Sealing the Deal by Sandy James

Author:Sandy James [James, Sandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Forever Yours
Published: 2014-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“If you know, Mom, you’ve got to tell me.” Beth tried to temper her tone, knowing if she pushed her mother too hard, Carol would get her back up. “If we don’t let the guy know, then Robert and I can’t adopt Emma.”

Carol snorted. “Why does Robert care anyway? Why would he wanna be saddled with a kid that isn’t even his? He hasn’t married you yet, and God only knows if he’ll follow through on that. Why buy the cow when the milk is free?”

“Robert loves Emma.” The heat of anger and hurt rose inside Beth, setting her face on fire.

The cow analogy had always been one of her mother’s favorites. Whenever she preached it at her daughters, Beth had winced. Tiffany? She’d started “mooing” before laughing her butt off and then doing whatever the heck she’d wanted.

If only I could find some of Tiff’s chutzpah.

“Please, Mom. Don’t make me beg,” Beth said, even though her tone had already slipped into pleading. Anything for Emma.

Carol released a weighty sigh. “Right after basic training, Tiffany started seeing that Darren kid again. Such a bad influence.”

“Darren Brown? Seriously? I figured by now he’d be in prison or something.”

Of all the scumbags Tiffany had latched on to, Darren had been the only one she’d claimed to love. Thankfully, he wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the guys Tiffany left in her wake. Although he did get arrested for possession of weed back in his senior year of high school.

Beth remembered it well because she and Tiffany had been in the car when Darren was pulled over for having a broken taillight. After the officer took his license and registration, he started shining the flashlight in the car and sniffing deeply. Then he asked why he smelled marijuana and told everyone to get out of the car.

In a gallant gesture, Darren had pulled a baggie of marijuana out of his pocket, handed it to the officer, and told him that the girls didn’t even know he had it. No doubt Beth’s horrified expression had added weight to his confession.

“Tiffany never said for sure,” Carol added. “For all I know, she might not have even known who Emma’s father was. The way she carried on and all.”

Even though Tiffany was gone, Carol still had to get in one last insult.

“I guess I’ll try to hunt him down.”

“No need for that,” her mother said. “I saw him when we were in Princeville.”

“Where?”

“He was working at the Burger Barn in Meadows Plaza.”

Beth gave her mother a rather terse farewell, letting Carol enjoy herself by getting in a few acerbic comments about Robert’s lack of a romantic proposal before they ended the call.

Exhausted from the uncomfortable conversation, Beth practically fell onto the sofa, thinking about the ramifications of Darren Brown being Emma’s father. No matter what angle she looked from, he was bad news. But could that be good news for her and Robert?

This was supposed to be an easy adoption once she and Robert were married.

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