Girls of Summer

by C. E. Hilbert

  Georgie’s heart was naturally open. She was truly Delia’s daughter in every kind, generous part of her soul. And aside from Charlotte’s treatment of her, she had only known the gift of love reciprocated. Betrayal was a brutal response to the gentle offer of grace.

  Charlotte had received this gift exchange too many times to remember, but it was one she wished she could absorb for her sister. “You did the right thing, Georgie.” Charlotte stroked her sister’s long curly locks. “You gave of yourself. Without hesitation or guile. You were you. Don’t let one person’s horribleness dim the light that shines in you.”

  “But when I meet someone new, how do I know I can trust them?”

  “You don’t. But not trusting them would be a violation of who you were created to be. I understand you wanting to be wary. But God has given you the gift of hospitality and friendship. He wouldn’t want you to horde His gift, now would He?”

  Georgie sat up straight. Her mouth dropped open ready to catch non-existent flies. “God?”

  “Yes, God, Georgiana. God…He…I…well, let me just say that the past few months have been a revelation for me. Life-changing. And I don’t mean moving to South Carolina or taking over Watershed. I mean…” She leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling, hoping for God to give her the words to explain the one hundred and eighty degree turn in her life. Baba’s prayer once again filled her spirit. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ make haste Your mercies. “It wasn’t all at once. And yet it was instantaneous.”

  Charlotte told Georgie about her God encounters from Baba to their father’s prayers and beyond. As tears streamed down her sister’s cheeks, she felt a matching warm liquid burn a trail down her own. “Why are you crying?”

  “Because,” Georgie said, resting her forehead against Charlotte’s. “This is what Daddy wanted. I didn’t know it. Not really. But this. You and Jesus. This is what he always wanted. He knew you would find him when you found Jesus. You would find your family through your Savior.”

  She tugged her sister into her arms, her vision clouded by cresting tears. “Oh, Georgie, please forgive me. I’ve been so horrible. And all you’ve ever done is love me.”

  “You are more than forgiven.” Georgie pulled away from her embrace. “Charlotte, can you forgive me?”

  “For what?” What could her sister possibly need forgiven?

  “I thought horrible things about you. I believed horrible things.”

  “I made it pretty easy to believe.”

  She shook her head. “But I should have known. You were protecting me. Savvy. Mac. All of us. Even Daddy…who should have been protecting you.”

  Charlotte tugged her sister to her, ignoring the shooting pains zooming through her body. Her heart pressed against the walls of her chest, the force of the light breaking the last of the ice encapsulating her heart. Thank you, Jesus. Charlotte leaned back into her pillows, sucking in a shallow breath. The cresting waves of emotion crashed into a rippling pool. Ignoring the numbing pain in her arm, reverberating with each pulse beat, she stretched to sit taller.

  Georgie sat straight. “What can I get you? Do you want me to call Sally? Do you need more medicine? What?”

  “I’m fine. Just a little tired. Emotional outbursts are not the Russian way. We tend to be stalwart. Suffering in silence.”

  “Well, you might be part Russian on your Momma’s side, but you’re all Southern on your Daddy’s side, and we are prone to emotional outbursts. Layered in subtext and syrupy smiles. You’re just gonna hav’ta learn to cope.”

  The wide grin stretching her sister’s lips warmed Charlotte to the tips of her toes and eased her pain better than any chemical. “Then I guess I better get used to being called Charlie.”

  45

  The tinkle of the sisters’ giggling floated down the hall and warmed Mac’s heart. In the last five days he had teetered between joy over Charlie’s rapid recovery, and terror over what she’d endured and what was waiting for her. The sound of she and Georgie cementing their sisterly bond equalized the teeter-totter of his emotions, a tender balm to soothe the trials of every hour he’d spent away from Charlie in the last few days. He rapped his knuckles against the door. A smile tugged at his lips with the unison, “Come in.”

  What a picture the Dixon sisters made.

