Pawleys Island Paradise boxset, Books 1 - 3

by Laurie Larsen

  “I’m so happy to hear it.” Leslie patted Marianne’s hand, then popped up and walked over to the table. When Marianne saw she was sliding the white string off the bakery boxes, she stood too, but Leslie waved her back. “No, you sit and relax. I’m going to set all these out for your guests, then get one and a delicious cup of coffee for myself.”

  Marianne settled back into her chair. “That’s so sweet of you.”

  Leslie shook her head with a smile. “What’s family for?”

  Family. She and Leslie had officially become family last summer when her dad, Hank had surprised Leslie with a wedding. Not only had he planned the whole thing on his own, invited friends and family from near and far, but actually pulled it off, holding it in the old wooden beach house on stilts, The Old Gray Barn, that he and Leslie had co-bought and closed on that very day. Love makes a man do uncharacteristic things, and that was sure true for her father. He was always a wonderful husband to her mom, and an exceptional father to her, Jeremy and her sister Sadie, now living in Colorado. But his courtship and marriage with Leslie was an extraordinary thing. Marianne couldn’t be happier for him finding his second happily ever after, and she was pleased to call Leslie family.

  Leslie finished her preparations, then selected her muffin and poured a cup of coffee. Marianne refilled her cup and grabbed a donut.

  “So, we heard it was Jeremy and Emma who actually found her last night.”

  “Yes, it was just starting to turn dark. They first found her pink scrunchie, then they realized it was a clue. They called and called her name and finally they connected. Stella had evidently laid down in the woods and wasn’t visible unless you knew where you were looking.”

  Leslie shook her head in wonderment. “Isn’t that something? It had been hours, right?”

  “Yes. Five hours or so. My poor baby.” Marianne stretched her legs out, trying to remove the achiness from the physical toll her searching had played on her body yesterday. “Did you hear it was Gary Slotky — Emma’s father — who kidnapped her?”

  Leslie’s mouth dropped open, horrified. “What?”

  “Snatched her right off the beach while she sat there happily digging sandcastles. He’d evidently befriended her, made her think he was nice.”

  Leslie shook her head. “Is she still sleeping?”

  Marianne nodded. “With her daddy.”

  Leslie smiled. “She might want to milk that one for a while. Can’t blame her.”

  Marianne looked away. “I’m having a real hard time with this. The pure evil of that man — Emma’s father — right in our backyard. This feud between him and Jeremy had nothing to do with Stella, with us. But he involved her. He dragged her into danger, and I couldn’t do a thing about it.”

  Leslie shook her head. “No, you couldn’t. There’s absolutely nothing you could have done. God puts us on this earth to live our lives, to follow Him and to help each other. We keep our eyes fixed on Him as best we can. But sometimes the real world intercepts. Pulls us into danger and evil that have nothing to do with us.”

  “But my little girl. She didn’t deserve any of this.”

  “You’re right. But God kept her safe. He placed Jeremy right where He did, so Jeremy could find her and bring her back to you. God was watching out for her. It could’ve been a lot worse, and I hesitate to even think about the damage that sick man could have caused.”

  Marianne stilled. Her brother Jeremy had been through the wringer over the last few months, with his release from prison, and falling in love with the daughter of a man who had been a victim of Jeremy’s crimes a decade ago. Emma’s father had been an employee of Harrison and Son, the company that Hank had operated most of his life, that Jeremy had worked to expand into bigger and pricier jobs when he’d graduated from college. Until he made some bad business decisions and ran the entire company into bankruptcy. He had to lay off all his staff, and new jobs were hard to come by. Emma’s father maxed out his unemployment benefits, then settled into a life of laziness and alcoholism.

  Jeremy beginning a relationship with his only daughter was the action that pushed Slotky over the edge of sanity and led him to sabotage her brother: acts of vandalism on his custom-made furniture business, setting fire to his inventory which was stored in the shed behind Marianne and Tom’s Inn, and finally, kidnapping Stella.

  “You know Leslie, as much as I consider myself a loving, peaceful person, I wouldn’t hesitate to go all Mama Bear on his butt if he hurt my baby.”

