Chapter 3

Teddy drummed her fingers on the top of the desk as she stared at the numbers on her spreadsheet. At the rate things were going she’d be lucky to have enough to pay the rent on the shop and her house next month.

To say business sucked was being very kind. It was dead. Tag on the toe, call the undertaker dead.

She wanted to cry. This shop had been her dream. Well, at least she thought it was her dream. If she was completely honest she’d admit that even from the beginning it hadn’t given her the satisfaction she’d hoped.

Maybe she had been wrong. That brought a frown to her face. When she was wrong, she was wrong in a huge way. Mik had given up everything for her and Alex. Alex seemed to be making her dream work. She had landed a partnership in a very prestigious firm in Charlotte as a CPA and while she wasn’t rolling in the dough yet, she was sure as heck doing better than Teddy.

Which made it all the harder for Teddy to admit that she was failing miserably. Where had she gone wrong? Her shop was decorated so pretty, with really interesting and unique inventory and she was friendly and kind to everyone who visited.

Maybe Alex was right, and she had chosen the worst possible place to open such a store. Monroe was a nice little city, but the foot traffic in the downtown area wasn’t exactly brisk and what few people did visit the shop didn’t seem at all interested in what she had to offer.

To make things worse, she’d given Mik the padded envelope she found when she unpacked her things into the house she’d rented. It had come from their parents and Teddy had never dreamed it would contain anything that would upset or harm Mik.

But it had. It had contained a letter to Mik, explaining that when she was adopted, the only thing that was given to them from Mik’s biological mother was a small box with a Morgan silver dollar inside it. When Mik tried to pick up the coin it had knocked her flat on her behind—literally rendered her unconscious.

Stranger still, it affected Jed and Jake the same way. Teddy wanted to hold it. She had psychometric abilities and she was certain she could get information about who had owned the coin. At first Mik forbid Teddy to touch it, but in time she relented.

Teddy could still remember every detail of what she’d seen when she touched that coin.

The only light came from the oil lamp on the sheriff’s desk. The boy felt sweat roll down his sides despite the chill in the jail. He didn’t want to be there, didn’t want to talk to his mother. What was there for him to say? They were going to hang her tomorrow and there was nothing he could do about it.

The sheriff unlocked the cell and Jacob stepped inside. His mother’s embrace was almost brutal she held him so tight. “Jacob, my precious Jacob.”

He tore away and she grabbed his hand, clinging to it. She smelled and there was a wild look in her eyes. A look he remembered.

The last time she looked like that, his father had died.

She pulled him to the far side of the cell, backing him into the corner. “We have to be quiet,” she whispered and cut a look over her shoulder. The sheriff was sitting at his desk, drinking coffee and reading the paper.

His mother fumbled in the folds of her skirt then pressed something into his hand. Jacob winced and looked down. A silver dollar lay in his palm, the metal like a burning brand against his skin.

“You will be my weapon,” his mother whispered. “My vengeance.”

“Mother, please, I—“

Her hiss was as sharp as a viper and her eyes sharp as a blade. “Be silent. You are my son. My flesh and blood. Through you and all who come after you I will have revenge on those who have wronged me.”

“You killed that girl!” he insisted. Yes, she was his mother, but she was also a murderer. Not one, but two lives had ended by her hand.

“He forced me. He forced me! I offered him forgiveness. Love. He laughed at me. Scorned me. Me! The women he seduced. He stole my innocence, Jacob. Used me then cast me aside. It was because of him I was forced to endure the torment your father inflicted on me year after year.

“But I bore it, Jacob. My darling boy. I bore for you.”

“You killed him!”

She cut another look at the sheriff who had leaned in his seat to look in their direction. “Keep your voice down,” she warned. “I killed him for you. So that you would not have to suffer at his hands the way I did.”

“Mother, he never put a hand on me. Never. Father wasn’t an evil man.”

“He was the devil! The devil, I tell you.”

