Page 139 of Eight Years Gone
He knelt next to her. “You need to get some sleep.”
She shook her head. “I need to know. Did he do it? Did he really cheat on my mom? Do I really have another brother out there?”
Jagger captured her hands, pressing a long kiss to her knuckles. “What if I call Jason in the morning? We can get his PI involved.”
She wanted to say no. She wanted to keep all of this quiet until she knew for sure. But she didn’t say anything as she held his gaze.
“He’s discreet. He’s also good. He can get you the answers you’re looking for a hell of a lot faster than you or I can.”
She blew out a breath, surprised that she continued to hesitate. “I need to know, but I’m afraid. All of this is still sinking in.”
“Of course you are. Of course it is. But if there’s a Jessica Sawyer out there who has a kid, and that kid is your brother, Rod will find them.”
She nodded as she closed her eyes. “Okay.”
He kissed her forehead. “Come back to bed with me, Gracie. You’re exhausted. You need to sleep. I’ll call first thing in the morning.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea. But I’ll make sure Jason and Rod understand this is a priority.”
“Thank you, Jagger.”
“I don’t want you thanking me. We’re a team.” He gained his feet, tugging on her hands. “Come on.”
She followed him to bed, snuggling up with him, staring into the dark, knowing it could be a long time before she had any of her answers.
Thirty-Three
Grace sat at the empty table at Myra’s Gourmet, typing up the last of her notes after her two-thirty meeting.
The third weekend in June was officially booked with the Basha/Holmes wedding and reception. For almost an hour, Grace and the bride-to-be had talked bouquets, boutonnieres, arbor décor, and table flowers for the projected guest list of two hundred.
Simplicity’s major events calendar was now completely full for the upcoming year. With every season that came and went, they booked up faster and faster.
Closing her laptop with a sense of satisfaction, she shoved her computer in her bag and put on her jacket before stepping outside into the chilly air.
Crossing the street at the crosswalk, she kept her pace steady on the four-block walk back to Simplicity, knowing that Jen needed to head out to pick up the twins in less than an hour.
“Gracie.”
She glanced over her shoulder, stopping when Jagger jogged in her direction, looking gorgeous in dark wash jeans and a gray sweater peeking from the top of his black jacket. She smiled as he stopped in front of her. “Hey, handsome.”
He sent her a small smile. “Hey.”
She needed no other words to read him perfectly as she held his gaze. Automatically, she pressed her hand to her stomach as it grew queasy. “Oh, God.”
“Let’s do this,” he said, tugging her into the alleyway out of the occasional gust of wind.
“The PI found them.”
He nodded. “He did.”
“But it’s only been two days. I didn’t realize it would be so quick.” She paced away from him, too overcome with nerves to be still. “I thought this was what I wanted. I thought I needed to know.”
Jagger snagged her hand, pulling her back to him. “I can tuck the information away for another time, or I can delete it.”
The latter sounded perfect. She suddenly wanted to go back to the day they traveled to Wakeview and to have never gone up to the attic. But finding her mother’s journals—reading potentially hard truths—couldn’t be undone. “No. I need to know.”