Chapter 44, The ForgottenChild

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Chapter Forty-Four

He called his daddy from the truck. He answered on the first ring, of course he sounded groggy because they were asleep. Brad explained Crystal's latest stunt, and arranged for the paternity test. His father offered up all his resources, and his lawyers, to ensure this came out in Brad's favor. In the end, Brad agreed and gave his daddy permission to go ahead and contact Keith, to extend all pertinent resources to him.

He kept his word with Emily. After he fed the stock in the morning, got the men organized; he stopped in to see her. Maybe to reassure her he wasn't about to do anything stupid.

Over the next few days, Brad did his best to avoid Crystal. Although she made it difficult, placing herself directly in his path at every opportunity. She goaded him. And on the second day, after the paternity test was in, she followed him to town, and tried to corner him outside his lawyer's office.

"Get out of my way."

"I want to talk to you, please, Brad." He struggled to suppress his fiery temper and walked around her.

He walked right into Keith's office and sat down.

"She followed me to town, cornered me out front."

Keith got up and looked out the window. "That woman's got balls or is just plain stupid. Don't see her; she must have gone."

"So what's the news?"

Keith tossed him the envelope with the results. Brad reached out and held the envelope. For the first time in his life, he wanted to run; not face it. How could one piece of paper have the power to change his life forever? He closed his eyes. His throat tightened and he felt tentacles squeeze his heart. He forced himself to rip it open, pull out the sheet of white paper. He opened his eyes and gazed at the results and couldn't hold back the sting of tears. His lip trembled as he looked up at his longtime friend, who, for the first time since this started, had tears in his eyes. Brad shut his eyes, and wept.

      You can buy THE FORGOTTEN CHILD and the rest of the THE OUTSIDER series at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, Google, Gardners,  and Smashwords. You can sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, or like my Facebook page. See http://www.lorhainneeckhart.com/series/the-outsider-series/ for all links. Thank you for reading! THE FORGOTTEN CHILD has now been translated in TWO languages, GERMAN & FRENCH!      





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