43. Wildflower

43

Wildflower

Family That We Chose

"Baby, listen to me. I need you both to leave the flower shop right now and go home. Call my brother and have him meet us there."

"Everett." I sigh. "They delivered the wrong flowers. We're having to swap out everything at Honeysuckle with the fucked up flowers we received from the vendor into make-shift arrangements for a wedding taking place in less than forty-eight hours. We'll probably be stuck in here until tomorrow morning."

My fingers are numb from plucking stems all goddamn day.

"Dahlia," Everett says with deadly calm. "It's an emergency. I just dropped Lou at my parent's house, and I'm heading to your place right now. You need to get Darby out of the flower shop and meet me there."

My breath gets lodged in my throat, a sickening feeling coiling in my stomach and snapping tight. "Is Lou okay?"

"Yes. She's with my mom. She's fine."

It loosens just slightly, but the urgency in Everett's tone has all my atoms on edge. "What's going on?"

"Meet me back at the house, okay?"

He hangs up before I have the chance to ask another question, so I place the roses in my hand back into the bucket of water I found them in and turn to my sister. "Everett said there is an emergency, and we need to head home now."

Darby turns to me, nostrils flaring with undiluted frustration. "I don't think Everett wants to talk to me about emergencies right now. If he has something he needs from us, I greatly invite him to come organize some goddamn flowers here."

"I know, Darbs." Bridezilla has arrived. "He seemed really concerned, though. He said we need to get out of here and go home, and that we need to get Leo too."

She groans, throwing her bouquet in a bucket. "Fine. But he is the one coming back here later and finishing these arrangements. I need a bath."

"Alright," I say, placing my hand at her back and ushering her out the door. "We'll let him know."

We grab Leo from Heathen's and pile into Darby's Mustang, since I'd gone with her to work this morning, taking the week from work to help her with wedding prep. We're back at their house within ten minutes, but Everett's Jeep is already parked outside.

We all find ourselves huddled around the kitchen island, Everett pacing back and forth across the floor, wringing out his hands. His entire body appears to be trembling with tension.

"What's going on?" Leo asks.

Everett turns to face the three of us, jaw tight and eyes wild. He says nothing as he rounds the counter and closes the distance between him and me, grasping my face between his hands and kissing me roughly.

It's a desperate, urgent, needful kind of kiss, the kind that makes you feel like the other person has been drowning and you're their only source of oxygen.

"I'm so sorry, Dahlia," he whispers against my lips.

"Tell me what happened."

He closes his eyes, shuddering like he's in pain. "They tried to take her."

I step back, gripping his forearms and feeling my nails dig into his flesh as my veins flood with fear. "Who?" Panic rises in my chest, causing my vision to go blurry and my head to spin. "Everett, where is my daughter?"

"She's with my parents." He opens his eyes, keeping my face between his hands. "She's safe, I promise. They're taking care of her. I just…We needed to talk." His gaze darts to our siblings. "All of us, and I wanted to keep her out of it."

"Who tried to take her, Everett?" My voice cracks, my entire body shaking with the sound.

"Jason," he says quietly. "Your dad."

All that apprehension floods from my veins, my body going taut with the knowledge. My knees buckle, and suddenly, he's the only thing holding me up. It feels like the room is crumbling around me, and all I want to do is go down with it.

"Oh my God," I hear someone gasp behind me. I think it's my sister.

As the reality of the situation dawns on me, and my instincts finally kick in, I find myself spinning in Everett's arms and reaching for my car keys. He says my daughter is safe, but I don't trust a goddamn person on this planet, not when the man who made me, and the man who made her, are the most dangerous I've ever come across.

"I need to see her."

Everett lets me go immediately, and I run toward the front door.

"If you need to check on her, we can, Wildflower, but are you sure you want her to see you like this? I left her with my parents so we'd have time to sort through this and figure things out."

I pause, turning to face him. "She doesn't know what happened?"

He shakes his head. "No. I caught Jason before she got out of school. She has no idea he was there to begin with."

That has me halting, body falling against the dining room table. She doesn't know . He made sure she didn't have to witness the nightmare I put her in, the nightmare I've subjected all of us to. "She has no idea someone tried to kidnap her today?" My voice comes out a broken whisper.

