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“Burn,” Schultz whispered under his breath.
Pearl’s eyes went to him. “Mr. Schultz. Please escort her out. And remind her, that if she wants to press charges against a Pope, she better have a damn good lawyer. I have the money to blow. She does not.” Pearl’s eyes went to Heather.
Schultz jumped to do just that, helping Heather out the door a moment later. Heather who, surprisingly, was very quiet and meek as she left, which was quite unusual for her. Every time I’d met her, she’d been abrasive, nosy, and wouldn’t give up for anything. Like a dog with a bone and a scent, she wouldn’t ever give up.
“Whatever you do,” Francine whispered behind me so quietly that I could barely hear. “Don’t tell her that you…”
Whatever she was about to say was cut off when Pearl’s eyes snapped to me. “You.”
I blinked. “Yes?”
“You are not good enough to carry the Pope name. You will at once stop seeing my granddaughter,” Pearl ordered harshly.
I blinked. “What? Why would I carry the Pope name?”
“Because, it’s tradition. If a man marries a Pope, the man takes the Pope name,” Pearl informed me.
I would’ve laughed had she not been completely, one-hundred-percent serious.
“I’m sorry.” I paused. “But I do have my balls. Would you like to see them?”
Fran pinched me.
I would’ve laughed had I not thought it would set the old woman off.
Pearl’s eyes were already narrowed on mine. “Like I told Heather Trudell,” she hissed. “I have the money to fight anything you lay at our feet. If my granddaughter makes the mistake of marrying you, and I know that she will because you have a really pretty face, I’ll be here to fix that mistake when she realizes that she made one.”
God, Fran and Mavis were right. Their grandmother was a bitch. No wonder Fran hadn’t mentioned meeting her. She was nothing like my own grandmother, who would’ve done absolutely anything to make my life exactly like I wanted it.
No wonder she avoided the hell out of her. And, just sayin’, but if the woman had been calling me all day long, you bet your ass I would’ve ignored those calls, too.
“If I say or do anything to protect you, she’ll hone in on that as a weakness and make it worse. If I stay back here and act meek, she’ll eventually leave in a huff because I’m ignoring her. I love you,” she whispered.
Those words, whispered against my back, made me feel like I could take on the world.
And, possibly, even Pearl Pope.
“When we have kids,” I said to Pearl, gathering Fran closer to my back so that she was pressed as tight as she could be. “They won’t see you.”
Pearl’s eyes narrowed. “Think again, young man.”
“And when we get married, you won’t be invited to the wedding,” I continued.
Pearl’s spine snapped even straighter than she’d held it previously.
“I have to be there, or it’ll look poorly on me,” she hissed. “Even if I don’t agree with the relationship between you two.”
I snorted. “We’ll be going to Vegas for a shotgun marriage in a few weeks. She’s pregnant, and I can’t have her showing before she has my name.”
Pearl’s mouth dropped open. “Francine!”
I could feel Fran giggling against my back.
Easton shifted from foot to foot, either tired of what he was hearing, or frustrated with the woman in front of us.
Chief Wilkerson was like a silent sentinel at my side.
And let’s not forget all the other people that were now listening behind us and at our sides that’d come in off of shift, or were about to go out on shift.
“Now, let me focus on my job,” I told Pearl. “You know, that pesky serial killer that’s floating around out there with your granddaughter’s name in the forefront of his mind?”
Pearl hissed out a breath. “This isn’t over, Francine Pope. We will be discussing this.”
With those final words, Pearl swept out of the police station in a dignified huff.
The moment the doors closed behind her, Chief Wilkerson said, “I guess congratulations are in order?”
Francine lost it then. “I swear to God. I’m really a nice person, but she makes it so hard for me to continue being a law-abiding citizen.”
Chief snorted and clapped her on the back. “We’ll give y’all a few minutes.”
I understood that for the order that it was.
Fran did, too.
“Can I borrow your car?” she teased.
I snorted. “I would if I could, but I’m fairly sure that it was you that borrowed it this morning. You dropped me off, remember?”
She sighed against my back and I turned to gather her into my arms. “Your grandmother is…”
“A raging bitch?” she finished for me.
I snorted and dropped a kiss onto the top of her head, her riot of curls smelling of lime and some other smell I couldn’t identify.
Which reminded me. “The name of your hair stylist. Will you get it for me?”
