THE CRADLE CONSPIRACY

by Robin Perini

  Raven exited the hospital and ran into Daniel’s arms. “Is it over?”

  “It’s over, and this precious girl needs a doctor.”

  Raven looked at the possessive way he was holding Christina and smiled. “It looks like she’s already worked some of her own medicine.”

  Daniel felt the cold, dark places inside him start to fill with a healing warmth as he thought of the future. “You may be right.”

  * * *

  THE EIGHT DAYS that had passed after the events on the roof could have easily been eighty. Dressed in an isolation suit, Raven rocked Christina, her slight weight barely registering. The chemo had taken its toll, but Christina was holding her own. The little girl let out a small yawn, then settled in for a nap. Her pale face remained wan, and every night Raven hit her knees in prayer that the transplant would work. She’d fallen in love with Hope’s twin, who looked so much like her daughter. And yet they were very different. Hope had a light about her. Christina was an old soul. Quiet, a follower, but always watching.

  At first the hospital wouldn’t let Raven see Christina, but Daniel had come to their rescue once again. When social services had sent in a caseworker, he’d called CTC. She didn’t know who Ransom Grainger was, besides head of CTC, but the man had major connections. He’d provided her with an attorney, and now Raven had temporary custody of Christina, hoping to make it permanent. The lawyer thought they had a good chance because of Hope.

  Raven prayed he was right.

  She pushed the rocker back and forth until Christina’s breathing became slow and regular, then she placed her in her ICU crib. With a last look at the little girl who had been through so much, she quietly exited the isolation ward.

  Outside, she removed the protective clothing and mask and leaned back against the door. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. What if Christina didn’t make it? She didn’t want to lose her now.

  She felt an arm pull her close. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know his touch, his scent. She leaned into Daniel.

  “How is she?” he whispered.

  “She’s so weak, so tired. I’m scared.”

  “She’s a fighter, too. I’ve seen those determined eyes.”

  Raven smiled. “She is that. Where’s Hope?”

  “Your daughter is now trying to keep up with Ethan, the son of my sheriff buddy, Blake, and his wife, Amanda, from Carder. They took her for pizza. Ethan has decided he’s going to marry her someday.”

  “Let’s get her out of diapers first,” Raven said. She rested her head against Daniel’s chest. “I hope I did the right thing in okaying the transplant.”

  “If it had been Hope—”

  “I would have done the same thing.” She gave him a tired smile. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For being here. Most wouldn’t want to be bothered.”

  Daniel rubbed the nape of his neck. “You needed me. I told you that I’d be here as long as you needed me.” He held out his hand. “How about some fresh air?”

  She nodded, and they left the hospital. Trouble trotted right beside Daniel, following them into an open area before settling in the grass and watching them.

  Ignoring their canine voyeur, she breathed in and stared at the man beside her. She wanted to ask him a question, but she was afraid of the answer. However, her heart needed to know. “How long are you staying?”

  He dropped her hand and stepped back. “Do you want me to leave?”

  “I never want you to leave.” Raven couldn’t meet his gaze. “If you’d asked me a few weeks ago if I would or could fall in love in a few days, I would have called you crazy. Daniel, I fell in love with you.”

  He stared at her, open-mouthed.

  Heat rose in her cheeks. “Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say. I need someone in my life who wants a family. I have two girls to look after. I can’t—” Her voice broke. “If you don’t want the same, I...I can’t be around you anymore. It makes me want...more than you can give.”

  “What do you want?” His eyes burned into her, holding her captive.

  “I’ve seen you with Hope. You’re always here, always caring. You make my heart race when you touch me. I love you, Daniel Adams, but I don’t think you feel the same.”

  “You’re wrong.” He pressed his lips softly to hers. Raven’s entire body collapsed against him. “I love you, Raven. You gave me stillness and peace that I never thought I’d find. You touched me in that wine cellar and drove away my demons. But more than that, I’ve watched you with Christina. I’ve watched you love that little girl you didn’t know. You gave her the strength to fight. How could I not love you?”

  With a shudder, Daniel held her close.

  She shivered against him, and Daniel closed his eyes. “I want to be there for you. Forever. Always. I want to love you, the girls and any children we may want in the future. But it’s a risk, honey. Those demons will always be there for me. All I can promise is that I’ll fight them for you, for the children.”

  She leaned away and cupped Daniel’s cheek. “If you’ll fight, I’ll be there by your side, Daniel. I will never give up on you. I’ll never give up on Christina or Hope.”

  “Then I have just one question, my love.” Daniel knelt on the grass. Raven stared down at him; her breath caught. He pulled a box from his pocket. A bullet casing tumbled out with it, landing on the grass.

  Daniel stared at the bit of brass, but didn’t pick it up. Instead he held out her ring. “Will you marry me? Can you love me, despite my flaws and my fears?”

