After the Storm: Midseason Episode 1 (Rising Storm) Read online

  He just had to see Celeste through one more tragedy and perhaps then he could find his happiness.

  As he kissed her, their mouths fusing together, Kristin realized that sometimes miracles were delivered in the oddest of packages and one person’s tragedy could be another’s salvation.

  She kissed her man and let her worries float away, concentrating only on him.

  Chapter Five

  Payton glanced up at the clock as she heard the sound of an engine revving. Almost five o’clock. Well, they’d survived day one and Marcus and Brittany were heading out to the pub in Marcus’s Impala. Brittany almost never drove her BMW anymore. She preferred to let Marcus take her around town.

  Young love. She hoped it worked out. Marcus was a fine young man. Unfortunately his sense of honor wouldn’t mean a lot in the face of the obstacles that would inevitably get thrown their way. They were from different worlds and while it didn’t bother Payton, she knew it would some others in her family. Brittany would be pressured to find the “right” boy. Like Payton had been. Her “right” boy had turned out to be more trouble than he was worth.

  “Are they off?” Francine stepped into the living room, two glasses of wine in her hands.

  How comfortable she was in this house with its feminine touches and unpretentious airs. This house was very much like Francine, and it had proven to be a refuge from the storm. With a smile, she took the glass of Pinot. They’d indulged in one at lunch, but she rather thought they would go through a bit more this evening. “Yes. I hope it goes well. Marcus thinks she should start trying to find some normalcy, but I know how hard this is going to be on her.”

  “How hard is it on you?” Francine was always worried about her.

  Surprisingly, it wasn’t so bad. “I’ve always known Sebastian cheated.”

  “But now it’s out in the world.”

  She brushed that off. “It’s always been there. It’s not a real surprise to anyone. He’s a politician. Scandals like this are a dime a dozen. It will blow over eventually.”

  “I don’t understand why he would choose such young girls. What on earth appeal do they have?” Francine asked. “Women are so much more interesting.”

  Of course they were, but then Sebastian wasn’t looking for a woman who challenged him. “This isn’t about finding a companion. It’s about sex.”

  Francine’s eyes came up, a light glinting off them. “I was talking about that, too.”

  Payton’s breath caught and her heart rate sped up. They couldn’t talk about this. Not now. But it appeared they might. Could Francine possibly be saying what Payton thought she was saying? She was saved from making the decision by the sound of a car coming to a stop in the drive. She turned, expecting to see Brittany running back in to retrieve something she’d forgotten.

  Instead she saw her mother-in-law exit her stately luxury sedan and look up at the house with a shake of her head.

  “How did she find us?” Francine asked with a little gasp.

  “Don’t you know Satan has a very good sense of direction?” Payton shook her head. Where had her manners gone? “Sorry. I’m sure she’s talked to Brittany or Jeffry. Or they really could have a locator on my phone. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

  The doorbell rang, a pleasant chiming sound that ran counter to the chaos that was about to rain down on Payton’s peaceful day.

  “I’ll deal with her. Why don’t you go and check on the roast?”

  Francine frowned but walked toward the kitchen anyway. “I left the bottle on the bar. You might need it.”

  She might indeed. Steeling herself, she walked to the door and opened it, giving her mother-in-law what she hoped was her brightest smile. “Hello, Marylee. What brings you all the way out here?”

  Marylee’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Are you serious? What brings me out here is the damn apocalypse. The world is falling down on my boy’s head and you’re out here in the country drinking wine. You better have another bottle because I need one after the day I’ve had.”

  Marylee strode in like she owned the place. She glanced around and immediately found the bar, homing in on the extra glasses. She poured herself an exceptionally large amount. So that was how she managed to say she only drank a glass of wine a day. She managed to get most of a bottle in one glass. She took a long drink and then sighed. “Do you have any idea how bad the situation is?”

