by Debra Webb
“Well, I don’t know how interesting it’ll be, but I’ll bet we’ll all hear about it.”
Chase reached for the sandwich she offered. “I give it three minutes tops.”
Henri settled into a chair and unwrapped a sandwich. “She’s on the phone with Hattie Lockhart, so I’ll give her five. But if she goes much longer than that, Shane’ll plop the thing in her lap.”
Four minutes and one and a half sandwiches later, Mary Lou let out a blood-curdling scream.
“You owe me five bucks,” Henri said as both she and Chase shot to their feet and hurried to the outer office.
“I don’t remember betting five bucks,” Chase argued, his gaze going immediately to the chunky woman climbing atop her desk.
“Just make it ten then.”
Chase ignored Henri’s attempts at fleecing him and reached to steady his swaying secretary.
“Come on down, Mary Lou. It’s just a frog,” Chase offered reassuringly.
The woman’s pale face and wide eyes never left the floor behind her desk. She shook her head. “That’s no frog,” she shrieked.
Chase skirted her desk and peered down at the floor next to her chair. A small garter snake lay coiled up and hissing. He swore. Mary Lou screamed. Henri just shook her head.
Before his secretary fell and broke something, Chase snatched up the little nonpoisonous snake and hurried to the door with it. He pitched it outside and dusted his hands off. When he turned back to the ladies, Henri was helping Mary Lou down from her desk.
“Sorry about that,” Chase said contritely. He was going to have to have a long talk with Shane.
“I thought he had a frog in that shoe box.” Henri nodded toward the box with the holes punched in the top that lay on the floor.
Chase scanned the office then for his son. Maybe that long talk would be accompanied by a good old fashioned spanking. He frowned when Shane was nowhere to be found. “Where he’d go?”
Still wide-eyed, Mary Lou shook her head. “I was on the phone. I just looked down and saw the snake, nothing else registered after that.”
Henri rushed into Chase’s office, returning just as swiftly. “He’s not here,” she said, her face going as pale as Mary Lou’s.
“He couldn’t have gotten far,” Mary Lou wailed. “He was just here.”
Chase raced out the door, calling his son’s name. A dozen horrifying scenarios involving everything from cars to the nearby creek the town was named after whizzed through his mind. He stood in the middle of the street and looked first one way and then the other. Where could he be?
~*~
“Isn’t the detail of the trim work just lovely?” Felix asked of the young couple following him through Caroline’s house.
They’d already been through the house, inside and out, once. They’d wanted to take another look before they made a decision. Caroline had gone over the items she intended to let go with the house, then she’d stepped back and let Felix do his job.
“It’s beautiful,” the young woman breathed, obviously already enamored.
“A fine old house with a big yard for raising children,” Felix suggested.
The man grunted and nodded, clearly restraining his own enthusiasm in hopes of cutting a better deal.
Caroline had already made up her mind. She wouldn’t budge on the asking price. It was more than fair. They could take it or leave it as far as she was concerned.
The tour stalled in the parlor. Caroline watched the young man rub his chin as if in deep thought. She could see the underlying tension in his posture. She was quite sure Felix knew he had himself a deal already.
“I want it,” the wife shouted abruptly.
“Honey,” her husband warned, his face flushed.
“I mean it,” she insisted. “I want this house. We’ll take it.”
Felix looked to the husband.
The guy shrugged. “Well, I guess if she wants it that much...”
“Excellent decision!” Felix pumped the younger man’s hand and smiled from ear to ear. “You won’t regret it.”
But would she? Caroline thought morosely.
After the appropriate closing remarks, Felix ushered the couple back to his office to sign papers. Caroline dropped onto the porch steps and stared at nothing at all. It was done. She’d sold her childhood home.
That’s what she wanted, wasn’t it?
Caroline propped her chin in her hand and exhaled heavily. Yes, it was what she wanted. The house was sold, all she had to do was get Tristan’s car back and she was out of here.
“Why you look so sad, Doc Caroline?”
