CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
By the end of June, Morgan was miserable. Her ankles were swollen to twice
their normal size. Her body ached in places she’d never hurt in before and she
was lonely. The only person she’d spoken to verbally was Mrs. Puck, the live in
nurse. And Damon once a month. When the phone rang, she didn’t even bother
picking it up. She no longer checked the mail, nor did she bother with the door
bell. Nothing came for her, no one called for her, and no one came to visit. She
did, however, answer her emails.
Byron, true to his word, told everyone about her business, Pink Bag
Creations. She had more offers than she had time to do. Of course, she didn’t
turn them down, but worked on every one of them, banking the money in a
separate account every time someone paid their bill.
It amazed her how much the bank wanted to help her now that her name
was Grant. Before, she was ready to beg them to open an account and now she
had two checking accounts, one that Devin had set up and one that she used
with her own money. And she had a savings account where she was saving
money to live on once she left the area after the babies were born, knowing that
there wasn’t any way she could stay close and not see them.
“Mrs. Grant, the doctor’s office called. Dr. Grant wants you to come in in the
morning and have an ultrasound done. I’m to tell you that your husband will
also be there.” Flipping great, she thought.
Morgan had asked her not to call her Mrs. Grant several times and had
simply given up. Morgan thought she’d been told to do it.
“All right, just please have him make the appointment for as close to noon as
possible, please.” She was having horrific morning sickness in her last trimester.
Damon had told her it was normal, but not to let it get too bad. If she threw up
more than twice a morning, she was to call him immediately. She hadn’t had to
yet.
Morgan went into the big bright kitchen and opened the fridge. She needed
to make herself some dinner.
Mrs. Puck had been surprised when Morgan started cooking for herself as
soon as she moved in a month ago. Morgan thought about the look of pure
horror on the woman’s face when she’d seen what Morgan was going to eat that
first day.
It had been late in the afternoon and she was tired from the ride and just
wanted to lie down again. She’d pulled a box of cereal out of the cabinet and
made herself a large bowl of cornflakes.
“I was to cook you some dinner, Mrs. Grant. I’m sure I can do better than
cold cereal. What would you like?” she’d asked her.
“This is fine. And you won’t be cooking for me either. You’re here as a nurse
and not a maid. If you want something and I’m cooking, fine, I’ll throw extra in,
but in no way are you fixing me a meal. Understand? You are also not to do my
laundry, clean this house, or do any outside yard work. This house belongs to me
and I’ll be responsible for it,” Morgan told her.
“But Dr. Grant said I was to—”
“Dr. Grant doesn’t live here. I do, and so do you as long as you abide by my
rules of the house,” Morgan said firmly.
“I’ll have to clear this with Devin Grant. I’m sure that he is the one who set
this up. You can bet he’ll be none too happy about your arrangements.” Good to
know, she thought as Mrs. Puck stormed out of the kitchen.
After Morgan was finished eating and washing up the dishes, Mrs. Puck
came in to say Devin Grant was on the phone for her.
“Morgan here, may I help you?” She couldn’t bring herself to say her name
was Morgan Grant. She wouldn’t be keeping it after the babies anyway, so why
get used to it?
“Giving him a run for his money is one thing; being stupid is quite another.”
She simply hung up on Devin and walked into the bedroom she was using. Ten
minutes, later Mrs. Puck told her Devin was on the phone again.
“Morgan Grant, I am not my brother and won’t—”
This time, she was in the bath tub when he called back.
“Okay, let’s start over. I want to know about this arrangement you have with
Mrs. Puck, please. She said that you only use her for medical reasons and won’t
let her do the things she was hired to do.” His voice was a little hard, but at least
he wasn’t yelling at her.
“Was she hired as my maid, or was she hired as a live in nurse? Because, Mr.
Grant, as you are well aware, I didn’t agree to the first part.”
“She was hired as both. She was told that she would do a little light cleaning
and cooking in addition to making sure your...that you... She was hired primarily
as a nurse.”
She had to smile at his fluster. “You mean she’s here to make sure that I
don’t harm the Grant twins? Then that’s all she’ll do. Is there anything else that
you’d like to get cleared up while I’m still speaking to you?” He burst out
laughing. Good, she thought, keep them guessing.
