by Debbie Mason
“Good thing I got us sandwiches and salads, then.” He frowned. “Where did my phone go?”
“I don’t know. You put it on the nightstand, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, right beside…” He got out of bed and looked behind the nightstand, moving the drapes to see if it had fallen behind them. It had. He bent over and grabbed his phone, staring at what looked to be twenty messages on the screen.
Only moments ago, he’d been thinking this was it, one of the best afternoons of his life, a memory he’d cherish. Now, staring at his screen, his worst fear had come to life. He’d been thinking with his dick, and he’d put his boys at risk. He’d let his feelings for Mallory cloud his judgment. His desire for her made him selfish. He’d promised himself his kids would always come first, and because he’d broken that vow and put his own wants and needs before theirs, he was going to lose them.
“What is it?” She searched his face. “Gabe, you’re scaring me.”
“The school called. Three times. Volume’s messed up on my phone. Dylan got in a fight and needed stitches. When they couldn’t reach me, they called Karl and Diane. They’re my emergency contacts.”
“Oh, Gabe, no.” She covered her mouth.
“It gets better,” he said as he grabbed his pants off the floor. “They’re at my place. Have been for ten minutes. They’ve figured out where I am.”
“They don’t have to know you’re here. You can say you were having problems with your SUV, and that you’re using another car from the station. You can sneak out, and I’ll meet you down the road and drive you to work.”
“According to Diane’s latest text, they’ve called the station, and they’ve called the senior center. Ruby told them we’d left hours ago to get some Christmas shopping done.”
“So we’ll say that’s where we were. That we just got back, and you were helping me unload my parcels.” She leaned over the bed to search for her clothes.
He didn’t want to hurt her, but she had to know how messed up this was. How they never should’ve let what they felt for each other put everything else on the line. The kids were going to be hurt by this. Hers and his.
He sat on the edge of the bed, and unable to resist touching her one last time, he smoothed his hand down her hair and her back. Then he leaned in and kissed her shoulder. The kids weren’t the only ones who were going to be hurt. “Doc, the reason Dylan got in a fight was because the kids were teasing him about us getting married.”
She sat up, holding the comforter to her chest. “What? I don’t understand.”
“After the boys caught us kissing in bed Sunday morning, Teddy started planning our wedding. He asked me if I wanted to wear a black tux or a white one.” He laughed, then shook his head. “I know. Leave it to Teddy. Anyway, I thought I’d nipped it in the bud. But apparently I didn’t do a very good job.”
He took her hand and looked her in the eyes, needing to do a better job of making her understand than he had Teddy. “Doc, this isn’t going to work. As much as I wish it could, it isn’t.”
She gave him a tight smile and nodded. “I know. I just wish there was something I could do. I feel responsible. I’d die if you lose the boys because of this. It’s not fair. It’s not fair that you don’t get to have a life.” She shook her head. “Diane probably wouldn’t mind if you had a life with anyone else but me. This is all my fault.”
“Stop. This isn’t on you. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without you these past couple of weeks. But I was kidding myself. We both were.” He stood up and put on his shirt. “I really hate to do this, Doc. But the kids won’t be able to come to Oliver’s birthday party tonight. There’s no way I’ll get rid of Diane and Karl now, and I can’t rock the boat until I’ve talked to someone about my rights.” He’d gotten busy and put off looking for a lawyer.
“But, Gabe, he’s turning sixteen. He wants the boys to come. I don’t have anyone else to invite. The few friends he’s made won’t come for fear of upsetting Dirk.”
“You’re right. Don’t worry. I’ll figure something out. I won’t be able to come. I wish I could but it’ll just give Diane more ammunition, and Dylan is more likely to come if I don’t. I’ll make it up to Oliver. If it’s okay with you, I’ll pick him up early one day next week, and we can work on the car. Maybe we’ll take it out on the road.”
“He’d absolutely love that. Thank you.” She looked out the window that faced onto the snow-covered backyard. “We went from making love in the middle of the afternoon to this. I can’t believe it.”