Startled, Caroline looked up to find Shane Garrett strolling up her sidewalk. She looked beyond him for Henri or Chase, but the kid appeared to be alone.
“Shane? What are you doing here?”
He shrugged, his little thumbs hitched in his belt. “I wanted to visit you.” He kicked a pebble. “And I left a prize for Mis’ Mary Lou. I figur’d I better let her find it all by herself.”
Mary Lou. Caroline wracked her brain to place the name. Oh yeah, Chase’s secretary. Caroline frowned. “You walked here from the sheriff’s office?”
Shane nodded. “It ain’t far.”
Caroline knew it wasn’t far, but that was beside the point. She patted the step, an invitation for the boy to sit beside her. He obeyed. “Shane, did your father give you permission to come to my house?”
The kid shrugged again. “Not ‘xakly.”
“What about Henri? Did she say you could come?” Caroline knew that wasn’t likely, but she would ask before she jumped to conclusions. Folks in Lucy’s Branch hadn’t been touched by the evil that befell children on the streets in larger cities.
“Nope.” He grinned up at Caroline. “I ‘cided on my own.”
Caroline swore silently. Henri and Chase were probably frantic. “Come on, buddy, let’s go call your daddy and tell him you’re okay.”
Shane took her hand as she stood. A protective feeling welled so hard and swift inside her that it took Caroline’s breath. She blinked back the sudden burn of tears and offered the boy a smile. God, he wasn’t supposed to have this kind of effect on her. Then again, he was a Garrett. And Garrett men were born with far too much charm.
The telephone line was busy at the Sheriff’s office. Rather than keep trying to get through, Caroline opted to drive to the office. It was only five minutes away. She didn’t want to prolong Chase’s worry.
She loaded Shane into the truck and fastened his seat belt. He smiled and her heart skipped another beat. Shaking off the odd connection she felt to the child, she quickly hurried around the hood and climbed behind the wheel. She made the trip to the sheriff’s office in record time.
Mary Lou was on the telephone, relaying the story of the missing child to someone. She gasped when she saw him at Caroline’s side and immediately hung up the receiver—without even saying goodbye.
“Good heavens, young man, where on earth have you been?” Mary Lou raced around her desk and grasped the boy by the shoulders as if reassuring herself that he was real. “You scared us all to death.”
“Where’s Henri and Chase?” Caroline inquired.
Mary Lou straightened, her hand pressed to her ample bosom. “Henri’s going door to door and Chase drove back to his house to see if the boy attempted to walk home.”
Caroline could imagine what both were going through. “You find Henri and I’ll drive out to the Garrett place.”
“I wanna find Aunt Henri,” Shane demanded from his position on his hands and knees.
Mary Lou scowled. “If you’re looking for your little friend, your daddy took him outside.”
Caroline didn’t bother to ask. “Don’t let him out of your sight.”
“Don’t worry.” Mary Lou arched one eyebrow a tad higher than the other. “I won’t. Come on, young man, let’s find your Aunt Henri.”
Shane accepted her hand and grinned up at Caroline. “Bye.”
Carolin
e followed them outside then climbed into the truck. She watched in the rearview mirror for just a minute to make sure Shane wasn’t going to give Mary Lou any trouble. Caroline shook her head as she started the engine. Kids. They sure could be a handful. The sense of longing that swamped her made her want to weep. Would she ever know those feelings?
Refusing to feel sorry for herself, Caroline drove straight to Chase’s. She tried his cell twice but got his voicemail. He was just coming out of the house when she braked to a stop.
“Shane is all right. He’s with Mary Lou,” Caroline announced as she slid out of the truck.
The look of utter relief that claimed Chase’s features humbled her. He looked weak with it...vulnerable. Caroline couldn’t remember ever seeing Chase that vulnerable.
“Thank God,” he breathed.
“He hadn’t gone very far, just down to my house,” she explained for lack of anything else to say.
“Thank you for seeing him back to the office.” His eyes looked suspiciously bright.
