Allowing herself to be tugged toward the sitting room, Tara braced herself for the surprise. Wylie scampered out of the room first, his arms stretched high as he called up to her.
“Baby, I missed you today,” she said, smothering him with kisses.
Before she could get another word out, she gasped. Sitting on the couch with enormous grins were Josh, Willow, and Reid. “What are you doing here?” she asked, breaking instantly into tears as they shot to their feet and demanded hugs. Josh pulled her and Wylie in first. Then Willow, who after their hug took Wylie into her arms so that Reid could, for a brief moment, have all of her. And he did, folding her tightly beneath his warm arms. He held her as she cried and asked more unintelligible questions.
“There is this lovely well out in the backyard,” Betty said, handing over a lantern and shuffling them out. Jedda, Willow’s brother, built a bench back there. Why don’t you two go check it out?”
Throwing on his coat and pulling on a hat, Reid whisked Tara out the door, down the porch, and back behind the house, never letting her go the whole time.
“I haven’t heard anything from you,” she said, her voice still broken up by excitement. “I’ve been dying to know what’s been going on.”
“A lot,” he said as they followed the path toward the well Betty had told them about. “So much has happened, and I’m sorry we had to keep you in the dark about it. It was like a piece of thread and every inch we pulled something else unraveled. We thought about telling you, calling you a hundred times, but at some point we realized some of it needed to be said in person.” His face grew sad as he said it, and if not for the bench coming into the light of the lantern and giving them a purpose to keep moving, she thought he might stop right there and break down.
When they settled onto the bench, his arms around her, she knew the news she’d hear would not feel anything like the joy she just experienced with this reunion.
“Todd and Millicent were most certainly not alone in these crimes,” he started. “It was a systemic issue based on the idea that the world needed to be cleansed of sinners. It was deep and complex. I still feel like we’ve only begun to untangle it all. But many people have been brought to justice now. The church was basically a front to force people into treatment facilities run like prisons. Totally off the books and unregulated. They essentially forced addicts into them and some didn’t survive the harsh tactics. We’ve found four cases so far and the doctors involved will be prosecuted. The church also employed men like Yule and convinced them that some people were not worthy of the treatment or had refused the treatment and needed to be cleansed from the earth. He and others like him gave dirty drugs to people, resulting in their deaths. We’re up to at least ten of those cases, but we think we’re only scratching the surface. Yule believed he was a tool of God. He said he only sold the drugs so he could recruit more people for treatment and to have access to people who needed to be cleansed from the earth. The whole damn thing was outrageous. Todd and Millicent were actually involved in the cult before TJ ever started using. But apparently they were focused in other factions of it. They targeted prostitutes who needed salvation. But it was fundamentally the same thing. They’d break them down and brainwash them and add more people to the cult. We’ve made some substantial headway.”
“Enough to consider Wylie and me safe?” Tara asked, her eyes dancing to every corner of his face which held a pained expression.
“I believe so,” Reid said, though he wasn’t celebrating.
“Don’t you want that?” Tara questioned, wondering if maybe Reid had appreciated this time apart, found some perspective once the danger had climaxed and realized they were not meant to be in each other’s lives.
“All I want is for you to be safe, but in that process we found out some things. Millicent was apprehended. Todd made a decision to work with the district attorney’s office and his statement against his wife and the church was sobering. The admissions . . .” He closed his eyes. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
“What else could there be, Reid? Honestly they tried to kill me and steal my son. What else could they tell you that would be worse than that?”
“TJ was apparently deemed by the head of the cult as someone who could not be saved,” he said curtly but then tried again, this time with more clarity. “TJ didn’t overdose.”
“What?” she asked, the statement overloading her senses. The idea that TJ was a casualty of the insanity his parents hid behind was sickening.
“They had him killed because he had resisted their treatment facilities. Everything they did from that moment on was part of their plan to get Wylie. They became foster parents to other children, creating relationships with people in the system. They reached out to you, knowing you would likely push them away when they tactically became too overbearing. They strategically aligned themselves to be ready to take Wylie when they put their plan into action. They weren’t trying to slander you into losing your child through the courts. They wanted you dead.”
“Why would they do this to their own son and grandson?”
“The theology behind it doesn’t make sense and isn’t even worth giving a voice to. It was insanity. Collective insanity that, to me, rivals any cult in history. This will be enormous in scale and the publicity will be crushing all around. If you were to come back to Boston now, you’d never be given any peace.”
“But,” she sniffed, a growing anger in her stomach beginning to flame. They’d already taken so much from her and now the light at the end of this long dark tunnel just faded out. “I know that you and I haven’t talked. I know that the circumstances were very stressful, and I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done.”
“But?” he asked, looking nervous.
“I love it here. I mean I love it in a way I never imagined I could. It’s comfortable and welcoming. I have help and friends and so does Wylie. There’s a preschool here that he could start in the spring if I wanted. I’ve almost got enough saved up to get my own place.”