He crouched in front of her, taking her hands in his. “You have to know that, if it was just me, if I didn’t have the boys to think about, I’d want to be with you. That might not sound like a very big deal but, after I lost Lauren, I didn’t think I’d ever want to be with another woman. I didn’t think I could, and then you came along. I wish…” He looked away.
She placed her hand on the side of his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb. “I know. Me too.” Someone pounded on her front door, and she let her hand drop to her side. “You better go.”
He straightened, leaning in to brush his lips across the top of her head. “Bye, Doc,” he said, then headed for the door. Ready to give whoever was on the other side of it hell. Diane had probably sent Karl over to drag him from Mallory’s bed. The thought didn’t ease his anger, and he nearly took off his officer’s head.
She grimaced. “Sorry, Chief, but we’ve been trying to reach you for the past half hour. Mrs. Rollins said we’d find you here.”
He glanced at his place to see Diane standing on his front porch with her arms crossed. There was lots he wanted to say to her, none of it good, but instead he focused on his officer. “What’s up?”
“We got a call from Kayla McPherson. She says she has reason to believe Mrs. Maitland”—she glanced into the house—“the first one, I mean. She’s been kidnapped.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mallory’s legs felt like they were boneless when she walked into the Highland Falls Police Station after dropping off the boys at home. And it wasn’t from spending the afternoon making love with the chief of police. As fantasy-fulfilling as the experience had been, learning that Gabe had missed being there for Dylan and now was in danger of losing his boys because they’d been making love had immediately snapped her body out of its blissed-out state.
But it was when Gabe called her to come to the station that she’d turned into a weak-kneed nervous wreck. Marsha Maitland was missing, and Mallory had a feeling she was the prime suspect.
“Mallory Maitland. I’m here to see Chief Buchanan,” she said as she approached the desk.
The officer gave her a clipped nod. “He’s expecting you.” She gestured to Gabe’s closed office door.
Mallory felt the curious stares of the officers at their desks as she made her way to the back of the station. She knocked on Gabe’s door.
“Come in,” he said, his voice cool and professional. So unlike the voice that had been whispering in her ear only hours before.
The same voice that had ended things before they’d really gotten started. Even if it felt like they’d gotten started the moment their eyes first met. She hadn’t put up a fight though. How could she, in the face of him losing his sons? She didn’t blame him. She just wished it had ended differently. No, in all honesty, she wished it hadn’t ended at all.
But since it had, she thought she’d been punished enough for one day. But as she opened the door, she realized she hadn’t been. Kayla McPherson sat in the chair in front of Gabe, turning to look at Mallory as she walked into the office.
Mallory’s gaze shot to Gabe. Surely he could’ve warned her. She hadn’t thought he blamed her for missing the calls from the school, but maybe once he was out of her bed and out of her house, he’d had time to think.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were busy.” She turned to walk out. She wasn’t doing this, not today.
“Mallory, would you come in and sit down,
please.”
She briefly closed her eyes and then turned to face him, lifting her chin. “I’ll stand.” She shut the door, perhaps harder than was necessary, and leaned against it.
“Someone’s got attitude today, don’t they?”
“Kayla, that’s not helpful. Mallory, Kayla was speaking to Marsha around two this afternoon. While they were talking, Marsha indicated she was almost in Highland Falls, then she said a truck was broken down on the side of the road and a man was flagging her down. No one’s heard from her since.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And…?”
He cocked his head to look at her. She didn’t care if he thought she was being bitchy. She knew what this was. She knew exactly what Kayla was trying to accuse her of, and she resented Gabe putting her in a position to have to defend herself. No way would she make this easy for him. Not after…She bowed her head. She hadn’t realized until that moment how angry and hurt she was that he’d dumped her.
“And where were you at two o’clock this afternoon?” Kayla said.
Mallory held Gabe’s gaze. “Having a picnic in my bed with an incredibly hot cop.” Gabe looked like he’d swallowed his tongue. She would’ve laughed if she didn’t know why. “His name is Aidan Gallagher. He’s the hero in Sugarplum Way. The book that I’m reading.” She didn’t know if it was better or worse but now, thanks to her afternoon with Gabe, she had plenty of fodder to fuel her book fantasies.
