The Chesapeake Diaries Series (112 page)

“Nicest thing anyone ever said to me,” Stef muttered, and looked out the front window.

A few sailboats had braved the morning’s chill to head into the Bay, and they skipped briskly across the water. The sun erupting from behind the clouds all but blinded her, and she fumbled in her bag for her sunglasses. She was still wearing the shades when Tina returned.

“Thank you. You may have saved my life.” Stef reached for the paper container and took a long drink.

“Better?” an amused Tina asked.

“It will be,” Stef told her. “Give it time.”

By eleven, Stef felt almost normal, and since they’d served exactly one person all morning, she told Tina she could take the afternoon off if she wanted.

“Normally I’d stay,” Tina told her as she gathered her things, “but I do have a few errands I’d like to run, so I’m just going to say thank you as I head out.”

“Enjoy the afternoon.”

The shop was very quiet with Tina gone and no customers and not even the sound of an ice-cream maker running in the back room. Stef was thinking maybe she’d make something after all when she remembered Alice Ridgeway’s diary. She took it out of her bag and flipped through it as she searched for Grace’s phone number on her cell. Something fell from the back of the book and landed on the table. Stef put the phone down and carefully picked up the
dried bit of vegetation. Once upon a time, it had been some sort of flower. She stared at it for a long moment, then realized what it was, and what it meant.

Son of a gun.

She was just about to call Vanessa to tell her what she found—and what it meant—when the bell over the door rang. She turned just as a small voice called, “Steppie!”

“Why, Austin MacGregor, is that you?”

“Austin.” He nodded, then pointed to Wade. “Daddy.”

“Hello, Austin.” She smiled. “Hello, Austin’s daddy. That must have been one heck of an early flight.”

“It was. Crack of dawn. We came right here from the airport. Austin couldn’t wait to see you.” He ran one hand up her arm. “And neither could I.”

“I’m glad.” She forced the words out, not totally sure how they’d be received, but Vanessa was right. She needed to speak her mind. “I missed you, Wade.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Eem!” Austin stood on his tiptoes and tried to peer into the case. “Steppie, eem.”

“What kind would you like?” She picked him up so he could see into the cooler, and couldn’t resist smoothing down his dark curls.

“That.” He pointed to the chocolate.

“Chocolate it is.” She carried him to a table, one hand snagging a child’s seat. “Let’s sit you down here with your daddy and I’ll get your ice cream.”

“Yay!” Austin clapped his hands.

Wade settled Austin into his chair, then took the seat next to him.

“Wade, do you want something while I’m back here?” she called to him.

“I’m good for now.”

Stef brought Austin his ice cream, a spoon, and a pile of napkins, which she handed over to Wade. “Just in case.”

“Do you have time to sit with us for a few minutes?” Wade asked.

“Sure.” She pulled out the chair next to Wade. “We’re really slow today.”

“I guess you saw the photos from last weekend,” he said.

Stef nodded. “I couldn’t believe all the newspapers and magazines and TV pieces that were done on that party. Though I must say, I’m happy the photographers got my best side.”

“You have no bad side.” He reached for her hand and covered it with his own.

“Now, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were coming on to me.”

“I am coming on to you.”

“Too bad you couldn’t have brought Angela back with you.” Stef ran a finger up the side of his face and he caught it with his hand.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked, his eyes watching hers.

“Painting. Feel free to join in.”

“I’ll do that.”

“So tell me all about Oak Grove and your new job,” she said. “It sounds like everything is going perfectly for you.”

“It’s a dream job. All of the fun of brewing and concocting new beer flavors and none of the headaches
because all Ted wants me to do is brew. He does a lot of things the same way I used to do them. Actually, he said he studied our business model while setting up his company.”

“That’s quite a compliment,” Steffie noted.

“It is.” Wade nodded. “And Mrs. Worth couldn’t be more perfect if Dallas had cast her. She loves the kids and has all kinds of fun activities for them. Her assistants are a couple of college kids who are majoring in early childhood education. Maizie and Fern. They’re really energetic and the kids seem to have a great time. Austin had a ball both days he spent there.”

