Page 44 of Against The Tide

I’m hoping Rowan won’t mind me calling Alison up. She’s the only attorney I know here. She was so amazing and quick with the paperwork for the custody filing.

I swallow down the urge to yell at him all the reasons he’s never going to see my daughter again and turn to find Rhett only a few feet behind me. There’s a sharpness to his features that doesn’t soften even when I smile at him. And I realize that he’s in protector mode—the reason he’s not softening at my expression is because he’s not looking at me. His eyes are firmly behind me, hard and glacial.

“Nice touch with the farmhand, but I think he’s missing his pitchfork.” I feel a hand ghost my arm at the same time as Rhett’s fist flies past my face, and the sudden crack of bone has me flinching away.

It’s just the one sound that keeps echoing in my head, again and again as I spin fast enough to catch sight of Rhett, pulling back for another hit, underarm, straight to Carl’s ribs. And another and another as Carl tries to stop him but fails miserably. All three dogs are growling and howling as they pace frantically between me and the two men.

Carl might be tall and broad, and he might pay the best personal trainer to keep him in shape, but the reality is that his muscles are all show. They haven’t hardened from any kind of labor like Rhett’s. He stands no chance because Rhett is taller and broader.

A loud gunshot rings through the air, making all three of us look back to find Jo on the porch with a shotgun I didn’t even know she owned. It’s enough to break them apart and send the dogs flying toward her.

“I don’t need a pitchfork, jackass,” Rhett growls behind me. “You ever touch Avery again and I’ll break every fucking bone in your body.”

The pounding of my heart is almost deafening as Carl’s eyes meet mine. A scuff shadows his cheekbone, and his lip is bust too. All injuries he gave me. I should feel venerated by it, but I’m still resentful and enraged. I still want to hurt him myself. I want to make him hurt, like he did me.

It’s the fuss in the background that has me turning back toward the house. Iris comes running outside aimlessly, wide, terrified eyes on me as she gets closer, and then she looks behind me and stops. Frozen. It’s not until I reach her and pick her up that she thaws and clings to me.

“I don’t wanna leave. I don’t wanna go back, Mommy.” She keeps crying into the crook of my neck while I try to calm her. “Please, Mommy.”

“You don’t get a choice.” Carl spits his blood on Rhett’s boots with a victorious grin on his face. “This isn’t your—” Another loud shot cuts off his words, closer this time and barely missing the back of Carl’s Ferrari.

All I can do is hold on to Iris as tight as I can, holding my ground with the dogs returning to stand in between us,

“Leave,” I yell at him, the sound ripping my throat to shreds and leaving me hoarse.

“You heard,” Jo snarls as Cap’s deep howl fills the air. “Get!”

Carl has the audacity to laugh as he tries to make it past Rhett, but he trusses him up by the bloody collar of his white shirt, dragging him back to his pride and joy.

“Get in your limp-dick mobile and get the fuck out of here,” he tells him coolly while he opens the door to his car and throws him in haphazardly.

“You’ll regret this.”

“Not a fucking chance, asshole.” Rhett slams his door shut, taking a step back to watch Carl rev his engine so loud that I feel it run through me even when he disappears into the distance.

Jo and I huddle as my relief that Carl’s gone is overwhelmed by my shock at Rhett’s actions. He’s always been so gentle, even when he’s been pushy with me. Always so tempered, that I’m still surprised at the way he beat on Carl. And I think that he’s taken aback by it too because he doesn’t say a single word as he walks away toward the paddock.

CHAPTER 14

AVERY

The steam from the bath fills the room as I pour in some of Iris’s favorite bath milk. It smells like toasted marshmallows and vanilla. Any other child would be calmed by something herbal or floral, but I think Jo is right. Iris is all sugar; she’s sweet from the inside out.

Stripping her off while she’s sitting on the vanity, I pull the knots on either side of her head loose.

“You know, I think we might have to get your hair cut soon.”

“I want to grow it out like a mermaid.” Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes, and it makes me want to cuddle her into me and never let her go.

Iris is mine to protect and to nurture, and for years, I failed her. Now, I need to fix the damage I’ve caused.

“I think mermaid hair would look beautiful.”

Lifting a tad more, her smile melts my heart. I almost feel like the best mom in the world for brightening her expression when she’s still visibly upset.

“Scarlett will be back soon,” I chirp, hoping it’ll make her feel better. Bring back some of the happiness from earlier. “Are you excited?”

“I wanna stay here with Doc and Jojo. I don’t want to leave.” Heavy tears sluice down her pretty face, tracking her cheeks. “I don’t want to go home, and I don’t want my daddy to be mine anymore. He’s mean.”