The elevator door slid open and he shoved all hurt aside as he walked down the hall. Four doors down, Sheriff Knox cleared her features, everything about the woman softened. She no longer looked like the county sheriff but instead an average citizen, completely unassuming in her presentation. Even her clothes were average.
The sheriff knocked on the Towlers’ door. Anticipation thrummed through Holden as he waited for a response. So close. Faith was right there behind that door.
Almost there, Leigh-Leigh, he thought, praying there was some way for Charleigh to know her daughter would be coming home soon.
“Who is it?” Patty called through the door.
“Hi, my name is Janie, I’m in the room next to yours. I found this in front of your door.” The sheriff held up the keycard. “I think you must have dropped it.”
What felt like a lifetime later, the door slowly came open and Sheriff Knox moved quickly, shouldering her way in. Patty was face-first against the wall with both hands being cuffed behind her back when Holden rushed into the room. Beatrice was moving toward the bed where Faith was on her side, her eyes closed.
“Don’t think about it,” Holden growled and blocked Bea’s path. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
“I have rights!” Bea screeched. “She can’t have her.”
“Hands behind your back,” Holden repeated.
“I know who you are,” the old woman seethed. “You were with Paul. Did you let my son die so she could steal his money? I bet you didn’t even try to save him. It’s all your fault. All of this. I never understood why my son wanted that slut. But you had her and he never could think straight—” Beatrice didn’t finish spewing her venom; a deputy approached, cuffs out, ready to make an arrest. “I have rights,” she repeated.
“You do,” the deputy said. “The right to remain silent.”
“That woman—”
“You kidnapped a little girl after you knocked her mother unconscious, you crazy bitch,” Holden snarled. He stood away, allowing the deputy to deal with the woman, and knelt by the bed.
Holden brushed Faith’s golden brown hair off her face and gently felt for a pulse. He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until he found a steady, strong heartbeat.
Thank God.
“Faith, honey, wake up.” Nothing. The little girl didn’t move. “Faith. Time to wake up, honey.”
“There’s an ambulance downstairs,” Sheriff Knox shared.
“I’m taking her down.”
Holden scooped the little girl off the bed as the sheriff protested, “Wait for the paramedics to come up.”
Not a fucking chance.
“Find out what they gave her.” With that, he carried Faith out of the room.
He glanced down at the girl’s precious face and his chest tightened. How could so much pain be caused by something so beautiful, so sweet, so innocent?
Christ. He had to stop thinking about the past. Faith was blameless, and if Holden was being honest, so was Charleigh. She hadn’t done anything wrong, it was all him. His actions had set the chain of events into motion.
Holden slowed his pace, adjusted Faith’s weight, and pulled his phone from his back pocket. Clumsily, he unlocked the screen and hit the green icon on the last incoming call.
“Holden,” Kennedy answered.
“Let me talk to Charleigh.”
“Did you get her?”
“Kennedy, babe, respect, but give the phone to Charleigh.”
A moment later, Charleigh’s breathy voice came over the line.
“I have her.”
“Thank God,” she wailed. “Is she hurt?”
Holden’s stomach roiled and for a second, he considered lying.
“I don’t think so. She doesn’t have any visible wounds, her heartbeat is strong, but, Leigh-Leigh, honey, they gave her something to make her sleep. I don’t know what that is yet. I’m taking her down to the ambulance now. But I wanted you to know I have her.”
“Don’t leave her, Holden. Please. Do not leave her side. If she—”
“Honey, I gotta hang up, the elevator’s here. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”
“Please don’t leave her.”
“I promise you I won’t leave her side.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much for finding her.”
“Gotta run, Leigh-Leigh. Call you soon as I can.”
“Kay.”
Holden quickly shoved his phone in his pocket, not even checking to see if the call disconnected.
“Come on, baby girl, let’s get you checked out.”
Faith didn’t stir.
13
“I can’t believe you’re trusting that man with my granddaughter,” my mother griped.
My eyes drifted from my mother to Kennedy. One look at my friend told me she was done with my mom’s complaining. McKenna, on the other hand, looked like she felt sorry for me. Thankfully, Nixon and Alec had both left with my father before my mom started in again. Neither man seemed real happy with Zoe.
As for me, I was at the end of my rope. There were so many emotions flowing through me I couldn’t hold onto one of them long enough to process it and move to the next. They all mumbled together into a ball of extreme unease, and my mom was making it so much worse.
“Enough, Mother.”
“Charlotte,” she snapped.
The warning was clear. Even at my age, Zoe Axelson thought she was the boss of me. Actually, she thought she was the boss of everyone. That hadn’t gone well for her when I was with Holden. He’d never been outright rude to her, but he made it clear he wouldn’t put up with her shit, and part of that shit was the way she spoke to me. Needless to say, if she didn’t like Holden before he broke up with me, she despised him after. She said it was because he broke my heart, but that wasn’t the truth. She hated him because she’d thought there was a possibility he could be Faith’s father. Neither of the potential baby daddies—and yes, that was what she’d called Paul and Holden—were good enough to mingle with the Axelson family. But at least Paul had died a hero.
