Chapter 21
DARCY
“It’s a great day at the Paw Spa. How can I help you today?
” I asked as I put the phone between my shoulder and my ear.
I was surprised when a computerized voice came over the line asking if I’d accept the charges for a collect call from the jail.
Tansy hadn’t shown up to work this morning and hadn’t answered any of my calls.
I was scared to death that she might be in trouble, so my first thought was that she’d gotten arrested last night when she went out with the mystery man. “I’ll accept the charges.”
There were a few clicks, and then a different computerized voice informed me that we were on a recorded line. I could hear someone breathing before I asked, “Tansy, are you okay?”
“Who is Tansy?”
“Huh?”
“Is this Darcy?”
“Yes.”
“I need to talk to you.”
I suddenly realized that I should have known better than to think this was my sister and that I should probably hang up, but curiosity got the best of me. I asked, “About what?”
“I can’t call Crow, and if I call anyone else in his family to give them a message, they’ll probably figure out how to bring me up on more charges.”
“I’m not going to deliver a message to Crow or anybody else for you, Rebecca.”
“I want to talk to you.”
“Then talk.”
The bell over the door rang, and I looked up to find my sister rushing in. I shook my head and gave her a thumbs up as she mouthed her apologies and took off toward the back to check on the work she’d done yesterday.
“I put your name on the visitor list.”
“I don’t think visiting you will do either of us any good.”
“I want to talk to you about Revna and her future, but I know that if you talk to Crow first, he’ll convince you that I’m nuts and you don’t need to talk to me.”
“You were willing to sell your child, Rebecca. I’m already convinced.”
“Visiting hours start soon. Will you please come?”
“I’m going to call my lawyer first and see what he thinks I should do.”
“I’m sure it’s Marcus Hamilton, huh? I bet he’ll have a few ideas. If you call Petra, she can probably even come up with a few more.”
I had to admit that Rebecca sounded different than she had the night I met her.
I wondered if that was because she was actually doing better mentally or because she didn’t have poison coursing through her system.
I wondered why in the hell I even cared, but I knew it was mostly because of the part of me that felt sorry for her.
“I’m not making any promises, Rebecca.”
“Have Marcus give you whatever paperwork is necessary for me to sign over custody. My defense attorney is telling me that if I take a plea, I’ll only get fifteen years in Texas, but I’ll still have the federal charges and even more in a few other places, and they probably won’t run concurrently.”
“Damn,” I whispered, wondering how different the world would be in fifteen years.
Hopefully by then I’d have a house full of kids and .
. . nope. I was not going to let my happy thoughts and dreams share any space with Rebecca.
I was going to save those for Rev because she was the only one who deserved them in this situation. “I’ll call and talk to my lawyer.”
“I’ll see you this afternoon.”
The call disconnected, and I stopped what I was doing to walk to the back to check on my sister. I sent a text to Marcus giving him an update on the call I’d just gotten and asked him to call me as soon as he had a chance.
“I’m so sorry I was late!” Tansy said when she looked up and saw me walking toward her work area.
I saw that it was pristine as usual, and that all five of the freeze dryers were still in process, and the dry erase board behind her had a list of things she needed to accomplish today.
Of the three of us, Tansy was the most list oriented, and relied on them to plan everything.
Of course, since that was her personality type, getting a late start like today was going to throw her into a tizzy.
“I was up late last night and completely forgot to set my alarm this morning.”
“You were up late somewhere other than your house because I went by there when I left home to see if you wanted to hitch a ride with me and stop for breakfast.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. Where were you?”
“What are you, the Tansy police?” she asked with a laugh.
“Not quite ready to share yet, huh?”
“Not yet. Let’s see if he’s still shiny when the new wears off. If he is, I might tell you his name.”
“Now I’m even more curious,” I said as my phone buzzed in my hand. I looked down at it and frowned when I saw Marcus’s text. “I need to take some time off this afternoon, okay?”
“Sure. Wedding stuff? Are you excited?”
“I’m nervous and . . . yay!” I squealed. I couldn’t stop myself from doing a little dance before I announced, “I’m getting married tomorrow!”
Tansy rushed around the table between us and grabbed my hands as she bounced up and down, and I let my excitement take over and jumped around with her. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this excited about anything, or the last time I’d been this terrified either.
