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Jenny had the sense they were trying to explain themselves. She shook her head. “I completely understand and agree you should be careful. Why, that murderer who stopped in at the roadhouse and then made it all the way to the Big House…I felt bad about that because he had been at the roadhouse. I’d even waited on him!”
“Now, sweet girl, that man had altered his appearance. It was his knife that gave him away, and you certainly didn’t see that.”
“Grandma Kate is right, Jenny,” Jake Kendall said. “That’s not on you. Hell, we had a couple of people there watching for him, and they missed him, too.”
“But in the end, it all turned out the way it was meant to be.”
Jenny ducked her head for just a moment. Kate had said that with a smile in her lovely, almost musical voice, and her grandsons Adam, Jake, Chance, and Logan looked like they might want to protest that happy statement.
She’d heard the entire story, of course, and she had to agree with Grandma Kate. There’d been some dicey moments, but things had turned out well. The villain had been captured and charged and would never see life outside a prison again.
Once she had the urge to laugh under control, she looked around the table and then focused on Jake and Adam, sitting exactly across from her. “If you were worried I’d be angry about whatever kind of a security check you conducted on me, you don’t have to be. I understand, and I totally agree with the practice.”
Jake nodded. “Good. Jackson called me yesterday morning and relayed the concerns your parents had, that someone appears to be looking for you after all these years.” He looked at Grandma Kate, who nodded. “This was a matter we’d already known about.”
Jenny reached out, and Parker took her hand. Dale had sat forward in his chair. He turned and met Jenny’s gaze. A touch and a look and she felt them both bolstering her.
“If it was something you knew about…then why did you feel it necessary to have a…a war council?”
“Because, sweet girl, there are now actually two parties looking for you—and that, potentially, is a huge problem.”
Jenny felt her heart trip inside her chest. If Grandma Kate thought there could be a problem, Jenny was willing to bank on it. “My….my mother seemed to think that whoever was looking for me was connected to my birth mother’s family—to Mandy’s family. I know she didn’t come right out and say that Thursday night.” She looked at her guys then across to Jackson.
“That’s the impression we got too,” Jackson said. He looked at Grandma Kate. “So, if y’all weren’t surprised when I called…” He stopped. “What can you tell us about what’s going on?”
“Jake has been working to try and uncover Jenny’s past—her antecedents—since she first came to us.” Kate sighed. “It seemed a great mystery, like a hole in your background. And where there’s a hole…” Kate met Jenny’s gaze.
“Where there’s a hole, there could be trouble.”
“Yes. As well, there’s the whole question of your medical background. It would be a good thing to know what all runs through your birth family. One day, that information might become critical, even life-saving.”
“Grandmother’s a nurse,” Rick said. He smiled at Kate. “I bet that was your first thought when you learned Jenny had been adopted.”
“You’d win that bet.” Kate looked at Jake. “What do you know about this second person or party who’s begun to look for our Jenny?”
“Not much, yet. That’s why I asked Kat to join us.”
“Do you think whoever’s looking for her might be another hired private investigator?” Kat Lawson Jessop asked.
“I do. And I thought that since they’re snooping around Dallas, you might be able to reach out to any of your contacts who might have business there,” Jake said.
Kat nodded. “Consider it done. If the investigator is legit, he or she might be willing to tell me who their client is. I have a friend who is based in Austin, but she takes cases all over the state. I’ll give April a call. She might be able to steer me where I need to go.”
