A Wolff at Heart by Janice Maynard

Author:Janice Maynard
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-03T07:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Pierce had experienced many physically harrowing moments in his life: being trapped upside down in a kayak when it wedged between two rocks…having to rescue a climber with hysteria who’d nearly killed them both on the side of a cliff…realizing that the snake he’d been bitten by was a rattler and he was fifteen miles from the nearest help.

He had always considered himself resourceful and levelheaded, able to keep calm in a crisis. But nothing had prepared him for this bone-deep dread that filled his veins with ice water.

He heard Nikki close the door as they walked in. Interruptions were de rigueur in a hospital, but the morning meal was over, the nurse had been in and the doctor would be by later. If they were lucky, no one would bother them for the next half hour.

Nikki offered him the chair, but he couldn’t sit. His great-aunt shot him one fearful look and then stared at her hands. Pierce leaned against the counter by the window.

Silence reigned for at least three minutes…or maybe it was three hours. Time had ceased to have meaning.

Nikki rescued them all. She stood on the opposite side of the bed and took one of Gertrude’s hands in hers. “I know you’re afraid. And I know this is hard. But we need you to help us. Please, Miss Trudie. Tell us what happened when Pierce was born.”

The old woman trembled visibly. Nikki shot Pierce a concerned glance, but he ignored it, staring instead at the floor, hoping he wouldn’t throw up. Finally, without prompting, Gertrude reached for a button and raised the head of the bed. When she was seated upright, she drank some water and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Pierce jerked when she spoke, his head snapping up in amazement at how strong her voice sounded.

Gertrude’s words were slow, but distinct. “I love your mother perhaps more than I should. My own daughter and I had our differences, but from the moment I took home a beautiful little four-year-old girl, my life was the richer for it. Because of my divorce, I knew I would never have any more children of my own, so now I had two wonderful daughters.”

Nikki had stepped back, but she prompted the dialogue. “What was the age difference in the two girls?”

“Five years. My Tessa was nine when I moved us lock, stock and barrel to Charlottesville. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, she resented the upheaval, and even worse, she resented having her position as an only child usurped. By the time she was in high school, she had matured enough to love her little cousin, but it took a long time. And even though all of that is water under the bridge, Tessa occasionally exhibited traces of jealousy, even in the last years before she died.”

“Was Tessa involved in any of what you’re about to tell us?”

Pierce had a sudden vision of Nikki in a courtroom, carefully examining the witness. Her questions were right on target.

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