Temptation - Brenda Jackson [18]
“Hi, Mom,” she said, deciding not to bother addressing her mother’s comment. “And how are you?”
“I could be better. Did you ever get that guy’s phone number?”
That guy her mother was referring to was Dr. Morgan. The last time her mother had come to visit they had gone out to lunch, only to run into one of the surgeons from the hospital. Dr. Morgan was ten years her mother’s junior. Did that mean her mother was considering the possibility of becoming a cougar?
“No. Like I told you then, Dr. Morgan is already in a serious relationship.”
Cassie Hopkins chuckled. “Isn’t everybody…except you?”
Sheila cringed. Her mother couldn’t resist the opportunity to dig. Cassie felt that if she could get five husbands, her only daughter should be able to get at least one. “I don’t want a serious relationship, Mom.”
“And if you did want one, then what?”
“Then I’d have one.” Knowing her mother was about to jump in about Crawford Newman, the last man she wanted to talk about, she quickly changed the subject. “I talked to Lois the other day.”
Her mother chuckled again. “And I bet you called her and not the other way around.”
“No, in fact, she called me.” She didn’t have to tell her mother that Lois had called to tell her not to visit her and her family in Atlanta after all. And that was after issuing her an invitation earlier in the year. There was also no need to tell her that Lois had only issued the invitation after hearing about that heroic deed Sheila had performed, which had gotten broadcast nationwide on CNN. She guessed it wasn’t important any longer for Lois to let anyone know that she was her sister after all.
Her mother snorted. “Hmmph. I’m surprised. So how is the princess doing and has she said when she plans to share any of the inheritance your father left her with you?”
Sheila knew the fact that her own father had intentionally left her out of his will still bothered her mother, although it no longer bothered her. It had at first because doing such a thing had pretty much proven what she’d always known. Her father hadn’t wanted her. Regardless of the fact that he ended up despising her mother, that should not have had any bearing on his relationship with his daughter. But Baron Hopkins hadn’t seen things that way. He saw her as an extension of her mother, and if you hated the mother then you automatically hated the child.
Lois, on the other hand, had indeed been her father’s princess. The only child from the first wife whom he had adored, he hadn’t been quite ready for the likes of Cassie. Things probably wouldn’t have been so bad if Baron hadn’t discovered her mother was having an affair with one of his business partners—a man who later became husband number two for Cassie. Then there was the question of whether Sheila was even his child, although she looked more like him than Lois did.
She was able to get her mother off the phone when Cassie had a call come through from some man. It was the story of her mother’s life and the failed fairy tale for hers. She got out of the chair and moved over to the crib. Sunnie was trying to go to sleep. Sheila would have just loved to let her, but she knew if she were to sleep now that would mean another sleepless night.
“Oh, no you don’t, sweetie pie,” she said, getting the baby out of bed. “You and I are going to play for a while. I plan on keeping you up as much as possible today.”
Sunnie gurgled and smiled sleepy hazel eyes up at her. “I know how you feel, trust me. I want to sleep, too. Hopefully, if this works, we’ll both get to sleep tonight,” Sheila said softy, rubbing the baby’s fingers, reveling in just how soft her skin was.
Holding the baby gently in her arms, she headed downstairs.
Zeke walked down the hall of the TCC’s clubhouse to one of the meeting rooms. The Texas Cattlemen’s motto, which was clearly on display on a plaque in the main room here, said, Leadership, Justice and Peace. He heard loud angry voices and recognized Brad’s and knew the female one belonged to Abigail. He wondered if they’d forgotten