“No, Morgan, nothing else. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call
me.”
Mrs. Puck pulled her from her musing when she cleared her throat. She
looked at the woman and smiled. Mrs. Puck didn’t approve of her, not her
relationship with her “husband,” or the way she ran the house, but she did
respect her position. Morgan sat up a little straighter on the sofa and looked at
her. Her feet hurt so bad that she didn’t take them off the coffee table just yet.
“He said to tell you the best he could do was nine-thirty and the fridge is
dead. It started making the funky noise again this morning, and it stopped. Now,
it’s not doing anything. The light won’t even come on.”
“All right, I’ll call and have it replaced. Thanks for telling me. Aren’t you
supposed to be off tonight?” She and Morgan had come to an arrangement of
sorts. Every other Thursday night, she would go out for the evening and Morgan
wouldn’t do anything too stupid.
“Just leaving. Want me to call Mr. Grant for you before I leave?” Yes, she
did, but she knew that she should do it on her own.
“I’ll do it, have fun.” Morgan went to the kitchen and called the office of
Grant, Attorney at Law while she looked in the fridge. Yep, dead as dead can be.
“Hi, this is Morgan. Could you please let Mr. Grant know that I’ve replaced
the refrigerator and need to know what he wants done with the old one? He can
call me back at his convenience.”
“Mrs. Grant, he’s free. Would you like to speak to him directly? If you
wouldn’t mind holding for a minute, I’ll put you through.” And before she could
tell her no, she was being transferred. She actually thought about hanging up,
and just before she did, he came on the line.
“Hello, Morgan? So the refrigerator died, huh? You have an account. Just
order it and have the bill sent to the office here,” he said to her in way of
greeting.
“No. She didn’t have to put me through. You told me to inform you when an
appliance went bad. I have. So, I’ll...good-bye, Mr. Grant.” The phone was nearly
to the hook when he yelled at her to stop.
“Morgan. My name is Devin. Please stop calling me Mr. Grant. I’m your
brother-in-law, not some stranger.”
Morgan leaned her head against the cabinet above her head. They were all
strangers to her. She didn’t want to be their friend, because it would hurt less
when she stepped out of their brother’s life.
“Morgan? Are you there?”
She wiped furiously at the tears. It seemed as though every little thing set her
off nowadays. His voice was gentle and caring.
“Yes. I have an appointment soon. I have to...just email me with the place to
have the dead refrigerator taken. I...good-bye.” And she hung up before he could
say anything else.
Twenty minutes later, she had a cheap replacement being delivered
tomorrow. And they had agreed to take the old one and set it in the garage for
her. Life was suddenly all right.
She was running late. Something she detested more than anything else. But
she’d had a slight accident with her blouse and she’d had to change. She didn’t
think puke down the front of her would leave a good impression on her
“husband.” The taxi driver had been sweet; he’d even kept the car running so it
would be cool when she came back out to get in.
By the time she’d paid him and was headed up in the elevator, she was thirty
minutes late and had to be sick again. It was all the rushing around, she thought,
and being off her schedule. Hurrying into the office, the nurse took one look at
her and rushed her past the other patients and right to the employee bathroom.
She didn’t have anything left in her belly so all she was doing was heaving
when someone knocked on the door.
“Morgan, it’s Nickolas, let me in.” Great, just frigging great. She’d not seen
him in five weeks and now that she was sicking up her breakfast, he wanted to
chat.
“I’m a little busy right now. How about we meet later when I’m not quite so
preoccupied?” Reaching over to the little sink, she turned the water on full blast.
That did help with drowning him out, but now she had to pee. Again.
Nick was standing on the other side of the door when she opened it five
minutes later. She supposed it was too much to ask that he go sit in the waiting
room. Ignoring him as best she could, she went to the front desk and asked
Tansy where they wanted her.
“I would like a word with you, if you don’t mind? You look like hell. And I
want to know why you aren’t returning my calls.”
“I do mind. I don’t want to speak to you. But I will answer you. If I look like
hell, it’s none of your business. It has no direct correlation to the babies, so it’s
not anything to you. As for calling you back, you can ask me questions through
my lawyer. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m tired and hot and I want to sit down.”
She brushed past him and into the room that she was to be examined in.
