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  “Morgan O’Flynn?”

  “Yes?”

  “You have been served.” With that he handed her an envelope.

  “Served?” She sounded horrified.

  Teagan seemed very casual, “Probably something simple. People are going to court over anything and everything these days. Take a breath and just read the paperwork. I’m sure it is nothing.”

  “Oh, you know what, I’m sure this is actually good news. Your brother and I decided a while ago, we just haven’t said anything. Liam decided to adopt Jordan. We got all the paperwork and everything done before the wedding. That is the only legal thing I’ve got going. It has to be about that.”

  We yipped and whooped for a little while. Did a few toasts to the happy family. Asked all the right questions. Made all the right comments. Explained, not for the first time how blessed we are to be Jordan’s aunts, and now it would be official. Morgan beamed.

  We ate our lunch, and just before leaving Morgan said, “You know what, the attorney is just down the street, I should open this in case I need to sign something and bring it to him.”

  She opened the envelope.

  She read with a big smile on her face.

  It was like watching a horror movie.

  Her emotions so clear on her face.

  She went from elated, to confused, to shocked, to terrified.

  “I’m being sued.”

  “Sued?”

  The tears were rolling down her face, she turned the papers for Teagan to see. “Who is Richard Kaynard?”

  “Keep reading.”

  “Oh. Sweet. Jesus.”

  I couldn’t see the papers, “Who is Richard Kaynard?”

  “Jordan’s father.”

  “But I thought you didn’t know who he was.”

  “I didn’t. Not until the very second that I read his name there.”

  “What the hell can he sue you for?”

  “Custody of Jordan.”

  COMING SOON

  PEPPERMINT TEA

  CHAPTER ONE

  Teagan tried to calm Morgan down while I called Liam.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s me. Listen, we have a problem.”

  “What’s going on? You hear something new about your serial killer?”

  “Teagan and I are having lunch with Morgan at the diner across the street from the photography studio. She’s fine, but she got some bad news, and we need you to come.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  O’Flynns do not call each other and ask the person answering the phone to drop everything and come running, so when one of us calls another of us and asks for just such a favor, the person called doesn’t ask questions, they just do what they are asked. Especially when the person called, is the new husband of the person needing help.

  I was torn. I couldn’t decide if I should call my mom, since she knows how to make all things better, or let her and Liam make that decision, after all, they are adults, and it is their life.

  I played the chicken card and dialed, “Mom?”

  “Yes Love. Well, that was a quick meal. I thought you and your sister were meeting with Morgan for lunch.”

  “We did.”

  “Well, that is lovely. Now it will be off with the two of you on your great adventure.”

  “Mom, there is a problem. We were sitting there eating lunch when some guy served papers on Morgan.”

  “She is a fine business woman Cara, I’m sure she carries insurance for whatever problem that might arise. It is upsetting to be sure, but that is what error and omissions insurance is for.”

  “It isn’t about work Mom. Jordan’s father has slithered out from under a rock. He wants custody of Jordan.”

  “How is that possible? You can’t rape a girl, disappear, then years later come try to take her child. That is obscene.”

  “I agree, but what is legal, and what is moral, are often two different things.”

  “Have you called Liam? Has he gotten to her yet?”

  “He is on his way. He’ll be here any minute, his office isn’t that far.”

  “You tell them that anything that this family can do will be done.”

  “I will.”

  “I’ll tell your father then.”

  “Mom?”

  “Yes, Love.”

  “Pray!”

  “I shall. You do the same. You tell Morgan that we love her, and we will take care of this.”

  “I will.”

  Poor Morgan. She is still on shaky ground with her family, and now this.

  I brought Morgan over to the photography studio so that she could have some privacy. I wasn’t sure she could walk across the street and gave serious consideration to calling AJ and having him come over to carry her. She was doing her best to keep it together, but it wasn’t working, and under the circumstances, there isn’t a person in the world that could blame her.

  Teagan stayed at the diner to pay the bill and direct Liam when he showed up.

  At the photography studio, AJ wasn’t even there, but Jovana was. She took one look at Morgan and went into full-blown mother mode. She swooped in held her tight, giving me directions to grab one of the prop chairs and blankets. I was sent off to the bathroom to get a cold cloth and was heading back, when Morgan flew into the bathroom and closed the door. I could hear a low animal sound just before she lost her lunch.

