Hard Fall by Brenda Rothert

Chapter Twenty-Three

Wes

South Beach was a fucking shit show. Even on a Monday night in early May, the streets, restaurants, and hotels were packed. My parents had flown in to spend a few weeks at their condo there and with nothing to do in St. Louis, I’d flown down to join them. I hadn’t seen them in over a year since they’d spent the holidays in Europe last year, and it had been nice catching up for a couple of days.

I was over it now, though. My mother was pulling out all the stops to find me a wife, calling pretty much everyone she knew with an eligible daughter that might pique my interest. It was like a revolving door of debutantes, parading past my lounger at the pool, stopping by our dinner table at restaurants, and even dropping by unannounced at my parents’ condo. At first, I hadn’t realized what was going on since my parents had a lot of friends here, but I’d finally caught on and now I was just annoyed and resigned.

“Seriously, Mom, enough,” I told her, after yet another potential future Mrs. Kirby stopped by our table at lunch.

“Really? Not even Rosalie?” she asked in disappointment, daintily dabbing her lips with her napkin. “She graduated from Yale, has a degree in engineering, and is going to be on three European magazine covers next month. What more could you possibly want? Brains, money, and beauty?”

I sighed. “The last thing I want right now is a woman.”

Dad arched his brows. “Is there something you need to tell us?”

It took me a second, but then I realized what he meant and chuckled. “No, Dad. I’m still straight. What I meant was, I have feelings for someone else and another woman isn’t going to make those feelings go away. Not this soon anyway.”

“Hadley.” Mom fixed me with a look. “All right, it appears we’ve missed quite a bit over the last several months. Why don’t you catch us up on exactly what’s been happening since losing Ben and Lauren.” My parents had known Ben almost as well as his parents knew me.

“It started out sad and overwhelming and hard as fuck,” I said, staring out at the busy street. “It turned into a family, with two people who adore those babies and potentially each other. Then fucking Patrick and Susan stepped in trying to make us look bad, got temporary custody of the kids, and ruined fucking everything.”

“That’s a lot of fucking for so few sentences,” Mom said, chuckling. “So you’re upset about losing the kids. Do you really want to go back to that kind of responsibility? Seems to me this was your out.”

“I don’t want or need an out,” I growled. “I love those kids and I’m falling hard for Hadley too. I need them and they need me.”

“You’re sure?” Dad gave me a stern look.

“Yes!” I threw up my hands. “What do you want me to do to prove it, sacrifice a virgin to the gods?”

Dad smiled. “Not necessary. But if this is what you want, I don’t understand what you’re doing in Florida then.”

“What do you mean? The judge gave them temporary custody and—”

“What I mean is, you’re a Kirby. My son. You have both your own wealth as well as money in a trust from us. Why aren’t you using your resources to put those people in their place?”

“I hired an attorney with a fantastic reputation for family law and he didn’t do shit,” I protested. “I don’t know how this happened.”

“Technically, you and Hadley were supposed to decide which of you was getting the kids,” Mom reminded me. “I’m guessing the judge wanted to light a fire under the two of you to make that decision.”

“She’s decided to go back to New York,” I admitted quietly. “And I let her go because her career is important to her.”

“What does she do?” Mom asked.

“She’s an editor at Willow—”

“Willow?!” Mom exclaimed. “That’s one of my favorite magazines! I didn’t realize she was part of it.”

“Yeah, and she’s busted her ass to get where she is, but she couldn’t keep working remotely from St. Louis. She had to make a choice and I guess the judge made it for her.”

“I thought you were a couple now?” Dad asked in confusion. “Or was that just convenience?”

I scratched my chin. “It’s a gray area. I thought we were getting somewhere with it, too. We’d just gotten to a point where things felt…serious. Then shit hit the fan. I don’t know what to do at this point.”

“Have you told her how you feel?” Dad asked pointedly.