Morgan had just put the paper gown on when Damon and Nick came in the
room after a brief knock. Damon was smiling and Nick looked ready to bite a
nail in two.
“Morgan, how are you doing? Need help getting up on the table?”
Damon always asked her the same thing, and she never answered. It was
getting harder to “hop” up on the table, but she just managed it. Pulling the sheet
across her waist, she watched as he measured her from groin to the top of her
mound. Laying down like this, she felt like Mount Everest. Probably looked like
it too. He measured, took notes, and made funny noises in the back of his throat.
Nick watched everything he did like there was going to be an exam later and he
didn’t want to fail.
“You’ve gained six pounds this month. Not bad, not bad. I want to start
having you come in weekly now. You’re due date will change because of you
carrying twins. I’d like to say you’ll deliver around the tenth or eleventh of
August. But as stubborn as you are, I’ve no doubt those boys will be too, so we’ll
shoot for then. I don’t want you to go much past that because of your size and
theirs. I’d also like you to curtail your standing time. How long would you say
you’re on your feet now?”
“I guess about ten hours at day. Sometimes more, but not much,” she told
him.
“Why are you on your feet so much? You should be sitting down or lying
down as much as possible with your feet up above your heart,” Nick interjected.
They both ignored him.
“I’d like you to try to get that number down to half. Your due date is in less
than six weeks, so I’d also like for you to carry a cell phone or be with someone
whenever you’re over a mile from home. I don’t think anything will happen, but
with twins, it’s hard to know. Okay, Tansy will come in and help you to x-ray
and we’ll do that today. I’m a little concerned about the swelling, but we’ll
discuss that later.”
She could hear Nick saying something to his brother as the door shut, but
she wasn’t really paying attention. Less than six weeks to go.
Tansy came in a few minutes later with a smile and a Snickers. Morgan
nearly wept with happiness. It had become a ritual with them. She would get
weighed and examined; Tansy would slip her a candy bar. This time, the
chocolate was like ambrosia to her. Her stomach was empty and Nick was here.
Morgan waddled down the hall clutching her sheet around her like a toga.
Her last two bites of her candy bar were the closest thing to happiness she’d had
in a while. Nick popped out of the door just in front of her and nearly knocked
her over. As he made a grab for her, the sheet slipped and he got a handful of her
breast. Her very full, very tender breast. She moaned before she could stop
herself.
Without waiting for the sheet to be pulled all the way back in place, she
darted around him and into the room. She’d never been so mortified in her life.
The rest of her doctor’s appointment was made in silence. Neither of them
spoke to each other nor to Damon. When Morgan went to the front desk to make
her next appointment Nick, was going in Damon’s office.
“Morgan, are you okay? You seem...I don’t know, distracted,” the nurse
making her next appointment asked.
Well, duh, she wanted to snap at her, but only nodded and left. She was
married to a man who despised her, having his twin sons, living in his house,
and had six weeks left in the only home she’d ever known. Nope, not distracted
at all.
“Should she be that puffy?” Nick asked his brother as soon as the door shut
to his office.
“Puffy? I don’t know what you’re referring to. Her ankles are swollen
because she’s carrying around extra weight and it’s hot. The babies are fine. I
don’t see any problems with the delivery. Boy one is head down and in a good
position. Boy two is up, but that’s nothing to be concerned about. He can flip or
not.”
“Is she going to be all right?” Damon looked at him for a long time. Nick had
seen her belly—it was hard to miss—during the ultrasound. She was so big.
“The babies are fine, Nick. She hasn’t done anything to harm your sons.”
He wanted to scream. No one would give him any information about her.
Not even her nurse and he was paying.
Nick left the office a short time later. He was no closer to knowing if she was
going to be all right than he had before. She was his wife, for Christ’s sake, and
not one person would tell him anything about her. He glanced up in time to see
someone who looked like her get into a cab. A cab. Why would she…? It would
be just like her to not use the car he’d given her. Damned girl probably sold it.
A week later, he was back in his office and in a foul mood. He noticed that
his receptionist was out to lunch. He thought she was out to lunch even when
she was there, but he’d not replaced her yet. He’d been busy.
Nick picked up the phone to call Devin just as he walked in his office. He
had Byron with him.