  Georgie’s long-limbed body, encased in an oversized Bombers sweatshirt and leggings, was cuddled against her equally leggy sister who was sporting less than her standard fashion.

  “Well, aren’t you a picture for this old heart.”

  “Mac!” Georgie bounded off the bed, wrapping her arms around his middle. Her exuberance radiated from her being with the power of the sun in July.

  His gaze landed on Charlie, meeting her lake blue eyes and reading the longing he felt reflected in his own heart. Patting Georgie’s back, he glanced at the darkening bruises on Charlie’s cheek and stifled the percolating anger that had been simmering on a steady heat since the day he’d seen Charlie thrown into the cement pylon. His anger at those trying to harm her grew apace with the burgeoning love in his heart. This morning he had been a party to taking real strides to finding justice, a true peace for his righteous anger. Stepping back from Georgie, he closed the distance to the hospital bed in two strides, pressing his lips to Charlie’s thankfully cool forehead. “How’re you feeling today?”

  Her grin stretched wide, cracking her dry lips, but shining brightly through her eyes. “Better, now.” She laced her fingers through his waiting hand.

  His anger was doused with the surge of unbridled love flowing through him. How had this miracle come into his life? Not three months ago he was frustrated with Bent for leaving the responsibility of his broken relationships with his daughters in Mac’s lap. But now he wished with all of his being he could thank his old friend for the gift of the love he found with this woman. As his mother liked to say, God did work in mysterious ways.

  Squeezing her fingers, he pulled his gaze from Charlie and smiled at his surrogate little sister. “What have you ladies been doing this morning?”

  “Eating sugar and sharing stories. Girlie things,” Georgie said. “But I need to be getting back to the house. Savvy will want a full report. I’m not sure how much longer Mellie can distract her from coming down here and making camp on the pull-out sofa.” Tugging on her jacket, she leaned forward and kissed her sister’s cheek. “Thank you, Charlie.”

  Charlie nodded, lifting the corner of her mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Wild horses couldn’t stop me.” Georgie gave a little wave and nearly skipped through the door.

  Mac reached for the lone chair, scrapping the legs against the floor. Settling onto the seat, he lifted their linked hands to his lips and brushed a light kiss across her knuckles. “How’re you really feeling?”

  “Tired. Sore. But clearer-headed. Georgie and I had a nice visit. Things were said that needed to be said.” She quickly told him of her morning, shyly sharing her newfound relationship with God.

  He had suspected her transformation over the past few weeks because of subtle changes in her treatment of the family. The smile in her eyes twinkled when she spoke. As he listened to the joy tripping over her lips, he raised a silent thank You to the One who made all things possible. His prayers for Charlie had been answered with haste. He could only pray the continued hedge of protection around her he had desperately asked the Lord for this morning would be given with the same expediency.

  He loved hearing her story laced with tentative excitement. He could see the conversion shining through her, but her background challenged trusting anyone or anything, even the Creator of the Universe. He hated the fact that the story he needed to share would test her newfound faith. Yanking his tie free, he kneaded the small tendons connecting his shoulders to his neck.

  She trailed off midsentence and watched him with clear blue eyes darkening under her hooded gaze. “What happened?”

  Why did
he have to tell her? He should have left the answers to her questions to the professionals. O’Neal and Murphy were equipped to deal with the ins and outs of what was coming next. His stomach was rolling in anticipation of bursting her current euphoric bubble.

  He hissed a sigh and grazed his thumb against her knuckles. The slight, tender touch slid liquid heat through his veins warming his spirit, fanning the flames of desire burning in his belly. How was he supposed to destroy this woman he loved more than his own life?

  “Mac, please…” She clasped her open hand around their linked fingers, willing him to raise his gaze to her. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Do you know how beautiful you are?”

  “Taylor, I might have this new relationship with Jesus, but it doesn’t mean I don’t remember how to be sassy. Tell me what happened.”

  “Your mother…”

  She jerked her hand from his grip, lacing her arms tightly across her middle. “I don’t want to talk about her. Talking about her is what got us into this colossal mess. If it wasn’t for her, Georgie never would have been kidnapped. Remy would be awake. Bridget would still be alive. People are dead because of her.”

