“Well, then, I’m so glad I caught you. You did a terrific job for us today. Do you have all the receipts so I can get our treasurer to write a check for you?”
The last thing Claire wanted was to be delayed, but she’d paid for the food out of her own pocket and needed to be reimbursed. “I have everything in my car.”
“Can you get it and bring it back here? I’ll go find Deirdre.”
“Of course.”
Claire made her way through the parking lot to her Saab and retrieved the folder that held all her receipts, as well as the paperwork the committee had requested she fill out so they could reimburse her.
When she arrived at the spot where she and Everly had parted, the other woman hadn’t yet returned. While she waited, Claire’s gaze roved the crowd in search of Linc’s tall form. She spotted him with Austin and a blond man she assumed was Landry’s brother, since the group also included her and Ruby.
“Well, look who’s here,” said a familiar female voice from just behind her shoulder.
Claire’s head snapped around and there stood Jasper’s mother and father. The malicious satisfaction in their expressions caused Claire to step back from them.
“Doug. Sharon.” Claire couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “What are you doing here?”
“You look surprised.” Doug Patmore sneered. “Didn’t think we would find you?”
Of average height with tanned skin and a fleshy face, Jasper’s father used the force of his personality rather than his physical presence to intimidate. Claire had never cared for the way he invaded her space. She suspected he enjoyed her discomfort.
The incongruity of seeing these two in Charleston, at a polo match, a party she was catering, left her dumbfounded and mute.
“Where’s our granddaughter?” Sharon demanded. “You had no right to take her away from us and we insist on seeing her at once to make sure she’s okay.”
The accusation made Claire want to shriek. Their outrageous claims were the reason why she’d packed up and fled California not long after Jasper’s death. She was terrified she might lose Honey once his parents started challenging her for custody of their granddaughter.
Logically, she knew that they might not have enough against her to convince a judge that Honey wasn’t safe in her care, but she wasn’t confident that the system would work for her this time after it had failed her seven years earlier when a lie had branded Claire as dangerous to children.
And with Jasper dead, who would believe his parents were poor guardians? It would be her word against both of theirs if she claimed that as soon as he graduated high school, Jasper had gone into the military and cut all ties with his parents.
“Honey is perfectly fine.” It was an effort to keep her voice calm and steady when her whole body trembled with fear and fury. “And I haven’t changed my mind about you seeing her.”
Their distress at being kept from their granddaughter spun Claire’s emotions into a chaotic mess. On one hand, Jasper was their only son, and even though they’d driven him away over fifteen years earlier, Claire recognized that they might want to try to do better with his daughter.
Unfortunately, they’d shown themselves to be toxic people and had resisted Claire’s attempts to deal fairly with them. From the moment they reached out to her after Jasper’s death, they hadn’t had a single nice thing to say and had even gone so far as to accuse her of deliberately getting pregnant to force Jasper to take care of her.
“You will let us see her now,” Jasper’s father stated, his voice rising. “Or we will call the authorities.”
Although Claire never took her eyes off the pair, she became aware that heads were turning in their direction. The last thing she needed was for the stir to reach Linc. He’d feel compelled to come see if she was okay. Then he’d meet Jasper’s parents and find out that she’d been lying to him for over a year.
“Honey is our granddaughter,” Sharon said, picking up the argument. “We need to make sure she’s safe. You had no right to take her away from us.”
Claire ground her teeth. She had every right to move across the country and away from these people. Jasper had told her numerous stories of his childhood and how he’d been verbally abused if he got a couple answers wrong on a test or didn’t get his chores done fast enough. She couldn’t imagine entrusting her sweet-natured baby to these unhappy, abrasive people.
Claire tried again. “Let’s go somewhere and talk. We don’t want to disturb this lovely function.”
“I don’t give a damn about this party,” Jasper’s mother said. “I just want my grandbaby.”
“Is everything okay?” To Claire’s dismay, Linc was approaching with Knox and Sawyer trailing after him.
“Everything is fine,” she answered.
“Everything is not fine,” Jasper’s mother declared. “This girl has stolen our granddaughter from us.”
“That’s not true,” Claire said. She couldn’t look at Linc. This sort of outrageous scene was the height of disrespect. What he must think of her.
“Are you Claire’s family?” he asked, his deep voice ringing with authority and bringing a much-needed calm to the situation.
“Her family?” Doug Patmore gave a caustic laugh. “Hardly. She wanted to marry our son, but we wouldn’t have her.”
That wasn’t true. At least the part about her wanting to marry Jasper. No doubt Jasper’s parents blamed her for their estrangement from their son, even though it had begun years before she and Jasper had ever met.
Linc was frowning at Jasper’s parents. “I’m sorry, but I’m confused. Claire was married to your son.”
“Well, that’s a pack of lies,” Jasper’s father said, his eyes narrowing as he regarded Claire. “I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, considering the way you duped my son into thinking you gave a damn about him and got pregnant so he’d have to take care of you.”
Horror kept Claire pinned in place even as the desire to crawl under a shrub and
