Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (18 page)

“Not a million dollars
a year!”

“And why is it my
responsibility to make that money for you?”

“All right, that’s
enough.” Anya sighed heavily. “
Em
, you’re
embarrassing us. I don’t know what’s gotten into you but it’s not becoming. If
you’re going to behave like a toddler, you can just go to your room!”

“You can’t send me to
my room!” Emilie shouted at her. “I’m not a child!”

“Then stop behaving
like one,” Sebastian muttered, shaking his head at her. “What’s wrong with
you?”

“
Aaaahhh
!”
Emilie let out a shriek of frustration. “None of you understand!” She turned
and flounced out of the room.

“What the hell is going
on with her?” Karl demanded, looking at his brother. “Do you feel the same way?
Do I not contribute enough money?”

Sebastian rolled his
eyes. “Are you kidding? You paid for me to have a four-year party in London,
while getting a great education! You bought me a Porsche, and I get a trip to
the U.S. to hang out with hockey players every year. I’m good, bro. Really.”

Karl glanced at his
parents. “So what am I missing with
Em
?”

His father shook his
head. “She’s having a tough time,” he said. “And Therese filled her mind with
all the things she could have if the two of you were married. She thinks that
you marrying Therese would be her ticket out of here.”

“Why does she need a ticket
out of here?” Karl frowned. “I had a great life growing up here, and while I
want
to play in the NHL, my life would still be pretty great if I played here. If
she wanted to live in the U.S., why didn’t she just ask?”

“The twins have a hard
time watching your success while they remain somewhat stagnant here.”

“Since when?!” Anya
demanded, her eyes fixing on her husband’s.

“I’m not having a hard
time!” Sebastian said at the same time.

Wills’ mouth thinned,
and he shrugged. “He’s always been your favorite,” he murmured. “Perhaps you
don’t see what his success does to the twins.”

“Don’t count me in
this,” Sebastian shook his head. “My life is good. I don’t know what’s up with
Em
, but she hasn’t been the same since she took that trip
to Malta last year. She came back talking about villas and race cars and
parties on yachts. Ever since then she’s been a brat.” Sebastian glanced at his
brother. “I’m proud of you and I think you’re a great brother. Therese filled
Em’s
head with a lot of crap, and frankly, I don’t think
either one of them have any idea how hard you work. Or what it costs to live in
the real world.
Em
still lives at home, and Therese
lives wherever she can crash. Neither of them have any bills, so they spend
their money on clothes and trips and travel. I think
Em
would be fine if she would just get away from Therese.”

Karl scowled. “Well,
thanks for that.” He glanced at his father. “So what do
you
think I
should be doing for
Em
? I can see it in your face, so
go ahead and tell me.”

Wills shrugged. “It
would be nice if you brought her to the U.S., maybe helped her find a husband.”

“A
husband
?!”
Karl gaped at him. “To be honest, none of my friends would be interested in a
woman like her, except maybe for the night.”

Wills grunted. “That
would be your job as her big brother, to help them perhaps see beyond the fact
that she needs to grow up.”

“Wills, that’s
ridiculous!” Anya was staring at him as if she’d never seen him before. “This
isn’t the Middle Ages—we don’t arrange marriages! And if we did, it should be
you and me, not Karl! Why didn’t I know that my daughter was so unhappy?”

“Because your priority
in life has always been that your eldest son is happy.” Wills got up and walked
out of the room.

Anya collapsed in a
chair and covered her face with her hands.

“Oh, for Christ’s
sake.” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Just because you were pregnant by some other
guy when you got married doesn’t mean—”

“Sebastian!” Anya’s
head snapped up.

“What?!” Karl said at
the same time.

“Oops,” Sebastian flushed.
“Look, Ma,
Em
and I have known for a long time.
Doesn’t change anything for us. I thought Karl knew?”

“He’s not my
father
?”
Karl looked shocked. “Mom!”

There was a loud knock
on the door, interrupting them and someone stuck their head in. “Hello?!”

“Hey,
Viggo
, Sven.” Sebastian got up and motioned them in. “Your
timing is impeccable.
Em’s
had a breakdown and Dad’s
having a smoke.”

“Hey!”
Viggo
and Sven approached Karl with big smiles and Karl had
no choice but to greet his friends. Kate was introduced and the guys
immediately got into a conversation about hockey, completing deflecting from
the previous conversation.

Kate followed Anya into
the kitchen shortly after, not sure what she could do but positive she had
nothing to add to a conversation in Swedish about hockey. She found Anya
rinsing plates and putting them in the dishwasher. Kate stood at her side and
began to help. They worked in companionable silence for a while until Anya
began to talk.

“The summer I turned
20, my father had a job here at the university,” Anya spoke softly. “I came too
because Stockholm sounded so much more exotic than Manchester, England, which
is where I grew up. As soon as I got here, I got a job at a pub and made
friends. A group of guys from the NHL started coming in, hanging out. I met
Karl’s father and we fell in love. We had a wonderful summer romance. When he
left at the end of August, he admitted to me that he was married, with four
children back in the U.S., and that was the end of that.

