had gone wide with fear.
“You’ll tell Elizabeth,” Mervin rasped.
“Yes. Of course. We’ll be there as soon as possible. And Lucas?”
“Is fine. He was with his babysitter.”
“My jet’s in France. We’ll go straight to San Diego.”
“Yes … well …” Mervin was clearly struggling for control.
“We’ll call you soon.” Reed disconnected.
“Reed?” Elizabeth’s voice was paper dry.
He turned to face her, bracing one hand on each of her shoulders.
“Why do we have to go to—”
“It’s Brandon,” said Reed, hating what he was about to do to her. “He was killed in a car accident today.”
Elizabeth shook her head in denial. “No. No. That doesn’t make sense.”
“Heather was killed, too.”
Elizabeth took a step back, still shaking her head.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
Brandon was her only sibling, and she’d adored him.
“It can’t be,” she whispered, even as her eyes welled up with tears.
Reed stepped forward and pulled her back into his arms. She struggled against both his touch and the cruel reality of the situation. “No. No. I can’t believe it. I won’t believe it.”
“I need to get hold of Collin.” Even as he rocked her, Reed reached for the phone. “He’ll contact the jet and make arrangements.”
Elizabeth let out a low, keening moan that nearly broke Reed’s heart.
“We have to get to California,” he told her firmly. “Lucas needs us.”
She stilled, looking up. “Lucas?”
“Lucas is fine. He’s with a babysitter. But we need to get to him.”
She gave a jerky nod, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. Reed wrapped one arm firmly around her shoulders, and used the other hand to dial Collin.
Eight
Elizabeth moved through the next week in a state of shock, picking up Lucas, consoling her parents, attending the funeral in California.
Thankfully, Reed handled the legalities of the will. While her brother had named her as Lucas’s guardian, he had named Reed executor of the estate. Between Reed and Collin, she needed only to sign papers and direct the packing up of Lucas’s things.
She briefly met with Heather’s parents after the funeral. They were nearly paralyzed with grief. They barely spoke, but held Lucas as long as possible, clearly struggling with the fact he was moving to New York.
Finally, she was back in the penthouse. Lucas’s nursery was set up and decorated, and he was settling into a routine with Elizabeth. He still seemed sad and confused at times, but started crawling around the apartment, pulling up on furniture and showing Elizabeth how many changes she’d have to make to protect both Lucas and their antiques.
After a while, when he curled up in her lap for his bottle or drifted off to sleep in her arms, she actually caught herself smiling. There was a permanent hole in her heart for her brother and sister-in-law, but Lucas needed her, and she’d do everything in her power to make sure he grew up loved and protected.
She kissed his silky hair, carefully shifting him to her shoulder to carry him to his crib. His nap was late today. He’d been restless and fussy, chewing on everything he could find. His cheeks were pinker than usual, and his bottom gum was swollen red.
The poor little thing was getting a tooth.
Elizabeth came carefully to her feet.
There was a knock at the door, and he had startled in her arms. She quickly cooed, praying he’d stay asleep.
Rena appeared from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel.
Elizabeth signaled with a finger across her lips, and the housekeeper glided silently toward the front door, while Elizabeth trundled Lucas down the hall. She laid him carefully into the crib.
She left the bedroom door ajar and padded back down the living room. There, she found Rena with a courier envelope in her hands.
“It’s for you.” She handed it over.
The return address was for a California law firm. Elizabeth sighed. Some new will detail no doubt. The tears that were never far from the surface burned the backs of her eyes.
“I’ll be in Reed’s office.” The envelope felt heavy in her hands. But it was better to get it over with.
She pulled the tab on the courier envelope as she walked into the office, releasing a thick sheaf of official-looking documents. There was a seal on the top sheet, and it was addressed to her.
She scanned the opening paragraph, frowned, went back and read it slowly.
As she read on, her heart all but stopped in her chest, and emotion squeezed her in a painful vise.
Heather’s parents wanted Lucas. This was a legal notification that the Vances were contesting the will. They wanted Lucas back in California, wanted to raise him themselves, wanted to defy Brandon and Heather’s wishes and rip Elizabeth’s nephew from her home.
She galloped through the package, then reached for the telephone, her hand shaking as she dialed Reed’s number. Unanswered, the call bounced to Devon’s desk and Elizabeth asked for her husband.
“I, uh …” Devon hesitated. “He’s out of the office.”
“I’ll try his cell.”
But all she got was his voice mail. She left a message, as another knock sounded on the door.
“Mrs. Wellington?” Rena appeared in the office doorway. “Hanna Briggs to see you.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Send her in.”
Hanna was breezing into the office in seconds. “Baby asleep?” she asked. Her smile faded when she took in Elizabeth’s expression.
“Take a look at this.” Elizabeth shoved the papers across the desk.
With a puzzled frown, Hanna scanned the papers. Then she looked up. “They can’t do that.”
“They’re doing it. They think they’ll be better parents than me.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“They claim they’ve seen Lucas every day of his life, that San Diego is a better place to raise a child, that Lucas knows them better. Add to that,
