Chapter 29
Kurt had been at the bake sale her mother had organized as a fundraiser.
Greer had been there to help take money and she’d looked up—and there he had been.
With Bristol and Bronte. Bristol had wanted a Wonkus McBubbles cookie, and Kurt had bought her a box of half a dozen.
He was taking to this daddy thing terrifyingly well.
She knew her baby would be safe with him when he had the baby, but…oh, Greer was so darned confused.
Kurt had pulled her to the side of the library parking lot, while her own mother had his girls somehow, and he had kissed Greer senseless. Like he had so many times before that night. And to her shame, she had let him.
Maybe she’d even really wanted him to, actually. Just a little.
The man was such a toad.
He’d promised he’d call her again.
She hadn’t seen him much since the night of the wreck. Something had happened to one of his properties. In Oklahoma, she’d heard. A fire or something. Rumor had it he’d had to go there and deal with authorities or something. It had been arson, she thought someone had said.
She really hoped that was just a rumor.
“You want to talk about what’s going on with you?”
Greer looked at her big brother. She had always thought Grady was one of her most complicated, sensitive, and lovable brothers—even if he didn’t realize that.
He was just so…good…at heart. But she knew he was a bit insecure.
He always had been. “I am pregnant, the man responsible is probably a toad, and our family has been through a horrible time right now. I need my bestie to help me figure out how to make it better.”
Actually, she had really just come along to see if Genny was right—if something really was going on between Hala and Grady.
Greer had thought about it since the barbecue, since what Hala had told her about what Grady had said and done—and it made perfect sense.
Hala and Grady were the perfect couple—Greer’s mom had said so, as well.
Greer suspected her mom had been planning for the two of them to get together all along.
The last thing she was going to do was tell Grady that, though. He could be so obstinate at times.
Well, so could Hala for that matter.
They were going to have such stubborn, beautiful babies someday. Greer was looking forward to it.
Her besties and her big brothers—nothing was more perfect than that.
“I can go…kick his ass again?”
Grady would do it, too. Of that she had no doubt. “I think once is enough.”
“Kind of understand him, a little. Hala explained it to me. If he really thought Calvin was his—I would want my kid to be okay, too, you know?”
“Would you have seduced a woman to get to her brother, though?”
“Is that what really happened?” Her brother’s face turned snarly in an instant. “Do you think he was fooling around with you to get back at Gene? Even outside of that stuff about his brother?”
Greer’s father had sat her down after Kurt had left that day and told her everything he knew about Kevin Chase and what things he had done.
And she knew…Kurt was probably still hurting. She had tried calling him a few days later to make sure he was okay, but…he hadn’t been able to talk at the time. He’d been dealing with an insurance agent at the time.
Greer shook her head. “I did…at first. Now…I don’t know. No man has ever made me this confused, or made me feel anything like this for him at all.”
“He’d better treat you right, kid. That’s all I’m saying. You and the baby.”
They pulled into Greer’s old complex parking lot. Greer had lived in the largest building in the back. Hala lived in the fourth building from the road, in the townhouses. Until the past month, Gia had lived in one of the townhouses in the front building.
“I just want to find a way to get my life the way I want it. And figure out what to do about Kurtland Chase without driving myself crazy. Why do relationships have to be so complicated?”
He just grunted.
“So…are you fooling around with my best friend, Grady Treyton Hiller? If you aren’t serious about her, I’m going to kick your rear end myself.”
He parked. “I’m very serious. Stay there. I’ll come help you down.”
“I’m not helpless, you know. Just pregnant.
” And all of her brothers were acting ridiculous with her lately.
Coddling her—especially the twins. And Guthrie came over daily to check on her.
It both exasperated her—and filled her with so much love for her brothers that she wanted to cry just thinking about it.
Her brothers were good men. It gave a woman hope to see.
She started to open her door and get herself out when she saw… “I’m just fin—Grady!”
A tiny boy, no older than little Bristol stood right next to the parking lot, just crying.
So small. For a moment, she almost thought he was little Ryan, Hala’s nephew.
The same dark brown curls. But this boy was so…
small. Hala’s nephew was a big, sturdy boy just like his own daddy. Grady was already moving toward him.
But she knew him. She’d just been at his mother’s apartment this week on a home visit.
And it had made her want to cry to see the kids had been living in that situation.
His name was Brenton Ryce, Junior. And he was…
covered in…blood. “It’s Brenton Ryce’s son.
BJ. His name is BJ and he shouldn’t be here.
His mother doesn’t have custody any longer.
BJ, where is Wynnie? Baby, where is Wynnie?
They live right behind Hala, Grady. Right behind her. ”
Where was his big sister? Wynnie was not quite six.
She was in the kindergarten class Hala taught.
And…they lived right behind Hala. Greer reached for the little boy when Grady handed him to her.
There was blood all over him. Grady was already moving toward Hala’s apartment when the first scream came.
“Get him in my truck, get the engine running. Lock the doors. Go, Greer. Go!”
Greer just did what her brother told her. She locked herself and the precious little boy in her brother’s truck and grabbed her phone, dialing 911 as fast as she could. And prayed.
She just kept holding him until help arrived and it was over.