go and do it alone, but it wasn’t something a new boyfriend should be there for. “Okay, but if you need anything, you’ll call me, right?”
She kissed him softly on the lips and smiled. “I will. Thank you, Gabriel.”
“She thinks you killed her?” Sally had just picked up her beer off the bar to take a drink. She sat it back down and looked at Blackheart with wide, brown eyes. He’d found her at Ace’s bar and told her the story. If it had been up to him wholly, he hated to admit, he would have never gone looking for the girl. Sally was the one that told him he had to find out for sure. She told him he’d question it forever if he didn’t. Sometimes he wondered if he was as good a man as Sally thought he was, or if she saw something in him that just wasn’t there. Had he known he had a kid when Patrice was a child and she needed him, he was sure he would have stepped up, but this girl was an adult, and one who didn’t seem to like him all that much to boot.
“I don’t think she really believes that. She just desperately wants to believe her mama didn’t kill herself and leave her alone. All that anger just came out at me.”
“Was there a note, or anything? Did her mother leave a suicide note?”
He shook his head. “Not that she said, and since she did manage to get a copy of the police report, and her mother’s diary, I’m guessing she’d have that too.”
“Hmm, that is weird. I mean, she had her daughter with her when she suddenly decides to kill herself, not leaving anything for the baby, or making any arrangements for her? I know a lot of mothers, and that doesn’t sound very maternal to me.”
Blackheart smiled at her. “You have always had a strong maternal instinct, it’s how you’ve taken such good care of me and the boys all these years.”
She laughed. “Not sure who got the better end of that deal. So, are you going to look into it?”
“We did, of course,” he said, ignoring the last question. But Sally wasn’t going to let it go that easily.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
She laughed. “Really? About Patrice.”
“What would you expect me to do?”
“Nope. I’m not going to tell you what to do. You need to figure this one out on your own. But...”
He laughed. “I knew that ‘but’ was coming. Look, mon cherie, she’s an adult. If she’s my kid what difference does it make at this point?”
“If it were me, it would make a world of difference. This girl just found out she was cheated of her mother for twenty-three years. Don’t you think knowing she had a father would ease that a little? And if nothing else you have the resources and the contacts to look into her mother’s suicide. At least put her mind to rest on that one.”
He sighed, rolled his eyes, and took a long drink of his beer. He drained the bottle, set it on the bar, and stood up. When Sally looked up at him, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ve got work to do. I’ll have to think about all that later.”
She smiled again. “Sure,” she said, not believing him. They both knew the truth was that he’d like to pretend he didn’t know anything about Patrice or her mother. But now that he did, he would undoubtedly not be able to leave it alone. “Will I see you later?” she asked.
“Les alligators sauvages ne pouvaient pas m’éloigner.” Wild gators couldn’t keep me away. It had taken too many years and almost losing Sally twice for him to finally realize that she was all he ever wanted, or needed. She was still refusing to marry him, or even call herself his old lady...but he was sure he’d convince her someday, or go to his grave trying.
5
Gabe got back to the club in time to finish helping Ripper fix the bar. Ripper didn’t exactly apologize for what he’d said the night before, but the chin nod and “You want a beer, fuck-face?” when he went into the back was good enough for Gabe. They worked side by side for several hours until the already lopsided bar looked as good as, or better than, it had before they’d thrown each other into it the night before. Nothing in the Jokers clubhouse was