  She knelt next to him. “I will marry you, Daniel.”

  He slipped the diamond on her hand. “I promise you, Raven, to never give up. On life, on love, or on you.”

  Epilogue

  Darkness surrounded Daniel. Above him, below him, around him, he could feel the walls against his shoulders.

  The nylon play tunnel rippled along him. A joyful giggle tinkled through the darkness, then another joined in the chorus. Finally two small figures collapsed onto his chest and hugged him.

  “You captured me, my little princesses.” He laughed softly. “What am I going to do?”

  A light flicked on, and Daniel looked behind him through one of the open ends of the tunnel. Raven stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, Trouble sitting at her feet. “You’re all going to wash your hands for dinner, that’s what you’re going to do. Daddy has to study for his big exam.”

  His two girls ran to their mother and wrapped their arms around her legs. She knelt down and kissed each nose. “I’ll be checking those hands, ladies.”

  “Okay, Mommy!”

  Hope grabbed her sister’s hand and dragged her off to the bathroom. Hope was such a little mother to her twin, probably because Chrissy had been so sick for so long.

  Trouble wagged his tail and followed the girls.

  At four years of age, they’d grown so much since those dark days.

  “Chrissy’s color is good.” Daniel crossed the room to his wife.

  His wife.

  His heart flooded with satisfaction. He’d never thought he would be here. Never imagined, after everything that had happened with his father and Daniel’s captivity, that he would find any kind of peace. Now he was over a year into getting a doctorate in psychology to specialize in helping victims of PTSD.

  Not only had Raven quieted his soul, she’d filled his heart.

  She burrowed her face into Daniel’s chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning into him. “The doctor was supposed to call today. He hasn’t called. That can’t be good.”

  “We’ll deal with whatever comes our way.” Daniel lowered his mouth to hers, tasting her lips with a promise. “Never give up. On life, on love, on each other. Wasn’t that our vow?”

 
“Always.” Her eyes held a tinge of fear. Neither one of them had allowed themselves to think beyond the bone marrow transplant. They couldn’t. He wrapped his arm around Raven, and together they walked down the stairs.

  The girls stood on the landing, wet hands outstretched, identical grins on their faces. Just as Raven bent over to inspect the job, the phone rang.

  She froze. Daniel plucked the receiver from the base unit. “Hello?”

  He strode over to her and leaned her back against him, tilting the phone so she could hear. His body tensed, bracing himself for the worse.

  “We received Christina’s tests results, Mr. Adams. Her blood work is as normal as it can be.”

  Raven’s knees gave way, and Daniel took her full weight. He couldn’t stop grinning.

  “We’ll run the test periodically,” the doctor added, “but I think we’re out of the woods. Congratulations.”

  Their daughters, sensing something had happened, stopped their playing. Chrissy looked up at her parents. “What’s wrong, Mommy?”

  Hope gripped her sister’s hand. “Is Chrissy sick again, Mama?” The girl’s eyes grew wet with unshed tears.

  Daniel raced across the room and grabbed one daughter in each arm. “Everybody’s well.” He whirled them around. “We’re having a celebration. Ice cream all around.”

  “Yea!” The twins escaped his embrace, skidded to the kitchen and stared intently up at the freezer.

  Daniel held out his hand, and Raven linked her fingers with his. He kissed the tips one by one, and she shivered.

  “How about a date tonight? We could make some more memories,” Daniel said, his voice low and full of promise.

  Raven’s eyes flared with passion, and Daniel smiled at the love shining just for him.

  She leaned into him, her weight trusting and true. “Memories we’ll never forget.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from UNDERCOVER TWIN by Lena Diaz.

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  Chapter One

  Heather recoiled with disgust and turned away from the couple in the dark corner, their gyrating bodies moving as wildly as the couples filling the dance floor. Every beat of the music hammered at her skull. The smoky haze had her eyes watering. And the rancid odor of the sweaty mass of people seething around her had nausea coiling in her stomach.

  Normally a seedy bar wouldn’t faze her. She’d been in nearly every major nightclub in northeast Florida, let alone Saint Augustine, because of her job. The free-flowing alcohol lowered inhibitions and made gathering information far quicker and easier than an old-fashioned stakeout ever could. But tonight wasn’t about work. Tonight wasn’t about snapping pictures of a cheating husband in a compromising position for a couple hundred bucks. Tonight was about finding her sister, going home and soaking away her pounding headache in a tub full of strawberry bubble bath.

  She clutched her purse to dissuade any greedy fingers from trying to pilfer her wallet and fought her way to the bar, like a salmon swimming upstream. By the time she found an empty stool to perch on, she’d been groped and propositioned so many times she was seriously considering exchanging her tub of strawberry bubble bath for a tub of hand sanitizer.

