Three months later...
I was a southern girl. That much was obvious. While I loved our time in New York I was glad to be back home where I could find sweet iced tea when I wanted it. Rush had missed Rosemary too. I could tell. We had unpacked and then taken all the clothes and toys we’d bought for the baby, who we still had not named, and put them in the nursery. It had been fun to hang up his clothes in the closet and fold his blankets and line up all his little shoes. We had gone a little overboard with the purchasing of clothing.
Grant had stopped by to take Rush away for some guy time on the golf course shortly after our arrival so I decided to go do some visiting. There was nothing to eat here and I was starving. Going to see if Jimmy was at the club working and getting something to eat would kill two birds with one stone. I grabbed my keys and headed outside to my car... or SUV... or whatever it was. I hadn’t driven it yet. Rush had it sitting in the driveway waiting on me when we got home.
All I knew was that it was the Mercedes Benz idea of a utility vehicle. I was just glad he hadn’t gotten me a minivan. Apparently, this one was one of the safest cars on the road. He gave me a very long sales pitch on it then told me if I didn’t like it I could take it back and get what I wanted.
It was a Mercedes, for crying out loud. I wasn’t going to snub my nose at that. Of course I was happy with it. I just needed to figure out how to drive it. I looked down at the key he’d left me. There were directions he’d given me. I was supposed to just stick this thing that was most definitely NOT a key in my purse and carry it with me. When I touched the door handle it would automatically unlock as long as the key was on my body. Then I had to put my foot on the brake and press the “on” button by the steering wheel to crank the car. Everything else should be easy enough. Yeah right.
I did as I was told and climbed into the car which isn’t easy when your stomach is enormous. After buckling, I managed to crank the car without the key which was all kinds of weird. I didn’t even try to touch the stuff on the dash. It looked like something in an airplane. I understood none of it. I opened my purse and took my gun out then slipped it under my seat. I hadn’t been carrying it with me since I was always with Rush. But now that I had my own car again and I would be out by myself, and soon with my baby, I wanted to know there was some protection hidden somewhere. Once the baby was bigger I was going to have to find some other place to keep it. I didn’t want it anywhere he could touch it. That was something I needed to talk to Rush about.
Getting to the club was easy enough. The car turned off with one push of the button and I locked the doors with the thing Rush referred to as a key and headed inside.
Just as I was headed to the dining room, Jimmy walked out of the kitchen and his eyes met mine. A slow smile spread across his face. “Look at you, hot momma. You can even make a pregnant stomach the size of a beach ball look sexy. Go inside that kitchen and wait on me. I’ll be right back,” Jimmy said with a nod of his head. He was only carrying two glasses of water so he just had a quick delivery.
I opened the kitchen door and stepped inside. Several of the cooks called out greetings and I waved to them and tried to remember as many names as I could.
“Please tell me you’re back in Rosemary for good now. No more running around the world. I’ve missed you,” Jimmy whined, pulling me into a hug.
“No plans to go anywhere anytime soon,” I assured him.
“God, Blaire your stomach is huge. When is this baby coming out?” Jimmy asked and started rubbing my stomach. “You can’t stay in there forever, little guy. It’s time you come on out. Your momma isn’t that big; she can’t take much more.”
The kitchen door swung open and I lifted my eyes to see a new face. She had dark brown hair and excellent bone structure. She was watching Jimmy talk to my stomach with a curious smile.
“Hello,” I said and her eyes flicked from my stomach to meet my eyes. She had gorgeous eyes as well. Where had Woods found this one and had he hired her because of her looks? Because knowing Woods he had noticed.
“Hello,” she replied with a thick southern drawl that surprised me. The girl wasn’t from Rosemary.
Jimmy stood back up and beamed at the girl. He liked her. That was a good sign. “Glad you’re back, girl. Yesterday went to shit without you,” he told her then glanced back at me. “Della, this is Blaire. She’s my BFF who ran off and left me for another man. One I can’t blame her for because he is one hot piece of ass. Blaire, this is Della. She may or may not be boinking the boss.”
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Yep, Woods had noticed her.
“Jimmy!” I said when her face turned beet red and realized she’d been scolding him too. I liked this girl. I just might have new friend material here.
“Woods right? That boss?” I asked, grinning because I knew there was no way she was messing around with Woods’ dad.
“Of course, Woods. The girl has taste. She ain’t gonna boink the old man,” Jimmy replied with a roll of his eyes.
“Would you stop saying ‘boink’?” she asked, still blushing. I needed to ease her embarrassment because Jimmy was only making it worse.
“Jimmy shouldn’t have told me that but since he did, can I say, Woods is a great guy. If you are in fact… um… boinking him then you picked a good one.”
“Thanks,” she said, biting back a smile. I really hoped Woods had a thing for her. I had a feeling Bethy would love her too.
“If I don’t have this baby this week maybe we can get together and have lunch,” I suggested. I would call Bethy and have her come too. She glanced down at my stomach and I could see that she thought it was highly unlikely that I was going to make it out the door without having this baby, much less until next week. She was probably right.
“Okay. That sounds good,” she replied.
I couldn’t wait to tell Rush. Maybe we should invite her and Woods over for dinner one night. That would be fun.
“Della Sloane.” An angry growl broke into my thoughts and I jerked my gaze from her to the police officer standing in the doorway.
“Yes, sir,” she replied. I watched as her face went white and I glanced around for any sign of Woods. Where was he when you needed him? He had always been barging in at the wrong time when I worked here. Now would be a good time to barge in.
“You need to come with me, Miss Sloane,” the officer barked as he held open the door waiting on Della to walk out of it. “Miss Sloane, if you don’t come willingly I will have to go against Mr. Kerrington’s wishes and arrest you right here on the club’s grounds.”
What did he just say? Arrest? Mr. Kerrington? Woods wouldn’t do this. If he had he would have at least shown up and been a part of it. Besides, I was a good people reader and so was Jimmy. We both liked Della. Something was wrong.
“What are you arresting her for? I sure as hell don’t believe Woods knows about this,” Jimmy demanded as he stood in front of Della as if to protect her. I loved him even more for that. She looked like she was about to faint.
“Mr. Kerrington does know. He is who sent me in here to escort a Della Sloane out of the building and then arrest her once I had her in the parking lot. However, if she doesn’t come willingly I will arrest her and anyone who stands in my way.”
Woods didn’t know. I didn’t believe him. Something was off.
“It’s okay, Jimmy,” she said and stepped around him. I watched helplessly as she walked out the door.
“You gotta find Woods,” Jimmy said, looking back at me. “I don’t believe that. I think there’s more to this and I think all fingers point at the old man.”
I nodded. I agreed. “I don’t have Woods’ number in my phone. It bugged Rush so I took it out,” I admitted, looking up at Jimmy sheepishly.
Jimmy shook his head and grinned then took my phone from my hands and punched in Woods’ number. “Call him. If he doesn’t answer go hunt him down. I can’t help. I now have no help this shift and I gotta get my ass in gear.”
I nodded and headed out the door to watch as Della was put in the cop car with way more force than was necessary.
Woods’ phone went straight to voicemail. I tried it again but again just voicemail. Running down the hall, or more like waddling quickly, I went to his office and knocked but nothing. I tried opening it but it was locked tightly. Crap.
I hurried outside as I dialed Rush’s phone. He would know what to do and Woods could very likely be with him. Just as my foot hit the stone walkway I felt a cramp followed by a gush of water between my legs. I froze.
My water had just broken.