“It would be all right if you didn’t want to go back to Boston,” Reid assured her. “Especially if this is going to be in the press for a while.”
“Reid,” she pleaded, looking up at him as though he’d missed the point. “I love you. I’ve loved you my entire life, and I would live in a shoe box next to a garbage can if it meant that was the only place we could be together. I’ve been sitting down here this whole time, hanging on to the idea that maybe you love me the same way. That we’d be together. I need to know now if that isn’t the case. Because I can be happy down here. I can be happy again, but I need to know if I have to let you go.”
He didn’t answer, his mouth opened and closed a few times but words didn’t come. She could stand the truth, even if it hurt, but she couldn’t take the silence.
“It’s all right, Reid,” she said, pulling away and standing up. “You don’t owe me anything. You’ve paid your debt to me tenfold. Any guilt that you had about our childhood and what happened to me, it’s good now. I’ll be fine. Hell, I’ll be more than fine. But I was not going to keep my feelings for you to myself again.” She moved toward the well and leaned down, staring into the deep darkness of it.
“I wanted to have this conversation with you, Tara,” Reid said in that lawyer voice of his that pissed her off. “I just thought I’d be the one bringing it up. I had it all planned out in my head.”
“Sorry,” she laughed humorlessly. “I know how important a plan is to you. I think we should head back to the house. I want to visit with Josh and Willow.”
“Don’t go,” Reid said, standing and rubbing at his tired eyes. “Let me get out what I was going to say.”
“Fine,” she shrugged as though her heart wasn’t in pieces. “But I’m not here for a closing argument in a courtroom. Can’t you just talk from your heart?”
“A tall order,” he joked, but she didn’t bite. Dropping his head down he stared at his shoes, kicking around some dirt. “All
I thought was that I want to follow this case through. I want to bag every single person who had anything to do with hurting you or using their twisted ideology to hurt someone else who didn’t deserve it. I quit my firm. I signed on with Willow.” He waved his hands animatedly.
“And I can’t be a part of that?” she asked, doing an awful job of hiding the wounded edge in her voice.
“It’ll be a circus. It’ll be reliving it over and over again. You said you and Wylie are happy here. Right?”
“If that’s all you heard,” Tara groaned, nearly giving up on him.
“No,” he cut in, by her side now, turning her body so she couldn’t look away. His eyes fixed on the last remnants of the scar on her cheek, and it made her grow instantly hot with embarrassment.
“It’s hideous,” she said, assuming she was voicing his inner thoughts.
“It’s the reason I’m staying,” he whispered running a finger along the indented skin.
“Staying where?”
“Here, or close by anyway. I almost lost you, and you almost lost Wylie. No matter how much time and energy I give to the case it won’t change what happened to you. This scar won’t suddenly go away just because I personally found justice for you. I can give them everything I have of myself but what does it change?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged.
“So I’m coming down here. And I’m finding a job. Willow and her team are more than competent to handle the case, and I’m positive she’d just say I was in the way. I can’t take away what happened to you, but we can start something better. We can have a life together that makes everything that came before feel irrelevant and far away. I’m staying here.”
Her hand flew to her heart as it fluttered dangerously fast. “I’m going to faint,” she explained as black spots danced in front of her eyes.
“I know it’s a lot but—”
“No,” she said, clutching his neck tightly. “No it’s not a lot. It’s just the right amount.” After a minute of deep breaths and leaning on him she felt more composed.
“I don’t understand how you figured all this out. You’ve always been scared of things like this. Did you just wake up one morning and realize this was what you wanted?” She hoped he’d forgive her skepticism.
“Are you asking me if maybe I haven’t made my mind up? Are you wondering if I made the decisions so quickly that I could unmake them just as fast?”
“Yes,” Tara admitted, wishing she had more blind trust. “That’s exactly what I’m asking.”
Reid laughed at how well he could decipher so little words from her. “I didn’t come to this all at once or on a whim. There was a lot of talking about it.”
“Talking about it?” she smirked. “That doesn’t sound like you at all. How did Willow manage that?”
“She didn’t,” he admitted, looking away. “Betty did. A lot of phone calls from that woman. She is persistent but in the strangest nice way possible.”
“She bullied you into it?” Tara asked, feeling equally nervous about this prospect. Forcing Reid into the arrangement wasn’t much better.
“Not even a little bit. There were no tricks, no persuasion. Just talking, mostly me talking, until I figured out what it was I really wanted. What was actually important. I’m not going to change my mind, Tara.”
“I want to believe you,” she murmured, feeling terrible for not being more convinced.
“You want to believe me, but do you want to marry me?” he asked, sliding a gold ring into her palm. “Because I want to marry you.” He dropped to one knee and she nearly went with him. If he hadn’t been holding her waist, keeping her upright she’d have bent by now.
“Tara, you were my first friend. The only one to see me when other people saw nothing. You gave me the courage to put myself out there and unfortunately I leaped and forgot to look back. I’m sorry I left you behind. I’m sorry I didn’t realize how much you’d given me. The rest of my life will be spent trying to give it all back to you. Because you deserve it. You deserve everything. Will you give me that chance? Will you marry me?” He kissed her hand and waited for her answer.
