DONOVAN (Gray Wolf Security, #1)(93)

“Are Harrison Philips?”

I wanted to squash him like he was a bug. That was not the moment for a reporter to approach me.

Julia came to the rescue, snatching my arm and saying, very seductively, “Come on, Thomas. They’re waiting for us over here.”

The reporter looked disappointed, then dubious, but he let it go. Finn was standing against the wall by the same consultation room I’d seen Penelope’s attorney disappear into earlier.

“They want to talk to us,” he said.

“Who?”

“Penelope Monroe and her lawyer.”

“Who’s Penelope Monroe?” Julia asked.

“The child’s sister,” Finn told her.

I barely heard any of this exchange. I was staring through the glass panel in the door, watching Penelope whisper with her lawyer. He was sitting much too close to her, his hand on her shoulder, saying something in her ear that made her shake her head sharply in the negative. And then she saw me and her expression softened just slightly even as her eyes filled with tears.

What the hell was going on now?





Chapter 17


Penelope

He was angry.

It didn’t take a mind reader to see the emotion that had taken up residence in Harrison’s broad jaw and wide green eyes. He was angry, and maybe a little hurt. I wanted to know why.

I also wanted to know who the blond woman beside him was.

Was it bad that I was irrationally jealous of a woman who might be his sister?

Harrison burst into the room, the open door allowing all the noise from the corridor to come in, too. A man followed, saying his name and snatching at his suit jacket. The woman followed, too, and I found myself taking in her expensive dress that was a little tight for the occasion and the perfect makeup that was applied with steadier hand than I would ever have.

Was this the kind of woman Harrison preferred?

“What’s going on?” Harrison demanded. “Where’s JT?”

“Not here,” Jack said, jumping to his feet and moving more toward Harrison as though he was trying to block me with his body.

“Why not? Doesn’t he have to meet with the judge in a few minutes?”

I stood, touching Jack’s arm as I did. He looked down at me, his eyebrows furrowed. “It’s okay,” I said softly. Then I focused on Harrison.

“I don’t want to put JT through this.”

Harrison’s eyebrows rose. “What happened to all that stuff last night about finishing this?” he asked, his voice raised a little on the last two words as though he was trying to imitate my voice.

I started to respond, but Harrison’s attorney moved up beside him and grabbed his arm. “I think we should talk about this before we discuss anything with them.”

“He’s right, Harry,” another voice said.

A woman, about the same height as the first, made her way up beside Harrison. She had dark hair, like his, and green eyes, also like his. This had to be the sister. Which made the other woman…she turned toward me and I saw, for the first time, that she had pale blue eyes that were so eerily like JT’s that it was a little surreal.

The birth mother.

I stepped back just slightly, barely missed smashing the top of Jack’s foot with my heel. I remembered my parents talking about her. I remembered how awed my mother was by her courage to do the right thing for her child, the reverent way in which she talked about her. And here she was, in the flesh.

She was not what I’d expected.

“Out!” Harrison suddenly bellowed. “Everyone get out of here. Now.”

Jack lay his hand on the middle of my back, leaning close to whisper in my ear.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

But Harrison was watching me and I knew that if I was ever going to trust him, now was the time.

“It’s okay.”

Arguments continued as everyone slowly filed out of the room, but Harrison never acknowledge any of them. And I…well, the only person I had to acknowledge was him. And my eyes never left his.

It was oppressively quiet when Jack finally closed the door.

“What’s going on?”

I didn’t answer right away. I’d been up most of the night, working this out in my head. I’d gone back and forth. It was what JT wanted. But JT was just a child. The promise I made my parents could be interpreted many ways. But maybe JT’s wellbeing was more important than a promise made halfheartedly years ago.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until I went to wake JT and found him sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed in the suit I’d bought him for the funeral—which was several inches too small everywhere—chewing the cuticles from his fingers.

I couldn’t put him through this.

I sank down into one of the chairs, suddenly more exhausted than I think I’d ever been.

“Jack drew up a paper that says we acknowledge that the adoption was never legal. But by signing the paper, you agree to allow me visitation with JT a couple of times a year.”

Harrison made a sound that could have been a groan, but was more like a swallowed sigh.

“Why?”

“Because you were right. We shouldn’t be putting JT through all of this.”

“So you’re just going to let me walk away with him?”