“Carson. I’m sorry to tell you this over the phone, but Dad is dead...”
The last words he’d ever spoken to his father were the first that had entered his mind right then. As Whit explained the murder, all he could think was, I don’t belong anywhere near you.
The guilt had only stung sharper when the reading of the will had revealed Reginald’s secret agony that had turned him into a heartless businessman.
“Why don’t you want to take over his company?” Georgia asked.
He looked at her and realized she’d been watching him while he reminisced. “I’m not an executive.”
With the subtle but dubious lift of her eyebrows, she said, “But you said you can’t be a marine anymore.”
She was fishing for something. “I’m still not an executive.”
“Have you ever worked at your father’s company before?”
“Oh, yeah. He forced Whit and I to work there as soon as we turned sixteen. When I was eighteen I didn’t have to do what he told me anymore.” Looking back, he was frankly amazed his dad hadn’t cut him out of his will. And then again, not. Now that he knew about Jackson, he could understand how his father would choose not to turn away from his kids, no matter how distant he’d been. Somewhere inside him had been a father who’d loved all of his children.
“And you’ve been helping Whit, haven’t you?”
“Occasionally.” He’d stepped in and helped after Reginald was murdered. He knew the business. He’d grown up around it. But being an executive...just like his father... It just ate at him. Maybe it was residual from when he was younger. Rebelling had become habitual. Or maybe he still hadn’t forgiven his father for not being a father. It wasn’t his or Whit’s or Landry’s fault that Jackson had been taken from him. Hadn’t he realized that his new children needed love, too?
Carson felt weak for thinking that way. So his dad hadn’t shown them love. Was he going to cry about it?
“You seem really upset over it,” Georgia said.
She was going to have to stop being so intuitive.
“Do you regret not being close to your father before he died?”
“My father wasn’t close with anyone.”
“And that’s what upsets you.”
This was getting too personal. “It upsets me that he didn’t tell us about Jackson.”
“You wish you knew your father better?”
Yes. And he wished he would have been kinder on the phone the last time he’d spoken with him.
“I didn’t know my mother,” Georgia said. “I can see how you’d be upset. It seems like your relationship with your father was like not having one at all.”
“You had Ruby.”
She smiled, a radiant, toothy smile that lightened his mood in an instant. “Yes. I do have Ruby.”
Carson heard the attendant announce that it was time for first-class passengers to board.
“That’s us,” he said, standing.
She looked up at him, smile fading, completely caught unaware. She hadn’t guessed they’d fly first-class. She hadn’t thought of it until now. She was accustomed to flying coach and not boarding first. He grinned, and she frowned at him as she stood up, more of a smirk.
They were the first to board.
* * *
Georgia had never flown first-class and she was pretty sure Carson had done this on purpose. Of course he’d get first-class tickets, but he was enjoying this far too much. It was a nice introduction to the benefits of having money, which she suspected was his intent. Show her that having money wasn’t bad.
She sat on the spacious, comfortable seat next to the window, watching him bring down the tables in front of them and begin to spread out the papers he’d gathered on the people they’d question once in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“Have you ever flown coach?” she asked.
“No, but I flew in military planes. Is that common enough for you?”
He hadn’t asked in a mean way. His tone was teasing. “Doesn’t your family have a private jet?”
He stopped sifting through the papers. “Yes, but I thought you’d be more comfortable flying commercial.”
“This is first-class.”
“You’re not comfortable?” He surveyed her seated form with animated flare.
She had to suppress a smile. How could she be enjoying this? He was taunting her.
“I’m comfortable.”
“You look comfortable.” He surveyed her again, only this time some heat made its way into the play.
Ever since her last relationship, she hadn’t been eager to seek out a new man. Actually, she hadn’t even thought about finding anyone. It hadn’t ended well and she wasn’t anxious to start over. Besides, Ruby needed her right now. She paused. Why was she thinking in terms of a relationship with Carson? She had just met him. Were these sparks she felt leading to something? She wouldn’t allow it. He was the son of the man who’d broken her stepmother’s heart. Reginald and his rich family hadn’t accepted Ruby. So why would they accept her? Why would Carson? He was just having fun teasing her.
“Uh...” She looked down at the table in front of him. “Maybe we should...” She indicated the papers there. She couldn’t possibly be interested in Carson. He was putting on a good face now, but who was he, really? Reginald’s son.
“Right.” He picked up the first report. “Penelope Johnson was Ruby’s neighbor. She’s moved since then. At the time of Jackson’s kidnapping, she was going through a divorce. She took her son with her. Problem is she lost custody of him in the divorce.”
“She took him?” She took the page he held from him. “Where did you get these?”
“From Whit’s assistant. They were among Dad’s things, but we don’t think he’s checked into them yet.”
“Wouldn’t the police already have talked to them?”
“I’m sure they did.”
She searched the document but didn’t see anything significant.
“Penelope had just moved in a week before Jackson was taken. Police caught her and she was arrested. The charges were later dropped. She still lives in Raleigh.”
“Why did she lose custody?” She handed the paper back to him.
“Drug addict. She did go to rehab, though. Two years after she lost her son.”
