Cross My Heart

“Wait.” He stood and came up beside her, grasping her hand before she could pull away. “You and I may not agree right now, but I’m on your side. I only want what’s best for you and I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Moisture filled her eyes and she blinked back tears. “Well, I’m sorry I can’t appreciate that at the moment. I was honest with you. You know how important family is to me. You know this is my first chance at even having a relationship with my mother.”

Hunter tried for pragmatic logic. “Don’t you want that relationship to be real and not based on a middleman who might not be what’s right for her?” Hunter asked.

“I can’t argue with that and I’m not as big a fool as you might think. But I just can’t let myself wonder about what would happen if you’re right about Marc. I don’t want to imagine myself all alone in the world again.” She stepped back, pulling her hand out of his. She nearly tripped on a chair, steadying herself before he could help her.

Her pain lanced through him. “Molly, I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “Maybe. But you care more about being right than you do about what I need. I’ll let you know if I find out anything.” Without another word, she darted past him and wove her way through the crowd until she disappeared from view.

Thirteen

The next morning, Lacey curled up on the bed in Ty’s old room with Digger by her side. She opened her agenda and phone book and checked in with all of her clients, making sure everyone was happy with the week’s service and nothing had been missed in her absence. Then she called Laura to check on how the employees were handling things. To her relief, all was well but still, a part of her missed being needed. She’d been gone for a while now and the business she’d previously thrown all of her attention and devotion into was running smoothly without her.

With a professional cleaning service airing out and cleaning Ty’s apartment, she had nothing useful to do there, either, at least according to him. And he refused to let her take a walk without him. He was busy with a potential client in his mother’s den while Flo had gone out for the day with Dr. Sanford, her new friend, as he’d been introduced. Lacey grinned because Flo had looked so happy it was contagious.

Antsy, she decided to do some digging on her uncle without Ty’s help. She rummaged through her purse for the number Molly had given her last night. But when she dialed the other woman at work, her secretary said Molly had taken the day off. Lacey tried her at home next.

“Hello?” Molly answered the phone.

“Hi, it’s Lacey.” She pushed herself up against the pillows. “I thought you’d be at work.”

“I wasn’t feeling up to it.”

Lacey frowned. “Are you sick?”

“Sick of everything,” Molly muttered.

“What’s wrong? If it has to do with my uncle, I promise not to pass judgment,” Lacey said, crossing her fingers behind her back. At the very least, she wouldn’t say anything to upset her new friend.

Molly drew a breath so deep, Lacey heard it on the other end of the line. “Last night Hunter accused him of being behind the attempts on your life.”

“I’m sorry.” Lacey shut her eyes, feeling badly for both of them.

“Well, I went to Marc and flat-out asked him.”

Lacey practically flew into a sitting position. “You told him we thought he was after me?”

Molly paused. “If it was true, knowing you suspected him would hardly stop him. Besides, none of you thinks he’s doing his own dirty work, am I right?”

“Probably,” Lilly admitted. “What did he say?” She twisted the phone cord around her finger until it cut off her circulation, then released the tension before rewinding the cord again.

“He said he could understand why you’d all come to that conclusion but it’s not him.”

“And you believed him.”

Molly could hear the question in Lacey’s voice. And she couldn’t blame Lacey for asking. “The thing is, I want to believe him,” she said softly. “I need to believe him. My mother’s been married four other times. The first time to my father and that lasted for about five years, if you include the separation period. The next time I was eight and she made me stay home with a nanny. The next two times, I was at boarding school and then college. Not once did she ever ask me to come home, let alone be a part of the ceremony. This time, she wants me to be a bridesmaid when she marries Marc.” As always when she talked about her mother’s neglect, a lump grew large in her throat and she couldn’t have spoken more even if she’d wanted to.

Which she didn’t. She’d unloaded enough on someone who was practically a stranger. Then again, Lacey didn’t feel like a stranger. Hunter had been right, damn him. Molly liked Lacey after all.

“I get it.” Lacey’s voice traveled through the phone line. “Marc is the first person who’s brought you closer to your mother instead of further away.”

“Exactly,” Molly said, glad the other woman had made the connection. “Hunter knows that and he tries to understand but I can’t deal with him on this subject.”

“But you can deal with me?” Lacey asked incredulously. “How is that when I’m the one whose very existence has everyone in turmoil?”

Molly leaned her head back and laughed, understanding Lilly’s question completely. She shut the top of the washing machine and moved into the kitchen, easing into a chair. “Here’s the thing. If you lived here, I think we could be friends. But I don’t have an emotional connection to you. So I can talk things through and we can disagree and I don’t feel betrayed or hurt. And I can’t expect you to take my side and be disappointed when you don’t.”

Which seemed to happen more and more with Hunter when it came to Marc Dumont.

“Am I making sense or talking nonsense?” Molly asked.

“Making sense.” Lacey chuckled. “I just wish things were different for both you and Hunter.”

Molly smiled. “Thank you for that. So now that we’ve covered my problems, what can I do for you?”

Lacey paused for so long, Molly knew what the subject would be and braced herself.

“Well it’s awkward,” Lacey said at last, confirming Molly’s hunch. “But as you said, we seem to be able to talk to each other. So here goes. I have a couple of questions on the subject of my uncle and the trust fund. I’d like answers if you’re comfortable giving them.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Molly said despite the tension building inside her.

“You know I stand to inherit the trust fund when I turn twenty-seven, right?”

“Actually, I haven’t seen the agreement. I’d only gotten as far as meeting with Marc about the possibility of him claiming the trust. You came back alive before I could look into it.”

“Well, the gist of it is, I inherit on my next birthday which just happens to be in a few weeks. That’s why whoever wants me dead needs to make it happen before my birthday arrives and I claim the trust. After that, it’s a moot point.”

Lacey had diplomatically said whoever wanted her dead and didn’t outright name Marc. Molly appreciated her attempt at being impartial. “What can I do to help?” Molly asked.

“I’d just like to know what Uncle Marc and Paul Dunne’s current relationship is. My understanding is that the two met yesterday not long after we met with Paul at his office. I need to know why. Coincidence? Or are they in cahoots somehow?”

“Hunter asked me the same thing last night and I shut him out.” Molly closed her eyes tight. “I’ll find out,” she promised Lacey.

Because she couldn’t go on hiding from the truth forever.

“You don’t know how much I appreciate it,” Lacey said, gratitude evident in her tone.

Molly swallowed hard. “One more thing?”

“Of course.”

“Tell Hunter that Anna Marie and I had coffee this morning and I asked her about Fred Mercer’s current case and she filled me in completely. I have no connection whatsoever to Fred and no reason for asking but Anna Marie