Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

C olton was sound asleep when Cady woke up two hours later. She had a half day left of her conference then she could finally breathe again. Cady slid from bed, took a shower, and attempted to cover up the bags under her eyes before sneaking out of the house. Colton needed to sleep and she didn't want to disturb him after such a long night.

Cady closed the door, locked it, and when she turned back around Bruce was rolling up in a golf cart. Cady took a deep breath. She was sure this was about Jordan.

"Good morning, Bruce. The conference starts in thirty minutes."

"What the hell is this?" Bruce snapped, holding up his phone.

"Your phone?" Cady was being a smartass, but did he really expect her to see what was on his phone from fifteen feet away.

"This is why women don't work for me. You can't take a little joke. Jordan did nothing wrong and you sent me an email alerting me to an incident that was only some guys palling around that you took too seriously and kicked him out of the conference?"

Cady had zero sympathy. "Physically detaining me against my wishes is a crime. While misogyny is not a crime, it's also not a good look to be sitting in public talking about all the sexual things you'd like to do to a woman to ‘put her in her place.' Wake up, Bruce. Women are tired of your shit."

Bruce looked ready to explode, but he took a deep breath and reached into his pocket right as a car began to approach them. "Then you leave me no choice but to rain on your little vagina parade through the bourbon industry. You've been served. I'm suing for all your recipes and earnings from those recipes since they're all based on work your father did while in my employ."

Cady's heart dropped to her stomach. Bruce was trying to take everything from her. She wouldn't cry no matter what. Instead, she squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. "I look forward to discussing everything I know about you, your company, and your executives in open court."

Annie's car parked next to Bruce's golf cart, preventing Bruce from replying. Annie got out of her car and stared Bruce down as he puttered off in the golf cart. "I don't like the look of that man. Who is he?"

"Bruce Bailey, the billionaire owner of Blue Stone Distillery. My father used to work for him and now he's suing me for everything I have because he can't replicate the success my father had."

Annie looked after the golf cart. "But you can and you have. You've made your own success."

Cady nodded. "My father and I worked together even though I did the majority of it. He helped show me the way. We have a signed contract with Bruce, giving his approval. Our recipe is nothing like the one my father developed for Bruce, but by suing me he'll get the recipe during discovery. I developed my own recipes and he wants them too, saying they're based on my father's work at Blue Stone."

"Yeah, that won't happen."

"I know," Cady said, but she didn't know. She just hoped. "I'll call my uncle to see what he can do."

"Your uncle?"

"He was my dad's best friend, Oliver Foster. He's an attorney in Louisville."

Annie put her arm around Cady and it felt so good to have a motherly hug. "Don't worry, Cady. We got you. That douche canoe won't stand a chance and will be crying for mercy by the time we're done with him. Oh! Two things before I forget. First, family dinner tomorrow at Marcy and Jake's. We expect to see you there. Second," Annie opened the front door and unbuckled something from the seat. "I saw these the other day and had to get them for you."

Annie turned around and Cady felt the laugh burst from her lips. Annie was holding two gnomes. A boy and a girl gnome and each held a bottle of bourbon. "I had Sydney paint the bourbon bottles to match Barrel Creek."

"I love them, Annie. Thank you." Cady took the girl gnome and placed it to the side of her front door.

"I'm so glad you like them. Not only are they cute, they're surprisingly handy as a weapon," Annie told her as she set the boy gnome next to the girl one.

Cady turned around and hugged Annie. "Thank you."

"You can thank me with grandbabies."

Cady chuckled. Marriage. Babies. Love. She wanted it all, but only if she could have it with Colton.

Colton was jerked awake by the feeling of being watched. He was already reaching for the lamp to use as a weapon by the time he opened his eyes. "Dad? Uncles? What happened? Is it Cady?"

Colton looked up at his father standing beside the bed with all of Colton's uncles. They were frowning.

"Yes, it's Cady," Cade told him. Colton's world stopped. "Your mother invited her to family dinner tomorrow."

Colton took a deep breath. It was worse than he thought. Kill Jordan? No problem. But family dinner? "My relationship is going to be over before it begins," Colton groaned, flopping back into bed. Princess jumped up and covered his face with condolence kisses.

"Do you have time to train her?" Miles asked.

"No," Colton said with a sigh. "I have all the paperwork from the fire last night and still need to determine what caused it. It's going to be a long day."

The uncles grunted, turned, and left out the sliding door. "You're on Princess duty," Cade told him before turning to leave. "Oh, and Bruce Bailey is suing Cady, but we're taking care of it."

"Thanks, Dad." Colton knew better than to ask how they were taking care of it. They had contacts at every level of the government as well as in the private sector. If there was anything to be found on Bruce, they'd find it.

But right now, Colton had to get to work.

The conference was interesting that morning. Cady tried to keep it upbeat for the faction who were still eager and excited to be there. Another faction looked mostly asleep. And the last group looked pissed.

It didn't matter now. It was almost over. Cady stood at the podium and smiled out at the audience. "Thank you so much for attending. I hope you've learned a lot and we will continue to build the international brand of bourbon."

Cady turned off the microphone as people clapped while standing to leave. There would be a mass exodus now and she couldn't wait to have her distillery back.

Bruce was badmouthing her to anyone who would listen as he and his buddies left, leaving behind a huge mess at their table. Which was why when Sippy MacLeod approached, Cady prepared for the worst. Sippy wasn't his real name, but a nickname the elderly man got since he constantly walked around his distillery sipping his bourbon. His family ran the oldest distillery in Kentucky. They produced a very limited amount of excellent bourbon bottled in sculpted crystal decanters and housed in a velvet box. Bottles were so hard to get that each bottle sold for close to two thousand dollars and that was before they hit the secondary market. Sippy, now close to eighty, was everything you would expect from an elderly Southern gentleman. He used a wooden walking cane. No one knew if he needed it or if it was just part of his attire. He always wore a bow tie and blue and white striped seersucker suits in the summer and three-piece tweed in the winter. Sippy was a bourbon god to the people of Kentucky, including the other distillers.

