You can’t.
Those two words sent steam rising in his belly, heating insides that had gone cold. Vaughn longed to embrace that kindled fire—the reminder of his fighter nature—then he thought of his bank account. How the money it contained was honest and hard earned, but still not enough to give River and Marcy the kind of place they were used to. Not enough to come close.
Painfully conscious of River’s attention on him, Vaughn backed away from the piece of paper that had dictated so much of his life, and strode toward his truck, his legs weighing a thousand pounds each. With a loud clanging resonating in his ears, Vaughn got behind the wheel and drove.
…
River flung open the front door of her house, running down the pathway at breakneck speed. “Vaughn!”
Oh God. She should have left the house sooner. Why had she just stood there, frozen in place by the window, hoping for some kind of resolution between her father and Vaughn when it was so obvious a bond would never form? Stupid, so stupid. And now he was gone. The man who’d so recently opened himself up, on the verge of more, had been shut down. She’d watched it happen. Unbelievably, it had been her father to finally pull the plug.
“What did you say to him?”
Her father turned, looking wearier than she’d ever seen him. “Nothing he hasn’t heard before.”
“What does that mean?” River screamed the words through her teeth. “I’m tired of being treated like a child who can’t handle hearing truth, or making her own decisions. Answer me like a goddamn adult.”
When he only turned toward his car, muttering under his breath, River snatched the piece of paper he was holding out of his hand. It was familiar. She had the same document inside a file folder inside her bedroom closet, along with Marcy’s birth certificate and her high school diploma. But something was different about this deed…it didn’t have her name on it. Anywhere. Only her father’s name. “What is this? The old deed?” He didn’t answer. “Why do you have it out?”
“No reason,” he answered firmly, reaching out to take it back. But River jerked it away, discomfort settling on her shoulders. “Let’s go inside, River.”
“Yes.” Turning on a heel, she continued to scrutinize the deed. Same dates. Same handwriting. Same everything. The only thing different was the name. When River looked up again, she was halfway up the staircase to her bedroom. From below, her father called her name, but she ignored him, continuing to ascend and walking straight into her closet. A moment later, she had the deeds side by side, examining them with growing dread—dread she didn’t fully understand yet, but it dragged her down, down, underneath roaring waves. “Mine is a copy.”
Until her father released a sigh behind her, River hadn’t realized he’d followed. She stood, the deed held in a lifeless hand at her side.
“Mine is a copy. Is…did you ever actually transfer the deed?” She held the papers up to her face, paying close attention to the name section. “Or did you just white out your name, make a copy…and type mine in? This was never filed, was it?” As she remembered Vaughn’s white face as he stumbled toward the truck, River’s body started to shake. “What does Vaughn have to do with any of this?”
Her father rubbed his eyes with a thumb and index finger. Waiting silently for him to speak was difficult, but she was also semi-grateful for the reprieve. What was coming? Finally he spoke, his voice so low she could barely make out his words. “No matter how many times I told you he wasn’t up to your standards, you didn’t listen. You wouldn’t listen.” His throat worked. “The night he left, we met at the Third Shift. I told him I’d give you the house if he left. He couldn’t give you a damn thing, River. This house was all I had to guarantee you didn’t throw everything away.” The ensuing pause was deafening. “And although the stakes have changed, it still is.”
An agonized sound fell from River’s lips, pressure mounting behind her eyes. “Still is?” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “I don’t understand.”
“He doesn’t get to ride in like a white knight after four years, like nothing ever happened—”
“You happened. You.” Hysteria tickled her throat; her legs quivered with the need to give out. “You threatened to take the house back again, didn’t you? That’s why he left.”