Grayson

Chapter Fifteen

"So outlaw, did you find what you were looking for last night?" Callie asked when she felt Grayson pressing gentle kisses to her bare shoulders. The morning sun was shining through the window and dancing off of the dust floating in the air.

"Yes I did and I think you'll be happy." Grayson replied. He sat up and grabbed the will off of the beside table before holding it in front of her face. She grunted and snatched it away holding it further away from her nose so she could look at it without going cross-eyed.

"Why that no good, lying, piece of…." Grayson cut her off by pressing his finger to her lips.

"My thoughts exactly." he said.

"All of this time they were hiding this from me…. That's why Thomas wanted to marry me. Because he knew that I would inherit my fathers money and property on my wedding day!"

"Yeah it looks that way."

"I want my house back." Callie said matter-of-factly. Grayson nodded.

"Let's go have a talk with Raymond and get the deed to the house and then we'll go out and kick Thomas's ass off your property."

"Our property." Callie reminded him. Grayson nodded and kissed her hair. It looked like he and his wife were going to be staying in Missouri after all.

***

"Where did you get that!" Raymond demanded as Callie held up the will for him to see.

"I found it." Grayson replied calmly. Raymond's face was the color of pea soup as he clutched at his stomach.

"Is there a reason you kept this from my wife?" Grayson demanded. Raymond shook his head.

"I uh.. I didn't want her to marry just to get the money." he said as he stood from his chair and began pacing around his office. Callie and Grayson looked at each other questioningly and then back at him.

"Why are you so upset, Raymond? Did you and my stepfather have some sort of deal worked out for me? He marries me and takes my money and let's you have a share of it?" Raymond laughed harshly, though it sounded as if it may have actually been a sound of pain.

"My door was broken this morning. You wouldn't happen to know how that happened would you?" Raymond demanded of Grayson. Grayson shrugged.

"Yeah I might. Do you think the sheriff would appreciate the fact that you've kept this will a secret from Callie for seven years?" he asked. "I'm sure there is something illegal about that isn't there?" Raymond sat down hard in his chair and looked at the two of them.

"Thomas will not be happy about this." he said quietly. Grayson and Callie both shrugged.

"I don't really care how my step father feels. I want the deed to my home so I can go and kick him out of it." Callie replied. Raymond laughed harshly however it once again came out sounding more like he was in pain.

"Fine." he said knowing he was defeated. He walked over to his safe and turned the dial to open it. After several minutes of shuffling through the papers he pulled one out and handed it to Callie. It was the deed to her fathers property. Callie stood and smoothed her skirts.

"Thank you, Mr. Collier. I'm just sorry it took so long for you to finally do the right thing." she said. Raymond just looked at the far wall and waved his hand distractedly. Grayson stood as well and he and Callie walked out of Raymond's office and headed down the road to the bank.

Schmidt Bank was a large brick building with large white letters across the front bragging about the banks age and safety. They walked up to Trina Schmidt, Scott Schmidt's new wife, who was the only clerk working behind the dark cherry wooden counter.