“When was the last time you spoke to Marsha?” Gabe asked.
“When I invited her to Oliver’s birthday party Sunday night. She’d planned to be here at four.”
“You know, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t understand why you’d invite Marsha in the first place. She took you to court, destroyed your reputation, and then got everything that had been left to you,” Kayla said.
Mallory shrugged. “I’m a saint.”
Gabe’s lips twitched. Like her, he was no doubt remembering their conversation with Ruby only hours before. It was true what they said: things change in an instant. And in her case, not for the better.
“Do something, Chief. She’s not taking this seriously,” Kayla whined.
“What would you like him to do? Put me in handcuffs?” She gave Gabe a challenging stare. She’d enjoyed when he’d handcuffed her to her bed this afternoon but she certainly wouldn’t enjoy him handcuffing her under these circumstances.
He leaned back in his chair, moving it from side to side. “Kayla, would you mind giving me a minute alone with Mallory?”
“Every minute we waste puts the chances of you finding Marsha alive at risk, Gabriel,” Kayla said. “You know this. You know the statistics.”
“You know what I’d like to know?” asked Mallory. “What exactly is your relationship with Marsha, Kayla? You seem awfully chummy with someone you supposedly talked to for a few minutes on the day I arrived in town.”
“Classic. You don’t answer any of our questions, and then you turn it around on me.”
“Like you just did?” Mallory blew out a breath, frustrated with herself as much as with Kayla. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, it did seem odd that Marsha hadn’t arrived yet. And if Kayla’s conversation with Marsha had played out like she said—and Mallory had no reason to doubt that it had—then she had to put her anger aside and stop being so defensive.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I asked Marsha to come for Oliver’s birthday because, other than me, she’s all the family the boys have. Lately I’ve begun to worry that Oliver and Brooks would have no one to turn to if something happened to me.” She lowered her eyes. She didn’t want to look at Gabe. Because while everything she said was true, over the past week, she’d begun to think they’d have Gabe and his sons.
“I don’t know many women who would do the same in your shoes, but it’s a good thing that you’re doing for the boys. I just hope Marsha is all right.” Kayla must’ve noticed that both she and Gabe were looking at her, because she sighed. “You already know, don’t you?” she said to Gabe.
“I do. Your concern and the number of times you’ve been in contact with Marsha gave you away.” He turned to Mallory. “Kayla is on Marsha’s payroll. When Marsha learned you were taking the job in Highland Falls, she started looking into social services for someone who would keep an eye on you and the boys.”
“Keep an eye on us? She tried to have the boys removed from my care.”
“No…Well, yes, that might’ve been in the back of my mind,” Kayla admitted. “But only because I was concerned for the boys’ well-being. Marsha, on the other hand, only seemed to want updates. Not that she wasn’t concerned about Oliver and Brooks—she was.”
“All right, so now that we’ve cleared that up, can you remember if Marsha mentioned the color or make of the truck or what the man looked like?” Gabe asked Kayla.
“No, I don’t think so. She seemed annoyed that the man was flagging her down when there was another man sitting in the cab. Oh wait—she said the man was flagging her down with a cowboy hat.”
Gabe looked at Mallory and raised an eyebrow.
“No. There’s no way. It can’t be,” she said.
Kayla’s eyes went wide. “What? Do you know who it is?”
“I have a pretty good idea,” Gabe said and picked up his cell phone. “Owen, you have ten minutes to bring Marsha Maitland to the station before I head out to your place and haul your and Boyd’s asses into jail.”
* * *
“You and Mallory could pass for mother and daughter,” Owen said to Harry’s first wife, who sat between him and Boyd in Gabe’s office. Mallory and Kayla were sharing the couch in the back corner.
“It’s true, you know. It’s uncanny how much you look alike,” Kayla whispered, then grinned when Mallory gave her the evil eye. No doubt reminiscent of the one Marsha had just given to Owen.
