“If your aunts hope to recoup any of their lost money,” Megan explained, “then they need to press charges. Otherwise, the insurance company won’t reimburse them because there would be no evidence of a crime committed.”
“I’m hearing everything you guys are saying.” Grant let out another rush of air through his nostrils. “And from a legal standpoint, it makes perfect sense. But I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Uncle Gator could do something like this. Growing up, he constantly preached to me about taking care of family. What about all those comments he used to make about my dad ditching his family to move to Florida?”
“I never really understood why he was so sore about that,” Bunny said, shaking her head. “By moving to Florida, Moose was taking care of his family. His new family that he was creating. That’s where your mom lived and she was already pregnant with you. It’s not like he abandoned Whitaker Acres or anything. Moose sent you kids to us every summer so that you’d love the land as much as we do.”
Their lunch arrived, but Grant had a difficult time swallowing his food. He only made it halfway through before his fingers began twitching. He rose to his feet and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. “I really should be heading back.”
He dropped some bills on the table, then promised his aunts that he’d be back in town soon and kissed each of them on their weathered cheeks.
He didn’t feel much like driving back to the airport in Raleigh–Durham, though, so he decided to walk around downtown Spring Forest for a bit.
His thoughts were so consumed with the weight of accepting Gator’s involvement in embezzling from his aunts that he didn’t quite know how long he’d been wandering around until he found himself standing in front of the abandoned house on Second Avenue. The one he and Rebekah had followed Angus to.
As he stood in front of the overgrown yard, Aunt Bunny’s words kept replaying in his head. His father had left Spring Forest because he was expecting a new family.
Could Grant make the same sacrifice?
* * *
So Grant had been in town yesterday and hadn’t sent her so much as a text, let alone stopped in to the shelter and said hello. Rebekah looked at Angus, who was now sitting in the front passenger seat of her car as she drove to work the following morning.
If the guy wanted to avoid her, that was one thing. But why hadn’t he wanted to see Angus? Back at the townhome, the dog had dragged that stupid T-shirt out the front door with him this morning and Rebekah had had to wrestle it away before they got out of the car in the Furever Paws parking lot.
Rebekah should’ve known by the way Angus’s ears perked up that something was going on besides a simple game of tug-of-war. But it wasn’t until she was opening the passenger door for the dog that she realized the person getting out of the blue SUV next to her was Grant. Angus dashed out of the door before she could clip his leash on him. Her heart slammed into her chest and she sucked air into her lungs before yelling, “Angus, come back!”
But instead of taking off, the dog danced around Grant’s feet, yipping and barking and wagging his tail.
“Did you miss me, boy? Huh? Did you?” Grant knelt down to pet Angus, who immediately rolled onto his back and exposed his belly. “You missed Daddy.”
Rebekah wanted to shout that he wasn’t anyone’s daddy. At least, not yet. But she held herself back and instead jerked her chin toward his full-size SUV. “Did they give you a free upgrade at the rental counter?”
“Oh, that’s not a rental car. I drove up from Jacksonville...” Before he could finish, another vehicle pulled into the lot so quickly it kicked up gravel behind its tires. “Can you excuse me for a second?”
She recognized the person behind the wheel as Gator Whitaker and Rebekah’s heartbeat picked up speed. Nobody had seen the man for a while, so if he was showing up now, something big was going on. Grant hadn’t wanted to believe anything bad about his uncle the last time Rebekah brought up the subject. Had anything changed since Grant’s meeting with the aunts and Megan Jennings yesterday?
“Thanks for agreeing to talk,” he said to his uncle through the open truck window.
Of course Grant hadn’t actually come to see Rebekah. He was here to meet with his family, to probably plead his uncle’s case and get his aunts not to press charges. Judging by the idling engine, Gator had no intention of coming inside. She could only make out a few words of what the man was saying to his nephew, but his face was red and his hands were gesturing wildly.
“Come on, Angus.” She scooped up the dog in her arms. Neither one of them needed to be a witness to the family drama unfolding out here.
When she got to the building’s entrance, Bunny and Birdie were already coming outside and their attorney was behind them. Despite the emotionally charged situation occurring in the parking lot, the older women still managed to say hello to Angus as they walked toward the idling truck.
“Let’s move over here,” Megan said to Rebekah.
“Actually, I was heading inside,” Rebekah told the woman who had her smartphone out and was discreetly aiming it at Gator’s truck.
“The police have already been called and are on their way,” Megan whispered. “But it would help to have plenty of witnesses out here, just in case Gator admits anything.”
Rebekah didn’t want to be a witness. And she especially didn’t want to hear Grant stick up for his uncle again. But she reluctantly let Megan lead her closer so they could hear the heated conversation.
The voices grew louder and Rebekah shifted from one foot to the other, wishing she’d just let Angus keep the T-shirt when they first arrived. She would’ve already been inside the building when Grant had pulled up and someone else could’ve been a witness.
“Now, Gator, you’ve left us with no choice,” Bunny said. “If we want to recoup our money and protect our fiduciary duty, we have to press charges.”
