forgotten (Twisted Cedars Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

where I’m going to move.”
    “Don’t be in a rush to leave. You have enough problems to worry about. Like those poor kids. Who’s going to tell them about all this?”
    Jamie bit her lip. Despite having married Kyle, she had no legal claim to the twins. And that worried her. In the short time she and Kyle had been together, his daughter, in particular, had come to count on her.
    Jamie had promised Cory that she would be still be there, a part of the family, when the twins came home from camp. At the time it had seemed an easy promise to make, because though she’d begun to have uneasy suspicions about Kyle, she’d never guessed he was actually behind the so-called “disappearance” of his first wife.
    “Today is their last day at camp. Kyle and Charlotte, as well as the Sheriff, are going to pick them up and tell them the news together. ”
    “Poor things. And where will they live now? Surely not with Kyle, if he’s under suspicion for their mother’s death?”
    “Charlotte’s going to take them. She has lots of room in her house and I’m going to help with the move.” Jamie wished she could be given custody, at least temporarily, but since she and Kyle had been married for little more than a month, a blood relative had been preferred.
    “What about the twins’ grandmother?”
    Jamie shook her head. “Muriel isn’t up to it.”
    “She did look frail at your wedding,” Stella agreed. “And I noticed she left early.”
    A year ago everyone in town had been shocked when Muriel left her husband of over thirty years, Jim Quinpool, and moved to live with her sister in Portland.
    But Kyle’s parents must have known what happened. How could they not, when they were living in the house where Daisy had died?
    It could very well be that the strain and guilt had driven a wedge in the marriage and led to the divorce.
    “What a sorry mess,” Stella said.
    Jamie had to agree. In her “before” life, she would just be returning from her honeymoon now. Instead, she was alone again, without home or job.
     
     

chapter five
     
    t here’s something I probably should have mentioned last night.”
    Charlotte snuggled in Dougal’s arms. They were both naked, mellow after making love in the late morning sunshine that streamed through the open window. Across the room, Borden sat on a chair, watching them. Charlotte couldn’t decide if the cat looked disapproving, or merely bored.
    Dougal ran his hand gently up and down her back. “What’s that?”
    “The twins are coming home from summer camp today.” She cleared her throat, then gazed at his face to check his reaction.
    “Good thing they weren’t home when we found their mother.”
    “Yes...”
    Dougal shifted up on one elbow. “What are you trying to say?”
    “With Kyle under suspicion for Daisy’s death, and their grandmother out of town and in poor health, the kids need a temporary guardian.”
    “Don’t tell me.” Dougal scrambled out of bed and reached for his clothes. “My sister volunteered, right? Jamie hasn’t been married to Kyle for even two months, and now she’s going to be saddled with his kids? Damn it, I wish that sister of mine would listen to me once in a while.”
    “No, not Jamie.”
    Dougal was pulling out his phone, but he paused at her words. Then he frowned. “So, if not Jamie, then...?”
    “Me, Dougal. I’ve agreed to take custody of Chester and Cory. In fact, Wade will be here in thirty minutes. We’re supposed to be at Wolf Creek Camp by noon.”
    * * *
    “So how does Dougal feel about you taking custody of Daisy’s kids?” Wade asked.
    Charlotte turned her gaze to the ocean on the right. The churning waves matched the way her stomach was feeling right now. “I just told him this morning. He was kind of...shocked.”
    When she agreed to take the kids, she’d known her decision would likely endanger her fledgling relationship with Dougal. He had trouble enough committing to a woman, let alone one raising