Page 90 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“I’m great, thank you. I have a husband and a daughter now,” Birdie said, accepting the hug. “And this is my niece, Ally.”
“Lovely to meet you,” he said, shaking Ally’s hand. He then turned to look at Hudson. “Hello, Hudson. Do you remember me?”
Leah watched her nephew nod once. Eyes wide, he was wary of most people he didn’t know well, and though Uncle Callum had been coming in and out of his life since he was born, they hadn’t formed a bond yet.
“Well, how would you feel if I stayed with you for a while? Do you have a room for me?”
Hudson nodded again.
The crunch of booted feet on the gravel then drew their eyes. Sawyer, Dan, and Sheriff Dans were walking toward them.
“Well now, this is an interesting development. Wasn’t the one in the middle your boyfriend before you left Lyntacky?” Uncle Callum said out the side of his mouth so only Leah could hear.
“We don’t need to discuss that. It’s in the past,” she said quickly.
“Oh, we’ll discuss it because I think there is more to that story, and now I’ll have time to hear it,” he said.
She remembered that about her uncle too. He could be as determined as she was, but in this, he wouldn’t win.
“Gentlemen,” Uncle Callum said, holding out his hand to greet the three men. “I am Callum Taylor, Leah and Hudson’s uncle. I believe we’ve met before.” His eyes were on Dan and then moved to the other two men.
“Good to see you again,” Sheriff Dans said. “And this is my oldest nephew, Sawyer.”
“What has you all here?” Uncle Callum asked. “Because while my niece is lovely, I’m sure there is more to it.”
“How about we go inside and talk,” Sheriff Dans said. “Are you sticking around, Mr. Taylor?”
“Callum, and yes I am.”
The thought that her uncle was going to stay for a while was a reassuring one for Leah. Having another person in Hudson’s corner was a good thing, and it also meant Dan wouldn’t have to stay because Uncle Callum would be here.
“Excellent. You know how to use a gun, Mr. Taylor?”
Her uncle’s brows rose at Dan’s words. “Callum, and yes. Why do I need to know how?”
“We’ll put the coffee on,” Birdie said. “Let’s go, kids.”
“What’s going on?” Uncle Callum asked when they’d gone inside.
Sheriff Dans told the story, omitting nothing.
“So he brings hell down on my nieces, gets put in prison where he belongs, and now he’s still causing trouble?” Uncle Callum looked ready to hit something, but unlike his brother-in-law, he wasn’t the violent type.
“We don’t have all the details yet,” Dan said.
“How much money are we talking?”
“A lot,” Sheriff Dans said. “The papers my nephew found suggest this property was used for intermediary drug distribution, but as there are no names on anything, we can’t be sure who was involved.”
“Once an asshole, always an asshole,” Uncle Callum said. “My brother-in-law will be involved.”
“Amen to that,” Sheriff Dans added.
“Well, you can be assured, Leah and Hudson will be safe with me.”
“I don’t think there will be any trouble because no one has been in that room for a while, but we can’t be sure someone isn’t aware there was money stashed here,” Dan said. His eyes then passed over Leah, and she felt everywhere they landed.
Since she’d been back, he’d shown her that he was still the good man she’d once believed in. But old grudges die hard. Leah had hated him for too long to simply let it go, even if, deep down,she knew she might have been wrong. Dan Duke had become the symbol of her old life crumbling, the face she’d blamed for the wreckage, even if she’d never truly had the right to.