“Hi, did you know that your receptionist is a moron? I called up here earlier
this morning to speak to you and she didn’t have a first clue as to who I was
asking about. I think you should fire her and find someone else. Soon.” Devin
plopped down in his chair.
“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. Want to go and get some lunch?
I’m starved and I need a break.” It was nearly one now, and he knew he was free
the rest of the afternoon.
“Yeah, but I gotta...why don’t I meet you there? I have something I have to
do later and it’ll be easier if I drive my own car.” Devin was hiding something.
He’d always been bad at lying, which was the same as evading.
“Nah, we can go together. I’ll wait for you while you take care of business.
It’s getting later all the time,” he told him.
“Nicky, I have to go see Morgan. Something happened to the fridge last
week and I didn’t get a bill yet. She said she had to replace it and I wanted to
make sure she’s had one delivered. It’ll be much smoother if you don’t go.” Well,
why don’t you just be a little more blunt? he thought.
“You talk to her? How often? And what do you mean you haven’t received a
bill? There’s money enough on the credit card I set up for her; have her use it.
That would generate a receipt you can use, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, there’s plenty of money on the credit card for that and anything else,
but, as far as I can tell, she’s never used it. None of the money we’ve set up for
her, as a matter of fact. I just want to go see if she got one, or do I need to be all
manly and order her one?”
Nick looked at Byron when he snorted at them. “She wouldn’t use it if her
life depended on it. Just like she won’t tell you any personal information. Just
like she won’t let you run her life.”
“She is stubborn, I’ll give her that. I’ve never met a more pigheaded
person…well, never a more pigheaded female. The only other person I can think
of who’s more pigheaded is you.” Devin pointed at Nickolas and smirked before
continuing. “Probably why she thinks you hate her so much, I guess.”
That stunned Nick. Hate her? Did she really think he hated her? She
aggravated him most of the time to the point where he wanted to spank her, but
hate her? He didn’t hate her.
The men had a great dinner at Max and Erma’s downtown and had enjoyed
teasing each other for nearly the whole late afternoon. Devin’s phone rang a
couple of times, but once he looked to see who it was, he simply put the phone
away.
While Nick was paying the check, it rang again.
“Grant.” Nick smiled at that. He knew it wasn’t his mother this time. She
hated when they barked their names in the phone. As he moved to go outside, he
realized Devin was no longer with him. Just as he turned to go back inside, he
came out.
“Where did you...what’s happened?” Devin was visibly upset and tense.
“There’s been a break-in at your house. The police can’t tell me anything
because they can’t contact the owner. They’ve taken a female away in an
ambulance, Mrs. Puck, I told them. He said that she wasn’t pregnant, but... Nick,
they can’t find Morgan. She’s not there. They can’t find anyone else in the house.
And Mrs. Puck is in surgery.”
They were running to Nick’s car as Devin filled him in. When they got to his
SUV, he realized he couldn’t drive. His body was going ninety miles an hour and
he knew he couldn’t get behind the wheel. He handed the keys over to Byron
and slid in the front seat. Devin was still making calls.
They were only about twenty minutes from the house, but it seemed an
eternity. When the vehicle pulled into the drive, Nick was out and up the front
steps before either of his brothers were out of the car. Morgan, Morgan, Morgan
kept running through his mind.
Nick tried to enter the kitchen, but was stopped by a young beat cop before
he got within ten feet of the room. Devin and Byron were right behind him.
“I need to find my wife. Please, I need to see if Morgan is in there
somewhere,” he begged the cop.
“No one else is in there, buddy. We looked everywhere for her and she’s not
there. I’ll go get my captain. He wants to talk to you. Just don’t go in there; it’s a
crime scene and we can’t have civilians walking all over the place. All right?”
Nick nodded. Crime scene. He couldn’t mess up the crime scene. He sat
down heavily in one of the chairs near the fireplace. His legs suddenly couldn’t
support his weight.
“Dr. Grant, are you all right?” He looked up at the man who was speaking to
him. He didn’t know who he was, but he was dressed like the policeman who
was guarding the door.
“Morgan, my wife, have you found her yet? She’s eight months pregnant
with our twins. Please tell me she’s all right.”
