“Good.” He tried to believe her and relax. “For the record, I wasn’t trying to say you loved Lilly more because of the money. All I meant was she doesn’t need the additional burden of knowledge right now. That’s all.” He met her gaze.
Flo nodded. His mother still appeared paler than before and Ty decided a subject change was in order. “So tell me a little more about Dr. Sanford and his intentions.”
“Andrew is a widower with no children. He’s nearing retirement and he thinks he’d like to travel. I might like that, too,” she said, her voice lightening.
Ty breathed a sigh of relief. With the subject change, her coloring returned to normal and she grew excited about Andrew Sanford. He wondered if he needed to meet the man who made his mother so happy.
Ty’s cell phone rang and he unhooked his phone from his belt. “Hello?”
“Hey, Benson, it’s O’Shea.”
“What’s up?” Ty asked Russ O’Shea, a cop he’d met during an investigation, who was now one of his poker pals.
His mother cleared off the table as he spoke.
“There was an incident at The Cove,” he said of the local mall.
Every muscle in Ty’s body stiffened. “What happened?” he immediately asked, knowing in his gut it had something to do with Lilly.
“Lilly Dumont and Molly Gifford had a close call with a car. Some bastard took a joy ride through the parking lot, narrowly missing them. A patrolling security guard showed up as the car skidded out of the lot. The women say they’re fine. They dove out of the way just in time. Since it was Lilly, I thought you’d want to know.”
“Thanks, Russ.” Ty snapped the phone shut and rose from his seat. “Gotta go, Mom.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, concern in her eyes.
He nodded. “Russ wanted to fill me in on a tip in an ongoing investigation,” he lied. His mother had just started feeling better. He couldn’t burden her with this, especially since O’Shea said Lilly was fine.
Ty needed to see for himself.
His mother relaxed her shoulders. “Well, don’t let me keep you then. I’m happy you came by. I just wish you’d do it more often.”
He grinned. He saw her once a week, but called her much more often. “Sometimes I think mothers were put on this earth to remind their kids of all the things they don’t do,” he said wryly. “Thanks for the meal. It was delicious as usual.” He kissed his mother on the cheek.
She touched his shoulder. “I love you, Ty. Everything I’ve ever done has been in your best interest.”
“I love you, too, Mom and I’ll bring Lilly by soon. She’s been asking about you, as well.” But until they’d seen Dumont’s reaction, they’d kept her arrival quiet.
He took off at a slow pace so as not to alarm his mother but as soon as he was in the car, he hit the gas and practically flew home to Lilly.
LONG AFTER Ty left, Flo couldn’t stop reliving the past. She sat in the kitchen nursing a hot cup of tea, thinking about all the things she’d done, right and wrong.
Her son still didn’t understand why she’d taken money from Marc Dumont in exchange for Lilly coming to live with them. He couldn’t fathom why she’d claimed Lilly was a foster child when she wasn’t. But he also hadn’t had to live his life without that extra cash. The money had done more than make life bearable. The little luxuries they had enjoyed, like the new kitchen, had come later. At the time the money had allowed Flo to have health insurance which covered the basics like strep throat, Ty’s broken arm and ear infections. And later on the money had been a blessing when she’d had bypass surgery. Of course, the same money had allowed her to stay home and raise Ty instead of letting him turn into a latchkey child who would have been out at all hours getting into trouble.
Yet agreeing to Dumont’s proposal hadn’t been an easy decision, at least not until she’d stopped by the Dumont mansion and taken a look at the sad girl with big brown eyes who wandered the grounds lost and alone. Marc Dumont had claimed she was a difficult child who needed to be taught a lesson that his firm hand and guidance hadn’t been able to accomplish. One look at Lilly and Flo knew the old bastard had been lying.
The girl needed love. Flo needed money to raise her son better. As far as she’d been concerned, it was a win- win situation. Dumont suggested she take a real foster child into her home to make Lilly’s move appear legit. The state had been hesitant to give her a child when she’d been working so many hours but they’d finally agreed, and deep down Flo believed it’d been Dumont who’d pulled strings to make it happen.
Flo hadn’t cared. The kids, Hunter and Lilly, needed her and in her heart, Flo knew she’d be making their lives better by taking them in. No matter that Lilly’s situation wasn’t on the books so to speak, her life had been happier with the Bensons than when she’d lived with her uncle. Taking the money didn’t seem like such an evil thing.
Until Lilly had disappeared. Then Flo lived with guilt over not having watched the kids carefully enough that night. Over not having protected Lilly. Still, the money had changed hands and because Dumont was afraid Flo would reveal his scheme, he hadn’t demanded she pay him back. But he had had Hunter taken away. Afraid that if she reported him to the authorities he’d do the same with her own son, Flo had learned to live with what she’d done.
She’d used the money on Ty after that, for better clothes, a better education. When Ty had discovered her secret, his anger had been a scary thing. He’d sold the car she’d bought him and dropped out of college. For a while, Flo had been afraid of losing her only child, but Ty had come around because they were family and they loved and supported each other. They always had and always would.
Still, Flo knew her son had been punishing himself all these years for his mother’s choices. With Lilly’s return, Flo hoped that would change and he’d find the happiness he’d been denying himself. The happiness he deserved.
Seven
Lacey needed a warm bath to soothe the body parts she’d hit on her dive to the ground. Still shaken, she drove slowly back to Ty’s place after the mall security guard, who’d arrived shortly after the incident, had taken their statement. She dropped Ty’s extra set of keys into a dish on the hall shelf, propped her shopping bags against the wall and headed straight for the bathroom. Not five minutes later, the tub was filled with soapy bubbles she’d picked up in the mall.
She climbed into the warm tub, eased into the bubbles, and laid her head against the back of the cold porcelain, letting the tension ease away. No sooner had she shut her eyes than she heard the slam of the front door and Ty’s voice call out to her.
“In here!” she yelled back. She assumed he’d talk from outside the door but just in case, she glanced down, satisfied the bubbles covered her, barely but enough.
Without a knock or warning, Ty flung the bathroom door open wide. “I heard what happened at the mall,” he said, talking fast.
“It was one of those freak accidents.” She remained motionless, knowing if she lifted an arm to cover herself, she’d risk shifting the bubbles even more.
“But you’re okay?”
She nodded. “I appreciate your concern but I’m fine. Exhausted and maybe a little sore, but fine.”
He stood in the doorway and stared, his gaze drifting up her body, his eyes darkening as if just realizing that he’d walked in on her in the tub. Nude.
Of course she was very aware of their situation. Her body might be barely covered but she felt completely bared to his gaze just the same. Her breasts grew heavy, her nipples tightening into hardened peaks and between her thighs, a delicious tingling began and grew the longer his heated gaze lingered.
She swallowed hard. “Ty?”
“Yeah?” he asked in a roughened voice.
“Now that you know I’m okay…”
“Yeah. I’m out of here.” He took a step back. Then another, slamming the door shut behind him.
Her heart racing in her chest, awareness and desire awakened, Lacey drew a deep breath and dunked her entire head beneath the bubbled water.
