Welcome back to another Tuesday's Tales This week I'm sharing another clip from Megan, a WIP that has been on the go for several years, and is the 2nd story following the Hawke family siblings. The first being Duty Calls, published in 2011 by Black Opal Books.
(Info- Widowed Megan learns that someone is contesting her late husbands will. Here Megan and her lover, Vince, are questioning the grandmother of the contester. -Luke is Megan's brother.)
Vince glanced
towards Luke, catching his imperceptible nod.
“Before today, when
did you last see your daughter?” Luke
asked.
“I’m not sure. Five maybe six years ago.”
“What did she want?”
“What do you think?”
Esmy snapped.
“And did you give her money?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Vince intervened.
“Because I wanted
her to stay away from us.”
“Surely your grand daughter
was curious about her mother? Didn’t she
ever ask about her?”
“She didn’t have
to.” Esmy’s cold clipped tones chilled
her listeners. “When Lea Anne was nearly
four years old, Marie Ann snatched her from the preschool and disappeared. It took six months for the P.I. I hired, to
track her down to a dingy room in the back streets of town. Lea Ann was covered in bruises and cigarette
burns. She still had the same yellow
dress on that she wore the day her mother snatched her out of school.” She
sighed. “I doubt the poor mite had another stitch of clothing to wear for all
of that time she was with that wretched woman, and if that isn’t enough, when
my investigator found her she had a cracked rib and broken arm the doctors here
had to re-break her arm to repair the damage as best they could.
“Understand me when
I tell you my granddaughter wants to see her mother no more than I do.”
No one noticed Megan
enter the room with a fresh jug of coffee.
Tears streaming down her face as she placed it on the tray.”
“Megan.” Luke’s cold gaze sent a warning to his
sister. Intent on reminding her that if
this woman was involved in the scam to get hold of everything she and Tammy
possessed, this was how she’d go about it.
With a slight
squeeze on Esmy shoulder, Meagan returned to sit beside her bother once more.
With an
understanding nod Esmy sent a sad smile towards Megan. “I still have all the medical receipts for
Lea Ann’s treatments. I kept them in case
Marie Ann tried to take Lea Anne away again.
I told her if she ever did that again I’d have her arrested and sent to
jail.”
“That’s as may be.”
Luke said dubiously, but it doesn’t prove you didn’t know about her latest scam
to attain money.
“No.” She agreed slowly. “It doesn’t, but it may provide a reason why,
once you satisfy yourselves, I am not part of what ever my daughter is doing, I
would be willing to work with you to prevent my daughter from succeeding.
