"Sure! I know how to play with little kids. We have little kids at my school. But not in my class."
Hope gave him a bemused look, her hand drifting back to her abdomen in a gesture I thought was unconscious. Based on the rock on her finger, I assumed she was married to Griffen. For our sake, it would be nice if she was as kind as she seemed.
Royal stepped in. "Daisy and I will hit the buffet in the dining room and make up plates, bring them to the office, and save Savannah the extra work." To me, he said, "Anything you don't eat?"
"Nope, whatever you have would be great." I'd eat anything, especially if it wasn't another drive-through meal shoved in my face on the road.
That quickly, the crowd dispersed, Royal and Daisy headed for the open double doors on the left side of the hall and Hope up the wide staircase to the second floor. Griffen, eyeing the cuffs again, led us to the right, through double doors that mirrored those Royal and Daisy had gone through. I tried to take in every detail of the house as we followed Griffen down a wide hallway.
The hallway opened on either side to rooms that should have been sitting rooms or galleries. Something formal, based on their placement in the house. Both were completely empty, dark squares showing on the wallpaper where paintings had hung. Weird.
We left the hallway to spill into a two-story library, every wall covered in leather-bound books except for the space taken up by a fireplace so big I could have stood comfortably inside and not had to bend even a little. My entire house would have fit easily in the library with plenty of room for my postage stamp of a yard.
I didn't get the chance to see more than that. A door on the far side of the library led to another hallway and a set of stairs that descended to the depths of the great house. Here, the feel shifted from elegant to medieval, the walls changing from plaster to stone as we turned on the landing and took the final steps to the lower level.
Once we were away from the main floor, Griffen turned to Tenn. "I'm assuming West is on the case?"
"I called him as soon as we found her."
A nod from Griffen. "Good." A glance at me. "Sorry for the long way around. The other entrance to the lower level is through the dining room and half the family is in there right now. I didn't think you'd want to explain the handcuffs."
"It's okay, Mr. Griffen, they're just playing a game," August assured him.
"Mr. Sawyer," I corrected automatically.
"But Mom, they're all Mr. Sawyer. How will they know who I'm talking to?"
I let out a sigh. I needed a good meal and either a vat of coffee or twelve hours of sleep to keep up with my kid. Usually, I was proud of his quick thinking. Hell, I was still proud of it even if it was momentarily annoying.
"Mr. Griffen works for me," Griffen said, a laugh in his voice.
I sighed. "Okay, August, but don't forget the Mr. part."
"I won't!" His pride offended, August sent me an affronted look. I ran my hand over his golden hair, not sure I wanted to leave him with this Savannah even if she did have a son of her own. I changed my mind seconds later.
A tall woman nearly ran into us, her strawberry-blond hair in a neat bun. She wore a long-sleeve gray dress in a tight herringbone pattern covered by a starched white apron. "Griffen, is everything okay upstairs?" Her eyes landed on the rest of us, processing Tenn, me, the handcuffs, and August in a heartbeat. Turning questioning gray eyes on Griffen, she waited for an explanation.
With a quick look at August, he did his best to talk around the situation. "Savannah, this is Scarlett and August. Scarlett and Tenn here are, um, playing a game, and they need to fill in the rest of us on the rules so we can help. We'll eat in my office. Royal and Daisy are making up plates in the dining room. Can August hang out with Nicky for a while?"
Savannah smiled down at August. "Of course, Nicky would love that. He doesn't have preschool today, and Mom came by to keep him company. She can look after August while you're all upstairs."
I wasn't so sure about that. Savannah seemed nice, but this was my son we were talking about. My free hand closed over August's shoulder as I searched for words. I wanted reassurance, but this woman—all of these people—were strangers. I had no clue what their reassurance was worth. Again, I was reminded how very far in over my head I was.