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I circled her wrist with ers and moved her hand so I could kiss the center of her palood one and it went a long way toward ses she’d left when she ripped apart my heart

"I … well … we … um … your father and I need some time to process all of this" Deb reached out and put a hand on Russ’s leg "I’ht you had to keep this to yourself, Kallie We’re your fa through"

Kallie smiled and it was easy to remember why I’d loved her the way I had "That’s what Dixie told me you would say"

Deb huffed, "You told your sister before you told us?"

Kallie laughed and e uys wrote Wheeler off without a second thought when you thought he wronged me, I wasn’t so sure you would understand how hard all of this was"

Russ aze to ret heavy between each blink but that didn’t undo what had already been done

"You’re our baby, sweetheart How else are we supposed to act when you conant?" Deb sounded defiant but Russ had the good grace to look down at the ground

"I appreciate the shelter you offered htto be fa to have a place in our lives" She uhter, son Surely, you have to understand that You’ve always been welcome in this house, we considered you one of our own It wasn’t an easy decision to put Kallie first when things fell apart between the two of you" Now, that was an apology that could use so to protect his child but it didn’t lessen the sting of being cast as the villain when all of this went down

"It ht not have been an easy decision but it’s one you e years and a solid portion of le reason to regret letting hter, and it took you no ti Kallie liked to stir the pot and burn bridges Neither one of you gave me the benefit of the doubt" I looked between the two of them and had to clear my throat before I could finish what I wanted to say "You were the first people that showeda faed, and then you shut the door in my face I’ve had to stare at that closed door a lot inon the other side of it"

Debsound and Kallie’s father cleared his throat Before he could speak, I held up a hand and went on "Kallie and I are both ether I want my kid to have as much love as possible, as rudge but I’ to be the people I can rely on when I need to I don’t want to fall and end up on uys didn’t let Kallie twist in the wind, not that I thought you would, but she’s been terrified about how you’d react and all that stress is bad for the baby Now, after I’ve had the chance to ets the opportunity to spend so all of us together and figuring out how this is all going to work" I gave Kallie a final squeeze and got to my feet "Everyone in this rooonna ave Kallie a wink and started toward the front door only to be brought up short when Russ called my name I looked at him over my shoulder and told ht in his gaze "Believe it or not, we all hat’s best for you too, Hudson We’ve just done a piss-poor job showing you that lately"

They really had done a terrible job but that wasn’tdown Poppy’s mother so I could put Poppy’s mind at ease, that was my problem

"I’ll see you around, Russ"

As soon as I was back in the Caddy, I had -distance call to Texas It rang for so long that I figured no one was going to answer, but just as I was about to hang up a slightly accented male voice barked a less than friendly hello intowhat I did about Poppy’s parents, I knew there was no way I could outright ask the man to put his wife on the phone He would never allow her to speak to soetwith someone without his per for Paola Cruz She has a ’64 Barracuda listed for sale and I’ it"

There was absolute silence on the other end of the phone until thenumber My wife doesn’t own a car If she needs to be so nuht now Can I speak with her just to verify I have the wrong information? The car is a real beauty and I’d do just about anything to getit on thick but I couldn’t think of another way to get Poppy’s ht

"My wife does not converse with strange men; that is unseemly and inappropriate I assure you she does not have a car for sale Do not call here again"

The line went dead and I swore loudly as I put the phone back in my pocket It was easy to see why Poppy didn’t want that asshole anywhere near her and I wanted to give Saleirl I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach as I pulled away froodda to save her and that would ht back into the fire she worked so hard to put out Good thing the only ti to let her burn hen she was in bed with me