  “My husband slept with two girls whose ages when added together barely make my own, and he also managed to father a child with one of them. Yes, I think I understand how serious the implications are.”

  “Why? I’ve been asking him all morning. Why on God’s green earth would he choose those girls? The blonde has a sluttiness about her I’m sure calls to all men, but the Moreno girl? She’s a little mouse from what I can tell. I tried to explain to him that if he needed to dip his wick somewhere, it better be with a girl who could be on a magazine cover. He’s brought shame on all of us.”

  Payton actually had to bite back a laugh. Marylee wasn’t truly upset with Sebastian’s affairs, merely that he’d had them with what she would consider trashy girls. That summed up her mother-in-law nicely. “We should also consider the fact that those girls were truly hurt.”

  Marylee waved that thought off. “Oh, they were little sirens calling to a powerful man. I’m sure they thought they would get some money or something out of it.”

  “One of those girls was Brittany’s best friend.”

  “Which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Brit has horrible taste in people, and we need to make sure to steer her in the right direction. Tell me she wasn’t in that horrible car that I passed on my way here. I didn’t know those things were still allowed on the road.”

  Marcus’s Impala was in pristine condition. It would be considered a classic, but she wasn’t going to waste time explaining that to her mother-in-law. “She’s going out.”

  Marylee nodded, though her hair didn’t move at all. As always, that gray helmet had been sprayed so it formed an immovable statement of will. “That’s good. We shouldn’t be hiding. We should be out in the world with our heads held high and explaining to anyone who will listen that the little blonde chippy was trying to extort money from us and when we refused, she made up a terrible story meant to bring a good man down.”

  Had her mother-in-law been drinking more than wine? “Did you nip into the White Lightning Sebastian hides in his desk?”

  Marylee shuddered. “Heavens no. I’m fairly certain Cooder puts things in that no person should consume. And I’m serious. We can’t sit around and wait. The people need to know the truth.”

  “The truth is Sebastian had affairs with those girls. I’m sure there are plenty more who would be willing to come forward with the truth if they need to.”

  Marylee took another long drink of wine, and she seemed to find the floor deeply interesting.

  “Marylee? You can’t think I’m a fool. I know Sebastian’s been having affairs with his interns for years. Not a single one of those girls he hires has any real interest in politics.”

  “I’m just saying that they won’t come forward.”

  “Please tell me you and Sebastian didn’t have them killed or shipped to someplace where they can’t talk.” She actually wouldn’t put it past them.

  “Of course not. I’ve found that when cleaning up after my son, having an ironclad nondisclosure agreement along with a nice-sized check keeps everything proper. I don’t think that will work on the Alvarez girl, though.” Marylee sighed and sat down, looking oddly incongruous in the comfortable, shabby chic setting around her. “I didn’t know about these two. I swear I didn’t.”

  Payton took the seat across from her mother-in-law. “I didn’t either. I wouldn’t have suspected he would choose girls from Storm. I thought he was smarter than that.”

  She’d counted on him being discreet. For years she’d stood in the background, turning a blind eye to everything that man did. She’d done it for her fam
ily and the life they were building. In some ways she’d done it because she simply didn’t care enough about anything else. She’d been content to play her role because there hadn’t been some grand ambition in her life. She hadn’t minded Sebastian’s frequent affairs because it had kept him out of her bed. Brittany and Jeffry had been enough. Being their mom had been her life’s work.

  A low hum came from the kitchen. Francine had turned on the radio in there, soft music emanating from the room.

  What if she could have more? Be more? What if she finally found that one thing she wanted?

  “I swear that men get stupider with age. At least their dicks do.”

  Payton gasped. She’d never heard Marylee speak so frankly. “Marylee!”

  “No, there’s no room for ladylike wording now. We’re at DEFCON One and it’s up to you and me to fix this. Sebastian’s dick has always been dumb as dirt and it’s losing IQ points as we speak. If we’re going to come out of this, it’s going to take the two of us and a well-crafted plan to get the truth out.”

