Page 116 of Truth

That was strange. Although, Ross had said he was going to bring her birthday present over. Maybe he’d gotten busy or something. “What is it?”

“Flowers.”

Ross was sending her flowers? I supposed it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. “Go ahead and sign for them, and I’ll swing by the desk when I get home to pick them up.”

“I was going to do that, sir, but the man says he was told that only Miss Reeves was allowed to sign for them.”

I could turn the deliveryman away and tell him to come back later, or get his information and go to the shop and pick them up myself, but... “You’re sure it’s just flowers, Tom?”

“Yep. Just flowers.”

“Is there a card? Does he know who they’re from?”

I heard him talking to the other man before returning to the phone. “All he knows is that a guy came in early this morning and placed the order.”

Looking over at Michael, I noticed he was watching me a lot closer than he had been. “Tell the man to wait there. I’ll call Brianna. She can come down and sign for the flowers, but Tom...”

“I’ll watch over her, Mr. Coleman. You have my word.”

Quickly disconnecting from Tom, I called Brianna.

“Hi.”

I could tell she was smiling. “Hello, sweetheart. I’m in a meeting, so I can’t talk long, but I received a phone call from Tom downstairs. It seems you have a delivery that needs to be signed for.”

“A delivery?”

“Yes. Flowers. The man won’t let Tom sign for them, for some reason.”

“Okay.”

“You stay close to Tom, all right? And I want you to call me as soon as you get back upstairs, do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Call me before then if you need to, Brianna.”

Putting my cell phone back in my pocket, I turned to face Michael again. The look on his face had changed. “I guess I need to rephrase my last question. Did you buy Brianna Reeves from Ian Pierce, Mr. Coleman?”

I supposed there was no denying it. The evidence was right there, staring him in the face. “Yes. I did.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Brianna

June 18

Today is my nineteenth birthday.

A year ago, I would never have imagined I would be here. I thought for sure I’d be dead. I had no hope.

So much has changed for me. I no longer live in fear, and I’ve fallen in love with a wonderful man. He has done more for me than I can ever repay him for.

This morning, he woke me up with kisses and gave me two lovely presents. I hadn’t expected anything. He took me to see my mom yesterday, and that was more than I could have ever hoped for. To some people it may not have meant that much, but it did to me.

Since he left this morning, I can’t stop running my hands over the copy of Jane Eyre he bought me. It’s perfect and something I will treasure forever. That is one of the reasons I love him. He doesn’t just give because he can but because he wants to, and he takes the time to make it meaningful. With all the other books I’ve been reading lately, I hadn’t even mentioned Jane Eyre for over a month, yet he remembered.

The laptop was another special treat. I haven’t opened it up, because I’ve been too busy with my new book, but I can’t wait. Hopefully he will be able to show me how to use it. I’ve used a computer before, but only in high school. I’m sure it will come back to me, but I don’t want to do something wrong and break it. I know he works with computers all the time, and I’m sure there are things he can show me.

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