"Okay. Ms. Daisy just walked in, and she's asking for you."
I sighed. Of course she was. The old woman loved to gossip. Any other day, I would be excited to find out what she had to tell me because I could use it in my articles, but today I didn't have it in me. For the first time since coming back to Willow Creek after college, I didn't care about reporting on the happenings of the town.
"I'll go see what she wants."
I found Ms. Daisy sitting in the corner at a table away from others. That was a sure sign she had juicy gossip for me and didn't want others to hear it before she could tell all her old biddies.
"Hey, Ms. Daisy. How are you today?"
"I'm fine, dear. How are you?"
I felt like this was a trick question, but instead of panicking because that would only make Ms. Daisy jump on me like a shark in bloody water, I plastered a smile on my face.
"I'm great. What can I get for you today?"
Ms. Daisy waved me off. "Nothing at the moment. I need to talk to you about something."
Oh, here we go.
"I'm a little busy today, Ms. Daisy. Can this wait until later?"
"I think you're going to want to have this conversation now, dear."
That had me stopping in my tracks and tensing up. "Whatever do you mean?"
Did she somehow find out that I was pregnant? Did she know Maverick was the father? I knew there was no way mygrandmother told her, but Maverick wasn't exactly hiding the fact that he was watching me closely.
"I overheard something that I think you're going to want to hear."
A million thoughts filtered through my mind.
Okay, not really but two stuck out like a sore thumb. There were only two secrets I didn't want the town to know, and neither of them would be good if Ms. Daisy knew.
"What's that?"
"Is it true that you’re B. Feather?"
Shit. Fuck. And damn.
I knew that was going to come out, but I thought I had more time, and to be honest, I had pushed it out of my mind with everything else going on.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I tried to play it off, but I could see the old woman wasn't buying it.
"Now don't play me for a fool, dear. I heard it from a reliable source, and I wanted to give you the opportunity to tell me the truth before I spoke to others about it."
"Who's your reliable source?" I needed to know who was at fault because it could be any number of people after what recently happened.
"A lady never reveals her sources. You should know that considering who you are."
I walked right into that one.
I sat down at the table. It was either that or I was going to collapse because there was hardly anything in my stomach, and the nerves from this conversation were only making things worse.
"If I tell you the truth, do you promise to let me come clean before you talk about it?"
Ms. Daisy thought about it for a full minute before she answered me, "I suppose I could do that, but I want to be able to say I figured it out before you said anything."
She actually hadn't, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. "Fine, say whatever you like, just let me tell my readers in my own way."
