For The Sake Of His Heir

For his part, Gabe was glad to focus on helping her. Maybe that would alleviate the twinge of guilt over how he hadn’t mentioned that a marriage might help him with custody if Theresa decided to revisit the terms they’d agreed to previously.

“My family life was complicated even before my father remarried.” She turned to stare at an all-night diner lit up in bright pink lights. “Then, once he brought Wendy home, I was the odd one out.”

Something her father should have never allowed to happen. Gabe wouldn’t let anyone near his son who didn’t care about the boy. Jason had already been abandoned by his mother.

“You two didn’t get along?” Gabe asked, trying to envision her life as a kid.

Brianne had told him once that her mother had a long-term problem with prescription painkillers and had run off with her dealer when Brianne was only eight, leaving her in the care of a disinterested father. Even then, the grandmother had been Brianne’s role model, the woman who kept her family together.

“Something like that.” She glanced up at the high, neon vacancy sign flashing on a nearby hotel. “My stepmother had a jealous streak. She didn’t see me as a threat when I was nine, and gladly ignored me. But once I hit puberty, she turned vicious if anyone noticed me.”

Defensiveness for the girl she’d been had him straightening in his seat. He was angry on her behalf.

“Vicious how?” he asked, keeping his voice even. “Did she hit you?”

“No. Not quite.” She pivoted her shoulders toward him, dragging her attention from the window. “Some shoving once or twice. Mostly, she raged at me to keep my, um, breasts to myself while trying to wrench my too-small clothes around me to cover more.” She shook her head, dragging weary fingers through her thick waves. “A real class act.”

And Brianne had been just a kid. Damn.

His hand found her wrist, and he squeezed gently.

“No wonder your grandmother wanted you out of there.” He hated to think about an adult manhandling her like that when she was a child. “I’m so sorry you went through that.”

“I’ve heard Wendy is on medication now for some of her issues.” She crossed her legs, her foot swinging with the motion of the limousine as it made a sudden stop for a red light. “She was taking reasonable care of Nana and helping out with the rent up until a couple of months ago.”

He sincerely hoped he didn’t run into the woman who’d treated Brianne that way.

“Where’s your father these days? He doesn’t participate in caring for his family?” Gabe would trade almost anything to have his mom back. Losing her to cancer while he was a teen had devastated him far more than when his father quit showing up.