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But Max was already standing on the front porch in shock. And when William went out on the porch, and saw their men dragging a man from a car toward the house, he was stunned too.

“Father?” he said, unable to believe what he was seeing.

When Joy heard what William said, she hurried out of the front door too.

“You ain’t leaving me in here with no dead woman,” Juanita said as she hurried behind her daughter.

And that was when they both saw it too. William Dabner Skeffington the Fourth, William’s father, was being dragged up on the porch.

“He’s our shooter,” one of the bodyguards told Max. “He was shot in the shoulder when he tried to get away, but he’ll live.”

William stared at his father. But his father was defiant. “Why are you so shocked? That creature called Elise phoned me and said she knew somebody who could handle any situation I wanted handled for the right price, and I took her up on her offer, yes I did. She thought she was phoning your mother. But what she didn’t know was that your mother always uses burner phones to do her dirty work. And she always tossed them in the trash after she was finished with them, but I always retrieved them. When Elise called that number, I answered.”

Max was amazed. “And you hired her grandfather’s brother to kill your son and his wife?”

“You better believe I did.”

“But why?” William asked. His face was a mask of perplexities. “Why would you do it? You’re already filthy rich. You have everything money can buy. Why?”

“To ensure she doesn’t get a dime of Skeffington money,” his father replied. “That’s why! And to ensure,” he added as he looked at Joy, “that we keep our bloodline pure.”

Joy knew it! Somehow she knew it. But she thought it was going to be his wife. She never dreamed it was going to be William’s father.

William pulled Joy closer to him. “What in the world is pure,” he said to his father with bitterness in his voice, “about our crazy-ass bloodline? Who the fuck would want to be a part of this??? You crazy bastard!”

William was so enraged that Max had to put his arm around him, too, to keep him from tearing his own father apart.

Then Joy put her arms around William and looked up at her husband. “We have our own bloodline,” she said. “Just yours and mine. Let’s start here.”

William looked at the love of his life and found a way, through all of the insanity, to smile. “Yes,” he said, agreeing with her. “You and me is enough. Let’s start there.”

Joy smiled, too, and then they both collapsed against each other. They were glad it was over. They were sad by how it all went down.

EPILOGUE

All that could be heard was the soft hum of the HVAC system as they all sat in chairs arranged against the wall.

Tess was there. And Cory. And Bobby and Max were there too. Ed Rivers, who had fully recovered from his injuries, was there as well. And Gramps was there.

After Gramps was released, he decided that he had outlived Bridell. It didn’t feel like home anymore. He, instead, moved into the beautiful guest house on William and Joy’s estate in Chicago, and he gave his house in Bridell to Juanita. He went into the main house every day and had breakfast and lunch with the household staff. They laughed and talked and formed a little family too.

Because William and Joy were his family now. He wanted to be with them above anybody else. He trusted them, and they trusted him. And everybody else in that hall were his extended family too. None of them family by blood, but all of them family by love. And the head of that family, William, was on the opposite wall seated alone.

Nobody dared to bother him. Because they saw his expression every single time that soft hum of the HVAC system was interrupted by loud, bloodcurdling, howling screams, all of which were coming from the mouth of Joy.

They were in a lull. The screams had died back down. But within minutes, sometimes seconds, they would start back up again, William would tense up again, and they all endured another round.

They were in a hall outside of a suite on the VIP floor of the hospital, where Joy was in Delivery, and her labor had been going on for hours.

But the last round of screams William couldn’t bear. He hopped up every single time they started, and he began pacing the floor. Why did it have to be so agonizing? Was something happening to Joy? Why did he give her the go-ahead to get off of birth control when it meant she had to go through all of this pain?

He stood at the window at the end of the hall and stared out over the rooftop. That was the problem. He felt guilty that he gave her the go-ahead. After his little girl died, he swore he’d never have children again. There was no way he was going down that road again.

But that was before he met Joy. And even after he met her, he resisted it still. But he loved her so much, and he was so certain that she would be a fabulous mother, that he gave the go-ahead. Now she seemed to be fighting for her life if those screams were any indication. All because of him!

Then another round of screams could be heard. The last one always seemingly worse than the ones before. And William had had it. He hurried back up to the door of that suite ready to break in. “What are they doing in there?” he yelled out. “Killing her???”

Tess smiled. “She’s having your baby, Mr. Skeffington. That’s what having a baby sounds like.”