  “But you are alive because of her.”

  “What?”

  “Stasi is the person who led us to the church. She knew Anton and his henchmen had you. She also knew about Cole. She was able to give Murphy and O’Neal enough details that they were able to get the police to you in time.”

  “My mother saved my life?”

  He nodded. “As soon as she found out about Georgie, she confronted Anton, but he was already here. She knew you would be taken next. True leverage over her. She must have been on a plane within hours of you leaving New York. She rushed to the house. And gave us everything we needed to find you. No one on Anton’s side counted on her love for you. And no one counted on Cole’s love for Georgie.”

  Her head dropped back to the stack of pillows. Although her layers were only slowly being revealed to him, he knew her well enough to recognize her need to process. Closing her eyes, she rubbed her temple, as if to conjure up an image in her mind’s eye. Her cheeks glistened with tears streaming over her cheeks. Her breathing came in long, deep drags. Silence hung between them.

  He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a plain white business envelope, with her name written in neat letters across the front. Laying the sealed envelope on the table, he could only guess the message lingering inside.

  Charlie curved her head toward him, her gaze revealing confusion. “Why would she come here? Why would she risk her life? Risk everything?”

  “Charlie, honey, you’re her daughter. She loves you.”

  She snorted. “Funny. She hasn’t really been a loving mother in the last thirty plus years. Why did she pick now to start?”

  “I don’t know, but I know I’m thankful. If she hadn’t intervened, you wouldn’t be alive.”

  A single tear fell from her eye and plopped on the pillow. “You really think she loves me?” her voice was barely a whisper.

  He imagined the shadow of a little girl waiting in a boarding school hoping one of her parents would come to whisk her away. And neither ever did. Squeezing her hand, he tried to absorb some of the emotional pain Charlotte seemed to have sewn into her soul. “Yes. I know she loves you.”

  “How?”

  “Well, I have two reasons. For starters the whirlwind trip into the face of danger to rescue her baby is one. The other? She’s been cooperating with the FBI for the last few days.”

  “What do you mean ‘she’s been cooperating’? Is she under arrest? They shouldn’t do that. Not after she saved my life.”

  Mac wanted to chuckle at the quick defense of her mother. Charlie might not realize how deeply entrenched she was in the love she had for her family, but her family motivated every decision she’d made in her life.

  “She’s agreed to testify against Anton and his entire operation. They’ve been connected for over thirty years. She knows more than anyone could imagine. She’s willing to give up her whole life to ensure you will never be threatened again.”

  “How do you know all of this?”

  “The reason I wasn’t here this morning, for which I’m quite sorry. I was in Charleston acting as your mother’s counsel.”

  “What? You’re my mother’s lawyer?”

  He nodded. When Murphy asked him to act as a witness to Stasi’s confession, he wanted to politely decline. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to be truly objective where Charlie’s mother was concerned. But the why behind Murphy’s request twisted his arm to the point of snapping. The Special Agent rationalized, the smaller the circle of people who truly knew what transpired downtown, the safer Charlie would be throughout her life. Murphy and O’Neal moved Stasi to a secure location to outline her testimony. They had also moved Anton, Cole, and Vsevolod to separate holding cells. The three were uncooperative. But Murphy’s boss, Senior Special Agent Cavanaugh, was able to work with the U.S. Attorney and kept their arraignment hearings sealed. The agents worked quickly with the information they’d collected over the last two years and combined with the updated insights from Stasi, they’d raided Dorokov’s illegal gaming operation, and seized two shipping containers carrying weapons, drugs, and fourteen young women they left port from the New York Harbor. Although no one wanted more drugs or illegal weapons floating in the black market, rescuing the fourteen women, all under seventeen and listed as runaways in the system, was the biggest answered prayer.

  “Your mother’s testimony will be critical to severely crippling, if not destroying, the Bratva’s foothold in New York. I was brought in today to help work through her end of her plea agreement.”

