Free The Mistaken by Nancy S Thompson Page B

was mocking and flippant. Hell, it was
downright mean, but Ty just stood there with his hands on his hips
and let me rant, never once retorting with a biting reply. His
patience made me hate myself even more, but I couldn’t seem to
control my outbursts. I knew it was probably time to get back on
the meds, that I should muscle through the side effects, but I
couldn’t stomach the idea of months of sleepless nights and endless
nausea. And I didn’t want the baby exposed either, even if there
were currently no known risks. You never knew what would be
discovered in the future, and surely, a little anger and
frustration was preferable to exposure to chemicals.
    “Okay, look,” Ty said. “I can move our desks out of
the den and that can be the nursery for now. I’ll get a storage
unit and clean out the entire house, make it safe. It won’t be
forever, Jill. I promise. It’ll all work out, you’ll see. And if
that’s not enough, maybe we can just rent a bigger place until we
get a loan approved again. All right?”
    I rolled my eyes. “And keep flushing our money down
the toilet? Yeah, that’s a great plan, Ty. Terrific.”
    “Come on, work with me here. It won’t take that
long, only a few more months or so. In the meantime, I need you to
focus on the baby, on staying calm. Okay? For me?”
    I groaned in reply, but nodded for his sake. I’d
already tried it his way, to let it go, to make the best of a bad
situation, but that didn’t work for me anymore. I wasn’t going to
just accept it and wait for things to get better on their own, or
worse, wait for the cops and DA to get off their collective
bureaucratic ass. I would figure something out on my own, and God
help that woman when I did.

Chapter Nine
    Jillian
     
    I lay in bed all night thinking, staring into the
darkness, but the solution to my problem was elusive. I thought
about asking Uncle Joey for help. He would love the opportunity to
demonstrate his influence, to bang a few heads together for the
benefit of a loved one. But my father complicated that idea. He
barely tolerated his brother. It was all I could do just to get
Uncle Joey invited to my wedding. My dad was embarrassed by his
brother’s entanglement with “the family,” a nefarious organization
that had been operating in the neighborhood for countless
generations. He believed it endorsed the Italian-American
stereotype he tried so hard to disprove through honest, hard
work.
    My father had seen up close and personal just how
Uncle Joey and his associates operated, several times from what I
remember. I’d heard my parents arguing over it when I was little.
My dad worried endlessly that my mom, sister, and I would be
exposed to such a dangerous element, so I knew he would be
disappointed if he ever found out I had used Uncle Joey to work
around the law. And I couldn’t delude myself into believing that
Uncle Joey wouldn’t take the first opportunity to tell my dad
either. It was a matter of pride between brothers. Uncle Joey
always wanted to show his worth, to give credence to his value and
choice of lifestyle. That his brother’s daughter would come to him
for help, instead of her own father, would provide years of bitter
resentment and conflict. So, as tempting as it was, Uncle Joey was
definitely out.
    Then there was Nick. I was very reluctant to involve
him, as well, but at least it wouldn’t get back to my father if I
did, though Tyler was a different story. Just like my dad and his
brother, Ty would never approve of me involving Nick. After
everything that had happened and the choice Nick had made, there
was no way Ty would accept his brother sticking his nose into our
business. But I couldn’t think of a better alternative.
    Always the one to follow every rule, Tyler was
unwilling to do anything but wait, and the authorities would likely
sit on my case for months. I couldn’t just accept that someone out
there was screwing with my life, that she could steal our dream of
owning a