“Kyle, it’s been a really long fucking day,” Derek groaned, as he stretched his legs out in front of him, and laid his head against the back of the couch.
“I’m exhausted. I’m not a nursemaid for Christ’s sake. Besides, I still smell like shit from the last favor I did for you.”
“I found out something today,” I said quietly, taking a sip of my beer. “Something big.”
“Don’t wanna hear it, man,” he said, closing his eyes. “I need a quiet night, just one drama-free night.”
“Lee’s mother is alive.”
I still couldn’t believe it.
Derek’s eyes shot open, beer squirted from his mouth.
“Holy shit,” he muttered, wiping his mouth with his hand, before chuckling. “Good one, Kyle. For a second there, I thought you were serious. Pretty sick joke, dude.”
I placed my bottle on the coffee table, and twisted on the couch to face him.
“I’m not joking around, Derek. Mora told me that Lee’s mother is alive.”
I pulled out the sheet of paper and handed it to him. “And, apparently, she has been living right under our noses.”
Derek read the address on the note.
“Denver?” he asked, confused. “I thought that Lee’s mother died when she was a baby?”
“So did I. So did Lee, for that matter.”
“So, what, she’s come back from the fucking dead or something?” Derek jumped up and paced the room.
“That’s all I know, Derek, well, that and the fact that she’s living only a twenty minute drive from here.”
“This just keeps getting better, Kyle.”
He ran his hand over his shaved head. “A miscarriage, a poisoned dog, a gun attack from fucking psycho ex-girlfriend, a murdered ex-girlfriend, and now a reincarnated mother...What’s next, is Elvis gonna join us for a spot of tea in the kitchen?”
He stopped ranting and stared at me. “And Cam’s folks told you this?”
I nodded.
“Fuck,” Derek hissed. “So, what, they’ve known Lee’s mother is alive, and has been living in Denver all these years, and said nothing? Shit, Kyle, do you think Cam knew?”
I shook my head. “No, I can’t imagine Cam keeping something like that from Lee. She loved her too much to hide that kind of a secret from her.”
“Well,” Derek urged. “What the hell are you waiting for? Go get her, and drag her ass to the hospital.”
I leaned forward. “My sentiments exactly.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kyle
“Dude, you look like a fucking kangaroo,” Derek sniggered, as I sat Hope, face forward, into the baby sling on my chest.
She fussed a little as I secured the buckles, hating the restraint of the pouch.
“You have a lot of growing up to do, Derek,” I muttered, as I adjusted her sun hat, and picked up her polka dot changing bag.
I had a lot of fucking pink attached to my body right now, and Derek’s smart comments were doing wonders for my masculinity.
“You’re sure that’s the house?” he asked, pointing at the white painted cottage.
I nodded, re-reading the address on the page in my hands. “That’s the one.”
Derek sighed. “You want me to come with you?”
“No,” I said, and then looked down at Hope. “We’ll do this together, won’t we baby girl?”
I walked up the narrow flowered-filled path, and knocked on the door.
Nothing.
Well, screw that, I wasn’t about to give up now.
I walked around the back of the house, and peered over the garden gate.
“Can I help you?” a short, attractive brunette, in her early forties asked from behind the garden fence.
Here we go.
“Yeah, I’m looking for someone, Delia Bennett?”
The woman’s face paled as she moved backwards.
“No, no, no, I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “What do you want? Did he send you? Does he know?”
I opened the gate and followed her into the yard.
“My name is Kyle Carter. I’m here about your daughter, I need your help.”
“Im sorry, I don’t have a daughter,” she hissed, as she slipped inside her back door.
I stuck my boot in her door, stopping her from slamming it shut.
“Please,” I begged. “She’s sick. I need your help. I’m desperate.”
The woman’s eyes lowered to Hope, and her hand shot up to her mouth, a startled cry burst from her throat.
“I’d know those curls anywhere,” she whispered, looking up at me. “She is yours?”
I nodded.
“Yes, she is my daughter, and your daughter is her mother.”