An Eye for an Eye: Zach and Katie's Story (Redwood Falls) (24 page)

"I already know everything you're telling me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"That's good." He studied her as if trying to delve into her psyche and read her thoughts. "When we get back home, where you'll have your family surrounding you and you feel completely safe, we'll talk."

"Okay."

At her agreement, Katie sat motionless as he lifted a finger and smoothed it slowly down her cheek. Then he leaned in and kissed her so softly and gently that it completely belied every harsh word he'd just spoken.

Zach loved her
.
She could feel it; it was true
. Katie bit her lip and focused on that truth as she tried to calm her unease over what she was about to say. "Before this goes any further, I really want to tell you; I want you to know. But try to understand that I don't like to talk about it. I hate even thinking about it. But I realize that you need to know." She plucked at a button on her shirt before she began talking again. "I'm going to say this as simply as I can and please,
please
, don't ask me any questions. Maybe we can do questions another time . . . but not today."

At his nod, she looked away from his eyes. She would recite this to the airplane window, not to Zach, and then maybe she could get through it. "High school was pretty normal for me, at least the first three years. I had a boyfriend. One boyfriend. As I look back on it, I'm not exactly proud of it, but I was having sex with him. Just him. And it was okay. I thought I loved him, but we had a big fight and broke up. He started dating another girl. I was still hurting from the break-up, but guys began asking me out. After a couple of months, I finally accepted. It was the first date I ever had with anyone other than my ex-boyfriend." She stopped talking, nerves making her tap her fingers repeatedly. At his silence, she continued. "It was supposed to be a movie. But he drove down to the river, and there wasn't anything I could do about it." She cleared her throat. "Have you ever heard the term
date rape
?"

Zach hissed an expletive and tossed back the bourbon he'd been nursing since the flight attendant had delivered it. "Who the fuck was it?"

"I don't even want to voice his name. I haven't dated since it happened." She finally turned away from the window and looked at him. "I haven't been alone with a man since it happened." She gave him a slightly accusing look that she couldn't control. "Except for you."

The accusation in her eyes almost killed him, but God willing, he'd have years to make it up to her. Anger unlike anything Zach had ever experienced, including what he had felt for his ex-wife and Chris Turner, boiled up inside him. His hands clenched at his sides and a red mist swam before him. He wanted to kill the bastard who had done this to her. And he
would
find out who it was. That was a given. But for now, even though he had a thousand questions rolling in his brain, he couldn't ask them. He had agreed to that, and something inside of him wanted Katie to know she could trust him in all things. Above all else, Katie
had
to trust him.

He took a few calming breaths as the silence that beat between them began penetrating the fog in his brain. "Okay, sweetheart. That's enough for now. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but you were right, I needed to know."

Chapter Thirteen

As the plane touched down in Dallas, Zach told her that they were going to Redwood Falls, but he coached it as a suggestion. He should have realized he wouldn't have any disagreement from Katie. She was anxious to get home to visit her parents and most of all, to see the newlyweds.

They picked his car up from the airport and arrived just as the sun was setting.

He pulled in front of the Turner home and Katie put her hand on the door handle and turned to look at him. "When . . . when will I see you?"

Relief, total and mind consuming, spread through Zach. "Just as soon as you're ready."

"Are you going to be at the ranch? Or are you going back to town?"

"At the ranch."

She gave him a tiny smile. "Okay."

He couldn't stop himself; he reached over and ran his fingers down a thick lock of her hair. "Okay, sweetheart."

When she leaned over and placed a simple kiss on his lips, the first true beat of happiness that Zach had felt in years pulsed through him.

She lifted her mouth from his and opened the door. Without his brain giving permission, his hand reached out and delayed her. "I hope you'll be ready tomorrow."

Her eyes flared and something inexplicable passed between them. "I imagine I will be."

With that, he watched her jump from the vehicle and run up the front path to her house.

****

Redwood Falls, Texas; The Turner Farm

Katie slammed into the house and the first person she saw was her mother who wore the same thrilled look that all mothers wore when they saw their child for the first time in several months.
"Baby! You're home!"

Katie laughed and rushed into her arms. "I am," she agreed happily.

She emerged from the tight hug and looked down at her smaller mother. "Where's everybody?"

"The guys are around here somewhere. Hannah went to town to visit Ava. Did you have fun with Angela?"

At the same moment her mother asked that question, from her peripheral vision, Katie saw Josh walk inside from the mudroom. "Angela,
right."
he mumbled.

Her mother frowned and Katie looked at Josh with narrowed eyes. She'd completely forgotten the story she'd told her parents.
"You rat."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Your father was standing in the barn and saw you climb from McIntyre's car. Besides, you're a grown woman. Own up to where you've been."

Katie gave Josh a last blistering stare before turning back to her mother. "I'm sorry I lied to y'all." Katie studied her mom solemnly. "I was with Zach McIntyre."

Diana Turner's face paled and she looked over at Josh and they shared a look of silent communication that held worry and something else that Katie couldn't identify, but she could absolutely guess at. They didn't trust Zach and were worried about her. And she could hardly blame them.

"Should we wait until Dad gets here before we talk about this?" Katie asked.

