Page 28 of Rufus

She was tall and slender, her red hair swept up in a smooth chignon. It was impossible to accurately guess her age, the makeup perfect on her unblemished skin, a bright red lip gloss on her bee-stung lips. Her black business suit was beautifully tailored, the blouse beneath made of soft blue silk. She wore black high-heeled shoes that Molly guessed, taking in the rest of this woman’s expensive appearance, would bear that distinctive red sole of the famous French designer.

Totally unsuitable clothing and shoes for visiting an animal shelter.

There was also a saying, something about “a person’s eyes never lying,” and right now, Molly knew, incredible as it might seem, that she was staring into the hard and calculating brown eyes of the woman she had once called Mother.

* * *

“Dad, I don’t understand why you’re here and not at the shelter with Molly after what you’ve just told us you and Linus have discovered about her mother.” Mia looked agitated.

Rufus was here because he believed he owed it to Mia and Darius to explain what was going on with one of the employees at the animal shelter before he spoke directly to Molly about it.

Or, as was probably more accurate, he was just putting off the moment when he would have to hurt Molly with the new information he had concerning her mother and the lack of information on the brother she had asked him to find for her.

Either way, he had decided to come to Mia and Darius’s apartment first.

The new parents were looking suitably shell-shocked from the no doubt numerous night feeds required to care for a newborn baby. Rufus remembered that time well! Zombielike didn’t even begin to describe how he and Beth had felt during those first three months after Emily was born.

The only three months he’d enjoyed as her father until two years ago.

Lilybeth was currently asleep in the baby basket beside the couch, and Rufus felt a little guilty for interrupting what should have been a rest time for Mia and Darius too.

“Dad, you need to tell Molly all you’ve just told us, and you need to be there for her once you have,” Mia gently interrupted his thoughts. “You said this Serena woman flew to England a couple of days ago. Do you think she has any idea where Molly now lives or works? That she might even try to see her?”

Rufus and Linus had asked themselves the same question earlier. Neither of them had an answer. Except that it seemed unlikely Serena would suddenly have an interest in knowing either of those things when she hadn’t given a damn about her daughter for the past seventeen years.

All they knew with any certainty was that Serena Jenkins was currently somewhere in London. Or, at the very least, England. Because, while Linus hadn’t been able to find any security footage of Serena booking into a hotel, he also hadn’t found any of her exiting the country during the past two days.

The unease churning inside Rufus, since he’d learned that, had increased, not decreased.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Darius offered. “We have a couple of hours before Lilybeth needs feeding again. Molly might appreciate having another woman around when you tell her all this.”

Rufus had instinctively liked his future son-in-law from the moment he first met him, and that liking had only deepened since Darius and Mia were married. Darius had a quiet strength and a total devotion to Mia, and now Lilybeth’s happiness, that any father-in-law or grandfather would approve of.

But in this situation?

Where Molly was concerned, Rufus knew there would always be a but.

Rufus wanted to be the one who was there to comfort Molly if or when she became upset when she learned her mother was alive and well and currently in England.

He grimaced at his daughter and son-in-law. “I honestly think that the fewer people who are present when I give Molly the news about her mother, the better. She’s such a private person. She rarely talks about her present, let alone her past. To finally know, without a doubt, that her mother chose to abandon her all those years ago is sure to seriously hurt her. Linus and I also have no information, as yet, on the whereabouts of the brother she asked me to find.”

“I think Rufus is right, love,” Darius murmured. “Remember what it was like when Nikolai dropped the bombshell, in front of members of my family, of how he had proved beyond a doubt Rufus was your father?”

“Dramatic bastard,” Rufus muttered.

Mia chuckled before sobering. “Okay, I can understand Dad’s caution.” She looked at Rufus. “But you’ll call us if you think we can be of any help whatsoever. To Molly or to you?”

The frown cleared from his brow as his tension eased a little. “I will.”

She shook her head. “How could a mother do that to her child?” She glanced over to where Lilybeth slept in her basket. “Lilybeth is still only hours old, and I don’t want to let her out of my sight, even for a moment. I now totally understand your utter devastation when you thought I had died in the car crash with Mama,” she added, tears glistening in her eyes.

Rufus swallowed before giving a shaky smile. “And the total joy when I found you again.”

“Yes.” She gave a watery smile. “I can’t even begin to imagine what could have prompted Sarah Harper to leave her ten-year-old daughter alone in their apartment. Especially when she knew she had no intention of ever coming back.”

Neither could Rufus.

But he intended to find out.

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