by Nora Roberts
“I had a child of my own to think of. A life of my own. Why sully it with scandal? Why should my life be ruined?”
“But you didn’t raise that child. Dorothy did. With plenty of influence from Marcus.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” he insisted. “I was barely twenty. What was I supposed to do!”
“Be a man.” Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Dory watching Richard. Probe the right spot, she ordered herself. Carefully, carefully. “Be a father. But you let him step in and take over. Again. He twisted her, Richard. Can you stand there and let this go on? Can you be a part of it? Can you protect her now, knowing she’s killed?”
“She’s my child. Nothing that’s happened was her fault. It was his, and I won’t let her be hurt now.”
“That’s right. Not my fault,” Dory agreed. “It’s yours, Callie. You brought it all on yourself.” She glanced down at the women sprawled at her feet. “And them.”
“All you need to do is go away for a few weeks,” Richard said. “Disappear long enough to stall the police investigation so that I can get Dory somewhere safe. So I can arrange for Dorothy’s release. Without you, they lose their most vital link. That’s all you have to do.”
“Is that what she told you? Is that how she talked you into spying on the house, into helping her blow up the trailer? Is that how she convinced you to help her do this tonight? Are you so blind you can’t see she’s only interested in causing pain? In revenge?”
“Nobody else has to get hurt,” he insisted. “I’m asking you to give me time.”
“She’ll just lie.” Dory shook back her hair. “She’ll say what she thinks you want to hear. She wanted my grandfather to pay. My mother to pay. Everyone to pay. But she’ll pay now.”
Crouching, she held the gun to one blond head.
“Dory, no!” Richard shouted even as Callie sucked in air to scream.
“Which one will you save?” She shoved the other figure into the water. “If you dive in after her, I’ll shoot this one. If you try to save this one, the other drowns. Tough call.”
“Dory, for God’s sake.” Richard lurched forward, only to freeze when she swung the gun at him.
“Stay out of this. You’re pathetic. Hell, let both of them drown.” She shoved the limp body into the pond, then aimed the gun at Callie. “While you watch.”
“Go to hell.” Braced for the bullet, Callie prepared to dive.
She sensed the movement, barely registered it as Jake rushed out of the trees. She was in the air, over the water, when she heard the shot.
She felt the sting, a quick bite of pain across her shoulder, but she was in the water, swimming desperately to where she’d seen the first of her mothers slide under.
She still didn’t know which one.
But she knew she’d never save them both.
She filled her lungs with air and plunged. She was blind now, diving deep into the black, praying for any sign of movement, any shape.
Her lungs burned, her limbs went heavy and weak in the cold water, but she pushed down, farther down. And when she saw the glimmering shadow, gritted her teeth and kicked with all her strength.
She grabbed hair, pulled. With no time to use the knife, she hooked a hand under rope, using it to tow as she kicked hard toward the surface. Lungs screaming, muscles weeping, she hauled the dead weight up.
White lights danced in front of her eyes. She prayed it was moonlight on the surface. She was clawing at the water now, fighting not to panic as it seemed to come alive and drag her down. Her boots were like lead, and her right arm quivered from the strain.
When her air gave out, she flailed, struggled against her body’s desperate need to breathe. Weakened, floundering, she began to sink.
Then she was rising up again as hands pulled her toward the surface.
She broke through, choking, coughing up water, wheezing as air, blessed air, filled her lungs. Still she shoved weakly at Jake as he towed them both toward the bank.
“No. The other one. The other went in a few feet up. Please.”
“Doug’s in. It’s all right. Get her up. Let’s get her out. Take her!”
She thought he shouted to someone on the bank, but she couldn’t see. The white dots swimming in front of her eyes had gone red, swirling. Her ears were ringing. More hands grabbed for her as she started to crawl her way out.
She rolled toward the unconscious figure, pushed at the hair. And saw Suzanne’s face.
“Oh God, oh God.” She cast one desperate look toward the pond. “Jake, please, God.”
“Hold on.” He dove back into the water.
“Is she breathing?” With shaking fingers, she pushed at tangled hair to try to find a pulse. “I don’t think she’s breathing.”
“Let me.” Lana pushed her aside. “Lifeguard, three summers.” She tipped Suzanne’s head back and began mouth-to-mouth.
Callie shoved herself up, staggered toward the water.
“No.” Matt held the gun now, kept it trained on Dory as she lay facedown on the ground. Richard sat beside her, his head in his hands. “You’d never make it, Cal. Then somebody’ll have to jump in for you. Cops’re coming,” he said as the sirens cut the air. “Ambulance, too. We called both as soon as we heard the gunshots.”
“My mother.” Callie looked toward the pond, back toward Suzanne. Then simply collapsed to her knees when three heads broke the surface.
She heard the wretched coughing behind her. “She’s breathing,” Lana called out.
“Somebody cut those ropes off her.” Trying not to weep, Callie crawled over to help pull Vivian to shore. “Cut those goddamn ropes off her.”
A hand came out of the water, took Callie’s wrist. “We got yours,” Doug managed.
Callie reached out. “We got yours.”
