She cleared her throat. “Hi, Mom. I have time. What can I do for you?”
After a slight hesitation, her mother said, “I wanted to know if you’d like to come to lunch on Sunday.”
Katie felt tears spring to her eyes. “I would love to, but—” She bit her lip. No sense in pushing things too soon. She’d ask her father about her mother’s out-of-character behavior later.
“But why am I calling?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just glad you did.” She swallowed hard against another rush of tears.
“It does matter and maybe this isn’t the time or the way to handle it, but to put it bluntly, I’m tired of being afraid.”
“What?”
Her mother cleared her throat. “Your father told me what happened with you. How someone threatened to hurt you if you didn’t stop looking for Lucy.” A sob and then a shaky breath filtered through. “And it was like a slap in the face. Since the day you decided to become a cop, I’ve been preparing myself to lose you, too. When your father told me what you were going through, with the fire, then the car wreck, it was a wake-up call. I’ve been consumed by fear and I refuse to live that way any longer. And I needed to tell you.”
Katie sat stunned, unable to think, breathe, move. She finally let out a small gasp.
“I owe you an apology, Katie, and I didn’t want to tell you this over the phone, but I didn’t want to wait another minute, either. I love you and I’m so sorry for not being the mother you needed.”
Tears rolled down Katie’s cheeks. How long had she waited to hear those words? A car pulled into the Banks’ driveway and Katie sucked in a deep breath.
“I love you, too, Mom. Thank you for calling and telling me. I needed to hear it.”
They hung up with promises to get together soon. Katie looked at Jordan, still in shock. “Did that just happen?”
“Sounds like it.”
“Could you hear?”
A light flush highlighted his cheeks. “Sorry, but yes. Every word.”
“She loves me,” Katie whispered. “I did all I could to earn her love, but she didn’t care about all that stuff.”
“You can’t earn love, Katie. And I think that’s a hard lesson for all of us to learn sometimes. Love is a gift and you can’t earn a gift.”
“Ephesians two, verse eight,” she whispered.
“What does it say?”
“‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.’” Katie lifted her eyes to his. “She just offered me the gift of her love, a love I was trying so hard to earn, and I’m about to explode.”
Jordan reached out and placed a hand under her chin. Her eyes met his very intense and direct gaze. “What’s not to love?” he asked softly.
Katie wondered if she’d ever be able to draw a deep breath again. Her heart felt too full. Like it had grown several sizes and was squeezing her lungs. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying…we have a lot to talk about. After you figure out if your sister is here.”
Katie almost started laughing at the timing of everything. Instead, she gave a hiccupping sniff and took the tissue Jordan handed to her. “Let me get myself cleaned up and then we can go in.” She mopped and scrubbed, then inspected the damage in the visor mirror. “It’s a good thing I don’t normally wear makeup,” she muttered.
Jordan smiled and opened his door. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
She climbed out of the car and walked toward the house.
*
Jordan took a deep breath as he stood beside Katie and watched her rap on the front door. This was it. They had no idea if Lucy was here or not. But someone was home.
Footsteps sounded and then they were face-to-face with a woman in her late forties. Jordan thought about the profile Seth had sent him. One he’d had to skim fast. But he recognized Lindsay Banks.
Katie smiled. A quick twitch of her lips. “I’m Katie Randall. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time.”
“What’s this about?”
“It’s about your daughter.”
“Lucy?”
“Um…yes, ma’am. Lucy.” Jordan heard her choke on the name, but she forced it out.
“Is she all right?” Stark terror stood out in the woman’s eyes.
Jordan said, “She’s just fine as far as we know, but we have some information we need to share with you. Is she here?”
“No. She’s at work.”
Jordan could tell they were scaring the poor woman to death. Katie apparently sensed it, too. “Mrs. Banks, could we just come in and sit down?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t let strangers in my house.”
Katie sighed and flicked a look at Jordan. She pulled out her badge and showed it to the woman. Mrs. Banks sucked in a deep breath and pressed a hand to her lips. “Do I need to call my husband?”