"Mr. Sippy," Cady said with a smile even as she braced for the hit to come. She was sure Bruce had already gotten to him. "I hope you enjoyed the conference."

"Some parts more than others," Sippy drawled in his southern accent that once, hundreds of years ago, used to be Scottish. "Young lady..."

Cady almost groaned. Here it came. The criticism. The insults. The women have no place in bourbon talk.

"Your father would be so proud of you. You put on a humdinger of a conference here. Even if some people think the sun comes up only to hear them crow." Sippy glanced over his shoulder at Bruce and his cronies leaving before turning back to Cady, who was fully in shock that he wasn't putting her down. Sippy's word was worth more than gold to her and the industry and if he thought she put on a good conference, that would make her whole year. "Did your father ever tell you about us?"

Cady cocked her head trying to remember everything her father said about Mr. Sippy. "I know he respected you greatly."

"I came to visit him one night after your dear mama passed. See, I had lost my son just six months prior. We talked about our loss and our families. Your father was so proud of you, just as I am of my grandson. Your father and I got drunker than skunks and he called me the Godfather of Bourbon. We laughed and laughed about it, and I promised, in a very poor impression of Marlo Brando, that I would look out for you. Similarly, your father said he'd look out for my grandson, Conroy." Sippy turned and signaled his grandson who was probably eight to ten years older than Cady, to join them.

Cady cocked her head and really looked at him. "You look so familiar. Have we met before?" Cady asked as Conroy held out his hand to her. Then he smiled and Cady gasped. "Roy?"

"It's good to see you again, Cady. I'm surprised you remember me. You were only thirteen when I interned with your father. You did a great job this week."

"I don't understand. No Conroy MacLeod worked with my father. A Roy Lenard did."

Sippy grinned mischievously. "Sometimes it's hard for these young'uns to learn from their own kin. So, I sent Conroy to your father for the summer after he graduated from college. He worked for free so there was no payroll to be filed. Bruce would have had a hissy fit if he knew the grandson of his competition was on site."

"Your father whipped me into shape. Taught me the real world of bourbon, and how to think beyond what I saw as an inherited cage. He also got me to see the gift my pappy was entrusting to me. He turned something I dreaded into something I love. And in a couple of years, I will become the new head of MacLeod Bourbon, all thanks to the love for the industry he taught me," Conroy told her as several attendees glanced to see them chatting.

Cady had no problem envisioning that. Her father loved the craft and loved sharing it with people. "I'm not surprised he did that. Thank you both so much for sharing that story with me."

Conroy and Sippy shared a look with each other before turning back to her. "In the two hundred year history of our distillery, we have only partnered with six people for a special edition run. We want you to be the seventh," Sippy told her. "In honor of the past and the future of bourbon. I want to announce it as Conroy's step into leadership, just as you stepped into your own place in the industry after your father. Tradition. Heritage. The future. And damn good bourbon for the past two centuries and for the centuries to come."

Cady had no words. She placed her hand over her heart to make sure it was still beating. "A MacLeod and Barrel Creek limited edition bourbon?"

"That's right. Are you interested, young lady?" Sippy asked and it was then Cady realized it was a term of endearment, not an insult.

"You bet I am." Cady held out her hand and Sippy shook it before Conroy did.

"I'll call you next week and set up a time for you to come to our labs. We'll get to work on a joint bourbon. It'll need to honor the past but have a new taste to get people excited for the future," Conroy told her.

Cady's mind was already whirling with ideas. Sippy laughed and pointed to her. "That look right there," he told his grandson, "is the exact same look her father would get when he was thinking about bourbon. Never met a more brilliant mind than his, but he always told me you were the brains of the family. I can't wait to see what we can do together."

Sippy patted her on the back, gave her a wink, then walked off whistling. "Damn good conference," he said loudly to himself and everyone still left in the area. Word would spread that Sippy approved, and Cady would have the respect of many who might have been on the fence about her.

"I'm looking forward to working together. My pappy is right, you were already brilliant as a young teenager. I can't wait to see what you can do now because your first batch of bourbon is fantastic. Truly. You're gifted and don't let anyone tell you different."

"Thanks, Conroy. I'm really excited for next week. My mind is already racing with ideas."

Conroy gave her a wink and followed after his grandfather. Cady spun to go tell her team when she gasped. There stood a wall of Davies men. Cade, Marshall, Miles, Cy, and Pierce.

"You look excited," Cade said casually.

"A really, really good business deal just happened." Cady couldn't stop smiling and the excitement had her bouncing from foot to foot. "What are you all doing here? Is Colton okay?"

"He is, but you're not," Miles said dramatically, which was really not something she'd seen him do before.

"I'm not?"

Five heads shook no.

"Two words," Cy said, holding up two fingers.

"Family. Dinner," the Davies brothers said all together.

"We're here to get you prepared," Marshall said, setting down a big bag and opening it to expose a bow, arrows, a rifle, a hatchet, knives, and boxing gloves.

"Don't forget this," Miles said, reaching into his inside suit jacket pocket and pulling out a spoon.

"We don't have much time," Cade said. "Tell me, how do you feel about punching my daughter or stabbing my wife?"

Cady's mouth dropped open. "Why in the world would I want to do that?"

The brothers groaned.

"I'll make the coffee. It's going to be a long day," Pierce said, turning and walking away.