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Elizabeth stood and thanked Carol for the pancakes, then she cleaned her plate at the sink. She turned around to Jack. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yeah, we are.”
She kissed her son. “Brady, be good while I’m gone.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
Jack knew Elizabeth would have a few choice comments for him when they got to the car alone. He was ready for them.
“Jack, I don’t want to take the car away from Kim.”
That he definitely wasn’t ready for. He shot her a confused look as he drove.
“I know she may have gotten it illegally,” she said, “but I imagine Reggie took more than he gave.”
“How do you know that?” Jack said, his voice full of irritation. He couldn’t believe she was concerned about a lying gold digger who faked a marriage and scammed to get more money.
“Trust me, I know.”
Reggie had no doubt done the same to her. But she was nothing like Kim Hall. He told her as much.
“You don’t know that. You’ve only known me for three days.”
Yeah, Jack said to himself, it was amazing, wasn’t it? “I know enough about you to know you’re nothing like Kim. She’s out to get what she can and she’s not interested in giving anything. You, on the other hand, will give to anyone who needs something.”
From the corner of his eye he saw Elizabeth look at him. He turned to her and grabbed her hand when the traffic came to a stop ahead of him.
“You’re a good person, Elizabeth. And I aim to see you get what you deserve.”
Her blue eyes glistened with tears and she ducked her head. “Thank you, Jack.”
“Nothing to it.”
They didn’t speak again till they got to the bank.
Jack did the talking, explaining the problem to the bank president. He invited him into his office and opened an account for Elizabeth. Then he called the bank in Amarillo. He faxed them a copy of Reggie’s death certificate and the papers from probate, which Elizabeth had supplied. He asked for the transfer of the funds available, telling whoever he was talking to that he had Reggie’s widow sitting in his office. Jack asked for her marriage certificate and handed it to the banker.
Elizabeth was shocked that she so easily let Jack handle her business. But there was something about him that made her feel safe, taken care of. For the first time in her life.
But he also made her angrier than a bull seeing red, she reminded herself.
Caught in her daydream, she lost track of what the men were discussing. When Jack put a piece of paper in front of her, she stared at the figures on it, but they didn’t really register.
“Elizabeth, what do you think of this balance?” Jack nudged her.
She forced herself to focus on the figure in front of her, but the six figures kept fading in and out. It couldn’t be. Reggie couldn’t have left almost a quarter of a million dollars! Incredulous, she choked out, “This is the balance right now?”
“Yeah, that’s before we recover the money for the car.”
As if snapped out of a trance by a hypnotist, she felt her head clear. “I told you I didn’t want to take the car away. It’s not something I want to drive.”
“If you don’t take the money away from her, you’ll be allowing her to get away with fraud,” the banker explained.
“I don’t want the car and I don’t want to bring charges against the woman. I’m sure she won’t do that again.”
Jack commiserated with the banker, and they whispered together while Elizabeth sat quietly and took in the new developments.
Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Never in her life did she ever think to see that much money. And now she owned it all.
“Elizabeth, what do you want to do with the money?”
She gave Jack and the banker a blank look.
The bank president leaned forward. “My advice would be to put the bulk of it in high-yield investments and the remainder in an interest-bearing checking account.”
That sounded good to her.
“How about we keep ten thousand in the checking?” the banker suggested. “Is that enough for you?”
She looked at him as if he were crazy. “More than enough.”
“In that case, then, I think we’re finished here. We’ll send you your checks when they’re printed, but in the meantime you can use these.” He handed her a few generic checks and stood up. “A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Ransom.”
Shaking his hand, she returned the compliment.
When they exited the bank, her head was still spinning at the money at her disposal.
“How are you feeling?” Jack asked her.
“I’m not sure really.” She turned to look at him. “Jack, do you promise to leave Kim alone?”
“Yeah, but why are you protecting her? She doesn’t care about you.”
“I know that, but…but we were victimized by Reggie. She deserves something.”
“So you’re going to let her get away with it?”
“Yes, and I’m tired of talking about it.”
“But it’s a lot of money.”
“Yes, it is. And I have a lot of money now, myself. I can afford to let her have it.” To terminate the conversation, she walked ahead, leaving Jack standing outside the bank.
Elizabeth was eager to break the news at home.
