The Luxury of Being Stubborn (The Stubborn Series Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  THE LUXURY OF BEING STUBBORN

  A Novel

  Jeanne Arnold

  Also by Jeanne Arnold

  Stubborn

  Just as Stubborn

  Stubborn Truth

  The Luxury of Being Stubborn is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, brands and dialogues in this book are either of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 Jeanne Arnold

  www.jeannearnoldbooks.com

  Cover design by Jeanne Arnold

  First Edition

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

  Produced in the United States of America

  Dedicated to Jack and Ethan.

  This series is best read in chronological order. The Luxury of Being Stubborn is the fourth novel in the Stubborn series.

  One

  “Stop staring at me,” Deliah told Gabe in the waiting room at the doctor’s office where the Halden family paternity questions were about to be confirmed. “You’re butt ugly.”

  “That’s like calling yourself ugly, Mona Deliah,” said Lane.

  Caleb leaned over her seat and waved his wallet. “Fifty bucks says you’re the mailman’s kid.”

  Lane grunted from the end seat, crossed his arms over his chest, and propped his feet up on the bench in front of him.

  “This is ridiculous. Why can’t they just send the results?” Gabe asked with a lollipop stick poking out the side of his mouth.

  “What a waste of my precious time,” complained Deliah. She scribbled furiously on the face of a model in a magazine. “Go see what’s holding this up.”

  “Take a tater and wait,” Caleb snapped his tongue. “Nobody dragged you here.”

  “We’ve been waiting a while,” I commented.

  “Why are you here?” Deliah asked me. “This is a family matter. You didn’t have to stick a Q-tip down your throat.”

  I was sitting on Gabe’s lap, rolling his watch around his tan wrist. He hadn’t mentioned a paternity test until I found the form crumpled in the pocket of his jeans. I confronted him, and he confessed that he and Deliah got tested to see if Judson was their father. Then Lane told my father at work that he and Caleb were going to find out who was responsible for baby Eli.

  “She wants to get in on the wager,” Gabe said.

  “I can wait out here if you want,” I told him.

  He tightened his grip around my waist. “No, you’re coming in.”

  “The only reason we’re here is so the lieutenant can hide this from the media. If the lab mailed the results, they could end up in the wrong hands,” said Caleb as he messed up Deliah’s hair. “There’s probably a reporter in the parking lot waiting to hound us when we come out.”

  “Then where the hell is he?” Gabe replied.

  “Dad’s afraid he’ll have to take the two of you back,” said Lane. He unfolded his arms and glanced at the clock.

  “I hope they know they need to do more than just run the usual test. Brothers share the same DNA markers. They have to look at a lot more pieces to be sure,” Deliah said.

  Caleb laughed. “Since when did you become an expert on genetics?”

  A door behind the receptionist opened, and a woman wearing a white lab coat appeared. She took a look at the brothers and appeared momentarily flustered by their looks.

  “If you’ll all follow me…um…you’ll be more comfortable in the conference room. I must say this is highly unusual, but Lieutenant Colonel Halden requested that I deliver the results in person.”

  “What’s it matter to him who the baby daddy is?” Caleb groused as we followed the woman. “It’s his damn fighter pilot syndrome. He thinks he rules the world.”

  “Here goes nothing,” Deliah remarked as we circled an oval conference table until we each stood behind a seat. The woman gestured for us to sit. Caleb was the only one who felt the need to butter her up with small talk.

  I glanced at Lane. He had taken on an olive green complexion. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  He nodded while struggling to swallow.

  “No hard feelings no matter what happens. Y’all agree?” Caleb addressed everyone but looked straight at Lane. “It is what it is.”

  Lane blew out his breath and set his hands flat on the table. “Let’s get this over with already. I’m expected onsite.”

  I turned to Gabe at my other side and whispered as I caught him fixing his glasses on his nose. “Are you okay? Are you ready for your results?”

  “Yep. I’m gonna find out if Willie Nelson is my real dad.”

  Everyone laughed, even the technician in the doorway. She handed two folders to the woman with the white coat and shut the door.

  The woman pulled up a chair at the head of the table. “The results of both DNA tests are 99.9 percent positive. Lieutenant Colonel Halden had me submit the tests to three different laboratories. There is no question in my mind that these findings aren’t accurate. Shall we start with Gabriel and Deliah?”

  “That’ll be me.” Gabe waved his lollipop in the air as if he didn’t care either way.

  Deliah sat up straight. “I know it’s Jud,” she said. “I take after him.”

  The woman cleared her throat and without delay read off the results. “In layman’s terms, Gabriel Halden, you are the biological son of Judson Halden. Deliah Remington, you are the biological daughter of Judson Halden.” She flipped over the paper in front of her. “You are also a full match as siblings from the same mother.”

  Gabe snorted. “Happy birthday to me,” he said with the impression that he was pleased. He had a few months to come to terms with the idea that his uncle was his father and his father was his uncle.

