Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Ava…” His lips come down on mine in a gentle but passionate kiss.
We kiss for a while, his hard dick pushing against my belly, until he stops, looks down at me, pushes my pink hair out of my face.
“I love you so much. I can’t wait until you’re my wife.”
“I can’t wait either, Brendan. But you know, we’re going to have to figure something out about the bar and the bakery. If we ever want to see each other, that is.”
“I know. I think we’re both going to have to learn to delegate,” he says.
“I never thought I’d want to, Brendan. But if it means spending time with you, I will gladly learn to delegate.”
His lips come down on mine again, and he thrusts his cock inside me.
And we make slow sweet love, for a long, long time.
Chapter Thirty-One
Brendan
Later that evening, Ava and I head to the ranch to meet Ryan and Ruby at Jonah and Melanie Steel’s house. It’s after dinner because no one wants to mess with small talk.
“I don’t know much about our grandfather,” Jonah says. “But from what I do know, I wouldn’t put it past him to father a bastard child, so it never occurred to me to think it might not be true.”
“But this is all just a theory,” Ruby says. “What we need is for Ryan and Lauren Wingdam to get DNA tested. That will tell us if they’re full or half siblings. Tucker is the best at DNA analysis. He’s quick too, and he owes me many favors.”
“I need to talk to Wendy,” Ava says.
“Sweetie…” From Ruby.
“No, Mom, she feels some kind of connection with me. I let it get to me, partially because I feel it too, but now I see that she was trying to manipulate me.”
“She’s good at that,” Ryan says dryly.
“I think I can get her to level with me. If I play my cards right.”
“Ava, she’ll hold nothing back,” Ryan says. “She’ll pull out every trick in her book to manipulate you.”
“I know that, Daddy. But still, I’ve got to try. If anyone’s going to get information out of her, it’s got to be me. She feels like I’m her”—air quotes—“progeny, which I don’t understand. You’re her progeny, Gina’s her progeny. Lauren and Jack too. Even Pat Lamone. But for some reason she chose me.” Ava jingles the bracelets on her wrist. “Do you remember Grandma Didi having these when you were little?”
“Yeah, I do,” Ruby says.
“Are you sure? Think hard, Mom.”
“Ava, I—”
“Wendy told me they were hers. That she gave them to Grandma Didi and made her promise to make you give them to me one day.”
“She’s lying, of course,” Ryan says. “Truth, to Wendy Madigan, is all relative.”
“Her initials are inside one of the bracelets.” Ava removes them from her wrist. “It’s hard to see without magnification, but WM is engraved in one of these.”
Ruby takes the bracelets Ava hands her, runs her fingers over the gold bands. “I… I think she had them. I’m sure she had them. Times were tight for us when I was little, and I remember her saying she’d never sell them.”
“Are you sure?” Ava asks.
“It was a long time ago, Ava. For years I thought my mother was dead.” She hands the bracelets back to Ava. “I don’t know. They could be different bracelets than the ones she had. It’s not like I memorized them. But she did have bracelets, and if Wendy switched them out—”
“Then she got to Didi while she was still alive,” Ryan says. “We all thought she was dead, so it never would have occurred to us… Jesus fuck.”
“She was in the delivery room when I was born,” Ava continues.
Every eyebrow in the room goes sky high, including my own.
“That’s what she says, anyway. She disguised herself in scrubs, a surgical mask, and colored contact lenses. She would have looked like an intern.”
“She’s lying,” Ryan says. “It’s what she does.”
“I don’t think she’s lying,” Ava says. “You all thought she was dead, so you wouldn’t have noticed an intern observing. They’re everywhere at teaching hospitals.”
“She was in her early sixties at that time,” Ryan says.
“But would you have noticed her age if her face were half covered by a mask?” Ava asks.
“Ava,” Ruby says, “she’s lying to you.”
“She’s not, Mom. It’s okay that you think she is, but she’s not. Trust me. She is trying to manipulate me, but I won’t fall for it. I’m stronger than she is, and that’s something she hasn’t considered.”
“So you think she somehow exchanged Didi’s bracelets for those.” Ruby gestures to Ava’s wrists. “My mother wouldn’t fall for that.”
“Wouldn’t she?” Ava shakes her head. “Wendy’s very charismatic. I know everything she’s done, everything she’s put this family through. And still…her charisma affected me until I realized what she was doing and shielded myself from it.” Ava absently sets her hand on her hip—the same hip that was recently tattooed.