Beautifully Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #5)

Aunts and Animosity

-LIA-

The annoying, incessant ring of a kitchen timer set the pace for my racing heart. Every beep matched the whir of blood rushing in my ears. And the squeal of steam escaping from the saucepot only added to my anxiety.

Yet, none of the noises truly registered. In a matter of mere seconds, the entire tone of the room had changed. I'd gone from smiling pleasantly at the sight of my son and his girlfriend giggling over a fork of spaghetti to watching them both turn sheet white the second my aunt rounded the corner behind me. Their eyes remained fixated on her now—Logan's jaw was set hard enough to make a vein on his forehead appear and Hailey's lips trembled as she backed away from the stove one millimeter at a time.

"You and Cliff Lloyd are still married, aren't you?" Jackie clarified her question and I turned to her in disbelief.

My lips parted on unspoken words to tell her that she was mistaken—we'd discussed Hailey at the park and agreed that it was just a coincidence that she shared a name with someone she knew. They weren't the same person. They couldn't be. Hailey wasn't married.

Before I could say anything, Hailey quickened her pace from a slow retreat to a race towards the stairs, but in the process, her foot caught on the corner of a kitchen rug and she tripped.

A gasp escaped my mouth as I finally found my voice again, but Logan's reflexes were quick. Before she'd come anywhere close to the ground, his arm had darted out to catch her with the same speed he'd had as a pitcher.

Just as quickly as she tripped, she was upright again and nestled in his arms. Both of his hands gripped her waist and pulled her back into his chest before he wrapped his arms around her in an almost-hug.

She glanced up at him with glassy eyes and he smiled at her softly as he held her a little tighter, "Hailey's mine, and I love her. She's stuck with me forever as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh," Jackie's gray eyes widened slightly and she gave a little nod. "I see. I just didn't realize that she and Cliff were divorced. I'm surprised no one's mentioned it around the docks. The two of them stirred quite the talk a few years back. What happened?"

"Nothing worth discussing," Logan's Adam's apple bobbed and his voice dropped an octave as it rumbled forward in a tone that became a little less-than-friendly. "We're focused on the future. Aren't we babe?"

Hailey gulped as her eyes trailed us all like a deer in headlights. She bit her lip a little harder and took a step back into Logan as if she was trying to disappear into his chest.

"So you are divorced, Hailey?" Jacqueline inquired and I could audibly hear Jordan suck in a sharp breath next to me.

"You really haven't changed in the past forty-something years, have you?" Mom's voice was uncharacteristically terse as she spoke before he could.

"I beg your pardon?" Jackie looked at her. "I'm just making friendly conversation."

"Oh, don't play coy, Jackie. Not with me," My mother's usually soft countenance pulled into a menacing scowl and she scoffed. She perched her left hand on her hip while she extended her right pointer finger in an accusatory gesture. Her body shook just enough for it to be noticeable and her hazel eyes hardened. "You know exactly what you're doing. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"And why is that, Glenda? Please do tell."

It was rare to see my mother genuinely upset. Truthfully, I could count on one hand all of the rare occasions. Ninety-nine percent of the time, she had a way of remaining impeccably calm even under the best circumstances. Sometimes to the point of passivity. And that passiveness had always driven me nuts. I didn't have that kind of patience. When someone pushed my buttons, I responded with a fire that I'd always attributed to my father, but the Glenda Andrews standing in front of me now was a full-blown inferno just waiting to combust.