Page 125 of Luck of the Draw

“With all due respect, Mr. Riley,” she warned him, eyebrows high, “I am not afraid of you. If you intend to raise a hand to him again, you’re going to have to physically move me in order to do it.”

“Honey, no,” Brennan said, stepping around her. “Let me handle this.”

“Skye, darling, why don’t you come over here?” Constance said from the opposite end of the table.

“Now just a minute,” Orson said, standing in front of Skye and Brennan. He held out his palm to her, and she hesitated a moment before placing her hand on it. “My dear, I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have behaved the way I did. I’m sincerely sorry for making you think I might raise to you.”

“You alreadyraised a handtohim,” she remarked. “He’s your son. No matter what he’s done, he doesn’t deserve to get sucker-punched by his dad.”

“You’re absolutely right about that. I was completely out of line.”

She pulled her hand away from his. “Then maybe you should apologize to him.”

Orson smiled warmly before turning to Brennan with a firm mouth and creases in his forehead. “Son, you’ve made a huge mess.”

“I know.” Brennan offered a patient smile. “I’m going to fix it.”

“Your mother informed you about your inheritance,” Orson prompted.

“Yeah, but I don’t need it to fix this.” Brennan stiffened. “I don’t need help from Grandad, and I don’t need help from you. I was trying to tell you that I’m going to the police. I’ll figure it out with them.”

“Yes, you will.” Orson paused and his expression softened. “But I want you to know that your mother and I will offer our support. I’ll go with you to the police and help you work with them to figure out the best course of action. Before we do all that, however, I owe you an apology. Not only for my outburst just now, but also for being so hard on you. For concealing your inheritance from you. For dealing with you unfairly, especially since I was so lax with your sisters. I disregarded your feelings because you’re a boy…er… a man. That wasn’t fair. All I’ve wanted was you to live a respectable life. I didn’t want you to squander your inheritance before you had a family. I wanted to make sure your family would live well.”

“In the unlikely event that I ever have a family.” Brennan’s throat pulsed with a swallow. “They will live well. No matter what.”

He held out his hand to Brennan. “I am sorry, son. Can we try to patch things up?”

Brennan hesitated before shaking his dad’s hand. “Of course.”

Orson leaned forward to hug Brennan, and Constance beamed with misty eyes from across the room. Skye remained stiff at Brennan’s side.

Orson released Brennan and turned to Skye again. “I think you deserve credit for motivating him to change.”

“He did all this on his own,” she countered, still defensive.

“He did, but I think you were still somewhat of a catalyst.”

“I’m not a catalyst. I didn’t do anything. He did everything for me.” Skye swallowed as she glanced at Constance and then Brennan. “Mrs. Riley can inform you that I had an unfortunate upbringing. And maybe later in life, Brennan can let you both know the depths of how bad my life has been. I’m only staying with him long enough to recover from this situation, so this might be the last time I see either of you. If that’s the case, I think it’s important for you both to understand that he has literally saved my life. He didn’t have to. He barely knew me before this happened, and he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Despite that, he’s taken better care of me than anyone ever has in my life. He’s a remarkable person.” She paused and looked at Brennan, whose eyes were blatantly sad, but his expression didn’t otherwise give anything away. “You’re amazing. I owe you everything.”

A quick frown tugged Brennan’s mouth. “You don’t owe me anything.”

“Skye,” Constance said, approaching them and reaching for her arm, “I hope you know that wherever life takes you after this, you can always count on us for support if you need it.”

Brennan spoke before Skye could. “She knows. But she’s going to be just fine.” He paused to offer her that saucy smile of his. “Don’t let her fool you. She saved herself. I just gave her a place to stay while she healed up.”

“Well, I’m obviously quite in the dark,” Orson remarked, eyeing Skye, and then Brennan, and then Skye again, “but it does sound like you’re a resilient young woman, and I’m impressed that you took me to task just now.” He offered his hand again. “Can we have a truce?”

“Of course.” She shook with him and then folded her arms across her chest.

Orson clapped Brennan’s shoulder. “So, what’s the plan, son?”

Brennan pulled his lips between his teeth and shook his head slowly. “I’m going to the police. After that, I have no idea.”

Orson nodded. “I’ll go with you. Let’s go tomorrow. We’ll take care of it.”

Brennan looked at Skye with a sober expression. “What do you think, Skye?”

She swallowed. “Yeah. Tomorrow. Probably best to just get it over with.”

---