Her mother was shaking her head frantically. "Dear God, no. We can't tell him. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Katie studied the older woman and decided to put her fears to rest. "Mom, Zach isn't going to foreclose on the farm. He's going to extend the loan with payments that he assured me y'all will never have trouble making."

Her mother and Josh began speaking at the same time and all hell seemed to break loose.

"We've already paid off the loan," her mother said.

"When did he decide to do that, Katie?
After
I talked to him on the phone?" Josh growled.

Her mother turned to Josh. "You talked to him?"

"Yeah, I told him we were going to pay off the loan and he told me he had Katie."

"
He had Katie?"
Her mom shrieked, horrified.

"I'm fine, Mom." Katie was totally floored and looked back to Josh. "Where did we get the money to pay him off?"

"Evidently, my
dear
father
didn't have enough time to spend all the money before he died." Josh's countenance darkened; Katie knew he hated even remembering the man who'd abused him. "It was found in an inactive account at the bank with my name on it."

Katie was dumbfounded. "That's . . . that's wonderful."
Now
she understood Josh's earlier question.
When exactly
had
Zach told her he would extend better terms to her parents? As she tried to remember, a ribbon of unease slid down her spine. In her mind, Zach had pretty much redeemed himself ever since he'd found out about her attack. But was that true? Had he redeemed himself? Or was she still being made a victim of his manipulations?

She thought hard about the timeline at the beach house.

It was definitely before. He'd definitely told her
before
his conversation with Josh.

Thank God. Katie instantly felt a trickle of guilt for doubting him, but she brushed it away. Zach
had
manipulated her in the past, so she would forgive herself for doubting him now.

She focused on her cousin and answered his original question. "It was before. He for sure told me that he was bringing me home and extending the loan
before
he spoke to you."

Josh crossed his arms over his chest and curtly nodded his head as he held his body rigidly. "That's good. But I promise you, Katie. If I find out otherwise, I'll beat the living shit out of him."

Katie shivered at Josh's words. He sounded completely serious, and nothing good could come from the two men being adversaries. And a physical fight between them? Just the thought of it made her blood congeal. If it came to that, they'd kill each other before either one gave in. "He's sorry for what he did," As Katie said those words, she realized that she believed it. She wasn't just trying to soothe things over with Josh and her mother, she really believed that Zach felt remorse.

Josh stiffened his shoulders. "So you say. Time will tell."

****

The Bar M Ranch

When Zach got to the ranch, everything was quiet on the inside of the house. The kitchen and living room were deserted, and the floor creaked as he walked down the hall. He could hear his stepmother humming softly, off-key, from the master suite. The sounds of his childhood home soothing him, Zach continued walking until he was standing in front of his father's study.

He reached out to tap on the already opened door, but his father must have heard him because he looked up and his expression softened when he saw Zach standing there.

Zach breathed in deeply. He and his father had gone through some tough times after they'd lost Zach's mom, but since his dad had found Janet, Jeffrey McIntyre had been a happy man.

"
Son,"
his father greeted him in a booming voice.

Zach faced him across the room. "What's going on?"

"Come in here and sit down," he father offered, tossing his pen down as if everything else could wait.

Zach walked in and sat in one of the chairs that flanked his father's desk. He casually looked around the room, and the memory of that night from years past, when he'd cornered Katie in here and proceeded to decimate her with both his actions and his words, pierced his heart with guilt. He didn't know if he could ever be in this room again without remembering.

"Are you home for awhile?" Jeff McIntyre asked him and it was obvious from his tone that he wanted the answer to be affirmative.

"I don't know. At least for tonight."

"Good, good. How's it been going? Did you get the consortium lined out?" Jeff steepled his fingers together and leaned back in his chair.

Zach nodded distractedly. "Yeah, I did."

"I knew you would."

Zach took a deep breath. "I have some stuff I need to run by you. You got a minute?"

His father's gaze intensified as he came to attention. "Sure. Janet's dyeing her hair and painting her nails and all that female shit she thinks she needs to do. We've got a while."

Zach nodded and tried to think of where to start. "Hannah completely blew me away when she came to see me last week."

A startled look came over Jeff's face. "You okay to talk about this?"

Zach stared at his father and shook his head in disgust.
"Crap
. How fucking fragile do you people believe I am? How could y'all have hidden all this shit from me for all these years?"

"We didn't know she was getting married, son. She just did it. And all I can say is that you were grieving, grieving badly, and the time never seemed quite right to tell you that your only sister was involved with the son of the man who had a hand in breaking up your marriage. I hope that one day, you'll be able to forgive us for not telling you. Our hearts were in the right place, even if we did screw up."

Zach nodded in acceptance of the apology. "Chris Turner didn't break up my marriage. It was on the rocks long before he came into the picture."

"I'm glad you've come far enough to be able to see that. Trust me, it took me a while to figure that out as well. But in case you're wondering, Josh is a good boy . . . well, he's a man now. But when all this started, he was little more than a boy."

Zach felt the need to confess or show his remorse or whatever the hell he was feeling. "I'm not proud of myself for turning my anger on the Turner family."

"I know you're not," Jeff answered, as if letting his son get some much-needed stuff off his chest.

"Katie Turner . . . " Zach began and then abruptly stopped, not knowing where he was going with this or how to say it.

"What about her? She's a good girl. She's been through a lot."