Page 84 of Family Jewels

She held my gaze. “The truth?”

He had. My stomach plummeted to my toes. I regretted asking the question, but for some reason Ineededto know. I nodded. “Yeah.”

“He’s been on a couple of dates that I know of.”

I stared at her in shocked silence. The knowledge hurt worse than I’d expected.

Neely Kate gave me a sympathetic glance. “Are you okay?”

Maeve looked worried. “I shouldn’t have told you.”

I shook my head, wiping away a tear falling down my cheek. “No. I needed to know. I think I’ve been waiting in limbo for him to change his mind and come back. Now . . . now I know it’s okay to move on.”

“Rose, I’m so sorry,” she said as her own eyes filled with tears.

“Well,” I said, forcing a smile, “I’m not. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, and the truth is that I wouldn’t change a thing. I saved Mason’s life. I stopped J.R. Simmons. That has to be enough.”

Maeve didn’t look entirely convinced, but she flashed me a smile. “After this discussion, I think we all need cheesecake.”

“Not me,” Neely Kate said, pushing back her chair. “I’m going to head home, but Rose, you should stay.”

I gave her a worried glance. “Are you sure?”

She grinned. “There are a lot of perks to gaining an older brother, but there are a few drawbacks as well. Like the fact he makes me check in with him every six hours or so while he’s out of town.” She winked at me. “Thanks for the save about being in the bathroom this afternoon.”

My eyes widened as I realized I’d forgotten to tell her about Joe’s call.

She laughed. “It’s good. But now he’s calling me Princess Porcelain.” But the light in her eyes told me that she liked having a big brother to tease and annoy her.

Maeve beamed. “I’m so happy Joe finally came to his senses and realized what a gift it was to find a half-sister he never knew about.” She turned to me. “And I know you might have had a thing or two to do with that.”

Shaking my head, I laughed. “Someone had to shake some sense into him.”

Neely Kate gave Maeve a hug goodbye, then scooped up a drowsy Muffy and took her home.

Maeve and I had a slice of cheesecake, and after I helped her clean up the kitchen, she walked me to the door. We stood there for a moment, and then she took my hands and looked into my eyes.

“I love you like a daughter, Rose Anne Gardner, and you were the best thing to happen to Mason in ages. But I understand if you change your mind and decide it’s too painful to see me.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Maeve, you’re stuck with me.” My voice stuck in my throat. “I need you more than you know.”

“I need you too.” She pulled me into a warm hug.

“Thank you for being truthful with me,” I said.

“I think we’ve had too many secrets for too long.”

While I agreed with her in principle, I seemed to be jumping back into more of them.

* * *

Iwas lessthan a mile away from home when my phone rang. The number was the one Trixie had called me from earlier.

“Trixie?”

“Yeah,” she said in a soft voice.

“What happened this afternoon?”