Page 53 of Sutton and the CEO's Baby

Next to him was Natalie, in a particularly tight dress that showed a lot of cleavage. Candice did everything in her power not to look in her direction. I knew that she wasn’t over Knox and wasn’t sure she ever would be.

Maggie had opted to stay at the house, seeing as how she had never met Max. I didn’t blame her. I hated funerals myself and it seemed like we had been to way too many recently.

Alice’s shoulders shook as she quietly sobbed, and I saw Martha reach over and take her hand. Earl and Martha were right next to Alice and Reena. It seemed that I had everyone who was important to me surrounding us, and it made it just a little bit better.

I hoped that Max was at peace and that he and my mother were finally able to clear the air. It got me wondering about how the reunion with my mother and father might have been. I had never been a religious person, seeing as how the local minister hated me. So the thought of life after death hadn’t been one that I contemplated often.

But as I sat there, burying another one of the people who had been a staple in my life, I had to think that there was something more.

The baby kicked and my hand automatically came up to cover it. Without creating too much of a scene I took Mark’s large hand and placed it over the bump hoping that the baby would kick again.

I loved the way his eyes lit up when a confident kick came through. It was just another testament that life kept going no matter what stage you were in.

Mama had said once that grief doesn’t ever get easier, only more familiar. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time, but as I have grown older her words have proven to be truer than I should have liked.

I grieved the mother that I should have had. There is a part of me that was still angry that she chose the drugs and alcohol to ease her pain. It didn’t make sense to blame a dead woman or to hold any harsh feelings. I loved my mama, even in her imperfections.

But as I felt my baby move, I wondered how she could have allowed the things that happened to me to occur.

There was more than one occasion where she would be passed out, either drunk or high, and her client would come looking for me. I learned the best places to hide in the trailer. I learned that crying didn’t solve anything, and that sometimes the world really is a bad place.

I don’t know why all these feelings were coming up at Max’s funeral. I knew that he slept with my mother on more than one occasion. I wondered if money was ever passed between them. If Martha and Earl had hired Max to protect us, where did they get the money? Was sex the payment that had been expected, or was I making things out to be so much worse than they already were?

I still didn’t know what to think of Max. I blamed him for sending my natural father away. But had Hollingsworth even the slightest clue what kind of a mess he had entered into? Would he have accepted us had he known my mother was a married woman?

Suddenly, I felt tired. The pressures and stresses of the occasion were weighing heavily on me. The next thing I knew, we were filing out to the churchyard for the graveside service and I hadn’t heard one word that was spoken.

Guilt pricked at me, but still I couldn’t focus on what was happening. I saw the people around us. Most of the town had shown up to pay their last respects. It seemed that nothing drew a community closer than weddings and funerals. When was the last time Otterville Falls had a good wedding?

We were way over the quota on funerals, that was for certain.

After the last prayer was said, many of the town came up to say a kind word to me. They knew that Max had been pseudo-family to me—goodness, he had protected me against at least half of their nasty comments over the years.

I wondered when it was that everything from the past was washed away. Was it when I inherited all of that money? Were they kind to me because of that, or would it have happened anyway? Had the tragedies that plagued us since Gabe’s death been the deciding factor? I just didn’t know.

It was surprising to me how many asked what our plans would be. It wasn’t awkward at all to plant the story that we would be returning to the trailer to look for a hidden item that Max had mentioned to me offhand. I said that it was likely something of an heirloom. It had to be small because I hadn’t uncovered it since Mama’s passing.

Several of the ladies went off fluttering about how exciting it would be if there was a lost treasure. I wasn’t sure if they remembered the trailer that I grew up in, but I could damn well guarantee that there wasn’t a lost treasure there.

However, there could be a document or even a key that I had missed. Honestly, I didn’t look that closely through Mama’s things. We never had anything of value—ever.

The plan was for Brian and Natalie to head there in our rental car after the funeral. Natalie would take my jacket and wear a dark-haired wig with large sunglasses.

I wore my hair down so that it would look like the wig.

The only hitch was that we had to lay low while they were at the trailer. It was decided that we would stay with Martha and Earl until dark and then we would go back to the new house.

I can say without a doubt that I had never been so happy to see darkness fall. Martha and Earl could not have been kinder hosts, but I was exhausted, emotionally and physically.

Mark and I snuck out of the house and into Brian’s rental. From there we went straight to the Baker Mansion and didn’t leave the car until the garage was shut.

“Do you think anyone saw us?” I asked Mark as we walked into the house.

All of the blinds had been closed and it was strangely quiet.

Mark shook his head. “No, I think we are safe. Where is Maggie?”

I shrugged. “I will check the living room.”

---