“Wills worked with me
at the pub. He’d been interested in me all summer, and when I told him I was
pregnant, he offered to marry me. He said he would make me happy and would
raise the child as his own. At the time, I didn’t know what else to do. So I
married him.”

“So my father didn’t
want anything to do with me?” Karl spoke from the doorway, leaning against the
wall.

“He went home to his
family,” she turned to him sadly. “So I had you, and two years later I had the twins.
My life has been good. I never wanted you to know.”

“Is he someone I would
know?” Karl asked, the calm expression on his face belying the churning in his
stomach.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Anya
looked away. “You watched him play as a child. He was one of your favorites.”

“Ken Lerner,” he said
automatically, making the connection because they looked a lot alike.

Anya nodded sadly.
“Karl, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you!”

“I’m not mad at you,
Mom.” He reached out to hug her. “I’m just a little shocked, and maybe a lot
disappointed that my hockey idol is a douchebag.”

“I was disappointed
too,” she admitted.

Karl glanced at Kate.
“I’m sorry, baby. This wasn’t how I thought our trip was going to go.”

She shrugged. “Don’t
worry about me—I’m fine.”

“You picked a good
one,” Anya smiled at her son. “You should take her and go far away from here.
Em
and Therese are only going to cause problems.”

“Is Dad angry with me?”
Karl said after a moment.

“No. I think he’s
jealous. His children haven’t attained nearly the level of success you have,
and he seems to think you owe us something. You don’t, though. You know that,
don’t you, love?”

“I can’t send every
dime I make home,” he said quietly. “My career could end any day—right now I
only have a year left on my contract. If I was to get hurt next season, that
would be the end of my career, the money, all of it. I’m trying to plan for my
future, just in case. Surely he understands that?”

“He does. He’s just
been listening to Emilie bellyache for months now, and I think he also feels
guilty that he can’t provide her with the life she seems to think she
deserves.”

“He works hard!” Karl
protested. “He gave us a good life! Somebody should have put
Em
over their knee a long time ago!”

“Hey, Karl, where the
hell is the beer?”
Viggo
came into the kitchen, a
broad smile on his face.

“Sorry.” Karl gave him
a quick smile before heading to the refrigerator. “Just chatting with the girls
for a minute.”

“Come on out and talk
with us, Kate,”
Viggo
said. “I’m anxious to meet the
woman who tamed the beast!”

Kate smiled. “I’m going
to finish helping Anya with the dishes and then I’ll be out.”

“Right-o!”
Viggo
swaggered out and Karl followed with a whispered
apology to his mother.

They spent the next day
in Stockholm, wandering around the city. Karl tried his best to be a good tour
guide, but Kate sensed his calm demeanor was a smoke screen for whatever he was
feeling. Even after a long talk with his mother last night, he’d been out of
sorts and much quieter than usual. Instead of making love to her last night,
he’d simply held her, his thoughts far away. She hadn’t pressed him, but today
she needed to find out what he was thinking.

“Whatever it is,” she
said lightly as they sat on the boat for the tour of the canals. “You shouldn’t
keep it inside.”

“I don’t even know what
it is,” he admitted. “Shock that the man who raised me isn’t really my father?
Hurt that my real father didn’t even care if I existed? Confusion that my
siblings are harboring so much resentment for my success? Anger that the man
who raised me also resents my success?” He shook his head. “I just want to take
you and my mother and go back to the U.S. and never look back.”

“She wouldn’t be able
to get the care she’s getting here without bankrupting us,” she said softly.
“Maybe when she’s better…”

“I know.” He squeezed
her hand, his eyes hidden by his sunglasses.

“What can I do?” she
asked softly.

“You’re doing it.” He gave
her a soft smile. “Just let me think it through and get my head on straight.
Everything is so up in the air—I feel like I’ve lost control over everything.”

“No you haven’t.” She
leaned into him, looking up at his handsome face. “You and I are good. We have
a solid plan to ride out the next year; I’ll be in Vegas with you as much as
possible, and will try to schedule all my trips to New York when you’re on the
road. Financially, we’re both stable. Whether you stay in Vegas or not doesn’t
matter to me in the long run. Yes, I would love to be there with Erin and the
girls, but we have to go where you’re going to be happy and making money. We
don’t need to get married right away—whether we plan a big wedding or elope
doesn’t matter to me either, as long as we’re together. So what else is there?
Everyone has family drama, trust me.”

“I never have,” he
admitted. “My family was always what kept me balanced. No matter what else was
going on, I knew they were there for me. It feels so weird to think that my
sister hates me and the man that raised me isn’t really my father.”

“But he is,” she
protested. “Do you think parents who adopt don’t love their children?”

“Those people
choose
to adopt,” he said quietly. “He fell in love with a woman totally out of his
league and the only way he could have her was by accepting the child she was
having. Let’s face it—my dad was a 21-year-old fisherman with frizzy red hair
who worked at a pub to make extra money. My mother was a knockout from England
who never would have noticed him otherwise. After all his talk about finding
Em
a husband and stuff, it shows just how much he resents
me.”

