Page 79 of Deputy Brand Gets Her Man
An hour later, Willow’s phone buzzed. They were still basking in each other, tangled in blankets they’d finally unbundled, snuggling as if they’d never untangle. Beans was snuggled up beside them as close as he could get.
Willow looked at her phone screen. It was Juanita. Guilt stabbed at her for not having told Jeremiah yet about his half-sister.
She said, “I have to take this,” and got up, dragging a blanket with her, and going out the sliding doors onto the back porch. She saw the way he frowned at her as she closed those doors behind her.
“Juanita?” she asked, moving as far to the other end of the porch as possible.
“There’s been an accident,” Juanita cried.
Alarm trilled down Willow’s spine. “What? Where? Are you okay?”
“It’s Elena! She’s in the hospital.”
“Oh my God.”
“You should come. You should…her brothers…they should come, in case…”
“I understand.”
“Good.”
“Had you told her, Juanita? Did she know?”
“Sí. We had dinner together. She was angry at first, but quickly forgave me for keeping such secrets. And she’s excited to meet her brothers. I told her you’d be calling tomorrow, and she was happy.” Juanita sniffled. “She was happy. Two hours ago, she was excited and happy and now…”
“We’ll be there,” she said. “I’m so sorry, Juanita. Please hold on, we’re coming.”
Willow disconnected and turned to see Jeremiah standing on the porch behind her. “Juanita?” he asked. “Would that be Juanita Lopez of the former Bluebonnet Inn?”
She nodded. “Yeah. She made me promise not to tell you until tomorrow but now?—”
“Tell me what, Willow?”
Willow sighed heavily. “The eight pounds and three ounces of solid gold, that wasn’t literal,” she said. “It’s a baby weight. I knew it as soon as I read it?—”
“Read it how?”
“It doesn’t matter how.”
“Orrin was in my father’s diary. I thought you weren’t gonna invade my privacy again, Willow.”
“First, I never said that, and second, this was before I never said that, and third, it was a wadded up page on the floor near the trash—right in the open, he wasn’t snooping, really, and fourth, it doesn’t matter right now. You’re losing the storyline, Gringo. It was a baby. You have a sister. You and Ethan have a sister.”
He blinked, stunned, so she rushed on. “Juanita gave her up for adoption to protect her from de Lorean. She thought he never knew, but he must have, to have mentioned her in the diary.”
“There were newborn pictures in his safe deposit box,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “I thought it was one of us, Ethan or I. Expected the dang box to have the gold, but?—”
“She’s the gold,” Willow said. “Elena Montrose. But she’s hurt. There was an accident tonight, and she?—”
“Wait, how long have you known this?” he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me? And now…how badly is she hurt?”
She flinched under his scrutiny. “I don’t know, but it sounded bad. Juanita said you and Ethan should come to the hospital.”
He swore and it hurt her physically. “I can’t believe you kept this from me.”
“I gave Juanita my word. She wanted time to tell Elena who her father was herself. It was only for a day.”
“Maybe her last day,” he said. “How could you do that to me, Willow?”
