Single Dad's Holiday Wedding

CHAPTER TWO

TWO hours later, after a delicious pot roast dinner, Lori stood on the back deck at the Keenan Inn. She’d said her goodbyes to everyone at the front door, but wasn’t ready to go upstairs to bed yet.

She looked up at the full moon over the mountain peak and wondered what she was doing here. Couldn’t she have had a lawyer back in Colorado Springs handle this? First of all, she didn’t have the extra money to spend on an attorney when she didn’t have a job and very little savings. She needed every penny.

So this was the last place she needed to be, especially with someone like Jace Yeager. She didn’t want to deal with him. She only planned to come here, sign any papers to her father’s estate and leave.

Now there was another complication, the Mountain Heritage complex. She had to make sure the project moved forward before she left town. She didn’t need to be told again that the project would mean employment for several dozen people in Destiny.

“Why, Dad? Why are you doing this?” He hadn’t wanted her all those years, now suddenly his daughter needed to return to his town. How many years had she ached for him to come and visit her, or to send for her. Even a phone call would have been nice. The scars he’d caused made it hard for his daughter to trust. Anyone.

She felt a warm tear on her cold cheek and brushed it away. No. She refused to cry over a man who couldn’t give her his time.

“Are you sad?”

Hearing the child’s voice, Lori turned around to find Jace Yeager’s daughter, Cassie.

Lori put on a smile. “A little. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. A lot of memories.”

The young girl stood under the porch light. “I cried, too, when my daddy made me come here.”

“It’s hard to move to a new place.”

“At first I didn’t like it ‘cause our house was ugly. When it rained, the ceiling had holes in it.” She giggled. “Daddy had to put pans out to catch all the water. My bedroom needed the walls fixed, too. So I had to sleep downstairs by the fireplace while some men put on a new roof.”

“So your dad fixed everything?”

She nodded. “He painted my room pink and made me a princess bed like he promised. And I have a horse named Dixie, and Ellie is my best friend.”

Her opinion of Jace Yeager just went up several notches. “Sounds like you’re a very lucky girl.”

The smile disappeared. “But my mommy might come and make me go away.”

Jace Yeager didn’t have custody of his daughter? “Does your mom live close?”

The child shook her head. “No, she’s gonna live in England, but I don’t want to live there. I miss her, but I like it here with Daddy, too.”

It sounded familiar. “I’m sure they’ll work it out.”

The girl studied her with the same piercing blue eyes as her father. “Are you going to live here and teach second grade? My school already has Mrs. Miller.”

“And I bet you like her, too. No, I’m not going to teach in town, I’m only here for a visit. My dad died not too long ago, and I have to take care of some things.”

“Is that why you were crying, because you’re sad?”

“Cassie …”

They both turned around and saw Jace.

“Oh, Daddy,” Cassie said.

Jace Yeager didn’t look happy as he came up the steps. “Ellie’s been looking for you.” He studied Lori. “The rest of the girls took the party upstairs.”

“Oh, I gotta go.” She reached up as her father leaned over and kissed her. “‘Bye, Daddy, ‘bye, Miss Lori.” The child took off.

Jace looked at Lori Hutchinson as his gaze locked on her dark eyes.

Finally Lori broke the connection. “I thought you’d left.”

“I’d planned to, but I got caught up at the front porch with the Keenans.”

He had wanted to speak to Paige, hoping she could give him some encouragement. She’d said she’d work to find a solution to help everyone. Then she rounded up her husband, Sheriff Reed Larkin, leaving her daughters Ellie and Rachel for Grandma Claire’s sleepover.

The other sisters, Morgan and Leah, kissed their parents and thanked them for keeping the kids. He caught the look exchanged between the couples, knowing they had a rare night alone. The shared intimacy had him envious, and he turned away. He, too, planned to leave when he spotted his daughter on the back deck with Lori.

“And I was finishing my coffee.” He’d had two glasses of wine at dinner. He had to be extra careful, not wanting to give his ex-wife any ammunition. “Well, I should head home.”

She nodded. “Your daughter is adorable.”

