Chapter 16

“I’m so nervous,” Penny said to Olivia. It was the next day and Olivia was taking Belle with her and her kids to the zoo while Penny and Travis went to the lawyer’s office to deal with Lawrence. Penny’s hands shook as she handed Olivia a small bag with Belle’s things for the day.

“Why’re you nervous, momma?” Travis asked from across the room where he was talking to Will, Olivia’s husband.

“What if he doesn’t sign? What if he does something bad?”

“C’mere.” He pulled her into his arms and held her until her heart settled. “Better?”

“Much.”

“Y’all are so cute,” Olivia remarked. “Aren’t they, Will?”

“Adorable,” the big bearded man with a round belly said with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh, hush,” Olivia admonished. “They’re the cutest. Anyway, good luck today. Let’s go, Belle.”

“Twavis,” Belle cried.

“It’s cool, baby girl. Look, your friend Meg wants to play with you.”

“My Twavis.”

“How about you go with Olivia, and when we’re finished, we’ll pick you up and go to the toy store?”

“Travis! You can’t keep buying her stuff,” Penny argued.

“Don’t listen to your momma. She doesn’t understand us. Isn’t that right?” Travis said to Belle, then carefully set her down on the floor. “Go kiss your momma goodbye, darlin’.” All morning Belle had been walking. She was still wobbly, but she’d been making a lot of improvement.

“You have to let her go, Travis,” Penny laughed. Travis was inches from her every time she tried to walk, ready to catch her. It was cute and sweet, though she thought maybe it wasn’t helping Belle improve as quickly as she could. Belle took a few steps and teetered but continued to take unsure strides toward Penny. When she finally reached her, she squealed, “Mama!” Penny swooped her up as everyone else cheered her on.

“Way to go, Belle!” Will cheered.

“That’s my girl!” As Travis hugged Penny and Belle, Penny realized that everything really would be okay.

Once everyone was gone, Travis turned to Penny. “Okay, tell me the truth—are you going to be okay? You want me to go without you? I can ask if that’s okay.”

“I’m fine. Just a case of the nerves, but I’ll be okay. Plus, seeing you dressed like that—I can’t back out now, even if it’s to do something as unpleasant as seeing Lawrence.”

“I hate wearing this monkey suit,” Travis complained, pulling at his collar.

“You look great, cowboy.” She adjusted his tie.

“Thanks. And you in that suit…you look like how I picture you looked all the time in your previous life.”

“That’s exactly what it feels like—another life. You make this one so much better, Travis,” she said. “You think this looks okay, then? Olivia’s smaller than me.”

“Looks great to me. Although the best look is you in my T-shirt, your hair all crazy, wearing your glasses.” He pulled her in and kissed her hard. “You ready to go, momma?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Travis and Penny walked into the attorney’s office hand in hand. Lawrence was already there. He sat in the waiting room, his leg bobbing up and down, his hair disheveled, his tie askew. He looked nothing like the man she’d once thought she loved. Or maybe she had been so hurt by him that any attraction she’d ever felt for him had disappeared. The only part of him that she found at all interesting anymore were his deep blue eyes—the same blue eyes that Belle had.

“Does Kip know you’re doing this?” Penny asked.

“No. Let’s hurry and get this over with,” Lawrence said.

The receptionist escorted them into a large conference room. The process was relatively straightforward and quick, and it felt a little anticlimactic. The only surprise had been a clause that Travis had added that the monies would be transferred from the attorney’s escrow account only when Lawrence showed proof that he had left the state of Florida; after a quick negotiation, Travis agreed to release ten thousand dollars immediately, but the rest would be subject to that clause. Lawrence signed on the dotted line, and in about an hour’s time, he no longer had any parental rights to Belle. Basically, Penny thought, all her problems had been solved.

“Penelope, I’m sorry that things turned out this way,” Lawrence said as he got up to leave.

“I can’t forgive you, Lawrence. What you did…what happened to the pious man I knew? The one who was going to change the world through service? You aren’t the person you pretend to be, Lawrence, and I am glad you are out of our lives.”

“I’m pretending?” he asked, looking at Travis, whose arms were crossed, legs shoulder-width apart, looking as if he would knock him out at just the slightest provocation.

“This man right here,” Penny said, gesturing toward Travis, “he’s a man. A real man. He doesn’t need to pretend. He stood up and helped me and Belle when all you did was knock us down over and over.” She took a step toward Lawrence, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Travis tense, as if he feared she was going to strike Lawrence. “You’ll have this money, but when it runs out, then you will have nothing left. You will be empty. This man,” she said, reaching behind her and taking Travis’s hand, “is the kind of man I prayed for. The kind of man Belle needs in her life. He is strong both outside and inside. You are weak and vile.” She looked at Travis and nodded. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Remind me never to piss you off, momma,” he chuckled as they walked out of the building. As soon as they were by his truck, he pulled her to him abruptly and gave her a kiss. “I’m so goddamn proud of you.”

