Nat and Will burst out laughing, and even Mac couldn’t stop a soft chuckle from spilling out. Rory just shifted in her seat, her face turning a lovely shade of red as she attempted to glare at them.
“Y’all are the worst,” she said.
“The best,” Nat corrected, then turned to Mac and poked her in the side. “Now, unless you wanna hear more about how well Nash techniques our sister, you’d better start talkin’.”
Mac met each of her sisters’ gazes, finding nothing but underlying concern even if they tried to pull it off as something different. They may’ve had a tendency to overlook her, but she never doubted they cared for her. Loved her. Okay, maybe Rory, but that was history and had been for a while.
So, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes briefly, and then said the one thing that had been plaguing her heart for as long as she could remember but she’d always been too scared to voice aloud. “I’m not needed here.”
Will’s brows drew in, her head tilting to the side. “What do you mean? Like, right now? Town hall’s gonna be crazy in about an hour. Give it time.”
Mac breathed out a laugh and shook her head, staring down at the table. “I’m not just talkin’ about town hall, but no one can deny I was the last person y’all thought about for that job.” She met each of her sisters’ gazes and watched the dawning recognition, along with underlying guilt, in their eyes.
She didn’t want them to feel guilty, but she did want them to understand.
With a shrug, she said, “I’m the last person y’all think about for anything. It’s always been my place in the family, and I thought I’d made peace with it. But then Hudson…” She swallowed down her words and crossed her arms over her chest, donning her only means of armor. “You know what? Never mind. It’s dumb. It’s my issue, and I’ll deal with it.” She pushed to stand. “Y’all ready to eat?”
“Um…no.” Rory yanked her back into her chair by the hem of her sweater. “I’m ready to hear what the hell you’re talkin’ about.”
God, how did she even begin to explain to her sisters all the times they’d left her behind—both figuratively and literally? All the times they looked to the others for what they needed, but not to her. Never to her.
She could chalk some of it up to being the natural course of things that evolved over the years. They were all adult women and had their own lives, their own friends, their own support systems. But both Hudson and Will had been hers, and they’d both left her at one time or another—Will doing it twice, too wrapped up in Finn to pay attention to much else. Very clearly not feeling the same need for Mac as Mac did for them.
To her horror, tears stung the backs of her eyes. As much as she tried to swallow down the lump that was suddenly in her throat, it just grew and grew until her chest felt so tight, she was sure there was no place left for her emotions to go but out.
What a perfect time to have an emotional breakdown—while in the most hopping morning location in all of Havenbrook. A place that just happened to be owned by the love-of-her-life-but-not-boyfriend’s family. A not-quite-boyfriend who was leaving in mere hours.
The thought of that only amped up her emotions, and it took all her focus to hold her shit together. Her sisters were speaking to her and someone’s phone rang, but she couldn’t pay attention to anything else but trying to hold herself together.
Unable to do it any longer, she stood again, her chair sliding back and scraping against the floor in her force to escape. “I need to—”
“What?” Rory asked, her voice high-pitched and laced with panic. She held her phone up to her ear, her eyes wide. “How long ago?”
Mac exchanged glances with Will and Nat before focusing her attention back on Rory, her urge to flee taking a back seat to the terror in Rory’s voice.
“And you’re just callin’ me now?” she yelled, paying no mind to the other customers that looked on in curiosity. “Well, get the damn sheriff down there! And the rescue team!” Her eyes went wide, her face blanching. “What do you mean, there’s no rescue team? Who’s gonna find her?”
At the first mention of a rescue team, Mac’s training kicked in. A calm washed over her, erasing every emotion she’d been bogged down with and replacing them with adrenaline.
“Rory. Rory,” she said again, shaking her sister when she didn’t respond. “What’s happening?”
“Ella. She’s—” She cut herself off, a sob breaking free.
Mac took the phone from her hands and held it to her ear while Nat and Will surrounded Rory. “Who is this?”