“No, we haven’t found her. I don’t believe she’s here. The woman, the nurse,
she couldn’t tell us anything yet. We received a nine-one-one call to this address
from the security firm who monitors it. They couldn’t get an answer when they
received the alarm. Mrs. Grant has apparently set the alarm off once or twice
since moving in, but they’ve always made contact with her right away. Someone
forced their way in the back door and broke the glass. Mrs. Puck looks like she
tried to fight her assailant, but he over powered her and broke her arm and her
leg. Does your wife have a cell phone we could call? Maybe she’s over at a
friend’s or something and doesn’t know what’s going on here,” the policeman
said.
“She doesn’t have a cell that we know of, yet. She was to get one soon,
though. I...the doctor told her she should carry one in case she was out and went
into labor.” The door behind them crashed open and in came his mom and
Spencer, followed closely by Damon and Meggie. He reached for her and she
wrapped her arms around him.
“Have they found her yet? That poor girl. I wonder what happened to her.
She’ll be fine, Nicky, you’ll see. She’s just out and will be coming through that
door any minute wondering what all the fuss is about. Why, she’ll be yelling at
you for being here and all the mess...oh, Nicky, I want her here.” She started
sobbing in his arms. He looked up at Spence and he came and pulled her into his
arms and shuffled her to the couch.
The police went over every inch of the house, then when they were finished,
they started over. Nick had followed them both times.
Nearly three hours later, his cell rang. He nearly ignored it, but answered the
payphone call anyway.
“Grant. I don’t really have time to talk right now, but I’ll—”
“If you tell me that Mrs. Puck is all right then I’ll hang up. I’ve been out of—
” Morgan said, interrupting him.
“Where the fuck are you? You know that we’ve been trying to...she hung up
on me.” Nick looked at his mother as he said it. He’d been worried about her all
day and she had the nerve to hang up on him.
“Yes, imagine that. If you were that snarky to me, I would have hung up
too,” his mom said to him.
He looked over at Devin as his phone started to trill. When Devin looked
over at him, he knew it was a payphone call too.
He stood up and went to him as he answered.
“Hello, Grant here. Morgan?”
Nick put out his hand and waited for him to give over his cell.
“...so if you could just tell me how she is, then I’ll come on home,” she was
saying.
“You’ll fucking come home now. I’ve been waiting here...mother fuck! She
did it again. I swear to Christ, I’m going to...ouch! That fuc...that hurt. What was
that for?” He rubbed his ear where his mother had pinched him.
“You kiss me with that mouth, and I’ll paddle you good, young man. You
are not too old for me to get medieval on your buttocks, you hear me? Sit down!”
Nick sat. His mom had that look in her eye that terrified each and every one
of his brothers and him. It said, “I brought you into this world. I will fucking take
you out of it too.” They all knew she would too.
“Yes, ma’am. But she hung up...” She cut him off with a look. He stared at
her for a few seconds because he could swear that he’d seen that same look on
Morgan’s face a couple of times when they’d been fighting.
Nick tensed up when Byron’s phone rang. He started to rise, but Mom just
looked. Damn it, he was a grown man. He sat back down.
Nick watched as Byron causally pulled out his phone and winked at him.
Payback was going to hurt him so bad. As if his mother knew what he was
thinking, she glared at him again. Damn it all to hell and back.
“Hello, love. Are you all right?”
He waited for some news about her, anything would be good.
Tune in next week for CHAPTER FORTY
Buy Link for the Box set grab for 9.99
Buy links
THE GRANT BROTHERS -
1 NICKOLAS – http://smarturl.it/nickolas
2 DEVIN – http://smarturl.it/devin
3 SPENCER – http://smarturl.it/spencer
4 BYRON – http://smarturl.it/byron
5 JAMIE – http://smarturl.it/jamie
6 DAMON – http://smarturl.it/damongrantbrothers
The grant brothers series in reading order
Buy links
THE GRANT BROTHERS -
1 NICKOLAS – http://smarturl.it/nickolas
2 DEVIN – http://smarturl.it/devin
3 SPENCER – http://smarturl.it/spencer
4 BYRON – http://smarturl.it/byron
5 JAMIE – http://smarturl.it/jamie
6 DAMON – http://smarturl.it/damongrantbrothers
The grant brothers series in reading order
New Release
Reyna Sharp, Renie to her friends, just wanted to work out the time she had left alone, with no one bothering her.
