The Hidden Grimoire by Karla Brandenburg (pride and prejudice read TXT) 📕

My fingers played the wheel with the emotions running through me. As much as I wanted to put Sharon in the villain role, I couldn’t see her as the reckless woman Hannah had warned me against. Reflexively, I made the gesture Hannah had taught me to ward off negative energy, like a stretching exercise between my thumb and forefinger. Warm, white light settled on me and I released a pent-up breath.

My phone rang, and with one more deep breath, I answered through the car’s Bluetooth.

“Jason doesn’t know about my son,” Jeannine said.

“So I gathered.”

“Please, don’t tell him.”

“First of all, it’s not my place. Second, he wouldn’t believe me if I tried. And third, well, third he has no interest in speaking to me in the first place.” Full circle. Whattya know? “You’re his sister. He cares about you. You should tell him.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“But it does, and your response to his children shows that. The two of you seem to have a relationship in spite of your parents. Trust me. You don’t want to lose your family.”

“I lost my son,” she said, a bitter edge to her voice.

“All the more reason to love on your new nephew,” I replied.

“Jason and I are better one on one, you know? We’re better without families involved, like LeAnne, and Georgia.”

“But Georgia knows you.” Even if Georgia hadn’t run to Jeannine the way she ran to me. She’d recognized her.

“Stay out of it. And if Jason has no interest in speaking with you the way you say, you and I should probably stick to one on one, too.” She drew a loud breath. “I’m not good in group settings.”

“I’m still in the city. Do you want to get together while I’m here?” I asked.

“Not tonight.” A sigh this time. “Brynn, I’m glad you were there. I don’t think I could have held it together otherwise.”

From where I was standing, she hadn’t held it together. “Any time you want to talk. You’ve got my number.”

“Why are you so nice to me?”

I gave way to a smile. “We’re practically sisters, aren’t we?”

She disconnected the call and a sense of wistfulness settled over me. Families were complicated units, with all their idiosyncrasies. I considered once more how lucky I’d been to stumble on my aunt Nora, and Kyle.

And then there was Jason and LeAnne and Sharon. I wasn’t sure what to make of all that. Why would an ex-girlfriend stick around for three years, especially when there was apparent harmony on the home front as evidenced by another baby? Jason didn’t seem to be discouraging Sharon. Sister wives? Open marriage? Except Sharon had said she wanted to win him back. I didn’t need to know what was going on there—except for how it impacted Georgia.

By the time I got home, I was more confused than ever. Kyle was in the kitchen window, no doubt waiting to read me the riot act for daring to meet Sharon without him. With my temper rising, I reminded myself he meant well, he was trying to protect me—and with good reason—but I’d made it this far without his help. There were times I’d appreciated his intervention and was glad to know I had someone in my corner.

Kyle didn’t come out to meet me, a good indication he was angry. Head down, I walked inside.

I held up a hand. “Before you say anything, you have to know I’m not used to people caring what happens to me. Years of experience, of programming. I tried to call you, but you weren’t available, and even if you were, you couldn’t have gone with me while you were still on duty. Georgia went missing. I had to go.”

“She might have lured you into a dangerous situation, knowing how you feel about Georgia,” he argued.

“It was a chance I was willing to take. Trust me, I thought about what could happen.”

Kyle wrapped his arms around me. “I was so worried.”

“She’s coming to talk to me tomorrow night, at the pub. I told her you’d be there with me. You will be, won’t you?” A peace offering.

“I guess I’ll have to be.”

I stepped back, hands on my hips, unhappy with his attitude. “You don’t have to be.”

“Dylan asked me over tomorrow night. I told him you’d come, too, so you can catch up with Lisa. Sharon Clark is not my top priority.”

“Dylan and Lisa will understand. There’s something odd about the whole Jason and LeAnne and Sharon thing.”

“Why do you care?” he asked. “Jason has gone out of his way to be rude to you.”

“There’s a little girl involved who needs my help.”

His nostrils flared. He’d seen Georgia’s projection in the corner of my bedroom. “Why you?”

“Because even if he isn’t willing to acknowledge Georgia needs guidance, he knows I’m the only one who can help her. As you pointed out, Jason has gone out of his way, which indicates to me he actually wants help, even if he’s not comfortable asking for it.”

“And Sharon?”

“Knows something I don’t,” I replied.

Kyle circled a hand in front of my face. “You can’t...” he pursed his lips as if unsure of how to phrase his thoughts, “figure it out?”

Telepathy. I drew a deep breath. He knew. We’d talked about things in vague terms. Despite my qualms, I trusted he could deal with the truth. “It’s sort of like peeking into someone’s windows. You don’t, unless you have a reason to. It’s intrusive.”

He pulled me into a hug once more. “I don’t know what to do with you. You probably don’t need my help, as you’ve demonstrated on many occasions, and yet I can’t help worrying about you.”

“I know, and whether you know it or not, I do appreciate you, but as I said before, having someone care about me isn’t something I’m used to, so if my first thought isn’t about who can help me through a problem or who I can lean on, it’s because I’ve had all those years of