Page 29 of Grumpy

Kelly and Ruth reached for each other around Grumpy. “I’m good, Mama. You chased the bad lady away.”

Ruth beamed at those words. “Still got it.” Her eyes, as dark and as sharp as her daughter’s, landed on Grumpy. “Your mother is a wicked woman. I knew it the moment I saw her,” she tapped her chest, “and I was right.”

Grimm came back into the house then. He walked into the kitchen like he hadn’t just escorted a sixty-three year old woman out of a stranger’s house while she screamed and cursed at him. “Gave her cash for a cab and made sure her cellphone had service. The rest is up to her.”

Grumpy nodded once, slightly appreciative. Just because his mother was dead to him did not mean he wanted her actually dead.

“Such a guter yung,” Ruth said, reaching to pinch Grimm’s cheek. “Sit. You look farmisht!” she announced before working to place even more food in front of Grimm.

Grimm looked to Kelly. “Why do I get the feeling she’s trying to fatten me up for a sacrifice?” he asked her quietly.

Kelly laughed. “Pretty sure she’s adopted you. Food is her love language.”

“Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Grumpy mused. “You practically feed this entire town.”

“I serve the town,” Kelly corrected. “Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mom’s touch in the kitchen. Though I am slightly curious what would happen if we put Tally and my mom in a kitchen together and lock the door.”

Grumpy had to admit that that would have an interesting outcome—especially because Scar would find a way into that kitchen, not allowing anything to bar himself from his woman.

That sobering thought brought Grumpy back to his reality and the fact that Mads had been in Mount Grove. He also owed Kelly some answers.

“Maddie isn’t mine biologically.” Kelly shifted to face Grumpy again as he started to speak. “She was three years old when Tanya and I met, and just shy of six when we married. Her dad was this piece of shit. He never hurt her or yelled at her—he wouldn’t be alive today if he had.” Grimm grunted his agreement around the food Ruth had given him. She’d also refilled Grumpy’s bowl of soup, but he wasn’t in the mood to eat any more. “He was just a disappointment, always promising her things and then backing out. She learned that she couldn’t rely on him, but slowly, she learned that she could rely on me. By the time Tanya and I got married, I was Dad. Not legally, but in our hearts, we belonged to each other.”

Kelly’s expression showed the joy at his words, and slowly fell when she realized what was coming. “What happened?”

“The divorce. We were trying to figure out how we could terminate Erwin’s parental rights so I could legally adopt Mads when everything went to shit. The pictures I told you Tanya had of me? I finally got to see them during the proceedings. They looked professional, like a private investigator had taken them from a distance or something, and they were all of me in various hotel rooms with different women. But it wasn’t me—because I was never in those rooms or with those women.”

“You think they were doctored?” Grimm asked.

“Oh, my nephew is good at that,” Ruth added, sitting back down across from Kelly and Grumpy. “He does shirts and things, and sells them online. He helped me create my own store online for my candles.” She pointed to one on the counter.

Grumpy shrugged. “It was ten years ago and technology has changed a lot. I’m also a gearhead, not a computer nerd. Couldn’t tell you how that stuff even works. But the pictures were good enough that they fooled Tanya, our lawyers, and the judge.”

He did not add that he didn’t look into the pictures more because, to him, they didn’t matter. Tanya hadn’t believed him, hadn’t trusted him. After a year as friends, two years dating, and six years married, she hadn’t believed in him. The evidence was damning, he couldn’t argue that, but she hadn’t paused to question anything. That knowledge hurt, and mattered more to him than proving his innocence.

“And Maddie wasn’t legally yours,” Kelly concluded, following his story.

Grumpy nodded. He did fight for Maddie, even though he wasn’t her legal father. “Tanya took out a restraining order against me. Like I was a danger to my wife and daughter.” Even he heard the venom in his own voice. “All this was going on around the same time that I took my retirement. Left Tanya everything but my bike, packed up my things and took the scenic route north. My intention was Maine, my hometown is just north of Bar Harbor, but I ended up stopping here for a meal.”

Kelly smiled widely. “I remember.”

So did he. He’d thought her beautiful from the start, a ray of sunshine too pure for his dark cloud. “You pointed me in the direction of Steel and the clubhouse,” he added, sharing in the memory.

Kelly leaned forward and kissed him gently. “I keep forgetting I get to do that now.”

“Never stop,” he begged, not caring in the slightest about their audience.

Kelly’s smile promised she wouldn’t. She gently touched his face, and he wondered if she’d ever know how much it meant that she didn’t shy away from his scars and damaged skin. “I know the ending of your story. You decided to stay here, to join the club, but what happened back in Texas? Did they ever reach out?”

Grumpy shook his head. “Due to the restraining order covering all communication, I couldn’t call or email or anything to check in on Maddie. But not a day went by where I didn’t think about her, wonder about her. Once I got the garage set up and I started making a decent income again, I built a trust in Maddie’s name. The order didn’t prohibit that. It wasn’t much, but she was able to pay for college or her first car or whatever she needed to with it.”

Kelly nodded slowly. “The explosion was national news. She must have heard about you being hurt and came to see you.” Kelly wiped under her own eyes. “I’m so sorry I didn’t stop her or try harder to get who she was out of your mom.”

Anger coursed through him again. “It wasn’t your fault. Mom only met her twice when she was ten or eleven, but I highly doubt she didn’t know exactly who Mads was when she came to the hospital.”

“I don’t understand why it would even matter to Margery that Maddie showed up.” Kelly looked to Grimm and her mom over her shoulder as if they might have a suggestion. “Why tell me that she was someone he was sleeping with?”

“To drive a wedge between you two,” Ruth answered simply. “Beshert.”