“Thank you. I think so.” Jace had to cool it with Lori Hutchinson. “I just wanted to say something before tomorrow.…”

She raised a hand. “I told you, I’ll do everything I can to get your project operational again.”

He just looked at her.

“Whether you believe it or not, I don’t plan to cause any more delays than necessary.”

“I wish I could believe that.”

“After the meeting, how about I come by the building site and tell you what happened?”

He shook his head. “The site’s been shut down. Until this matter is settled, I can’t afford to pay the subcontractors. So you see there’s a lot at stake for me.”

“And I understand that. But I still have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow, or what Lyle Hutchinson’s plans are. It’s not a secret that I haven’t seen the man in years.” She blinked several times, fighting tears. “He’s dead now.” Her voice was hoarse. “And I feel nothing.”

Jace was learning quickly that Lyle Hutchinson was a piece of work. “Okay, we can both agree your father was a bastard.”

She turned toward the railing. “The worst thing is, you probably knew the man better than I did.” She glanced over her shoulder. “So you tell me, Jace Yeager, what is my father planning for me? For his town.”

* * *

Tim Keenan stood at the big picture window at the inn as he waved at the last of dinner guests left.

He was a lucky man. He loved his wife and his family. He’d been blessed with a great life running the inn for the past thirty-plus years. Mostly he enjoyed people and prided himself on being able to read body language.

For example, Jace and Lori had been dancing around each other all night. Not too close, but never out of eye sight. And the looks shared between them … oh, my.

Claire came down the steps and toward him, slipping into his arms. “I got the girls settled down for now, but I have a feeling they’re plotting against me.”

He kissed her cheek. “Not those little angels.”

She smiled. “Seems you thought the same about your daughters, too.”

“They are angels.” He thought about the years raising his girls. And the grandchildren. “And we’re truly blessed.” He glanced out to see the lonely-looking woman on the porch. Not everyone was as lucky.

Lori watched from the inn’s porch as Jace walked to his truck. He was strong and a little cocky. She had to like that about him. She also liked the way he interacted with his daughter. Clearly they loved each other. What about his ex-wife? She seemed to have moved on, in Europe. Who broke it off? She couldn’t help but wonder what woman in her right mind would leave a man like Jace Yeager. She straightened. There could be a lot of reasons. Reasons she didn’t need to think about. Even though she’d seen his intensity over the project, she’d also seen the gentleness in those work-roughened hands when he touched his daughter.

She shivered. One thing was, he wasn’t going to be put off about the project. And she couldn’t wait for this mess to be settled. Then she could put her past behind her and move on.

She walked inside and up to the second floor. Overhead she heard the muffled voices of the kids. Her room was at the front of the house. A large canopy bed had an overstuffed print comforter opposite a brick fireplace. She took out her cell phone and checked her messages. Two missed calls.

Fear hit her as she listened to the message from Gina. She could hear the panic in her half sister’s voice, but it had been like that since childhood.

Lori’s mother had remarried shortly after moving to Colorado Springs. Not her best idea, losing Lyle’s alimony, but Jocelyn was the type of woman who needed a man. She just hadn’t been good at picking the right ones. Her short union with Dave Williams had produced a daughter, Regina. Lori had been the one who raised her, until big sister had gone off to college.

Without Lori around, and given the neglect of their mother, Gina had run wild and ended up pregnant and married to her boyfriend, Eric Lowell, at barely eighteen. Except for Gina’s son, Zack, her life had been a mess ever since. It became worse when her husband became abusive, though the marriage ended with the man going to jail. Now Lori was tangled up in this mess, too.

She punched in the number. “Gina, what happened?”

“Oh, Lori, I think Eric found us.”

Over a year ago, Lori had moved her sister into her apartment while Eric served a jail sentence for drug possession and spousal abuse. This hadn’t been the first time he’d smacked Gina around, but the first conviction. That was the reason they’d planned to move out of state when Lori had been notified about Lyle’s death.

“No, Gina, he doesn’t get out until the first of the month.”

“Maybe he got an early release.”

“Detective Rogers would have called you. You still have a few weeks.”

