Chapter 9

"What was that? What just happened in there?" Sheila and I were back in my car after brunch. I couldn't tell you what I ate, or what it tasted like, or pretty much much of anything. I don't think I've ever seen Dalton so enraged, and I know the only reason he held back was because we were in a public place.

Still, he'd done a number on his wife and son, not sparing them in front of me, the kids, and Sheila. In all the years I've known my in-laws, I've never seen any hint of discord between them; they've both always kept up a united front, though I'd long suspected it was for show since there is no way someone as nice as my father-in-law could be so blissfully happy with the reigning harpy of the south.

The most I'd seen out of him before today was a deep sigh when she was being extremely annoying, but even then, he seemed more indulgent than put out with her. So why had he unleashed on them like that without any care to how it would look in front of his grandkids, whom he has always protected from any ugliness?

"I think she cheated. He seems to have a raging hardon for cheaters."

"Who? Marie? No way. I think the only time she ever unclasped those glaciers she calls legs was the night she conceived that turd I married." Poor Sheila snorted her sip of ‘juice' through her nose.

"I'm sure she can tell you to the minutest latitude where the iceberg that took down the Titanic was because it's related to the one in her crotch."

"Stop, stop, I can't breathe." Poor Sheila was almost doubled over in the passenger seat.

"I shouldn't have said that; that was kind of mean, wasn't it?"

"You're allowed. She was being a raging bitch."

"Did you notice that every time she complained or tried to tell him he couldn't do something, he kept giving me more?" It's true; I always knew Dalton loved me like his own, the daughter he never had, he"d always say, but his generosity today was something no sane person would've ever expected.

I didn't marry Kevin for his family's money and never really cared about it beyond what it could do to make my children's lives easier. Sure, I never had to worry about going hungry or not having enough to take care of my kids, but I never tried to live like I was the one making the money because I wasn't raised that way.

My mama came from boatloads of money, and she gave it all up to marry my Daddy but still taught me that life was about more than money while raising me to live as if I had the best of everything. That used to drive Marie crazy because her family couldn't even walk in my Mama's family's shadow, but yeah.

I always knew that was part of her problem with me. The fact that she and her ilk looked down on my mother for giving up a life of ease to marry my dad and still carried herself like the daughter of privilege that she was. My mama wouldn't think twice about putting one of them in their place and have done so with Marie a time or two over the years.

Especially in the beginning, when Marie tried to come between me and her son, mama was always the one to put her in her place with a few choice words that always left the other woman flustered and silently fuming. Since most of what was said were usually whispered in my mother-in-law's ear, I was never privy to what it was that could shut the other woman up for the rest of the day.

She'd mellowed out some once the kids were born, but there was no secret that she didn't like or approve of me for her family. Dalton had never said much of anything, though he'd silence her with a look once in a while, so though I knew he liked me, I never would've expected him to go against his wife to defend me.

"Those things he said about me, I never knew he saw me in that light." I was still a bit shaken by the revelations from my father-in-law. You know that feeling like you'd been watched from afar without you knowing it? And the person can recite things about you that you thought had gone unnoticed? It was like that, but in a good way, of course.

He"d recalled things that I myself had long forgotten or brushed off as just par for the course in everyday life. Like the time, he was really sick in the hospital, and I visited him every day while juggling very young kids. How I'd sit and read to him without rushing, taking my time to make sure he was as comfortable as he could be in that situation while his wife could barely spare him half an hour before having to rush off to her next hair appointment or whatever else she had going on at the time.

He talked about me taking care of the kids and how patient and loving I had always been. How I'd drop everything to see to one of my kids, no matter how big or small the issue was. I just thought those things were normal, that any mother anywhere would do them. I didn't do them for praise.

But it seemed he had been watching and taking notes. He'd called out his wife for not being half the wife or mother that I was, which had set her off to the point she asked to leave. No ordered him to leave with her, which he shut down with a succinct no and told her to sit down. I thought she would expire right there at the table.

I wanted to excuse the kids, at least, but he'd vetoed that idea as well. "They're old enough to hear what I have to say, seeing as it involves them as well." Was his response to that. That's when he'd gone on to talk about his will. Apparently, he'd changed it in the last week after learning about the divorce, and what he'd done had set both my asshole ex and his mother off again.

I was still trying to come to terms with it, and if I wasn't the one in the middle of this mess, I'd swear it was fiction. Dalton had added me to his will; not only that, but I would own a percentage of his company along with my ex and the kids, which meant that we owned more of the company combined than Kevin did, and Marie wasn't even mentioned, which did not go over well.

When she argued and was told she never had any interest in the business beyond how much money she had to spend and knew nothing about the workings of it, so she didn't need to have any say once he was gone, she almost bore holes in me with her eyes.

I was too caught off guard to say or do anything, and when she said I didn't deserve twenty percent of the company that had been in his family for four generations because I wasn't family, his answer had been that neither was she by the same token. I almost fell out of my chair.

Just what the hell got into him anyway? There had to be something more going on than his disappointment in his son for him to take these measures. Kevin had joined his mother in the argument, but he knew better than to show his ass in front of the kids who he was this close to losing.

