Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(60)
“What’s wrong? What happened?” She thought about Shannon, about seven months pregnant and huge with twins. A healthy boy and girl. So far. “Is Shannon okay?”
“Yeah. It’s—your dad is here. With a van. Babe, he…he brought your stuff, I think.”
She ended the call without saying a word, without thinking anything. Like an automaton, she closed up the shop, remembering at the last minute to put the till in the safe. She texted Dora to explain, and then she locked up and left.
On the short drive back to the B&B, she tried to sort out her thoughts, but they were such a jumble she could only make the snarls tighter. Her father, in Signal Bend. She hadn’t spoken to him since the day he’d marked for her to be home. That was two months ago. He’d driven a van here? From New York? With her things? Did that mean that he’d finally accepted her choice and wanted to make up? Or was he giving up on her completely?
About a hundred yards from the entrance road to the B&B, Adrienne pulled to the side and puked into the goldenrod. Just the act of puking quieted her head some. When she was done, she grabbed a couple of wintergreen Altoids from her glove box and drove on, at a loss for what the immediate future held for her.
But Badger was there. She’d be okay, because Badger was there.
oOo
Badger, Show, and Shannon, as well as Beth, Steve, and Kenny were there, actually. As Adrienne pulled up, there was a veritable crowd standing on the porch and the yard of the B&B, appearing to be at some kind of a standoff with her father, who was standing in the middle of a loose ring of the Signal Bend people —and yes, her father had driven up in a small U-Haul moving van. When Adrienne parked, Badger broke from that circle and trotted to her.
He yanked her in for a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, babe.”
“What did he say?” She pushed loose from his hold and looked over at her father, who had not moved except to turn his head her way.
“He isn’t being exactly chatty. Just that he wanted you here and he has your things.” Shannon called Show. I think she was scared what your dad had in the van. Now we’re just kind of…stuck.”
“What else would be in there? A SWAT team? He doesn’t have a violent bone in his body. I don’t think he’s ever even thrown a punch. So if he says my things are in the van, that’s what’s in the van.”
She grabbed Badger’s hand and walked into the tableau on the yard. “Hi, Papa.”
“Adrienne.” He nodded but didn’t make a move toward her. “Since you have made your choice, I’ve brought your things to you. I would like to be on my way soon. I’d like to make some time homeward before dark.”
Badger’s hand tightened on hers, but she barely felt it. With those few sentences, her father—her father —had answered her most pressing question. He was giving up on her. Because she did not want her life to be what he wanted her life to be.
With a squeeze first, she wriggled her hand loose from Badger’s and walked toward her father. Show stood not far away, watching them intently. “Papa, please. Please don’t do this. I love you.”
Her father took the remaining steps between them and cradled her face in his hands. “And I love you, my dove. I always will.” She felt a small thrill of hope as he caressed her cheekbones with his thumbs. “But this I cannot condone. You have made a terrible choice. A dangerous choice. Unmake it, and come back with me. We’ll put your things back in our house, where they belong. If not, then I leave your things with you. With the family you’ve chosen. You cannot have both.”
The hurt and loss surged out of her heart and through her body so powerfully that she lost her feet and dropped to her knees. “Papa. Papa.” She was too shocked to cry. But she was not even slightly tempted to ‘unmake’ her choice. If anything, her will only hardened, even as her heart shattered.
Badger was on his knees at her side, his arm over her shoulder. She could feel the protective tension in his muscles. Show had stepped forward, too, his fists curled. There was potential for violence here, but not from her father. From her family.
“Adrienne, what am I to do? Decide.”
Taking strength from Badger’s hold on her, she looked up at her father, still standing before her as she knelt on the ground. She didn’t answer him—instead, she looked around him. “Show, will you help Badge and me unpack the van?” She didn’t check to see her father’s reaction. She kept her eyes on Showdown.
“You know I will, little one.” Then he turned hot eyes on the back of Charles Renard’s head. “Anything else you’d like help with? I got plenty of time.”
She did not want to give her father one molecule of justification for his position. She wanted him to leave Signal Bend without even a wrinkle in his pressed jeans. “No. No. Just that.” She made to stand, and Badger jumped up and helped her. “But let’s go fast. This man has someplace he’d rather be.”
They did move fast. When her father attempted to help, Show put his enormous hands on his shoulders
and pushed him civilly out of the way. So he stood near the cab and watched, while she, Badger, Show, Steve, and Kenny carried her childhood furniture—French Provincial style canopy bed (double size, so an improvement), dresser, desk, stool, nightstands, bookcase—into the B&B. Boxes of books. CDs and DVDs.