“Give me the paperwork, and I’ll sign it and note that I’m passing it to her. Just to warn you, if it upsets Ms. Kelly in any way, I’ll be pissed,” Carter informed him, holding his hand out.
Looking from him to me and back again, Mr. Osborne finally relented. “Okay, but could you please make an asterisk at the bottom and add that you’re passing it to her with your signature next to it.”
Doing just that, Carter took the random letter and waited for the man to say something.
Finally, he did.
“Ms. Kelly, I’ve known Mr. Kelly since he was a kid. When he asked me to find you and to bring this letter to you, I was worried he’d be opening a can of worms for himself, but I can see his intuition on the matter was better than my own.”
Fidgeting with the hem of his jacket, he added, “I hope once you read it that you decide to reply to him. I think…” he trailed off. “I know you’ll make a difference to each other’s lives.”
And with that, he turned and walked down my driveway to a black sedan parked at the end of it.
Carter didn’t pass me the letter immediately. Instead, he watched as the guy drove away, then pulled his phone out and made a call.
“Hey, yeah, I need a favor. Can you trace a license plate for me?” He paused, then recited the plate number to whoever was on the phone. “Sid Osborne, yeah, that’s the name he gave us. Why would someone from Kansas be here in Texas?”
The question was rhetorical because we wouldn’t know the answer until we opened the letter. “Okay, next trace for you. Jeremy Kelly, and I’m assuming he’s in Kansas, too.”
Turning away from him, I went back to the baby fry in the tank. The next batch of newborn babies was already swimming freely right in front of me.
Knowing I couldn’t pull Carter away from the call to help, I lifted the lid and went back to scooping with the net, ensuring I got all of them out of it when I tipped them into the nursery, then picked up the baster to get the rest. Shanti was going to pee her pants when she saw them all.
“Here, I’ll take over. Your arms aren’t quite long enough to get the ones in that far corner.”
Passing him the baster, I squatted down to look at where he was talking about. Sure enough, there was a cluster of them hiding behind a plant.
“Which one’s giving birth? And how do we know when she’s done?” I was such a lousy fish momma. I didn’t even know one of my new babies was pregnant.
“We’ll have a look online when I’m done to figure it out and also to see which ones are female and which are male. At this rate, you’re going to need a bigger tank.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, I burst out laughing. “It’s the fish version of Jaws and needing a bigger boat. At this rate, we’re going to need another one of these nursery things.”
The whole time we worked on them, my eyes kept drifting back to the standard-sized envelope in the back pocket of Carter’s pants. What was in it?
Wiping off his hands, he gestured to the kitchen. “Let’s go wash our hands off, and then we’ll discuss it, okay?”
Shrugging, I followed him and scrubbed at my hands with soap while he did the same thing next to me. If it weren’t for the emotions and worry going around inside me, I’d be amused by how domesticated it was.
“I think we’ve got three choices here, Nome. One, you open it and read it and keep it to yourself. Two, you read it and tell me what’s in it. Three, I open it, read it, and then let you know the contents of it.” When I didn’t answer, he added sheepishly, “Or secret option four, I read it and deal with it for you.”
“Option three. You read it and tell me what’s in it.” There was no hesitation. I knew I could trust him to help me figure it all out.
Leaning across the table, he kissed me softly. “I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you and Shanti. No matter what’s in the letter, I’m here supporting y’all.”
Shoving my hand into my hair, I blew out a breath. “I just don’t get what could possibly be in it, Carter. I’m not involved in anything illegal, and the members of my family who were into bad things are in prison. What could be so bad?”
“Let’s not tempt fate by saying that, baby.” Pulling it out of his pocket, he opened it and read the contents, the muscle in his jaw tightening. “I don’t fucking believe it. What the— Jesus Christ.”