Page 57 of Drive
Larry gave a low chuckle. “Well, for about three years, Dylan sent a check every month, but he got a letter from her about that time tellin’ him she was gettin’ married, and her new man wanted to be the only father her boy ever knew, so he should stop sendin’money.”
Rainey had a little brother. A brother who was alive. She swallowed hard because as she tried to picture him, the image that rose in her mind was John Lee. But this child couldn’t look like him. The only brother Rainey had ever known had been the spitting image of theirmom.
“What’s his name?” Rainey asked, needing to get the vision of a ghost out of herhead.
Larry’s answer was immediate. “Last I knew, it was Ray CharlesReeves.”
“Goddammit.”
Jacques’s brows rose at her curse, but Larry only chuckledagain.
“Don’t know how he did it, but your daddy got his way on that. Like he alwaysdid.”
“Sonofabitch,” she hissed, and Larry just laughed. “You think he could make it a little easier not to hate him. Just now and then. He’s a fuckingcliché.”
Jacques seemed to bite down on a smile that was both surprised and concerned, but Larry sobered. “Now, Rainbow, don’t be mad at him. The man is what heis—”
“Yeah, apig.”
“Hey, now. That pig is my best friend. Been through a lot with him. With every human bein’, you gotta take the good with the bad, and in my view, your daddy has a lot moregood.”
Rainey didn’t bother arguing. As a friend, Doc Dylan Reeves might have been great, but as a father, he sucked billy goatballs.
“And remember, I didn’t tell you this to make you mad,” Larry hedged, clearly trying to calm her down. “I told you because young Ray Charles Reeves — or whatever his new daddy decided to call him — shares blood with our Holi, and he might just be able to helpher.”
“Larry, he’s akid—”
“Kids — that is, kids who are family — can be donors. If they want to, and their parents agree,” Larry said. Then his voice turned sheepish. “I looked it up when you called askin’ for Dylan to get tested… just in case it came tothis.”
Rainey rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no reason to tell me I have a brother if you don’t needto.”
His voice dropped to a low mutter. “Not my news totell.”
“So whyareyou telling me? Why hasn’t Dad? Why didn’t he tell me last week when Icalled?”
“The way he figured it, if one of you matched, he wouldn’t have to.” Larry cleared his throat. “It’s not like he’s particularly proud of his actions, and Dylan doesn’t want to hurt you girls or Melinda any more than hehas.”
The anger Rainey felt on her mother’s behalf set her teeth on edge. The years she had thrown away for thatman!
“So he knows you’re telling me now?” she asked, outrage reaching a steady boil in herblood.
“No, I made that call. I figure he’ll be pissed I didn’t clear it with him first, but I don’t want to waste more of Holi’stime.”
“Ya think?!” Her outrage boiled over. “Funny our father didn’t come to thatconclusion.”
Her voice was raised now, so she didn’t hear Ash’s Charger pull in, but a moment later Jacques turned at his approach, and her eyes followed his in time to see Ash walking up thedriveway.
“You know how he is, darlin’. He can’t handle the seriousstuff—”
“Yeah, noshit.”
“So he doesn’t let himself believe itisserious—”
“Even when it is—” Her throat caught on her words, and as angry as she was, she also felt the longing. How he’d all but vanished from their lives after John Lee died. Leaving them — leavingherespecially — to pick up the pieces. Longing for him, needing him made Rainey hateherself.
At once, Jacques’s hand was against her cheek, a soothing touch that allowed her to release the breath she held. Rainey raised her eyes to him and saw concern etched inhis.
“You want me to take over?” he murmured, just low enough for her to hear. But it was loud enough to drown out whatever excuses Larry was making for herfather.
