Page 106 of A Rancher's Vow
“I would be delighted,” Suz informed him, winking at Tamara. “I’ll need help with the squishmallows, but after we eat our suppers.”
“’kay,” he agreed somewhat reluctantly.
Tamara chuckled as she walked beside Chelsea and Charity to the firepit area. “Your wife knows the secrets of dealing with children.”
“She works in pediatrics,” Chelsea offered.
“Interesting. I used to be a nurse. We’ll have to exchange war stories.”
Dustin helped Caleb with the barbeque while the rest of them found seats around the fire. Emma and Sasha instantly latched onto Chelsea, asking questions about her job as a recreation director at a large fitness facility.
Charity settled beside Tamara, content to watch and listen.
The older woman beside her examined her family, a satisfied smile on her lips before turning her attention on Charity. “You have a good time camping?” Tamara asked quietly.
“We really did. Thanks for letting Dustin have the time off.”
Tamara shrugged. “He’s never been one to ask for vacations. Silver Stone probably owes him a ton of holiday hours.”
“He’s not complaining about his workload,” Charity assured her. “He adores the ranch and the time he spends on horseback. He likes the chores and the time with his brothers. And your girls and the chores with them.” She snickered. “He likes chores a little too much, it seems.”
“You guys have had a lot of time to talk over the past weeks, haven’t you?” Tamara’s gaze was still accepting, but there was something else there as well. A question that Charity wasn’t sure how to answer.
She went with the bare minimum truth. “We did. I mean, we’ve always been friendly, but now I think we’re really friends.”
“Burgers are ready,” Caleb called. “Build your plate at the table here. Dustin will bring you your drink.”
Everyone stood to put together their meals, and the moment was pushed aside, which was good because Charity wasn’t sure how to deal with the emotions welling up inside.
Friends, yes. But what did she do with the part that said they were more?
They’d barely settled back in place, full plates balanced on laps, when a call rang out from the direction of the house. “Hey, Stone family.”
Fern came rushing up the path, aimed straight at Charity and Dustin. At the last second, though, she twisted and stopped short, gaze jumping between the two of them and Caleb and Tamara.
“Sorry for crashing your party, but I couldn’t wait.”
Tamara gestured for her to continue. “It’s not a problem. Are you okay?
“Yes. I mean, I don’t have a problem; I solved one.” Fern shook her head. “I’m befuddled. Hi Chelsea, hi Suz. I’m Charity’s friend, Fern. The point is, I figured it out. I know who doxxed Dustin.”
Stunned silence greeted her announcement. Charity had to switch her brain from the family gathering mode to social media circus.
Chelsea caught up the quickest. “You did? How? All her posts were screenshots with her name scratched out. There was no way to follow those back to the source.”
“That’s what we figured.” Fern’s gaze sharpened to daggers. “But if it was anaccidentalscreenshot share, it should have been limited to one or two at the most. The fact that so many shared and it went viral means someone deliberately set it up. They posted a comment, took a screenshot, and deleted the original before anyone noticed. Over and over. There were time stamps of four a.m. on a couple of them.”
“Deliberate, then.” Tamara nodded. “Makes sense if she was trying to keep her information offline.”
“Yes. But once she’d scrubbed out her info, she still needed people to share without her name involved. A few people looped in automatically because she linked to the article when it was getting a lot of eyes on it. Used their #silverstonestud. But all the initial sharing was done by one woman who set up new accounts the day everything went out.”
Caleb shook his head. “I’m not up on all the social media business, but if you say it can be done, it can. The main question is,who?”
Thank goodness Fern got straight to the point this time. “Patricia Hawkins.”
Beside Charity, Dustin cursed softly enough that Tyler wouldn’t hear it. “No. Way.”
“That was going to be my next question.” Charity frowned at him. “Do you know this woman?”
