Until You Loved Me (Silver Springs #3)(103)

He tapped the arrow and watched it play. “Damn. She also seems to have plenty of energy.”

The video showed Julia screaming and fighting with some guy who looked like a biker dude in front of what Ellie could only assume was her house. “She seems almost as strong as he is, right?”

Hudson whistled as he watched the video again. “If this woman has cancer, there’s no way she’s at the stage Matisson claims. You’re positive this is Cort’s daughter and not some other Julia?”

“Let’s find out.” She texted Shelly Gomez and got an immediate answer.

It’s the right Julia. She accused her father of impregnating her and had a baby thirty-two years ago.

Thirty-two years ago? What about the newspaper article I sent where she put her baby at age thirty?

She wasn’t being specific when she made that statement. I checked first thing and was able to verify the date through her testimony at her father’s trial. Her baby would be thirty-two.

Ellie sighed. There wasn’t any discrepancy on the dates after all.

“What’d she say?” Hudson asked as he pulled on a shirt.

“She said it’s the right Julia.”

He gestured toward her phone. “Could that really be the woman who gave me life?”

She knew he was referring to the video and Julia’s less-than-stellar behavior, which seemed especially bad since she’d been acting like that in front of her children. “We’re going to find out.”

“At least she’s not sick.”

“True.”

He caught her arm. “You don’t seem pleased by the news.”

She’d been holding out hope that Hudson wasn’t really Julia’s child. “I’m relieved she’s not sick,” she said. And not only because of the money. After what he’d been through with Aaron, she was glad Hudson wouldn’t be subjected to the difficult emotions of that struggle. Especially if Julia was his mother, which now seemed more likely than ever.

*

“I can’t put Ellie through that,” Hudson told Bruiser, using his Bluetooth the next day as he got onto the freeway heading toward Orange County. The results of the DNA test Ellie had delivered to the lab were due anytime. He wanted to sit by the phone with her. But since he was in town, he’d promised Craig that he’d do some media stuff, including a visit with some sick kids at a nearby hospital.

“Wait. You just said Julia wasn’t on her deathbed.”

“She’s not.”

“But I thought that was the only thing that could change your mind.”

He accelerated as he switched lanes. “She doesn’t look sick to me. But I have Ellie to think about now. And our child. I don’t want her to be embarrassed, and I sure as hell don’t want our son growing up with this story being bandied about in the press every time my name’s mentioned.”

“Things seem to have changed a great deal between you and Ellie in the past week or so,” Bruiser said.

Hudson had to slow for traffic. “I’d rather not talk about Ellie.”

“Still? Why?”

“I’ve never felt like this about anyone else. I’m afraid to jinx it.”

“Stop being so superstitious,” Bruiser said with a chuckle. “Nothing can jinx it. She’s in love with you.”

“All the more reason I should act to protect her.”

“Ellie wouldn’t want you to give him the money for her sake.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know what’s good for her.”

“And maybe she does. Trust her, Hudson. Her love is tougher than you think.”

“That would be a pleasant surprise,” he said, since he had no experience with love that could endure.

He and Bruiser talked about a few other things—his dinner with Craig and how Craig kept asking him for favors—but as soon as he reached his exit, he got off the phone. He needed to use his GPS to navigate since he’d never been to this particular hospital.

He was just pulling into the parking lot when he got a call from Samuel Jones.

Seeing the private detective’s name pop up on caller ID made Hudson wish he had the results of the DNA test with that cigarette butt. But he didn’t, so he had to proceed without that information. After checking his watch to make sure he had a few minutes, he hit Answer. “What’s going on now?”

“Good news,” Jones replied.

Hudson angled his Porsche into a parking space and cut the engine. “Did you say good news?”

“Yeah. I made it to Arizona and spoke with Matisson.”

“And?”

“I told him he can’t expect you to part with so much money, not without giving you something in return. So he’s agreed to provide the proof you requested.”

“Are you saying he’s going to let me meet Julia? Talk to her?”

“No, he can’t do that. Like I told you before, he’s afraid she’ll guess the truth. But he said he’d email you her medical records. And I got a swab of her DNA, so we can test you against both of them.”

Hudson rocked back in his seat. What the hell was going on? “You’ve seen her?”

“I have,” he replied. “Left the hospital only a few minutes ago. That’s how I got her DNA.”