“This is the thanks I get?” she heard Gator yell at his sisters. “Neither one of you could find husbands of your own, and I was the only one who stuck by you two when everyone else in the family deserted you.”
Rebekah’s indrawn breath made Angus squirm in her arms. “Shhh. It’s okay. Hold still.”
She wished she hadn’t dropped his leash when he’d darted out of the car. There was no way she was going to walk all the way back there now to get it and draw any more attention to herself or Megan, who was still recording the argument.
“That was a low blow,” Grant warned his uncle, and Rebekah was relieved to hear him defend the older women. Bunny had been engaged when she was younger and still spoke fondly of her fiancé, who’d died tragically. Birdie...well, Rebekah wasn’t sure if Birdie had ever been married or in any type of romantic relationship because nobody had ever said one way or the other.
“We didn’t need you to take care of things for us.” Birdie crossed her arms over the front of her work shirt. “You insisted that you could double our investments. I believe your exact words were, I want you gals to focus on your animal shelter. I’ll handle the bills. But you handled that money straight into your own pocket, Gator.”
“You think I wasn’t planning to pay you guys back?” Gator pounded his steering wheel. “I kept track of every single penny I borrowed. But I’m telling you right now that if you don’t drop these charges, you’ll never see that money again.”
“Bingo,” Megan whispered.
Grant stepped in front of Birdie and was only inches away from the truck window. “Gator, if you ever threaten my aunts again...”
Rebekah could see Grant’s lips moving, but the approaching sirens drowned out his words. Gator’s response was equally muted but the beefy fist raised in his nephew’s direction left little doubt as to what was going to happen next.
Angus gave a fierce bark and leaped out of Rebekah’s arms, tearing across the parking lot in Grant’s direct
ion. She ran after him, but the truck tires were already spinning and it felt as though everything after that happened in slow motion.
Rebekah didn’t hear the roar of the engine or the wail of the sirens or the cries of the Whitaker sisters. The only sound was the blood pounding in her ears as she raced toward Angus.
But she was too late. The poor gray dog bounced off the front wheel as Gator accelerated out of the parking lot.
Chapter Fifteen
“Have you heard anything?” Grant tried to keep his voice low as he slipped into the small room outside of the veterinarian’s surgery.
Rebekah’s eyes were puffy and her cheeks were still stained with tears when she lifted her head. “Not really. Lauren didn’t think that his legs were broken, but, oh, Grant, there was so much blood all over his little head.”
“I know, sweetheart.” Grant lowered himself into the chair beside her and pulled her into his side, stroking her back as she shuddered several times. “But Angus is our Scottish warrior, remember. He’s tough. He’s going to get through this.”
“He was trying to protect you,” Rebekah said before sniffing. “When it looked like Gator was going to punch you, that’s when he took off running. He thought he could save you.”
Grant’s head fell back against the wall and he pulled Rebekah tighter to him. “I’m so sorry, Rebekah. I should’ve known that I couldn’t talk any sense into my uncle. I thought that I could reason with him and that he’d simply turn himself in to the authorities. Instead, I put you and Angus and even my aunts in a horrible situation. I didn’t expect him to be that angry. That hostile.”
“That’s who you are, Grant.” She lifted her face to his. “You always expect the best from people. And I always expect the worst.”
“Well, in this particular situation, you were right. I should’ve listened to you.”
“So what happened with your uncle? Did the cops ever catch up to him?”
“I’m sure they will.” He shrugged.
Rebekah stiffened against him as she sat up straighter. “Why aren’t you out there searching for him?”
He pushed the hair back from her face and kissed her softly on the forehead. “Because you and Angus are the ones who need me right now.”
* * *
Two hours later, Dr. Lauren came into the waiting area, pulling a surgical mask off her face. “Unfortunately, the left eyeball was completely perforated by the impact and we had to remove it. I’m going to send him home with some pain meds and a list of concussion protocols I want you to follow.”
“You’re sending him home? With me?” Relief washed through Rebekah. “You mean he’s going to be okay?”
Lauren nodded. “It’s going to take him a while to adjust to having just one eye. So his balance and his steering, so to speak, might be a little off at first. You’ll have to apply an ointment on the area to keep it infection free and I’ll need to see him again in about a week to remove the sutures.”
Rebekah stood up and threw her arms around the veterinarian, who returned the hug. It wasn’t Rebekah’s most professional moment, but she wasn’t here as a professional. She was here as a mom.
Grant rose to his feet and extended his hand. “Thank you so much, Doc.”
“Oh!” Rebekah turned to the tote bag under her chair and pulled out a scrap of cotton. “Could you put this beside him so that when he wakes up, he has it with him?”
“Was that my favorite T-shirt?” Grant asked when Lauren returned to the surgical area.
“Yeah. You left it at my house. Angus found it under the bed and has been carrying it around with him everywhere.”
“Poor guy missed me that much, huh?”
“He didn’t know if you were going to come back.” Rebekah instinctively lowered her eyes, but then she caught herself. No. It was time to have an honest conversation with the man, once and for all. She lifted her face to his. “Actually, Grant, neither one of us knew if you were coming back.”