“If you’d like to. He needs to hear this, too.” It might be better to have both of them there. Were they in on the kidnapping? Did they know what Frank had been up to? Her gut said no, Frank acted on his own, but Katie wanted to know that for sure.
Mrs. Banks stepped back and opened the door. Jordan followed Katie and the woman into a formal living area. She gestured to the couch, but didn’t sit. Katie took one end of the sofa and Jordan slid into one of the straight-backed wooden chairs. He figured Mrs. Banks would feel better without him looming over her.
She crossed her arms and let her gaze swing back and forth between them. “Now, what’s this all about? Is Lucy in trouble?”
“Not at all,” Jordan said. “Are you going to call your husband?”
She hesitated. “Tell me what this is about first.”
Katie ran a hand through her hair and sent up a silent prayer for the right words. “Mrs. Banks, we know you lost a daughter when she was seven years old.”
The woman’s eyes went wide and she sank into the nearest chair. “Yes. That’s right.”
“And we know soon after that you took in a young girl about the same age.”
“Yes. Lucy. Her parents were killed in a fire and there were no other living relatives.” She gave a small laugh and rubbed her head. “It’s just amazing how it all happened, really. I was grieving for Jenny.” Her eyes teared up. “I still do, but—” a tremulous smile curved her lips “—my brother, Frank, is a detective in Spartanburg. Frank appeared on my doorstep with little Lucy, saying she needed a home. When I saw her, I couldn’t say no.” She sighed. “She saved my life.” She twisted her fingers. “You see, I couldn’t have any more children after Jenny, so…she was my world and when she died…”
Katie reached over and patted the woman’s hand. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Banks. I can’t imagine how awful that was for you and Mr. Banks.”
Katie had a sneaking suspicion that the Banks’ had no idea that Frank had kidnapped Lucy. “Did you not see news reports on Lucy? I know she made CNN and other major news networks.”
Mrs. Banks grimaced. “We don’t watch the news. Too depressing.”
A fact Frank would have known.
Mrs. Banks closed her eyes. “I don’t talk about Jenny’s death very much, simply because it was a horrible time.” When she opened her eyes, her grief faded and she smiled. “But Lucy was—” She paused. “Lucy was our gift straight from God.”
EIGHTEEN
Katie cleared her throat, but the knot that had developed refused to budge. She talked around it. “Mrs. Banks, we have reason to believe that your Lucy is really Lucy Randall.”
The woman’s forehead creased. “Who’s that?”
“A young girl who was taken from her home fourteen years ago.”
“Taken.” Mrs. Banks gaped. “And you think—”
“Ma’am, I know this is hard to process, but we have evidence that Frank Miller kidnapped Lucy Randall and gave her to you.”
Jordan’s soft words filled the room.
“Evidence?” she whi
spered. “No. Oh, no, please…”
“Would you like to call your husband? There’s more.”
With a shaky hand, Mrs. Banks pulled a cell phone from her jeans pocket and dialed a number. “Bill, there’s a bit of an emergency at home. I need you to come.” She listened. “No. I’m not hurt. Just come and drive carefully. You don’t need to speed.” She hung up and looked at Katie, then Jordan. “What’s this evidence?”
Katie exchanged a glance with Jordan and decided to just be honest. “Frank’s been arrested for murder and attempted murder. We have someone who puts his unmarked car at the scene of the kidnapping, and he basically admitted to taking her.”
The woman’s face went a pale gray. Katie had to contain herself from demanding Mrs. Banks get on the phone and call Lucy and tell her to come home. First she had to help these people deal with this shock. Then she could see Lucy.
“Frank? Arrested?” She sounded dazed.
Katie bit her lip. The news was too much. She should have had Mrs. Banks call her husband right away. She slid over and took the woman’s hand. “We’ll wait for your husband to get here to finish this.”