“Did you find a house that you loved?”

“Oh, yeah. Stone, four bedrooms, three baths, a big kitchen, big fenced-in lot. And like I said on the phone, the neighborhood’s terrific.”

“Well, then, it sounds as if you’re all set.” Stef tried really hard to smile.

The bell over the door rang, and Stef looked up as Greg came into the shop. She smiled and waved, and Wade looked over his shoulder to see who was coming in.

Later, in retrospect, Steffie wasn’t sure if Wade’s first reaction had been one of shock or of fury. His face had gone white, then his jaw clenched and his eyes went dark.

“Well, hello there, little guy.” Greg went right to Austin, who was feeding himself chocolate ice cream sometimes with the spoon, and sometimes with his hands.

“Get away from him.” Wade’s voice was low, but
there was no mistaking the deadly threat. “Don’t touch him.”

“Wade, what’s going on?” Stef stood up. “How do you know Greg?”

“Greg?” Wade laughed out loud. “His name’s not Greg. And I think the real question is how do you know him?”

“He’s been in the shop a few times …,” Stef answered.

“Well, let me introduce you to Hugh Weston. At least that’s what he called himself when I knew him.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, looking at Hugh. “Why’d you tell me your name was Greg?”

“Because he was afraid I’d told you about him,” Wade replied while Hugh stood by looking smug. “Which I did. I just hadn’t mentioned his name.”

Without taking his eyes off the man, Wade said, “Stef, meet the man who drove KenneMac Brews into bankruptcy.”

“I think I’d rather be known as this little guy’s daddy.” Hugh squatted down next to Austin’s chair. “What do you think, Steffie? Doesn’t this boy look just like his papa? And we both know we’re not talking about Wade.”

Hugh slid a chair back from the table, turned it around, and sat.

“You have ten seconds to get up and leave before I call the police,” Wade told him.

Hugh laughed. “I don’t think so.”

Wade started to stand, but Hugh locked his gaze and said, “Sit down, Wade. I’m going to outline for you the way I see this thing playing out.”

“Stef,” Wade said coolly, “do me a favor and take Austin in the back room.”

She lifted the child from his chair. “Come on, Austin. Let’s go see what we can find back there to play with.”

“Pretty girl.” Hugh’s eyes followed Steffie to the door. “Real pretty girl. You always did have pretty girls around you. I always thought you were cool that way.”

“Aren’t you going to ask how Robin is?”

“No, because I know she’s dead. Shame, isn’t it? Smart, beautiful thing like her, wasting away like she did.” Hugh leaned on the chair back. “I did my homework, Wade. I know that you married Robin just before she died. I figured out that’s why you have the boy.”

He took a folded piece of paper from the inside pocket of his jacket.

“Must be nice to be a celebrity, get your picture on all the magazine covers.” He unfolded the paper and tossed it onto the table in front of Wade. “If it wasn’t for this”—he tapped a finger on the photo—“I’d have never known about the little guy. What a tragedy, huh, never to know about your own flesh and blood? But thanks to …” He turned the page around and glanced down. “Thanks to Todd Litchfield, who snapped this picture, I’ve found my son.”

“Are you crazy? You’re wanted for embezzling millions of dollars in Texas, I have copies of the books you cooked, the police have all the records, and you—”

“I don’t think you’re going to be calling the police, Wade.”

“What’s going to stop me?”

“The DNA test I’m going to ask the courts to order to prove that the boy is my natural son. I never signed away my parental rights, Wade.”

“Because you left Robin as soon as you finished stealing from her. You never even knew she was pregnant. If you’d stuck around—”

“I would have been arrested.” He shrugged. “Still might be in danger there, to hear you tell it, but even
so, first-time offender, with a good lawyer, most I’ll get might be a couple of years. In the meantime, my mama will be raising her grandson. And when I get out of prison, I’ll still be his father. And you?” He chuckled. “You’ll be nothing to him.” He leaned forward. “By then, he won’t even remember you.”

