Read Online Learning to Move Forward: Novella #3.5 by Cynthia P. O'Neill - Free Book Online Page B

his house in a few to check in on him and spend time with our niece and nephew.” His face held a quirky smile, making me wonder when we’d start trying for kids. We’d talked about them and we both wanted to have at least one or two, but that’s as far as we’d gotten in our discussion.
    The limousine’s horn went off. I knew we were on a schedule, but I never expected Laurel to be impatient. I wonder who she talked into honking the horn. I glanced through the window and noticed Thompson at the wheel, smiling and shaking his head.
    The day was already getting interesting.
     
    ***
     
    I’d decided to use Flair de Fleur for my gown selections. The dresses they selected for the benefits Laurel attended and for her wedding were amazing and flattered her figure perfectly, even hiding that she was pregnant with twins at the time she married.
    I was anxious on the ride over. When I’d gotten into the limo, Laurel noted something was off. “What gives, sis?”
    I laughed. “It’s going to take some time getting used to you referring to me as sister instead of cousin.” I patted her hand. “You’re my cousin, but you’ll always be my sister in my heart. You’ve been that for as long as I can remember.”
    I brought a couple of tears to her eyes. She leaned over, giving me a quick hug, then grabbed hold of my shoulders and really looked into my eyes. “Okay, I can tell you didn’t have much sleep. Either you were busy all night with Jonathan or something’s going on. Which is it?”
    There was no pulling anything over on Laurel. We’d known each other too long. “Both,” I admitted, sheepishly.
    “Okay, spill it.” Damn, I was rubbing off on her, because that’s one of my lines.
    “I saw Jocelyn yesterday and we had a bit of a break-through. Then Jonathan was called into the restaurant because the head chef had an emergency and the place was overrun with theater goers, so I ate in his office and wrote in my notebook.” I took a deep breath in and explained how the writing got me to dreaming and then waking up with a realization of something I’d chosen to block out of my mind.
    I was thankful she’d put the barrier up between us and Thompson so I could speak freely. I told her everything in detail. Her eyes were wide with shock. “I knew he’d violated your trust, but damn, you should’ve prosecuted his ass. Now I’m glad to know Freddie beat him up and Donny put the fear of God in him.”
    Wait. What? “The fear of God! What did Donny tell him?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
    Her hand went to her mouth and she shook her head. “I promised I’d never tell.”
    I slammed my hand down against the seat. “Damn it, Laurel. I have a right to know! Now spill it or we can just return home and I can take myself to the shop.”
    Her shoulders slumped with defeat. “Fine, you win. But don’t ever let Donny know that I’ve told you.”
    “Okay.” Besides, how bad could it be?
    She grabbed hold of my hand and took a deep breath. “Donny and Freddie wanted to kill him for what he’d done to you. They knew they couldn’t, but they felt like it. Before they wiped Barry’s phone clean, he’d sent the pictures to his own phone so he could have evidence, should Barry ever try to harm you again. He wanted to be sure he could put him away for a long time.”
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He’d lied to me about wiping the photos away. He’d actually held onto them all this time. All I could muster was, “Why would he do this to me?”
    She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug as my tears started falling. “He and Freddie didn’t want to look at the photos. They saved them to an encrypted disc that was password protected and put safely in a lock box. Barry threatened to post your pictures all over the Internet. He said he wouldn’t stop taunting you until your life was ruined. He wanted everyone to know the only thing you were perfect for was a good fuck.”
    The one thing