Epilogue
Shortly past dawn Callie walked into the hospital waiting room. It was a scene she’d seen too many times to count, but this time it warmed her heart.
Her team, every one of them, was sprawled on any available surface. Since it made her weepy, she was glad none of them was awake to see her cry.
They’d come through for her. At the worst possible moment of her life, they’d come through.
She walked to Lana first, shook her gently by the shoulder.
“What? Oh, God.” She pushed at her hair. “Must’ve dozed off. How are they?”
“Everyone’s doing fine. My father and Jay are being released. They want to keep my mother and Suzanne for a few more hours at least. Doug and Roger are still with Suzanne, but they’ll be out in a minute.”
“How are you?”
“Grateful. More than I can say. I appreciate everything you did, right down to getting the dry clothes.”
“No problem. We’re family now. I guess in more ways than one.”
Callie crouched down. “He’s a really good man, isn’t he? My brother.”
“Yes, he is. He cares very much about you. You’ve got a family here,” she said, gesturing at the sleeping forms, “that changes on you from time to time. You’ve got another. That changed on you, too.”
“I didn’t know it was Suzanne I was pulling up.” The horror of it was going to live inside her, for a very long time. “I had to make a decision. Go after the one who’d been in the longest.”
“She might have died if you hadn’t made that decision. That makes it the right one. How’s the shoulder?”
Callie worked it gingerly. “Pretty sore. You know how they say it’s just a flesh wound? Whole different perspective on that when it’s your flesh. Take Doug and Roger home, okay? Doug’s worn out, and Roger’s too old to be worried this way. Jay, he’s not going to leave until Suzanne’s released. I think they’ve got a thing going. Again.”
“That would be a nice circle, wouldn’t it?”
“I like it. Lana, make them believe everything’s all right now.”
“Everything is all right now, so that’ll be easy. The police have Dory and Richard
. There are no more secrets there.”
“When it comes out, there’ll be others like me. Others like Suzanne and Jay, like my parents.”
“Yes. Some will want to dig, discover. Others will want to leave it buried. You did what was right for you, and by doing it, you stopped it from going any further. Let that be enough for you, Callie.”
“The single person most responsible was never punished.”
“Can you believe that when you do what you do? Do you really think it all ends with bones in the ground?” Lana looked down at her hand, at the finger where her wedding ring had once been.
She’d taken it off, had put it—lovingly—away. And when she had, she’d felt Steve watching her. Lovingly.
“It doesn’t,” she said.
Callie thought of how often she heard the murmurs of the dead when she worked. “So, my consolation is, if there’s a hell, Marcus Carlyle is frying in it?” She considered a moment. “I think I can live with that.”
“You go home, too.” Lana patted her arm. “Take your family here and go home.”
“Yeah. Good idea.”
It took an hour to clear them out. Everyone had to sneak in to see Rosie despite the fact she was scheduled for release that morning.
On the drive back, Callie kept her eyes closed. “I’ve got a lot to say to you,” she told Jake. “But my mind’s pretty fuzzy.”
“Plenty of time.”
“You came through for me, in a big way. And I knew you would. I wanted you to know that I knew you would. I was standing there, scared down to the bone, and I thought, Jake’s right behind me. So it’s got to be okay.”
“She fucking shot you.”
“Okay, you could’ve been about thirty seconds quicker. But I’m not holding that against you. You saved my life, and that’s a fact. I couldn’t get her up alone, and I was going down with her. I needed you, and you were there. I’m never going to forget it.”
“Well, we’ll see about that.”
She opened her eyes when she felt the car stop. Blinking, she stared at the field. “What the hell are we doing here? Jesus, this sure isn’t the time for work.”
“No, but it’s a good spot. Important to remember this is a good spot. Come on with me, Cal.”
He got out, waited for her to join him. Taking her hand, he walked to the gate.
“You think I’m going to be jittery on the dig now, nervous around the water.”
“Doesn’t hurt to put it in its place.” He led her through the gate. “You’ll handle it.”
“Yes, I will. And you’re right. It’s a good spot. An important spot. I won’t forget that either.”
“I’ve got some things to say to you, and my mind’s not fuzzy.”
“Okay.”
“I want you back, Callie. All the way back.”
Still facing the pond, she shifted only her eyes to look at him. “Oh yeah?”
“I want us back, like we were. Only better.” Because he wanted to see more of her face, he reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I’m not going to let you go again. I’m not going to let you let us go again. I heard that shot, saw you go into the water. That could’ve been it.”
He broke off, turned away. “That could’ve been it,” he repeated. “I can’t wait anymore to settle this between us. I can’t waste any more time.” He turned back, his eyes smoky in the dim light. His face grim. “Maybe I screwed up some.”
“Maybe?”
“So did you.”
Her dimples fluttered. “Maybe.”
“I need you to love me the way you did before things got away from us.”
“That’s stupid, Graystone.”
“The hell it is.” He started to jerk her around, remembered her shoulder, then stepped in front of her. “I didn’t give it back to you, the way you were looking for. This time I will.”
“It’s stupid because I never stopped loving you, you big jerk. No you don’t.” She threw up a hand, slapped it against his chest to ward him off when she saw the gleam in his eyes. “This time you ask.”
