Then There Were Three. Jeanie London

parent set in. That wasn’t going to happen. Not when every second I spent caring for Violet only strengthened my determination to keep her.”

      And yet she still hadn’t contacted him, hadn’t given him a chance to help her, or help take care of their daughter. She’d toughed out the situation on her own. He didn’t understand why.

      “What about your job? Violet said you travel. You made it through school?”

      “Finally. Took forever, I won’t lie. I took online classes in between taking care of Violet and working.” She met his gaze and he thought she was putting on a brave face for his benefit.

      “What did you do?”

      “I was fortunate. I became friends with a couple at the maternity home. They were like angels. He worked for the consulting firm I’m with now. His wife was a volunteer who liked to travel with him. He hired me as his administrative assistant, and I learned the ropes of dealing with not-for-profits. By the time I finished school, I’d been with the company so long, I stepped into a permanent position as a consultant. I worked my way up from there.”

      Nic might not understand all the reasons for the choices she’d made, but he didn’t doubt what she said—that she’d had a long time to consider the effects.

      He’d had a couple of hours. No damned wonder he felt like the top of his head was about to blow off. “Did you know Violet was coming here? She’s been sidestepping some of my questions, so I figured she wasn’t telling me everything.”

      Megan shook her head as if still disbelieving. “Not a clue. As far as I knew she was at her friend’s house spending the night. I’d spoken to the mom beforehand and Violet texted me at all the right times. Then she didn’t come home…” Her voice trailed off, and he could see a suspicious glint in her eyes.

      Nic knew this look. He’d seen it through the years in every frightened parent he’d ever had to face. Kids rebelling. Kids running away. Kids foolishly getting behind the wheel after partying in the Quarter. Sometimes kids guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time and winding up as tragic statistics.

      For the first time since seeing Megan in the crowd at the gate, Nic felt his anger dull, enough maybe even to think past it.

      “I am so sorry about everything.” Her voice hitched and she started again. “I never lied to Violet about you, and I was fully prepared to explain the situation when she was ready to hear it. She didn’t give me the chance. I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me. But I respect however you feel, and how you choose to handle it.”

      She inhaled deeply, shrugged. “I’m not sure where we go from here, but I do hope we can work together to figure out something. I trust that regardless of how you feel about me you’ll put our daughter’s best interests first. If you don’t believe anything else I’ve said, I hope you’ll believe that.”

      Suddenly he could see how tired she looked, the bruised smudges beneath her eyes, the tightness around her mouth. She was running on adrenaline, and when Nic thought about it, he could guess what the past few days must have been like for her.

      The shock of discovering Violet had disappeared. The worry. The uncertainty. The fear. Toss in the fact that she was going to have to face him and a really long flight, and it was a wonder she was still upright.

      Nic didn’t know what to believe, wasn’t going to take the time to figure it out. Not when someone needed to be thinking here. Megan may have gotten off that plane ready to face her past mistakes, but there’d been no way she could anticipate the mess Violet had unknowingly stepped into at a tattoo parlor in the Quarter. But Nic knew.

      Their daughter was now an eyewitness to a crime involving a judge on the criminal bench. Being an eyewitness could make Violet vulnerable anywhere, but especially in this city, ranked top in the nation’s criminal activity for a decade running. Nic knew all too well how eyewitnesses could run into trouble around here, which meant getting his head on straight, because he needed to resolve this situation fast.

      As usual.

      CHAPTER SIX

      EVEN VIOLET WAS A LITTLE rattled by how fast her dad unloaded her. He’d wheeled his unmarked car into a handicap space in front of Angelina’s Hair Salon. She couldn’t figure out why they were here, but was going with the flow. Her hair was a wreck but, come on, even though she hadn’t taken a shower since leaving Chile, it couldn’t be that bad.

      Jumping out of the car before her dad had a chance to get her door, she followed him inside. The salon wasn’t very big—only four stations—but it was decorated nice with big windows in the front. There was a lady cutting hair at one station and another shampooing at the sinks in the back.

      But it was the woman behind the reception desk who caught Violet’s attention. She was an older lady, but really pretty in an older lady sort of way. Makeup and hair were perfect. Her shirt was summery and bright. She even wore matching earrings and necklace. Very put-together, Mom would have said.

      She looked up as they entered, peering over her reading glasses, and said instantly, “Nic, what’s wrong?”

      Violet couldn’t see her dad’s face, but he stepped aside, put his arm around her shoulders and drew her next to him.

      “This is my daughter.” He blurted it out, drawing the attention of everyone in the place. “Can she stay here for a while? I have to pick up her mother.”

      The woman behind the desk blinked. Everyone else was staring, too. Violet felt a little awkward, she wasn’t going to lie.

      Her dad didn’t even wait for an answer. He looked at her and said, “This is your grandmother. You’ll be okay here until I get back.” Then he headed toward the door.

      “She’s not going to be Mary Sunshine, FYI,” Violet called after him. Only fair to give him a heads-up. Mom was already steaming. Sending him to the airport hadn’t been one of the options in her last text.

      “Got it,” he said before walking out.

      Violet watched him hop in the car and speed off. “Good luck with that.”

      She turned to find the whole place filled with people staring at her. Swallowing hard, she looked at the woman behind the desk.

      Her grandmother.

      “So, what’s your name, gorgeous?” her grandmother asked.

      “Violet.”

      “That’s beautiful. Matches your beautiful eyes. So you’re my Nic’s little girl?”

      Violet nodded, still kind of embarrassed by the way she got dumped here. “I think I freaked him out when I told him Mom was about to land.”

      “Oh, I don’t doubt that. Big-time, I’ll bet.”

      Violet didn’t think that was a bad thing because her grandmother was suddenly smiling. “He’s picking your mother up…at the airport?”

      Violet flipped open her phone to check the time. “A flight from Atlanta. She’ll be landing in about ten minutes. Will he get there in time? It shouldn’t be too traffic-y, do you think?”

      Her grandmother shook her head, didn’t seem to care that everyone was watching them. “He’ll use his light and siren if he’s in a hurry.”

      “Oh, that’s right. He’s the police chief. He can do that.” Violet felt better already. If Mom got off that plane with no one to greet her… That hadn’t been an option, either.

      “So you’re from Atlanta?” her grandmother asked.

      “No, Chile. There’s a layover in Atlanta.”

      Her grandmother looked surprised. “Well, that must be a long flight. And your mother is…?”

      “Megan.”

      For a moment her grandmother stared,