Wade fought to keep a tight rein on his emotions. The last thing he wanted was a fistfight that could demolish all of Steffie’s pretty chairs and tables, and would accomplish nothing more than to scare Austin. Though, he had to admit, there would be a certain amount of satisfaction on oh so many levels in beating the crap out of Hugh. Still, it wasn’t the time and it wasn’t the place to exact retribution for everything the man had done.

Patience, grasshopper
.

“So what it is you really want?” Wade asked with outward calm. “Because we both know you don’t really want a child.”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Maybe I spent foolishly and need a big infusion of cash.”

“Seriously? After you cleaned me out down in Texas, what do you think I have left?”

“Seriously?” Hugh parroted. “Don’t insult me with that crap. Start with your sister, why don’t you? How much do you think her ‘nephew’ is worth to her? I’m willing to bet she’s just dotty over the kid. As a matter of fact, I’m betting she’s gotta be, oh, I don’t know, five million dollars’ worth of dotty.”

“There’s no way in hell I’m going to—”

“Of course you are. This is where free choice comes in. You get the money, or you can wave bye-bye to … what’s his name?” He glanced at the paper
before refolding it and putting it back in his pocket. “Austin. Did Robin pick that out?”

When Wade didn’t respond, Hugh pushed up from the chair. “So how ’bout we get back together right here in about”—he paused to look at his watch—“oh, let’s make it around seven tonight. We can make this little transaction smooth and easy. Or I can have the state’s child services down here to look into this little mess.” Hugh looked toward the back room. “Take good care of my son for me. And tell pretty Steffie I’ll see her later.”

Hugh got to the door and stopped. “Oh, and don’t even think about leaving town with him, MacGregor, because I
will
go to the police and tell them you kidnapped him. Can you imagine how embarrassing that’s going to be for Dallas? Can you imagine the scene, cop cars screaming all around you, the boy being wrenched from your hands? That’d be enough to scar that kid for life, don’t you think?” He shook his head as if genuinely concerned about Austin.

“What a dilemma to be in, right? On the one hand, I can tell that you’d like nothing more than to kill me right here and now and just dump my body in that Bay out there. I can’t say that I blame you, all things considered. But the way I see it, you’re going to have to decide what means more to you. Revenge could be very sweet, I know. On the other hand, I figure you have to have grown attached to the boy. You can’t have both, Wade. You can pay the money and keep him, or you can blow the whistle on me and spend the rest of your life wishing you hadn’t.”

Hugh went out and quietly closed the door behind him.

Wade sat at the table for a moment, trying to push through the cloud of anger that completely filled every cell of his body and consumed him until he literally saw red.

“Wade?” Steffie stepped out from the back room, Austin in her arms.

“You heard?” he asked without turning around.

“Yes. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” He stared at the opposite wall, trying to gain control.

Stef sat next to him, Austin on her lap playing with an empty ice-cream bowl and two spoons.

“Daddy, eem.” Austin leaned over to offer his father an imaginary treat and Wade almost lost it. There was no way in hell he was going to hand over this child to Hugh Weston or whoever he was. There was no power on earth strong enough to take him away. And yes, Wade acknowledged, he could have killed Hugh this morning. Clay had a boat; they could take him far out into the Bay and toss his evil body overboard.

But that would, of course, lead to other problems.

“I have an idea …” Stef told him. “Let’s see if Dallas can keep Austin company for a while. Then we’re going to take a walk.”

Thirty minutes later, Wade and Steffie were sitting in Jesse Enright’s office.

“Start from the beginning,” Jesse told him.

Wade told him everything.

“Let me make sure I’ve got this right: this guy embezzled your company into bankruptcy and stole personal funds from your partner, and now he’s back
here to extort money from you to keep quiet about Austin’s paternity.” Jesse tapped a pen on his desktop.