“That’s his problem,
not yours. You aren’t responsible for them. Your mom told me you put a new roof
on the house, re-did the kitchen so that she could have a dishwasher, send them
on vacation every year, and now you’re helping with medical care so she has the
best of everything… What more do they want? Your dad is only 48 years old! He
still has years to work and your siblings are young—they
should
be
working and making lives of their own!”

“Bas wanted to play
hockey too,” Karl sighed. “He just isn’t good enough for the NHL.”

“That’s not your fault
either.”

“I know.” He looked out
at the water and was quiet for a while. When he spoke, his voice was sad. “Is
it wrong that I just want to leave and get back to our life in the States?”

She shook her head.
“No. It’s normal.” She leaned up to kiss the side of his face. “So let’s enjoy
today, spend another couple of days with your mom and then we’re out of here.”

He glanced down at her
with his first genuine smile of the day. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

On their last day in
Sweden, Karl and Kate spent most of it at his parents’ house. Sebastian was at
work and Emilie wasn’t around, so it was a quiet afternoon talking and visiting
with some aunts, uncles and cousins who stopped by. Kate got to see a different
part of his family; these people were all loving and accepting, proud of Karl
for his accomplishments and genuinely happy about their engagement. His father
was quiet, and she hated to see the two of them essentially ignoring each
other, but she couldn’t force them to talk.

When the men went
outside to play a game of soccer in the yard, she went to the kitchen with
Anya, helping her get ready for dinner along with one of William’s sisters,
Olga. She was a smiling woman with the same red hair and an infectious laugh.
Kate liked her best, grateful to find someone who seemed to have genuine
affection for Karl.

“So do you think the
wedding will be next year?” Olga asked, putting a big pan of meat in the oven.

“Probably,” Kate
nodded. “Not until hockey season is over, though. It couldn’t be before
mid-June, on the off-chance they make it to the Stanley Cup finals.”

“And will you continue
to work?”

“Oh, I’m sure I will,”
Kate said. “I come from a wealthy family, but I’ve worked since I graduated
from college. I can’t imagine just staying home and doing nothing all day.”

“Take care of
children?” Olga teased.

Kate laughed. “I think
that would make me want to work even more!”

They laughed together.

“I’m going to lie down
for a little while,” Anya said after everything was prepped. “A nap will allow
me to stay up later tonight.”

“You go ahead,” Kate
told her. “I’ll keep Olga company.”

“Thank you, Kate.” Anya
left the room and Kate sank into a chair, nibbling on a cookie that was on the
table.

Olga sat across from
her and yawned. “Goodness, I’m sleepy too!”

“You can go take a
nap,” Kate laughed. “I should probably check my messages anyway.”

“You don’t mind?”

“Absolutely not.” Kate
motioned for her to go and soon she was alone in the small but comfortable
kitchen. She pulled out her phone and checked her messages. Dante had sent her
a text and she’d gotten pictures of baby Brian and Suze’s new little girl, Avery.
Though visiting Sweden was exciting, she missed Las Vegas and her friends; she
couldn’t wait to go back. It was going to be so much fun telling everyone she
and Karl were engaged.

By the time Karl and
the others came back in the house, Kate had told Erin the news and gotten
caught up on email. Karl kissed the top of her head as he moved towards the
bathroom to wash up.

“So.”
Viggo
sat down on the couch next to her with an impish
grin. “Are you really going to marry the busiest pants in Sweden?”

She arched an eyebrow
at him. “Are you and I getting married?” she asked innocently.

He laughed out loud.
“Well, now that you mention it, I think that’s Karl’s job! I’m too busy sowing
oats.”

She smiled too. “At
some point, the right person comes along and changes all of that.”

“You think?” He seemed
thoughtful.

“I do.”

He absently twirled a
lock of her hair and Kate glanced at him in surprise. “Your hair is silky,” he
said suggestively.

“Thank you.” She gently
pulled the lock from his fingers. “
Viggo
, whatever
Therese has asked you to do—don’t bother. It’s not going to work. I’m not some
simpering virgin who will sit here innocently while you wait for just the right
moment to kiss me as Karl comes out of the bathroom.”

He met her gaze
defiantly. “Really? Because from what I heard, you’d never even been tied up
until you met Karl.”

Though she was
mortified he knew that, she refused to let him see her react. She simply
shrugged. “Everyone tries things at their own pace, I guess. There’s no shame
in not being a
whore
by the time you’re 18.”

He looked at her in
surprise. “You really are something different,” he said quietly. “But when it’s
all said and done, Therese is still going to wear our boy’s ring and you’re going
to be his fat ex-girlfriend.”

She stood up as she
heard Karl coming out of the bathroom. “I was never anyone’s fat anything, and
I’m
already
wearing his ring.” She turned and met Karl halfway across
the room. “
Viggo
apparently thinks that Therese is
going to win this little battle—maybe you should have a chat with him.”

Karl’s eyes snapped to
one of his oldest friends. They’d been friends since grade school and played
together in the juniors for four years. They’d lived together for most of that
time, and they knew each other’s families intimately. The idea that
Viggo
would betray him left him almost breathless with
anger.

“What?”
Viggo
sat back, his hands behind his head. “I merely told
her the truth. Therese has a plan—you should stop fighting it.”