“But you said that he divorced you because of me. That he got sick of me.”
“I was sick of you!” Rosalind shouted. “I told you that to shut you up. Every night you’d cry for him, you were always asking for him. Christ, I should have left you with him.”
“But if you’d done that, you wouldn’t have gotten your monthly stipend from him to support Marisol,” Zander commented.
“What do you mean? Are you saying that Harry paid her to take care of me?” Marisol asked.
“Yep. Because Harry was smart and had a clause in his pre-nup that if Rosalind cheated on him, she got nothing. He had someone follow her, and Rosalind got caught on camera sucking some guy off in the parking lot of a bar.”
Eww.
“Rosalind was out with nothing,” Zander continued. “Except for you.”
“That asshole wanted me to leave you with him. I wish I had. It wasn’t worth the money he paid me to keep you,” Rosalind spat out hatefully.
“But you took the money, didn’t you, Rosalind? You’re still getting paid, aren’t you?” Zander asked.
“What?” Marisol gasped.
“What are you telling Harry? That’s she’s in college and you need it for the fees?” Zander queried.
“None of your fucking business. I am owed that money for taking care of her all these fucking years.”
Marisol’s mind was reeling. “All these years and I thought he didn’t want me. I thought it was my fault. You told me it was my fault.”
“You’re so gullible. A little mouse scurrying around, scared of your own shadow. It was all too easy to manipulate you into doing what I wanted. Now, get me the fuck out of here!”
“Marisol?” Linc asked quietly. “What do you want to do? We’ll let her go if that’s what you want.” She could tell he didn’t want that, though. The way he held himself told her that he’d rather do something much more horrid to Rosalind but was holding back because of Marisol.
Zander made a noise but didn’t say anything.
“He would have taken me?” she whispered. “He wanted me?”
“You were all he wanted,” Rosalind spat. “It was Marisol this, Marisol that.”
“Surprised he didn’t try to pay you for her,” Zander said.
Rosalind smiled. “He didn’t deserve to get what he wanted.”
That evil bitch. She’d made them all suffer, while she’d reaped the rewards.
“Take her to Ed or that task force. Drop her off. Tell them I’ll tell them whatever I know if they lock her up and throw away the key.”
“Gladly.” Zander smiled. It wasn’t pretty.
She turned away, but Linc paused, looking back. “You never deserved her. You were given her to care for and you neglected her. Abused her. And you’re going to hell for it. I hope someone makes you rot in jail and someone makes you their bitch.”
She didn’t say anything, instead she leaned into Linc as he guided her out. She barely heard Rosalind’s screeches. Barely paid attention as Linc led her up the ladder and out into his truck.
Halfway home, she turned to him. “He wanted me.”
Linc reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it lightly. “Of course he did.”
“She kept me from him all these years.” Tears dripped down her face.
“I know, Mari-girl. I’m so sorry.”
“I wonder why he never tried to contact me.”
“Maybe he did. Or maybe he agreed not to contact you. Maybe she told him lies like she told you.”
She gasped. “Oh God, maybe he thinks I didn’t want to see him.” She thought of all those lost years. “I could have had a family.”
“You have one now, teeny. You have me and everyone on the ranch. We will always be here for you.”
“I know.” She smiled at him through her tears. He parked outside their cabin. Their home. She let out a sigh of relief. He turned and undid the clasp of her car seat, pulling off the straps. Then he came around the truck and lifted her down. But instead of letting her walk, he carried her into the cabin.
After he removed their jackets and coats, he led her into the bedroom and sat on the bed with her on his lap.
She looked up at him. “If I’d stayed with Harry, I’d likely have been happier. Taken care of. Loved.”
“I know, Mari-girl.”
“But I wouldn’t have met you,” she whispered. “And if going through all of that pain means that I get you at the end, then it’s worth it to me. You’re worth that to me.”
“Teeny.” He closed his eyes and kissed her forehead. “Me too. All the pain that Jessica caused me was worth it. Because here I am. With you. Always.”
Epilogue
“Daddy! Look at that giant gorilla. It’s so cute!”
She kept her voice low so no one would hear her. Although the fair was pretty quiet tonight. In fact, there was hardly anyone around them, other than the game attendant. It was one where you had to get the rings around the tops of bottles.
“Can I play?” She tugged at his arm excitedly.
“Of course you can, Mari-girl.” He kissed the top of her head.
It had been over a month since she’d seen Rosalind. Zander had been true to his word. He’d handed Rosalind to the task force on a platter. They hadn’t been overly pleased since they’d been hoping to get to Saber and the Devil’s Sinners. However, Rosalind had surprised them all by singing like a canary about everything.
Marisol wasn’t sure how Zander had gotten her to keep quiet about the role he and his people had played in everything. And she didn’t want to know, frankly.
Tiger had disappeared. She guessed Markovich had taken care of him. Sometimes she still felt some guilt over it, but then Linc reminded her of everything Tiger had done. That he likely would have gone on to hurt other women and she didn’t feel so bad.
It was less than three weeks until Christmas and Linc had brought her down to Houston for a break from the Montana winter. She loved the snow. But she was struggling with how cold it was. Linc had banned her from leaving the house without him, because she’d gotten a cold a few weeks back when she’d been making snowmen and stayed out too long.
He’d gone into protective overdrive. She’d found herself in bed for a week. And as soon he’d declared her well, she’d ended up over his knee, getting paddled.
Last night they’d gone out for some Venezuelan street food. She hadn’t eaten arepas since Ana had made them for her. They’d been delicious.
She attempted the ring toss, pouting as most of them missed. “I’m no good at this.”
“You can’t be good at everything. Let Daddy have a try.”
She glanced over at the attendant to see if he was paying attention, but he was more interested in his phone than the two of them.
Linc started tossing out rings, getting each one over the bottles. She clapped her hands and cheered excitedly.
“Well done, sir. You can choose anything from the top row.”
“The gorilla! The gorilla!”
“That’s going to be interesting to get home on the plane,” Linc said dryly as the attendant handed over the pink gorilla which was nearly as big as Marisol was.