When they got to the ranch she found Kim sitting by herself at the kitchen table. “Do you know where Carol is?”
“Never mind that,” she said with a sharp tone. “What did Jack do to my car? It won’t start, and Tom said Jack did something to it.”
“Jack thought you should remain here until we got things straightened out at the bank.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We had the bank transfer Reggie’s money to my account.”
The blonde nearly lost control. “You can’t do that! That’s my money!”
Despite her outburst, Elizabeth remained in control. “We didn’t report your theft of the car you bought, Kim, but you should calm down. I understand that Reggie betrayed you, too. But the kids need the money their father earned.”
“But he was going to marry me! I deserve that money!”
The woman was so loud, Tom and Brady came out of Tom’s room. Carol hurried down from upstairs and Jack came in after fixing Kim’s car as he’d promised.
Faced with so many people who had little interest in her position, Kim appeared to think she should get louder rather than quieter.
Elizabeth tried to reason with her, but she refused to listen.
Jack didn’t see any need for sympathy. “Face it, Kim. You stole fifty thousand dollars that didn’t belong to you. Because of Elizabeth’s generosity and sympathy, she’s letting you keep the car. But the rest of it is hers.”
“I have more checks!”
“It doesn’t matter. If you try to pass another check on that account, you’ll be arrested and put in jail.”
She stared at him, obviously overwhelmed. “But what should I do? I have to have a man to support me! Reggie promised to take care of me!”
“You’re going to have to find someone else to take care of you. Reggie can’t anymore.”
Jack sounded so stern that Elizabeth felt like crying herself.
Kim, on the other hand, got meaner. “You can’t tell me what to do! I’ll find a way to get that money! It certainly doesn’t go to her just because she had a couple of kids!” Then she paused long enough to take a breath and turn to Elizabeth. “I think I’m pregnant, too!”
Chapter Six
EVERYONE froze, staring at her.
Brady looked at his mother. “What did she say?”
Realizing her young son shouldn’t hear this conversation, Elizabeth hunkered down to his level. “Sweetheart, would you go check on your sister for me? And then you can play in your room till Mommy comes up.”
A good boy, Brady did as he was asked.
Tom wasted no time. As soon as Brady turned away he asked Kim, “When were you last with my son?”
“About six weeks ago.”
“Have you been to a doctor?”
“No! I mean, I didn’t see the reason to—No, I haven’t been to the doctor.”
“You aren’t pregnant,” Jack said in disgust.
“I could be!”
“Come on, I’ll take you to the doctor,” Jack said gruffly.
“No! I’ll go to my doctor at home.”
Before anyone could waver, Jack held their ground. “I don’t think we should let her go until we get her checked out by Doc.”
Kim remained adamant. “I don’t want to go to a strange doctor.”
Elizabeth could understand that. She led Kim to a chair at the table. “I think we all need to sit down and discuss this quietly.”
She remembered Reggie’s reaction to her pregnancy with Jenny. He’d blown up at her, accusing her of lying, of tricking him. He’d vowed not to be trapped again, as he said he’d been with Brady. His callous reaction had hurt her immeasurably and she’d never forget how she cried.
Still, she knew one thing for sure: Reggie would never risk pregnancy again.
And she didn’t think he had this time.
“Look, Kim, Jack is just trying to help. I’m sure he didn’t mean to sound so gruff.”
Jack glared at Elizabeth. She ignored him and kept her gaze on Kim. “I know you must be uncomfortable talking about this, but we need to know. Did you have unprotected sex?”
“Not usually. Reggie was careful, but…but he forgot sometimes.”
“And you forgot, too?”
“Yes. I wanted to—I mean, I’m sure it was an accident, but—”
“I think we can settle this with a simple home pregnancy test.” She looked up at Jack. “Jack, could you go buy one?”
“Yeah,” he muttered.
He stalked out of the house, leaving everyone silent.
Elizabeth asked Carol to put on some water for hot tea.
Kim protested. “I’ll just have coffee.”
“You really shouldn’t have coffee if you’re pregnant.” Elizabeth smiled. “I know. I hated giving up my coffee.”
“And you did? Did your doctor insist? For the entire pregnancy?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“I didn’t know that.” Kim sat quietly for a moment, then she looked up at Elizabeth with frightened eyes. “I don’t think I want to be pregnant.”