When she was a baby her mother had given her away in a Faustian deal with a demon.
She had until her twenty-fifth birthday then she was supposed to spend eternity in Hell.
Arryn was next on the list of Mystics to take a mate.
He had just lost another charge, and wasn’t up for anymore heartache.
He didn’t think his heart could take being attached to a mate only to lose her in a few short months…
The war between good and evil had gone on since the beginning of time.
But even the underworld has rules…rules that aren’t meant to be broken…
Once he’s kissed her, there’s no turning back… No matter how hard he tries,
Arryn can’t stay away, and the more Renie pushes him away, the more he fights to keep her.
Can love really conquer all?
Buy Links
Amazon http://smarturl.it/arryn
New Release
Reyna Sharp, Renie to her friends, just wanted to work out the time she had left alone, with no one bothering her.
When she was a baby her mother had given her away in a Faustian deal with a demon.
She had until her twenty-fifth birthday then she was supposed to spend eternity in Hell.
Arryn was next on the list of Mystics to take a mate.
He had just lost another charge, and wasn’t up for anymore heartache.
He didn’t think his heart could take being attached to a mate only to lose her in a few short months…
The war between good and evil had gone on since the beginning of time.
But even the underworld has rules…rules that aren’t meant to be broken…
Once he’s kissed her, there’s no turning back… No matter how hard he tries,
Arryn can’t stay away, and the more Renie pushes him away, the more he fights to keep her.
Can love really conquer all?
Buy Links
Amazon http://smarturl.it/arryn
Coming March 13th 2015
Micah Bentley is a third generation cop and a panther.
He always wanted to be a homicide detective like his dad, but kept getting passed up for the job
because he was too good at what he currently did working the beat.
Micah has a gift, he can read people’s minds.
Such a gift could be a help and a hindrance on a job.
He could pluck the information he needs right out of someone’s mind, but knowing
they’re guilty and proving it are two different things.
But when his dad is killed off duty it has him rethinking his career choice.
Regina Webster, Reggie to her friends, is just trying to make ends meet
by working three jobs to keep her head above water, and also take care of her invalid brother.
She doesn’t have time for socializing with bossy men like Micah Bentley
who butt into her life making everything concerning her his business.
She doesn’t know anything about this mate thing he keeps spouting off about,
she just wants him to leave her alone.
Due to a random act of violence, she finds herself suddenly homeless:
no home, no money, no car and suffering from a gunshot wound to boot.
Reggie has no choice but to accept a helping hand from the Bentleys at―least until she can get back on her feet.
Trouble has Reggie marked, and this time they take Micah’s mom too.
Micah knows they’re in trouble, but when the bad guys don’t go where they’re expected it’s a race against the clock…
Pre Order
Amazon http://smarturl.it/micah
Watch The Book Trailer
Coming March 13th 2015
Micah Bentley is a third generation cop and a panther.
He always wanted to be a homicide detective like his dad, but kept getting passed up for the job
because he was too good at what he currently did working the beat.
Micah has a gift, he can read people’s minds.
Such a gift could be a help and a hindrance on a job.
He could pluck the information he needs right out of someone’s mind, but knowing
they’re guilty and proving it are two different things.
But when his dad is killed off duty it has him rethinking his career choice.
Regina Webster, Reggie to her friends, is just trying to make ends meet
by working three jobs to keep her head above water, and also take care of her invalid brother.
She doesn’t have time for socializing with bossy men like Micah Bentley
who butt into her life making everything concerning her his business.
She doesn’t know anything about this mate thing he keeps spouting off about,
she just wants him to leave her alone.
Due to a random act of violence, she finds herself suddenly homeless:
no home, no money, no car and suffering from a gunshot wound to boot.
Reggie has no choice but to accept a helping hand from the Bentleys at―least until she can get back on her feet.
Trouble has Reggie marked, and this time they take Micah’s mom too.
Micah knows they’re in trouble, but when the bad guys don’t go where they’re expected it’s a race against the clock…
Pre Order
Amazon http://smarturl.it/micah
Watch The Book Trailer
Happy Reading
Kathi S Barton
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