Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Paige and I hadn’t been together long enough to think about forever, or kids, or any of it. I knew that. I wasn’t rushing into anything. But I caught the curve of her cheek as she smiled at something in her hands, and I wanted more than her body. I wanted her.
“What are you smiling about?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head. “Just—I found another receipt for artwork your father must have sold, and it’s so god-awful ugly.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a picture.” She showed me a pudgy marble satyr surrounded by fruit, its rounded belly and cheeks offset by a pug nose and squinty eyes.
“That is ugly,” I agreed, studying the receipt. “He didn’t get much for it. I wonder why he bought it in the first place.” I put it aside with the other invoices from auction houses.
“I’m starting to feel like this is a wild goose chase,” she said, echoing my earlier thoughts.
“Me too.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. We didn’t need paperwork. We needed people. I scrolled through my contacts, looking for the one I wanted, and hit the button to call.
Miss Martha answered on the second ring.
“Ford Sawyer, what are you doing calling me? Did you get yourself into trouble again?” The smile in her voice was evident, and I was grateful. Through everything, she’d always believed in me.
“Not yet, Miss Martha. I was wondering if you were busy. I have a few questions I want to ask you. Things you might remember about—” I didn’t want to get into it on the phone. “Stuff from when I was a kid,” I finished.
“I remember a lot, Ford,” she said easily. “And I’m not busy right now, but I’ll do you one better. I’ll be there for dinner tonight. I just spoke to Savannah and it’s all arranged.”
“That makes things easy,” I said.
Miss Martha was enjoying a well-deserved retirement, but she was around often enough since Savannah had taken over her position as housekeeper. Miss Martha wasn’t just close to her daughter; she loved her grandson to pieces, and he loved her back just as much.
“I’m moving in for a bit, actually,” she said.
“Why?” I asked in alarm. Visions of Miss Martha being sick flashed through my head. She wasn’t a spring chicken anymore, and she was the closest any of us had left to a mother.
“Hawk and Griffen thought it was best, considering this business with Haywood,” she said.
I let out a sigh of relief, feeling it flash through me. “Sorry about that. I know you love your cottage in town,” I said. Griffen had offered her a place in the Manor for her retirement, but she’d said she was enjoying the alone time.
“I do, I do, but this makes sense. I don’t want y’all to waste your time and worry on me, and it gives me an excuse to spend a little extra time with Nicky and Savannah, and the rest of you. If things get bad, you’ll have to keep April and Kitty away, and Savannah will need a hand with the house.”
Another good point, I realized. “Well then, I guess we’ll see you tonight. Will you have time to talk after dinner?”
“I have all the time in the world for you, Ford.”
“Thanks, Miss Martha,” I said. “See you later.” I hung up and shoved my phone back in my pocket. “Did you catch all that?” I asked Paige. She nodded as the baby monitor sitting beside her squawked with a fretful cry.
“These afternoon naps are getting shorter,” she said, standing. “Little Stella’s turning into a toddler.”
I straightened in surprise. “She was a newborn five minutes ago.”
“I know,” Paige said with a grin. “It goes fast. Now she’s a year old and zooming around on her feet—wait till she really starts climbing.”
“Climbing?” I said, not sure what she was talking about. “She’s a baby, not a monkey.”
“At this age, sometimes there’s not much difference. I nannied for a kid,” Paige said as she walked to the door, “who could climb like nothing else—couches, bookcases, anything he could get on top of—and then he’d dive right off. I swear, for the first three years, I thought he was trying to kill himself and give us all heart attacks in the process. Stella’s not nearly as much trouble.” She paused at the door and smiled at me. “I’ll see you later.”
Before she could go, I was on my feet, crossing the room, and pulling her into my arms for a quick kiss. It lingered until Stella gave another cry through the monitor.
“See you later,” I whispered against the soft skin of her cheek.
I didn’t lay eyes on Paige again until just before dinner. Griffen and Hope had decided we’d all eat in the dining room—kids, Miss Martha, and Paige at the breakfast table at the far end, the rest of us around the long formal table.