She nodded and for the next twenty minutes, they sat. Just when Katie thought she couldn’t bear the silence a minute longer, the front door opened and Mr. Banks bolted into the house. “Linds? Where are you?”
“Here, Bill.” Mrs. Banks stood and her husband whirled. His salt-and-pepper hair was askew, as though he’d run his hands through it repeatedly on the drive home. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“They think Lucy is—” She couldn’t say another word as sobs overtook her.
Bill Banks looked at Katie and Jordan. Katie introduced herself and began the story once more.
When she finished, the couple simply stared at her in shock.
“So you’re saying my birth family is still alive?” A soft voice from the dining room grabbed their attention. Katie jumped to her feet.
Mrs. Banks cried out. “How much did you hear?”
“All of it. Daddy called and said there was something wrong at home and he wasn’t sure what, but it sounded serious. I came right here. I heard you talking and didn’t want to interrupt and—” she spread her hands “—I heard everything.”
Katie stared at the young woman. A stranger and yet…familiar, too. “Lucy,” she whispered.
Lucy looked at her. “So I was kidnapped?” She stared at her parents. “You told me they were dead. That they all died.” She wrinkled her brow. “I remember them, you know. In snatches and bits and pieces, but I remember them.”
Mrs. Banks sobbed against her husband’s shoulder.
Katie sucked in a deep breath. “Lucy, what do you remember about that day?”
“He took me from the yard. He was very nice, but very firm. He was a police officer and told me I had to go with him. So I did.” She swiped a hand through her hair. “He became my uncle. Uncle Frank. I remember being sad and missing my family. My sister. Katie.” She whispered the name, and Katie bit back a sob.
“That’s me. I’m Katie,” she said softly.
Lucy’s brow rose and her eyes narrowed as horror entered them. “You’re my sister?”
“Yes.”
“I was kidnapped.”
Katie nodded. “And I’ve been looking for you ever since.”
Lucy’s gaze flew from Katie to Jordan to her parents and back to Katie. “I need to sit down.”
She slid to the sofa next to her mother, and Katie restrained herself from reaching out and touching the girl. Lucy hugged her mother, then crossed the room to her father and wrapped him in a tight hug. She looked at Katie. “I want to see your evidence. If what you say is true, I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
Katie nodded. It seemed to be all she could do.
Tears in her eyes, Lucy smiled, then moved to wrap Katie in a tight hug. “I’ve missed you.”
Katie let a sob slip out as she hugged her sister back. “And oh, how I’ve missed you.”
Lucy drew in a deep breath and looked at her parents. Katie followed her gaze. They looked shell-shocked. Katie knew what she had to do. She looked at her sister. “Take your time and reassure them, then call me.” She pulled a card from her pocket and slid it in her sister’s hand.
Lucy’s tears spilled over, but she simply nodded as Katie turned to leave.
Jordan slipped his hand over hers and gave her a squeeze. She squeezed back and made it out the door and into the car before she turned, wrapped her arms around his neck and cried her happiness into his shoulder.
And bless the man, he let her do it.
After about ten minutes, he started mopping her face with a tissue. “Come on, Katie, I’m going to need an oar to steer the car if you keep this up.”
She sniffed and sat away from him, taking the tissue and finishing the job. “I’m sorry, I’m just so happy and almost unwilling to believe it’s true. We found her.”
He handed her a bottle of water. She eyed it suspiciously. “How long has this been in here?”
He laughed. “Since last night. It won’t kill you, I promise.”
She took a swig and sighed. “I need to call my parents.”
“Yes.”
Katie took out her phone and dialed her parents’ number. Her mother answered on the second ring. “Hi, Mom. I’ve got some news for you.”
“News? What kind of news?”
“We found Lucy.”
EPILOGUE
Katie looked around the dinner table. Christmas Day had arrived with snow flurries and cold temperatures, but inside her parents’ warm house, Katie marveled at her mother’s bright eyes and happy smile. She kept coming back to the sight of Lucy sitting between her birth parents, with the parents who’d raised her sitting across the table.