“Ask what?”
“You know what. You want me all the way back, then you do it right. You get down on one knee, and you ask.”
“You want me to get down on my knees?” He was sincerely horrified. “You want to see me grovel and beg?”
“Yes, I do. Oh yeah. Assume the position, Graystone, or I walk.”
“For Christ’s sake.” He spun around, paced away, muttering to himself.
“I’m waiting.”
“All right, all right. Damn it. I’m working up to it.”
“I got shot tonight.” She fluttered her lashes when he looked back at her. “I nearly drowned. That could’ve been it,” she added, tossing his own words in his face. “And somebody’s wasting time.”
“You always did fight dirty.” Scowling, he strode back, seared her with one look, then knelt.
“You’re supposed to take my hand and look soulful.”
“Oh, shut up and let me do this. I feel like an idiot. Are you going to marry me, or what?”
“That’s not the way to ask. Try again.”
“Mother of God.” He huffed out a breath. “Callie, will you marry me?”
“You didn’t say you love me. And I figure you have to say it ten times to my one for the next five years to even the score.”
“You’re really getting a charge out of this, aren’t you?”
“The biggest.”
“Callie, I love you.” And the smile that warmed her face loosened the tightness in his chest. “Damn it, I loved you from the first minute I looked at you. It scared me to death, and it pissed me off. I didn’t handle it well. I didn’t handle it well because for the first time in my life, there was a woman who could hurt me. Who mattered more than I could stand. That really pissed me off.”
Moved, she reached down to touch his cheek. “Okay, you’ve groveled enough.”
“No, I’m going to finish this. I got you into bed, fast. Figured it’d burn out. Didn’t happen. Yanked you into marriage. Figured everything would level off then. Seemed logical. Didn’t happen either. And that—”
“Pissed you off.”
“Damn right it did. So I messed things up. I let you mess them up. And I walked away because I was damn sure you’d come running after me. Didn’t happen. I won’t ever walk away again. I love who you are. Even when you drive me crazy, I just love who you are. I love you. I’m racking those up, aren’t I?”
“Yeah.” She blinked at tears. “Doing good. I won’t walk either, Jake. I won’t expect you to know what I need or want. Or assume I know what you’re feeling or thinking. I’ll tell you. I’ll ask you. And we’ll find the way.”
She bent down to kiss him, but when he started to rise, she pushed him down again.
“What now?”
“Got a ring?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“A ring’s appropriate. But lucky for you, I happen to have one.” She pulled the chain from under her shirt, lifted it off and spilled it, and her wedding band, into his hand.
He stared at it with emotion storming through him. “This looks familiar.”
“I didn’t take it off until you showed up here. I asked Lana to bring it with her when she got the dry clothes from the house.”
It was warm from her body, and if he hadn’t already been on his knees, seeing her wedding ring would have dropped him on them. “You wore this the whole time we were separated?”
“Yeah. I’m a sentimental slob.”
“That’s a coincidence.” He tugged a chain from under his shirt, showed her the matching band. “So am I.”
She closed her hand over it, used it to nudge him to his feet. “What a pair we are.”
He closed his mouth over hers, with his hand fisted over her ring at the small of her back. “I wanted to prove I could live without you.”
“Ditto.”
“We both proved we could. But I’m a hell of a lot happier with
you.”
“Me too. Oh God.” Despite the pain in her shoulder, she wrapped her arms around him. “Me too. It’s not going to be Vegas this time.”
“Hmm?”
“We’ll find the place, have a real wedding. And we’re buying a house.”
“Are we?”
“I want a base. We’ll figure out where. I want a home with you. Someplace we can try to plant roots.”
“No kidding?” He framed her face, then simply laid his forehead on hers. “So do I. I don’t care where, we can stick a pin in a map. But I want a home this time. Callie, I want kids.”
“Now you’re talking. Our own tribe, our own settlement. This time we build something. This is a good spot.” She let out a long breath. “We’ll find one just as good. We’ll find ours.”
“I love you.” He kissed each of her dimples. “I’ll make you happy.”
“Doing a good job right now.”
“And you love me. Crazy about me.”
“Apparently.”
“That’s good.” He took her hand, strolled with her back toward the car. “Because there’s this one thing. About the wedding.”
“No Elvis impersonators, no Vegas. Nohow. We’re taking this seriously.”
“Absolutely serious. It’s just the wedding is sort of, superfluous, seeing as we’re still married.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Excuse me?”
He opened the chain, slid her ring off. “I never signed the divorce papers. See, you were supposed to come after me, hunt me down and stuff them down my throat. That was my scenario.”
He opened his chain, took his ring off as she gaped at him.
“You didn’t sign them? We’re not divorced?”
“Nope. Here, put this back on.”
“Just one damn minute.” She curled her fingers into her palm. “What if I’d fallen for somebody else, planned to marry somebody else? What if?”
“I’d have killed him, buried him in a shallow grave. And comforted you. Come on, Cal, let me put it back on your finger. I want to go home and sleep with my wife.”
“You think this is funny, don’t you?”
