The Twisted Oak

Chapter 2-2

Wade was about to lose his f*****g mind. If one more person he didn’t know told him how sorry they were for his loss, he was going to scream. The number of visitors had dwindled, but some stragglers appeared to have settled in for the long haul. He glanced at the antique carved wooden clock on the mantle and grimaced when he realized this had been going on for over two hours. He scanned the room for Casey and found him talking with Lance in the corner, near the front windows. Allyson was plastered to his brother’s side.

Casey glanced over as if feeling Wade’s eyes on him and he raised his eyebrows. Wade tipped his head to the clock and his brother got the message. He turned back to Lance and they talked for a moment until Lance moved to the center of the room, near the front door.

“If everyone could stop for a moment, I have an announcement to make.”

Wade stared, curious, as did everyone else.

Once he had their attention, Lance continued. “As a representative of the family, I’d like to thank you all for attending the service today and for coming back to the house to celebrate Kenneth Dwyer’s life. It means a lot to the Dwyers.”

Wade tamped down his urge to vomit and waited for Lance to finish.

Lance’s gaze scanned the room and he gave everyone a half-smile. “We wish you well and thank you again for coming.”

Wade bit back a smile as people began making their way to the door. Holy hell, he admired Lance’s diplomacy. He would have just told them to get the f**k out. Not the right thing to do, but he was out of patience.

Within fifteen minutes, the house was empty of visitors, save Allyson, Ash, and the woman with Lance who Wade had avoided meeting all day.

He and his brothers worked together to take the dishes to the kitchen, where Lorna was already busy washing them by hand in the sink. He never understood why she didn’t like to use the dishwasher, but in all the years she’d worked for the Dwyer family, she’d rarely used the appliance.

Wade had kept his distance from Lance through most of the day, but they passed in the hall as Lance carried in more dishes to the kitchen. His lips curved up a little and Wade nearly stopped. Was Lance smiling at him? There was something in his eyes, though. Uncertainty?

When they passed again, Lance did smile this time and it appeared genuine. Wade raised an eyebrow and nodded. What the hell was going on? After all the years of avoiding each other, surely he didn’t want to make amends? Was there really any point to do so? He certainly didn’t want to bring up the incident and have Casey find out about it.

Casey had never badgered his brother when, at age eighteen, Wade had suddenly refused to be around Lance. But Wade knew why he’d changed—and so did Lance. One humiliating evening as a teenager had changed everything. But he pushed away his memories. Today wasn’t the day to deal with that crap.

His stomach rumbled and he realized he hadn’t had a bite to eat since breakfast, and even then it had been only a granola bar. Despite the variety of offerings during the day, he hadn’t felt hungry. Too many people around for him to be comfortable and even think about eating.

Landon and Allyson jumped in to help Lorna, and in no time, the kitchen and living areas were clean. Casey let him know they were going to meet in the great room with Ash and Lance and go over the will, but Wade wanted to make something to eat first. He had a feeling he shouldn’t hear anything from his father’s will on an empty stomach.

He walked into the huge pantry.

“Looking for the peanut butter?”

Wade nearly jumped at Lance’s voice. “What?” he asked as he turned.

“You don’t think I remember your favorite sandwich?” he asked with a twist of his lips. “Peanut butter and marmalade.”

Wade was shocked. “You…remember my favorite sandwich?”

Lance stepped into the pantry, stopping only a foot away. “You’d be surprised what I remember about you,” he whispered, his voice falling over Wade, soft as silk.

A shiver ran through him as Lance cupped his cheek, his aquamarine eyes staring straight into Wade’s. “I just wanted a moment alone with you to say…everything’s going to work out. Please trust me.”

Wade had no idea what he meant. Not that it mattered. Once Lance touched him, it took all he had in him to keep himself from leaning into the hand. His eyes closed and he took a deep, shaky breath as Lance’s hand slipped from his cheek, gliding down his neck to his shoulder, and squeezing before dropping away completely.

“Trust me, okay?”

Wade could only nod as he watched Lance turn and walk away, trying not to notice how sexy his ass looked in those dark gray slacks. He shook his head at the surreal day and continued looking for the peanut butter, finding it on the top shelf. He grabbed the marmalade from the refrigerator and some bread out of the basket on the counter, quickly making his sandwich and eating it where he stood. If Lorna caught him, he’d be in trouble, but he was too unsettled by everything to worry about that.

Was Lance offering him some sort of olive branch? Were they finally going to get past that night? He chewed slowly as he tried working things out in his head. His favorite sandwich tasted like cardboard to him and he decided to give up on eating.

“Hey, you coming?”

He pulled himself from his thoughts and blinked at Landon. “Yeah. Be there in a sec.”

