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“What about Angel?” Was West going to help her too, or was this just about losing face?
“I’ll take care of it,” West said. “Man, you and Nash. You’re both killing me.” He started muttering to himself. “Eva Trout might have something I can use. It’ll cost me, but…”
“Eva? The girl that Nash is supposed to keep away from you?”
“Yeah, he’s failing at everything lately, and so areyou!” West allowed himself a self-deriding laugh. “Tell this Angel of yours that she doesn’t have to worry. We’re going to squish Lacy like a bug.”
“Yeah? And what’s it going to costme?” Porter had to ask, even if he was willing to pay the price. He’d do anything to help Cadence.
West’s eyes glinted dangerously. “What did you say?”
“You always want something in return. What do you want from me if you agree to help us?”
West turned horribly still as he stared Porter down. “You know what? Therearea few favors I could call in. How about that?”
Just as I thought.
No need for West to act so wounded. Everyone knew how he worked. West just didn’t like to be called on it.
“Don’t make me sorry for helping you out, huh, kid?” West had turned viciously condescending. “Lacy’s going to be like a hornet smoked out of the nest when I’m through with him. You’re going to have to be real smart, because this is going to blow up in a big way. You think you can handle that?”
Porter nodded. “I got it.” A shot of adrenaline rushed through his chest that fired him to action. This sounded like the trick that Funches was talking about, but West wasn’t the only one who could be sneaky. “How well does Lacy know Nash?”
“Oh no, keep your big mouth shut with your twin for once in your life. You go tattling about this to Nash, he’ll blow everything.”
Was that really true? Porter’s skin prickled in shocked dismay. Had Nash fallen for the oil scheme then? It had been a lot of money, and seeing how Lacy worked now, he’d probably sweetened the deal with blackmail and bribes.
Porter swallowed hard and tried to wade through his disappointment. He’d worry about rescuing Nash later. “I’m not talking about going to Nash,” Porter said. “I think we need to pull one more twin switch on Lacy.”
West’s brows went up and then a broad grin traveled across his face. “You’re not a complete waste of space, are you?”
Porter grimaced. Maybe he shouldn’t show Westexactlyhow useful that he could be. But the dye was set in the wool now, and he was going through with this. They had some planning to do.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Congratulations, Cadence,” Dr. Motaoka Santana said. “You must be so excited.”
Something like that. Her heart was as loud as a jet caught in her chest. She was going to see her baby. It wasn’t usual to check on a baby so early, as the doctor had told her, but she was unsure of her due date, and the truth of the matter was that Cadence needed to see her little one. They were about to face a lot together.
Dr. Santana had relented on the early scan.
“First child, correct?” The sweet woman clarified.
“Yes,” Cadence whispered. The paper on the exam table crinkled as she sat on it.
“Oh, you’re going to love this,” the doctor said with a dimpled smile. “We might even be able to detect your baby’s heartbeat this time around, but don’t be too worried if you can’t. It’s early yet.” The sweet lady was wonderful at putting her at ease. Cadence was grateful for her friendly bedside manner as she brought the screen closer.
Dr. Santana couldn’t be over five feet tall, and yet her energy made her into a giant as she explained the process. “Watch the screen. Your baby’s small, but the nose, mouth, and inner and outer ears are just starting to take shape, along with the lungs. And the neural tube is closing over what will become your baby’s spinal cord.”
It all seemed a silhouette at this point, but as soon as the doctor had the wand in place, she began explaining what every fuzz meant. “That ring is the yolk sack. Later on in the pregnancy, the placenta takes over, so this will be about the only time you see that. And this…” She let the computer identify what was in front of them. “Well, there is the fetal pole.”
“Fetal pole?”
“The baby,” she explained.
The baby. Cadence pulled forward to see the grainy image. Her baby was that shadow! Something was thumping in the baby’s center.
“It’s hard to see it really well at this point, but that’s to be expected, and oh, right in the middle is the flickering. The heartbeat, Cadence. It’s there.” The doctor scrolled to the side of the screen and read the measurements. “About 105 beats per minute.”