Owen laughed and patted Marsha’s thigh. “Let me tell you, Gabe. This gal’s a corker. Reminds me a lot of Lizzie. You never knew her, but Boyd did, and he says the same thing. Marsha’s a spitfire.”
“Are you quite finished, Mr. Campbell?” Marsha said, brushing off her winter-white pants with a gloved hand. She looked elegant in a fake-fur-trimmed, winter-white, ankle-length coat. Although, since she’d been hanging out at the cabin in the woods for the past couple of hours, her coat and pants would need to be dry-cleaned.
“I am,” Owen said with a laugh, like she was just the cutest thing.
Marsha pinched the bridge of her nose and then addressed Gabe. “Chief Buchanan, this is nothing more than a misunderstanding. I have no intention of pressing charges.”
“See, I told you, Gabe. We just wanted to have ourselves a little chat with Marsha.”
“Okay, so let me get this straight. You flagged her down, pretended you’d blown a tire, and then tied her up and tossed her in your truck and drove off. Has all the hallmarks of a kidnapping, if you ask me. And just so we’re straight, Marsha, as the victim, for your own protection, you don’t get a vote on whether it’s a crime or not. As an example, you could have Stockholm syndrome or fear retaliation.”
“Please, it was like being kidnapped by Laurel and Hardy.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Remember how much Harry loved those two, Mallory?”
“Uhm.” She gave her a tight smile. It had been torture sitting through hours of Laurel and Hardy.
“Laurel and Hardy?” Kayla made a face.
“He was addicted to Pink Panther movies too,” Mallory said.
“You really are a saint,” Kayla said, and Mallory looked over to see Gabe struggling not to laugh.
He cleared his throat. “Boyd, do you have anything to say?”
“We heard Marsha was coming to town, and we were worried she was going to take the boys from Mallory. So we staged an intervention.”
“That’s what we did, Gabe. We staged an intervention. We brought Marsha up to Boyd’s place to show her where Mallory grew up. Showed her Mallory’s room and her diaries and her
yearbooks and all those prizes she won. And we told Marsha what a mess we’ve made of Mallory’s life.”
“Told her what a mess she’d made of things for my daughter too.” Boyd twisted in his chair to look at Mallory. “She doesn’t want to take the boys from you, honey. It was a test. All along she’s been testing you. The court case, everything. It was one big test to see if you were—”
“I think I can share my reasoning for doing what I have done with your daughter, Boyd.” Marsha half rose from her chair to move it enough that she could comfortably look at Mallory. “I realize, given the negative publicity that you endured throughout the court case, that you may have a difficult time understanding or sympathizing with my rationale for doing what I have done.”
“Don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but—” Owen began.
“And you will not speak ill of Harry in my presence or in Mallory’s or the boys’. Is that understood, Mr. Campbell?”
Owen chuckled. “See what I mean? She’s a corker. All I was going to say was that Marsha was more than Harry’s partner in their marriage. She was the brains behind his business while he was the face. She’s the one who invested their profits in Microsoft and made Harry his fortune. Then he left her for some two-bit floozy who—” He glanced at Marsha. “Did you want to take it from here?”
“No, go ahead. You’re so much more eloquent than me.”
He patted her thigh again. She slapped his hand with her glove, which only made him grin. “You’re my kind of gal, Marsha. Anyway, where was I?”
“The two-bit floozy,” Marsha said.
“Right.” He went to pat her thigh and caught himself in time. “Anyway, Mrs. Maitland the Second decided she didn’t want to be a mother or wife, and Harry, without discussing it with Marsha, gave away more than half their fortune to get rid of her.”
“Thank you. I’ll take it from here, Owen.”
He waggled his eyebrows at Marsha using his first name, and she rolled her eyes. “Harry returned to Atlanta with the boys, and everything went back to the way it used to be. I assumed, to my detriment, that things would continue that way but then Harry became restless again, and the next thing I knew, he was dating you and introducing you as the future Mrs. Maitland the Third. Then he sent the boys away, and he shut me out of his life and the company. So when he left everything to you, I was furious. It was more my fortune, my home, than it ever was his.”
