Deadline

by Judy McDonough

Cade rounded the corner into her room and immediately brightened her mood. "Hey, gorgeous. How are you feeling?"

  "Oh, you know, I'm hangin' in there. Keeping the head-banging to a minimum, but I'm still rockin' out." Her pathetic attempt at humor was funny in itself.

  Cade sat on the bed next to her and chuckled, shaking his head.

  How am I going to leave this guy? I'm gonna miss him so much.

  He held her hand, playing with her fingers as he intwined them with his own. "You're pretty amazing, you know that?"

  She snorted. "Amazingly clumsy, and obviously the most helpless person in the world."

  "Nah. Not helpless. Everything happens for a reason, right? Maybe God knew I needed you in my life as much as you needed me." He smiled and kissed her cheek. "There is a reason I just happened to be there each time you've had an. . .unfortunate experience." He shook his head. "You definitely have an angel watching out for you, that's for sure."

  "Yeah, and his name is Caden Luke Beauregard." A few beats passed in silence. "Hey, can you do something for me?"

  "Sure, love, whatever you want."

  "Can you get the jewelry box out from under the bed and hand it to me, please?"

  "Why is the jewelry box under the bed?"

  "I don't know. I have a guess about why it's there, but I'm still having a difficult time accepting it. "

  He flashed a crooked grin. "Rachel? How did you know it was under the bed?"

  "It was in my last dream. I saw her slide it under there, but I don't know why she did it. Kristy was too freaked out to grab it and refused to get her clothes dirty."

  He chuckled and crawled on the floor as far under the bed as he could fit. He came back up with the large, antique jewelry box. Caroline opened it and found it empty. She searched all around the blue satin lining to see if there were any loose corners or torn material. . .something, anything, that could be hiding a clue. Nothing.

  "Now why on earth would she hide this under the bed if she wasn't trying to tell me something? This makes no sense." Caroline sighed, frustrated. Cade flattened on his stomach and shimmied on the floor under the bed. He knocked on the floorboards where the jewelry box had been sitting. The last one he rapped sounded hollow.

  "This one's loose. One end of it bounced up when I hit it."

  "Really?" She remembered the dream before she fell into the pond. "Of course! The journal! Pull it up and see what's under it!"

  "I'm gonna have to move your bed to get to it. It's pretty far under there."

  She prepared to stand up, but Cade quickly stopped her. "Just where do you think you're going? I can move this bed with you in it. You stay right there."

  "It's heavy."

  "I think I can handle it, thanks." Cade winked and, with little effort, pushed on the side of the bed to scoot it toward the window. He had squatted down to push on the bottom part of the bed, so his muscular shoulders were eye-level. Caroline admired the definition in them as they flexed while moving the bed and imagined kissing on those shoulders. When she snapped out of her little fantasy, he was smiling at her.

  Busted. . .again! Ugh!

  He stopped pushing and sat on his knees. He stared deep into her eyes, melting what little restraint she had toward him. Even if she'd wanted to look away, she couldn't. With her two-timing feelings, the conversation she'd overheard while at Dupree's with Trevor flashed through her mind, and she remembered the phrase she wanted to ask Cade.

  "What does Bonne A Rienne mean?"

  He frowned. "Why? Where did you hear that? Did someone say that to you?"

  "Just tell me. What's it mean?"

  "Who said it?"

  "Tell me."

  "It's not nice."

  "Cade. . ."

  "It's Cajun for a woman who sleeps around. The opposite of you. Where did you hear it?"

  "Nowhere. Forget it."

  "Tell me."

  "No. It's no big deal." She squirmed uncomfortably with the reputation she'd obtained in her short time in the bayou.

  "I need you to know something." He held her hand and gently stroked her skin with his thumb. "When you fell in the pond, I was. . .well, it scared the hell out of me. I really thought I had lost you. When I pulled you out and saw all the blood, your blood, I nearly panicked." He kissed her hand and stood, turning his back to her with his hands on his head and spoke to the wall. "I realize you are going to marry someone else and that you love him, but I just need you to know how I feel about you." He turned back to face her and knelt down again.

  "I have never cared more for a woman in my entire life than I do for you. I love you, sweet Caroline, and I always will. I don't care what your last name is or who you're with, I will love you until the day I die. Even after that, I'll be the ghost haunting your dreams." He smiled. A sweet, playful smile that captured a piece of her heart she would never get back.

  "Look, I love Trevor, but the feelings I have when I'm around you are. . .different." Cade's eyes dropped in a calm, rejected manner. He looked hurt, so she continued. "They're stronger than the feelings I have when I'm with Trevor. I don't know what to think about it. It's confusing. I have no idea how I'm going to leave you and this place." Immediately perking up, his eyes were beacons on a foggy night. She slowly continued.

  "I am usually very cautious with expressing my love. I have a hard time believing it's possible to fall in love with someone I just met, but what I feel for you. . .I have no words for. I don't know how to express it. I love everything about you. I love being with you, I love talking to you, I love eating and walking and laughing with you. I love kissing you. I love it a lot, and that scares me."

  "Why does that scare you?"

  "Because I shouldn't love being with anyone more than I love being with my fiancé. I shouldn't love kissing anyone as much as I love kissing the man I'm going to marry."

  "Then you're marrying the wrong guy. Don't marry him," Cade pleaded. His eyes begged her to reconsider.

  "I shouldn't. . .I can't—" Cade placed one finger over her lips and slowly leaned in.

  "Just shut up, would ya?" He kissed her, his warm lips melting her into a puddle. His scent swirled through her senses, urging her to return his kiss. She caressed his cheek and slipped her hand to the back of his head, keeping him firmly in place. His heart beat rapidly beneath her other palm splayed across his chest.

  Cade trailed his lips to her neck and gently continued from her throat to her collarbone as if she would crumble with the slightest touch. His fingers laced through hers on each hand and he softly whispered, "Let's see what's under this floor, shall we?"

  Much to her disappointment, he pulled away and knelt down. Caroline sighed. "Why can't this whole mess just be easy?"

  "The only easy day was yesterday, sweetheart."

  He picked up the loose floorboard and swept his hand all around the inside of the hollow floor. His eyes brightened, he pulled out something wrapped in some kind of cured animal skin. Caroline held her breath as he unwrapped it—a brown leather journal, exactly like the one she had seen in her dream. Rachel's sacred journal. The one she had been trying to show Caroline. Finally!

  Happy, she squealed until a sharp pain shot through her head. Tears streamed down her face. Cade quickly set the journal on the bed and gingerly stroked her face with concern.

  "Hey, are you okay?"

  "I'm fine, just a sharp pain. I'm so happy!" She picked up the journal and brought it to her nose to take a deep, sensory breath. She immediately traveled back in time through her dreams. It smelled of musty paper and leather, like a new baseball glove that had been wrapped in yellowed, aged newspaper for years.

  "I can't believe we finally found it! This may have all the answers I've been looking for! Thanks to you, Rachel will have closure so she can finally rest in peace. Thank you. Thank you for everything."

  Tears involuntarily sprang from Caroline's eyes. She could finally get to the bottom of this and have some peace again. She couldn't have done this without Cade.
>
  "Thank you for understanding me when I told you about my crazy, psychotic dreams. Thank you for saving my life time and again and for always being there for me. You truly are amazing."

  He smiled and kissed her again. She eagerly accepted the sweet, gentle kiss that quickly accelerated, burning with passion. Her hands tangled in his wavy hair when he pulled his lips away and hugged her. He buried his face into the crook of her neck and turned to whisper in her ear again.

  "Thank you, sweet Caroline. For saving me."

  Thirty-Two