Free Hotel Ladd by Dianne Venetta Page B

told
me.”
    Malcolm smiled over Lacy’s head. “My
fault. When we were in California to meet my parents, she spotted a
sign advertising psychics and made me pull over. Marched right
inside and demanded to know about her pregnancy.” Sliding a hand
down her back, he continued, “She was only eight weeks at the time,
but the psychic assured her it was a girl, a little baby girl who
was going to grow up just like her mother.”
    “ Well, she will ,” Lacy
insisted.
    Malcolm held his hands in the air.
“It’s been a girl ever since. She named it on the way home, in
fact. Emma Jane was something we both agreed on.”
    “ Will you be upset if it
turns out to be a boy?” Cal asked.
    “ It won’t,” Lacy snapped and
plucked a biscuit from the edge of her plate.
    Malcolm grinned. “I think it’s going to
be a girl but it’s only a guess. Lacy refuses to get an ultrasound
to check.”
    “ That’s cheating,” Lacy
said. “Besides, I already know she’s a girl.”
    Cal laughed, hiding a deep
sorrow that penetrated his soul. What he’d give to be with his own
daughter. He’d move mountains—was trying to do so with his return
home to Tennessee—only he wouldn’t see the results for some time.
Although he’d been sober now for ten months and three days, his
daughter Emily couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him. One
terrible mistake and she had closed her heart, ripping him from her
life forever. “I hope it is,” Cal said quietly and reached for
another peanut. Girls are gifts from
heaven .
    “ Speaking about a lot on her
mind these days,” Malcolm said, “I told Annie I’d be happy to help
her along with those permits she needs. Nick and I have established
a nice rapport with the guys in the county office, and since we’re
already familiar with the paperwork, I think we could manage a
permit in a couple of weeks, maybe less.”
    Cal turned on his stool. “That would be
great. I know she’d appreciate it.”
    “ Consider it
done.”
    “ How’s the progress of the
hotel construction coming along?”
    “ Right on schedule.
Groundwork for the hotel has been pretty well wrapped up and we’re
moving on to the building and hiring stage and—”
    “ Already?” Lacy interrupted,
a fork full of golden-fried okra suspended before her mouth. “But
you haven’t built the first building. How are you going to hire
people with nowhere for them to go?”
    He smiled indulgently. “I said we’re
moving on to the hiring stage. We have to prepare, don’t we?”
Malcolm shifted his focus to Cal. “We want to have our doors open
by Memorial Day of next year.”
    Cal let out a low whistle and tossed an
empty peanut shell into his bowl. “That’s pretty
aggressive.”
    Malcolm nodded. “Nick is organizing our
construction crew now. Soon as we’re ready, we’ll ship our people
in and get started.”
    Cal cocked his head. “Still, seven
months is pretty tight.”
    Malcolm laughed, a confident man
dealing in child’s play. “That’s what sets Harris Hotels apart. We
get in, we get open. Our guys are the best in the business. We’ve
got half a dozen crews that come in. One attacks the hotel, another
will take on the stables. A specialized crew out of California will
handle our landscape, another the interiors, and the restaurant
will be taken care of by an amazing woman out of San
Francisco.”
    Lacy’s attention perked at the mention
of “woman.” “What woman?”
    Leaning toward her, he said, “An old,
wrinkled woman who looks like a man.”
    Realizing the tease, she smirked. “Very
funny.”
    Malcolm kissed her nose. “Nobody you
have to worry about, my dear.”
    Blue eyes glittering with distrust,
Lacy pointed to the front door. “Unlike that woman.”
    “ What’s she doing here?”
Malcolm asked, appearing genuinely surprised.
    Cal turned his head to see a
dark-haired woman standing by the hostess stand in line to pay her
bill. She was staring at them. She looked completely out of