Chapter 5
Dalton made sure the new guest in the little bed and breakfast was where he was supposed to be before going home for the day. Ollie Morrison was an odd duck, as his grandda would have said, but no less dangerous for how he looked. As he made his way back to his offices after setting up a member of the local pack in the B&B to help out, he reached out for Kenton and told him what was going on.
Thank you. I know that you're being overworked right now, what with Howard gone, but I appreciate you for making sure this guy is away from Harper. I had to put her on bed rest this morning, and as you can imagine, she didn't take that well. Dalton laughed, telling him he would imagine she was very vocal about it. Yes, and she threatened me. But as soon as Grady talked to her, it was like she'd never been pissy. Hormones are a very scary thing.
He'd figured that out last night when he'd been talking to Harper about her sister. She sobbed the entire conversation and kept telling him she was fine. He had no idea why, but he felt like he should stand himself in the corner for making her cry like she had.
As soon as he pulled into his driveway, Dalton sat there for several minutes just staring up at his home. He tried to think what it was he was supposed to be doing tonight. He knew that he had some sort of engagement or appointment, but for the life of him, all he could think about was his nice soft bed. When his phone rang he growled low and pulled it out to see who it might be. Unknown popped up, but he answered anyway.
"McCade." There was someone talking in the background, a voice he didn't know and noises that he thought were from a restaurant. Dalton waited before speaking again, trying to get an idea on who it might be. And when the woman spoke, he thought of nails on a chalkboard.
"I'm looking for Kenton McCade." Dalton said nothing to the woman. His number was listed, Kenton's wasn't. "I want to talk to Kenton McCade. Can you tell me how to reach him?"
"How do you know that's not who you're talking to now?" She asked him if he was Kenton. "What is it you want? You called me, why?"
"My sister. She's got it in her head that she can keep that baby from me. I wanted her to abort it when she was still early in this mess, but she had to play hardball with me. I'm telling you right now, Harper is nuts if she thinks I won't win in this. So, if this is Kenton, I can make it worth your while to give it to me when she gives birth. How much would it cost to have you slip it to me while she's drugged up?" Dalton was shocked and pissed when she laughed. "Come on now, surely you have a price that'll make you help me? Or to look the other way. I need that baby gone, and I'd very much like for you to help with that."
"You want me to give you a child that doesn't belong to you, and you'll pay me for it?" She asked him again what his price would be. He started to tell her there wasn't one when he realized that he could take care of this right now. "I don't know how much it would be. A lot. I have student loans to take care of."
He got out of his car and made his way to the house. Dalton was both startled and glad to see Jorden there, and he told him what was going on. Jorden asked to listen in as he and this woman spoke.
"My husband and I need some reassurances first. One, that you won't come back for more money. We have solid reputations to make sure aren't damaged with this. And secondly-and this should have been first-is that you never tell anyone what we've done. You would be in as much trouble as we are should you speak about this to anyone anyway, but you're to keep your trap shut on this." He asked her if she'd tell anyone. "Good heavens, no. I want that thing gone and out of my life. I have no idea why Harper wouldn't do this for us in the first place, but now that it's done, she's acting like it was all her idea, and thinks she's going to raise it with that man from the computer store. Christ, a computer store manager trying to raise a child? What sort of salary do you suppose he gets?"
"I think he owns the building and store, as a matter of fact." She just laughed and said that was doubtful. It occurred to him that the other day when Winnie had been at Grady's store that she hadn't caught their last name. Otherwise, he was sure that she'd have connected Kenton to Grady, and wouldn't have tried to contact him to get him to do something so underhanded as to kidnap her sister's child. "I'm going to see Harper in the morning, and I'll let you know after that. It will depend on how she treats me."