Free Justice for All by Olivia Hardin Page B

She placed the cup onto the table and dropped into the closest seat. Jeremy pulled out the chair across from her and sat down, leaning his head into one hand to watch her.
    “You could’ve backed me up, Jeremy. I mean, we don’t know them. We don’t know anything about them. And what they’ve done putting you and Daddy in danger like this is intolerable.”
    “Intolerable, Kay? This isn’t a courtroom. They had nowhere else to go. It wasn’t as if they were searching us out. He has a deed to Aunt Iggie’s house, for goodness sakes.”
    Kay rubbed a finger along her upper lip and considered that a moment.
    “He resembles us. He’s our cousin.”
    “What do you remember about Aunt Iggie?”
    “I was just a kid, Kay. I don’t remember much…”
    She huffed the air between her teeth. “You have to remember something.”
    He only shrugged.
    “C’mon. I remember Nanny reading the three little pigs to me when I was three years old. I remember the way the way she huffed and puffed, Jeremy.” Her voice rose steadily until it was almost a scream. “I remember that and yet you don’t remember much?”
    “Kay, what does it matter if I remember? Daddy remembers Aunt Iggie. And Daddy believes this is her son.”
    He sounded just as exasperated as she felt. Kay sipped her coffee and gazed out into nothing. “You know what she did to Daddy. Nanny told us how it broke his heart when she left, how he spent months away and how it came between him and Momma. Nanny used to say it was like a cloud hanging over the entire...”
    “Nanny didn’t know everything. She had a soft spot for Mom because she was her Nanny, but she didn’t know Aunt Iggie. She shouldn’t have tried to poison us about her. I was old enough to know what she was doing.”
    Kay waved her hand at him. “That doesn’t matter. No matter what she told us, part of our childhood was missing our dad because of Aunt Iggie. He was depressed, he was caught up in looking for her for years and … and it’s wrong, Jeremy, but when I look at Brennan, I think of that. And it pisses me off!”
    “So you’re going to blame him for the sins of his mother? That’s not like you.”
    How did he know what she was or wasn’t like her? Sometimes she didn’t think she even knew. “You’re right.”
    “There’s something else. What’s wrong?”
    Kay lifted her shoulders and rolled her neck a few times. “Nothing. I don’t know, something.”
    He didn’t say anything else, just waited with the utmost patience for her to collect her thoughts. Finally, she tapped at her coffee cup with one fingernail and looked up at him.
    “I have the most uncomfortable feel about it, Jeremy. Like … like if I let myself like him, I’ll be banished to my room or something.”
    Jeremy laughed, then stood and rounded the table to put his hands on her shoulders. “Kay, you aren’t a child, and Nanny’s not here to punish you anymore. It would make Daddy happy if you could try to get along with them.”
    Nanny wasn’t the one she was thinking of at that moment. In truth, Kay realized Nanny had always just been an extension of her mother’s own thoughts and wishes. Her mother hadn’t ever forgiven Aunt Iggie for what she’d done to their family and to Daddy. And she’d ingrained that in Kay’s mind. And for all of her willfulness, all Kay ever wanted as a child was for her momma to be proud of her. Somehow she always managed to fall short of the noble countess’s expectation.
    Chattering and slamming doors echoed through the house, and Jeremy gave her a comforting squeeze before speaking. “Well, sounds like the fun’s about to begin. Decorating and presents and caroling galore.”
    Warmth tingled in Kay’s chest and she smiled, thinking of the children opening their gifts. With a deep sigh, she planted her hands onto the table and pushed herself to stand. “Jeremy.”
    Her brother looked down at her with both brows lifted in question.
    “Thanks.”
    “Anytime,