Caroline resisted the urge to frown. Why wouldn’t she see after him? He didn’t have to thank her for that. “I only did what anyone else would have done,” she said a little more pointedly than she’d intended.
Chase blinked, clearly surprised at her tone. “I didn’t mean that you wouldn’t. It’s just that I know how you feel about him and—”
“How I feel about him?” Anger crept into her tone this time. “What’s that supposed to mean? He’s a child, why would I hold your transgressions against him?”
Chase tensed. She could see the muscle jerking rhythmically in his jaw. “It’s just that I figured you wouldn’t want anything to do with him. You kind of avoided him when you were here last.”
Her anger mushroomed into fury. “I didn’t avoid him. You kept him away from me,” she accused. “You really are a piece of work, Garrett. You cheat on me, then try to accuse me of being indifferent toward your child.” She pointed a thumb at her chest. “I’m the victim, you know.”
“I’m really tired of taking this rap,” he said, his voice low, lethal.
Caroline made a sound of disbelief. “Well, when you dance the dance you have to pay the fiddler, pal. That’s life.”
“I did not do anything wrong,” he said hotly.
“How can you say that?”
“Because I did what I had to do, not what I wanted to do.”
She flared her palms heavenward. “Oh, excuse me, you got the lady pregnant, so you had to marry her.”
He stepped intimidatingly nearer. “I did not get her pregnant.”
“Come on, Chase, everyone knows what you did.” She was shouting, but she couldn’t help herself. “Why deny it now? Just because we made a mistake the other day doesn’t mean anything has changed. Don’t worry, I’m on the Pill.”
The look of hurt in his eyes shook her. “Maybe it didn’t change anything for you, but it changed a great deal for me. It’s time you knew the truth.”
She faltered. “What truth?”
“I’ve never told another living soul,” he began, his voice hard, determined. “Shane is Slade’s son.”
Caroline reached for the truck to steady herself. “How can that be?”
“He and Tiffany were...” He shrugged. “She didn’t know she was pregnant until after Slade died. It was bad enough that the whole town knew he’d gotten into drugs and gotten himself killed, I wasn’t going to leave his son a bastard, too.” Chase swallowed, hard. “I couldn’t. She threatened if I didn’t marry her and claim the baby she would leave and we’d never hear from her again. I did what I had to do for Slade’s baby.”
“Oh, my, God.” Caroline leaned fully against the truck now. Tears rolled unhampered down her cheeks. “You should have told me.”
Chase nodded. “I wanted to tell you the truth when it happened but you wouldn’t return my calls. You just left and never came back.”
He was right. Jesus Christ, he was right. She shook her head. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course, you didn’t know,” he snapped. “You never gave me a chance to tell you. You just walked out on me. You called the cops when I tried to explain in person.”
A new blast of fury solidified her wishy-washy emotions. “That’s just great. Blame it all on me. Like it would have mattered if I’d listened to you.”
“I did what I had to do.”
He had. She wouldn’t dispute that assessment. “I loved Slade, too,” she said quietly. “But that doesn’t change the fact that what you did changed our lives. And as much as I loved your brother, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it hurts that you chose him over me.”
Chase started to say something else, but she cut him off with an uplifted hand. “Don’t. I would have done the same thing if I’d been in your shoes.” She threw up her hands in defeat. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. Goodbye, Chase.”
Caroline jerked the truck door open and climbed inside. She had to get out of here. She had to think...to cry. All these years she’d believed that Chase had cheated on her. She’d envied the woman who’d stolen him away...resented the child they’d conceived. And all along, she’d been wrong.
So very wrong.
Chapter Nine
Caroline supposed that it was good that she’d packed a number of nice dresses for what should have been her honeymoon. Who would have thought that within less than two weeks of her own doomed wedding day she would be attending not one but two weddings. Hopefully this one would end on a happier note.
