Schultz jumped to do just that, helping Heather out the door a moment later. Heather who, surprisingly, was very quiet and meek as she left, which was quite unusual for her. Every time I’d met her, she’d been abrasive, nosy, and wouldn’t give up for anything. Like a dog with a bone and a scent, she wouldn’t ever give up.
“Whatever you do,” Francine whispered behind me so quietly that I could barely hear. “Don’t tell her that you…”
Whatever she was about to say was cut off when Pearl’s eyes snapped to me. “You.”
I blinked. “Yes?”
“You are not good enough to carry the Pope name. You will at once stop seeing my granddaughter,” Pearl ordered harshly.
I blinked. “What? Why would I carry the Pope name?”
“Because, it’s tradition. If a man marries a Pope, the man takes the Pope name,” Pearl informed me.
I would’ve laughed had she not been completely, one-hundred-percent serious.
“I’m sorry.” I paused. “But I do have my balls. Would you like to see them?”
Fran pinched me.
I would’ve laughed had I not thought it would set the old woman off.
Pearl’s eyes were already narrowed on mine. “Like I told Heather Trudell,” she hissed. “I have the money to fight anything you lay at our feet. If my granddaughter makes the mistake of marrying you, and I know that she will because you have a really pretty face, I’ll be here to fix that mistake when she realizes that she made one.”
God, Fran and Mavis were right. Their grandmother was a bitch. No wonder Fran hadn’t mentioned meeting her. She was nothing like my own grandmother, who would’ve done absolutely anything to make my life exactly like I wanted it.
No wonder she avoided the hell out of her. And, just sayin’, but if the woman had been calling me all day long, you bet your ass I would’ve ignored those calls, too.
“If I say or do anything to protect you, she’ll hone in on that as a weakness and make it worse. If I stay back here and act meek, she’ll eventually leave in a huff because I’m ignoring her. I love you,” she whispered.
Those words, whispered against my back, made me feel like I could take on the world.
And, possibly, even Pearl Pope.
“When we have kids,” I said to Pearl, gathering Fran closer to my back so that she was pressed as tight as she could be. “They won’t see you.”
Pearl’s eyes narrowed. “Think again, young man.”
“And when we get married, you won’t be invited to the wedding,” I continued.
Pearl’s spine snapped even straighter than she’d held it previously.
“I have to be there, or it’ll look poorly on me,” she hissed. “Even if I don’t agree with the relationship between you two.”
I snorted. “We’ll be going to Vegas for a shotgun marriage in a few weeks. She’s pregnant, and I can’t have her showing before she has my name.”
Pearl’s mouth dropped open. “Francine!”
I could feel Fran giggling against my back.
Easton shifted from foot to foot, either tired of what he was hearing, or frustrated with the woman in front of us.
Chief Wilkerson was like a silent sentinel at my side.
And let’s not forget all the other people that were now listening behind us and at our sides that’d come in off of shift, or were about to go out on shift.
“Now, let me focus on my job,” I told Pearl. “You know, that pesky serial killer that’s floating around out there with your granddaughter’s name in the forefront of his mind?”
Pearl hissed out a breath. “This isn’t over, Francine Pope. We will be discussing this.”
With those final words, Pearl swept out of the police station in a dignified huff.
The moment the doors closed behind her, Chief Wilkerson said, “I guess congratulations are in order?”
Francine lost it then. “I swear to God. I’m really a nice person, but she makes it so hard for me to continue being a law-abiding citizen.”
Chief snorted and clapped her on the back. “We’ll give y’all a few minutes.”
I understood that for the order that it was.
Fran did, too.
“Can I borrow your car?” she teased.
I snorted. “I would if I could, but I’m fairly sure that it was you that borrowed it this morning. You dropped me off, remember?”
She sighed against my back and I turned to gather her into my arms. “Your grandmother is…”
“A raging bitch?” she finished for me.
I snorted and dropped a kiss onto the top of her head, her riot of curls smelling of lime and some other smell I couldn’t identify.
Which reminded me. “The name of your hair stylist. Will you get it for me?”
She pulled back and fished her phone from her pocket, fiddling on it before sending me whatever she’d found.
“I sent you her details,” she said. “I’ll hitch a ride from the two that are still out in the parking lot arguing.”
“How do you know that they’re outside?” I wondered, looking over her shoulder to the small sliver of parking lot I could see.
“My sister has a sixth sense when it comes to Pearl Pope. She’ll be there. I was just hoping to avoid them seeing my grandmother as I feel this vibe coming off of them, and I wanted them to have some alone time,” she admitted.
I waited until she sighed and started to pull away before tightening my hands on her. “I love you, too.”
Her breath hitched, and those big blue jean eyes lifted to meet mine.
“And, if you’re into it, I have no problem going to get hitched in Vegas the moment this is all over,” I teased.
Her eyes went wide. “You were serious? I thought you were just putting on a show for my grandmother.”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t putting on any show. I want you. I want you to carry my name. And as long as you have no problem with my own grandmother being there and not yours, I’m down for Vegas.”
She shook her head. “When you get done here today, let’s go meet your grandmother. I want to make sure that she knows me.”
I winked. “I’ll call her and tell her we’re coming.”
CHAPTER 22
I thought I wanted a career. Turns out, I just want a paycheck.
-text from Fran to Taos
TAOS
“Taos, I’m dying.”
I looked over at my grandmother. The woman that would’ve raised me after my parents had passed away if she hadn’t been so ill—she’d battled cancer for many years before she’d finally beat it.
She was ninety-four.
But she was a spry ninety-four.
“You’re not dying,” I tried to argue.
“Tomorrow, I want you to go pick up Fran. And I want to go with you. Spend the day with you two.”
I looked at the chalkboard in front of me, at all the possibilities of who this serial killer could be and felt my stomach tense. “I can’t spend the day with you tomorrow. We have a new lead that we’re following up tomorrow. But as soon as this is all over, you’re going to come with me to Vegas and watch me marry the woman that I’ve fallen in love with.”