  “Plea?”

  “In exchange for immunity, your mother has agreed to testify against Anton and his partners. Since she not only gambled illegally for decades with Anton, but she also orchestrated the money laundering through the gallery, as well as opened additional shady doors for Dorokov, your mother is legally culpable.”

  Charlotte scrunched her forehead. “But she isn’t going to prison?”

  “She is getting immunity. And she will be entering the witness protection program.” U.S. Marshals assigned to WITSEC had come to collect Stasi this afternoon. She would be moved to a temporary location until the trial, and then they would finalize her move once her testimony was given. Anastasia Bickford would be gone.

  “Wait, Mac…if Mama goes into witness protection, I’ll never see her again.”

  He reached for the envelope. Why did he always have to be the messenger?

  46

  Cade never guessed falling in love would be hazardous. But at this moment he would have rather run “The Yellow Brick Road” at Quantico twenty times in succession, than deal with the danger lurking in his temporary Charleston office.

  Lean, legging-encased limbs dangled over the edge of his metal and pressed wood desk. The sight sparked the flame of desire in his belly. His gaze drifted up the legs to an oversized sweatshirt and the tightly laced arms of his personal Achilles heel.

  Walking around to his chair, he pecked a kiss to Georgie’s cheek. “This is an unexpected surprise.” In reality, Georgie in his office was only ‘unexpected’ and a ‘surprise’ because her arrival was delayed by about two days by his estimation.

  Twisting on her hip, she pressed her hands against the desk, splaying her long fingers wide. “Don’t try and ‘what a surprise’ me, mister. You promised I could talk to Cole. It’s been three days since he was released from the hospital. Three days, Cade.”

  Even when she was angry, he loved the sound of his name on her lips. “Georgie, honey. It’s not that simple.”

  “Well, Cade, honey. Why don’t you make it that simple? Five minutes. I just need five minutes with him.”

  Rage bloomed in his chest, fed by the thought of Cole Vasil being within five hundred feet of Georgie. He leaned back in his metal and vinyl chair as far as his cramped office would allo
w. Locking his gaze with those ocean blue eyes that seemed to read his every thought, he felt the rage steady to a simmer. She had a right to talk to the friend who betrayed her. To ask the questions to which she likely would receive no satisfying answers. If Cade was being honest, he saw little danger to Georgie being in a room with Cole. The prisoner had been the one to release Georgie. For what reason, he hadn’t been able to extract from the man after three days of interrogation, but Vasil did appear to have a soft spot for Georgie. Although with Stasi’s extensive testimony the U.S. Attorney needed little else from the three prisoners they’d captured at the abandoned church. But perhaps Georgie could find the closure she needed.

  Releasing a sigh, he stretched his hand forward and covered hers with a squeeze. “I will see what I can do.”

  Her face shined. “Thank you, Cade. This means so much to me.”

  “I hope you are still thanking me when you’re finished.”

  ~*~

  Georgie glanced at the sterile walls lining the undersized interrogation room. Sitting at a wide metal table, there were just two other chairs in the room, a single entrance door and a wide pane of two-way glass.

  No natural light. No excess air.

  Just white walls, fluorescent lighting, and the stale fragrance of sweat. There were no bars in the room, but prison was stamped on every surface.

  Rubbing her forehead, she willed the throbbing headache to ease. The pain had been building all day, but she’d avoided the prescription pain medication given to her at the emergency room five days earlier. She needed to be sharp. Clear of mind, if not free from pain. When she’d chosen to drive to Charleston instead of returning home, she knew she wouldn’t leave without the answers she needed. She could barely justify the decision in her own mind, and yet, she somehow convinced Cade talking to Cole was a sane idea.

  Since the moment she’d realized Cole was behind her and her sister’s kidnappings, the house fire, the bombings, Remy’s accident, everything that had happened since her father’s death, she had one burning question she wanted to ask him. One question she hoped he would honestly answer. She needed to know what forgiveness was required so she could close the door to the past and step into the future.