Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [95]
Casey raised his head and met Jack’s stare. “The way I see it, Jack, you’re going to lose her anyway. Life is too short to waste it on foolishness. When people live to be our age, we need the people who love us and the people that we love around us. There is nothing worse than being old and alone.”
Jack hung his head, knowing Casey was right. When it came to his daughter he had made a complete mess of things.
“It’s not too late, you know, Jack. It’s not too late.”
Jake Madaris sat in the swivel chair at his desk. He glanced around the room at his brothers’ and nephews’ reaction to what Alex had just told them. Unsurprisingly, it was Clayton who spoke up.
“Let me get this straight. That nut who called you that morning we were here nearly three weeks ago is actually some news reporter who has appointed himself Diamond’s protector?”
Before Jake could respond there was a bombardment of other questions being thrown out by his brothers, and all of them were directed at Clayton.
“Three weeks ago?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You knew about this nut, Clayton?”
“And you didn’t tell us about any of it?”
Clayton glanced around the room at the men shooting the questions at him all at once. “Calm down, please,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t say anything because Jake told me not to,” he said, providing the first smile since the meeting had begun. “I was taught at an early age to respect my elders, and that includes Jake.”
Clayton’s smile widened when one of his uncles snorted. Which one, he wasn’t sure. “The important thing,” he said, “is finding out what we can do to help.”
Jake stood and faced the brothers and nephews he loved and respected. “Alex is working with Sheriff McCoy and the FBI on this. They have everything under control.”
“Where’s Diamond?” Jonathan Madaris asked.
“She’s visiting Sterling and Colby in the mountains. He’s aware of what’s going on and has strict orders from me to keep her with him until I give the word that it’s safe for her to come home.”
Jonathan Madaris shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to be in Sterling’s shoes, or yours for that matter, when Diamond finds out what’s going on and the fact that you’ve kept it from her, Jake.”
Jake shrugged. “I’ll have to worry about that when all this is over. Right now the most important thing is keeping her safe.”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “Which is the main reason I wanted to meet with all of you today.” He came around and sat on the edge of his desk to face the men in the room. “Diamond is pregnant. We’ve known for only a little more than a week, and were waiting for her return next week before letting everyone know.”
His gaze moved around the room but focused intently on his five brothers. He was about to ask the same thing of them that his brother Robert had asked the day before he’d left for Vietnam. It had been a tour of duty that he had not returned from alive.
“I have complete confidence that Ammons will be caught,” he said slowly. “But should anything happen to me, I want your promise that you’ll do everything in your power to make sure Diamond and my child are taken care of.”
The room became deathly quiet. He knew they were thinking about Robert and remembering his similar request. Jake stood. “Don’t get me wrong, you guys. I have all intentions of getting out of this alive, but just in case, I need to know. I need to be assured.”
“You have our word, Jake, that we’ll do what you’ve asked of us,” Jonathan Madaris finally said, speaking for himself