But she couldn’t let him go just yet. She had to hold on to something to keep her from getting in her car, driving to her mother’s and screaming her rage like she was off her rocker. It was enough that she’d dealt with her mother’s anger all her life, but she wouldn’t have it infiltrating her children.
Settling into the couch, she held Gareth close and eyed the ugly envelope with the fake birth certificate. It had to be a fake.
She hadn’t given it much thought after opening it and getting past the initial shock of just how far people would go to get rid of them. Obviously, shame the head Call Girl in charge was the latest tactic.
But she knew the Mags and just how far they’d go to get what they wanted. They wanted to embarrass her—humiliate her into leaving her job at Call Girls because it would surely stir trouble between her and Dixie if something like that were true.
It was creative; she’d give ’em that. Instead of paying it much mind, Em had made several copies of it to keep on hand for Call Girls’ prank files and kept the original.
It was clearly someone’s idea of yet another cruel joke. It wasn’t the first, and it wouldn’t be the last. This one was more thought out than the typical, “Dear Emmaline, The devil is saving you a seat next to him” or “You’ve paved the road to Perdition for Plum Orchard” letters she got as GM, but it was also ridiculous. Fun, easygoing Ethan Davis and her staid, purse-lipped, disapproving mother?
Never.
She and Dixie would laugh about it just like they laughed about all the crazy letters and angry email they got from all sorts of people in town and from all over the world, in fact. What they should have done was change the name of her mother. That she might have fallen for. She was nothing like Clora, and when she got her hands on her...
Em took a deep breath and reached for the second envelope. It was thicker and much heavier than her fake birth certificate.
Tucking Gareth next to her and covering him with a throw, she sat back and ripped open the envelope.
The first thing she saw was the legal header—something she was familiar with as Hank’s former secretary.
And then she saw Clifton Senior’s signature.
The breath left her lungs.
She’d thought he’d just been spitting in the wind. Throwing threats around because that’s what Clifton did when he was frustrated and angry.
But this sealed the deal.
Clifton really was suing her for custody of the boys.
Eighteen
“Hey!” Caine yelled to Jax, running to catch up to him as he left Madge’s. “Where you off to, brother?”
To meet the woman who could potentially ruin my life. “Nowhere special. How’s things?”
Caine smiled, clapping him on the back. “How’s anything where Dixie’s involved? Crazy, as always.”
Now Jax smiled. He liked seeing his friend so damn happy. It gave him hope. “But you love it, and you know it.”
He threw up his hands with a bark of laughter. “Fine. I love the chaos. She makes mayhem like no other, but I love it. So listen, been meaning to talk to you since yesterday, just wasn’t sure how to approach it.”
Instantly, his mind went to the software he was developing. “Everything okay with the security program? It’s got glitches, but it’s early yet. I’ll work ’em out.”
“Everything’s cool with that. It’s something else. Wasn’t sure if I should tell you or not. Haven’t told anyone in fact because at first I thought I was seeing things.”
His gut tightened. “Sounds ominous. So, shoot.”
“That woman you dated back after college. You know, the one who worked in the coffee shop under Jay? Reece, was it?”
Fuck. Now what? How long had she been skulking around? “What about her?”
Caine was measuring his words. Jax heard it in his pause, saw it in his eyes. “I saw her the other day. I’d swear my left arm on it. Can’t miss that red hair, you know? Just wondered what she’d be doing here in Plum Orchard. I thought...well, you know, with all the shit that went down with Jake...I dunno. I’m just looking out for you.”
All the shit that had gone down with Jake. Yeah. There’d been plenty of that. “Where’d you see her?”
“Right here in the square. I think.” He scrubbed his jaw. “Shit, I could be wrong.”
Jax’s jaw tightened. “You’re not wrong.”
Caine tried to hide his surprise, but it was pointless. Of course he’d be surprised Reece was here. They’d kept in loose touch since their college years. Caine knew what had gone down with Jake and Reece. “Why the hell would she be here after...”
“After she ditched me and got knocked up by Jake?” Damn, hearing himself say that was like a punch in the kidney. It sounded goddamn ugly. “Sorry. That was shitty. Jake was your friend, too.”
Caine shook his head in understanding. “Hold on. You’re saying Jake knocked up Reece? Jake?”
“Jake.”
“Well, it’s not like I was that tight with him, but he was like your brother. I had no idea. Does that mean...”
“Maizy is Jake’s. Jake and Reece’s.”
*
“Clifton?”