My gaze went back to my mother, and the rope I was barely holding onto slipped from my fingers and I was in a freefall. Not a single iota of compassion for me. Not an ounce of sympathy that I was lying in a hospital bed with a concussion while my baby was three hours away from me. No empathy that my child had been stolen from my home. Not a goddamn thing for me or my daughter. It was all about her and her hatred for Holden. And her contempt for me, how I, as a grown woman, got pregnant before I was married and how that made her look.
Fuck that.
“I think you should go home,” I told her.
“Really, Charlotte. And how would that look? Your father and I in Virginia while you’re in the hospital?”
“I don’t much care how it will look, Mother. And if you didn’t activate the country club phone tree and tell everyone I was in the hospital, no one would’ve known.”
“You’re our daughter, those are our friends. They’d be upset if they couldn’t support us in our time of need.”
Seriously?
I had no words. Absolutely none. My mother’s selfish need for attention knew no bounds.
“I want you to leave.”
“Charlotte—”
“Either you leave or I’m calling hospital security and I’ll ask them to escort you out. Think about how that’ll look.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” she sneered.
“What’s going on?” My father’s voice boomed in the small room and a wolfish smile tugged at my mother’s lips.
She wrongly thought since my father was back she’d have an ally, that together they could bully me into whatever Zoe wanted. And why wouldn’t she? My whole life I’d backed down, I’d chosen the path of least resistance, which meant I gave in because I didn’t want the hassle.
I’d trained my parents, particularly my mother, to treat me like shit. I’d taught her that if she pushed hard enoug
h, I’d roll over like a dog.
Yep. I was a doormat that read: Please walk all over me, Zoe Axelson.
Not today.
“Edward, please talk some sense into your daughter. She’s being ridiculous.” My mother actually tilted her head back and sniffed.
Stuck her nose in the air like those of us beneath her stank.
God, really?
“What’s this, Charlotte, why are you being difficult?”
“Well, Father, since you asked, I’ll tell you. I’m being difficult because I made it clear I was done listening to Mother’s disparaging remarks about Holden.”
“That boy again. I thought we were long past mentioning his name. Your mother has a right to say what she will about the louse who left her daughter with child and ran off.”
When I hit my head I must’ve been transported back to the nineteen-forties when men used words like “louse” and “with child”. That was the only explanation for my father’s highbrow display. And make no mistake—that was what it was. All a show for the other people in the room. Edward Axelson had to believe he was the most cultured person in any given company and he didn’t care how he went about flexing his perceived superiority. While my dad needed to feel like wealth and class at all times, my mother had to feel like she was in charge of a room. It was her way or her way.
“My child was kidnapped,” I screamed and I immediately regretted it. Stabbing pain radiated from the back of my head around to the front, like ice picks were gouging out my eyes.
“Char—”
“Don’t talk to me. Get out.”
“That’s preposterous,” my father returned. “We will do no such thing.”
My eyes drifted closed, not because I couldn’t stand to look at my selfish parents any longer but because my head felt like it was going to explode. Pressure had built and the pain was becoming unbearable.
“Mr. and Mrs. Axelson, I’m going to have to ask you to leave, please.”
I didn’t need to open my eyes to know my doctor had come into my room. Thank God.
“That’s not going to happen,” Edward argued. “My daughter has sustained a head injury. She’s obviously experiencing an episode. I have medical power of attorney, you can’t ask me to leave her room.”
There was a moment of silence and I wondered if my doctor was contemplating all the ways to strangle my pompous father or if he was going to cave. I hoped she’d call security and have them thrown out. Maybe Kennedy could record it for me, so one day when my head didn’t feel like it was splitting in two I could watch it and laugh myself silly.
“Sir, I have every right to ask you to leave when you are upsetting my patient. Furthermore, the medical power of attorney no longer applies. Charlotte Towler is awake and cognizant. Now, if you’d please exit the room, I need to examine her.”
“I’m not leaving.” My father stubbornly dug in.
“Then you leave me no choice but to call security and have you escorted out. However, I must warn you, if that happens, you will not be allowed in for the duration of your daughter’s stay.”
“I want to speak to the hospital administrator.”
“Certainly. If you’d like to wait in the waiting room, I will page Dr. Blackburn and ask her to come down.”
“I will—”
“Leave, Father,” I croaked. “I don’t have the energy to deal with you and Mother.”
“Char—”
“Leave. This isn’t about her and what her friends will think. This isn’t about you and paving her way to get her what she wants. This is about my child. I’m scared to death, my head hurts, I want to see my daughter, and I’m stuck in this bed. For once, please listen to me and take her and leave.”
“We’ll be at the hotel,” my father clipped.
“Edward,” Zoe snapped.
“Come, dear, Charlotte needs her rest.” I opened my eyes, shocked at my father’s acquiescence. “When Faith arrives, we’ll come to pick her up. She will be staying with us.”
There it was. He wasn’t accepting my wishes, he was maneuvering to get control.
Um. No. That wasn’t happening, either.
“That won’t be happening. Faith is staying with me. I appreciate you making the drive up, but as you can see, I’m fine. Holden is bringing Faith home and when she gets here, she will not be leaving my sight. You should head home.”
