Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I stop myself from absently touching my abdomen. Callie knows I may be pregnant, but Donny does not. I don’t want to give him any reason to suspect.
Donny and Brock are talking through the phone line now. Words surround me, get into my brain, but I don’t make any sense of them. I’m in my own thoughts now.
Callie leads me to a chair and helps me sit down across from Donny’s desk.
“It’s okay, Ror,” she whispers.
“I know.”
Part of me does know.
Part of me knows the Steels will help us. Not just Donny, and not just Brock, but we have the power of the Steel family behind us now.
Can Pat Lamone really be related to Brock?
I can’t even freaking believe it.
Donny finally ends the call and looks toward Callie and me.
“Are the two of you okay?”
“We’re good,” Callie says, rubbing my hand.
“Sorry about Uncle Joe.”
“It’s okay,” Callie says. “You had the same first reaction.”
“Brock didn’t react that way,” I say. “When I told him the story, all he did was comfort me. Tell me it would be okay. He didn’t berate me for not coming to the family with the information.”
“He loves Diana,” he says, “but she’s my sister, not his. It hit a little closer to home for Dale and me. Plus, Brock seems to have found his soft spot.”
I meet Donny’s gaze. “Soft spot?”
“My cousin and I are alike in some ways, different in others. Sure, we were both womanizers in our day—”
“In your day?” I say. “I think Brock is still a womanizer.”
“Maybe,” he says. “I’m not sure what’s going on between the two of you, and it’s not my business. Brock never really had a soft spot before, other than his family. He loves Diana nearly as much as I do, and if he had heard the story from anyone else, I think he would’ve gone as ballistic as his father.”
“You think?” Callie says.
“I know. I know Brock. I taught Brock everything he knows about women, and I’ve spent the last several years watching him in action. He’s an expert at leaving emotion at the door. I didn’t think he had a soft spot. Not until now.”
I warm inside…and I welcome it. An imaginary blanket drapes itself around my shoulders, and I find my strength once more.
“I’m glad your uncle knows,” I say. “We never wanted to go to anyone for help, but you know what? It feels good that your uncle knows.”
“I agree,” Callie says. “Maybe it’s time to stop hiding from this.”
“I just don’t want…”
“That won’t happen,” Donny says. “I swear to you. Those pictures will never see the light of day.”
“Callie told me that you hired someone to search Pat’s room at Mrs. Mayer’s.”
“I did. It’s supposed to happen sometime today. Mrs. Mayer is still out of town, so once Lamone goes to work, my guy will go in.”
A brick lands in my gut. I don’t know why I’m feeling like this. I want the place to be searched. And Callie and I basically stormed our way into Doc Sheraton’s house while Pat was there and searched every crevice. Of course, we didn’t know how to do a thorough search.
“Donny,” I begin, “do you think—”
“Already done,” Callie says. “He’s going to search Doc’s place too.”
Damn, that girl can read my mind.
“Donny knows we were there,” she continues. “Donny knows we searched. Brittany and Doc Sheraton are still in Wyoming, so our guy—”
“Our guy?” I lift my eyebrows.
“I mean, the Steels’ guy.”
“You’ll be a Steel before you know it, baby,” Donny says.
“Whatever,” I say. “I shouldn’t have made that comment.”
Callie squeezes my hand. “But yeah, the guy’s going in, and if there’s anything to be found in the doc’s house, he’ll find it…if Lamone hasn’t removed it after our ill-advised foray.”
“Yeah. We probably shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” Donny says, and then, looking at Callie, “and you, Ms. Would-be-Lawyer, should’ve known better.”
He’s not angry with her. There’s a twinkling glint in his eye.
Callie sighs. “I know.”
“Don’t blame her,” I say. “It was my idea. I barged my way in, and Callie just followed.”
“I’m not blaming either of you,” Donny says. “None of this is your fault. You were put in this position.”
I open my mouth—
Callie stops me with a gesture. “Stop it. Don’t go there, Rory. You were what, five days past your eighteenth birthday? None of that matters. We’ve been through it ad nauseam. Stop blaming yourself.”
She’s right. I promise myself I won’t mention my age at the time again. At least until tomorrow.
“I’ll be getting a report tomorrow if everything goes as planned,” Donny says. “If he can’t get in, he’ll let me know, and he’ll get to it as soon as he can.”
I breathe in. “Okay.”
“In the meantime, I have a meeting this afternoon, so I’ve got to prepare for it.”