The Marine's E-Mail Order Bride (Heroes of Chance Creek Book 3) (19 page)

“You have to be left out. You don’t have a twin.”

“I’m glad
I
don’t have a twin,” Zoe asserted.

Storm intervened before they started fighting. Whether or not twins were superior to singles was a constant source of contention in her family’s home. “Eat your vegetables, Zoe. You, too, Daisy.”

“I’m not hungry for vegetables,” Daisy said.

“Eat them anyway,” Regan said, “and then we’ll have dessert.”

“Are you our aunt?” Zoe said to her.

“I don’t see why not,” Regan said. “Auntie Regan. I like the sound of that.”

“I’m your Auntie Ella,” Ella put in.

Storm swallowed down a fresh wave of sadness at how eagerly Regan and Ella took on their new roles. They wouldn’t be her sisters’ aunts for long the way things were going. Still, she was grateful at how hard they were all working to pretend this was a normal dinner and not upset the girls. Austin kept up a running conversation with Violet about twins. Zane pestered Daisy until she’d eaten up every green bean on her plate. Mason was smiling at them all from the head of the table as if he couldn’t be happier.

But tension framed the gathering, and it didn’t bode well for what would come later.

Violet yawned widely, and Daisy yawned after her.

“Looks like it’s getting close to bedtime,” Regan said. “How about I take you girls upstairs to get ready while your mother relaxes a little? I’ll make up rooms for everyone on the third floor. The girls can take the old nursery and you can have a room to yourself, Cheyenne.”

“Okay!” Zoe pushed her chair back and hopped up. So did the other girls. A moment later their footsteps were clattering up the stairs.

“Would you like me to go up with you, Mom?” Storm asked, eager to get away from Zane, who had now turned his gaze on her and was studying her, his expression unreadable.

Cheyenne nodded slowly.

Storm followed her up the two flights of stairs, getting more worried about her mother with each step. It wasn’t like Cheyenne to be so quiet, or so docile.

“You all right, Mom?” she asked reluctantly when they reached Cheyenne’s third floor room, fearing another outburst.

“I’m not used to being told to shut up.”

“It’s been a hard day around here.”

“It’s been a hard day for me, too. I’m the one losing my home.” Cheyenne’s tone was stiff, but she kissed Storm’s cheek before going into the room where Regan was finishing making up a bed.

I’m the one losing the man I love
, Storm wanted to retort, but that conversation would have to wait for later, when they didn’t have an audience.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Regan said, slipping out of the room, and heading down the hall toward a larger one at the end where they could hear the girls laughing.

“I hope you sleep well, Mom. We’ll talk about everything tomorrow, okay?”

Cheyenne was already closing the door. Storm stood in the hall for a moment, unwilling to leave her mother alone, but unsure what to do. Cheyenne’s outburst when she first arrived must have been bravado. If she’d left home it meant she didn’t feel like she could pay her bills anymore. Guilt held Storm in place. She had blown everything. She wouldn’t get her bonus now, and she wouldn’t get Zane either. When she heard her mother’s sobs begin, she turned and fled.

Zane was waiting for Storm in her bedroom when she reached it. For a brief moment, she considered walking right back out again, but there was no use postponing this confrontation.

“We’d better talk, don’t you think?” he said.

She nodded wearily and shut the door. Whatever he had to say to her, it was going to be bad. All she could do was endure it. He gestured that she should take a seat, but she shook her head and stayed where she was.

“Want to tell me who you really are?”

She winced and bowed her head. So, the game was up. No wonder he was so angry. She allowed herself one last moment to belong here to Crescent Hall, to Chance Creek and to Zane. She knew when she was done with her explanation, she wouldn’t belong to any of them.

“My name is Storm Willow.”

‡

“M
y name is
Storm Willow.”

Zane swallowed past a lump of pain that threatened to block his throat. She had lied to him right from the start. “Want to tell me why you’re pretending to be Kenna North?” His voice was calm, but inside he was struggling to control his temper. He’d always been proud of the way he could keep his cool when times got rough, but the day’s events were fast eroding that ability.

“Kenna’s my boss. Everything you know about her is true,” she rushed on, as if needing to say all of it now that she’d started. “She’s the one who arranged the marriage with you.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because she got invited on another climb. She didn’t want to miss it.”

He let out a disbelieving laugh. Heloise was right, after all. “So she sent you in her place?”

“That’s about the size of it. Kenna’s like that—practical to a fault.”

“Where’d you get the identification?”

“She sent it to me.” With every answer, her voice was growing quieter.

“Are you in the habit of doing everything she tells you to do?”

Her head snapped up. “Yes. That’s exactly right. I do everything Kenna says, because I don’t have a choice!”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because of those three girls up there.” She pointed to the ceiling. “Because of my mother, who won’t let go of the house my father bought for her, just like you and your brothers won’t let go of this ranch. Kenna pays my salary—she offered me a bonus to take her place. You have no right to judge me. You’d do anything for this piece of land—including marrying a stranger. Don’t tell me that your ruse to get a fake wife is any better than me stepping into Kenna’s shoes to take on her identity.” Her chest heaved with indignation. “If you saw my home, you’d understand why my mom won’t give it up, even though it’s bankrupting all of us. It’s special. It’s beautiful. It’s the most precious gift my father ever gave my mother. So, yes—I will do whatever Kenna says if it means I can keep earning my paycheck. At least, I used to. Not anymore.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s changed?” he challenged her, even as her words cut him to the quick. She was right; he had been willing to marry a stranger to protect his inheritance. He couldn’t defend himself against that accusation.

