A Baby in the Bargain by Victoria Pade Page B

descendant of the horse.”
    “Still, confirmation lends credence. Especially a quote from a Camden that confirms that to the best of Franklin Thatcher’s knowledge, the factories and warehouses were supposed to be followed by the rest of the development H. J. Camden promised.”
    “I can confirm that because it was true,” Jani said without hesitation.
    Once again that seemed to raise some suspicion in Gideon’s green eyes. “You’re admitting that H.J. duped my great-grandfather?”
    Jani shook her head. “It was true that your great-grandfather believed that development would follow the warehouses and factories because it was H.J.’s plan,” Jani said.
    “Uh-huh, and sometime when I’m ready to hear it, you’re going to tell me about that,” Gideon said facetiously, reiterating what she’d said to him before.
    “Right.” But she could see that he wasn’t receptive to hearing it yet.
    “This isn’t an opportunity for you to win H. J. Camden points,” he warned. “The writer is a friend of mine, so if you try to slip in a single word to make H.J. look good or to make my great-grandfather take any of the fall—”
    “I won’t. I’ll be in complete agreement that Franklin Thatcher was on the up-and-up.”
    Gideon studied her the way he had on every other occasion they’d met, as if trying to read between the lines because he didn’t trust her.
    But Jani just weathered his scrutiny, as usual.
    At least it didn’t seem to take him as long as it had previously to accept that she meant what she said. She counted that as making some progress with him.
    “Once my great-grandfather’s name is cleared and he goes back to being seen as what he genuinely was—someone who loved Lakeview, who wanted the best for it, and thought what he was doing was going to accomplish that—then a building with his name on it, honoring him, makes more sense. As it is now, why would Lakeview want something honoring the mayor they essentially ran out of town?”
    Lakeview had run Franklin Thatcher out of town?
    Oh, dear...
    “You’re right,” Jani said without hesitation, realizing only then that it hadn’t occurred to either her or to GiGi that there might be the need to restore Franklin Thatcher’s name in advance of honoring him.
    “I’m sorry,” Jani added then, deciding to use this as an opening. “We only know H.J.’s side of things, we don’t know what happened to your great-grandfather in the aftermath of the broken promises. Or to the rest of your family, either.”
    She saw Gideon’s jaw clench but he didn’t say anything to enlighten her. Obviously it was going to take more to draw that information out of him. This was something that made him angry. But he seemed to be containing that anger for the first time, so maybe she was making some headway with him.
    Giving up the hope of learning everything at once, she opted for starting with an easier topic and said, “The part of the article that will be about you... What slant will that take?”
    “So far my interviews have mainly been my friend and me talking about the Thatcher Group, how that came to be,” Gideon said, finishing his donut and focusing on his coffee.
    “How did the Thatcher Group come to be?” Jani asked.
    He still seemed to be struggling to suppress his anger, so he didn’t rush to answer that question. For a moment he merely stared at his hand around the paper cup as if he might not give her the courtesy of a response.
    But after a moment, Jani had the impression that he’d set that anger aside and when he answered his tone was neutral.
    “I got my degree in architecture—”
    “Where?”
    “University of Colorado in Denver. I had to pay my own way through, so I couldn’t afford Boulder campus.”
    “You worked your way through college and grad school? No scholarships or grants or loans?”
    “I got a few small scholarships and grants, but I tried to avoid loans. Instead I had a low-paying internship with a downtown