HellKat (31 page)

Flakes of snow settled on the black granite. Kat’s finger traced the letters engraved there. Without the piles of paper her father had saved, locating her mother’s grave in the pauper’s cemetery would’ve been nearly impossible. Now Rose Kelley had moved up in the world, relocated to a proper resting place, a prominent location out in the open, where she always should have been.

Her mother’s laser-etched image smiled at her from the monument. It was Kat’s favorite picture, the resemblance between them unmistakable. But she sometimes wondered if that’s where the similarities ended.

How could Rose Kelley have chosen to live only half a life? Oh, she knew what her mother’s letters said, but still … The opportunity to have asked her that question, to have heard her answer, had been stolen from both of them. She wouldn’t have judged her mother; she would have loved her no matter what. And besides, having Tucker Williams in her life had taught her she’d only been living half a life herself. There were far more important things in the world than building a fortune at the expense of everything else; she understood and embraced that maxim with fresh clarity now.

And when she thought about who her mother had been, the decisions she’d made, Kat knew the apple had fallen close to the tree. Rose Kelley had been fiercely independent, lived life on her terms, unconcerned about the whispers behind her back. She’d been a business owner with aspirations of a second shop and dreams of her own franchise stores one day. And when she decided she wanted a child with the man she loved, she’d prepared for single motherhood, never expecting or asking him to leave his family. She had only wanted a piece of him that was hers, and hers alone.

For that reason—Rose Kelley’s love for Henry James—Kat had afforded her father a measure of forgiveness. She felt certain it’s what her mother would’ve wanted.

The winter chill cut through her wool coat, nearly freezing the tears on her face. Kat swiped them away with a grin. Ever since the bump on her head months earlier, she couldn’t seem to control the waterworks: movies, books, even stupid commercials. She shook her head and giggled.

“What’re you laughin’ at, darlin’?”

She stretched the kinks out as she rose and wrapped her arms around the strongest man she’d ever known. She squeezed him tighter.

“Oh, you know how I am these days. If I’m not laughing, I’m crying. And sometimes, like now, it’s both.”

He tucked her close, kissed her damp cheek, and patted it dry.

A handful of reporters, clouds of warm breath popping and vanishing around them, huddled at a safe distance—where Tucker had told them they’d better stay put. Her family’s corrupt saga was still front-page news, with the mishandling of Rose Kelley’s case becoming a lightning rod. Cameron had rolled over on Parker. He’d spilled the details of their vile plan that had started in Montana and then spread to New York. Their agreed upon goal: to take out Kat, Kyle, and Tucker in a staged family feud turned deadly, all with the intention of regaining control of their family businesses. However, Kat agreed with Tucker that Parker would’ve most likely killed Cameron too as a casualty of the supposed in-fighting over money and power. His tracks covered, Parker might’ve gotten away with it.

But, instead, he donned an orange jumpsuit and passed the long minutes of each day in a narrow prison cell awaiting trial, having been denied bail—a flight risk. And he would have multiple trials. The deaths of the two JAMESCO executives had been ruled homicides after evidence was uncovered at Parker’s home, and from company emails Kat had turned over to the authorities. Parker needed to be locked up for good. Not only for the crimes he’d committed, but because he hated Kat more now than ever before.

And if he ever got out …

Even with her father’s journals and the psych reports, Kat would always have unanswered questions. The biggest one: why? Why was Parker a killer? There didn’t seem to be a good answer. Faulty wiring from birth? A traumatic injury or event in his formative years? She’d read nothing, heard nothing, that made sense of what he’d done to her mother, and almost to her. The unsettling question would always gnaw at her, and leave behind the ache of what might have been.

“Give me a minute.” She headed for the reporters, always happy to talk about her mother, keep her story alive.

The idea of Sarah James, now a pariah, sitting alone and lonely in her lavish penthouse reading the article about Rose Kelley’s interment in such close proximity to the James family plot gave Kat a bit of comfort, perhaps the only punishment Sarah would ever receive other than public rebuke. And Kat’s prediction had been accurate. Sarah had done her best to distance herself from Parker. At times, Kat almost felt sorry for him, for both of them.

Almost.

On her trek back to Tucker, she stopped and tried to focus in on a figure who stood watching in the distance. The wind and heavier falling snow made the task more difficult. But then the familiarity of his stance, the breadth of his shoulders and tilt of his head hit her with deep recognition.

She must be mistaken.

It couldn’t be Dan ... But her gut disagreed.

They had said their goodbyes at the hospital before she’d been released. Tucker had given them the space to do so. More than anything, she wanted Dan to be happy. He deserved to be; she’d told him so. His gloved hand raised midway and remained suspended for a moment. She dipped her chin in acknowledgement, their eyes spanning the distance, making the connection, the one they would always have. Then he turned and walked away, swallowed in a flurry of white.

The crunch of snow underfoot drew her attention to the rugged cowboy now standing in front of her.

“You all right?”

The simple question sounded loaded. Had he seen Dan too?

She flashed a bright smile. “Never better. Let’s head back. I’ve made Harry wait long enough.” A private driver had to be her favorite JAMESCO perk. “And I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh, I like the sound of that, sweetheart.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders, drew her close, and planted a kiss to the top of her head.

“I think you will like it.” She circled her arms around him as they walked. “I’ve decided on a getaway for us.”

