write me and say that you haven’t heard from me in years. I called Rick right away and he told me that you’d had a nervous breakdown. I offered to help with medical expenses and sent him more money so that you had the best care and didn’t have to worry about bills.” I stood up from my stool and had to walk around. Amy needed to see what was going on here.
She sat there putting her hands in her face and shaking her head. “I never had a nervous breakdown and I sure as hell didn’t receive any money from you. I’ve taken less than five days off since we bought the salon.”
“Yeah, I figured when I did that for you, it would bring you back into my life.”
I turned around and faced the man slowly, and in that amount of time, I heard Amy gasp. “Did you just say that you bought my salon?”
The old man cocked his eyebrow. “You didn’t know?”
She shook her head. “Rick told me he bought it. In fact, he wouldn’t even let me go with him when he signed the papers. He told me it was my gift from him.”
“Sweetie, your stepmother, well, my wife, she wrote some books and made a heck of a lot of money. We sold the hardware store almost six years ago. Since I didn’t need all the money and I knew you were struggling, I bought the salon as a business investment for you. How could you not have known something like that? Your name is on the deed to the building.” He leaned back against the counter and seemed just as confused as Amy was.
“I don’t understand any of this. Rick told me he bought that salon and if I left him, I would lose everything.”
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but that salon is yours. I have a copy of the deed to prove it. Rick has no claim to it at all. I even paid for the business license. After hearing this much, please tell me that you’ve left that man, Amy. I can’t make up for being absent, but you have to know that I never wanted that kind of life for you. All this time I thought you were happy and resented me as a parent.”