  I filled Jovana in with the basics, since I didn’t know just how much Morgan had shared with her, but knew that Morgan has said repeatedly that she wasn’t going to hide her history any more, I just went for it, “Stop me if you know this stuff, but basically, back when Morgan was a teen, she was walking across a college quad late at night, and was pulled into the bushes and brutally raped. The guy beat the crap out of her physically and emotionally. She ended up pregnant. Her family had a really hard time with it, and although they played nice for the wedding, I guess things have started to go badly again.”

  “Poor dolly, I can understand why she is so upset.”

  “That’s not the problem. We were just having lunch at the diner and she was served with papers. The guy who raped her, now wants custody of Jordan.”

  “What?”

  “I know, I don’t know any more than that. My brother is on his way.”

  “Sugar, we are not gonna let that happen.”

  Morgan came out of the bathroom. She’d aged ten years while in there. Her makeup was gone. Her hair was pushed back. She looked like she was going to faint.

  “I need to go to the school. I need to pick him up.”

  “Morgan, if he was going to do anything crazy, he would have done it before he let you know who and where he was. It looks like he knew about you, even if you didn’t know about him.”

  “I can’t take that chance.”

  “How about if you call the school, tell them that I’m on my way, family emergency, and I’ll bring him to you. Liam is on his way here now.”

  “Would you do that? I really don’t want Jordan to see me like this. It would scare him.”

  “I’m on my way. Call the school.”

  I ran out the door of the studio, across the street to let Teagan know I was going to go pick up Jordan, and that I’d call her from the car.

  As I was jogging to the parking lot, my brother was jogging to the studio.

  He called out, “Is she okay?”

  “She’ll be better when you get there.”

  I called Teagan to let her know that Liam was going straight to the studio. She’d seen him and was headed that way.

  I’d gotten my car out of the parking lot, gotten onto I60 with my Bluetooth in my ear, just in case someone called, when Teagan did just that.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi, how is Morgan?”

  “She’s a mess.”

  “I bet. I’m half way to Jordan. She’ll feel better when she knows one of us have our hands on him.”

  “Are you going to bring him straight home?”

  “I’
ll call once I pick him up. We’ll do whatever she wants to do.”

  “I’m thinking about cancelling the cruise.”

  “Probably a good idea. Maybe we can reschedule.”

  “We’ll figure it out as soon as we hear something. Just wanted to check and see how you felt about it.”

  “I’m not sure what we can do, but whatever it is we can do, I want to do it.”

  “I agree.”

  “Teagan, I gotta go. Liam is on the other line.”

  “Call me.”

  “Hello?”

  “Cara, can you babysit for a while?”

  “Yep.”

  “Not sure how long.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Call me.”

  “We will.”

  Jordan was waiting in the office when I got to the school. “Hey Handsome.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “We’ll talk about it in the car. Let me just sign you out.”

  “Sure. Where’s Mom?”

  “She has a meeting.”

  “Why are you taking me out of school early?”

  “Jordan, we’ll talk about it in the car.”

  I signed the papers, and the receptionist checked my ID, since she doesn’t know me. The vice-principal poked her head out of her office just to check. “How’s the bride?”

  “She is great. Thanks for pulling him out of class.” I gave her a look over Jordan’s head, so he couldn’t see, and we walked out the door.

  “So, what’s really going on?”

  “It’s Auntie Day.”

  “What’s Auntie Day?”

  “It’s not a national holiday yet, but I’m working on it. Now that you are part of a big ol’ family, every once in a while, when you least expect it, strange and wonderful things are going to happen for no apparent reason. This is the first. Auntie Day.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “Well, first we’re going to go play with puppies, then we are going to have ice cream, then we’re going to go to either my house, or Grandma’s house and probably eat dinner, if we still have room.”

  “My mom is letting you take me out of school so that I can play with puppies and eat ice cream?”

  “Yep, she’s an O’Flynn now. We are a little weird.”

  “I like weird.”

  “Yeah, this kind of weird is easy to like. Wait till Uncle Seamus calls when it is a hundred and five outside and tells you that he wants all his weeds pulled.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like as much fun.”

  “Well, on the up side, he does pay, and you are allowed all the soda you can drink and pizza you can eat.”

  “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

  “You want to go over there now?”

  “No, puppies sound better.”

  “Puppies are always better.”

  “Can I bring one home?”

  “Your mom isn’t that much of an O’Flynn yet. I bring home a puppy without asking first, she’ll have my head.”

  “Mine too.”

  “Let’s go.”