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“I know Molly’s important, but I need you now. Just get here as soon as you can and be safe about it. I’ll wait.”
The call ended, and I sat behind the steering wheel, staring in shock at the black screen.
What in the hell was that all about?
The cruise home wasn’t a quick drive, but I made good time, and by the time I strolled up the steps into Cal’s suite of rooms, he was totally on edge.
“Maddie, thanks for coming home. I really appreciate it. Can you watch Ava for me?”
His hands gripped my shoulders tight, but it wasn’t painful, and the dude was seriously wound up like an old watch.
“You know I can watch her, but I need you to tell me what’s going on, Cal. You’re starting to worry me.”
“Don’t worry about me, Maddie. I can handle myself, and I will. Promise.”
“Okay. Fine. Go do whatever secret mission you’re on, and I’ll take care of your baby girl.”
“Just you, Maddie. No one else but you.”
He was dead serious about that and I nodded to assure him I wouldn’t let him down.
“Just me. Nobody else. Got it.”
I had so many damn questions but I didn’t ask any of them because I’d never seen Cal like that before. He didn’t even ask me about Molly. There would be plenty of time for all that later.
I hoped.
I settled in after bathing the baby and propped her up on the floor, then settled myself down next to her.
“All right, Ava the no-longer-stinky Rose, what would you like to do now that you’re fresh and clean?” I held her up and she kicked those chubby little legs as if she was going somewhere. “I know, plush puzzle fun!”
“Agghh! Ggaaggh!”
“Exactly,” I said laughing. “Same thing I was thinking of, right?”
We sat on the floor for a while, and I watched with a smile at just how strong the little girl was these days. She could pull herself up with her own weight; she could sit up straight with almost no help, and her favorite activity lately, was to kick things over with her feet like a curious little kitten.
“Maddie, there you are! Damn, girl, I’ve been looking all over the place for you.” Maisie breezed in wearing a wide smile, her lips still a shock of red from her hours at the casino.
“Hey, Maze, what’s up?”
“Just checking on you. How are you? What’s been going on with you? I feel like we haven’t spoken in forever.”
“Not much, just working and keeping an eye on this little angel when I’m needed. How’s married life treating you?”
Her cheeks pinkened instantly.
“Wonderful. Or maybe it’s not wonderful and maybe I’m just drunk off all the little ways Virgil continues to romance me. Married life, I highly recommend it. Five stars.”
“That’s how it should be, right?”
“At least according to me. And you, Maddie? Are you seeing anyone?”
I didn’t want to share Jamie with anyone, not yet. And definitely not his cousin. “Nope. No time. What about one of these,” I asked and held up Ava Rose. “Plan on making babies anytime soon?”
“Probably, yeah. Right now we’re just practicing.” She wiggled her black brows suggestively before she collapsed in a fit of laughter. “Wow, that laugh felt really good.”
Sometimes I forgot that Maisie and Bonnie had been good friends at one point. That wasn’t always clear, not in the time I’d spent at Ashby Manor. “Is it hard for you, having her gone?”
Maisie smiled but her rapidly blinking eyes told me that she was thisclose to tears.
“It’s beyond hard, Maddie. I feel terrible for Calvin and all that he’s going through, but I also feel awful for me. Does that sound bad? Selfish?”
“Not at all.”
“Bonnie was my best friend since I got here. She was like my sister and my confidante for so many years, and now she’s just…gone. We won’t get to raise our babies together.”
Her words broke on her tears and those tears turned to anger.
“What the fuck was she even doing with Mueller anyway? He’s a fuckin’ pedo pervert. None of it makes sense to me. I wish she’d have come to me and told me what was going on.” She took Ava’s little hand in hers. “And now baby girl doesn’t have a mama.”
It didn’t make sense, and I could see the gears churning in Maisie’s head, but whatever conclusions she came up with, if any, she kept to herself. She let out a long breath and said, “Well, I just wanted to stop and check in. Take care of you, girl.”
“Always.”
“See you soon!” She gave me a quick hug and lifted Ava for a snuggle session. Then she left almost as fast as she had entered. I was grateful she stopped by. Couldn’t have too many allies in this mansion.
It was good to know I wasn’t the only one who thought the whole Bonnie thing stank to high hell, but Maisie was a member of the family, and she had the freedom to say such things. I kept my opinions to myself, and my eyes wide open because it was the only way a poor girl who grew up in a trailer park with a revolving door of stepdads and fake uncles could survive.
