Sugar Baby. Karen Young
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way. “How do you like your daddy’s house?”
Danny’s eyes got round. “Did my daddy live here?”
“He sure did.” Angus pointed up. “He was born right upstairs, in the same bedroom as me.”
“Wow.” Danny stared at the ceiling as though he could look right through it. “I was born in a hospital.”
“Yes, well…” Angus cleared his throat.
“I’m five,” Danny informed him proudly. “It’s only a month until I start kindergarten, but I can already read some ‘cause my mommy’s a liberrian. She used to be a teacher, but not anymore.”
“That’s quite a speech,” the old man said.
Mack smiled. “Danny’s quite a boy.”
“I have to be,” Danny said, obviously considering that an odd remark. “ ‘Cause I can’t be a girl.”
As everyone laughed, Michelle suddenly appeared at the door. “That’s the only reason you’re here, Danny. Because you aren’t a girl.” There was a bitter twist to her smile.
Mack moved toward her, frowning. With a sinking feeling, Claire realized he was going to scold his daughter and provoke another confrontation. The man’s parenting skills definitely needed work.
“Danny and I were just getting acquainted with his grandparents, Michelle,” she said, patting a place on the other side of her. “Come and join us.”
Michelle hesitated, meeting Claire’s gaze with suspicion. But then she walked over and sat down. “So, how’s it going? Is the little heir measuring up to true McMollere standards?”
“Isn’t it a bit early to tell?” Claire said, smiling.
“Not really. He’s male, he’s healthy, he’s in.”
“I don’t understand you, dear.” Wyona looked dismayed.
“That girl needs a lesson in manners,” Angus said, glaring at Mack.
“I like her,” Danny said, leaning forward to look at Michelle. Suddenly, the teenager’s eyes filled with tears.
She dashed them away with some embarrassment. “Just what I need, a little twerp to fight my battles. Too bad you aren’t gonna be here but a weekend, kid. We might become buddies.”
“I think we’re staying longer than that,” Danny said.
“What’s this?” Angus straightened a little, looking at Mack.
“Danny witnessed an incident at the hotel this afternoon,” he said, glancing at Claire. “While Claire was talking on the phone with me, he says he saw a man shoot somebody.”
There was shocked silence and then everybody tried to speak at once. Mack held up a hand. “There’s a problem. Nobody else saw anything. The hotel claims it couldn’t have happened, but when Claire and Danny went to Star-Mart later, somebody—a stranger—approached Danny and tried to force him out of the store.”
“My God!” Angus said softly.
“Oh…oh,” Wyona murmured, touching her cheek.
“Jeezum!” Michelle said.
Mack crossed his arms over his chest. “So until we can be certain Danny’s imagination hasn’t run amok, it would appear that the safest place for Claire and Danny right now is here at Sugarland.”
CLAIRE ESCAPED after the first flurry of questions to take Danny to the bathroom. She needed a moment to get her bearings. It was suddenly so overwhelming. Here she was in Carter’s house, with Carter’s parents, de- pendent on the McMolleres because of a fluke—a criminal act that had thrown her child’s life in jeopardy. She felt as if she were caught in a tidal wave with no more control over her destiny than a sand castle at high tide.
Beside her, Danny was looking wide-eyed at everything. “I like it here, Mommy.”
“It’s a nice house.”
“I like Michelle.”
“She’s nice, too.” She turned a corner, but could see nothing that looked like a bathroom.
“And I like Uncle Mack.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Did my real daddy look like him?”
Claire sighed inwardly. From the time he’d been old enough to realize that most kids had a father, Danny had been curious about his own. She hated questions about Carter, but she tried not to let Danny know that.
Danny tugged on her dress. “You didn’t answer me, Mommy.”
“No, they really don’t look that much alike, Danny.” And I hope there’s even less resemblance in their character, she thought.
“Oh.” Danny’s small shoulders sagged.
She reached out and ruffled his hair. “Cheer up. I think you look a lot like your grandpa McMollere. That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“I guess so.” He wrinkled his nose. “But he’s really old, isn’t he?”
“I suppose, but he’s been sick. Maybe that’s why he seems old.”
“He talks sorta loud, too.”
“Maybe he can’t hear as well as he used to.”
“But I can,” Danny said logically. “He doesn’t have to yell.”
“Uh-uh.” Where was the bathroom, for heaven’s sake?
Danny looked up into her face. “What should I call him and my grandmother?”
She had no idea. “Maybe you can ask them that when we get back to the living room.”
“My grandmother’s funny.”
“How do you mean?”
“I don’t think she likes me.”
Claire stopped and put her hands on his shoulders. “Yes, she does, Danny. She and your grandfather wanted this visit more than anything in the world because they wanted to get to know you. That’s because they love you. Your daddy was their son and because of him, you’re special to them. That includes your grandmother.”
He gazed at her steadily from eyes so unmistakably like his uncle’s and grandfather’s. “Are you sure, Mommy?”
With her forefinger, she solemnly drew an X on her chest. “Cross my heart.”
“And Michelle likes me, too?”
“That’s right.”
“Uncle Mack, too?”
“You got it.”
He smiled. “Okay. ‘Cause I like them and I think I’m gonna visit Sugarland for the next zillion years.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “Here’s the bathroom.”
“Good. I have to go really bad.”
But he balked at the door. “Mommy, you don’t have to go in here with me.”
“Okay, honey.”
That wasn’t good enough. With his hand on the doorknob, he gave her a stubborn look. “You can go back to the grown-ups, Mommy.”
Terrific.
As she headed down the hall, she could hear Mack’s calm, measured replies to his parents. Fifteen minutes in the house with them and Claire could tell that John McMollere, not Angus, was the glue holding the family together. It was odd that he seemed so inept in dealing with his daughter.
She turned one of the numerous corners and nearly bumped into Michelle.
“So