The person on the other end of the line cleared their throat. “Mrs. Price, the principal at Havenbrook Elementary. I was just informin’ Ms. Haven that we have a situation down at the school. Ella’s gone missin’. And we…we have reason to believe she’s somewhere in the woods.”
The wooded property near the school was across the street and nowhere near the playground. It was also thousands of acres large and did not have warning flags dispersed around to help guide her niece.
“Call Sheriff Halsey immediately and have him meet me at the school. And tell him to bring as many officers as he can find.”
“I—I don’t have the authority to demand that.”
“I do. This is Mackenna Haven, acting mayor. And I expect every available pair of hands to meet me at the school.” Without saying goodbye, she ended the call and sprang into action.
“Rory.” She gripped her crying sister by the shoulders and gently shook her until she finally had her attention. “I need you to try to remember for me. What was Ella wearin’ today? Was she in something bright?”
“She—” Rory swallowed, her voice shaky. “She was in jeans and a light-up Christmas sweater. That one you got her. I told her it was too early to be wearin’ it, but she loves those things as much as you do.”
Mac smiled. “Good. That’s good.” She put her arm around her sister and guided her to the door. Time was wasting. “It’ll help us find her in the cover of the trees.”
Or if they couldn’t find her until after dark.
She kept that thought to herself, though, because Rory was barely holding it together as it was.
“I need to be there,” she said, almost in a daze. Suddenly, she spun around, her eyes wide. “Nash! I need to call Nash.”
“Already handled it, crazy pants.” Nat’s voice was warm despite her words. “He was halfway to a job in Parkersville, but he’s speedin’ back this way. And I’ll let the sperm donor know, too,” Nat said, referring to Rory’s ex-husband.
“Y’all get her to the school.” Mac shuffled Rory into her sisters’ arms. “I’ll head over in my Jeep.”
She left off the fact that she needed her car because she needed the rescue bag she always kept inside, complete with first aid kit. Rory’s mind was no doubt already producing horrifying scenarios, and Mac sure as hell wasn’t going to add to them.
The four of them burst out the front door, Will, Nat, and Rory heading toward Will’s car, while Mac went in the opposite direction. Or she tried to, anyway. Instead, she ran face first into a body that smelled an awful lot like home to her.
“Kenna?” Hudson asked, holding her out by the shoulders to steady her. With one look at her face, his brows drew down and his spine snapped straight, his eyes darting over her shoulder to where her sisters had fled before scanning the space around them. A soldier on alert. “What’s wrong?”
She swallowed down her fear, focusing instead on the job she had to do. “It’s Ella. She’s lost in the woods by the school.”
Recognition dawned on his face. The only woods by the school were the same ones they’d hiked through to get to the Ridge. The same ones experienced hikers needed classes on just to traverse. And her eight-year-old niece was roaming them by herself.
As much as it hurt to be this near Hudson and not be able to fall into his chest and take comfort from him, she couldn’t now. Time was wasting, so she had to shove all of it down and focus on the task at hand—finding
her niece and bringing her back safely.
Mac was ready for this. She was trained for this. And, for once, she didn’t doubt her ability to do it.
Hudson hadn’t spent his last night in Havenbrook how he’d wanted, namely in the bed of the woman he loved. Getting lost in her touch and her taste and her scent. Studying every inch of her as if he didn’t already have them all memorized. As if he hadn’t replayed them in his mind a thousand times over the years.
Instead, he’d spent it with his momma and sister, Caleb being the near-silent anchor to their foursome as they’d passed the night reminiscing about Jack Miller. It’d felt good talking about his dad, even if it hurt—that sting of knowing that all they had now were just memories sitting heavy in his heart.
After he’d gone to bed, when he’d fantasized about delaying his flight back to base by convincing Kenna to give them the shot he knew they deserved—the shot he knew she secretly, desperately wanted for them, too—he hadn’t once wished this would be the reason he’d stayed behind.