He put things away and washed his hands before taking the side door out of the kitchen and joining everyone in the great room. Someone had thought to start a fire in the oversized stone fireplace, most likely Casey, so the room was already warming up, even as the winds outside increased.

Everyone had already found a seat, but Landon patted the space next to him, so Wade crossed the room, rounding the large circular coffee table and sliding out of his suit jacket. He tossed it onto the coffee table and let himself sink into the gray suede loveseat. He couldn’t wait to peel the rest of the suit from his body and slide into his comfortable jeans.

Casey and Allyson sat together at one end of the matching sofa, his arm around her. Wade was glad Allyson could be there for Casey. He was surprised to see Lance’s date—girlfriend?—seated at the other end, with Lance in the middle. Ash stood in front of the fireplace, the flat screen above the mantel turned on.

“Are we watching something?” Landon asked, his eyes flicking to the TV.

Ash nodded. “Yes.” He reached for a stack of folders. “Because there are so many of you, I’ve printed everything out as well, so you can all have copies after we talk. I have a feeling you’ll all want to read things yourself.”

The mood in the room shifted as all eyes looked at those folders. Wade had a bad feeling in his gut and glanced at Casey, who was clearly just as worried. His face tensed as he stared back at Wade.

Yep. There was some awful s**t in the will, he just knew it. Not surprising, since their father was an ass.

“I’ve asked Lance to join me. As you know, your father first had his will drawn up several years ago at Addison Law, where Lance worked at the time. He was there when your father signed the papers, so when Addison Law closed, your father chose to follow Lance when he and I opened Matthews & Renfrow.”

Why the hell was Ash wasting their time telling them things they already knew? Maybe since their father changed lawyers it was a legal thing? Either way, Ash was dragging it out.

“Your father was an…interesting man,” Ash said, clearing his throat and pulling at his tie.

Wade held back the snort, but just barely.

“He…placed some conditions on things.”

“What kind of conditions?” Casey demanded, sliding his folder onto the coffee table. “What the hell is going on?”

Ash’s face paled and he glanced at Wade, guilt etched across his face.

Fuck. His dad always said he would have the last say about him. Wade’s heart fell to his stomach and he wrestled the nausea flooding him. This wasn’t going to be pretty. Not at all.

“The land, and everything on it, has been left to the Dwyer children.”

Wade breathed a sigh of relief.

“All…all four children.”

What the f**k?

The oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Nobody moved. Nobody took a breath.

Lance jumped up and took over, his eyes on Casey. “When your father set up his will, he included a child nobody knew he had. A daughter.” He moved to stand next to the woman he’d brought, placing his hand on her shoulder.

The woman’s hazel eyes widened as she glanced around the room, fiddling with her hands in her lap. She swallowed hard and raised her chin, as if expecting some pushback. Her eyes welled up and Allyson handed her a tissue while the silence grew. She smiled at Allyson gratefully and dabbed at her eyes.

“You’re dating our…sister?” Wade finally asked, shocked.

All color drained from Lance’s face as he stared wide-eyed at Wade. “What? God, no! I just picked her up from the airport and brought her out here.”

Long, slender fingers pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she shook her head. “He’s telling the truth. I didn’t even know my dad was still around until Mr. Matthews contacted me two days ago. My mom told me he died when I was a baby.” Her voice was soft. Lyrical. Reminding Wade of the princess in a cartoon he’d seen years ago. All eyes were now on her and still nobody moved.

“What’s your name?” Casey finally asked when the quiet had reached an uncomfortable stretch. "How old are you?"

“Patricia. Patricia…Dwyer.” She looked around the room. “I’m twenty-six.”

Wade met Casey’s gaze across the coffee table, eyes wide as her words sunk in. Holy s**t.

“That means our dad cheated on our mom,” Wade blurted, anger settling in. “Because Casey’s twenty-seven and I’m twenty-four and they were still married at that time! What the hell?”

Casey jumped up, eyes narrowing at Patricia. “How do we know you’re really our sister?”

“She is, Casey. It’s been confirmed by your father.” Lance’s voice was soft, but strong.

“And you!” Casey turned to his best friend, accusation in his eyes. “You knew about this for years and didn’t tell me?”

“I couldn’t Casey. It was considered attorney-client privilege and your father knew we were friends. I almost think he enjoyed…” He shook his head.

“He enjoyed making you squirm?” Wade asked, not surprised. His father had always reveled in other people’s pain. Causing it was just a bonus.

Lance nodded. “Every time I ran into him from that point on, he would wink at me like we had some big secret and it…it made me sick.”

“That sounds like him,” Wade agreed.

“But, that’s not the only secret,” he admitted, staring straight at Wade.

Ah, so here it comes.

