Read Online In Love by Christmas: A Paranormal Romance by Sandy Nathan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sandy Nathan
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relationship he’d dreamed of all of her life.
Leroy had found her, but he would save her. He and the hundreds of thousands it would cost to get her through the hospitals. He’d done it so many times before, and he would this time. He would save his daughter as long as she was alive. He would do that.
She would not run off with some penniless cowboy whose spelling didn’t make fifth grade. Leroy had written him an email from New York. The man was barely literate. Cass was his . His muscles tensed: jaws, shoulders, arms. Thighs, feet. Will didn’t notice.
He was back there again. What had happened last Christmas was live for a moment: his Montana ranch’s log walls glowed. The lights on the pine garlands festooning the great hall twinkled. The tree touched the three story high ceiling, branches weighed down by ornaments.
Cass’s head was half shaved. The dragon tattoo her hair had covered looked like it would come alive from her scalp. She screamed at him, “You are a shit! You use people. You use me. You want everyone to think you’re such a good father, but you’re not. People feel sorry for you because I’m such a burden , but they don’t know …”
She’d gone on like that, cursing and screaming, her sweater’s shoulder falling down to show her skeletal form.
He ran out of the house and called his pilots to take him back to the Bay Area. He’d cried all the way home, wiping away tears of pain and truth. She hurt him, almost mortally. He hated Cass. She was too smart and too sick and knew it was his fault. He hadn’t kept her safe. He hated her for being so smart. She saw through anything. Deeper inside, some part wanted to get back at her for the pain she’d caused him.
This time, he’d do it right. Havertin was right. Will was sure of it. Fuck Vanessa, fuck Leroy. Maybe that clodhopper cowboy would learn something where he was sending him. If he didn’t, see where he got with Cass. She wasn’t the tender flower he thought she was.
Cass was as snobby as the best of them when she was clean and sober. Dressed like a model in a fashion magazine and spoke like an English professor. She didn’t talk like a stevedore when she wasn’t on drugs, but she wasn’t a sweet thing that was so grateful, y’all. Leroy would get a big surprise, if her treatment worked.
Will picked up a crystal paperweight on his desk. For an instant, he wanted to throw it. He wouldn’t. He didn’t want Cass savaging Leroy over his manners. He wanted a family that worked. More than anything, Will wanted to do the right thing. This was it.
Two weeks later, when Leroy and Doug were flying across the Atlantic, Leroy had to admit that Mr. Duane was the most powerful and effective man he knew. He got a psychologist to hypnotize him. Leroy thought hypnosis would be like in the movies; he’d go to a creepy old house with cobwebs and spiders. A weird lady in robes would say, “Watch the shining ball.”
It wasn’t that way. A young man with a short beard had him sit down in a bright office. Then he gave him instructions. “Remember a time when you felt very strong.” Leroy did. Somehow the guy added in an airplane, then imagining sitting in one. Imagining it taking off. Took a few sessions.
After hypnotizing him so he wasn’t afraid thinking about getting on an airplane, the psychologist took Leroy to the San Jose airport. There, he had him climbing in and out of Will’s planes, from really big ones to itty bitty ones.
7
Jolly Olde England
O utside of Will’s home in Woodside, the condo in London was the most amazing place Leroy had seen, bigger and more luxurious than the one in New York. The apartment in New York had been all slick leather and straight lines, with artwork that looked like kids did it using duct tape and finger-paints.
This place was furnished with huge chairs and sofas covered with fabrics like the ones he’d seen on Hermitage Estate: Upstairs and Down. The pictures on the walls were of things
Leroy had found her, but he would save her. He and the hundreds of thousands it would cost to get her through the hospitals. He’d done it so many times before, and he would this time. He would save his daughter as long as she was alive. He would do that.
She would not run off with some penniless cowboy whose spelling didn’t make fifth grade. Leroy had written him an email from New York. The man was barely literate. Cass was his . His muscles tensed: jaws, shoulders, arms. Thighs, feet. Will didn’t notice.
He was back there again. What had happened last Christmas was live for a moment: his Montana ranch’s log walls glowed. The lights on the pine garlands festooning the great hall twinkled. The tree touched the three story high ceiling, branches weighed down by ornaments.
Cass’s head was half shaved. The dragon tattoo her hair had covered looked like it would come alive from her scalp. She screamed at him, “You are a shit! You use people. You use me. You want everyone to think you’re such a good father, but you’re not. People feel sorry for you because I’m such a burden , but they don’t know …”
She’d gone on like that, cursing and screaming, her sweater’s shoulder falling down to show her skeletal form.
He ran out of the house and called his pilots to take him back to the Bay Area. He’d cried all the way home, wiping away tears of pain and truth. She hurt him, almost mortally. He hated Cass. She was too smart and too sick and knew it was his fault. He hadn’t kept her safe. He hated her for being so smart. She saw through anything. Deeper inside, some part wanted to get back at her for the pain she’d caused him.
This time, he’d do it right. Havertin was right. Will was sure of it. Fuck Vanessa, fuck Leroy. Maybe that clodhopper cowboy would learn something where he was sending him. If he didn’t, see where he got with Cass. She wasn’t the tender flower he thought she was.
Cass was as snobby as the best of them when she was clean and sober. Dressed like a model in a fashion magazine and spoke like an English professor. She didn’t talk like a stevedore when she wasn’t on drugs, but she wasn’t a sweet thing that was so grateful, y’all. Leroy would get a big surprise, if her treatment worked.
Will picked up a crystal paperweight on his desk. For an instant, he wanted to throw it. He wouldn’t. He didn’t want Cass savaging Leroy over his manners. He wanted a family that worked. More than anything, Will wanted to do the right thing. This was it.
Two weeks later, when Leroy and Doug were flying across the Atlantic, Leroy had to admit that Mr. Duane was the most powerful and effective man he knew. He got a psychologist to hypnotize him. Leroy thought hypnosis would be like in the movies; he’d go to a creepy old house with cobwebs and spiders. A weird lady in robes would say, “Watch the shining ball.”
It wasn’t that way. A young man with a short beard had him sit down in a bright office. Then he gave him instructions. “Remember a time when you felt very strong.” Leroy did. Somehow the guy added in an airplane, then imagining sitting in one. Imagining it taking off. Took a few sessions.
After hypnotizing him so he wasn’t afraid thinking about getting on an airplane, the psychologist took Leroy to the San Jose airport. There, he had him climbing in and out of Will’s planes, from really big ones to itty bitty ones.
7
Jolly Olde England
O utside of Will’s home in Woodside, the condo in London was the most amazing place Leroy had seen, bigger and more luxurious than the one in New York. The apartment in New York had been all slick leather and straight lines, with artwork that looked like kids did it using duct tape and finger-paints.
This place was furnished with huge chairs and sofas covered with fabrics like the ones he’d seen on Hermitage Estate: Upstairs and Down. The pictures on the walls were of things
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