Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(36)

But why is Gramps’ handwriting there too?

Had they done the same thing to him? Made him believe he was signing other stuff?

They’re clearly in on it together. Drake and Sheridan. They’re also listed in Grandpa’s will. Maybe they had him sign all this while drawing up the paperwork.

If that’s true, they’re even greedier than my parents.

I grab the phone to call the sheriff. I punch in a nine, but then stop.

Gramps donated to Sheriff Wallace’s campaign every time he ran. They’re good friends. Have been for years, and Drake knows that. The fact he’d threatened the sheriff removing my parents from this house proves it.

My mouth goes dry. Horrible possibilities crash through my head.

Oh, God. Is the sheriff in on this scheme, too?

I set the phone in its charger. That’s when the picture of Gramps with Drake in Montana catches my attention again.

Actually, it’s the corner of a tan slip of paper sticking out of the back of the frame that draws my eye.

Gramps!

Twisting the little metal clasp out of the way and pulling the back off the frame, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. But it’s there. Another sticky note. Another little memento from beyond the grave.



Trust your heart, Bella.

Trust Drake, just like you always trusted me.

Everything he’s gone and done was because I asked him to. And everything I’ve done is for you. I’d do it all over again without changing a single thing – except for seeing you one last time.

Love, Gramps.



My eyes tear up and my throat burns.

There it is. Evidence I didn’t want to find.

Proof he’s in on it, just like the prenup and the custody agreement. Damn it, maybe I’m the only one who was ever conned in all this.

Hands shaking, I set the note down and close my eyes, refusing to give in to more tears. They haven’t helped me yet, and they aren’t going to start now.

Seriously, Gramps? Marriage?

You always told me I had all the time in the world to find a good man, the right man.

I didn’t need to settle for less.

Opening my eyes, I sigh. “Because I always had you,” I whisper his words.

That’s what he always said. Even when he started to tease me around the time I turned eighteen, he said I should wait.

Wait for someone good.

Wait for someone who really gets 'the ticker humming' – his words.

Wait for true love.

Because there was no good reason to do anything else. As long as he was alive, he’d always take care of me.

I have no idea how long I’ve sat here, numb, my mind going down so many twisty roads the inside of my head must look like a rush hour traffic jam.

What I do know is it’s getting late. Dusk’s ash shadows drift in through the blinds, with only a hint of mellow orange fire, slowly overwhelming the last bits of sun.

Reaching over, I click on the desk lamp in the darkness.

Light shines down on the will, the proxy marriage license, the certificate, and on the red file folder.

Swiveling the chair around, I pull open a bottom drawer. It’s full of file folders, too.

Mostly red because that’s the drawer for important documents.

I don’t even have to look. I already know. Some of these are Gramps’ copies of the same damning stuff on the desk – and most of them were outlined well before he died.

Pushing the drawer shut, I put the will and marriage papers in the file folder, and stand.

Answers. That’s what I need.

I need someone to interpret that crazy note stat, that final living plea Gramps left behind to trust him and trust this...to trust this freaking imposter con man named Drake Larkin.

I thought it couldn’t get any worse.

Oh, baby, but it has.

Living here for six months was one thing, but a proxy marriage from hell?

I can’t do it. Can’t stay married to a total stranger. Not even for Gramps.

It doesn’t even make sense that he’d ask. I run through all the possibilities why and come up with a big juicy nothing.

Sighing, I walk to the door, ready to just face what’s on the other side.

I’m not even sure I care anymore.

The lock flips in my hands and I swing it open.

Drake’s not there anymore. He’s long gone, somewhere in the kitchen.

I can hear him, and the lights are on, glowing down the hall.

I take a step, but the weight on my shoulders stops me. I’m alone here. With him.

A man who married me sight unseen. Gramps may have trusted him, and told me to, but I’m so done with blind trust I could scream.

All except Edison. He’s truly the only one I can still believe in.

Needing that grounding, that quiet place to think, even if it’s with a horse, I turn and walk to the door.

Very quietly, I open it and slip outside.

I stand there for a moment in the cool darkness, on the steps, wondering if I should go upstairs and get my purse so I can drive to town and get a hotel room.

My parents would have a field day with that, though. They’re staying at the only decent chain in town. The other place scares me, a ratty motel with a half burned out neon sign that never seems to house anything except suspicious, shadowy people who only crack their doors open at night.