Page 74 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

I glanced at my father, who surprised me by nodding. “Pastor Scott asked us to help persuade you to allow us some time with her, not to do anything hinky.”

“I don’t understand why you went along with him. Why not just contact me directly when you learned I had a daughter? Why not reach out and try to mend fences? You know how badly I tried to talk to you back…” I swallowed hard. “Back then. I would have answered the phone. You had to have known that. I just… don’t understand.”

My mother looked to my father, who sighed. “They told us you were into some bad stuff and that from everything they’d learned, you were living off on your own in the middle of nowhere. They were afraid if we did anything to upset you, you’d just take off with her. We wanted a chance to talk to you in person. To make you understand that we were sorry.”

His words caught me off guard. Was he apologizing for cutting me off? For blaming me for Matt’s death? “Sorry? Sorry for what?”

My father shifted on his feet. “Well… sorry for not realizing you had a family, for one.”

My mother could barely take her eyes off Lellie long enough to look at me, but she spoke, too. “And sorry for you not feeling like you could call us and tell us we had a grandbaby.”

Anger coiled inside of me, white-hot and snapping like oil popping in a hot pan. “Maybe I’m misunderstanding you. You’re sorry because of Lellie. Not because of anything that happened after Matt’s death.”

My father’s face lost any trace of warmth at the mention of my brother’s name, and my mother sucked in a breath. Even after this long, their grief still had sharp edges.

I pushed against them until they cut.

“Are you sorry for blaming me for Matt’s death? Do you still think it’s my fault? Do you still wish I’d died instead of him?” My words rocketed out of me like the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun with deadly aim. I saw Susanna move Lellie farther away in the grass. Tully must have finished his statement because he came and stood beside and a little behind me like a handsome fucking angel perched aggressively in my blind spot.

I didn’t stop. “Are you hoping to reconcile with me, to get to know me again, to see how I live and love, or are you mostly hoping to get access to your granddaughter?”

I felt the warm press of Tully’s fingers as they slid against my lower back. Because of the way he was standing, no one else would know they were there.

But I did.

So when my parents stood there, my father with a firm jaw and my mother with a watery, resentful stare, I knew there was no more need for words.

“Right,” I breathed. “Okay.”

Even Susanna had heard enough to look at me with a face full of kind empathy. I swallowed past the lump in my throat and strode for Lellie. “Come on, sweet girl. Let’s go home, okay?”

I kept my eyes away from Pastor Scott, his abductor wife, their snake attorney, and Tully’s boss as I beelined it to the Range Rover and began buckling Lellie inside. I knew she probably had a wet diaper, but I couldn’t bear the thought ofsticking around for one more minute where I could be put upon again by entitled assholes and risk being too fucking nice like always.

Raised voices alerted me to Pastor Scott’s attempt to stop us from leaving, but the officers didn’t let them approach the vehicle. Instead, the officer who’d interviewed me came close enough to confirm we were allowed to leave.

Tully’s boss approached him at the rear of the vehicle, where Tully was loading up the diaper bag and exchanging a few final words with Susanna. I didn’t hear what he said, but I could see the conflicted expression on Tully’s face.

When the older man finally walked away, Tully climbed into the driver’s seat.

Kenji and I exchanged a look.

“I’m sure we can find our way back to Katie’s with navigation,” I began. “If you need to go with?—”

“No.”

He didn’t say anything, simply waited for us to load up. Kenji and I exchanged places without speaking. He immediately began entertaining Lellie in the back seat while I slipped into the passenger seat next to Tully.

The first part of the drive was quiet. Traffic was high since it was rush hour, and Tully seemed focused on the road. I wanted to say something… ask him what his boss had said, apologize for embracing him earlier, or just plain thank him again for keeping Mrs. Scott from taking Lellie. But I sensed he wanted time to think.

After several more minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I reached out and rubbed the muscles of his neck and shoulders. “I’m stressed just looking at you,” I murmured softly.

He glanced over at me, the Gulf-blue eyes both familiar and intoxicating. “My boss said he expects me in the office for a meeting first thing.”

“You in trouble?”

His eyes returned to the road. “Trouble? No. I haven’t technically done anything wrong. And he seems to appreciate the fact I’m spending all this time ‘keeping an eye on you.’” He let out a breath. “But he didn’t repudiate what Mrs. Scott did, and it’s clear he still wants to support their custody challenge.”

I huffed out a laugh. “I can’t imagine today’s events are going to help their case. That’s the one good thing that will come from getting the cops involved.”

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