Jacob knew better. Malacai Whitestone, his father, had been a hard man but a man of God. A preacher who fought the powers of the devil with whatever means necessary.

“Now you listen to me, Jacob. You are mine. And I will be a part of you as long as you live. You will do what I say. This coin is the symbol of the pact we make tonight. No matter how long it takes, you will hold this symbol and follow the directions I give.

“Those who wronged me will pay. Their evil powers will be their doom. They will be denied that which they desire the most. Never will they feel the love of hearth and home, the comfort that comes from knowing they are loved and cherished. Their lives will be mere shells, cheap imitations. They will love and lose until the day my vengeance is complete.”

“That’s insane!”

Her scream prompted an answering one from him as she flew at him, hands formed into claws, nails raking at his face. Filthy words and spit flew from her mouth, her eyes wild, face red, and distorted in rage.

He held her off as best he could, screaming for the sheriff.

When finally he escaped the cell, he hurried to the door, stopping to cast one final look at her. “Do my bidding or see yourself as damned as they,” she intoned.

Jacob fled, running as fast and as far as he could until his strength failed. They would hang her tomorrow and by the time she drew her last breath he hoped to be far away.

All he could think to do was run and pray. Pray that the evil in her soul died with her body and set him free.

Even now, thinking about Sara made gooseflesh appear on Teddy’s arms. She’d never witnessed anything like the malevolence and malice she’d felt pouring off that woman. Teddy’s heart went out to Jacob, the son who’d been punished with such a mother. Better to have been an orphan than stuck with an evil woman like that.

What was more troubling was that something that belonged to that woman was left to Mik. Surely, she couldn’t be a descendant of Sara’s. There wasn’t an evil bone in Mik’s body.

Teddy suddenly sat up ramrod straight. The son, Jacob, didn’t appear evil in the vision. Maybe he survived, made it back east, grew up and got married. Maybe he had children and for some unknown reason passed that coin down to them.

Which didn’t explain how it ended up with Mik. Was one of Jacob’s descendants a woman who’d ended up pregnant and unable to care for her child? Was she still alive and if so why did she give Mik up? Did she have no family to turn to? Was Mik the last of her family line?

All the questions made Teddy want to hold the coin again. There might be more answers.

And none of that will solve your immediate problems.

She blew out her breath and forced her thoughts away from the mystery of the coin and back to the spreadsheet. Ten minutes later, she pushed back from the table. As much as she hated it, she knew she was going to have to admit defeat. The shop wasn’t going to make it and she couldn’t keep shoveling what meager funds she had in savings into it.

If she was frugal and could break the lease, she could survive for three months. That was long enough to find a job. Maybe she’d get Alex to look over her financials, but she doubted that would change anything.

Tears threatened but she sucked in a breath and forced them back. She wasn’t going to cry, wasn’t going to wallow. Her bad luck was nothing compared to what Jake and his family were going through. Here she was feeling sorry for herself over losing something she’d had a few months while they were faced with the possible loss of a home that’d been in their family for generations.

That reminded her. She and Jake had not had a chance to discuss her idea and since she’d already acted on it she really needed to tell him. On impulse, she picked up her phone and called him. He answered on the second ring.

“Hey beautiful.”

“Hey. Did I get you at a bad time?”

“No. Everything okay?”

“Yes, why?”

“I don’t know. You sound…never mind. What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about that idea I had.”

“Oh yeah, the idea.” She heard a bit of humor return to his voice. “And I want to hear all about it. How about I swing by your place later this evening? I should be done here around eight.”

“Okay. What me to fix dinner. You’ll be hungry.”

“That I will.”

Teddy didn’t have to ask. She could hear it in his voice. He wasn’t talking about food. That started a fire inside her.

“Then I’ll have it waiting.”

“Cool. Oh! Hold on. Something happened today.”

“What?”