“What about you? Are you flying home soon?”

She knew this delay would worry Gina more. “I can’t yet. I still need to meet with the lawyer tomorrow.”

She heard a sigh. “I’m sorry, Lori. You’ve done so much for us. You have a life of your own.”

“No, Gina. You’re my sister. Zack is my nephew. I told you, I won’t let Eric hurt you again. But I still need a day or so to get things straightened out. Then hopefully we’ll have some money to start over and get away from Eric.” She prayed that her father had left her something. Since their mother had died a few years ago, there wasn’t anything holding them in Colorado Springs. They could go anywhere. “Think about where you and Zack want to move to.” Preferably somewhere they needed a second grade teacher.

“No, you decide, Lori. We’ll go anywhere you want. We just can’t stay here. I won’t survive it.”

Lori could hear the fear in her voice. “I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Now go get some sleep and give my special guy a kiss from me.”

Lori hung up the phone and hoped everything she said was true. Unlike Lyle Hutchinson, she didn’t walk away from family.

The next morning, Lori was up early. She was used to being at school ahead of her students to plan the day. Not anymore. Not since she’d gotten her pink slip at the start of the school year. She’d been told it was because of cutbacks and low enrollment, but she wondered if it was due to the trouble Eric had caused her at the upscale private school where she taught.

No, she couldn’t think about that now. She needed to have a clear head for the meeting. Was Lyle Hutchinson as wealthy as people said? Normally she wouldn’t care, but it could help both her and Gina relocate to another part of the country. Somewhere Gina could raise Zack without the fear of her ex-husband coming after her again. Enough money so Lori had time to find a job.

She drove her car to the end of First Street. A six-foot, wrought-iron fence circled the property that had belonged to the Hutchinsons for over the past hundred years. Her heart raced as she raised her eyes and saw the majestic, three-story white house perched on the hilltop surrounded by trees. Memories bombarded her as she eased past the stone pillars at the gate entrance. The gold plaque read Hutchinson House.

She drove along the hedge-lined circular drive toward the house. She looked over the vast manicured lawn and remembered running through the thick grass, and a swing hanging from a tree out back. She parked in front of the house behind a familiar truck of Jace Yeager. Oh, no. Was the man following her?

Then she saw him standing on the porch leaning against the ornate wrought-iron railing. He was dressed in jeans and a denim shirt and heavy work boots. Without any effort, this man managed to conjure up all sorts of fantasies that had nothing to do with business.

She pulled herself out of her daydream. What was he doing here?

He came down the steps to meet her.

She got out of her car. “Jace, is there a problem?”

He raised a hand in defense. “Mr. Bradley called me this morning. Said he needed me here for after the reading.”

Lori was confused. “Why?”

“I hope it’s to tell me it’s a go-ahead on the Mountain Heritage project.”

They started up the steps when she saw a man in a khaki work uniform come around the side porch. He looked to be in his late sixties, maybe seventies. When he got closer she saw something familiar.

“Uncle Charlie?”

The man’s weathered face brightened as he smiled. “You remember me, Miss Lorelei?”

“Of course I do. You built me my tree swing.” She felt tears sting her eyes. “You let me help plant flowers, too.”

He nodded and gripped her hands in his. “That was a lot of years ago, missy. You were a tiny bit of a thing.” His tired eyes locked on hers. “You’ve turned into a beautiful young lady.” His grip tightened. “I’m so sorry about your father.”

Before Lori could say anything more, another car pulled up. Paige Larkin stepped out of her SUV. Briefcase in hand, she walked up the steps toward them.

They shook hands and Paige spoke briefly to Charlie before the man walked off. Paige turned to Jace. “So you’ve been summoned, too.”

“I got a call from Bradley first thing this morning.”

Paige frowned. “Dennis must have a reason for wanting you here.” She turned back to her client. “Let’s not speculate until we hear what’s in Lyle’s will.”

Lori nodded and together they walked up to the large porch, where greenery filled the pots on either side of the wide door with the leaded glass panels.