Savanah had thanked her grandpa, and her brothers had followed suit while proclaiming their wish for him to outlive us all. By the time brunch was coming to an end, it was as if Kevin and Marie weren't even at the table. Everyone else was talking and laughing as if Dalton hadn't just dropped a bombshell while mother and son sat brooding.

Dalton asked the kids about school and what all they had going on, fawning over them like the doting grandpa he is, ignoring his wife and son in a show of camaraderie with me and the kids and even Sheila. If I didn't know better, I'd swear the old man was losing his marbles, but Dalton is healthy as an ox and had never shown any signs of slipping as far as I know.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" I didn't realize that I'd stopped talking and was just staring out the windshield.

"Nothing, I'm just trying to make sense of it all." According to Dalton, I'm now richer than I was during my marriage and would've been after the divorce.

I was only planning to keep the house and half Kevin's shit, but his dad had sweetened the pot beyond measure. It wasn't lost on me, or anyone else for that matter, that Dalton had basically taken a portion from his son and given it to me. It's going to take me a minute to wrap my head around it.

Though I'm not that big a hypocrite, that I can't admit that I feel a hell of a lot better than I did before. Dalton's generosity might not make up for my broken heart, but it sure goes a long way to easing the sting of his son's betrayal.

And the fact that Kevin was told in no uncertain terms that his side piece was not welcome in the family and was not allowed to darken Dalton's door at any time had been the icing on the cake. To hear the great man himself, someone I had looked up to and admired, someone my children adore, sticking up for me in that way had felt like sweet justice.

Kevin hadn't said much of anything after that, but he'd been sure to whisper that we'd talk later as we were leaving. If he thinks I'm about to refuse Dalton's offer for his sake, he's dumber than I thought. He's lucky that I'm not vindictive enough to turn his kids against him and take over the company completely. However, I do plan on having some fun with it.

At least someone saw my worth after all these years. It in no way makes up for what Kevin did to me, but it's a start. "Should I take it, though? I mean, Kevin and I will be divorced soon."

"So? You heard what Dalton said; you're the only daughter he's ever going to have; it doesn't matter who Kevin marries in the future; you and Savanah are the only two women in the family that deserve his family's heirloom jewelry and all the other stuff he offered."

"Not if Marie has anything to say about it."

"I'm pretty sure he nipped that in the bud. Did you see the look he gave her when she tried to interfere?"

"That's another thing; in all these years, I don't think I've ever seen him do anything more than smirk when she was acting the ass."

"I always told you that laid-back demeanor of his hid something deep and dark. He's bound to have a split personality to deal with her for this long."

"I mean, I always knew he could go from zero to sixty in a flash when warranted, but I never thought he felt all those things about me. I feel almost beatified, and a saint I am not."

"I see it as compensation for putting up with her shit for so long. The way he was talking in there, he knew very well how she was treating you behind everyone's back. Oh my goodness." She sat up in her seat and whipped her head around.

"What?"

"You don't think she knew about the affair, do you? Maybe that's why he came at her so hard." I tried to remember anything my father-in-law might've said to give her that idea but came up with nothing.

"What makes you think that?"

"Think about it; he told her she couldn't see the forest for the trees. Then he said something about the dog with the bone; then he mentioned your classiness and how your behavior outshone both mother and son. He also said that what little respect he had for her was now gone, don't you see? Put those all together, and it stinks of her knowing and him finding out that she knew."

"Really? I thought he was just talking about the fact that she backs her son no matter what the situation." But now that she'd brought it to my attention, it did smack of innuendo and veiled hints at something more than the norm.

"But how? I don't think Kevin the snake would be so shameless as to introduce her to his mom."

"Maybe she saw them together, something because I'm pretty sure that's what your father-in-law was hinting at. That's the only thing that makes sense for him to be going in so hard on the two of them. You could see the disgust each time he looked at either of them."

It would kill Kevin if his dad froze him out. It's like his biggest fear, the disappointment and loss of admiration from his dad. He's always bent over backward to please his dad for as long as I've known him, but the way Dalton spoke today, I have the feeling my soon-to-be ex was in his own personal hell right now.

To have the father he worshipped and admired all but disown him for the woman he'd cheated on must sting. Add to that the fact that Dalton had spelled out the terms of his will and the lengths he had gone to to protect it from being contested was a testament to the fact that he had chosen sides, and it wasn't with his wife and son.

"I don't think I've ever seen Kevin looking so whipped." Sheila went back to sipping her special juice while I started the car, still deep in thought. Could it be that Marie knew about the affair? If so, when, how? If I find out that hag knew and encouraged it, I'll make her life a living hell. It's one thing to think her son could do better and another entirely to encourage him to cheat on his wife and kids.

"And she claims to love her grandkids." I looked up in time to see Kevin heading to his car, and the little imp on my shoulder put my foot on the gas, and I almost backed into him.

"Hey, watch it." He smacked the back of my car.

"Sorry, didn't see you." I smiled out the window. "Sheila, I thought the city had an ordinance to clean up after your pet? People just leave their dog shit in the parking lot." I drove past him as Sheila howled with laughter.