Falling For A Donovan (The Donovans Book 14)
Page 24
All of them looked up when Bailey entered. Tension filled the room instantly. She wasn’t sure how anyone was going to act with Dane standing only a few feet behind her. But he’d come all this way to see his sister, Bailey thought he deserved that chance.
“Look who came to see you and Miss Madison,” she said to Keysa.
For a moment Keysa only stared at Dane. He surprised Bailey by coming from behind her and moving closer to the bed.
“Good afternoon,” he said, speaking to everyone. “I didn’t want to miss the birth of my first niece.”
Bailey hadn’t even noticed he’d carried a bouquet of peach colored roses until he extended them to Keysa.
“Congratulations,” Dane said. “She’s beautiful.”
Uncle Bernard left the room at that moment and to Bailey’s surprise, Mary Lee followed him out. But Keysa had smiled and accepted the flowers.
“Thank you, Dane,” she said to him. “And thank you for coming.”
“Do you want to hold your niece?” Ian asked him.
Dane looked startled for a moment and Bailey wasn’t sure what he was going to do. Then he smiled. A gorgeous, comfortable smile and he replied, “Yes. I’d like that very much.”
Watching Dane hold Madison was monumental. Bailey didn’t know what to say, so she took out her phone and snapped a picture of the two newest additions to the Donovan family.
Henry and Al had been reminiscing about the births of their children while they returned from the cafeteria. The festive air around them was a good thing, bringing smiles to all of their faces, despite whatever else was going on. He’d wished that Beverly was here to see the baby. She loved babies. When he’d tried to call her to let her know that Madison was here, the call had gone directly to voice mail. When Bailey had sent Beverly a text message of the picture of Madison, Beverly had replied immediately. Henry tried not to let that get him down. He’d already vowed to fix this situation for his family and for his marriage and for the past week he’d been trying to do just that.
When his cell phone rang Henry immediately pulled it from his pocket and looked at the screen, hoping it was Beverly calling him back.
It wasn’t.
It was Roslyn.
Excusing himself from the waiting room, Henry went out into the hallway. Then he thought about being overheard by one of his family members and walked even further down the hall, toward the exit door.
“I’m done,” she said the moment he answered the phone.
“Roslyn? I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks,” he said. “Where are you? We need to talk, seriously, this time. No games. No more trouble from you. We just need to end this.”
“It ended the night my daughter was killed,” she replied. “I never meant for Jaydon to be hurt. I thought she could help, that’s why I directed her to your family. I knew that all one of those Donovan boys needed to do was see her and they would fall for her. Just like you did for me.”
Henry closed his eyes and sighed. “That’s what you need to stop thinking about, Roslyn. What you and I had has been over for a very long time. You have to figure out how to move on. Maybe go see another doctor and resume taking the medications they prescribed,” he suggested.
“Don’t!” she shouted through the phone. “Don’t act like you know me, Henry. Or that you are concerned for my welfare. The time for that has come and gone. Dane wanted to know who his father is and now he does. He hates me for how I addressed that issue, but he’s a man so he has no clue what was at stake for me all those years ago. But don’t you dare try to step in now with well-meaning advice. That is not what I want to hear from you.”
She sounded like she was trembling, possibly about to cry. Henry pushed that thought aside. It didn’t matter what she was doing. All that mattered was that she put a stop to everything she did against him and his family. Or else, this time he wasn’t going to sit idly by while she continued her path of destruction.
“Roslyn, I’m trying to stay calm here,” he told her.
“I don’t give a damn what you’re trying to do, Henry! Don’t you understand? I just don’t give a damn anymore! My baby is gone!” She yelled and then sobbed into the phone.
“Jaydon almost killed my daughter-in-law. She killed that man in Miami,” Henry stated. “You’ve killed too, Roslyn. Detective Lucas in Miami was only trying to help us. You didn’t have to shoot him, but you did and you left his wife and daughters without a father. And Darla, damn, Roslyn, Darla was already fighting for her life. The cancer was already ravaging her body. How could you drive her car off the road? How could you take those lives so callously?”