“He’s right,” Ash interjected. “And that’s where the video comes in. Your father recorded some things.”

Wade hadn’t torn his eyes from Lance. The man looked shaken. Sick. Something in Wade made him want to comfort Lance, but he knew how inappropriate that would be. Besides, he was still reeling from learning that the woman he thought was dating Lance was really a sister he’d never known he had.

“Sit down, baby,” Allyson urged, tugging at Casey’s hand. His shoulders slumped as he rejoined her on the sofa.

Oh, yeah, there was definitely more s**t coming—Wade could feel it.

Ash hit PLAY and the screen filled with a large version of their father. He looked a little younger—his hair was a little less gray, but the man’s signature sneer was there.

“Well, if you’re all seein’ this, I’m clearly dead.” Their father chuckled. “I’ll make this short and sweet. I guess you know by now you’ve got a sister. I never met her, but I figured she should get a piece of the pie.” He leaned forward and leered at the camera. “But that’s only if you can follow the guidelines.”

With another chuckle, he picked up the glass of what was probably vodka—he’d consumed that more often than water—and took a long drink before continuing. “The lawyers tell me that this is legal, and I know you’re all gonna b***h, but too bad. You can blame Wade for it, because he’s the real problem.”

Ash paused the video as all eyes turned to Wade.

He tried to ignore the rising dread rushing through him and shrugged, using all he had to appear calm. “He hated me. That’s not news. So, what…is he cutting me out?”

Ash took a deep breath, but didn’t answer. “Do you need a minute before we go any further?”

Wade shook his head. “Play the damn video.”

Ash pressed PLAY again and moved out of the way.

“Like you’ve been told, the land and everything on it—structures, animals, everything—as well as all my financial accounts, is going to all four of my children, but only if Wade there marries and stays married for a full year.” The man started laughing so hard, it brought on a coughing attack. “Disgusting pervert,” he spit out, his eyes closing as he shuddered visibly on screen. “Find yourself someone and get married. You’ll change your ways now, boy.”

Wade’s heart hammered against his chest. This was worse than he’d imagined. He watched as his father smiled into the camera again.

“And if you don’t, the land gets sold for less than half the value. You’ll all be left with nothing.”

Ash paused the video again, and for just a moment, nobody moved, frozen in place. Until they were all jumping up and talking at once. All but Wade.

“What the actual f**k?”

“Can he do that?”

“He’s crazy! That can’t be legal!”

Wade sat dazed, his eyes on Lance’s. He’d known about this clause. Instead of feeling anger toward Lance for deceiving them, Wade felt empathy for him. His father had put Lance in one hell of a position.

“If you’ll all take a seat, I can answer questions,” Ash promised and waited until everyone was seated and thankfully turned off the television—nobody needed to see the man on the screen sneering down at them.

“Is it over?”

“No, Casey, but there’s nothing legal on it from there. It’s really just a lot of hateful talk.”

About me, Wade mused.

“Can we fight this?” Landon asked.

“The will is legal. Everything’s in his name, so he has the legal right to put in a clause. You could fight it, but it could take years, and in the meantime, you could lose the ranch.” He stared at Wade. “The clause states you have to be married before the end of the year in which Kenneth passed away. Seeing as he died the first week in December, you have less than four weeks.”

The gravity of the situation hit Wade in the gut. Not only did his father get the last word on him, he made him the reason his siblings lost out, too. He leaned back his head and closed his eyes, fighting the nausea.

“But I have a solution,” Lance said, his voice breaking the silence.

All eyes, including Wade’s, turned to him.

“The solution is to get married,” he said, a smile playing on his lips.

“But, I’m gay.” Wasn’t that the whole problem according to his father?

“So marry a man,” he said, the grin spreading across his face.

“But our father wants him to marry a woman,” Casey pointed out.

“He wanted him to, yes. But that’s not what he wrote in the actual will.”

Wade scrunched his brow. Where the hell was Lance going with this?

“If you notice in the video, not once did your father say ‘woman’ or ‘wife,’ right?”

Wade wasn’t sure and shrugged. So did Casey.

“Well, I’ve seen it plenty of times and he’s right,” Ash interjected. “Your father only said ‘married,’ but never said ‘to a woman.’”

“And when we wrote up the will,” Lance said, “same s*x marriage wasn’t legal in America, but I knew it could be someday, so I…I worded it so that it never specified a woman.”

Casey grinned. “Oh, my God! You’re brilliant!” He jumped up and hugged his best friend. “Brilliant!”

Wade shook his head, still dazed by the turn of events. “I’m not even dating anyone. Who am I going to marry?”

Lance grinned again, his eyes holding Wade’s gaze. “Simple. Marry me.”