Read Online Believe Me (Hearts for Ransom Book 3) by Georgia A Evans - Free Book Online

Claire finally reached a decision. The two of them were going on a trip of their own.
    A few minutes later, she found herself driving her car and talking to Zoey, bundled up and fastened into her seat in the back of the car.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t get you a dad who can love you,” she told her little girl. “I mean, he loves your brother as well as he can, but I don’t think he really knows how to love people. Maybe he can be your friend. Care to share your opinion about that?”
    Zoey’s response was a nice, healthy burp.
    “Okay, then.” Claire would accept that as agreement. “Someday, when you’re grown up, I’ll explain everything to you. Except, I’ll never tell you I can’t remember your conception.” She could only imagine what that would make Zoey think of her mother. Her daughter would think her father was a bed-hopper, and her mother was a lush. “Nope. I’ll keep that part to myself for the rest of my life.”
    Try as she might, her memories from that night refused to expand. Mason kissed her, and she wasn’t going to lie to herself, she kissed him back—quite enthusiastically. Then the next thing she knew, she was half awake, lying there in a stupor watching him dress so fast she couldn’t believe her eyes. Mason had been in an unbelievable hurry to get out of there. Judging by her experience, the emphasis should be on the “leave ‘em” when people referred to him as “Love ‘em and Leave ‘em Wright.”
    “What are we doing?” she asked Zoey. “We can’t do this.” Zoey didn’t contribute anything to the conversation, but Claire could still hear Emily telling her that Mason had hurt her, too. “Emily’s happily married,” she proclaimed to her daughter defensively. “She doesn’t have Mason’s baby, so he couldn’t have hurt her as badly as he did me, could he?”
    This time, the gas Zoey expelled didn’t come in the form of a burp. “Keep that up, Zoey,” Claire encouraged her. “Your father may have second thoughts if you give him a good healthy dose of reality.” Zoey giggled. “Okay. We’re going, but he’s only going to get to see you, and maybe hold you. You won’t know he’s your father—maybe not ever, but we’re going to let him meet you.”
    Zoey responded with another burst of wind and more giggles. “What did your brother feed you for breakfast this morning?” Claire shook her head. At least Mason wasn’t going to be exposed to sunshine and lollipops. She wondered how he’d feel about holding a tooting baby. The man wanted to meet and hold his daughter. Zoey might just see to it that her father was in for a rude awakening.

 
     
    Mason’s foot itched, and he couldn’t figure out how to scratch it. He tried stretching out in his bed and rubbing it on the rail, but that only succeeded in making it itch worse. He felt like a clumsy contortionist when he tried to maneuver his torso so he could reach it with his good arm while keeping his cast-stiffened left arm out of the way.
    Colton and Joni had just left, or he would have taken a chance on listening to Colton mouth off for a good year or more, and asked him to scratch it. Maybe after tomorrow when they moved him to the long-term care wing, he’d be out and around people more often. What good that would do him in this type of situation, he didn’t know.
    “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Could you scratch the instep on my right foot, please?” He’d make lots of new friends that way. He snorted. He’d more likely end up in an entirely different wing of the hospital—one with nice, soft padded walls.
    A quiet knock sounded on his door. Maybe it was somebody he could ask to help him with that blasted foot.
    “Come in.”
    The door opened, and a lovely young woman walked in. She looked vaguely familiar to Mason, but he couldn’t quite place her. A light blonde ponytail hung over one shoulder, and even under the loose football jersey and baggy coat she wore, he could tell there was the