Jordan sat to her right. And wonder of wonders, his parents had agreed to join them. His father wasn’t falling over himself to be pleasant to Katie, but at least he could be in the same room and not cast blame.
Jordan said his parents had spent many hours working out the fact that his mother had chosen to keep Neil’s secret. They were going to counseling to deal with everything, including accepting that Katie didn’t deserve Paul’s blame. And he was beginning to see the light.
Katie just shook her head. Never in a million years would she have pictured this scene. And yet here they all were.
Tears threatened and she rose on the pretense of carrying some empty dishes into the kitchen.
Jordan followed her. She put the dishes into the sink and felt his hands fall on her shoulders. He turned her to face him. “All you all right?”
She looked up into his eyes and felt her heart kick into overdrive. “I’m more than all right. I don’t have the words to describe how I feel right now. I feel overwhelmed with how everything worked out.” A tear slipped down her cheek and he brushed it away. “This isn’t the normal ending to a kidnapping.” She blinked. “I really believed she was dead, Jordan.”
“I know. I did, too.”
“And I keep having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that we found her.”
“I know.”
“You know how Lucy’s other mother said that Lucy was her gift from God? Well, reuniting our family is another gift.”
“God’s done some amazing work over the last few weeks. One of those things was keeping you alive to enjoy this moment.” He pulled her to him and buried his face in her neck. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d been killed.”
She pushed him back and cupped his cheeks with her palms. “I think I love you, Jordan.”
He blinked, then gave a laugh and grabbed her around the waist to lift her so they were nose to nose. “I know I love you, silly woman.”
He kissed her, a long, thorough kiss that left her breathless. She grinned. “I’m so thankful God sent me to Finding the Lost.”
“Will you marry me?”
She gaped. “Marry you?”
“What? Too soon?”<
br />
“No. Yes. Maybe. No.”
He grinned. “So which one do I pick?”
She laughed through her tears. “Yes.”
“Soon?”
“Soon.”
“Awesome.”
He planted another kiss on her lips, and she clung to the happiness and blessings God had chosen to bestow upon them.
She pulled back. “Not every day is going to be this wonderful, you know.”
“I know, but let’s enjoy while it lasts.”
“I’m good with that.”
She kissed him again, knowing her future was bright and God’s love was enough to get them through whatever came their way. God’s unconditional love. A love she couldn’t earn, but which was freely given.
A love she accepted with a grateful heart. A love she planned to pass down to her children and her children’s children. Children. The thought made her weepy again. Oh, yeah, she wanted children. Jordan’s children.
Jordan pulled back and kissed her nose. “Merry Christmas, Katie.”
“Merry Christmas, Jordan.”
*
Keep reading for an excerpt from FORCE BY NATURE by Dana Mentink.
Questions for Discussion
1. Katie Randall’s little sister disappeared from their front yard fourteen years ago. She has blamed herself ever since. Do you think she was irresponsible in leaving her sister to help her neighbor? Have you made a mistake in your past that had serious consequences you still blame yourself for?
2. Jordan Gray only works cold cases. He has his own past mistakes to overcome and forgive himself for. He feels like it’s his fault a child died, which is why he no longer works current abductions for the FBI. He joins Finding the Lost and meets Katie. Do you think the timing is coincidental, or do you think God sometimes places people in our lives at just the right time for a specific purpose?
3. Katie has dedicated her life to finding her sister. She feels like she is unworthy to have happiness until her sister is found. Is there something you’re so passionate about that you would put your life on hold to “fix” it?
4. Jordan is attracted to Katie, but his parents blame her for Neil’s death. He doesn’t want to do anything to upset his parents, so he has to fight his attraction for Katie. Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t want to hurt someone so you put your own feelings aside?
Love Inspired Suspense December 2013 Bundle: Christmas Cover-UpForce of NatureYuletide JeopardyWilderness Peril Page 18