“Of course I was planning to come back. I told you that I was committed to being a father to the twins.”
“But you’re always on the go and I don’t want our children growing up never knowing when they’ll see you again.”
“I’ll see them as often as you’ll let me. Rebekah, I’ve tried like hell to give you space, to let you come to your own conclusions about the kind of guy I am.”
“Is that why you didn’t come see me the last time you were in town? You were trying to give me space?”
“Well, recently it was pointed out to me that I have a tendency to rush in to help people who don’t always need my help.”
“I don’t know what I need yet, Grant. But I don’t want to start depending on you if you’re going to fly off anytime it suits you.”
“Sweetheart, you have no idea how much I hate planes. I would gladly give up my frequent flyer card if it means you’re finally willing to let me be a part of our children’s lives.”
When he called her sweetheart and made promises like that, Rebekah’s head fought to keep her emotions in check. And the thing her head kept telling her was that he’d only committed to being a part of their children’s lives, not hers. Sure, as their mother, he couldn’t very well be active in their lives and not hers. But he’d yet to say anything about being a boyfriend, let alone a husband. Not that she’d given him the opportunity to do so.
Davis, the vet tech, opened the door, causing Rebekah to jump back from Grant’s embrace. “He’s starting to come out of the anesthesia if y’all want to step on back.”
Rebekah cleared her throat and rose to her feet.
“Hey,” Grant said, slipping his hand into hers as he followed her into the operating room. “I’m not leaving town again until we finish this conversation.”
* * *
It turned out that Grant didn’t get on a plane again. At least, not that week. Or the one after.
But they only spoke about the babies in terms of the immediate future. They didn’t commit to any sort of long-term plan.
As if by unspoken agreement, he stayed at Rebekah’s place with her and Angus, who was not very happy about having to wear the protective cone of shame to keep him from using his front paws to scratch at the healing incision where his eye used to be.
Rebekah went into the office during the days and Grant stayed home with the dog, setting up a command post on her kitchen table with his laptop, tablet and smartphone. He sent emails, walked the dog, attended video conferences, applied the antibiotic ointment the vet recommended, studied marketing trend reports and used his Bluetooth headset to make phone calls while simultaneously doing the online grocery shopping.
And then he slept in Rebekah’s bed with her at night.
“You know, I could get pretty used to this stay-at-home dad life,” he said, stretching in her bed as he watched her get dressed for work the following Friday morning.
“I’d like to hear that again in seven months when it’s a dog and two babies.” Rebekah’s smile revealed her two adorable dimples. But her face soon turned down into a frown when she tried to zip up her dress.
“Here, let me help you,” he said, getting up out of bed.
“Ugh.” She dropped her arms in defeat. “I think I’m going to need to start investing in maternity clothes pretty soon. I don’t know how much longer I can hide it.”
“If it were up to me, you wouldn’t be hiding it all,” he reminded her, slipping his arms around her waist and resting his hands over the still small bump under her midsection.
She leaned her head back onto his shoulder and sighed. “I have that appointment with Dr. Singh next week. Maybe we can start telling people after that.”
“Good. Because I’m ready to stop sneaking around.” He felt her stiffen, but he wasn’t sure if it was in response to his words, or to the sudden ringing of her cell phone on the bedside table
.
He watched her walk across the room to retrieve it, her smooth skin exposed from the unzipped back of her dress.
“It’s for you,” she said a few moments later, handing him her device. “Apparently everyone knows where to find you when you don’t answer your own phone.”
Which was exactly why he thought they should no longer be referring to their relationship as pretend. Everyone knew he’d been staying here and that something had been going on between them for a while. And there was certainly no faking the attraction.
“Hello,” he said, then listened to Birdie’s rapid-fire questions about the cell tower contract he’d sent his aunts last night to peruse. Rebekah had already laid the groundwork with the city council to get the zoning approved. But now the contract needed to be negotiated. With Gator’s recent arrest and vows to fight them in court, his aunts were eager to have more income.
“Yes, the tower company would have full rights to that half acre of land, but you can stipulate in the contract that you get a percentage of any money they make from any secondary service providers. If you go through an agency that represents landowners, they can negotiate the best deal on your behalf.”
He answered a few more questions and then disconnected. Rebekah was still standing there, although she’d put on a looser dress that showed her rounded shoulders.
He leaned his elbows back on the bed and appreciated the view. “Well, my aunt needs someone to fly to D.C. to meet with the agency that will negotiate the contract for the cell tower.”
“So, when do you leave?” Rebekah asked.
“That’s the thing. You’re going to have to go instead. Dr. Singh didn’t say anything about you not being allowed to fly, right?”
“Why would I go? I only manage the business deals that have to do with the shelter, not the Whitaker property.”
“Because I just found out that my Uncle Gator finally turned himself in and I want to be there to support my cousins when they attend his arraignment.” He saw the sympathetic look in her eye and before she could tell him for the hundredth time how proud she was of him for defending his aunts, he added, “Plus, I promised to turn in my frequent flyer card, remember?”
It Started with a Pregnancy Page 16