“Well, no, but—”

“Did you really expect a successful young woman like that to give up everything without some kind of promise? A proclamation of love, a ring, something to let her know you’re serious?” My father looked equal parts amused and annoyed.

I gave him a dirty look. “Last time we talked, you were telling me to forget the gold-digging wannabe journalist and walk away.”

“Well, I hadn’t checked her out yet then.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “You did a background check on Hadley?”

“Of course. Once I realized you were serious about this whole situation, I needed to make sure she was what you thought she was.”

“And?” I asked dryly. There was no point being pissed; what was done was done.

“There were no red flags. She has no criminal record, no bankruptcies, no messy or public entanglements or affairs, her bank account is modest but respectable and—”

“Ugh. Stop.” I held up a hand. “Thanks. I know why you did it, but I don’t want to know anything else. It feels dirty.”

“That’s your problem, son. You don’t know the difference between dirty and important. I didn’t hurt her. I merely made sure she wasn’t hiding anything that could hurt you. And now you need to grow a pair and take on the Whitmers the way Ben and I would want you to—you’re not out to hurt them, but you’re going to get those kids. Do you want me to get the ball rolling?”

I looked him right in the eyes without an ounce of hesitation. “Yes.”

He smiled. “Watch and learn, son. Watch and learn.” He picked up his phone and sent someone a text. “We’ll have a handle on this by supper.”

It was almost comical to see my dad at work. It wasn’t that I couldn’t handle what was going on with the custody battle, but simply that I didn’t operate in the world of cutthroat business like he did. He chewed entire corporations up and spit them out before breakfast most days, and that just wasn’t me, so I tended to do things my way. However, for Annalise and Benny, I was more than willing to let him do some of the heavy lifting.

“And while your dad is handling the custody situation,” Mom said to me, “you’re going to have to figure out what you want with Hadley.”

“I want custody of the kids,” I responded automatically. “Once I’ve taken care of that, I’ll work on getting Hadley back.”

“Multitasking, son,” Dad chuckled. “It’s a skill you need in business and in life.”

“Wesley!” A tall, stacked brunette with dark red lips and long red fingernails came running in my direction.

Fuuuuuck. I’d hooked up with her a couple of years ago when I was visiting my folks, but now I didn’t even remember her name.

“Heyyyy…” I held out a hand to her to try and head her off but she wasn’t having it, throwing her arms around my neck and kissing the side of my face.

“Dolores.” Mom gave her a cold smile. “It’s good to see you, dear, but we’re in the middle of lunch.”

“Wesley, you’re here and you didn’t call.” She was still clinging to my neck.

“It’s Weston,” I said, giving my mother a pleading look.

“Dolores, I think you’re choking him,” Mom said. “Now go on back to your table so we can eat, and you and Wes can talk later.”

“I’ll call you in an hour!” Dolores said, pressing her lips to mine, though I turned my head at the last minute, so she caught the corner of my mouth instead.

“That girl.” Mom shook her head. “I’m going to have a word with her mother. Dolores is a grown woman, but she acts like a teenager.”

“This is your fault,” I grumbled. “You had to put the word out that I was in the market.”

“Well, how was I to know you’d fallen for this friend of Lauren’s? You have to tell me these things, Weston.”

Technically, I didn’t, but I wasn’t going to point that out.

I spoketo two different lawyers the next day. One was my father’s personal attorney who handled everything my father dealt with outside his business dealings, and then a woman he handpicked to handle this for me. Her name was Regina Rittenhouse and when I looked her up online, she was badass. We spent several hours on the phone getting her up to speed on the case and then I had Tim email her copies of everything from the will to the temporary custody agreement.

“This shouldn’t be a big problem,” Regina said after she’d reviewed everything. “I don’t see any reason for the judge to go against the parents’ wishes, but you do need to be clear that you’re taking custody and that Hadley is on board.”

“I’ll call her today,” I said, though the thought made me cringe a little. We hadn’t spoken since she’d been back in New York beyond a text telling me she’d arrived okay and then a subsequent one with a funny and insulting meme directed at Liz. That had been the last time, though, and then I’d traveled to Miami so I hadn’t had anything to text her about anyway.