“What was that look?” Tansy asked.
“I got a call from the jail. Rebecca wants me to come visit her.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not!”
“She said to bring the necessary paperwork for her to relinquish custody. I have a feeling she’s going to want something in return, but honestly, anything she wants would be worth the price of knowing Rev won’t ever be taken away from Crow.”
“Or you, Darcy. You’re just as in love with her as he is.”
“Do you remember when we were kids and I wanted to have six kids like The Brady Bunch?”
“Nick at Nite gave us some wild expectations, didn’t it? You wanted a houseful of kids in suburbia and I wanted to marry Uncle Jesse and hang out with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
“Have you seen John Stamos lately?” I asked. I shivered before I said, “The man ages like a fine wine.”
“My crush is still very active and he can sweep me off my feet anytime he gets the urge.”
I laughed at the dreamy look on Tansy’s face when my phone chimed with an incoming text. I had just pulled it out of my pocket when the store phone rang, so I handed the cordless to Tansy so she could answer it.
“Meet me at the office in fifteen minutes.”
I sent Marcus a thumbs up and then opened the screen to send a text to Crow before I realized what time it was.
Right now, he should be putting Rev down for a nap and hopefully taking one himself, so I wouldn’t bother him with all this.
Hopefully, by the time I saw him this afternoon, I would have the paperwork in hand showing that Rev was going to be ours forever, not just until Rebecca changed her mind or wanted to cause a problem.
I glanced at the appointment calendar on the wall and verified that I didn’t have anything on the schedule until late this afternoon and then pulled off my apron before I waved at Tansy and pointed toward the door.
She nodded eagerly and waved back, so I grabbed my keys and took off through the employee entrance so I could meet Marcus.
What should have been a day filled with excitement about my wedding had turned into a day filled with excitement at the thought of getting Rev’s future settled, and fear that something might go wrong.
It took less than ten minutes to get to Hamilton, Parker, and Forrester Law Firm, and I walked into the building with a minute to spare.
The receptionist recognized me immediately and hopped up to escort me to the conference room, where I found not just Marcus waiting for me, but Petra and Hawk too.
I looked at Hawk and said, “I didn’t tell Crow what’s up because he should be napping with Rev right now.”
“I think you should call him anyway,” Hawk said with a frown.
“I’d rather call him with good news rather than give him something else to worry about,” I replied. When Hawk shrugged I smiled and said, “Although if this backfires and he’s not happy with me I will make sure to tell him you tried to get me to call him.”
“Either she signs the paper or not,” Hawk said, waving away my offer. “Either way that little girl is going to remain a Forrester.”
“That’s the plan,” Marcus agreed.
“I’m going with you,” Petra announced. “They should let me sit in on the visit, especially since it’s probably going to be on video.”
“Hmm. They do video here even though I’ll be in the building? At home they still have the little booth with the glass and phone receiver.”
“It’s easier to record this way,” Petra announced.
“You’ve been to visit an inmate before?” Hawk asked.
“My dating history is peppered with stupid and a healthy dose of what the fuck was I thinking?” When all three lawyers laughed I said, “I gave all that up though, and my reward was finding Crow.”
“Let’s talk about what I need you to get Rebecca to say,” Marcus said, getting serious now. “Even if she signs this paper, it will still be a good idea to get her agreement on video, which I will request from the jail.”
“Okay. I’ll do whatever I need to do for Rev.”
“You already sound like a mom,” Hawk said with a grin.
“I’m trying my best!”
“You’re a natural.”
◆◆◆
“If I get up and walk off, that doesn’t mean anything other than I’ve lost the ability to keep my mouth shut and need to take a step back before I say something that makes her cry.”
“Okay.”
“It’s something new I've been trying lately. I’m not sure it’s doing anything other than giving me an ulcer, so it’s a work in progress.”
I laughed and then sobered instantly when the screen in front of me turned on, giving me a view of the interior or the jail. I was shocked when Rebecca appeared from the side and sat down.
The woman on the screen barely resembled the one I’d met almost two weeks ago. Her skin was pale and she had dark circles under her eyes, but I realized that they weren’t lit with mania like they had been that night. Instead they were almost as lifeless as her demeanor.