Page 31 of Kissing Her Rescuer

“Only, I called your cousin, and he said he'd rented the condo to someone else that weekend.”

Crap. “Mom—”

“No. I'm not done. I don't care you lied about going fishing. You're a grown man. Were back then. You didn't have to tell me where you were going. Despite being a busybody, I understand that much about my son.”

“Then...” What made her this upset?

She took another deep, shaky breath.

“Do you want to sit back down?”

“Yes.” She started to sit and then popped back up again. “No. I need the truth. Did you go visit Eliza Campbell in Alabama that weekend?”

How in the hell had she figured that out? It’d been eight years ago. He looked back down at the picture of Eva. Eight years…

His mom continued, her voice a higher pitch than usual. “I can't believe this. I know I should be mad, but I'm not. After spending time with that sweet child, and of course, I love Eliza—”

“Mom,” Dewey said, rising to his feet, a buzzing noise in his head refusing to let him concentrate on the picture any longer. His mouth suddenly went dry. “What are you saying?”

“Honey.” She held up the picture of Eva. “That's Carrie.”

“Now, I need to sit down.” He dropped his head into his hands. Carrie. Eight years ago. Damn, how hadn’t he recognized the timing before? “Eliza wouldn't have kept this from me.”

“She may not know. I mean, other than when she was a baby, Carrie is the spitting image of Eliza. The hair and eyes throw all her other features into the background.” She tapped on Carrie's picture and then on the one of himself. “You can't mistake that.”

No. They did look alike. The same at that age. Goofy ears. The dimples. Their skin coloring.

“I don't guess I have to ask if you two slept together. I didn't even know you were a couple. I thought today was your first date.”

“It was. Back then, she'd called me upset about her husband, and I dropped everything to run over and check on her. She didn't want Cameron or Juliana involved, so that's why I lied to everyone. We talked all weekend. And obviously, you put the rest of it together. But I offered for her to come back to Statem. I would’ve taken care of her.”

“I know you're an honorable man, Dewey, and wouldn’t have left her there if you knew she was pregnant.” His mom finally sat back down. “What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to take a paternity test?”

“Without talking to Eliza first? I don't know if that's legal. And even if it is legal, she'd kill me.”

His mom rapped her fingers on the table twice. “I would hate to get her involved if I'm wrong. That poor child has been through so much, to throw this into her life, the chance Carrie's dad might be you.”

Would Eliza even want that? What if she didn't? What if that was the worst possible outcome for her?

“I can have one of my friends at the State run a quick test. If it comes back positive, then I'll approach Eliza about having a full test done. If it's negative, then we won't worry about it.”

“I like that plan.” His mom nodded. “Do it soon. If that's my grandchild, I'm ready to spoil her rotten.”

“Mom, now who's getting their hopes up?”

“Just do the test. I'll worry about my hopes later.”

Twenty-four hours.That's how long his friend at the State lab had told him it would take for his paternity results. Keeping the test from Eliza was nine-thousand different types of wrong, but he'd agreed with his mom. No use in dragging her into some lame-brain theory.

His mom might have her hopes up, but he couldn't even get it through his brain as a possibility.

He paced the Sheriff's Office, waiting on the beep of the fax machine.

“Dewey, come out here,” Sheriff Dempsey called from the back door. With one last glimpse at the silent fax machine, Dewey walked to the back door, passing Cameron coming into the station. “Good luck. Dad has it on his mind to get a new truck before he retires, and he's test driving them one at a time. He might pick one out before next Christmas.”

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