Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 70444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
The other three people at our backs shifted when they heard the quick patter of feet heading our way inside the house, and then the door was thrown open and I lost the ability to look at anything else.
“Hellooooooo!”
The boy’s shriek had us all freezing to our spots, and then Johnny was holding a very excited, wiggling two-year-old.
Rosie came up behind the small boy, and the moment her eyes landed on Johnny, her entire body went rock solid.
Rosie’s features? She was clearly surprised to see us and more than a little wary.
I felt a smug sort of satisfaction that I’d been the one to find her deception and expose it.
I mean, really, what kind of person would hide a child from its father? A horrible person like Rosie apparently.
We were all more than stunned at the way the little boy had thrown himself in his father’s arms.
But no one was more surprised than Johnny was.
He closed his arms around the boy and crouched down to his knees with the boy pulled tight to his chest.
Seeing the two of them together, I realized that they were, indeed, a little different. The boy’s blond hair was a bit lighter than Johnny’s. Their eyes were also different colors and the shape of them was as well.
Maybe he took after Rosie a bit in the feature department.
“Johnny!” came Rosie’s surprised exclamation. “What are you doing here?”
I pulled my lips between my teeth in order to keep my mouth shut and not scream obscenities at her.
Baylee made a sound in her throat akin to a mama bear ready to kill someone for hurting her cub, and Sebastian placed his arm around her shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a comforting gesture or one meant to hold her back in case she decided to act on what she was feeling and open up a can of whoop-ass on Rosie.
Silas stayed silent, his eyes watchful and intent with a hardness that was almost cruel in them.
Needless to say, he was quite a scary man.
His grandson, however, wasn’t any better. I could tell with just one glance that Johnny was clearly not happy, and he was about to let the woman know it.
Johnny gestured down to the child in his arms.
“Seems like you have some explaining to do,” Johnny drawled.
I didn’t mistake his calmly stated words for anything other than what they were: a threat.
Rosie took a step back, clearly understanding the situation as well.
“I…I don’t…”
I practically saw the moment that she decided something. She gestured us all into the entryway. “Won’t you come in?”
Her spine straightened, and a look of smug satisfaction took over her features.
She took a long, narrow-eyed glance at me, and I felt like someone had just stolen something out of my chest.
My heart, maybe?
‘Cause I felt like I’d been sucker punched.
“I named him Hank, after your grandfather’s favorite singer,” Rosie said, sounding happy as we filed into the house.
I looked over at said grandfather.
“It was Hank? Not Johnny?” I asked as quietly as I could, hoping Rosie wouldn’t be able to hear.
Silas met my eyes, and something passed between us. Suspicion of Rosie, maybe. Or possibly anger that she’d gotten it wrong?
I wasn’t quite sure.
He shook his head. “Actually, no, it is Johnny Cash.”
It went without saying, but it was clear in the look he gave me, he thought she was a dumbass. Much like I did.
I’d been right.
And, honestly, it really wasn’t all that hard to figure. Not with Johnny’s name, and Sebastian’s middle name—which actually happened to be Sue, after the song, Boy Named Sue.
From what I’d heard, Sebastian’s brother, Silas’s other son, was also named after Johnny Cash, but at that present moment, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember his name.
So clearly, if Rosie had taken the time to think, she would’ve realized that Hank wasn’t the name she was looking for, it was Johnny.
But that was apparently obvious only to me, probably because I had a lick of common sense that Rosie just didn’t possess.
Johnny looked down at the little boy. “Your name is Hank?”
Little Hank nodded. “Hank!”
He really was absolutely adorable.
I also noticed that Rosie had plastered a soft smile on her face that was aimed at Hank.
But, I absolutely knew that it wasn’t a smile she normally had on her face when it came to the young boy.
I don’t know how I knew that, but it felt like a rock in my belly. She wasn’t that type of mother. Hell, Silas had discovered as much with the little he’d uncovered in the short time he had while we waited for Johnny to drive over.
So, what was her game?
But, as I watched them talk some more, realization dawned, and I suddenly knew exactly what her game was.
A perfect opportunity to get Johnny right where she wanted him.