Page 22 of Ashes of Us
“No, Emilia.” Xavier's firm voice came across the yard from where he was standing with Reggie. “We're not getting one.”
“He knows me too well.” Emilia sighed as she straightened up, dusting off her knees.
“So, Emilia, since you know who I am and know everyone in the family, why don't I rely on you to introduce me to peoplewho might know about Lucy and Jasper's relationship?” He turned his attention back to them with that same warm smile. “That way, Danica doesn't have to worry about me.”
“I think I can do that.” Emilia nodded and waved for him to follow her. “Come on, let's go meet my husband and youngest daughter, who won't talk or look at you. Just go with it.” Maverick nodded, and they left Danica standing there, watching them walk away.
“How do you know Maverick?” A deep, familiar voice spoke from just beside her, making her jump. She turned to see Alex standing beside her, watching Maverick walk away with narrowed eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Danica winced as she heard the slightly accusatory tone in her voice and shook her head as he raised an eyebrow at her, looking mildly insulted. “Sorry, I just didn't expect you to come.” She pushed her hair off her face, wondering why she was so flustered about Alex being here. He had texted and asked for an update over the weekend, but she had been with Jasper and figured she would answer him later, then forgot. She wasn't even sure how he found out about the memorial.
“You didn't respond to my text on Saturday, so I stopped by to check on you on my way home.” He folded his arms, looking around. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Sorry,” Danica mumbled. “I was busy and then forgot to respond.” She remembered his first question and looked at him in surprise. “He's my PI, my lawyer suggested him. How do you know Maverick?”
“We were both on the varsity track and field teams in high school.” He shrugged. “Rival teams, though, he went to Salem High, and I went to Newman.” He was still looking around withvague curiosity, and she realized she hadn't answered whether he was interrupting or not. God, he had really thrown her off by just showing up.
“Right.” She hadn't realized Alex had done track and field in high school; he looked more like the quarterback type. “Anyway, he's here because we're having a small memorial for Jasper.” She nodded at the table with his picture. “He's gonna try to question Jasper's cousins about his relationship with the woman who approached us in the hospital.”
Alex tilted his head at her, looking both annoyed and confused. “What does she have to do with anything? What happened in court?”
Danica felt her shoulders slump. Of course, he wouldn't know. She had been trying to push Alex out of her mind as much as possible since Friday. The fact that he had shown up and had her back was giving her confusing feelings, which were making her feel very guilty and disgusted with herself. “Come on.” She waved for him to follow her and led him toward the garage, away from everyone else. “First, if you plan to stick around, Maverick is pretending he's a friend of mine from the hotel, so you'll need to go along with that.” She came to a stop just outside the door. She still hadn't been able to go into the garage. Anyone who had asked for her husband's tools had been gently turned down, with Danica claiming she wanted to keep them since rebuilding cars had been their special thing together.
Alex nodded, glancing over at Maverick. “I can do that. So? What happened?”
“They don't want custody of his body,” Danica muttered, wrapping her arms around her stomach protectively. She had felt vaguely stomach sick since leaving the courthouse Friday afternoon. “They want his sperm.” That made Alex freeze, and he turned his head slowly, looking at her blankly.
“I'm sorry?”
“Yeah.” Danica nodded. “They've decided losing both Jasper and their potential grandchild is too much and want me to give permission to harvest his sperm for the woman who approached us at the hospital.”
“They believe that the baby was Jasper's?” his tone was low and incredulous, and she could see a spark of anger in his eyes. “They're taking her side?”
Nodding, she quickly explained about Jasper showing up at his parents' place in a panic the day he died and how she thought he had confessed to his mother that he had cheated and gotten Lucy pregnant. “Apparently, she's his old girlfriend who thought he was gonna propose and got dumped instead. According to Emilia, she never got over him. Luckily, like ninety percent of his family are taking my side and are disgusted with them, but they believe that the fact that the judge didn't shut them down immediately means they aren't in the wrong here.”
“And why didn't the judge shut them down?” Alex growled. “This is fucking ridiculous!”
“Funny, that's what Trista said.” Danica rubbed her face, suddenly feeling exhausted and absently wondering when her emotions would stop flipping on a dime. “I can only assume he had some sympathy for them. He gave me three weeks to find evidence that Jasper didn't want the child.”
“Even if he did, it didn't survive the accident, so it's not the same one.” Alex pointed out. “Why is the judge letting his parents mentally and emotionally abuse you for the sake of a child that doesn't exist?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Danica sighed as several people arrived at once. “Look, you're welcome to hang around, but I have to go be a good hostess and get through this evening.”Alex nodded and walked with her back to everyone else. She left him to greet the new arrivals and saw him talking to Maverick shortly after, then he came and said goodbye. His conversation with Maverick had looked like it was light and joking on the outside, but working for Alex for the last four months had made her very aware of his body language, and she could see he was royally pissed off about it.
Danica managed to get through the evening, only breaking down into tears when Heather, who was Jasper's favourite aunt, sang Amazing Grace while everyone lit a tealight and arranged them around Jasper's picture. When she finished, Reggie said a short prayer, and they had a moment of silence, only broken by sniffles. They then lit a fire in the fire pit, and everyone sat around telling stories about Jasper and had a few drinks while the younger kids played with Watson behind them. Danica was mostly quiet, listening to everyone speak about her husband and how amazing he was. Emilia must have been keeping a close eye on her because she eventually stood up and announced it was time for everyone to leave so Danica could get some rest. They all pitched in and helped her clean up the backyard, then she let them pick up the things they were taking in Jasper's memory, and they all hugged her and told her not to worry about his parents; they would see the error of their ways.
When she went back to the backyard to douse the fire, she was surprised to find Maverick still sitting there, watching the dying flames with Watson sound asleep at his feet. He looked up and gave her a sympathetic smile as she approached. “Do you want to know what I learned now, or would you rather I send you an email with the rundown?”
Danica hesitated. She was very curious, but she also wanted to climb into bed and cry herself to sleep. Curiosity wonout, and she sat down beside him. “If it's not bad news, please tell me.”
“Well, I guess it would depend on what you consider bad news.” She watched as he stretched his leg out with a low groan and rubbed the front inside of his thigh absently, wondering what had happened to him. Seeing her curious look, he shrugged. “I was an NYPD officer until I was shot chasing a robbery suspect. The bullet nicked my femoral artery and lodged in my femur. It doesn't hurt exactly, it's more like it goes to sleep, if that makes sense.” He nodded at Watson, who was snoring loudly. “Besides being great for making people relax and tell me things, he's trained to help with my PTSD.”
“Anyway,” He continued, running a hand through his hair. “Pretty much everyone is on your side because they don't believe your husband would have cheated on you. Almost all of them waxed poetic about how he worshiped the ground you walked on, and they think Lucy is lying about sleeping with him and is playing on your mother-in-law's grief.”
“Almost all of them?” Danica raised her eyebrow, feeling a small measure of satisfaction that she hadn't been wrong about Jasper and how much he loved her. She knew he did, but having it backed by his family was highly gratifying.
“Emilia and Xavier, while they obviously have your back, both think he at least slept with Lucy, because why else would she have been in the car with him if she was lying about that?” Danica felt her stomach sink. That was a good point. “And Heather pretty much confirmed it.”
“Oh.” Danica knew there was a chance Jasper had cheated but having it confirmed made it feel like she was falling into a deep, dark hole. “What did she say?”