  Leslie raised her eyebrows, then snorted. “I’d have to say, I’d put my money on Mama Bear in that fight.”

  “The Bible tells us to forgive. But I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for what he did to my family. I hope he gets the book thrown at him and spends a good long time in jail.”

  Leslie put her hand on Marianne’s. “It’s too fresh. Take some time. Maybe you can pray later for God’s help in finding forgiveness for him.”

  They settled into a comfortable silence and finished their morning snacks. Leslie looked over at her. “Do you mind me asking a question? Are you upset with Emma at all about her dad?”

  “No!”

  Leslie studied her face, and didn’t respond.

  “No, not at all. This has nothing to do with Emma. You can’t control the actions of a family member. And I want Jeremy to be happy. He deserves that.”

  Leslie nodded. “Okay. Good.” She smiled, then stood. “Well, your dad and I want to make ourselves helpful around here so that you and Tom can spend some time with Stella and take care of her needs. I’ve put in for a few days of personal time at school, and your dad postponed a couple of jobs he had on the books. So we are at your service.”

  Marianne put her hand on her heart. “Oh Leslie, that’s so generous of you. I can’t let you do that.”

  “Of course you can. You rely on your family in your time of need. Now, it’s still early. Why don’t you go on back to bed, catch another hour or two of sleep, and come back when you’re feeling rested. I’ll take care of everything till then, and Hank’s coming over around eight. You and Tom can give us a training session a little later.”

  As much as her conscience was nudging her to turn down the help, her heart knew she needed and wanted time in the bosom of her little family. “I can’t thank you enough.”

  “No need. Go on, now. I’ve got work to do!”

  Marianne headed back to the suite, unlocked the door, locked it again behind her, and headed back to bed.

  * * *

  She ran through the woods. Leaves whipped her face, vines encircled her ankles, threatening to pull her down to her knees. Down into the thick forest floor covering where she’d disappear, never to be found again. The ground opened and tried to swallow her but she kicked and screamed and clawed. She wouldn’t allow it; she had to find her baby, she had to fight against the evil forest before it swallowed her whole.

  “Stella! Stella! I’m here, Mommy’s here!”

  A whimper floated to her on a breeze and she stilled. Quiet, quiet to hear the noise. Was it Stella?

  But in her stillness, the forest apprehended her, pulling her, grabbing her, binding her. Is this what had happened to her precious Stella? Could she save her? Could she protect her? Or had she failed at the job?

  “Stella!”

  Strong arms pulled her body, but not down — up. Away from the forest floor, away from the fear. She opened her eyes and looked into Tom’s. “Marianne, it was a nightmare. You’re okay.”

  She shook her head and glanced around the room. She was in her bedroom, morning light had dawned and she was tousled in the covers. Tom held her. “What?”

  Suddenly she heard sobs close by. Stella sat in the chair beside the bed, crying. “Oh baby, why are you crying? Come here, baby.”

  Tom loosened his grip. “You scared her to death, Marianne. You were screaming her name and you startled her.”

  Dismay crashed over her. The last thing she’d want to do is scare her daughter more, whe
n it was now her job to comfort her, to help her recover from the fear. She held her arms out and was gratified to see Stella crawl onto the bed and into her embrace. She did the best she could, shushing and stroking her hair and brushing the tears from her face while Tom sat nearby, watching. She made eye contact with him over Stella’s head and his brow furrowed. He watched her guardedly, probably wondering if he had two special needs on his hands now, or if they would partner to help their daughter together.

  “I’m sorry, Tom,” she murmured. “It was just a nightmare.”

  He nodded. “Pretty violent one. Night terrors, maybe. You were sitting up, pushed up against the wall, screaming. It was frightening.”

  She shuddered and took a deep breath. “No wonder I terrified her. I’m so sorry.”

  He shook his head and reached out, rubbed her arm up and down. “Not your fault. But between the way you’re handling it, and the way Stella is, I’m starting to wonder if we should go visit a counselor. What do you think? To at least get advice on how to best recover from this?”

