Page 35 of The Fear
Apparently, this wasn’t just avisit.Ryan thought they were going to stay the night…
Just so Mister Grady could tell him about the old magic pony in the barn.
Mister Grady.
Yikes.
Her stomach tightened. In anticipation.
She was going to see him tonight.
There really was no escaping.
27
There wasa beautiful woman climbing out of a little car when Grady pulled in after he’d finally finished with repairs on the back fence. Gene was supposed to be helping him, but his brother had been a bit busy himself lately. Helping his future father-in-law after someone had knocked down all of the Fields’ fences had taken up most of Gene’s time lately.
He stopped short. Just…looking at her. Watching her.
She was laughing. Hell, he loved the way that woman laughed. How it made him forget all thedarklately. How…he could spend the rest of his life happy, if he could just hear her laugh every single day.
Her mini-version was with her. Ryan looked so much like her. It wasn’t hard to imagine her own kids looking just like that.
She would have half a dozen. He was sure of it. And the man who got her—would be the luckiest man on earth. He wouldn’t deserve her. That was true, no matter who the man was.
He would just thank his lucky stars he had her every day.
Grady stayed right there where he was and just…felt the lightning strike. Felt her steal his soul the moment she looked up at him. Her big brown eyes widened. He knew she said his name.
He wanted that woman to look at him every night for the rest of his life.
“Hi, Mister Grady. We’re here to count the puppies.” Ryan came stomping up to him. Grady scooped him up, using him as a shield between himself andher.“I’m spending the night with Aunt Hala so Daddy can get a case ready for the judge. To put a real bad guy in jail for a long time.”
And Ryan was very, very proud of his father. To hear the kid talk, Hudson was a superhero. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Calvin is at Miss Jane’s next door for a little while with Miss Chantal. But he’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner. I need someone to help me count all the puppies right now, though.” He hugged the little man close when Ryan’s arms went around his neck.
Yeah, a half dozen kids just like this one—whoever got Hala forever was going to be the luckiest man on the planet. All her kids would look just like this one, and would be into mischief all the time.
A pang ofsomethingwent through him. As he imagined.
28
Brenton lookedat Marie and made sure she was paying attention to what he had to say. He adored this woman, and had from the moment he had met her. He had long wondered what had gone wrong with Jessica that she hadn’t taken much after her mother, except physically. “I don’t care what Jessica said—you are their grandmother, you will have a relationship with them. Even if that means it’s just atmyhouse.Iget a say in who they see, too. Jessica was just pis—angry—” he didn’t curse in front of his former mother-in-law. It had always upset her. But sometimes he forgot. “Jessica was just angry you called her out.”
“The stove was molded. I’ve seen dishes mold, but the entire front of the stove had mold growing on it. I don’t know what she’s thinking. She has time to clean it up. I just don’t know why she won’t.”
Because she was probably drunk all the time when she didn’t have the kids. Brenton knew how Jessica operated. A low buzz was her favorite resting place. She’d told him several times that alcohol took the edge off, made her forget the memories of her past traumas.
He called bullshit. He knew what her past was like—and had heard from several sources. Jessica had no real past traumas, she just made things up at times. Her parents weregoodparents—and Jessica’s older brother and younger sister had both turned out just fine. They were good people he was glad to still call friends. Other than the kids—Marie, Garth, Jackson and Janie were all the family Brenton had in this world.
Jessica was a spoiled bitch who hadn’t deserved the family she’d gotten. She’d mistreated her younger sister foryearsas a teenager—always when her parents couldn’t see. Janie was a phenomenal woman now, nothing like her sister at all. She was just a little shy at times. Insecure, probably because ofJessica.
But, come hell or high water, Marie and Garth were damned fine grandparents. They adored Wynnie and BJ and Brenton hated how Jessica used that to manipulate her parents into giving her what she wanted. Especially money.
She’d had a nice childhood, she’d had a small college fund, and parents who were involved in her life. And she’d blown it all by partying like an idiot.
Brenton should have seen through her back then, but he’d been young and stupid and in love with the idea of having a family. When they’d had Wynnie almost two years later, he’d thought they’d hit pay dirt. But by the time BJ was born—he’d known he’d made a stupid ass mistake. But he’d tried to tough it out for the kids. To actually work on his marriage. Jessica had given him some pretty good lip service then—telling him how she really wanted to be the kind of wife and mother he wanted her to be.
Bullshit.