“I met you.” She let that sink in. “I realized that bankruptcy was better than living a lie. I decided that you were too important to me to give up just because Kenna demanded it. I told Cheyenne the last time we talked on the phone that I wouldn’t go through with the ruse—that I was going to tell you who I really was—and that there would be no bonus from Kenna. That’s why she’s here. She’s trying to save her house.”

“And I suppose you told Kenna about your change of heart?” He wanted so much to believe her, but he couldn’t. She’d lied to him about everything. How could he ever believe her again?

“No. Not yet. I wanted to tell you first.”

“So you say now.”

She flinched as if he’d struck her. “It’s true.”

“Do you even know the meaning of that word?”

“Yes, I do. I know I should have told you about Belinda,” she said. “I should have told you about me. It all got so complicated so fast.”

“That’s not good enough. You deliberately made my marriage a lie. I’m going to lose my ranch!”

“Your marriage was going to be a lie no matter what I did!” Her voice rose. “If everything had worked, I would have left after Thanksgiving, you would have inherited this place, and you would never be any the wiser. What would it have mattered if Kenna was here or I was?”

“It just does.”

“Fine.”

“Fine? What does that mean?”

She rushed to the closet, pulled out her suitcase and threw it on the bed next to him. She pulled open a dresser drawer and swept her clothes into her arms. “It means I’m leaving.”

“You can’t do that.” He leaned over and grabbed her hand, preventing her from gathering any more of her things. “You made promises to me. You’re my wife, damn it.”

She stared at him. “Am I? Or is Kenna?”

He nearly growled in frustration. “You’re the one who set this in motion, so you’re going to see it through. Do you understand me? You’re going to get your mother in line, and you’re going to ensure that my brothers and I inherit this ranch.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll march you down to the jail myself for fraud and impersonation. And I’ll press charges against Cheyenne, too, for aiding and abetting.”

“There’s no way—”

“Watch me.”

Storm blinked at the fury in his words. He watched it sink in that he wasn’t fooling around. When she spoke again, her voice was unsteady.

“You want me to act like nothing’s changed?”

“That’s exactly it. We’ll think of something to appease Heloise.”

She pressed her lips together. “Fine, I’ll do it. Because no matter what you think, when I give my word, I follow through.”

Zane stood up, crossed to the closet, pulled out an arm-load of his clothes and dumped them in Storm’s suitcase.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Moving out.”

“Jail?” Cheyenne said
early the next morning, staring at her in disbelief.

“Yes—jail,” Storm reiterated and stopped pacing around her mother’s bedroom. She’d explained everything to Cheyenne from the moment she’d received Kenna’s phone call in the motel room to the blowup with Zane the previous night. “Which is why you’re going to stop trying to push your agenda and start to help me fix this.”

“I don’t see how it can be fixed. You’ve made a real mess of everything.”

“Really? I’ve made the mess? I’m not the one hanging onto a house I can’t afford!”

Cheyenne drew back. “What’s that got to do with it?”

“Everything! Why was I so desperate to earn that bonus? Why did I agree to this stupid farce to begin with? Because I wanted to help you pay your bills!”

Cheyenne’s face went slack. “I never asked you to lie!”

“You didn’t stop me either. Worse, you’ve made damn sure I’ve
always
known that losing the house would be a disaster you couldn’t survive. Which means I’ve made every decision based on helping you to keep it. I’ve given up too much of my life to pay that mortgage. I’ll have to give up the rest of my life to keep on paying it!”

“I never knew you felt that way.”

“Now you do!”

They stared at each other, both of them breathing hard. Cheyenne’s face crumpled. “I didn’t mean to ruin everything. I just… I just miss Mitch so much. I miss having a husband. I want my family back—my life back.”

Storm paced away. “The thing is, Mom—you can’t have him back. All you can do is move forward.” She was speaking to herself as much as her mother. Her own heart felt torn in two by the thought of leaving Crescent Hall—of leaving Zane. She’d be jobless—homeless—possibly pregnant. She’d have to start all over again.

But there was no crying over spilt milk. No way to pick up the pieces or turn back time. All she could do—all any of them could do—was go on the best they could. Maybe if she’d spoken her mind to her mother a long time ago, neither of them would be in their current predicament. It was time to put away sentiment and think with clear heads.

Cheyenne sat down on the bed, buried her face in her hands and began to cry. Storm crossed the room and knelt in front of her.

“We have to sell the house,” she said quietly. After a long moment, Cheyenne nodded.

“I miss him, too, you know,” Storm whispered.

“I know, honey.”

Storm rested her head on her mother’s lap, and finally let her own tears come.

“This isn’t working,”
Mason said a few days later. “You and Storm couldn’t fool a blind man that you’re in love. Even Storm’s sisters know something’s wrong.”

Zane knew what he meant. The two of them had barely spoken. Storm edged through the halls like a ghost when she was home, spending most of her time on the third floor with her mother and sisters. Other times a taxi came and carried them all off to town, presumably to work in the store. When they came back at meal times the Willows joined the rest of the family, and both Storm and Cheyenne did their best to make conversation, but those meals were quiet affairs—far different from the rowdy, loud ones they’d shared only days before.

“How are you going to convince Heloise that you’re marrying Storm for real? She knows she’s not Kenna, right? What’s the plan?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Hell.” Mason walked away. Came back. “Storm has to talk to her. She has to admit that she lied about her identity, but that she really loves you.”

“I can’t ask her to do that now.”

“Like hell you can’t.”

“Maybe I should send her away. Start over.”

“You know what? Maybe you should.”

Zane rounded on him. “Fuck off!”

Mason laughed. “Yeah, just like I thought. You love her, Zane. No matter that she lied to you about who she is. No matter that she got one over on you. You love her. Why don’t you start from there?”

“What the hell does that mean?”