Read Online Twisted Justice by Patricia Gussin - Free Book Online

of him.
    â€œWhat’d you say, Dad?” Kevin piped.
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œGrandma and Grandpa are here,” called Natalie excitedly as she ran ahead.
    â€œLaura, we have to talk,” Steve said as soon as there was a moment of privacy. The kids had charged into the house amid hugs and kisses and now crowded around their grandparents.
    â€œNot now. My parents will be leaving soon, and then I need to spend time with the kids before they go to bed.”
    â€œYou’ll have all week with the kids. Please, this is important.”
    Laura sighed. “Okay. For a few minutes.”
    Laura went over to her mother and whispered in her ear. Peg Whelan looked much younger than fifty-nine. She was trim and shapely with strawberry blonde hair naturally highlighted by the sun. Turning toward Steve, she nodded, but Steve saw the start of a frown in place of her usual sunny smile.
    â€œWhere you going, honey?” asked Carl Whelan as he juggled Natalie and Patrick on his lap. He was a tall man, distinguished looking at sixty-five with gray hair just starting to recede. Gentle by nature, he had always been supportive of Steve, but now he glanced coldly at his son-in-law.
    â€œWe’re going out for just a few minutes,” Laura said, approaching the front door.
    Neither of her parents had yet spoken to Steve. The look of disapproval in Peg Whelan’s eyes had a chilling effect making him feel deep remorse. The Whelans had always treated him like a son, and the truth was that Steve was much closer to them than to his own family — his dad — back in Traverse City, Michigan.
    Laura was the oldest of the three Whelan siblings and the only one living in Florida, just an hour and a half away from her parents’ home in Sarasota. Janet, two years younger, lived with her professor husband in Paris, and the Whelans saw her only one week a year, in Paris or Sarasota. So far, they were childless and the whole family knew that Janet was becoming increasingly desperate to have a baby. Ted, the youngest, now thirty-one, was a Jesuit missionary priest stationed in Uganda. Although so proud of him, they alsoworried about him as Idi Amin’s dictatorship in Africa turned more and more ruthless.
    Both Steve and Laura’s dad were die-hard Detroit Tigers baseball fans — had been all their lives — and that shared passion gave Steve a sense of belonging in the Whelan family. Not that they got to see much of the Tigers anymore, but whenever possible Steve and Carl would take the kids to Bradendon for spring training. Suddenly, Steve realized if he lost Laura, he’d lose the Whelans too.
    â€œLooking forward to seeing Billington play soon,” he said to his father-in-law, but Carl acknowledged Steve’s awareness of the baseball player’s move from Cincinnati to Detroit with only a shrug.
    â€œLet’s take a ride over to the park where we can talk,” Steve said to Laura as they stepped outside.
    â€œAll the way to the park?”
    â€œIt’s just a couple minutes away, c’mon.” He took her arm and led her to the Ford Fairlane. To his relief, she stepped in when he opened the door. “We’ll get some ice cream.”
    As he parked under the shade of an old willow at the park, Laura broke the awkward silence that had filled the car. “So did you go to Busch Gardens?”
    â€œYeah, but the kids didn’t have a great time. Not like when we’ve been there before. I’ve been thinking a lot and really —” he reached over and touched her knee, “we owe it to them to stay together.”
    â€œThe kids’ll be fine,” Laura answered, removing his hand. “But what are you going to do about getting a job?”
    Steve stared openly at his wife. “You know, I guess I can even understand why you did it. You had a good reason to be totally pissed at me for what I did.”
    Laura stared back. “Did