  “The truth is already out.”

  “The truth, my dear, is very flexible, and it tends to bend toward the person with the greatest will. That’s lesson number one in politics. I know you’ve been happy to sit on the sidelines and let me steer Sebastian’s career up until now.”

  “I’m not sure I would say I was happy about it.”

  “Don’t play word games, Payton. You’ve never cared much about anything but the children and I respect you for that, but there’s a good brain in that pretty head. I didn’t select you because I thought you were vacuous. I always knew it could come to this. So we have to stay united. I understand you’re upset with Sebastian and I’ve come here to tell you that he won’t ever stray again.”

  Payton stared at her mother-in-law.

  “Fine, he’ll be discreet from now on. I’ll be watching his every move. I’m going to be so far up that boy’s business that he won’t have time to get a hard-on. And I swear I’ve already told his physician that if he ever prescribes my son one of those little blue pills, there will be hell to pay. Damn doctors. Men don’t need any help. When it’s over, it’s over. Do you think when my girl parts dried up that I complained? No. I didn’t because I’m a woman and I know when it’s time to move on.”

  “I don’t think a promise of discretion from Sebastian is going to fix this. Besides, I’m not emotionally invested in your son. I didn’t spend the night weeping over our marriage.” No, she’d cried for Celeste and for what her sister had lost. She’d felt the pain of her sister losing Jacob all over again.

  “Another reason I chose you. I knew you wouldn’t get confused by all that love nonsense the kids spout these days. Too many romance novels, I swear. My mother never let me read those things and I was all the better for it.”

  “I’m not angry for myself. I’m very angry for my children.”

  Marylee lost her bluster. “I know. I can’t imagine how hard this is for them.”

  “They’re devastated. They love their father.”

  “Which is why we have to make this right for them. Can’t you see? I thought you saw things my way when I heard you’d fired the blonde girl. What was she doing working at our bank anyway? Isn’t there some sort of test they can give the tellers to make sure they’re not slutty?”

  Marylee was a little behind on HR standards. “I fired her because it made me feel better. I also informed our lawyers since she’ll very likely sue.”

  “All the more reason to go after her in the press. Look, the Moreno girl won’t be a problem. She’s got a good sense of shame, that one does. I could see it in her yesterday. She’ll take her check and keep her mouth shut when the time comes. I’ve already got a lab ready to claim the DNA doesn’t match. We’ll pin it all on the blonde and everyone gets to go back to normal. Even the kids. Sebastian hasn’t talked to them. We’ll all sit down and explain that this was a horrible, vindictive employee who was angry about her last performance review and she was taking it out on their father.”

  “I don’t think they’ll believe that.”

  “They will if we sell it right. The world will believe it.” Marylee set down her glass. “Payton, this isn’t the time to change things. We have to stand together as a united front and that means you need to come home.”

  Payton shook her head. “No. We need more time. The kids need more time to process this.”

  “They need to be with their family. Jeffry isn’t even here. He’s all alone out there.”

  “He’s with friends.”

  “And Brittany’s here when she should be sitting down with her father asking him some hard questions.”

  “Which apparently he will lie about.”

  “I want you to think long and hard about how we handle this situation, Payton. I need you to do what you do best—think of your family first. How is Sebastian losing his seat and not being able to run for governor going to help your family? How is it going to help your children? If we allow this to stand, there will always be a cloud hanging over those kids’ heads. And what exactly will Sebastian do with his time? He’ll come home and be with you, of course. Can you think of anything worse than that?”

  It sent a chill along her spine. She really couldn’t think of anything worse than a retired and bored Sebastian Rush. “He could get a job.”

  “No one will hire a disgraced senator with no other skills than managing to get himself sober enough to vote the party line. No. We put all our eggs in one basket a very long time ago and now we have to deal with it,” Marylee said with one last drink. She stood and reached for her Prada bag with a little huff. “You know what I’m telling you is true. For your children and their future, for your own self, you have to come home and stand beside your husband. You can have another day or two, but after that it will all fall apart and there won’t be any going back. And good job on firing the Alvarez girl.”

