Feels Like Family

“I don’t think so. Not about that, anyway.”

“You’d risk letting Tess twist in the wind, just so you can stick it to me and Helen?”

“I prefer to think of it as motivation for the two of you to get together. I know what a wonderful, compassionate man you are. You won’t let Tess twist in the wind for long. Eventually we’ll all get what we want.”

“You’re almost as annoying as Helen,” he muttered. “You know that, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do,” she said cheerfully. “But I suggest you not kiss me to shut me up the way you did her, or Ronnie will have something to say about it.”

Erik chuckled. “Yeah, I imagine he would. Go home, Dana Sue. It’s late. Get your things and I’ll walk you to your car.”

“I think I can walk the twenty yards to my car unprotected,” she said.

“Not on my watch, you won’t, not even in relatively crime-free Serenity,” he said. “Get your purse or whatever. I’ll meet you at the front door.”

When he’d finally tucked her safely in her car, she rolled down the window. “Helen needs someone like you,” she told him. “Every woman does.”

“Someone like me? What does that mean?”

“A knight in shining armor,” she said.

“I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong man,” he replied. “My suit of armor got tarnished a long time ago.”

“I’ll buy you some polish first thing in the morning,” she said, “but believe me, the result will only be cosmetic. The truth runs much deeper. Good night, Erik. Sleep well.”

He stared after her as she drove off into an inky darkness brightened only by a scattering of stars.

It astounded him that she saw him that way when it was so far from the truth, so far from the way he’d come to view himself ever since that night his wife had died. Even if Dana Sue bought all the polish in the local Piggly Wiggly, he doubted it would be enough.

Helen sat in the courtroom and looked across the aisle at Jimmy Bob West and Brad Holliday.

“What excuse do you think they’ll come up with this time to get another postponement?” Caroline Holliday asked her, already sounding resigned to another delay in her divorce proceedings.

“Actually I was thinking we’d turn the tables on them,” Helen said. “If it’s okay with you, of course.”

Caroline sat up a little straighter. “What do you have in mind?”

“I had a detective I use do a little digging around. I think I have enough evidence to show the judge that Brad’s been trying to hide some of his assets from us. I’d like to ask for a continuance so we can find every penny that man has tucked away.”

Caroline regarded her with amazement. “But they gave us financial statements, and those pretty much matched all the records I had.”

“Of course they did. They handed over everything they knew they couldn’t hide. Unfortunately for them, there was an interesting little paper trail they weren’t so clever about concealing. Brad’s a partner in some out-of-state real estate ventures that add up to a tidy little sum.”

“You’re kidding me!” Caroline said, her mood improving considerably. “And I’m entitled to some of that property?”