Page 56 of Fool's Gold

Pipi brushed the hair back from Sarah's bandaged forehead.

She smiled at Pipi's tender gesture. Her older cousin had always looked out for her. "I guess Rafe must have called you."

"Yes, he let me know you were hurt. I arrived in the middle of the night, while you were sleeping."

"He shouldn't have worried you. I'm okay."

"Are you?" Pipi's voice was cautious.

"Yes, I'm fine, and I'm even better now that you're here. I'm just a little sore, that's all. So, have you seen Rafe?"

"Yes, he and I had a long talk," Pipi said after a moment's hesitation.

She glanced up sharply at Pipi's evasive tone. What was wrong? Rafe might be hurt, too, or even worse, dead. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine." Pipi looked toward the door as it opened, and then turned back to Sarah with a bright smile. "I've got someone special I want you to meet."

Footsteps entered the room. An older lady entered the room.

Sarah would have recognized that dear face anywhere from pictures. "Granny Blake, is that you?"

The lady walked up to the bed and reached out to clasp Sarah's hand tightly in hers. "Yes, I'm here, baby." Granny's soft hand trembled while tears dampened her green eyes. "I gave up hope of ever seeing you again."

Sarah couldn't believe her eyes. "I must be having a hallucination caused by the bash to my head. Pipi's not real, either."

Pipi chuckled. "Oh, I'm real all right, just ask the nurse from last night. She probably thinks I'm the toughest hombre to cross her path in ages. Granny is real, too. Grandfather had us all conned."

Grandfather stepped near the bed. "I'm afraid it's true," he admitted gruffly. "I thought it best you didn't grow up under that kind of influence."

Sarah blinked at the three of them. "You mean to tell me this is real? I'm not off my head?"

"Not last time I checked, cuz." Pipi grinned. "But I can always have a shrink check you out if you like."

Sarah processed the information slowly. She stared up at Granny Blake's sweet face. The two of them shared the same eye color. That hadn't changed, but there were new lines on her grandmother's face. Her hair was now a cap of gray curls instead of blonde.

"You're alive!"

She stared at Grandfather's hard countenance, stunned. "How could you have kept us apart?"

He fidgeted, then looked away. "It was wrong, I realize that now. And I'm...sorry."

His proud face crumpled, and she noted how much he had aged.

"But, how?"

Granny shook her head. "He snatched you after your parents went down in that plane crash before I was even informed of the accident. He wanted you all to himself, so he took me to court for total custody. With all his money, it wasn't hard for him to win. I think it was his revenge on me for your mother stealing his son away."

Sarah frowned. "Stealing away. He's always said my mother had ruined my father."

"And she did," Grandfather said bitterly.

Granny gave him a quelling glare, and he piped down. "Sarah, the truth is, your dad was following along in his father's footsteps until he met my girl, Dawn. Of course, your grandfather could never accept anything less than blue blood for his son, so he rejected them both."

She brushed a wisp of hair off Sarah's forehead. "I was worried at first that your dad might desert my girl. His father had always been such a strong influence in his life. But instead, he broke away and made something of himself. You were all very happy, but the plane crash changed all that. They were coming back from a delayed honeymoon trip when they died. So, at least I had the comfort of knowing they were happy."

"Oh, Granny, I never knew any of this." Sarah glared at her grandfather. "According to him, my mother was just a cheap little tart, and my father was besotted by her. Of course, deep down, I knew differently. I had early memories of us being a happy family."

Granny smiled sadly and shook her head. "I missed you, baby child."

---