  “Told ya. Told ya. Told ya,” Deliah sung and bounced in her chair. “Lefty’s the fun one.”

  “He doesn’t want to be called that,” Gabe grumbled.

  “He’s also flat broke and missing most of the time,” Lane replied.

  “The illusive uncle always trumps the control freak father in the fun department,” Caleb said. “Who’s gonna break it to dear old dad? His aging heart might not be able to take the crushing news.” He motioned to the woman. “Maybe you could…Miss…what’s your name?”

  “Who do you think you’re kidding? The lieutenant already knows,” replied Gabe. “Otherwise he’d be here.”

  “Moving on,” the woman said as if it were no big deal to reveal the true identity of someone’s father after decades of lies and deceit. “Lane, Caleb—would you like to continue with an audience or would you prefer to do this in private?”

  “Do it right here so I can get on with my life. We already know it’s him. My money’s on it,” Caleb said. He waved at Lane as the woman prepared to reveal the father of Molly’s baby.

  “You’re such an ass, Caleb. I pity the kid if he’s yours,” said Lane with a bitter tongue. “This is the most serious thing you’re ever going to face, and all you can do is joke and deflect. T
ypical.”

  “Drum roll,” Deliah said as she tapped her fingers on the table. “I can’t take the suspense.”

  The final folder opened. “The biological father of Eli Taylor Halden is…” The woman stopped and looked up. I wasn’t even sure she knew one brother from the next. “The biological father is neither of you.”

  My breath caught in my chest, and I pressed my head back into the headrest of the chair.

  “What the—this is utter weasel crap!” Caleb jumped up and slapped the table. His chair hit the wall behind him.

  The woman closed the file and held it to her lab coat. “Would you like me to explain the results?”

  “I’d demand a recount if it were me,” Deliah said.

  “Oh. My. God,” I enunciated quietly.

  Lane lifted himself up from his slumped position. “This is bullshit. Dad doctored the results.”

  “He probably bought the lab and paid her off,” Caleb said as he waved at the technician. “He hates Molly. She reminds him of mom. I get it now. He doesn’t want her kid to inherit his fortune.”

  “How can Eli not be related?” I asked.

  “He looks like them,” Deliah added. “Is this a prank? Maybe Gabe’s the father. Test him!”

  Caleb lifted his hat and scratched his head. “I can’t believe that kid’s not either of ours. Mona Deliah’s right. He looks like us.”

  “You’re certainly welcome to test somewhere else,” the woman said. “But I highly doubt you’ll obtain a different result. DNA testing is quite extensive, and the science behind it is proven.”

  “Eli isn’t a Halden?” I murmured softly to Gabe in disbelief.

  “Come on,” he said and grabbed the back of my chair to pull it out from the table. “Let’s blow this place.”

  I touched Lane’s shoulder as I passed him at the door. His head was down, yet he set his hand on mine and stopped me from moving on until I wrenched it away.

  “Man, I knew Molly had a thing for a kid at the pharmacy last summer. She had a thing for a dude at the movie theater too,” Gabe said as we drove out of the parking lot. “Hell, she probably screwed all of her professors.”

  I shook my head dismissively. “Gabe, really?”

  “All babies look alike. Y’all saw what you wanted to see. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s better this way.”

  “Not for Lane. He loves her. He named Eli after your brother. It’s going to change everything. Molly practically let it slip that she and Caleb were sneaking around again. I thought he was in love with her too. Now he’ll never admit it.”

  I pushed my head into the headrest and thought about it for a moment as the disappointment sunk in. She fooled us all, even Caleb.

  “Okay—maybe it’s for the better.”

  “Yup. She thinks she’s slick as snot freeloading off Haldens.”

  “Are you going to call your uncle?” I asked.

  “Why?” Gabe popped a fireball into his mouth. “Oh that. Don’t you think Mona Deliah’s calling big daddy right now?”

  “Don’t you want to talk to him about this yourself?”

  “Not particularly.”

  * * *

  “How do you know this place so well?” I asked Judson the following week. He was helping Gabe install a fence outside the servant’s log cabin on the Remington Ranch. It more resembled a shed with a bedroom, but Gabe and I were calling it our tiny home until the lodge and stables could be renovated into the magnificent buildings I imagined they once were. “You know where everything is. You knew about the pond.”

  Judson looked up from where he was resting his arm on a posthole digger in the grass and laughed as if I said something off the wall. “That’s a lake, missy. It’s too deep to be a pond. I know my lakes.”

  “Obviously you’ve been there,” I said.

  Gabe was working behind me. He didn’t say anything.

  “As a matter of fact, I could use a dip. It’s hotter than a honeymoon hotel. Y’all won’t mind holding down the fort.” Judson stabbed the ground with his tool and twisted his ponytail into a knot to cool his neck. I was doing the same exact thing.

  “Why is he here? You do all the work,” I asked Gabe when I thought Judson wasn’t listening.