Tucker stopped midstride and pulled Kat to face him. “Seriously?”

“I wouldn’t tease you.” One brow arched. “Well, not about this, anyway.” She dragged a finger down his chest. “Come on, let’s go. I’m cold.”

They settled in the back of the Town Car and Kat tapped on the partition window.

“Where can I take you, Ms. James?”

“Thanks for waiting, Harry. I’d like you to drive around Central Park. The first snow is always so beautiful.”

“Yes, it is.”

“And take your time. There’s no rush.”

He nodded and the window closed.

Tucker rubbed his hands together, cupped them to his mouth and blew warm air to thaw the chill, and then slapped them together. “Okay, so outta all the places we’ve talked about, which one did you pick?”

He appeared excited, which made her all the happier with her choice.

Kat pulled an envelope from her bag and handed it to him. “See for yourself.”

He slipped the airline tickets out of the envelope. His face scrunched in doubt. “I don’t understand, Kat. This wasn’t one of the places we talked about.”

“That’s probably why I picked it, because you never asked. Even though I know you have to miss it like crazy.” She squeezed his leg.

“Kat, that’s not the point. You’ve been through hell. You need a change of scenery.” His eyes glinted with mischief. “And I’d like nothin’ better than to get you on a nude beach, darlin’. That’s a win-win in my book.”

Oh, there was the trademark Tucker Williams grin that always got her hot and bothered.

And he damned well knew it.

“We’ll do that too. I promise.” She paused, skepticism on her face. “You do know the nude beach thing includes other people and works both ways, right?” His expression said he’d only gotten as far as
her
being naked. She giggled. God, she loved him. “Anyway, we’ll get around to all of it. Right now, I really want to go back home.” He looked confused. “I love New York, I always will. But when I was at your ranch, when we spent time with Hank and Claire, it was the first time in my life I felt like I was home, accepted. I need more of that. We both do.”

She held up her hand. “I’ve already talked to Kyle, and he agrees with me. As a matter of fact, he and Eric are already planning a visit.”

The last six months had been hectic. She and Kyle had cleaned house at JAMESCO. Meeting and exceeding EPA standards ranked as a top priority for both of them. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but they were committed. And with Kyle’s renewed enthusiasm for the company and his decision to stay in New York, Kat was confident JAMESCO was headed in the right direction, at last.

And then there was Charlie. He’d opted for an early
retirement
, without receiving the golden parachute and other excessive perks voted into his compensation package by the former, corrupt board. With Charlie’s contentious termination imminent, Kat had convinced her eldest brother to decline those greedy giveaways. She’d presented him with the option of which press release to send to the
WSJ
regarding his departure: the one filled with sunshine and success; or the one that was scathing and ruinous.

He could’ve sued for breach of contract; she would’ve countersued for breach of fiduciary responsibilities. Didn’t the frenzied media hounds already have enough James family dirty laundry to sort through? It hadn’t taken him long to wisely recognize the benefits of choosing the path of least resistance. And he begrudgingly accepted the scaled down deal, without any finger pointing.

“All right, then. As long as this is what
you
want. You know how I feel, Kat. For me home is wherever you are. We’ll work out all the other stuff.”

“I know we will.” She let out a long, satisfied sigh. The sale of J&P was final. Their investor last year had turned into a buyer. Kat couldn’t remember ever having seen Cassie happier. Their lifetime of shared memories streamed in her head: grade school, boyfriends, college, business partners. She and Cassie had experienced much of life together, and now they were both ready for the new direction their lives were headed.

Kat shifted closer to Tucker. His life had finally settled down too. The bad blood was behind him. With Cameron out of the way and the problems he’d caused Diamond Industries now resolved, her cowboy could relax. He could stop waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under him. Her primary objective these days: make him smile as much as possible, every day. And she knew all kinds of ways to do just that.

“I think the worst is finally behind us. It doesn’t seem real, does it?” She kissed him. “The best is in front of us now. I promise.”

He stroked her smiling face. “I already knew that, sweetheart.”

“Of course, you did.” She grinned and peeked out the window. Kat soaked in the cityscape with its rows of endless skyscrapers, mobs of people, street vendors, taxis zipping by, horns honking, and Central Park coming into view, trees powdered with white.

“I’ll come back whenever I need to.” Her expression now serious. “And I will need to, whether it’s business, a Barney’s sale with Cass, time with my brother, or me just needing the buzz of a big city. I can’t stay away.” She grasped his hand in both of hers. “So I should tell you I have an agent scouting a bigger place for us when we are here.”

He scooted back a bit to gauge her, then patted her leg. “You sure you wanna do that? You don’t have to for me.”

“I’m sure. I want a fresh start. I’m ready to let go and see what happens, not plan too far ahead. That’s why those are one-way tickets. I don’t want to put an expiration date on it. We’ll come back, or go somewhere else, when we feel like it. Right now, I want us to do whatever the hell we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it.”

She cupped his face and kissed him again.

“And who knows, maybe we’ll even get married someday … have a baby or two.” His eyes widened in surprise, and maybe even a little hope. “I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll let you know.” She winked, unzipped his jacket, and snaked her arms inside. She reveled in his warmth, his scent. “I can say that now, because I know whatever we decide, we’ll be happy. We’ll make it work. I trust us to do that.” She brought his lips close to hers, brushed her nose against his. “We’ll figure it out as we go.”