  She gazed at him with new eyes. This suggestion was totally unlike him. Tom had never been to counseling, or probably ever imagined a situation in life that he’d need to. He was more a man of action than thoughts, and touchy-feely emotions were definitely not in his wheelhouse. But obviously, his two girls were struggling, and through the night, she could imagine him turning over and over in his mind how best to help them, before coming up short and realizing that he didn’t have the tools to do it himself.

  “Yes. I agree.”

  He gave his head a single nod. That was decided, then. They had a plan of action, and now he could carry it out. She smiled, despite the solemnity of the mood. Her Tom. Methodical, logical, results-driven. She could always count on him. And she was thankful for it.

  Stella pulled her head away from Marianne’s chest. “Mom? Dad? I’m hungry.”

  Marianne smiled. “Great! That’s good news. Because guess who is here and brought all kinds of great bakery goodies? Paw Paw Hank and Grandma Leslie!”

  Stella squealed and scrambled off the bed.

  “You get dressed, and I’ll get freshened up and we’ll all go out there together.” Stella trotted away. She turned to Tom. “Dad and Leslie have taken a few days off work and plan to help out around the Inn so that we can spend dedicated time with Stella. We’ll give them a little lesson on everything that needs to be done.”

  He didn’t even hesitate. “Great. Very generous of them.” And he readied himself for his day.

  Chapter Three

  They emerged from the apartment about fifteen minutes later, unable to convince Stella to wait any longer. A carefully coiffed ponytail was simply not as high a priority as greeting Paw Paw as soon as possible.

  She ran loudly into the great room and launched herself into his arms. Fortunately, he was ready as he always was and he caught her, then spun her in a circle. Leslie watched from a short distance with a happy grin on her face.

  “Aww, pumpkin, I’m so glad to see you safe and sound. The Good Lord answered our prayers last night, didn’t He? He kept an eye over you and kept you safe from harm.” Hank squeezed her close, and when he finally loosened his grip, he kept her right in his arms where he could keep an eye on her.

  Within forty minutes, they had Stella set up at a table in the dining room with a chocolate chip muffin and a banana, and Tom and Marianne had schooled Hank and Leslie on the daily basics of managing the Inn. They covered how to make a reservation, how to check someone in, how to check someone out. How to settle a bill and how to take a credit card. How to answer the phone and respond to a variety of special requests. Who to call with housekeeping issues, who to call with dining room issues. How to seat the guests at dinner, and how to best help the wait staff with serving the meals. It was mainly common sense, but it did prompt Marianne to think that they should probably write this stuff down in an Innkeeping manual so that if she and Tom were ever absent, they could bring help up to speed quickly.

  “Don’t you worry about anything, you two,” Leslie said. “We’ll be fine. And your guests are so nice that if anything takes longer than usual, they’ll understand.”

  “And we’ll be here, too. It’s not like we’re leaving the premises,” Tom replied.

  “We’ll grab you if we have questions. But your priority now is Stella.”

  Marianne gave a quick hug to Leslie, then to her dad. “We can’t thank you enough.”

  Her dad patted her on the back. “Glad to help, darlin’.”

  Back in the living room of their private suite, Tom pulled out the phone book and flipped through it, using his index finger to scan the yellow pages. “Do you have a preference for our counselor?”

  “No. I really don’t know anyone in that field. Someone in Pawleys is preferable over having to drive to Myrtle.”

  “Yeah.” He hunkered down with the book and she turned to Stella.

  “Sweetie, Daddy’s going to find us someone to talk to about what happened to you yesterday. Someone who can give us advice about how you’re feeling and how to make you feel better.”

  She shrugged. “I feel okay.”

  “Sure, physically you feel okay. Your ankle isn’t swollen anymore and you’ve rested and eaten. But how do you feel about what happened to you? Are you scared that it might happen again? Are you afraid to go back out on the beach and dig again? Are you afraid that someone else might try to grab you and put you in a car?”

  “Marianne!” Tom’s sharp tone came from across the room. She darted her head up in his direction.

  “What?”

  “You’re scaring her.”