He’d only needed to catch a single glimpse of Kenna’s face to know something was wrong. And as soon as the words had spilled from her mouth, he’d leaped into action, following her straight to her Jeep and jumping in the passenger’s seat.
He’d called Caleb on the way and barked orders for him to get his ass to the school as soon as fucking possible. Luckily, the two of them had been on enough missions together for Caleb to recognize in Hudson’s tone that shit was real. There’d been no joking. No hesitation. Just a “Yes, sir” before he’d hung up.
He and Caleb, along with dozens of well-meaning Havenbrook residents and onlookers, on- and off-duty officers as well as first responders, stood in the school parking lot, hanging on every word that came out of Kenna’s mouth as she outlined their rescue plan.
“This isn’t her first rescue,” Caleb said, his voice barely loud enough for Hudson to hear.
It wasn’t a question but a statement, so Hudson didn’t bother to respond, his eyes locked on Kenna. It’d been a long time since he’d seen her shine like this, but she shone like a beacon now, completely self-assured as she bossed around men twice her size and didn’t even blink while doing so. The woman who was hesitant to do town business and instead leave it to the good old boys was nowhere to be found.
He tried to ignore the way his dick twitched as he watched her command dozens of people without an ounce of self-consciousness. Now was certainly not the time to sport a raging hard-on for the woman he loved. Not when her niece was in danger. Not when Rory was near hysterics—something he’d never seen in his entire life. Rory Haven didn’t do hysterics. She did calm, cool, and collected as she ordered people around with a heaping spoonful of sugar and a bright smile. Now, though, Nash consoled her, his sharp eyes also trained on Kenna.
“That means you, you, and you,” Kenna said, pointing to three people standing in the loose circle, “are gonna start at these coordinates.” After rattling off the numbers, she dismissed them with a jerk of her chin, then continued down the line until everyone who’d volunteered had fled in the direction they were ordered, walkie-talkies strapped to their pants or belts or tucked away in their coat pockets. All of them on a mission to find Ella.
It wasn’t as cold today as it could’ve been—thank fuck—but he still hoped Ella was wearing a warm coat, a hat, and gloves or mittens. If she was, it’d make it harder to see the lights from her sweater that Kenna had detailed, but they’d make do. Ella wore a dark, navy-blue coat—also making it difficult to spot in the dense brush—but he was banking on her donning her bright green hat Rory had given her.
Kenna’s surprised eyes jerked to his when he stepped up to her after everyone had fled. “Hudson! You’re not supposed to still be here. You’re gonna miss your plane.”
A plane he’d already put Caleb in charge of rescheduling.
He ran his eyes over her face, searching for any sign of stress or worry, but all he found were determination and focus. And he’d be damned if he didn’t support her in this like she deserved. “I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
“But—”
“Caleb and I are gonna be helpin’ from up top.”
“You’re what?” she asked, whipping her head toward him.
“We’re takin’ a chopper up to see what we can find with eyes in the sky. With the trees losing most of their leaves, it’ll be easier to spot her.” But not easy. Something he didn’t have to tell Kenna if the look on her face was any indication.
“How the hell did you get a chopper?” she asked, her brows pinched.
That was the thing about Havenbrook—people helped each other out. Above all else, they did whatever was best for their family and friends and neighbors. Which would explain how he’d managed to commandeer a helicopter faster than he ever had in his life.
“Gleaves knows a guy.”
She breathed out a relieved laugh. “’Course he does.”
“I know you’re runnin’ this show—and doin’ a damn fine job of it—but I’ve got your back. All right?” He reached out and gripped her hand, giving it a squeeze. “We’re gonna find her.”
She rolled her lips between her teeth and nodded shakily. “Yeah. She…she knows how important it is to have on brightly colored clothes, and she’s smart enough to figure something out. She hates that damn hat, though.”
He could hear the worry in her voice, so he tried to reassure her as best he could. “But like you said, she’s smart. She’ll know what to do. She’ll do exactly what you taught her.”
“I hope so.”
