Page 32

Kenna

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The mattress compressed and Kingsley rolled. Kenna threw her arm and leg over him, keeping him in bed.

"Gem Haven doesn't run itself." He kissed her. "It's noon."

Shocked at the time, she sat up and threw off the blanket. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She was due to work at the bar at three o'clock. It was bad enough that she took off yesterday to go to St. Maries.

"You needed to sleep." He tagged her wrist, stopping her from going into the bathroom. "Besides, you're not working today."

"Yes, I am."

"We're having Taylor work your shift," he said.

The hair on the back of her neck prickled. Something was going on.

"Am I fired?"

Kingsley's brows lowered. "No."

"Then, why can't I work today?"

"I thought you wanted to go through your dad's package with River." He slipped a black T-shirt over his head. "Zane's coming down from the clubhouse at one o'clock."

How had she forgotten? Everything that had happened yesterday rushed to the forefront.

"I'm almost afraid of finding out what's in there." She snaked her arms around him. "So much has happened. I'm afraid of what else we'll discover."

"It'll be okay." He kissed her. "Nothing changes between us. You've got your sister. This is your home."

"Forever?"

"Damn straight." He patted her ass. "Get dressed. Take a shower. Do whatever you gotta do. I'm going downstairs and getting a pot of coffee going. Do you want something to eat?"

"No." She pressed her hand to her stomach. "I can't eat now."

Alone in the bedroom, she picked out her clothes and then showered. Once she was done, she dressed and dried her hair.

She checked the time. It was almost one o'clock.

Nausea hit her. Maybe she should eat something.

Downstairs, she walked into the kitchen and found River standing around the island with Kingsley. Both of them were quiet.

"Hey." She checked to make sure her sister was okay.

Neither one of them knew what today would bring. She was starting to wish for just one day of normalcy.

"Morning." River's voice failed to hide her anxiety.

Kingsley held out a cup of coffee for her. Though the last thing she wanted was something on her stomach, she took the drink. Maybe it would calm her nerves.

"I just told River that whatever happens today, we face it together." He kissed her forehead. "Just like we always have, right?"

"Mm." She inhaled, drawing strength from having him beside her.

The door at the front of the house opened and shut. Kenna stepped closer to Kingsley. He put his hand on her back, drawing light circles. Whatever was in the envelope from her dad couldn't be worse than learning he sat on death row.

Zane walked into the room, followed by Big John. "Sweetheart?"

"Right here." River stepped over to him.

"Can you get Big John a coffee?"

"Sure."

Zane moved to the table. Kingsley led Kenna into the attached dining room. She waited for someone to tell her why Big John was there.

They were all meeting to go through the envelope. It was an emotional and private matter.

River brought Big John and Zane coffee and then sat at the table her and Kingsley.

"Go ahead and sit down." Kingsley motioned for Big John to sit on the other side of the table.

The vice president was older than Kingsley—she guessed around fifty years old. He never talked much around her, but she was used to him popping in at the house to give messages to Kingsley or when he was looking for Zane.

"I'm sure River and Kenna are wondering why we've invited Big John to the house today." Zane looked around the table. "I'll get to that before we go through the envelope."

"Do you want us to give you some privacy?" River said, "We can come back when you're through."

"This isn't club business, sweetheart." Zane leaned back in the chair. "It has to do with you and Kenna."

Kingsley put his hand on her thigh underneath the table. At that point she was more confused than ever. Why was Kingsley trying to protect her?

Zane put his hand on the envelope without opening it. "At the cemetery yesterday, it came to our attention that River and Kenna's mom had a different last name than they remembered. Considering their dad also had an alias, it was no surprise that the deeper we got into their past, this would happen again. However, to have someone buried in a privately owned cemetery, they must be buried under their real name. The name they were born with or, if they were married, their spouse's last name."

Kenna frowned at Kingsley. Couldn't he get his brother to jump to the point? They already knew about the change of names.

"I left the cemetery, remembering something I read in one of my dad's files." Zane looked at Big John. "That's why you're here. When you patched in with Gem Haven Motorcycle Club, Ridge Stafford did you a favor."

Big John's expression never changed. He never moved. He never broke eye contact with Zane.

Kenna grabbed Kingsley's hand. The vice president was freaking scary as he controlled his reaction. She had no idea what Big John had to do with her and River, but something significant was happening.

"Don't." Big John sat forward. "We'll have this conversation in private at the clubhouse."