  She looked back at Stella, who did, now that he mentioned it, looked a little alarmed.

  “Let’s leave this to the professionals. They’ll advise us how to deal with this.”

  A surge of irritation pulsed through her. “What, I’m not allowed to talk to my own daughter now? You think I’m going to damage her by speaking to her? You told me I scared her this morning when I was sleeping, and now you tell me I’m scaring her by talking to her?”

  Even as the words came out of her mouth, she knew they were misguided at him. He didn’t know any more about helping Stella than she did, but at least he was reaching out for help. But Stella was her daughter. If she couldn’t talk to her normally like the mom she was, she would explode.

  Tom was delayed from answering by a voice on the phone and his attention was drawn away. She turned to Stella and picked up her hands. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I definitely didn’t mean to scare you. I just seem to be making mistakes today, so forgive me. You are safe and sound here in the Inn, and as long as you stay with me, Daddy, Paw Paw, Leslie or Jeremy, you will be protected. We will not let anyone get you again. Never. Okay?”

  Stella nodded, her eyes wide and uncertain.

  Tom hung up and walked over. “The counselor can get us in this afternoon. We’ll go to the police station to give our statements now, then we’ll probably have some free time till the appointment. How about we do something fun together — something Stella loves doing?”

  Marianne turned her head to Stella and smiled big with excited eyes. “Mani/pedis!”

  Stella squealed and clapped her hands. Tom said, “Huh?”

  Marianne waggled her fingers at him, nails out. “A new polish for our toes and fingernails!”

  He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “No Daddy! You’ll love it! They can do your toes too!”

  He grimaced and asked, “Do they have to paint them pink?”

  Stella giggled with delight. “I don’t think so, do they, Mommy?”

  Marianne laughed. “No. Men usually just get clear.”

  “Then let’s go!” Stella skipped to the door and flung it open. Marianne grabbed a jacket for her, and praised God that her little girl was so trouble-free. It was a good sign. On the way out, she grabbed Tom’s hand and squeezed it. He gave a closed-mouth smile
. She loved him. He was a good man and a good father, going to get pedicures on a perfectly good workday just to be with his daughter.

  * * *

  Forty eight hours ago, if anyone had told Tom he’d take a day off work in order to accompany his wife and daughter to the nail salon and then go talk about his feelings to a total stranger, he would’ve committed them to the asylum. Amazing the difference a day makes.

  “It feels good, doesn’t it?”

  “Hmm?” He rolled his head in Marianne’s direction, sitting beside him in her adjoining throne.

  “So relaxing, huh?” She let her head fall back on the padded headrest and closed her eyes.

  Tom looked down at the small woman working her little heart out, massaging his feet, oiling them, rubbing them, scrubbing them. He needed to tip her well. Whatever he was paying her wasn’t enough. No one had ever gotten this up close and personal with his feet, his wife included.

  “Yeah.” Maybe he should get a pedicure more often. Then he snorted and glanced over at his resting wife. If he admitted that to her, she’d think he was the crazy one.

  Stella was busy chattering with her pedicurist, and the young Asian woman was smiling and nodding. He gazed at his baby girl, the love of his life, and said a quick thank you to God for the tenth time today, for her safe return. She had had the scare of her life, but she’d returned to them safely. They’d given their statements to the police, who had put Slotky in custody. He’d do whatever he had to do to make sure she was well. This incident would not cause her lasting damage. He wouldn’t allow it.

  He let his eyes drift closed and his mind wander. It took a conscious effort to keep it from wandering back to the horror of the kidnapping and his fear of losing Stella. If anything had happened to his girl while she was in the grip of that maniac, God help him, he’d have to take matters into his own hands. God expected mankind to forgive their enemies, but that would be just a little too tall an order, in his opinion.

  He sensed his blood pressure rising, his blood pulsing through his veins, at his choice of subject. He quietly breathed in, held the air and let it out. A few more, and he’d calm himself. No sense dwelling on tragedy. His Stella was back with them, in safe hands, and none worse for the wear. In an hour, they’d go talk to a counselor and figure out if she needed any help emotionally.