Page 228 of Misrule
Roxy hadn’t wanted to push him, and she hadn’t wanted to get in the way of him and Knox’s time together. Father and son needed each other, now more than ever. Or so she thought. Knox was determined to put her in the role of Grant’s maternal figure. As long as the boy didn’t mind it, Roxy loved it, and she’d told Knox that. Grant hadonemother. Just because Callie was gone didn’t change that fact.
“Can I, Roxy?”
“Sure, sugar. But just one scoop and in a bowl. Don’t add sugar with a fucking cone.” she answered.
He laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m not going to be much longer, baby,” she promised.
“Okay, I’ll be here. Dad has a big surprise for you, too, so hurry up.”
“I can’t wait to see what it is,” she said honestly, her mind running away with all types of possibilities.
Maybe, they’d make love? Now that Roxy and Knox had made up, not only was he sticking to learning how to ride and getting a tattoo but he was also adhering to Mortician’s dictate that they live separately until the wedding. Roxy suspected it had a lot to do with the camaraderie he was finding with the guys. The riding lessons were one big party.
“Um, Roxy, what size is your ring finger?” Grant blurted.
Roxy went on alert. “A size seven. Why?”
He gasped. “Oh! Uh, no reason. Gotta go! Bye, Roxy.”
Chuckling as she disconnected, Roxy wondered if that meant what she thought it did. Had Knox really replaced her engagement ring? She knew the sentimental value his great-great grandmother’s ring held for the Harrington family.
“Momma, is everything okay?” Bailey called.
Roxy turned and waved to her daughter, who stood on the running board to look over the SUV.
“Kendall still hasn’t answered the door,” she responded.
A moment of guilt hit Roxy. If she hadn’t been so wrapped up in her wedding plans, then her breakup, then wedding plans again, she would’ve been giving Kendall more time. She hadn’t visited the girl at her new house once. Her behavior toward Kendall was a crying shame.
“Have you tried knocking?” Bailey asked as she bounded up the steps and onto the porch. She went to the door and turned the knob.
Finding it unlocked, they gained entry. Shocked, Roxy and Bailey frowned at each other.
“Wait, baby.” Marching back to her Navigator, Roxy grabbed her purse and pulled out her pink gun. Maybe, Kendall hadn’t been answering because she couldn’t.
“Oh my God, Momma!” Bailey cried, when Roxy joined her on the porch again, gun in hand. “Put that away. Let me call Lucas.”
“You call Mortician, while I find Kendall.”
“Mama!”
Ignoring Bailey, Roxy went into the house. She barely saw the décor in her worry.
“Kendall?” she called, her gun cocked, loaded, and raised. “Where are you, sugar?”
No answer.
An eerie feeling rushed over Roxy at the silence.
“Kendall!”
Holding her gun with both hands to make sure her grip was good, Roxy went from room-to-room, but found no one or nothing that looked out of the ordinary.
Except something was. She felt it in her bones, in the hairs standing up on her skin, and the goosebumps traveling along her spine.
She reached the entrance hall again and stopped at the bottom of the staircase. “KENDALL!”
