Page 84 of Ronen
“Ummm….what?”
“You know, just slide your fork over to my plate every once in a while, when no one is looking. Trust me, once they all get to jabbering and stuffing their faces, no one will even notice what we’re doing.”
“Have you actually met your dad? That man sees fucking everything. He is going to notice.”
“Mmmm,” Ronen hummed, tugging at his hair and making it even more unruly than usual. “It’s really Papa that people should worry about. Do you have a better solution?”
“Yes,” I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest, “we tell them you’re pregnant.”
He glared at me defiantly, saying nothing, and I threw my hands up in the air in defeat.
“Fine, fine. We won’t tell them yet. You’ll just push your mashed potatoes around your plate like a sulking five-year-old, and I’ll steal them and pretend like no one notices. Perfect plan.”
“Thank you,” he said softly, giving me one of his little half smiles that always stabbed me straight in my feelings.
“These had better be good potatoes,” I warned him, as I helped him slide down from the vanity. He didn’t need help, but it made me feel chivalrous, so I ignored his protest and did it anyway. “Since no one is getting a blow job out of all this ridiculousness.”
He hid his face in my shirt, rubbing his cheek against me. “I can’t believe he said that. Or that any of them did…whatever. I don’t want to think about them having sex. It’s just icky. And in my grandmother’s house.”
He sounded like a shocked Victorian era heroine.
“We have sex and it’s not icky.”
“We are not my parents,” he said, his voice taking on his clipped, prissy tone that I secretly loved. “Or my uncles. There are just some things that others don’t need to know about your life. Keep private things private. And my grandma! Just clean up after. What is that even?”
“She seems pretty cool.” Placing my arm around his shoulder, I unlocked the door and opened it.
To find his Nana Maeve standing outside it, wringing her hands, a troubled look in her green eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “I wanted to speak to my grandson alone, and it’s impossible to be alone in this house on a holiday. Or ever, now that the grandchildren have decided we can’t live alone. I love them, but they are a lot to deal with.”
“Nana?” Ronen’s voice was concerned, as he stepped away from me to take her hands in his. “What is it?”
Her eyes flicked to me, then back to him. “I just need to ask you something. In private. About your grandfather.”
Ronen’s body relaxed, and he gave her a genuine smile. Goddess, this man’s smile never failed to turn my bones to absolute goo. It literally made me go weak in the knees anytime I saw it. “He knows, Nana. We can speak in front of him.”
A brief moment of shock crossed her face, before her own smile lit up her eyes. “You told him? That’s good, Ro, that’s very good.”
“Let’s sit over here,” Ronen moved us to a padded bench along the wall, and they sat.
There wasn’t much room on it for more than two people, especially for someone my size. Taking a place behind Ronen, I placed my hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.
“What did you want to ask?” Ronen’s voice was soft, nearly a whisper, but he took his nana’s hands back in both of his.
Maeve looked hesitant, now that she had Ronen in front of her. I hadn’t known Allan Rafferty while he was alive. I had just been hired to replace Becks as sheriff shortly before Allan’s death. I was aware, through the town’s never-ending grapevine, of the late in life, fated mate throuple between Mary Sinclair, and Maeve and Allan Rafferty.
In a wild twist of fate, the three hadn’t known they were even fated until after Maeve and Allan’s son, Quinn, had discovered he was fated to Mary’s son, Lachlan. Mary had been a widow for over thirty years at the time, and Maeve and Allan had been mated and married for about the same amount of time.
Apparently, it had been quite the titillating scandal when it had happened, but twenty-five years later, it was just a tiny piece of gossip. One that people were still talking about, however, since it had reached my ears.
“Have you…” Maeve paused, her voice shaky. “Dammit, I promised myself and Mary I wasn’t going to ask you. But I just…I need to know.”
Ronen, as if sensing what his nana was going to ask, squeezed her hand lightly, but shook his head.
“He’s not here,” he told her quietly. “I’ve not seen him one time.”
His voice hitched on the last word, and I gave his shoulder another squeeze.
