Linc sat up straighter. “What kind?”
Ned snickered. “He said they were diamonds but one of them came loose so I dropped it off at Fred’s for her. While he had it, I asked him to check it out.”
Fred’s was a local jewelry store the Wyse family had used for years. “Fake, right?”
“As phony as David Rhodes himself.”
Mel twisted around and looked at Ned. “You didn’t tell Mary Jo, did you?”
Ned shook his head. “I didn’t want to add to her heartache.”
“Maybe she already knows.” His sister might be gullible but she wasn’t stupid.
“I think she considered pawning it,” Ned muttered, lowering his voice. “She didn’t, so she might’ve guessed….”
The mere thought of his sister walking into a pawnshop with her pathetic bauble produced a stab of actual pain. “If she needed money, why didn’t she come to me?” Linc demanded.
“You’ll have to ask her that yourself.”
“I plan to.” Linc wasn’t about to let this slide. “What does she need money for, anyway?”
“She wants her own place, you know.”
No one needed to remind Linc of that. Mary Jo did a fine job of informing him at every opportunity. But it wasn’t going to happen now. With a baby on the way, she wouldn’t be leaving the family home anytime soon.
Linc liked that idea. He could keep an eye on her and on the baby, too. Even if he married Jillian, which was by no means a sure thing, the house was big enough for all of them. His nephew would need a strong male influence, and he fully intended to provide that influence.
“How much farther?” Mel asked.
His brother was like a kid squirming in the front seat, asking “Are we there yet?” every five minutes.
“Hey, look,” Ned said, pointing at the sky. “It’s really coming down now.”
“Did you think I hadn’t noticed?” Linc didn’t have much trouble driving in bad weather; it was all the
“Hey,” Mel said as they approached the first exit for Cedar Cove. “We’re here.”
“Right.” Not having any more specific indication of where they should go, Linc took the exit.
“Where to now?” Mel asked.
Linc could’ve said, “Your guess is as good as mine.” But he figured his guess was actually better. “We’ll do what Mary Jo did,” he said. “We’ll chase down David’s family. That’s where she’s going to be.”
Mel nodded. “Whoever said the Wyse Men needed a star to guide them obviously never met the three of us.”
8
Olivia couldn’t wait to see her husband. For one thing, she wanted to tell him about her stepbrother, get his advice.
David Rhodes…that…that—she couldn’t think of a word that adequately described how loathsome he was. She wanted him exposed. Humiliated, embarrassed,
When Olivia pulled into her driveway on Lighthouse Road she was delighted to see that Jack was already home from the newspaper office. Impatiently, she grabbed the grocery bag of last-minute items and made her way into the house, using the entrance off the kitchen.
“Jack!” she called out as soon as she was inside.
“What’s wrong?” Her husband met her in the kitchen and stopped short. “Someone’s made
Olivia finished unwinding the muffler from around her neck. “Why do you say that?” she asked, not realizing she’d been so obvious.
“Your eyes are shooting sparks. So, what’d I do this time?”
“It’s not you, silly.” She hung her coat on the hook along with the bright red scarf her mother had knit for her. She stuffed the matching hat and gloves in the pockets, then kissed Jack’s cheek.
As she filled the electric teakettle and turned it on, Jack began to put the groceries away.
“Are you ready to talk about it?” he asked cautiously.
“It’s David.”
“Rhodes?”
“The very one. The man is lower than pond scum.”
“That’s not news.”
Early in her mother’s marriage to Ben, his son had tried to bilk Charlotte out of several thousand dollars. He’d used a ruse about needing some surgery his medical insurance wouldn’t cover, and if not for Justine’s intervention, Charlotte would have given him the money. David Rhodes was shameless, and he’d dishonored his father’s
