The Bad Daughter(87)

“How much?” Cassidy asked.

“A hundred thousand?” He glanced quickly at the sheriff. “That’s not blackmail or anything. You heard her. She offered.”

“A hundred thousand,” Cassidy repeated. “What would you do with all that money?”

“I was thinking about maybe starting up a business.”

“Cool. What kind of business?”

“Well, I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” Dylan tried for his most endearing smile, but managed only a twitch instead.

There was a long pause.

“I don’t think so,” Cassidy said. She turned to Robin. “We can go now.”

“Okay. Wait,” Dylan said. “Maybe that was a little steep. Fifty thousand would probably do me.”

“No,” Cassidy said, grabbing both Robin’s and Blake’s hands. “Mommy was right. You’re scum.”

“You little bitch,” Dylan said, his voice a combination of anger and admiration. “You were just playing with me, weren’t you?”

“Sheriff,” Cassidy said, “please make this man stop bothering us.”

“Time to move on, Dylan,” the sheriff said.

“I’ll get a lawyer,” Dylan said.

Cassidy smiled. “Give it your best shot.”





CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR


“I’ve got to hand it to you, kiddo,” Melanie was saying as Blake’s car was pulling away from the gravesite. “For a twelve-year-old, that was impressive as hell. Don’t think I could have handled it any better myself.”

“Can I tell you something?” Cassidy asked, looking sheepish.

“Of course,” Robin said.

“Those things I said…I kind of borrowed them from Bleeding Hearts.”

“Bleeding Hearts?”

“That TV show we were watching the other day?” Blake asked.

Cassidy nodded. “It was a few months ago. Penny was being blackmailed by Jason. He’s her third—no, her fourth—husband. He showed up just as she was about to marry Reed and told her that he was a changed man and begged her to give him another chance. And she said that one look at him told her everything she needed to know, and asked how much was it going to take to make him go away for good. And then she told him to give it his best shot.”

“Wow,” said Melanie. “You remembered all that?”

“Do you think he’ll really hire a lawyer?” Cassidy asked.

“With Dylan Campbell, anything is possible,” Robin said.

Panic filled Cassidy’s eyes. “But he wouldn’t get custody, would he? I mean, if he went to court, there’s no chance that he…”

“No,” said Robin. “We would never let that happen.”

“How could you stop him?”

“We’ll stop him,” Blake said from the front seat.

“You promise?”

“I promise,” Blake said.

Cassidy breathed a deep sigh of relief and settled back into Robin’s arms as Blake turned the car toward the exit.

“Wait,” Robin said, lurching forward in her seat.

“Something wrong?”

“No. I just thought…”

“Oh, dear,” said Melanie. “She’s thinking again.”

“Could we stop at Mom’s grave?” Robin swiveled toward Cassidy. “I haven’t seen the headstone and…I won’t be long, I promise. I just thought…since we’re already here…”

“Sure,” Cassidy said. “It’s down that way, right?” She pointed in the direction that Melanie had indicated earlier.

“Why not?” Melanie said. “Stop here,” she said a minute later. “It’s the second-to-last row. Third from the end.” She pointed to her left as Blake pulled the car to a stop.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Blake asked as Robin opened the rear door.

“No. I’ll find it.”

“Wait. I’m coming,” Melanie said, exiting the front seat and catching up to her sister.

“It’s all right. You don’t have to…”

“I know I don’t have to. Maybe I want to. Is that a problem?”

“No, of course not.”

“Good. That’s it—over there.” She pointed to a rose-colored granite headstone several yards away.

Robin walked cautiously toward it, silently reading the simple inscription etched across its surface as she approached: Sarah Davis. Wife. Mother. Grandmother. In Our Hearts You Live Forever.

“A cliché, I know, but what can you do?” Melanie said.

“It’s lovely.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m sure you would have come up with something more profound, but then…”

“…I wasn’t here,” Robin acknowledged. She took a deep breath. “Look. I’m sorry that I let you down, that I wasn’t here more. I know it wasn’t easy for you, looking after Mom…”

Melanie shook off Robin’s sympathy with a shrug of her shoulders. “It wasn’t. But, hey, what’s done is done. I wasn’t exactly laying out the welcome mat.”