Home > It All Falls Down (Rose Gardner Investigations #7)(8)

It All Falls Down (Rose Gardner Investigations #7)(8)
Author: Denise Grover Swank

“You don’t have to do this with me, Neely Kate,” I insisted. “This is my problem, not yours.”

A blaze of anger filled her eyes. “Your problems are my problems, and my problems are yours.”

She was still angry I’d left her out of the loop when I went to talk to Vera. “For the millionth time, I’m sorry.”

But I wasn’t. Vera had shot everyone with me. What if she’d killed Neely Kate? I never would have forgiven myself.

She pressed her lips more tightly together. “Whatever. Don’t you dare leave me out of this.”

“But your adoption—” If either of them was caught doing something illegal, or even close, it might put a halt to the process. I could never forgive myself if that happened.

“You let me worry about that. Besides, you’re an actual mother to a baby. You need to be way more careful than me.”

“Neely Kate, you’re every bit as much of a momma as I am,” I insisted. “You’re just waiting for your little girl to be born.”

“You’re right,” she said evenly. “I am a momma to three babies up in heaven, but I’m starting to think I’ll never be a mother again.”

She’d never held those three babies. She’d never even made it past her second trimester with the last two before she’d miscarried. She wanted to be a mother so badly, but I could see she was starting to lose faith in the process. Even though the birth momma of her baby had made it very clear she intended to go through with the adoption, Neely Kate had seemed to take the late delivery as a sign. She didn’t feel comfortable letting herself believe it would happen.

“It’s gonna happen, Neely Kate,” I said quietly. “I just don’t want to be the reason motherhood gets snatched from you.”

“How dangerous will it be for us to just to talk to a woman while paying for gas at the Stop-N-Go?” Neely Kate shrugged, and a sly grin cracked her mouth. “Of course, with us, everything is dangerous.”

I lifted my shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “True…”

“We’ll share the danger,” she said, her chin held high. “Because that’s what best friends do.” She glanced back at the cradle. “But as much as it pains me to say so, I don’t think Hope should be comin’ along.”

She had a point. “Maybe we should drop her off with Maeve,” I said.

“I think that’s a great idea, and Maeve will be excited to spend time with her. So what’s our plan?”

“Go by the convenience store and pay for gas, just like you said. When I’m payin’, I’ll try to convince her that the Lady in Black is offering her protection.”

Neely Kate’s eyes widened. “You’re offering her protection? What exactly do you plan to do?”

I pushed out a sigh, because truth be told, I hadn’t planned on it until that very moment. But if Roberta needed protection, I didn’t plan on leaving her high and dry. And I definitely didn’t want her to get hurt on account of talking to us. That had happened before, and the guilt still weighed on my soul.

“One problem at a time, Neely Kate. If she agrees, we’ll figure out where to stash her.”

“She can’t stay with you,” she said. “Not with Joe there.”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

“She can stay with us,” she said, giving me a haughty glare that challenged me to disagree.

“What if the social worker shows up?” I said. “You know they can make impromptu, drop-in visits.”

“Then Roberta can stay upstairs, out of sight.” She released a short laugh. “They don’t snoop in every closet. The social worker would just stick to the bottom floor, ask a few questions, and leave.”

Roberta might be more willing to stay with them because Jed had willingly left James’ employment. Then again, the connection might make her too uncomfortable.

“We’ll table that for now,” I said. “We don’t know anything about her yet. I don’t know if she came here from Oklahoma with Rufus, or if he picked her up at James’ pool hall.”

The color drained from Neely Kate’s face at the mention of Oklahoma. “Where in Oklahoma?”

Neely Kate had lived in Ardmore with her mother, who’d dumped her on her grandmother’s doorstep when she turned twelve, and she’d gone back looking for her after graduating high school in Fenton County. The only thing she’d found was a life of pain and misery. It was no wonder the mere mention of the state could throw her for a loop.

“I don’t know,” I said, “but Mason thinks Rufus had ties to Hardshaw before he came here.”

She nodded. “Okay. I guess the best way to find out is to talk to her.”

“You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I’m tired of everyone treatin’ me like a baby.”

Leave it to Neely Kate to think we were spoiling her after all she’d been through. Not only was the adoption running behind schedule, but her grandmother had suffered a heart attack. Granny Rivers had still been in the hospital, recovering from surgery, at the time of her wedding. I’d seen a vision of Neely Kate’s wedding before the fact, so I’d known she and Jed were sad without knowing why. They’d been mourning her grandmother’s absence, thank goodness, not anything more permanent.

“We love you, Neely Kate,” I insisted. “But everyone needs a shoulder to lean on. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Granny’s gonna be fine,” she said, then added, “Well, as long as she cuts back on the hot wings, and yeah, I was sad she couldn’t make it to the wedding, but at least she got to watch it on her iPad.”

Neely Kate had wanted her granny, who’d practically raised her, to walk her down the aisle, but of course that had been out of the question. She and Jed had considered postponing the wedding, especially since it had been put together on such short notice, but Granny Rivers had had a conniption at the very suggestion.

“If two people were ever destined to be together, it’s you and that fine man,” she’d told Neely Kate, “so get that fool idea about canceling out of your head.”

So Witt, who’d always been more of a brother than a cousin, had done it instead. I knew Joe would have been happy to walk her down the aisle, but they’d only just discovered they were half-siblings a little over a year ago. Neely Kate and Witt had history, and lots of it, something that had been made abundantly clear in his wedding toast. He’d had a few too many beers and then launched into a story about finding Neely Kate skinny dipping in the cow pond with his best friend—now ex-best friend—back in high school. Jed had needed to hold Neely Kate back from snatching him bald.

“I’m fine,” Neely Kate insisted with more force. “So don’t you go getting any crazy ideas about leaving me out of this.”

I started to respond when Hope released a frustrated grunt.

Neely Kate’s eyes lit up. “My niece is waking up.”

I lifted a brow. “That could have been a pooping grunt.”

She shrugged. “Gotta take the good with the bad.”

“Yeah,” I said, feeling a wash of misgivings.

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