She knew that her great-great-grandfather had built this house during the height of the mining era. It was said that Raymond Hutchinson never trusted banks. That was why he didn’t lose much during the Great Depression.

They went inside the huge entry with high-gloss hardwood floors. A crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling and underneath was a round table adorned with a large vase of fresh-cut flowers. The winding staircase circled up to the second story, the banister of hand-carved oak. Cream and deep maroon brocade wallpaper added a formality to the space.

Lori released a breath. “Oh, my.”

She was reminded of Jace’s presence when he let out a low whistle. “Nice.”

“Do you remember this house?” Paige asked.

“Not much. I spent most of my time in the sunroom off the kitchen.”

Paige shook her head. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes yours. And then you can go anywhere in it you want.”

Lori started to tell her she didn’t want any part of this house when a thin woman came rushing into the room. Her gray hair was pulled back into a bun. She looked familiar as she smiled and her hazel eyes sparkled. Lori suddenly recognized her.

“Maggie?” she managed to say.

The woman nodded with watery eyes. “Miss Lorelei.”

“I can’t believe it.” Lori didn’t hesitate, and went and hugged the woman. It felt good to be wrapped in the housekeeper’s arms again. Years ago, Maggie had been her nanny.

“It’s good to have you home.” The older woman stepped back and her gaze searched Lori’s face. “How pretty you are.”

Lori felt herself blush. She wasn’t used to all this attention. “Thank you, Maggie.”

The housekeeper turned sad. “I’m so sorry about your father.” Then squeezed her hands tighter. “I want you to know he went in his sleep. They said a heart attack. Maybe if we would have been there …”

Lori could only nod. “No. He couldn’t be helped.” She had no idea this would be so hard.

Dennis Bradley walked down the hall. “Good. You made it.” He turned and nodded toward Jace. “Mr. Yeager, would you mind waiting a few minutes until I’ve gone over the will with Ms. Hutchinson?”

“Not a problem.” He looked at Maggie and smiled. “I wonder if you could find a cup of coffee for me.”

“I’ll bring some out.”

Once she left, the lawyer said, “We should get started.”

He motioned them down the hall and into an office. Lori paused at the doorway. The walls were a deep green with dark stained wainscoting. The plush carpet was slate-gray. Bradley sat down behind the huge desk that already had a folder open.

After they were seated, the lawyer began, “I’ll read through Lyle’s requests. His first was that the will be read here at the family home.” He handed Paige and her copies. “We can go over any details later.”

The lawyer slipped on his glasses. “I don’t know if you knew that Lyle had remarried for a short time about ten years ago.”

Nothing about her father surprised her. She shook her head.

“There was a prenuptial agreement, then two years later a divorce.” He glanced down at the paper. “Lyle did have one other relative, a distant cousin who lives back in Ohio.” He read off the generous sum left to Adam Johnson. Also he read the amount given to the household staff, which included Maggie and Charlie.

“I’m glad my father remembered them,” Lori said.

Bradley smiled. “They were loyal to him for a lot of years.” He sighed. “Now, let’s move on to the main part of the will.

“Lyle Hutchinson has bequeathed to his only living child, Lorelei Marie Hutchinson, all his holdings in Hutchinson Corp.” He read off the businesses, including Destiny Community Bank, two silver mines, Sunny Hill and Lucky Day. There were six buildings on First Street, and this house at 100 North Street along with all its contents, the furnishings and artwork.

Lori was stunned. “Are you sure this is right?” She looked down at Paige’s copy to see the monetary amount stated. “My father was worth this much?”

Bradley nodded. “Lyle was a shrewd businessman. Maybe it was because your grandfather Billy lost nearly everything with his bad investments and eccentric living. Lyle spent years rebuilding the family name and recouping the money. And he also invested a lot into this town.”

Bradley looked at her, then at Paige. “Are there any questions?”

Lori gave a sideways glance to her lawyer.

“I probably will once we go over everything.”

Bradley nodded. “Call me whenever you need to. Now, for the rest I think Mr. Yeager should hear this. Do you have any objections, Lorelei?” With her agreement, he went to the door and had Jace come in.

