Page 38 of All I Want for Christmas

“Some of us more than others.”

Little did he know I had a mountain of them.

“I’ll have my attorney draw up a custody agreement,” he said, then released another soft sob. “I’ll leave it up to your discretion when they see my parents at Christmas.”

“I won’t keep them from their grandparents,” I assured him. “They need that connection to you.”

“See?” he said with a soft laugh. “I knew you’d be fair.” Then he hung up without saying goodbye.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

JAMES

Iwasn’t surprised when Carter came back to the prison the next day, nor was I surprised that he knew what I’d been up to since he’d left.

“I heard Mike Beauregard accepted a plea deal,” he said before I even had a chance to sit down.

“Is that so?” I said good-naturedly. “I suppose that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

He didn’t look amused. “I know you had something to do with it.”

“Phone calls may have been made,” I said cryptically.

“What did you promise?”

I sat back in my chair. “Who says I promised anything?”

“Skeeter…” he practically growled.

“Beauregard’s a father, and what do most fathers want?”

A deep scowl settled on his face. “Your father and mine wanted their next bottle of booze. Somehow, I don’t think you promised him that.”

“Mostnormalfathers.”

“Wouldn’t know,” he snapped. “Never met one.”

I snorted. “They want to make sure their kids are protected.”

Something flashed in his eyes, but he didn’t respond.

“I assured him that his kids would have trusts waiting for them after they graduate from high school, so college won’t be an issue.” I wrinkled my forehead. “We both know Rose won’t be able to put three kids through a good college with her business. It’s successful, but Fenton County’s not big enough to provide for all of that.”

“So, you need me to set up two individual trusts like the one you set up for Hope?” he said, pulling out a legal pad and pen from his bag.

Hearing my daughter’s name sent a sharp bolt of pain through my chest. I’d never, ever wanted a kid, and I never wanted Rose to go through with her pregnancy, but now that our daughter was born, I’d move heaven and earth to make sure she was safe and taken care of. “Set ’em up with fifty K for now. We’ll discuss how much more to add later.”

“Sure,” he said, writing it down.

“You could have given me a heads-up about Neely Kate showin’ up,” I grunted.

“And have you refuse to see us? Yeah, I don’t think so.” He glanced up. “Let me go on the record stating that I don’t think it was fair to promise her that the Feds would back off Jed. You don’t have that kind of power. I had to bite my tongue all the way back to Fenton County. I suggested it wouldn’t be a bad idea to seek out an attorney anyway, but she has total faith that you’re handling it.”

I shrugged. Carter didn’t know about my secret meetings with a couple of agents from the FBI, and for now, I intended to keep it that way. It had been one of those meetings that had clued me in on their plan to talk to Jed. It had only taken the suggestion of my cooperation to get them to promise to back off for now. While I had no intention of letting them talk to him, I planned to string out our talks until I got everything I wantedout of the deal. Jed’s new life would never be in danger. I’d see to that.

I shot him a glare. “Maybe she wouldn’t have shown up here if you hadn’t told her about the Feds wanting to talk to him in the first place. I told you to keep it to yourself.”

He lifted his chin, fire shining in his eyes like he was spoiling for a fight. I wasn’t surprised. He’d threatened to fire me as a client a half dozen times since I’d been arrested, and I had to admit I was a shit client. I did what I wanted and ignored half of his advice. I would have fired me too.

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