Sonny Vann looked very sharp in his dress blues. There was no best man or maid of honor. There hadn’t been time for that kind of planning. There was just the minister, the groom—Caroline turned to look toward the entryway—and the bride, but it wasn’t time for her appearance yet. Melba, poised at the organ, waited for her cue from the father of the bride.
“Caroline!”
She whipped back toward the rear of the chapel at the sound of her name. Sherry’s father rushed up the red-carpeted aisle, a look of abject fear on his face. Murmurs undulated through the pews.
Caroline was standing before her brain gave the order to do so. “What’s wrong?”
He seemed to suddenly realize the spectacle he was making. He cleared his throat and murmured, “Could you come to the bride’s chamber, please?” His voice cracked on the last word.
“Certainly.” Caroline moved around the end of the pew to follow Sherry’s father. She didn’t miss the suspicious look Chase tossed in her direction. Caroline ignored him. If Sherry didn’t make this wedding, it certainly had nothing to do with her.
The moment Caroline entered the small bride’s room she knew something was wrong. Sherry was hugging her stomach and rocking back and forth.
“Are you having contractions?” Caroline was at her side in two long strides.
“Oh, yeah, big time.” She groaned as another wave of pain washed over her.
“How far apart?” Caroline could see that the baby had dropped, even with Sherry sitting as she was.
“Not too close. About every ten minutes.” She bit her lower lip and blinked back the tears. “I have to make it through this wedding,” she whispered.
Caroline took her hand and smiled. “As long as your water hasn’t broken, we’re in good shape.”
Sherry’s expression screwed into a mixture of skepticism and worry. “Well, it kindda did this morning.”
“When?” Caroline glanced at her watch. It was four-fifteen now.”
“About ten. But I didn’t start having pains until about an hour ago. At least if I did, I didn’t know it.”
“I’m going to have to have a quick look,” Caroline insisted.
“Whatever you think, Doc,” Sherry said nervously.
Fortunately a small bathroom adjoined the room. Caroline quickly washed her hands. She had Sherry lie back on the sofa and Caroline did what she had to do. Once she’d washed her hands again, she studied the determined young woman before her.
“It’s goi
ng to be close, Sherry. You’re dilated to about five centimeters.”
Tears welled in Sherry’s eyes. “I need this wedding.”
Caroline took a big breath. “All right. But if we’re going to do, let’s get it over with. No beating around the bush.”
Five minutes later, Caroline was back in her seat and Sherry was marching up the aisle. Caroline watched Sherry’s expression closely for signs of pain or discomfort. The minister, obviously prompted by the bride’s father, barely took a breath between sentences.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the minister announced in his deep baritone. “You may kiss your bride.”
Sonny pressed his lips to Sherry’s. Her cheeks glistened with tears of joy. Caroline breathed a sigh of relief. She said a quick, silent thanks to God for giving Sherry her wish.
“Ohhhh!” Sherry doubled over clutching her heavy abdomen.
Caroline rushed to the altar, Chase hot on her heels.
“I think this baby’s coming,” Sherry said.
“Sit her down,” Caroline instructed.
Chase and Sonny quickly helped Sherry to a sitting position on the slightly elevated area around the altar.
“Should we call the paramedics?” Chase asked quietly.
Sonny busied himself comforting his new bride, who was panting short, swift breaths.
“Get some of the onlookers backed up and I’ll have a look.”
Chase ushered the crowd back as Caroline checked the situation.
“Damn,” she murmured. The baby had crowned. No wonder Sherry thought it was coming.
Chase knelt next to Caroline for a report.
“Call an ambulance,” she said quietly. “This baby is coming now.”
Chase’s blue eyes widened. “Done.”
He disappeared, but Caroline didn’t have time to notice where he went. She had real work to do. “Okay, Sherry, we’re going to have this baby now. Are you up to it?”
Sherry nodded. She turned to her new husband. “Hold my hand.”
With her father sitting on the floor supporting her back and her husband at her side giving her encouragement, Sherry Lands Vann pushed and panted as Caroline instructed. A first-aid kit and a couple of clean hand towels appeared at Caroline’s side.