My father’s face turned a scary shade of red but he didn’t get a chance to chastise me. My mom stepped forward full of hatred and indignation and proceeded to tear me down.
Typical.
“Here we go again. Didn’t you learn the first time? That man is nothing but trash. What kind of man asks a woman to live with him before he marries her? What kind of man lives off of a woman? Then you come up pregnant.” My mother’s lips curled in disgust. “And he leaves you. Now you’re stupid enough to trust him with Faith? He doesn’t love you, he never did.” My mother stepped closer to the bed and jabbed her finger at me. “I’m warning you right now, young lady, if you invite this man back into your life, you’re cut off.”
Cut off?
How can you cut off someone who takes nothing from you?
“What exactly will I be cut off from, Mother? I’ve never accepted financial help from you. And since we’re talking about Holden, let’s get one thing straight—the years we lived together I lived off of him. He paid all the bills, not me. He took care of everything. Every last bill he paid. You can hate him for breaking my heart, but don’t rewrite history and make him into something he’s not. And as far as Faith goes, he didn’t abandon her. He’s not her father. But he is the man who saved her today. He is the man who tracked the Towlers down and rescued her. And he’s the man who is right now taking care of her and trying his damnedest to bring her home to me.”
“So naïve. It’s like I didn’t even raise you.”
Kennedy’s phone rang and my attention sliced over to her. Embarrassment seized my lungs. I’d been so wrapped up in my parents, I’d forgotten she was quietly sitting next to my bed.
“Yeah, she’s right here, but you’re gonna have to hold on a moment while the doctor calls security.” There was a pause and Kennedy’s normally pretty face turned hard and her gaze lifted to my mother. “Because the Axelsons are in her room, and after several attempts to ask them to leave they’re still standing here upsetting her. She had to yell at them which caused her a great deal of pain, yet Mrs. Axelson has decided that saying bad things about you is more important than her daughter’s health. They’ve also eluded to taking Faith. Charleigh has made it clear she doesn’t want Faith to go with them.” Another pause. “Right. I’ll tell them.”
Kennedy hung up and a broad smile replaced her earlier frown.
“I wanted to talk to him,” I complained.
“He’s calling Nixon, Alec, Weston, and Jonny. He said he’d call you right back.”
“Why is he calling them? How’s Faith?”
Kennedy’s smile vanished and compassion filled her eyes.
“Faith is fine. They’ll be on their way home soon. As to why he’s calling in the guys…he said over his dead body would someone take your daughter away from you. Faith’s awake and asking for you and Holden said that he will make sure Faith gets exactly what she wants. He also said if your parents weren’t on their way back to Virginia by the time he got here, he’d personally escort them home.”
“Really?”
“Well, I was paraphrasing and I left out all of the curse words, but that was the gist of what he said.”
“Oh my God,” my mother snickered. “I see it already. You’re falling for his crap. It’s all over your face. Can you believe it, Edward? Your daughter would choose a foul-mouthed piece of—”
“That’s enough, Mrs. Axelson,” Nixon said as he entered the room. “I believe Charleigh’s made her wishes clear. The doctor has asked you to leave, now you’re going to leave.”
Great. Perfect. Now my night of fear and humiliation was complete
. Nixon, Alec, Weston, and Jonny had all filed into my room with matching expressions of dislike.
“I will not be told what to do by a roughneck. And if you think to put your hands on me, I’ll sue you.”
“Just go, Mother. I want to call Holden back and talk to Faith.”
“Ma’am.” Jonny stepped forward and flashed his badge. “This will be the last time you’re asked to leave before I arrest you for trespassing and harassment.”
“I’m not harassing anybody.”
Sweet mother of God, please make her stop.
“Charleigh? Is Mrs. Axelson harassing you?”
“Yes.”
“Well,” my mother huffed, up went her nose back in the air, and I wished I’d been born into a normal, decent family. “We’ll see. We will see. When that man leaves you broken and these people all abandon you, do not come home to your father and me. You will not be welcomed. And when that child of yours grows up and turns out to be just as ungrateful as you are, I will not feel sorry for you. Remember, Charlotte, you reap what you sow, and you just bought yourself a plantation of trash.”
With that, my mother turned on her ridiculously expensive high heels and strode out of my room with her head held high. And like the good lap dog my father was, he followed.
“Can I use your phone to call Holden back?” I asked Kennedy.
She tilted her head to the side and her eyes softened. “Do you want to talk about what happened first? That was pretty harsh.”
“That was nothing,” I told her. “Harsh was when they called me a slut and told me I was an embarrassment to the Axelson name and I needed to find a suitable man to marry before I was showing or everyone would know I’d been whoring myself out.”
“Seriously?”
I shrugged and lifted my hand, silently asking for Kennedy’s phone. “It’s just the way they are.”
Kennedy placed the phone in my hand and her gaze went across the room. I was consciously trying to forget the others in the room. I didn’t want to look, didn’t want to see the anger in their eyes. One thing my mother was right about was, Holden’s friends would get sick of all the drama and chaos I brought to the group. They wouldn’t all abandon me at once, but they would start to distance themselves from me.
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