Page 28 of All I Want for Christmas

I climbed into the passenger seat, once again feeling like I was betraying Jed as I shut the door, but I wasn’t turning back now. I’d always followed the philosophy that it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. Even with my own husband.

Carter was silent for the first few minutes, the silence driving me crazy until he said, “So, what’s your game plan?”

“I don’t know yet.”

His brow shot up. “You’re going to all this trouble, and you don’t even have a plan?”

“I’ll figure it out as I go.” While that was true, Ididhave a plan. I just didn’t feel like sharing it with Carter. I suspected he wouldn’t approve, and I didn’t want him to have nearly four hours to try to talk me out of it. Or worse—turn around and drive back to Henryetta.

“How did you get away?” he asked.

I knew what he was asking. “Don’t you worry about that.”

“Do I have to worry about your muscular husband coming after me once we get home?”

“No. He has no idea I’m with you or what I’m doing. Which is why we met in Magnolia.” I narrowed my eyes. “But you knew that already, so what are you really gettin’ at?”

He paused for a moment. “Does Rose know what you’re doin’?”

I hesitated. “No.”

He nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”

“She’s moved on, Carter,” I said softly. “Skeeter made his choice a year ago when he drove her away, and she found someone who’s actually good for her. Nothin’ but heartbreak would have come to her if she’d stayed with Skeeter. The only way they would have worked is if they’d moved away, and then she would have had to give up everything she loved. Her business that she started with her now dead sister. Her niece and nephew. Maeve.” I paused. “Me.”

Carter gripped the wheel of his car, staring out the windshield. “You don’t think Skeeter knew that?”

I drew in a breath. “I know he was trying to protect her.”

“Not just from Hardshaw, Neely Kate,” he said in exasperation. “He was savin’ her from himself too. Especially once he found out she was pregnant. He didn’t want a kid saddled with his notoriety. He’d had a small taste of it with his own father, and his father was small potatoes compared to Skeeter.”

I gaped at him. “Skeeter told you that?”

He snorted. “He didn’t have to. I know the man well enough to read between the lines.”

“So, he martyred himself for Rose and Hope?”

He snorted even harder. “Skeeter Malcolm’s no martyr. He always has a reason for what he does.”

“You’re suggesting he purposely let himself renege on his deal with the government? That Kate didn’t put a kink in his plans?”

“Did he foresee Kate kidnapping Rose and her baby? No. But he was prepared for it if the plan with the alphabet agencies didn’t pan out.”

“Then what was his plan?” I asked.

He shook his head and said bitterly, “Wouldn’tIlike to know.”

“He hasn’t told you?”

“Nope.”

I stared at him in shock. “But you’re his attorney.”

“He says to trust him, so that’s all I can do, because as much as I’ve tried to persuade him otherwise, he’s not confiding in me.”

We were silent for a bit while Carter drove, but he stopped in Little Rock to get more coffee, something I wasn’t going to turn down. After that, I asked him questions about being a defense attorney in Fenton County, and he told me about some of his more amusing cases. Turns out that most criminals are stupid.

“Don’t you feel guilty getting people who’ve broken the law out of prison?” I asked.

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