Free The Sweetest Love (Love Conquers All Book 5) by Victoria Wells Page B

find out they have a younger sister.”
    “Oh God,” she breathed out, resting her head on the heel of her hand. “The man has other children, too.” Looking back up at Donna she asked, “Why does he want to be bothered with my Roxy if he has children?”
    “Explain,” Donna said, arching a brow at Reba.
    Reba folded her arms on the table. “I tell you, I hate that darn internet. Harold tracked me down and asked me to meet him because he had to talk to me about something really serious.” Swirling her straw in her soft drink, she glanced up at Donna. “I thought he might have grown a conscience and wanted to apologize for everything he put us through.”
    Donna threw her head back and laughed. “Girl, that’s funny.”
    “I know,” Reba chuckled. “Anyway, he tells me he wants to meet my baby.”
    “And what did you say?” Donna asked incredulously.
    “I told him if he could tell me her name I’d call her down there to meet him right then and there.”
    “Lord, have mercy. That fool doesn’t even know his own child’s name?”
    Reba shook her head in the negative. “Nope.”
    “You mean he’s never seen her?” she asked again just as incredulously.
    Sucking her teeth this time, Reba rolled her eyes. “When Roxy was about eight she started asking about her father. The only way I could track him down was through child support court. When we showed up to court he denied ever knowing me.”
    “That bastard,” Donna hissed.
    “The judge wanted to know if I wanted to have DNA testing done. I told her no. The only thing I asked of the judge was to make Harold take a letter Roxy had written him and a picture she had put inside.”
    “Did the judge make him take it?”
    “Yeah, she did. But I’m guessing he never read it since he didn’t know her name.”
    “Unbelievable.”
    “Dessert?” The waitress asked, interrupting their intense conversation.
    The two women looked at each other and smiled. “Why not,” they said in unison.
    After placing their dessert and coffee orders, Reba implored, “So tell me your Harold story.”

Chapter 13
    “Mom?” Roxy called, gently nudging her mother.
    “Oh, I’m sorry baby. What did you say?”
    Squinting her left eye, she studied her mother. All morning her mom had been distracted. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine,” she lied.
    I don’t believe you. “I was asking you if you like this leather pullout sofa bed. It’s on sale for nine hundred bucks.”
    Rubbing her hand across the dark brown leather, Reba smiled at her daughter. “It looks and feels nice. Come on, let’s sit on it.”
    Roxy smiled at her mom. Taking a seat next to her, she lightly bounced up and down. “No lumps.”
    “No lumps,” Reba laughed.
    “We’ll take it,” Roxy told the salesman hovering nearby.

    Roxy sat on the center of her mother’s bed as she waited for her to come out of the shower. The day had been perfect. Well, almost perfect. She had overslept thanks to Adam not leaving her place until three this morning.
    Warmth spread through her as she remembered them kissing and talking, and then kissing and talking some more. They agreed to meet for dinner Wednesday night. Rolling on the bed, she buried her face in a fluffy pillow to muffle her scream. She was going on a date with Adam West! I wonder what Abby would say? she thought, wishing her friend was alive.
    Jolted awake by the ringing of her cell phone earlier that morning, she profusely apologized to her mom for being late for breakfast. After treating herself and her mom to manicures and pedicures at Heaven Day Spa, they had lunch at CinCin.
    From there they drove out to the Raymour and Flannigan outlet where in addition to the leather pullout sofa bed, she found a coffee table with a matching end table, and a lamp. The next stop was HomeGoods, where she stumbled on a nice area rug with neutral shades of browns, tans and beiges. She squealed and did the Snoopy happy dance when her mom, after rummaging through