Gone Read Online Free Page A

“For whom?
Must be the Delanceys, because your family can
hardly claim any respect.”
    His mother drew herself up to her full five feet five inches,
tossed her head regally and glared at him. “Joseph, I loved your father. I never
wanted to wave my status as the other woman in their
faces. Con was Catholic and his church was important to him. He would never have
gotten a divorce, even if Lilibelle had agreed to give him one, which she
wouldn’t have.”
    “How are you such an expert on the Delancey family?” he asked,
then answered himself. “Never mind. You were shacking up with the patriarch. Of
course you’d know all about them.”
    “I don’t like your tone, young man,” Kit snapped.
    He had to fight to keep his mouth from turning up in a sneer.
“Okay. I’ll just have to live with that, because I don’t like your lifestyle.
Never have. Never will.”
    Kit Powers drew back her hand as if to slap her son, but he
stopped her with a glare. “I’m sorry. I really am. But answer this for me, Mom. You made a special trip out here to tell me that
Con Delancey is my father? Why now? Why today? I’m thirty years old. Did you not
think it could wait another minute?”
    His mother’s face was pink with frustration and anger. “I’m not
sure why you’re so upset. I came out here to warn you. Detective Delancey told
me that he couldn’t guarantee who else saw the birth certificate. He’s expecting
the information to be leaked to the media, which is why he came to me as soon as
he could.”
    “Wow,” Joe said, feeling mean. “I’ll be famous.” He mimed a
newspaper headline. “‘Joseph Powers, bastard son of the infamous Con Delancey,
let his own son be stolen at a local mall two years ago—’”
    “Stop it!” Kit cried. “Stop that right now. You did not let him be taken.”
    “Forget it,” he said, tired of the subject and tired of his
mother. “I don’t care who my father is or was. I never have. Now Teague—he’ll
get a kick out of being the bastard son of Con Delancey. What did he say?”
    “Your brother is not Con Delancey’s son,” she said flatly.
    “He’s not?”
    She shook her head. “Con left me when he decided to run for
governor. I never saw him again. He moved back in with Lilibelle, three years
before Teague was born. He was present in your life until you were almost three
years old.”
    “So who is —”
    “Don’t even ask, because I’m not telling you. Either of you.
Just let it go.”
    “So my brother—my half
brother —doesn’t get to know about his dad unless...I guess I should say until another Kit Powers scandal occurs? Great
job of being a mother, Kit. ”
    Her cheeks turned red as she looked at her watch. “I really
should be going. My yoga class—”
    “Right,” Joe said, sitting back down behind his desk. “Well,
thanks for the update,” he said wryly.
    Kit smoothed her skirt and her hair and started to turn toward
the doorway.
    “Mom?”
    “What is it?” she asked, peering at him. “What’s wrong?”
    “Marcie thinks she saw Joshua.”
    Kit grimaced. “Oh, Joe.” She thought for a couple of seconds.
“Yesterday was her birthday, wasn’t it? Goodness, has it really been two years?
I’m sorry, sweetheart. She still thinks she sees him everywhere?”
    Joe shook his head. “No. Until yesterday, I hadn’t talked to
her or seen her in nearly a year. When she showed up at my door, she seemed
different. Not frantic. Not desperate. In fact she sounded pretty rational.”
    “Is she on medication? Maybe her doctor convinced her to take
antidepressants.”
    He smiled wryly. “No, that’s what I thought at first. But
however she did it, she seems to have pulled herself together pretty well. She
told me she saw a child in a car’s backseat and thought it was Joshua. But, Mom,
this time she got the car’s license plate, and she provided a very good
description of the woman driving.”
    Kit stared at him. “She did? Wow. That’s a lot different