The Marriage Bargain. Stephanie Dees

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СКАЧАТЬ grinned. “Thanks, Ms. Bertie. It’s good to see you, too. I wasn’t sure you’d remember me.”

      “I never forget the good ones.” She nudged him gently back into place on the stool and climbed onto the one beside him. “Mickey, get me a burger and fries,” she called into the pass-through. “I did not expect you to come walking through my door today.”

      “Me, neither, to be honest. But, Ms. Bertie, I’m really not hungry. I just need to find my... I need to find Vicky. It’s important. Do you know where she lives?”

      Bertie nodded slowly. “She manages a trailer park about six miles out. Her place is the first one on the right as you go in. But, Cam—”

      “Thanks, Ms. Bertie. I owe you one.” He slid a twenty onto the counter.

      She gripped his wrist. “Cameron, listen to me. Your mom’s not doing so well since she broke up with Jerry. And your sister’s death... Well, it hit all of us hard.”

      He didn’t want to hear about how bad things were for his mom. He wasn’t here for her. “I’m not—I don’t—Ms. Bertie, where are Glory’s girls?”

      “Oh, so that’s what finally brought you home.” She rocked back on her stool with a knowing, somewhat relieved smile. “You don’t have to worry. They’re not with Vicky. They live with Jules.”

      The blank look on his face must’ve given him away because she laughed and pointed to an old photo on the wall of herself with her kids. “Jules—Juliet—my youngest. She and Glory were inseparable from the moment they met in nursery school. Those two were more like sisters than friends.”

      A vague memory surfaced of two little girls giggling in one of the back booths here at the Hilltop. “I need to see them.”

      “Jules lives at the old Parker place now, just past the Springs church.”

      “Thank you.” The knot that had been building in his chest since he first heard about the car accident that killed his sister and her husband eased, just a little, knowing the girls were safe. He leaned forward and kissed Bertie on the cheek. “I mean it—thank you.”

      The cook came out of the kitchen door with a white container. “Figured you might need this to-go.”

      “Take it, Cameron,” Bertie ordered, in her just-try-to-argue tone. “You look a little skinny.”

      Cam took the box. For years, he’d imagined that there was no one in the world who cared whether he lived or died, but he was wrong. Here was one.

      The curvy road out of town was familiar and it was pretty, with pine trees sending long shadows over the pavement and bright yellow wildflowers crowding the shoulders. He noted it, like he did everything, but he didn’t see it, not really.

      Instead, he was in the front yard of the shabby little house where he and his baby sister, Glory, had lived with their mom and stepfather. She’d been six, a petite fireball of a kid missing her two front teeth.

      That day, he’d tossed her into the air like he had since she was a toddler and she’d giggled before clinging to his neck. He still remembered how she smelled like cotton candy when she’d lisped into his ear, “Please don’t go, Cam.”

      He was nine years older than Glory—the two of them had different fathers—and when their mother married again, he’d been fourteen. He’d stuck around for another year, until his new stepfather had kicked him out.

      Glory at six years old was the carbon copy of their mom. Cam was a tall, muscular teenager who, with the exception of his green eyes, looked like his dad, dark skin and all. And it was his skin color, Cam figured, that his stepfather couldn’t live with.

      His mom had walked to the door with a defeated expression. He’d waited a horrible long minute—wanting her to stop him, waiting for her to say she didn’t want him to go—before he’d gently set Glory on her feet and walked away without looking back.

      He’d returned only once, when Glory graduated high school, but his stepfather threatened to kill him if he ever came near them again. He never did, but that didn’t mean he forgot about his baby sister.

      Now Glory was gone and Cam had done the one thing he’d sworn he’d never do—come back to the small town where he grew up. Because when Glory died, she’d left two little girls behind, and he was here for them. He might’ve been a powerless, penniless kid when he left Red Hill Springs, but he was far from that now.

      He turned onto the dirt road that led to the Parker place. Cam wasn’t sure what he expected, but the house that he remembered as a sagging pit was the bright white centerpiece to a pristine yard with a black minivan parked in the driveway.

      When he got out of the car, the sun had disappeared behind the trees and a chill bloomed in the air. Decades-old camellia bushes with candy-colored blossoms flanked the stairs. A light clicked on in the house. He’d come so far to see them and now nerves jittered in his stomach.

      He cleared his throat and knocked.

      He waited. And waited, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning to look back at the highway, until the door slowly opened to reveal a pint-size version of his sister, wearing a pink nightgown and sucking her thumb. He lost his breath.

      Her big green eyes studied him. “I’m Eleanor.”

      “Hi.” Cam smiled at his niece, but inside he was reeling.

      “Eleanor Prentiss, what did I tell you about opening the door without a grown-up?”

      Cam looked up as a woman walked into view. Her blond hair was piled into a loose knot on top of her head and she carried a baby wrapped in a towel. Brilliant blue eyes locked on his and her feet stuttered to a stop, along with his heart.

      He blinked, trying to gather the thoughts that scattered like leaves from winter-worn trees. “I’m Cameron Quinn. Glory was my sister.”

      Those blue eyes had gone ice-cold as she stepped between Eleanor and the open door. “I know who you are. What are you doing here?”

      “Eleanor and Emma are my nieces.” He could’ve told her about the promise he’d made himself, that he would find them. That, unlike him, they would never wonder if they were wanted or loved. But instead, he let those simple words hang in the air.

      She stared at him for a long minute, then, with a deep breath, nudged the door open a little wider. “I guess you should come in.”

      * * *

      “People have been coming to the door with food and presents for the girls for weeks. Eleanor likes it.” Jules led her guest calmly into the family room, but inside, her stomach was quaking. Glory’s brother had been missing since she was a kid. But there was no denying those eyes.

      “Understandable.” He glanced around the room. “Nice place. I remember it a little differently.”

      “Yeah? It’s kind of a disaster right now. I’m usually at work all day so being home with kids is new.” She grabbed a couple of toys and a fleece blanket off the seat of the club chair with the hand not trying to keep hold of a naked, wiggly, slippery baby. “Have a seat. I’m going to find some pajamas for СКАЧАТЬ