He sat down in the chair next to Lori.

Bradley looked at Jace. “Whatever you thought, Mr. Yeager, Lyle went into the Heritage project honestly. The business complex was to promote more jobs and revenue for the town. He wasn’t trying to swindle you. As we all know, his death was sudden and unexpected.”

Jace nodded. “Of course I understand, but you have to see my side, too. I need to finish this job, get tenants in and paying rent.”

Bradley nodded and looked at Lori. “And that will happen if Lorelei will agree to the terms.”

“Of course I’ll agree to finish this project.”

“There is a stipulation in the will.” Bradley paused. “You are the last living heir in the Hutchinson line, Lorelei. And this town was founded by your great-great-grandfather, Raymond William Hutchinson, after he struck it rich mining gold and silver. But other business has been coming to Destiny and your father invested wisely. He wants you to continue the tradition.”

“And I will,” she promised. “I plan to release money right away so the work on Mountain Heritage complex can resume.”

Bradley exchanged a look with Paige, then continued on to say, “Everything your father left you is only yours if you take over as CEO of Hutchinson Corporation … and stay in Destiny for the next year.”

CHAPTER THREE

LORI had trouble catching her breath. Why? Why would her father want her to stay here to run his company?

“Are you all right?” Jace asked.

She nodded, but it was a lie. “Excuse me.” She got up and hurried from the room. Instead of going out the front door, she headed in the other direction.

She ended up in the large kitchen with rows of white cabinets and marble countertops. Of course it was different than she remembered. The old stove was gone, replaced with a huge stainless steel one with black grates.

Suddenly the smell of coffee assaulted her nose and she nearly gagged.

“Miss Lorelei, are you all right?”

She turned around to see a concerned Maggie. She managed a nod. “I just need some air.” She fought to walk slowly to the back door and stepped out onto the porch. She drew in a long breath of the brisk air and released it, trying to slow her rapidly beating heart.

Two weeks ago, she couldn’t say she even remembered her life here, or the father who hadn’t had any time for her. Then the call came about Lyle’s death, and she’d been swept up into a whirlwind of emotions and confusion. She couldn’t even get herself to visit his grave site.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She turned around and found Jace standing in the doorway. A shiver ran through her and she pulled her sweater coat tighter around her. “You were there. Would you be okay?”

He came to the railing. “Hell, with that kind of money, I could solve a lot of problems.”

She caught a hint of his familiar scent, soap and just his own clean manly smell. She shifted away. She didn’t need him distracting her, or his opinion.

“Easy for you to say, your life is here, and you wouldn’t have to pull up and move.” Lori stole a glance at him. “Or have Lyle Hutchinson running that life.”

Jace didn’t know the exact amount of money Lyle had left his daughter, but knew it had to be sizable from the investigation Jace had done before he’d entered into the Mountain Heritage project. And he needed that project to move ahead, no matter what he had to do. “It’s only a year out of your life.”

She glared at him. “That I have no control of.”

He studied her face. She was pretty with her small straight nose and big brown eyes. His attention went to her mouth and her perfectly formed lips. He glanced away from the distraction.

Yet, how could he not worry about Lorelei Hutchinson when her decision could put his own livelihood in jeopardy? His other concern was having any more delays, especially when the weather could be a problem. This was business. Only.

“Look, I get it that you and your father had problems, but you can’t change that now. He put you in charge of his company. Surely you can’t walk away.”

She sent him another piercing look. “My father didn’t have a problem walking away from his daughter.”

He tried to tell himself she wasn’t his problem. Then he remembered if she didn’t take over the company, then that was exactly what he’d have to do. Walk away from Cassie. “Then don’t walk away like he did. This town needs Hutchinson Corporation to exist.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

He sat on the porch railing facing her. “I know it’s a three-hundred-mile move from Colorado Springs, but you’ll have a great income and a place to live.” He nodded toward the house. Then he remembered. “I know you’ll have to give up your teaching job.”

She glanced out at the lawn. “That I don’t have to worry about. I was laid off when the school year started. I have my résumé out in several places.”