“This old Ranger buddy of Jed’s called. Colton Marsh. He has two brothers who have a ranch in Florida, and they’ve got some strange stuff happening. He wanted to know if you and your sisters would consider seeing what you can get from an old scroll or something. Jed said he sounded like it was pretty important. I told Jed I’d ask you.”

“Sure. Are they going to mail it?”

“Actually, they’re flying up here tomorrow. Jed’s friend Colton is going to pick them up and bring them to the ranch in the morning.”

“Okay, well, just tell me when and I’ll drive over.”

“Actually, I was thinking that since I’m headed to your place tonight maybe we could drive over together in the morning.”

Teddy grinned. “Is that your way of asking if you can stay the night?”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Well the answer is yes.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Now go get finished what you need to do. I’ll see you by…what? Nine?”

“If not sooner.”

“Okay. See you later.”

“Bye, beautiful.”

Teddy put her phone down on the table. Seemed like they weren’t the only ones with mysteries and problems in their lives.

But she’d think about that when the time came. Right now, she was ready to focus on planning a dinner that Jake wasn’t likely to forget.

*****

Robert Dalton Manning, CEO. That’s the way the plaque on the door to his office read. Dalton wanted to rip it off and jump up and down on it. Since Deidre had exiled him to the Siberia of the company, the new subsidiary of Manning Enterprises, he no longer had access to critical data of the parent company.

Which meant that Deidre could be setting him up for anything and he had no way of knowing until it was too late. He stomped into his office, slammed the door, and pulled out his cell phone.

His aunt, Henrietta Manning Mills, answered on the third ring. “Good morning.”

“I wish,” Dalton groused. “I’m operating blind here, Aunt Henrietta. I need to know what she’s doing.”

“That is being taken care of as we speak, my dear.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed. There is dissention in the ranks since your departure and I am finding it quite easy to sway support our way. There will, of course, be a bit of quid pro quo expected upon your successful reinstatement into the seat of power.”

“I’ll happily make recompense. Have you details for me?”

“Not over the phone. Why don’t we meet for lunch? Or better yet, you come here. There is the matter of the Nash ranch we need to discuss. If, assuming, you are still set upon claiming possession if the family does not meet your price.”

“I am.”

“I see. Well, nevertheless, we have much to discuss, so let’s say one o’clock?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Excellent. I look forward to it.”

The line went dead, and Dalton shrugged. Henrietta never did sign off of a call with a goodbye.

He took a seat at his desk and opened his laptop to check his schedule. There was nothing pressing he needed to concern himself with. Except for Deidre and what to do about the Nash ranch.

He knew she was set upon destroying them, and there was a time he had gladly taken part in her schemes. Now, however, she had made an enemy of him by trying to implicate him in the poisoning of the stock on the ranch.

He was not about to let that go. Thanks to his Aunt Henrietta, and unbeknownst to Deidre, all paperwork, sales histories, and documentation regarding the fluoride that was used to poison the water on the Nash ranch now bore Deidre’s name.

Also, thanks to Aunt Henrietta, the phone used in all communications regarding the fluoride had been located and destroyed, and all phone records altered.

Dalton said a silent thank you that his Aunt was on his side. He’d forgotten how shrewd and relentless she could be. Better to have her as an ally than an enemy. Working with her, he was going to annihilate Deidre and reclaim his father’s legacy.

And maybe he’d get what he needed to prove that Deidre had killed his father. There was nothing Dalton would like more than to see her rotting in a prison for the rest of her life.

However, at the moment, he had to decide what to do about the Nash ranch. If he went through with his threats, he had no doubt that Mikayla would hate him until her dying breath. That shouldn’t bother him. She was, after all, engaged to Jed Nash and had made it clear that she was not interested in him. But he felt she could be swayed if he could just find the right leverage to use to cause a rift between her and Jed Nash.

Dalton spun around in his chair and stared out of the window. There had to be a way. He just had to think outside the box.