Heartsong (Singing to the Heart Book 2) Read Free Page B

flattened her mouth into a fine line. “Why would you say such a thing? My mother was ten years older than my father and they were happily married. It’s all because of that woman.”
    That woman being the talent scout-turned-manager, Andrea Rose. The woman for whom Gabe had left Micki.
    “Now that’s just ridiculous. Gabe’s marriage to an older woman has nothing to do with my aversion to following in my grandparents’ footsteps. I won’t chase after a younger man for the same reason I’d never go for a much older one. I’m not...”
    “I know you aren’t Frankie.”
    She’d gone too far. Frankie may not have been her mother’s biological daughter, but Loretta had been the only mother Frankie had ever known, and Momma loved her as if she’d been her flesh and blood. “I’m sorry, Momma. I didn’t mean...” She shook her head and swallowed. “I like Cash--as a friend. Nothing more.” She bent and picked up a baseball lying on the floor by her chair leg.
    The sound of a vehicle crunching on the gravel of the drive had her turning toward it. She stood and leaned on the railing as the nondescript sedan stopped beside her truck. When a middle-aged woman exited the car, fear snaked around Micki’s gut, and she gripped the white rail. By the look of the woman’s high heels and pinstriped suit, she didn’t get out of her Brownwood office much.
    Jesse came out of the orchard and rounded the car. The woman smiled at him, but he only hurried up the steps to move in close to Micki. Her need to protect him was strong and undeniable as she wrapped her arm around his slender shoulders and pulled him close.
    Momma must have felt the same compulsion because she positioned her wheelchair at the edge of the porch steps between the pillars. “What can we do for you?”
    The woman stopped on the concrete walkway at the bottom of the stairs and glanced at Jesse. He snaked his arm around Micki’s waist and held on.
    The woman smiled and held out an envelope along with a badge.
    “It’ll be okay,” Micki said to Jesse with a gentle squeeze. He didn’t look convinced as she let go of him and made herself descend the three steps. Stopping in front of the woman, she read the identification the lady was holding out.
    With a smile the Department of Family Protective Services agent put her badge away. “Allison Fennel. Are you Michaela or Loretta Finn?” She handed Micki an envelope with the seal of Texas in the corner and her and her mother’s names in the middle of it.
    Micki numbly nodded and met the woman’s eyes. “I’m Michaela. My mother is Loretta. Why are you here?”
    She already knew--Jesse.
    “Jesse, be a good boy and go inside please,” her mother said.
    “I’m not going anywhere.” Jesse stomped down the steps to stop beside Micki. “What do you want, lady?”
    Fennel’s smile dripped sugar as she leaned forward. “I bet you’re Jesse.”
    “So?”
    “Jesse, please go inside--now.” Micki ruffled his hair.
    He squared his shoulders and ran up the stairs. The screen door slammed behind him.
    “I’m his grandmother. What do you want?” Loretta’s voice was as hard as concrete.
    The woman’s eyes shifted from Micki to Loretta. “DFPS was contacted this morning by Judge Lemont Finn regarding the deaths of Samuel and Frances McKenna. It’s my office’s responsibility to make certain the child is taken care of.”
    Son of a bitch. Figured her father would get involved. Micki stuck her hands into her back pockets to keep them from forming fists. “My sister and her husband left him in our care while they were on a business trip. We aren’t stopping now. We’re his only family.”
    Micki’s throat froze shut at Fennel’s slight, lopsided grin. “I’m here at the request of the child’s grandfather. Mrs. Finn, it’s my understanding you were Frances’s stepmother. Lemont Finn’s first wife died in a car accident when she was a year old.”
    “Yes, that’s correct. Before I could