  The bartender stopped in front of her. But even though his lips were moving, Heather couldn’t make out what he was saying over the heavy-metal music pumping out of the speakers. He motioned to her and she leaned forward.

  “What are you having?” he shouted.

  She shook her head. “Not drinking. Looking for my sister, Lily. She looks like me. Have you seen her?”

  “Do you have a picture?”

  “I am the picture. She looks exactly like me. We’re identical twins.”

  He wiped his greasy hair out of his face and squinted at her in the dim light. His mouth curved in a lecherous grin, as if he was considering the possibility of a threesome. “Sweet.”

  Heather’s stomach rolled. She hopped off the bar stool, but the bartender waved for her to wait.

  “Check the bathroom,” he said. “I might have seen her heading in that direction a few minutes ago.” He pointed to the dark hallway just past the couple who’d been enjoying each other so enthusiastically earlier. They both had silly, sleepy grins on their faces now. The guy looked at Heather and winked. She shivered with revulsion.

  After thanking the bartender, she braced herself for another battle and fought her way through the throng of people to the pink neon sign that read Females and hung over the women’s restroom.

  When she pushed the door open, the strong smell of urine and stale beer hit her with gale force. She coughed and waved her hand in front of her face. If her sister wasn’t in this bathroom, she was leaving. She’d go home until Nick was finished with whatever emergency his boss had called him about. And this time, when he offered to help her get her sister into an alcohol treatment program, she’d listen.

  Just thinking about her new boyfriend of only eight weeks, his sexy half smile, the way his deep voice made her toes curl when he called her darlin’, had her feeling better. It was wonderful having someone like Nick in her life. She was so tired of having to be strong all the time, with no one else to share her burdens.

  “Lily?” she called out. “Are you in here?” She let the door close and stepped farther into the room. The lighting was even worse in here than out in the main part of the club, for which she was extremely grateful. She didn’t want to know what disgusting substance was on the floor, crunching and sliding beneath her feet. “Lily?”

  She made her way down the row of stalls, knocking and using the toe of her sneaker to nudge each door open. When she reached the last stall, she heard a noise, like someone taking a deep breath. “Lily, it’s Heather. Is that you?”

  “Don’t come in here.” The voice behind the last stall door sounded slurred, but there was no mistaking it.

  Heather rolled her eyes. “Lily, are you drunk again? Is that why you called me to come get you?”

  “I told you to come at midnight. You’re early.” Another sniff.

  She shook her head in exasperation. It was just like her sister to expect Heather to rescue her, but only on Lily’s timetable, on Lily’s terms.

  “I have to get up early in the morning to meet with a new client. If you aren’t ready to leave right now, and you’re too drunk to drive, call a cab.” She turned and headed for the door.

  “Wait,” Lily called out, her voice sounding mildly panicked. “Just give me a minute. My car won’t start, and I don’t have money for a cab.”

  Because she’d already blown all the money Heather had given her? Money Heather couldn’t afford to give her in the first place?

  Heather curled her fingers around her frayed purse strap and stepped back to the stall door. “What are you doing in there? Drinking? Haven’t you had enough already?”

 
“Just wait at the bar. I’ll be right out.”

  The airy quality of Lily’s words wasn’t lost on Heather. Her sister sounded far worse than if she was just drunk. All kinds of scenarios flooded Heather’s mind. None of them good. “Open the door.”

  Cursing sounded from inside the stall. “This is a bathroom. Give me some freaking privacy.”

  Heather hesitated. Arguing with her stubborn sister wouldn’t do any good. It would just make her dig in deeper and fight harder.

  “All right, I’ll meet you at the bar.” She walked to the door, her shoes crunching across the concrete. She stepped into the hall, turned around and tiptoed back inside, easing the door closed behind her. She quietly moved back to the row of stalls, pausing a few feet down from the stall her sister was in, so Lily wouldn’t see her through the cracks around the door.

  Loud noises sounded from outside the bathroom. Yelling. Feet shuffling. It sounded like people were running. What kind of craziness was going on out there on the dance floor?

  Heather ignored the noise and waited. A moment later, the lock on the stall door slid back and Lily stepped out in her ragged jean cutoffs and tank top that showed far more than they concealed, including another new tattoo, a small pink dragon peeking out from the top of Lily’s shorts. Her sister couldn’t afford to buy her own groceries or gas money, but she could pay for a tattoo? Heather gritted her teeth. She was putting in eighty-hour workweeks—minimum—just to keep up with her car payments and rent. She certainly couldn’t afford a tattoo, even if she’d wanted one.

  She was about to give her sister another lecture on being frugal when she noticed what her sister was holding. In one hand she clutched a dark blue nylon backpack. In the other, she held a baggie of white powder and a rolled-up dollar bill. Heather’s stomach sank. Now she knew why her sister was making those sniffing sounds earlier.