Grady (The McCade Dragon #3)(12)

 

 

 

        

          

        

         

 

What sort of media does she use? Dalton told him she was a potter. I wonder if Jorden knows her or her work. But that doesn't negate the fact that she's been hurt now. Harper just told us how her sister kidnapped and then impregnated her with Jake's child. Then after they figured out that they didn't want the baby, they tried unsuccessfully to get her to abort it. She mentioned, too, that they want her to sign something that says that she'll not tell anyone whose kid it is. This is really bad, Dalton. Really bad.

 

He looked back at her and wondered if her sister knew anything about her, and from the sounds of it, he doubted it. Dragon took that moment to tell him about the conversation that had transpired between Winnie and Harper just before she found the torque.

 

Harper had called her sister to ask about the lawsuit just after she was released from the hospital and given notice of the billing. She asked her what on earth she would owe money for. I had to search her mind to find out what that might be. Winnie told her that she wanted her money back, and Harper pointed out to her that she didn't want to carry her child in the first place, and that she should be paying her, not the other way around. Winnie pointed out that she'd told her to get rid of the child, but she hadn't. I don't care for this woman. Her sister is not a nice person. Grady told him that he didn't think so either. The child belongs to Winnie's husband; they are all aware of that. But when Winnie wished her sister to kill the child, she told her she'd never do that. She doesn't want Harper to try to get money from them later in the form of blackmail, her sister told her. She thinks that the child would be better off dead than with Harper, who Winnie thinks is a person without any kind of moral code of conduct.

 

Yet here she is trying to not only get her sister to kill the child off, but to pay her back for actions that she had no say in. She's a real peach, this Winnie person is. And I cannot wait to meet her face to face. I don't think she's going to like me any better than she does Harper.

 

Grady asked Caelin and Dalton to keep looking for information. In the meantime, he thought that she'd be better off if no one, her sister included, knew where she'd gone. Grady asked Kenton how much longer before they were home.

 

"Half an hour." Grady nodded and looked back at Harper, who was sleeping. "When we get there, where am I taking her? I need to let Mom know."

 

"My house." He wasn't sure that was a good idea or not, but he figured that if she didn't like it there, she could go with his mom. But he was going to try his very best to get her to stay with him. He was worried for her health and that of her baby. Not that he thought she'd harm it, but he was worried about all the undue stress. He asked Kenton about it.  

 

"She looks to be in her last trimester, which puts her close to term." Grady nodded. "Her ankles are swollen, I noticed, and she's more than likely dehydrated. When you get her home, have her drink plenty of water or juice, and she'll need to put her feet up higher than her nose. Toes to nose."

 

"I remember that. Yes, I'll try. What else should I do to make her more comfortable?" Kenton looked at him, then back at the road. "Whatever you're thinking, I want to know."

 

"Grady, we don't know if someone is chasing her yet. Whether the pizza guy was with the dragon killers, or if her sister is going to come here. Nor do we know about this guy who came after her other than he left. Why? Where did he come from, and where is he now? We need a plan." He agreed, but told Kenton he was too tired to think right now. "So am I. But we have to protect her more than the others. With the baby coming, she's going to be an easy target for whoever is after her."

 

He'd thought of that too. When they came for her, and he had no doubt that someone would, they'd get her by way of the child. Because while he didn't know her well, he was sure that she would do nothing to harm that unborn child. It was his child now, as far as he was concerned, and no one, not any of them, was going to hurt either of them.

 

As soon as they pulled up in front of his house, she woke. He wasn't sure of her reaction to the place … it was sort of dark out and he could only see how stiff she was. Picking her up against her protests, Grady carried her into the house and up to the guest room. He laid her on the bed and waited for the fireworks. And he was sure there would be some.

 

~~~

 

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He said that he was making sure she was comfortable. "I'm not, in the event that you didn't notice. Do you have any idea how cumbersome I am? How fat I feel? Comfort has long since become a thing of the past for me."