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A beep sounded on his computer and he moved to the cameras. “She’s on the move.”
“What? It hasn’t even been an hour. And I told her to stay put if she woke up.”
“Seems she’s in a mood to be naughty,” Grady said.
“Is she just? Little brat. Where is she?”
“Moving down the stairs.”
“Coming this way?” Steele asked.
“No, she’s headed into your study.” Grady looked up at Damon. “She’s looking at the photos.”
“Uh, time to do some explaining.” Steele squeezed his shoulder as he moved past.
He pretended he didn’t feel that in other parts of his body.
But it was hard.
Very hard.
* * *
Steelein the doorway of his home office and watched as his baby moved along the wall of photos. Most of them were of him and Jacqui or him and Grady. Some of the three of them. A few with Spike. And a couple of Spike and Millie.
She stopped at one of him, Grady, and Jacqui from years ago.
“My sister,” he said quietly.
She gasped, turning to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
She had Slowly in one hand. He walked over to her and took her hand in his.
“It’s not being nosy if I offer up the information.” He pointed to another photo. “That’s Spike. He was married to my sister before she died. His real name is Quillon, but no one else calls him that. That’s his girl, Millie. You’ll meet them at some stage. They’re good people.”
“You kept in contact with him.”
“Yep. He’s quiet. Doesn’t say much. Might scare you to begin with. But you’ll love Millie. She’s . . . quirky. Fun.”
“I’ve been called quirky. Nan used to say that I should act more normal.”
He leaned back against the desk and drew her between his legs. “Nan didn’t know everything. Nothing wrong with quirky.”
“I guess not. You were close to Jacqui, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. She was my world. Her and Grady. Our parents weren’t the best. Not abusive, just neglectful and shitty. I basically raised Jacqui. She was mine, you know?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“She was so beautiful. Quiet. Reserved. She and Spike lived in Chicago at the time. They’d just flown home after visiting me. A couple of guys carjacked them. Nearly killed Spike, and they shot my darling sister in the head.”
“Oh God!” she cried. Turning, she hugged him tight. He felt her body shake, heard her sob.
“You’re leaking, baby.”
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
He sat on the desk and lifted her onto his lap so she was sitting sideways.
