Page 21 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

Why did she need to be comforted? More importantly, why would she care if we had shown up together? Obviously, that was never going to happen, but something fishy was going on, and I wanted to know what. So, after we walked in, I grabbed my sister and held her back.

She smiled at me as if she hadn’t just acted like a nutjob a second ago. “Happy birthday, Kins.”

“Thank you, but what was that at the door?”

She swallowed hard. “Kins . . . I . . . I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

It was a little too late for that. Regardless . . . “There’s more to the story.”

She grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug, clinging to me like she hadn’t since we were scared girls. “Kinsley, I love you. Please remember that.”

She was starting to freak me out. A. Lot. “Dani—”

“Aunt Kinsley!” Gemma squealed, breaking her mommy and me apart.

I knelt, and Gemma ran into my arms. I wrapped her up and snuggled the life out of her. She was so adorable wearing a pink tutu dress. Her naturally curly hair was as wild as ever. She was perfection. “Happy birthday, sweet girl.” I kissed her smooth cheeks a thousand times.

She giggled the most addicting giggle ever. “Happy birthday, Aunt Kinsley. We’re birthday twins.”

“You’re right. I should have worn a pink tutu dress.”

She leaned away from me, excited. “Do you have one?”

I tapped her cute button nose. “Not yet.”

“Aw.” She was obviously disappointed. She got over it quickly and grabbed my hand. “I want to see my cake, and Uncle Brant said you have to show it to me.”

Oh, his name hurt.

I stood and gave Dani a look that said we were going to finish our talk later. She only sighed.

Gemma was impatient and started dragging me toward the living room, which was decked out in dozens of pink, purple, and gold balloons. Add in a Pinterest-worthy table for the cake and gifts. It had Sheridan written all over it. Dani wasn’t about the fluff and pomp of it all. Honestly, she had a hard time with it. My bet was that she was currently thinking about how all the money spent on this party could have been used to buy gifts for the foster children her foundation, Children to Love, supported. But she would never deny her sweet mother-in-law, Sheridan, anything. And Sheridan was in grandma heaven.

Sheridan was fussing over the cake stand, making sure it was perfectly situated on the table.

He stood by, holding the cake box, grinning at his mom.

Dani had followed us, and she whispered in my ear, “It may look like kiddie land up here, but we didn’t forget about you. It’s all adult in the dining room.”

I raised my brow. “How adult?” I teased.

She playfully smacked my arm.

“You didn’t need to specially decorate for me.” I wished we could just forget it was my birthday.

“It wasn’t me.” She nodded toward Sheridan.

“Come on, Aunt Kinsley.” Gemma grew impatient and tugged on my hand, drawing the attention of her grandma.

Sheridan turned our way. She was as elegant as always, dressed in cream dress pants and a black turtleneck sweater. With her willowy figure and dyed-blonde, long-bob, she didn’t look close to her age. But despite how beautiful she was inside and out, you could tell—like him—a light inside her had gone out. Her smile wasn’t as bright as usual, and her gorgeous blue eyes, that matched her son’s, spoke of a deep pain. A pain that had all started when he had dropped his bid for the US Senate, and she’d left her husband. Add in the fact that he and Jill had broken up at the same time. It was strange how no one ever talked about those events or why they had happened. They somehow seemed connected, but it didn’t make sense. I had done my best not to think about it. Tristan had helped with that, but now that he was out of the picture, I found myself trying to wrap my mind around it all. What I really needed to do was focus on my cat.

Sheridan, with a fake-it-until-you-make-it smile, walked my way with open arms. “There’s our other birthday girl.”

“She should have worn a ballerina dress, too, because we’re twins,” Gemma told her grandma.

Sheridan laughed before pulling me into an embrace.

I found myself clinging to her. There was something so comforting and familiar about her. Almost as if I belonged to her. Oh, how I used to dream she would be my mother-in-law. But I had new dreams now. Like cat lady dreams.

“Happy birthday, darling girl.” She kissed my cheek. “It’s so wonderful to see you.”

For a tiny moment, in her welcoming arms, I felt wonderful. “It’s good to see you too.”

“Grandma, we need to see the cake,” Gemma said, exasperated with the adults standing in her way.

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