A Woman's Best Friend by Inglath Cooper

Author:Inglath Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ON THE FOLLOWING FRIDAY, Sophie packed the car and headed down I-81, her heart beating faster with every passing minute of the four-hour drive to Hubbard Springs, the small town tucked into a corner of southwest Virginia where she had grown up.

From her car seat in the back, Grace sang along to the CD of children’s music Sophie had brought with them. Her happy little voice squeezed at Sophie’s heart, and she prayed that Grace’s joy for life would not be diminished by this nightmare she felt she had less and less control over.

She took the exit off I-81 and drove toward the center of town. Fifteen years and little was different. Another fast-food restaurant or two. Signs that had sprung up by the side of the road like stray weeds, bold and abundant.

She drove to the west side of town, then took a secondary road to the section of the county where her aunt and uncle lived. The house was medium-size, a brick ranch-style surrounded by a neighborhood of others exactly like it, save for different colors of trim. A burgundy minivan sat in the driveway.

The front door of the house opened. Ruby stepped outside.

Sophie got out of the car, the urge to pull away from the curb and leave as strong as it had been so many years ago when she actually had left. She lifted Grace from her car seat, queasiness now making her legs weak, and walked up the driveway, stopping just short of the minivan. “Hello, Aunt Ruby.”

“Unless you’re here to sign those papers,” the older woman said, her tone dismissive, “we have nothing to say to one another.”

“Could we go inside?”

Ruby said nothing, simply turned and headed for the door. Sophie followed, old feelings of rejection pummeling through her.

Not much inside the house had changed. The lighting still dim behind tightly drawn curtains, polyurethane wood floors shined to a mirror gloss. A long narrow table covered with family photos sat just beyond the foyer. There wasn’t a picture of Sophie anywhere among them.

In the living room, Sophie set Grace on the couch, placed a LeapPad on her lap and told her she wouldn’t be long. “Could we go in the kitchen?” she asked Ruby.

Without answering, Ruby led the way, turning on the faucet and filling the same teakettle that had sat on the stove for the duration of Sophie’s childhood.

“I’m a little surprised you’d have the nerve to come back here,” Ruby said, the condemnation behind the statement barely contained.

Sophie pressed her lips together and then said, “Aunt Ruby, I didn’t come here to talk about the past.”

“So why did you?”

“I need your help,” Sophie said, her voice low.

The silence was heavy. “It’s always been about your needs, hasn’t it?”

Sophie flinched beneath the harsh unfairness of the words. There would be no changing her aunt’s perception of why Sophie had left here. She wouldn’t even bother to try. “It’s about Grace. The man who signed away his rights to her wants her back. I have to go to court.

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