"No, baby." I feel a warm, rough hand fall to the center of my back, dipping beneath the hem of my shirt to find my bare skin. "Can you guys give us a minute?" he asks from behind me. I hear the shuffling of feet and the slam of a door. "She thinks I picked her up from school because you were busy with the wedding. She thinks she's at my parent's house because Mom needs to hem her dress—which is true, and they're doing that as we speak. The only thing Lou knows is that she's loved and cared for. Those you left behind are of no thought to her," he whispers against my ear, planting a kiss on my shoulder.

Whatever dam was holding me together suddenly ruptures, my tears freefalling. Everett holds me together, wrapping his strong arms around my waist and securing me against him, the rhythm of his heart keeping me grounded.

"What did you say to him?" My tone is a wretched whimper.

"I told him to stay away from my future wife and my kid." He runs his palm down the backside of my head, cradling me into his chest. "That if he came near either of you again, I'd fucking kill him."

I spin around, tilting my face up so I can look at him, desperately searching for the dishonesty I'm accustomed to hearing, for the doubt, the joke. Amber eyes stare back at me with sincerity and fervor and love, so much love that I melt beneath them.

"Your kid?"

"Yes." He smiles, cupping my jaw and brushing his thumb across my cheek. "My kid. My woman. For as long as you both will have me."

I'm not sure where inside our bodies our souls are stored, but whatever location that may be seems to open now, giving itself over to him. My tears halt, and his steady hands wipe away the remnants beneath my eyes.

"Forever." I drop my head into his neck, savoring his warmth, his presence.

I feel his lips on the top of my head as he murmurs, "Okay. Forever it is, then."

Emilio slides a Vodka soda across the bar in front of me. "You remembered," I chuckle.

"You were pretty unforgettable, Dahlia." He winks, turning to my sister. "What can I get you, Darby?"

"Something strong." She sighs. "But also sweet."

He smiles. "I can whip you up something good, don't worry."

Emilio makes Darby's drink and pours two beers from the tap before sliding those to Everett and Leo, who sit on either side of us.

The bar floods with bright light before dimming again, telling me that the front doors had opened and closed. I place a hand on my sister's leg, garnering her attention. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Her eyes are sad, but she nods with confidence. "Yes. He went too far."

"He did," I agree.

"What's up, fuckers?" A vaguely familiar slim-framed, tall, Latino man slides into the seat beside Everett, and I assume he must be Ryan, Everett's sheriff friend. He nods at Emilio, who has a drink ready, setting it down in front of him. "You called?"

"Are you off the clock right now?" Leo asks.

He takes a slow sip of what appears to be whiskey. Swallowing, he sets the glass back down on the counter. "Officially so."

"Great. We need off-the-record advice," Everett adds.

Ryan frowns, looking annoyed but not surprised. "Did you break the law?"

"Not sure."

"Fuckers," he mutters.

The six of us lean in close while Emilio keeps other patrons at bay, and Everett and I break down our entire situation of the last months—the information I found on the company network when I worked for my father, the fact that I've been blackmailing him with it and that he used my daughter's father to try and kidnap her in an attempt to get back at me.

"Tana could definitely be fired," Ryan says after Everett explains to him how she nearly allowed Jason to leave school grounds with my child, all too easily believing whatever sob story he fed her about me restricting his relationship with Lou.

As much as I want to throttle her, I almost feel sorry for her. She must be bored and lonely to put so much thought into the reputations of people around her, to be so hung up on the lives of others. I hope she figures her shit out, and I hope she finds herself some real friends.

Friends like we have, because after Everett explained everything to Darby and Leo, it was clear that her wedding flowers were going to take a backseat tonight. So, Leo called Macie and asked her to help. She and Dom, plus their best friends Carter and Penelope, dropped everything they were doing and made the two-hour trek south. The four of them are at Honeysuckle right now getting things ready for Saturday.

"I don't want to take responsibility for something like that," I say to Ryan. "I won't demand it, but I'll report it to the principal and let the school district investigate on their own. If it happened to me, there is a good chance she has done it before."

He nods. "As for the rest of it… You're definitely at risk, Dahlia. Not that I don't understand it, because I definitely do, but blackmail in and of itself is a felony, and holding onto documents like that without reporting them incriminates you as well."

"I know." I sigh, dropping my hands into my face.

Everett rubs my back reassuringly while my sister downs the rest of her drink, and Leo waves Emilio over to get her another.

