She continued to stare at him. “But then the divorce …” her voice trailed off.
“That’s why I’ve asked my team to see if a Last Will and Testament is on record somewhere,” he said.
“Jesus.” She tried to pull her hands from him so she could rub her forehead and eyes, but he was holding on tight. She stared down at their hands and looked up at him. “It’s a lot to get my mind wrapped around.”
“It is,” he said. “One of the things I have to consider right now is that maybe this isn’t just one man we’re dealing with. It’s possible that Frank had Jensen’s help.”
“I still don’t get it,” she said. “I don’t understand anything about it.”
“Well, there’s another ugly truth,” he said, “because it’s possible that everything in George’s will was left to you and your son. Maybe he never changed the will after you two separated. Another possibility is that everything was left to your son, and, as his guardian, you could then control whatever money your ex-husband had. Presuming he had anything.” Greyson looked at her, the question unspoken but clear on his face.
She nodded slowly. “He was well-off, though not superwealthy,” she said. “The house was paid for. When I moved in, it was his already. I moved out when we separated, so he still had the house, and his brother would have known that. George drove a sports car, a Mercedes, and I believe it was paid for as well. He was one of those who planned for early retirement, so I know he would have set aside a good chunk of money in the bank.”
“You left with nothing, I suppose.”
She nodded slowly. “I just wanted my son.”
“Well, he appears to have honored that at least,” he said, “but we’re trying to track down the lawyers involved in the divorce, and whoever may have had the most recent will for George, if there is one.”
“There was a will. Again, he was the kind of person who had it all planned out. Which is why getting pregnant pissed him off so badly. It wasn’t part of his plan.”
“Got it,” he said. She watched as his gaze went to Danny and softened at the sight of the toddler sleeping beside her. “It’s hard to realize that somebody could not love a little guy like this,” he said.
“That was the hardest thing for me to accept after we separated,” she said. “It just seemed almost impossible that anybody wouldn’t love Danny as much as I did, but it quickly became obvious that it’s a mother’s love, and nobody else really cares.”
His gaze shot back to her again. “Nobody else really cares? That has echoes of your own mother in there.”
She felt the arrow to her heart and then nodded slowly. “How did you guess?”
“Nobody else will ever love you. You’ll be a struggling single mother forever. You’ll be alone forever. You should go back to your husband and make the best of it,” he said in a grossly overdone imitation of an old lady’s voice.
She wanted to laugh, but his words were a little too close to the truth. “She still thinks I should go back to him.” She shook her head. “Wow. He’s been dead for months. … So in other words, he’s not the one who’s been making all these phone calls either.”
“Nope, but I am getting confirmation on George’s passing because we’ve seen people fake their deaths before.”
She stared at him. “That’s just so hard to understand.” It was such a mind-bender to get her head wrapped around.
“Don’t worry about that right now,” he said. “Let those facts sink in, and we’ll get more intel as the day wears on.” He looked over to see Danny shuffling in his sleep.
“How long will he sleep?”
“I wouldn’t think much longer, especially since we got to bed earlier than usual,” she said, “but it’s been a pretty stressful couple days.”
“That’s for sure.” Just then the little tyke stretched and shifted. She rolled over and kissed him on the cheek. “Good morning, sunshine.” He opened his eyes and gurgled up at her. Her heart just melted with love as she wrapped him up in her arms and held him close. She watched as Greyson stood up.
“Do you mind if I have a quick shower?”
“Of course not,” she said. “Make yourself at home, please.”
He nodded, walked to the hallway closet, and looked back at her. “Okay to grab a towel?”
She nodded. “Do you even have a change of clothes here?”
“I do,” he said. “I brought a bag with me.”
She nodded and smiled. “Oh, good. Go for it,” she said. “Danny can use my bathroom, if needed.”
He nodded and headed into the hall bathroom.
When the door closed, she looked over to see Danny staring in his direction. He looked up at her, looked where Greyson had been, and pointed. “Gray Greece?”
She chuckled. “Almost, buddy. Greyson.”
He tried to imitate her several times and then appeared to be happy enough to move on.
She got up, checked his diaper, and found that he was wet, of course, but not dirty, and walked over to his bedroom, where she quickly grabbed a diaper and a change of clothes, then headed to her bathroom, where she gave him a wash and got him dressed.
When she combed his hair, he looked up at her and smiled. It was such a lovely, warm, innocent smile that her heart just melted all over again. She snatched him up in her arms and buried her face against his soft neck. “I love you so much,” she whispered.
His response? He just gurgled with laughter. Then he patted her cheek and said, “My mama.”
Showered, changed, and downstairs, his bag at the front door, not wanting to imply any intent by leaving it upstairs, Greyson sat at the kitchen table with his second cup of coffee. They had already had another bacon-and-egg breakfast, which was fine by him for every morning. It was
