Read Online McKettrick's Heart by Linda Lael Miller - Free Book Online Page A

that, I can’t. You brought Lucas into the world, Molly. Try as I might, I can’t feel anything but gratitude.”
    Tears burned in Molly’s eyes. “You are the most amazing person, Psyche Ryan,” she managed, fairly strangling on the words. “Worth ten of me, and a hundred of Thayer. He didn’t deserve you.”
    Psyche gave a hoarse chuckle. “Well, I agree with you about Thayer. The man wasn’t fit to lick my shoes. But you, Molly Shields, are an entirely different matter. You are a far finer person than you think.”
    Molly shook her head. “I was such a blind fool—”
    â€œStop,” Psyche said abruptly.
    Molly blinked, surprised.
    â€œYes, you made a mistake,” Psyche allowed. “But something very, very good came of it. And now I’m dying.” She stopped, regrouping. Perhaps absorbing, yet again, the fate she couldn’t escape. “I have no time for hand-wringing or for regrets, yours or mine, so buck up and get over it. The first moment I held Lucas in my arms I forgave you for everything. I blessed you. Now you need to forgive yourself, if only for Lucas’s sake. Can you do that?”
    Molly pondered the question, then nodded. “Yes,” she said. “But it won’t be easy.”
    â€œNobody said anything about easy,” Psyche responded. “Lucas will have fevers, and skinned knees, and all manner of required boy-experiences. Dealing with Keegan won’t be any stroll through the lilies either, but then, I suppose you’ve deduced that already.”
    Ruefully Molly nodded again.
    â€œI’ve asked Keegan to be the executor of my estate,” Psyche confirmed. “He wanted to adopt Lucas himself, you know. Leave you completely out of the picture. I refused, because I believe a child needs a mother.”
    â€œHow—” Molly choked, cleared her throat, started over. “How can you trust me, after all that happened?”
    Psyche smiled. “This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, Molly. I’m not giving Lucas to you just because you happen to be his birth mother. You’ve been checked out by the best private investigators in Los Angeles.”
    â€œBut you said something about not knowing my financial situation.”
    â€œI lied,” Psyche said sweetly.
    Molly laughed. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a raw, sob-like guffaw escaped her, and she put a hand over her mouth, too late.
    Psyche’s pain-weary eyes twinkled. “Perhaps wee can be friends, even this late in the game,” she said. “What do you think?”
    â€œI think I’d be honored to be your friend,” Molly answered.
    â€œKnow what?” Psyche asked.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThayer wasn’t good enough to lick your shoes, either.”
    Once again Molly laughed. She laughed so hard that she finally had to lay her head down on her folded arms and cry as though her very soul were bruised.
    Which, of course, it was.
    Â 
    A T SUNSET, K EEGAN STOOD looking up at the Ferris wheel looming in the middle of Indian Rock’s small park, trying to work up a celebratory mood. Try as he might, he couldn’t.
    Psyche was dying.
    McKettrickCo was being torn apart from the inside.
    Shelley wanted to take Devon thousands of miles away and install her in some institution so she and the boyfriend could walk the streets of Paris and hold hands in the rain.
    What a load.
    Keegan, meanwhile, was on tilt, like a pinball machine with a phone book under one leg.
    â€œDad?”
    He looked down, saw Devon standing beside him, flanked by Rianna and Maeve. Rance and Emma would be along later. In the interim, all three of the kids were munching on big pink fluffs of cotton candy, and would most likely be puking up their socks any second now.
    â€œCan we go on the pony ride, Uncle Keegan?” Rianna asked.
    â€œIt’s a donkey ride, ding-dong,” Maeve said importantly.
    â€œThere’s