“I think it’s important that Hadley come to the next hearing, so the judge understands that this is all on the up-and-up and not you pulling a fast one to get custody back.”

“That’s Monday, right?” I asked, opening the calendar program on my phone since she was on speaker.

“Yes. I’ll fly in from Chicago that morning and we can meet at Mr. Sutton’s office since we’re working together on this.”

“Technically, you’re in charge.”

“He understands that,” she said. “Don’t worry, just leave it all to me.”

“No offense, Ms. Rittenhouse, but I left it all to Tim Sutton and this is where it got me.”

“Yes, but Mr. Sutton is not me, and believe me, when you get my bill, you’ll understand why it’s so high.”

I chuckled. “I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

“Excellent. See you Monday. If there’s any issue with Hadley being there, let me know immediately, because that changes my strategy.”

“I’ll call her now.” I disconnected and had just switched to the screen with my “favorites,” where the people I called most often were listed, when my phone alerted me I had another call coming in.

Susan Whitmer.

Fuck me.

I took a deep breath before answering, hoping my voice didn’t reflect my irritation. “Hello, Susan.”

“Wes!” She sounded frantic. “Where’s Annalise? Do you have her?!”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded. “Of course, I don’t have her. I’m on vacation in Miami.”

“Do you swear?” She sounded like she was about to cry. “If you have her, just say so because I’m on the verge of a heart attack.”

“Susan, I’m in Miami with my parents. Annalise is supposed to be in St. Louis with you. What the fuck is going on?!”

“She’s gone, Wes! We thought she was playing hide and seek or something, and now it’s been hours and we’ve looked everywhere and all I could hope was that you took her…”

“No, I didn’t fucking take her.” My own heart rate had just kicked up to full speed. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

“She’s been…difficult.” Susan took a breath. “Asking for you and Hadley constantly, all day, every day. She doesn’t do anything I say, won’t eat what I prepare, and it’s been a challenge. This morning she threw her bowl of oatmeal across the room so I…put her in the corner.” She took a shaky breath. “I told her it would be fifteen minutes. That’s what it said online for her age. I looked it up after you and Hadley—”

“Susan!” I took a breath. “Focus.”

“I, I’m sorry. So Patrick went to the store for me and I went upstairs to get Benny and when I came down she was gone. I thought she was just being naughty, so I didn’t chase her right away. I figured she was in her room playing and maybe it would give us both time to calm down. It was probably half an hour before I went looking for her. Patrick and I were going to sit her down, talk to her, and then we couldn’t find her.”

“How long has she been gone?” I demanded.

“Four hours.”

“Have you called the police?!”

“N-no…I truly thought she’d called you and you had come and picked her up, just to frighten us or make us angry or something. You really don’t have her?”

“You want to talk to my mother?” I yelled. “Jesus fucking Christ, no, I don’t have her!” I was so loud my mother came running into the room, looking at me worriedly.

Susan burst into tears.

The next few minutes were chaotic as I disconnected with her and immediately called Nash to get the local guys on the job of scouring the neighborhood for her, as well as Britney since it was likely Annalise would go to her if she was lost or scared.

I called Hadley on the way to the airport.

“Wes.” She sounded surprised and exhausted.

“Annalise is missing,” I said abruptly.

“What?”

I told her what had happened.

“Are you kidding me? They fucking lost her?” Hadley sounded about as furious as I was.

“I’m on my way to the airport. I got a last-minute seat on a flight, but it’ll still be hours before I get home.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“I’ll be at the airport in a couple of minutes,” I said, “so it might be easier for me to book it for you in person with a ticket agent since they’ll see openings right away.”

“I’m going to leave for the airport now.”

“I’ll call you back.”

I disconnected and stared out at the city, but I didn’t see anything. All I heard was Ben’s voice in my head.

“Find her, Wes. Find my baby girl.”