  “To make sure you’re not after his money, honey,” Judson drawled and chuckled. As he walked away, he lifted up his shirt and proceeded to wipe the sweat off his face and neck. I eyeballed his back expecting to see a tattoo. There were three big welts in the shape of a triangle below his shoulder blade.

  “Did you see his back?” I whispered to Gabe where he stood in the bed of his truck and tossed firewood onto the ground.

  “Nope.”

  “It looks like he got shot. Do you think that’s what it is? Did he ever say anything?”

  “Nope. You think he’d tell me straight if I asked?”

  I shook my head. “Probably not. He avoids answering me. Have you even discussed the paternity results? Are you going to ask him about sticking around for Deliah?”

  “He can’t afford her.” He spun a log through the air right past my hip. “She’s better off with Meggie and your folks.”

  “My parents sold my house in New York. My father said he’s making three times as much working for HalRem. The last of my stuff arrived. I can pick it up later. I guess this means they’re staying and I’m never going back.”

  “Did it really take you all these months to figure that out?” Gabe asked as the morning sky flickered and boomed. “You’ve been so busy sitting on your hands, you didn’t notice. Valerie was right about you, Av’ry.”

  “Please stop calling them by their first names. It’s creeping me out. What was she right about?”

  “Your dad told me to call him Sean months ago. You want me to disobey him?”

  “Yes. And when you say my mother’s name, it sounds like you’re trying to be friends with her. You’re not, I hope. Tell me you’re on my side.”

  “You don’t hear me complaining about names and titles. I don’t give a flip if you call the lieutenant Uncle Joel, but to me, Jud’s still my uncle.”

  “Can you get down?”

  A log flew past my shoulder. Gabe jumped off the tailgate and stood in front of me. His cowboy boots sunk into the soft earth. He lifted his HalRem cap and wiped the sweat off his brow with a gloved hand. I couldn’t help but stare at his bare arms. He looked better to me in a sleeveless shirt than he did shirtless. There was something fascinating about watching his perfect muscles flex and twist.

  “Why don’t you make me a list of who I can like?” he said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Mr. and Mrs. Ross will do. No more Sean and Valerie talk. It’s seriously making me ill.”

  “How’s ma and pa sound?”

  I was having trouble accepting the fact that he liked my parents more than I did.

  “Funny you say that. My sister’s been telling everyone she’s going to marry you. If we ever make it over to Meggie’s, she’ll probably propose.”

  Thunder rumbled across the plains. Gabe stopped moving long enough to render me speechless with his lips. I tasted my future in his kiss as he held my neck and made his point. “Tell her I’m spoken for.”

  “I don’t think there will be any weddings in your family for a long time. Not after the surprise your brothers got from Molly. I still can’t believe it. It’s all I can think about.”

  “Av’ry, let’s not go there. I gotta get this done,” he replied and returned to his task.

  “Come inside. It’s going to start pouring. You’re just tossing wood around.”

  Gabe waved a glove over the firewood. “I’m working my ass off. See, it’s gone.” He turned to be funny and slapped the patch on his back pocket, then he bent over to scoop logs off the ground, plainly aware I was watching his shirt ride up his back. “You should be thanking me that you don’t have to use that outhouse.”

  “I still don’t get why we couldn’t bring your trailer here. It had air conditioning.”

/>   Lightning cut the sky in half. I rubbed my arms as electricity tickled my skin and raised the tiny hairs.

  “When are you going to be done?”

  He stopped in front of the pile of logs, glanced down, and then flashed his hazel eyes at me. “When I’m done,” he drawled. “The logs don’t pile themselves. Days are hot, but nights get chilly. Why don’t you make yourself useful?”

  I planted my hands on my waist and shook my head. “All you do is work these days.”

  Gabe continued to stack the firewood as the clouds burst. I had a feeling he was trying to impress his uncle since Judson was letting him work on the ranch before it was technically his. I made a beeline to the screen door and yanked it open. We had stayed one night on the ranch. We spent the entire time trying to patch holes in the ceiling.

  “Stubborn J. Halden,” I muttered to myself as I tore off my shirt and tossed it in the porcelain sink. I rung out my ponytail on the welcome mat Meggie bought me and kicked off my boots before heading to the bathroom. It was the only new construction on the ranch, thanks to Judson and a plumber who owed him a favor. He did it without a building permit, but I wasn’t supposed to know that.

  I unpacked a box of towels that was stacked in the bathtub and listened to the downpour ease. The screen door opened, and I bent over to fold a towel around my wet hair. Gabe was in the kitchen. I heard a chair drag across the bare floor and stepped into the hallway where I spotted him standing on the countertop poking the ceiling.

  I screamed.

  He wasn’t Gabe.

  “Hey! What are you doing? Get out of here!” I tore the towel off my head and covered my bra.

  He had a foot in the sink and a foot on my discarded shirt. He jumped down and lifted his HalRem cap to reveal his face while dripping rain on my painted floor. He just stood there staring at my towel.

  “Gabe…uh…he told me to fix the roof. I didn’t know anyone was going to be in here,” he spit his words, red-faced and startled.