Finders Keepers Edie Baylis (phonics readers .TXT) 📖

grasped at Dulcie’s hands. ‘Oh Dulcie, you won’t. Robert loves you. And he didn’t need me to tell him. He... he said looking at that picture of Michael was like looking in the mirror... I could hardly deny that.’

Dulcie ramped up her sobbing. ‘Robert doesn’t love people!’

‘He loves you, I’m sure,’ Teagan cried. She’d never forgive herself if Robert turned his back on Dulcie because of this.

‘What if he never forgives me? He said he won’t come to Helen’s funeral and I need him there,’ Dulcie wailed, the lies tripping off her tongue.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him,’ Teagan soothed, devastated for her part of the problem and equally aghast at having volunteered to get Robert to change his mind. She knew exactly how he felt about Helen, but resigned herself to the task. It was the least she could do to make Dulcie’s life less painful.

‘I suppose you’ve given Robert that box too?’ Dulcie whimpered.

‘No, of course I haven’t. I’ve still got it, just like you asked. Regardless of what it may look like. I didn’t mean to betray you.’

Dulcie dabbed at her face with a handkerchief. Good. So Teagan still had the box and she was still playing ball.

Seventeen

GWEN STARED BLINDLY at the paperwork in front of her, her mind centred on what would happen between Jonah, his brother and that woman. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she barely noticed Saul enter the office until he was almost on top of her. ‘Christ!’ she spluttered. ‘You nearly gave me a heart attack!’

‘Don’t do that! We could do without you going AWOL again,’ Saul grinned. ‘Got a cuppa for me?’ Sitting heavily on the edge of Gwen’s desk, he glanced around. ‘Take it the tart hasn’t put in an appearance? Still, at least she got more people to sign up to the VIP list, so she’s good at something, short of flashing her tits and honey trapping my brother.’

Gwen gave Saul a wary glance. His presence always made her uncomfortable.

Saul lowered his voice. ‘She’s no good that one. She’d have quite happily fucked me the other day. I gave her a bit of the old charm to see if she’d flirt and did she ever! You should have seen the way she was looking at me!’

Gwen stared at Saul accusingly. ‘What did you do to her?’

Saul raised his eyebrows. ‘Do to her? Christ, Gwen! I wouldn’t touch that slut with Keith’s! I did sod all, apart from prove a point, yet she couldn’t have pushed her tits in my face any more without fucking suffocating me!’ He wiped his hand across his brow and laughed. ‘I thought I was going to fucking die!’

His face suddenly turned into a scowl. ‘Joking aside, she’s got my brother over a barrel. I told him what a stupid cunt he it, but he can’t see it. I won’t let him marry her, Gwen – baby or not.’ He bared his teeth into a snarl. ‘Half of this firm is mine and she’s not getting her hands on it.’

Gwen was speechless. So Saul hadn’t been all over Lena? She studied his roguish face, pretty sure he wasn’t lying. Should she risk telling him her suspicions and getting him on side? It could backfire horribly, but she had to do something.

Saul folded his arms. ‘You’re looking at me funny. Whatever that bitch has said, it’s bollocks, believe me. I want her gone from here. She’s a cunt. And cunts are only good for one thing, but I’ll leave that specific pleasure to my blindsided fuck of a brother who wants to play happy families with the dog.’

Gwen took a deep breath and lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘I shouldn’t be saying this, but I don’t know what else to do.’ She swivelled round in her chair to face Saul. ‘She told Jonah you tried it on with her and furthermore, I don’t believe she’s really pregnant.’

Saul’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is that so? The lying bitch! I guess I’ll have to find that out after I’ve put this shit right with my brother.’ Lena had made an even bigger mistake now. Whether she was pregnant or not made little difference. If she was, she wouldn’t be for much longer. Either way, she would be out of here.

TEAGAN DID HER BEST to stack the plates on the small work surface in Robert’s kitchen. Her hands were still shaking and her eyes still red from the soul-destroying conversation she’d had with Dulcie this afternoon.

During dinner, with Robert still not back, Dulcie was back to her usual bright chirpy self – as if that dreadful conversation between them earlier hadn’t taken place at all. When Robert appeared just as she and Dulcie were finishing up, Dulcie had cheerily informed him that his tea was keeping warm in the oven. Teagan had barely been able to look at him as he’d hovered in the doorway, brusquely saying he’d grabbed something on the way back.

When he’d headed to the bathroom and the shower began running, Teagan had breathed a sigh of relief. Now Dulcie had gone for a lie down, leaving her to clear up and worry about when she would have the conversation with Robert about going to Helen’s funeral tomorrow, like she’d promised.

What a bloody mess. The whole equilibrium had shifted. Dulcie was heartbroken and although it was true Teagan hadn’t purposefully told Robert about his father, she should have still checked something hadn’t been left lying about for him to find.

Now she wasn’t even sure whether Dulcie believed what she’d said and with a heavy heart, felt the old lady’s trust in her might indeed be broken beyond repair.

HEARING ROBERT COME OUT OF THE BATHROOM, Dulcie lay immobile on the top of the bed listening as his footsteps passed her bedroom.

She was planning how to act at tomorrow’s funeral. The trick was to behave suitably distraught but not so much to detract