Southern Seducer (North Carolina Highlands 1)

His lips twitch. “She like whiskey?”

“What kinda question is that? She’s a Beauregard. Course she likes the good stuff.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Fair warning, she’s got expensive taste.”

He shoots me a grin. “Good thing I make the best and probably the most expensive whiskey on earth.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Beau

“Wow,” Rhett says.

“Daddy really did that?” Hank asks. “At the end?”

I shovel a forkful of Samuel’s chicken biscuit stew into my mouth. It’s like a deconstructed potpie, only made in a deep casserole dish and topped with homemade buttermilk biscuits. Freaking delicious.

My appetite still sucks, but I need the kind of food that sticks to your ribs. I have a lot of planning to do and even more apologizing, so I’ll take all the carby fortification I can get.

“Yup,” I say, swallowing. I turn to Milly. “It was you. You had a hand in him telling me what he did when he did.”

Sipping the last of her wine, Millie sets her glass on the table and glides her first two fingers around its stem. “I may have worked my sexting magic on him, yeah.”

“Wait—”

“Oh, stop, of course I didn’t sext with Nate Kingsley. Do you think I have a death wish?” She grabs the bottle and refills her glass. “I just used those soft sales skills I’m paid so handsomely for.”

“You? Milly, you are anything but soft.”

“You don’t know that. I can be soft when I need to be.”

“Are you making some kind of innuendo right now?”

“Yes.”

I drink my wine. “What did you say to him?”

“Not much.” She smacks her lips. “Only what I needed to. Honestly, I stumbled across that story about Daddy by accident. I knew something was there—I have Mama’s sixth sense for these things—but I didn’t know I’d find gold like that. We were talking about the feud, and he was like, hey, I’m trying to patch things up with my dad, I can ask him about it if you’d like. So I said sure, and I guess he really did ask.”

Letting out a breath, I say, “He asked if he could date you.”

Milly tries to hide her reaction, but I see the spark of interest in her eyes before she quickly and ruthlessly extinguishes it.

“He did?” she asks slowly, digging her teeth into her bottom lip.

I look at her. “You can do what you want. Just be careful, okay? I get that Nate’s turning over a new leaf, but…I don’t know. Seems to be a lot going on there.”

“I’m not interested anyway,” she says.

But I can tell by the way she plays with the collar of her shirt that she is.

Samuel nods, wiping his mouth on his napkin. “That was big of Nate to ask about Milly. And to tell you about Daddy.”

“Big of your father, too.” Mama meets my eyes across the table.

It’s Sunday supper at my place. Could just be me, but the dining room echoes with Annabel and Maisie’s absence. Everything was brighter with them here. My mood. The taste of the food and wine. Even my family seemed brighter.

Christ, I hope I’m not too late.

I hope the damage I’ve wrought can be undone.

“Did you know about this?” I ask Mama.

She shakes her head. “I didn’t. Well, I knew your daddy went down to see Wilson Kingsley. Said they had some talking to do. I didn’t know exactly what was said. But I do know John Riley felt more at peace when he came back, which was a lot different than usual. The few times he ran into Kingsley before, he’d come home in a rage. But on that occasion, he was pleased as punch.” Mama reaches over and takes my hand. “You see now? That your daddy wasn’t all bad?”

“I do. I was up all night thinking about it. Grabbed my coffee and went for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway this morning to clear my head. Get a grip on everything.”

“And?” Hank asks hopefully.

I look around the table, and they’re all looking at me. Waiting with bated breath.

I’m gonna cry, I know I am.

But that’s okay. Bel showed me how vulnerability and honesty and bravery lead to good things.

Knowing what I know now about my father, I got to witness it in action. Secondhand, yes. Years after it actually happened.

But the fact that I got to witness my father’s goodness at all in the midst of his is a win.

A huge, life-changing win.

Right here, right now, with my entire family looking at me, I can set an example of hope.

Because I actually, genuinely feel hopeful about my future.

A future I’d be proud to share with the people I love.

“We all witnessed the end of Daddy’s life.” I sniff. Shit, it’s already happening. Oh well. “I saw the way he suffered. I saw the way y’all suffered. When I knew things were happening inside my head that shouldn’t be, I swore up and down I wouldn’t visit that kinda pain on the people I loved most in this world. I thought my life would inevitably turn into this dark place, and that I’d only hurt you guys in the end. I was also worried you’d become my caretakers. I didn’t want that for you. I love y’all too damn much.”