“She will.” Without hesitation, he bent and pressed his lips to hers, whispering against them, “Be safe out there.”
And then he turned and walked toward Caleb and the waiting chopper, leaving Kenna to do her job while he did his.
MAC HAD EXECUTED dozens of searches in the time since she’d first been certified as a wilderness responder. Some fake—done merely for the sake of training—and some real, but she’d never had this excruciating weight pressing on her chest with any of the others.
She trudged through the brush, her eyes sweeping in a methodical pattern—never straying too far ahead—to ensure she thoroughly covered the ground she was working. Besides finding her niece and bringing her home, all she could think about was that if she’d pushed and fought harder for the search and rescue team she knew Havenbrook desperately needed, they’d be better equipped to find Ella. Instead, they were relying on the piss-poor knowledge of the well-meaning but average Joes and Janes of town.
And her. They were all relying on her.
Mac had never seen Rory so shaken up. Their momma had run out to be with her so Nash could help search, leaving Gran home with Daddy. This was the last thing he needed to be stressing about at this point in his recovery, which meant Mac wanted to get this done as soon as possible for more than one reason.
“C’mon, Ella. Gimme a sign,” she said quietly. Then she called out her name, the sound echoing back to her as others in the search party yelled for Ella from their locations.
She and Ella had practiced wilderness survival enough times that Mac hoped her niece remembered everything she was supposed to do. Stay in one spot when she realized she was lost and couldn’t find her way out. Keep her eyes and ears open. Listen for a search party. And utilize whatever she had to make her survival certain and her rescue as easy as possible.
If this were one of their training exercises, Mac would have told her to put on that ugly cap her momma had gotten her because it was bright and would be a beacon in the otherwise brown of their surroundings. And, though it might be cold initially, to take off her sweater and reverse it with her coat, layering the more brightly colored piece of clothing on top. A red, flashing sweater was a hell of a lot easier to spot than something as dark as a nighttime sky.
The chopper swept by overhead, the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of the blades a welcome interruption to her thoughts. Though she wasn’t sure how much Hudson would b
e able to see from above, just knowing he was there when she needed him to be—despite being required elsewhere—was a comfort she desperately needed right now.
After covering another twenty yards, she called out, “Ella! Ella!”
A muffled shout met her ears, and Mac whipped her head in the direction she swore she’d heard the distant voice come from. “Ella?”
She didn’t receive a response, but she changed her course, her eyes sharp as she moved toward the source of the noise. After another ten yards, she called out for her niece again.
“Mac!” This time, there was no mistaking the faraway quality of her niece’s voice as she yelled in response.
She took off at a sprint, her walkie-talkie gripped in hand as she checked her coordinates to rattle them off. “I have ears on Ella. I’m moving northwest, about thirty yards beyond the creek.”
“Headed your way.” Hudson’s voice came over the line immediately, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t near dark yet—thank God—but all the looming trees, dead as they may be, cloaked the forest, making it difficult for the sun to reach. Now that Hudson knew the approximate location, he could fly low enough and sweep a spotlight over the area, hopefully making it easier for them to spot Ella.
Mac holstered her walkie-talkie and called out, “Keep talkin’ to me, bug! Where you at?”
“Here!” Ella called, her voice quavering but getting clearer with every step Mac took. “Mac, I’m here!”
If Mac hadn’t been the one leading this rescue, she might’ve broken down right then at the fear and uncertainty she heard in her niece’s voice. But since she was the one leading, the one everyone was counting on, she powered through, playing what felt like a life-or-death game of Marco Polo with Ella until suddenly Mac spotted her.
Ella stood ten yards away, banging a large stick against a huge tree trunk, her eyes squeezed shut tight while she yelled herself hoarse. Not only was she trying to make as much noise as possible, but the smart girl had done exactly what Mac had hoped she would. Her sweater was stretched tight over the bulkiness of her coat, and the ugly-as-hell bright-green hat was perched on her head.
Captain Heartbreaker (Havenbrook Book 4) Page 25