"Are you some kind of mandatory reporter?" I ask. "Are you going to have to turn me in now that I've told you all of this?"

"Eh." Ryan takes another sip of his whiskey. "Crime happened in another state. Loophole."

"Is that really a loophole?" Darby asks.

Ryan smirks. "Eh."

Everett winks at me, his way of letting me know I'm safe.

"Do you have any other loopholes as to how we can get that piece of shit sent to prison without incriminating Dahlia in the process?"

Ryan nods, and we all huddle closer. "Does your dad have it in writing from you anywhere that you obtained this information months ago?"

"No." I shake my head. "We had one conversation in person in Kansas before I moved. I know my father does enough shady business that he doesn't keep cameras or recording devices at home. Plus, I caught him off guard, so he wouldn't have thought to set anything up beforehand."

"Good."

"But," I continue, "we did have a phone conversation back in December where I admitted to having the files then." I swallow. "I wouldn't put it past him to have recorded it."

"Were you here in California when this conversation was held?"

I nod.

"Two-party consent state. You're safe."

I hear Everett let out a breath at that.

"For argument's sake, is it possible that a thumb drive containing files from your father's business could've been mixed up with your personal belongings when you left your job at his company?"

"For argument's sake, it's not impossible ," I respond, polishing off my drink.

"Alright, and let's say those personal belongings got stashed away somewhere during your move from Kansas to California. You have your stuff in storage, right?"

"Right. I owned a home there, so I brought most of everything I have out here with me, but since I've been living with them," I nod at my sister and Leo, "I had to get a storage unit for my stuff until I find a place of my own."

Everett's hand finds my thigh, squeezing lightly.

"So, you're saying it's possible that if you took a look through your storage unit—say you need to find something in there —you could potentially come across a thumb drive you don't recognize, take it home and stumble upon some incriminating documents?"

"I suppose that could happen, yes."

Ryan smiles. "Then I'd say, if you were to spontaneously come across something like that, it'd be your responsibility to turn it in to authorities right away."

"And if the incriminated individual claimed she had possession of the documents for an extended period of time and used them for blackmail?" Everett asks.

"His word against hers, and in my experience, criminals are not often believed. I imagine he and his legal team would be more focused on keeping him from receiving a life sentence."

An elephant of anxiety is lifted off my chest, and I take a deep breath, realizing for the first time that there may be a way out of this, a light at the end of the tunnel that my father has kept me locked inside my entire life.

Looking back, I know I should've taken those files as I sign I could've put this all to bed months ago, could've saved us all a lot of heartbreak and fear, but at the time, I didn't have it in me. My dad was right; I'd secretly been pining for his approval all my life, and the thought of being on top—of finally having something over him—made me feel powerful where I had always felt weak.

The longer I held on, the harder it was to let go, to tell my sister.

Knowingly turning our father in—potentially sending him to prison—is a heavy weight in and of itself, but it's nothing in comparison to the fear that wretched through me when I was told he tried to come for my child. If nothing else, she must be protected, and Darby and I agree on that. We need him out of our lives for her.

But maybe for the two of us as well. We deserve to move on, to heal, with the family we chose for ourselves. The family who chose us when our own never did.

"You know," Leo snaps his fingers, gathering our attention, "I think I threw some decorations for the wedding in Dal's storage unit a few months ago. We're probably going to need to go get them."

Darby nods, face flushed with alcohol. "Yeah. I think you're right."

Ryan winks at them. "Well, I'll be at the wedding if you have anything you might need to…run past me."

They continue making small talk, hatching their plan. I notice Everett silently slide off his barstool and grab my hand, pulling me with him as he leads me toward the pool table at the back of the bar.

"You two better stay where I can see you!" Emilio shouts, sending a cluster of laughter our way.

"We're playing pool, asshole," Everett calls back, grabbing two cues and a rack off the wall. "Thought you could use some space to breathe, and you never did get the chance to show me your skills."

I hum, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. "Well, I'm not faking them this time, so consider yourself warned."

He grabs my hips, spinning me around and pinning me between his body and the pool table. All the day's chaos, all the heartbreak weighing me down, dissipates at his touch. He's my life raft in a raging sea.

"We're not faking anything anymore, Wildflower."

Cupping the back of his neck, I pull his head down so his lips brush against mine. "We're real," I whisper against his mouth, feeling him smile. "Now, watch me really kick your ass."