Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail(33)

Ned opened his mouth, thought for a second, and then closed it.

Brady chuckled beside me and moved forward to follow them. As they moved further down the aisle, I heard Brady taunt, "You going to back down to that, Ned? There isn't a feat that you can't imagine you'd overcome. Some of your lies sound better than that."

"He ain't made her cry, Brady. I can't do better than that."

Brady dismissed, "Come on. What kind of man doesn't make a woman cry? The best ones make 'em cry."

"Brady Jake Remington. You are not helping one bit with your foolish encouragement."

"Come on, Viola. Ned's just a bleeding heart here. He's a literal standing bleeding heart, right in front of you. How can you turn your back on that?"

I shook my head. Everyone knew Ned would never win over my grandmother, except for maybe Ned, but there was some entertainment in his attempts. I always suspected my grandmother was flattered by his attention, which was why she kept shopping at Nellie's even though she always left with a tenfold promise to never step foot in that store again.

I was proven right as I heard a slight hint of laughter in Viola's false sternness. "If he was literally bleeding, I'd have the decency to hand him a towel. Until then, I don't have the time to even offer him a tourniquet. Now scootch, both of you."

I tuned out Brady's predictable comeback and perused the toiletries. I didn't know if I chose that aisle on purpose or if my wanderings guided me to the right spot, but as I kept moving down, I saw a couple of pregnancy tests resting on the white stand. I caught my breath and stood frozen for a moment. Should I move away, ignore what I already worried about, or should I… I had no idea. This was above my head.

Something kicked in my stomach, perhaps my guilt. Without thinking I reached out and picked up one of the foreign boxes. This box, this tiny, simple box could hold an answer for something that could change my life. I blinked away tears and ignored the sudden pounding in my chest. The box felt too heavy to hold. As my hand started to fall, another caught it and tucked it against his chest.

I looked up and saw Brady. He held me tight against him and transferred the pregnancy test from my numb fingers to his.

"Are you worried about this?" There was a gruff note in his voice, but there was something else.

I shook my head. "We didn't use…"

Brady switched the box to the other hand and squeezed my hand with his free one. "We'll get through it. I promise."

I wanted to believe him. I really did. I wanted to close my eyes and know that whatever Brady said was true. He could do anything. But this, I knew he couldn't stop something that might already be growing inside of me. The time to stop it had already passed.

"Don't make promises that you can't keep," I whispered back.

Looking up, Brady caught his breath at my emotion. I let it shimmer, bright and shining, because I needed him to see how serious I was. I couldn't have him shrug it off and party it away. This was real, could be real.

"Holy. Mother of God. Are you kidding me?"

I whirled around and saw Viola at the end of the aisle. Her eyes were hot and she gripped the ice cream pail until her knuckles became white. Her face lost all the blood flow as she stomped forward. "You had better be joking. This had better be an elaborate pathetic joke, Brady. I won't be laughing if I'm the brunt of this awful, awful trick. Brady? Tell me you're kidding."

A lesser man would've laughed off the false joke. He would've taken the opening and ran for the hills.

Brady tucked me behind him and lifted a sober chin. "We'll handle this. Rayna and me."

"Like hell you will!" Viola whipped out, her eyes storming. She stepped forward with her hand outstretched to grab me, but Brady shuffled me out of her reach. She reared back. "You give her to me now. I can't believe you—I can't believe the two of you—Rayna! What were you thinking?"

"All due respect, Viola, we weren't thinking. We were doing what most kids do. We were living in the moment."

My grandmother's mouth clamped shut, but she flung a finger up and thrust it against his chest. "You know better," she seethed. "Of all kids, of everyone, you know better! You don't give me that crap. Now Rayna, she's sheltered, but you knew better."

"And she doesn't?" Brady firmly planted himself in front of me. "You treat her like she's a two-year old. You act like she's this fragile future spinster who doesn't know how to walk on her own two feet. You're clueless about her."

"You don't tell me about my granddaughter." Viola bristled in her rage. "You don't tell me."

"All due respect, but I know your granddaughter a little better than you do."

"No, you don't."

Brady quieted, but he only lasted a second. "You have always preached to me about making her live a little. You wanted her to have adventures, but still stay the same person. You wanted me to be the person to help her with that. You picked me on purpose. You saw how I was going to be a long time ago and you constantly called me over for lunch and supper. You handpicked me to be friends with Rayna. You knew that I'd take care of her. And now that the friendship has gone to another level, what'd you expect? You know who I am. You've always known who I am. What'd you expect?"