A Home of Her Own (Dundee, Idaho #4)(61)
Author: Brenda Novak

“You said he didn’t get what he wanted last night.”

“He didn’t.”

“Then, we could show your mother’s journal to everyone in town, which is exactly what he was trying to avoid.”

She tightened the belt of the robe she was wearing. “Actually, we can’t.”

“Why not?”

“There’re two other men named in that journal who could also be my father.”

More trouble. Mike could feel it coming. He was reluctant to ask, but he did anyway. “Who?”

“A guy by the name of Eugene Thompson.”

He almost allowed himself a sigh of relief. “Never heard of him.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll know the next guy.”

The unease was back. “And he is…”

“Do you really want to know?”

Was the truth that bad? “Tell me.”

“Garth Holbrook.”

Mike’s jaw dropped. He’d been prepared for a shock, but Senator Holbrook? Besides his own father, Holbrook’s name was the last one he’d expected to hear. Holbrook was a solid citizen, a good legislator, a real family man. Holbrook was his best friend’s father. “There must be some mistake.”

Lucky shook her head. “No, his affair with my mother lasted about two months. There’s no mistake.”

“But…” Suddenly, Mike understood the call he’d received from Holbrook the day before Christmas.

Any chance she might sell out and move away?…What if I were to sweeten the pot by a couple hundred thousand?

Evidently, Holbrook was worried about more than Gabe.

“Gabe worships his father,” he said.

Lucky seemed to understand that he was talking to himself more than her and didn’t respond.

“This will devastate him.” It would devastate anyone, Mike thought. Holbrook had cheated on his wife, on his whole family. Gabe and Reenie could have a half sister! They’d feel hurt, angry, betrayed. They’d be humiliated when the whole town found out that their father wasn’t as unsullied as everyone had always believed. The scandal could ruin Garth’s marriage and his career. The ramifications seemed to go on and on.

No wonder Garth wanted Lucky to move away.

Mike pictured Gabe, already angry and bitter, forcing his chair over the thick pile of the carpet. “We’ve got to burn that journal,” he said. “Right away.”

Lucky didn’t argue. But when they hurried over to the Victorian, they found the whole place ransacked.

The journal was gone.

LUCKY STOOD with Mike on the small cement pad outside Jon Small’s trailer—he’d clearly lost more than his wife in the divorce—waiting for someone to answer the door. It was difficult to believe that only a few hours earlier, she’d been planning to leave town today. If not for the disappearance of her mother’s journal, she’d already be on the road. But now that proof of the past had fallen into the wrong hands, she had a terrible feeling that all hell was about to break loose. Leaving now would feel too much like running away, and Lucky was finished running.

Jon finally cracked the door open and peered out at them. “What do you want?”

“To talk to Dave,” Mike said.

“He’s not here.”

“We just spoke to your mother. She said he was.”

Jon shook his head in apparent disgust that his mother had been so forthcoming with this information, but if Liz Small felt any resentment toward Mike, she sure hadn’t shown it when they were at her house. Before they left, Mike had told her he’d apologize for hitting Smalley, except that Smalley had deserved it, and she’d said she knew Mike wouldn’t have done it otherwise.

Too bad Jon and Smalley weren’t more like their mother….

Leaving the door ajar, Jon went into the house, presumably to get his father.

“You have some nerve coming here,” Dave said as soon as he appeared.

The subtle change in Mike’s stance told Lucky he considered Dave a more worthy adversary than Jon or Smalley. She supposed it was the power of Dave’s will that caused this reaction. He was used to being in charge and having a say in what happened around him. Plus, Dave was the only one of the Small men who had half a brain.

“We’re here for the journal,” Mike said.

Dave had obviously been too busy glaring at Lucky to pay much attention to Mike’s words, because they seemed to come as a real surprise. “What did you say?”

“Give us the journal.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. What journal? Is that what she had on me?”

Confused, Lucky glanced at Mike. She supposed Dave could be playing games with them, but he sounded genuine to her.

“Jon and Smalley didn’t go back to my place last night?” she said.

Dave’s jaw was set in an angry line. “Jon and Smalley went to the hospital in Boise. Then, in case you haven’t heard, they went to the police.”

“Not a smart move if you want us to keep our mouths shut,” Mike pointed out.

“I figure you’re not going to keep your mouths shut anyway. Better to do what I can.”

“Let’s go,” Mike said to Lucky and walked away.

Lucky remained. She could almost see Dave’s mind working, trying to figure out a better way to position himself in light of this new information.

“I hope you’re not my father,” she said, “because if you are, I’d be too ashamed to claim you.” She looked him up and down, just to let him know what a pathetic excuse for a man she thought he was, then followed Mike to the truck.

“If you don’t have the journal and we don’t have the journal, who does?” he called after her.

Lucky didn’t answer.

“What are you going to do? Will you and Mike let this go and keep your mouths shut? Can we count on that, at least?”

Hesitating as she reached the SUV, she turned back. “Drop the charges, Dave.”

“If I do, will you keep your mouths shut?”

“Just drop the charges,” she said and climbed in.

WHEN LUCKY AND MIKE ARRIVED at Senator Holbrook’s house, Mike had to force himself to press the doorbell. He didn’t want to confront Garth with what he knew. Worse was the thought of encountering Celeste and having to pretend nothing was wrong. But Lucky said the senator was the only other person she’d told about the journal. Which meant he either had it, or for Gabe’s sake, he should know it was now missing.