“So what, Dad?” Jason bit out. “You don’t care about your kids.” He stalked away from them in the living room, and Robert followed him.
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, come on,” Jason said, and he sounded exactly like his father, who’d said the same thing only a few seconds ago. “You sail into town for graduations and anything else you think you need to show your face at. But you don’t care about me. You never wanted me.”
“That’s not true,” Robert said.
“Oh?” Jason asked, ripping through drawers again. “When’s my birthday?”
Everything stilled then, and Emma sensed an opportunity. “Just let us go,” she said. “We won’t say anything, and you can keep doing what you do. I don’t want child support. I just want you to leave me alone, and leave my daughter alone.”
Robert spun toward her, pure rage on his face. “She’s my daughter too.”
Jason scoffed and laughed, and in the next moment, he said, “Found it.”
Robert stepped in front of him. “You will not let them go.”
“What are you going to do?” Jason challenged. “You’re going to get blood on your precious rugs. And then what will Gustus think?”
Robert seemed to deflate, but beside her, Ted perked up. “You’re still working for your father?”
Robert faced them again, his eyes like live coals. “No.”
“Yes,” Jason said. “The old man keeps tabs on everything, and he’s not going to like this.”
“I can’t believe it,” Ted said. “Why haven’t you taken over the family business yet?”
Emma looked at him, wondering what in the world he was doing. Adding more fuel to Robert’s fury didn’t seem like the smart thing to do.
Ted looked at her and nodded, but Emma wasn’t sure what he wanted her to say.
Jason tried to get past his dad, but Robert wouldn’t let him.
All at once, Emma knew what she needed to say. “He hasn’t taken over the family business, Ted, because Robert wants all the glory without any of the responsibility.”
“Oh, I see,” Ted said, meeting her eye. For a second, it seemed like they were just having a normal conversation about someone while they enjoyed the sunshine pouring in the windows beside them. “Just like with his son. So he sails into town for graduation, probably with a big gift, but he doesn’t want to be around for any of the hard stuff.”
“Exactly,” Emma said. “Which is why I didn’t tell him about my daughter. She didn’t need that. She still doesn’t.”
“Stop it,” Robert said.
“Dad, let me release them.”
“No,” Robert yelled. He held out his arm to keep Jason from going by, and he thrust the other one toward Ted and Emma, though they were paces away. “No. No one’s going anywhere.”
“He only owns this place for seventeen weeks out of the year, too,” Emma said. “Can’t even take responsibility for a house full-time.”
“Stop it,” Robert said.
Jason pushed past his father, a bellow coming out of his mouth. Robert grunted and grabbed onto his son, and they both went to the ground. Threats were issued, and Ted yanked against his handcuffs, a frustrated sound coming from his mouth. Emma had already tried to get free from the cabinet, but nothing had budged.
“Leave him alone,” Ted said, reaching over and slapping his palm against the glass. He stood up, and everything seemed to be happening so fast. He pulled against the door handle again; it didn’t move. He picked up his chair with one hand and threw it through the glass.
The shattering sound brought the unseen struggle on the other side of the couch to a stop, and Ted strode away from her, the door handle from the sliding glass door dangling from his wrist.
Before he could reach the pair, commanding, loud voices filled the air.
“Freeze. Get down on the ground!”
Relief filled Emma as four police officers streamed into the living room, and she couldn’t stop the tears as they flowed down her face again.
Ted knelt with both hands on the back of his head, saying nothing. Jason said plenty, though, and the cops didn’t haul Ted to his feet, cuff him, and lead him out of the house.
They did do that to Robert, and Jason looked at her, his hair rumpled and blood trickling out the corner of his mouth. “Here’s the key,” he said to one of the cops, and he released Ted first, and then Emma.
She automatically reached to rub her wrist, which bore an angry red mark.
Ted got swept away, out into the front room with two cops. Another sat Jason at the dining room table, where a paramedic knelt in front of him to tend to his lip. Another came toward Emma, who could not stop crying.
“Are you hurt?” the man asked, and Emma didn’t know if she should shake her head yes or no. She let the man check her, and when they finally let her leave the house, she couldn’t find Ted anywhere.
“Emma,” Ginger said, rushing forward from where the police had been holding her, and Emma hurried down the front steps and into the arms of her best friend.
Emma pulled the blanket tighter around her legs and looked at Ginger. “We can really have the cabin in the corner?”
“My parents decided not to come back to the ranch,” Ginger said. “It’s all yours.” She looked down and picked up her phone. “I’ll miss you here in the West Wing.”
“The office is here.”
“So you won’t quit?”
“Nate has Connor here,” Emma said. “I can get Missy to school and back, and she’s been saying she wants to learn to ride in the afternoons.” She thought about the violin lessons, but she pushed her insecurities away. “So no. I can do this job, Ginger.”
“I know you can.”
The incident at Robert’s cabin was a day old now, and she’d talked to Fran and Matt and Missy. Saturday, she’d be driving to San Antonio one final time, and Matt and Fran would follow her back to Hope Eternal Ranch.
They wanted to see it too, and they’d tow a trailer with everything Missy needed to start the second half of her childhood with Emma as her mother.
Pure fear flowed through her. She’d never taken care of another human being besides herself for any length of time, and she had no idea what she was doing. Fran had said she could call anytime, but the guilt of taking Missy from Fran and Matt threatened to smother her almost all of the time. She wouldn’t be calling to ask for advice.
No, she’d only call and text them about the awesome things Missy did. Invite them to her riding lessons and school performances and just to visit for the weekend. She’d make sure Missy called them all the time, and that they had the opportunity for video chats. All the things they’d done for her, she’d do for them.
When she didn’t know how to discipline her daughter, or how to comfort her, Emma would not bother Fran and Matt. They’d never burdened her with the hard things of raising a child. So, with everything else, she’d just have to muddle through and figure things out the best she could.
“And what about Ted?” Ginger asked.
Emma shrugged, because she hadn’t spoken to him. He hadn’t texted; she hadn’t been out on the ranch at all since completing her interview with the police officer and coming back to the ranch with Ginger and Nate.