“Shut up! Shut up!” she screamed. “This is not a true confessions! I don’t have to answer to you or anybody else anymore. It’s done, Henry.”
She whimpered then, a helpless little sound that had Henry wondering where she was and what exactly she was doing. It was quick and then she was speaking again.
“It wasn’t supposed to end like this,” she said more quietly this time. “This is not how I wanted it to end.”
Then there was silence.
“Roslyn?” Henry called to her. “Roslyn?”
Nothing. The line went dead.
It’s done. That’s what she said. As Henry walked back to the waiting room he prayed that she was telling the truth. He prayed with every ounce of faith he had in him that this terrible time was actually done and over with.
Oh, how he prayed.
The Donovan Series
The Seniors are listed in order by birth and their children are listed below them (also in order by birth)
Senior – Albert Donovan
Brock & Noelle {Book#4 Full House Seduction}
Brandon & Amber {Book#13 In The Arms Of A Donovan}
Bailey & Devlin {Book#14 Falling For A Donovan}
Senior - Henry & Beverly Donovan
Lincoln & Jade (Children: Twin daughters, Torian & Tamala) {Book#1 Love Me Like No Other}
Trenton & Tia (Child: Son, Trevor) {Book#3 Defying Desire}
Adam & Camille (Children: Sons, Josiah and Jordan) {Book#2 A Cinderella Affair}
Senior – Bernard & Jocelyn Donovan
Keysa & Ian {Book#6 Holiday Hearts}
Brynne & Wade {Book#15 Destiny Of A Donovan}
Senior – Everette & Alma Donovan
Maxwell & Deena (Child: Daughter, Sophia) {Book#5 Touch of Fate}
Benjamin & Victoria (Child: Daughter, Aria) {Book#9 Pleasured By A Donovan}
Senior – Reginald & Carolyn Donovan
Parker & Adriana {Book#11 Embraced By A Donovan}
Savian & Jenise {Book #12 Wrapped In A Donovan}
Regan & Gavin (Child: Son, Raleigh) {Book#10 Heart Of A Donovan}
Senior - Bruce & Janean Donovan
Dion & Lyra (Child: Daughter, Ilyssa) {Book#7 Desire A Donovan}
Sean & Tate (Child: Daughter, Briana) {Book#8 Surrender To A Donovan}
The Donovan Friends
The Desdunes
Lucien & Marie Desdune
Lynette & Brice (Child: Son, Jeremy) {A Christmas Wish - Under the Mistletoe Anthology}
Cole & Loren {Always My Valentine}
Samuel & Karena (Child: Son, Elijah) {Summer Heat}
Sabrina & Lorenzo (Children: Daughters, Delia & Desirae, Son, Daniel) {Guarding His Body}
The Bennetts
Marvin & Beatriz Bennett
Alexander & Monica {Winter Kisses}
Ricardo & Eva {Always In My Heart}
Lorenzo & Sabrina (Children: Daughters, Delia & Desirae, Son, Daniel) {Guarding His Body}
Adriana & Parker {Embraced By A Donovan}
Gabriella
The Lakefields
Paul & Noreen Lakefield
Monica & Alexander {Winter Kisses}
Karena & Samuel (Child: Son, Elijah) {Summer Heat}
Deena & Maxwell(Child: Daughter, Sophia) {Book#5 Touch of Fate}
Books in reading order:
Love Me Like No Other
A Cinderella Affair
Guarding His Body
Defying Desire
Full House Seduction
Touch of Fate
Summer Heat
Winter Kisses
Holiday Hearts
Desire A Donovan
Surrender To A Donovan
Pleasured By A Donovan
Heart Of A Donovan
A Christmas Wish
Always My Valentine
Embraced By A Donovan
Wrapped In A Donovan
Always In My Heart
In The Arms Of A Donovan
Falling For A Donovan
Destiny Of A Donovan