  “So you do know her name.”

  Marylee’s lips pursed in disdain. “Of course. I know the names of all who threaten me and mine. I know my enemies and I take care of them. She’ll discover she’s being evicted from her apartment later today. I now own the mortgage on that building.” Her eyes gleamed. “I actually feel the urge to invest in more real estate, too.”

  Likely any place that might rent to Dakota Alvarez. Despite how the girl had turned everything upside down, Payton felt sorry for her. She’d thought she had some small power, and her inlaws were about to prove to the girl how the world really worked. “Let’s say I do come home and agree to this insane plan to refute what Dakota said. How will we make sure the papers print it as anything but a joke? You can’t make people believe just based on your word alone. Or rather Sebastian’s. His word means nothing in this town right now.”

  A nasty smile lit Marylee’s face. “Oh, but I know where all the skeletons are buried, dear. If the good folks of this town won’t believe Sebastian, then I’ll find him someone they will believe to make his case. I’ll fix this one way or another. And I’ll talk to you tomorrow. When you return, expect Sebastian to be on his best behavior. I still have high hopes for this family, Payton. You and I, we’re the ones who will see this through. Behind every successful man is a bunch of women who sacrificed everything to ensure he didn’t screw up. That’s what my mother taught me. I love my son so we need to do our duty and clean up his mess. Good-bye, Payton.”

  She sat completely still for a moment until she heard the door close.

  “Are you all right?” Francine walked in, taking the seat beside Payton.

  She’d thought she could have a little longer here, but some of what Marylee had said was true. And beyond that, if she wasn’t around to lend her voice, she wasn’t sure what would happen to the people of this town. Marylee could start a fire that would make Dakota’s look like a matchstick.

  “No,” she admitted. “I thought I might be for a little while, but no.”

  * * * *

  Dakota parked her car outsid
e of Murphy’s and wondered briefly if she would even be allowed inside. The lights looked homey and inviting and she remembered so many times her dad would take her and she would feel all grown up. Yes, Murphy’s served alcohol, but it was a true pub in the style of the old Irish places. It was a spot for families to gather and neighbors to engage.

  Maybe there was a town law now that stated Dakota Alvarez was locked out of any place she enjoyed. It wouldn’t surprise her. She was apparently going to be locked out of her apartment in a couple of days. It seemed to be the day for the world to kick her.

  After she’d been fired by her manager with no explanation other than she’d brought it on herself, she’d been walked out of the building. She’d gotten the feeling her manager was surprised she’d shown up at all. They’d given her a small box so she could clear out her locker, and the security guard had watched her the entire time. Sure, she’d been rude to the old geezer on more than one occasion, but did he have to treat her like she’d committed some kind of crime? While she’d gathered her crappy possessions, she’d vowed not to cry. She wouldn’t give any of those people the satisfaction. He’d walked her all the way out to the parking lot. The whole way she’d been able to feel the stares of her former coworkers. A few of the bitches had even smiled and waved good-bye in the most sarcastic fashion possible.

  Jealous hags.

  When she’d gotten home she’d been met with an eviction notice. She had one week to vacate the premises. She’d gone to her landlady, who’d merely told her the entire place was under new management and she would have to take it up with the new owner. And no. She wouldn’t give her the new owner’s name, merely some dumb company she now had to call in the morning. Her landlady had wished her good luck in a way that had told Dakota she didn’t mean it.

  She had no home. She had no job. And all because she’d told the truth.

  So she rather expected a sign on the door of Murphy’s saying No Dakotas Allowed.

  Screw that. She needed French fries. She definitely wasn’t walking into the Bluebonnet. No way. Murphy’s would be far friendlier. It was also a little darker in Murphy’s, so maybe she could go unnoticed.