Just as Lawrence drove away in his rental car, a caravan of cars pulled up outside the attorney’s office building. “Shit,” Travis cursed. “Guess it’s better to deal with all the shit now in one shot, right?”

“What is going on?” Kip roared, emerging from his car and taking long steps toward Penny.

“It’s over,” Penny declared.

“Where’s Lawrence? What have you done?”

“He’s gone. You will not hear from him again. What else do you have for me, Kip?”

“What are you going to tell the media?” Kip asked, sounding desperate.

“Honestly, I don’t want to tell them anything. I just want to live my life in peace.”

“I have to deal with it! You might want to go live in your little town, sleeping with random men and getting pregnant, but I’m the one getting the blowback. I have to answer for why my daughter strayed from the flock.”

“Enough!” Travis finally spoke up. “If you think I’ll stand by and allow you to insult her, you’ve got another thing coming. Unless you want all your dirty laundry aired on HBO, you apologize right the fuck now.”

“If you leave us alone, Kip,” Penny offered, “I’ll do the same for you. You can tell the media that I fell in love and moved away—you could find an explanation that doesn’t include painting me as the town whore. But if that’s the stance you want to take, I’ll defend myself, and not because I care what people say about me, but because I don’t want Belle ever thinking that about her mother. She should never think she’s not wanted or that she was a mistake. So I’ll follow your lead, Kip. We can part ways civilly right now, or we can go to war. You pick.”

“And don’t forget I’ve got access to the media too, Kip,” Travis added.

Kip took a few deep breaths.

“The media won’t like that you sent your stepdaughter to Fresh Start. You paid for it, and there are witnesses, I’m sure. Records I can find,” she added.

He didn’t answer for a moment, then threw his arms up. “Fine!” he growled. “But if I go down, I’ll take you down with me. So you better keep your mouths shut.”

“Nice,” Penny shot back. “That something you’re teaching your congregation these days?”

“Take care of yourself, Penelope,” he snarled as he got back into his car.

“You too, Kip.”

Silently they watched him leave.

At last Travis remarked, “Jesus, he’s an asshole.”

“Tell me about it,” snorted Penny. “Hey, you want to have lunch before we call Olivia? They’re just getting started at the zoo, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, sure,” he agreed, helping her into the truck.

“I’d also like to visit your sister and the babies, if you’re up to it.”

“Sounds good,” he said, looking off into the distance.

“Are you okay?”

He looked over then, smiled, and took her hand and kissed it. “Of course. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

Since they were all dressed up, Travis took them to a local steakhouse called the Tackle Box. “This is so good, cowboy,” she said, taking a bite of her filet mignon. “One day when this is all over, I’d like to find a ranch and take you horseback riding.”

“You and your cowboys,” he laughed. “You know I couldn’t ride a horse even if my life depended on it, right?”

“I’ll teach you.”

“You want another glass of wine?”

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

They continued with their meal, but he was still unusually quiet. At last she put her fork down.

“Travis, what’s wrong? Tell me. You regret it? It was a lot of money. I wouldn’t blame—”

“No.” He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “How could you possibly think that?”

She played with her pearls. “You’ve been really quiet, which is not like you.”

He let out a breath. “I miss Belle. I was kind of hoping we could celebrate together. All three of us. It’s a pretty special day. Maybe not exactly a great day, since, well, now she’s officially without a father. But he was a shitty father, so maybe it’s better for her to have no daddy than to have a shitty daddy, right? Anyway, I just—”

She put her napkin down, stood up, her chair scraping loudly against the floor, walked around to his side of the table, and sat on his lap. She wasn’t a bold person, not at all. But today she didn’t care who saw. “I love you, Travis Calhoun. Every day you give me more reasons to love you. I miss Belle too, but I thought you’d prefer a quiet meal. If you’d rather be with her, then let’s get out of here.”

He kissed her hard and signaled for the check. When the check arrived, Penny took it. “Please. It’s the least I can do.”

“No fuckin’ way,” he argued, trying to get it. “Penny, darlin’, don’t make me spank you right here, in front of all these nice people enjoying their meals.” She raised a brow in defiance. “Bend over, momma,” he warned.

She laughed and dropped the bill on his lap. “But you can still spank me later if you want.” She winked.

After they picked Belle up and visited JL, Enzo, and the twins, the three of them went home and fell asleep watching Barney on Travis’s king-size bed.