Zane put his hand on the back of River's neck, met Big John's gaze, and continued. "We'll have the conversation here. As a favor to you, Dad took your sister and put her in the equivalent of the Witness Protection Program because of the danger surrounding you at the time. Dad gave your sister to Tom Pruitt AKA Burt Shay, who changed her identity—"

"No more." Big John rose from the chair to his full height of six foot four inches. Not to be intimidated, Zane got to his feet, blocking his vice president from harming anyone at the table.

Kenna clung to Kingsley, enthralled in the story once her dad's name came into play.

"Pruitt kept her safe while you were in prison." Zane lowered his voice. "As promised, he stripped her identity and gave her a new name so that even you couldn't find her once you walked out of prison. But that's not all Pruitt gave your sister. He gave her love and two daughters."

River gasped. Kenna's heart pounded. She couldn't breathe.

Big John landed in the chair, planting his hands on the table. His wild gaze locked on Zane.

"Louanne Carpenter became Lou Pruitt, mother of Kenna and River Pruitt. She married Burt Shay AKA Tom Pruitt in a spiritual wedding not recognized by the state." Zane paused. "Unfortunately, she was killed outside a gas station nine years—"

"Ten," whispered Kenna, staring at Big John. "You're my mom's brother?"

"Louanne—" He blew out his kept breath. "She was my sister."

She turned to River. Tears rolled down her sister's face. Shocked at the new information, she couldn't wrap her head around having a living relative. A living relative she had no idea existed until today.

Big John studied her, studied River, and cleared his throat. "Was she happy?"

Kenna nodded emphatically. "Dad loved her, and she loved Dad and us."

The air came out of Big John, and he cradled his head in disbelief. "How did my sister's kids get to Gem Haven? Are they in danger?"

"Not from Valdones." Zane put his hand on his vice president's shoulder. "You can thank Dad for that." He sat back down. "To catch you up, River and Kenna's dad's sitting on death row. It appears as if Burt Shay asked Dad for a returned favor. He wanted us to watch over his daughters and keep them safe. Kingsley and I have known the girls since they were eleven and twelve years old and being shuffled from foster home to foster home."

"Jesus," muttered Big John, wiping his hand over his jaw.

The muscles in her legs twitched. She bit her lip. On information overload, she couldn't process having an uncle in the same room. She wasn't ready to have her life story told again. She wanted to put it in the past.

Kingsley squeezed her thigh. "Let's all take a break."

The pent-up air inside her came out in a forceful exhale, and she stood, rushing into the kitchen. Under the guise of getting a drink of water, she panted, trying to steady her racing heart.

Kingsley put his hands on her hips and leaned against her back. "Are you okay?"

"No."

He kissed her temple. "Zane and I figured it out last night when you were sleeping. We weren't trying to keep it from you—"

"It's not that." She swallowed. "I don't even know who I am anymore."

"Kenna Pruitt." He turned her around. "Some day when you're ready, you'll be Kenna Stafford, and that's a name that will belong to you for the rest of your life."

Her breath shuddered. "You're not helping me relax."

He kissed her softly. "You've got an uncle. Your family is growing."

She looked into the dining room. Big John stood at the window, looking out into the backyard, closing himself off from everyone. His shoulders were stiff, and his hands were shoved deep in his front pockets. Her chest tightened. She had ten years to accept the loss of her mother. Big John just found out his sister had died. Not only died but murdered.

He continued to look out the window, lost in his head—a familiar place she went to that helped keep her from falling apart.

She looked into Kingsley's eyes. "I'll be right back."

Escaping the tension in the room, she ran upstairs. In the bedroom, she dropped to her knees beside the bed and pulled out her stack of sketchbooks. She searched for the one she'd had when her parents died.

Grabbing the beaten-up book with the faded cover that had traveled from home to home with her. She thumbed through the pages, almost blind to the drawings she'd seen so many times they were permanently etched in her mind.

She found the one she sought and carefully ripped it from the binding. Taking the sketch downstairs with her, she approached Big John. He continued to look out the window, oblivious to her standing beside him.

There was nothing she could say to soften the truth.

Placing her hand on his arm, she waited until he looked toward her and offered him her drawing. "This is what Mom looked like the day before we lost her. Dad had brought roses home to give to her, and this is what she looked like after he was done kissing her. It's what I see every time I think of her because she was at her happiest."

The paper shook in his hand. He exhaled through pursed lips, staring at the drawing.

She whispered, "You can have that."

Stepping away, she gave him privacy so he could see his sister in a way he hadn't before—a grown woman with a family and a husband who had loved her.