I slipped an arm around his waist. “Just when I thought he couldn’t get any hotter, he turns out to be the best daddy to these little girls.”
Beck’s eye twitched slightly then he robotically turned his head and gave a smile that felt like more of a grimace. “We’re just trying to be one big, happy, normal family.”
I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt. “Completely loving and, above all,verynormal.”
Come on! Buy what we’re selling!
Ethel seemed intrigued. “It appears I was misinformed, Mr. Svensson,” she said with a perfunctory nod. “I must admit, while I was prepared to do my duty to become the guardian of my granddaughters, it was not what I had imagined my widowed years to involve.” She pressed a hand to her throat, holding on to the pendant that hung at her neck.
“When my daughter was lured to Wyoming to join the cult, you should have heard how everyone around town gossiped. They said I was a terrible mother. My late husband and I had tried for years to rescue her, to persuade her to give up the life on the compound and finally come home. While I would of course keep those old busybodies away from the girls, I must admit it would be nice to have a normal relationship with my granddaughters—go shopping, go for a nice lunch, show them off to my friends, then send them home to a loving two-parent household.”
Parent?I made a noise, and Beck elbowed me. Thankfully, Ethel didn’t notice.
“I would like to be a proper grandmother and not one who is raising her misguided and delinquent daughter’s children. And while they need a woman’s influence, it is so important to have a loving father figure.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Beck said firmly. “We are committed to giving them the perfect childhood they didn’t have on the compound.”
Ethel peered at us. “Now don’t think I’m just going to hand them over to you. After my daughter was lured away and ran off right when she turned eighteen, I’m not in the mood to trust any Svensson men. And your girlfriend has pizza sauce all over her shirt.”
“Actually, ma’am, that’s coffee,” Beck said, irritated. “She spilled it all over herself in the office.”
I looked down at my shirt and raised an arm. “To be fair, I also have pizza sauce on this shirt. Dang it, I thought this one was clean.”
“She’s usually a lot more together,” Beck said.
“I’m totally way more together,” I assured Ethel. I felt something give at my chest.
Stupid safety pin.
Hold together, hold together.
“You will both have another opportunity to impress me,” Ethel said, perching gold-rimmed glasses on her nose and taking out a small planner. “This Friday and every Friday after, we will gather for dinner. I also expect you and your soon-to-be fiancée at a charity function I will be hosting a week from Saturday.” She made notes in the leather-bound planner.
I rifled in my bag for my phone to add the events to Beck’s calendar.
“And you’ll bring the other girls?” Ethel asked, snapping the planner closed.
“Only these two are full sisters,” Beck explained with a frown. “The other girls have different mothers.”
Ethel’s lips curled in obvious disgust. “Your father was a monster.”
“He’s in jail now,” Beck said quietly.
“Believe me, I heard,” she said, her voice trembling slightly.
“Tess, the girls, and I are of course looking forward to Friday night,” my boss said after an awkward moment.
“I expect that you will all impress me with your charm, wit, and parenting skills,” Ethel said, adjusting her purse.
Sproing!
The safety pin gave up and ricocheted off the ceiling. I hastily pulled the gaping front of my blouse closed while Beck made a strangled noise.
Ethel looked at me then straightened her suit jacket.
“There does appear to be room for improvement.”
“Please,”Beck begged after dragging me into his office and leaving the girls at my desk.