“Yes,” she shrieked, jumping up and down wildly, knocking him backward into the dirt. “Oh I’m sorry,” she said, laughing and bubbling over with joy as she tried to lift him up. Instead he pulled her down on top of him and held her tightly.
“I’ve got you,” he said, not as threat, not to tease, but as a promise. “I’ve got you now.”
The End
Download Book 2: Just for a Heartbeat
Including Three Seconds to Rush(Book 1 in the Piper Anderson Legacy Mystery series), Danielle Stewart has 6 free books to kick off new series. Start one for free today with any of these books below
Chasing Justice
Flowers in the Snow
Three Seconds To Rush
Hearts of Clover
The Goodbye Storm
Fierce Love
Just for a Heartbeat - Book 2
Every photograph was at one point a moment intended to be remembered. Ruby Constantine works tirelessly to give old film new life, salvaging forgotten and discarded rolls. There is a gamble to the process; she may end up with a priceless treasure or a stack of meaningless photographs. The job provides a level of excitement the rest of Ruby's life lacks. That is, until a particularly unique set turns out to have captured a grisly crime that Ruby knows the local police on Bolton Bluff Island off the coast of Maine are not equipped to solve.
Patrick Sullivan has given up his job as an investigative reporter in Boston in order to write articles about bumble bees and pizza crusts for a tiny newspaper in Maine. Why? Because no one dies as a result of something he’s written anymore. Though his goal is to keep his head down and mind his own business, a call from Ruby changes everything. She holds a special place in his heart and helping is a pull he can’t resist.
Success seems impossible when their hunt for a killer becomes more dangerous than anything they could have imagined. Ruby and Patrick must decide if their lives are worth more than the truth.
Just for a Heartbeat - Prologue
Every photograph was at one point a moment intended to be remembered. Ruby Constantine works tirelessly to give old film new life, salvaging forgotten and discarded rolls. There is a gamble to the process; she may end up with a priceless treasure or a stack of meaningless photographs. The job provides a level of excitement the rest of Ruby's life lacks. That is, until a particularly unique set turns out to have captured a grisly crime that Ruby knows the local police on Bolton Bluff Island off the coast of Maine are not equipped to solve.
Patrick Sullivan has given up his job as an investigative reporter in Boston in order to write articles about bumble bees and pizza crusts for a tiny newspaper in Maine. Why? Because no one dies as a result of something he’s written anymore. Though his goal is to keep his head down and mind his own business, a call from Ruby changes everything. She holds a special place in his heart and helping is a pull he can’t resist.
Success seems impossible when their hunt for a killer becomes more dangerous than anything they could have imagined. Ruby and Patrick must decide if their lives are worth more than the truth.
Continue Reading Book 2: Just for a Heartbeat
Also by Danielle Stewart
Piper Anderson Series:
Book 1: Chasing Justice
Book 2: Cutting Ties
Book 3: Changing Fate
Book 4: Finding Freedom
Book 5: Settling Scores
Book 6: Battling Destiny
Book 7: Unearthing Truth
Book 8: Defending Innocence
Piper Anderson Bonus Material:
Chris & Sydney Collection – Choosing Christmas & Saving Love
Betty's Journal - Bonus Material (suggested to be read after Book 4 to avoid spoilers)
Edenville Series – A Piper Anderson Spin Off:
Book 1: Flowers in the Snow
Book 2: Kiss in the Wind
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Book 3: Stars in a Bottle
Book 4: Fire in the Heart
Piper Anderson Legacy Mystery Series:
Book 1: Three Seconds To Rush
Book 2: Just for a Heartbeat
Book 3: Not Just an Echo
The Clover Series:
Hearts of Clover - Novella & Book 2: (Half My Heart & Change My Heart)
Book 3: All My Heart
Over the Edge Series:
Book 1: Facing Home
Book 2: Crashing Down
Midnight Magic Series:
Amelia
Rough Waters Series:
Book 1: The Goodbye Storm
Book 2: The Runaway Storm
Book 3: The Rising Storm
Stand Alones:
Running From Shadows
Yours for the Taking
********************************************************
Multi-Author Series including books by Danielle Stewart
All are stand alone reads and can be enjoyed in any order.
Indigo Bay Series:
A multi-author sweet romance series
Sweet Dreams - Stacy Claflin
Sweet Matchmaker - Jean Oram
Sweet Sunrise - Kay Correll
Sweet Illusions - Jeanette Lewis
Sweet Regrets - Jennifer Peel
Sweet Rendezvous - Danielle Stewart
Short Holiday Stories in Indigo Bay:
A multi-author sweet romance series
Sweet Holiday Wishes - Melissa McClone
Sweet Holiday Surprise - Jean Oram
Sweet Holiday Memories - Kay Correll
[Piper Anderson 01.0] Three Seconds to Rush Page 20
