Harlequin Heartwarming May 2016 Box Set

by Rula Sinara

  And she so enjoyed being with Caleb. Even if she had to share him with his class and now his sulky daughter. The girl was so angry all the time. Grace would love to make friends with her. Instead, she found herself constantly fending off the teenager’s hostility.

  She closed the tent flap then and scrunched down into her sleeping bag. Hiking through all the fresh air had made her feel deliciously bone-tired. The sound of moving leaves in the wind lulled her better than any lullaby. Soon her eyelids drifted shut...

  ...only to pop wide open again at the sound of a bloodcurdling shriek! Grace sat straight up in the tent, her heart pounding.

  “Hey, stop it!” came Jimmy’s voice.

  “What’s going on?” mumbled someone else.

  Poking her head out of the tent again, Grace caught sight of two furry bodies, raccoons, dragging a large plastic bag toward the trees, spilling food as they went. Two other raccoons ran in to pick up the spoils, faced off, and one of them let out another loud shriek.

  The camp stirred, everyone awake.

  “What’s going on?” shouted Caleb.

  Things quieted down quickly and Jimmy said sheepishly, “I guess they got into a fight over my cheese puffs. I didn’t know raccoons could scream like that.”

  “Cheese puffs? What are you doing with cheese puffs?” grumbled Steve. “We’re supposed to be sleeping.”

  “And the food should be in the vehicles,” chided Caleb.

  “But I always take food to bed with me,” said Jimmy. “I get hungry at night.”

  “You had an open bag of cheese puffs in your sleeping bag?” Caleb sounded disbelieving.

  “I didn’t have the snack in my sleeping bag. Nearby. I didn’t think they’d come that close.”

  Caleb said nothing else but he was up and moving around. “Okay, anyone else got any food? Otherwise, let’s get back to sleep.”

  “Cheese puffs!” Steve laughed and most of the others joined him.

  Caleb came by the tent to see Grace. “I guess you’re okay?”

  “Just fine.” She chuckled, relieved that they were only invaded by raccoons. Getting back into her sleeping bag, she pulled the cover up to her chin. She glanced at her glow-in-the-dark watch and noted it was around 1:00 a.m.

  Soon it was quiet and very, very dark.

  She quickly fell asleep.

  She dreamed of trees. Lots of trees. And leaves. And branches. And the wind.

  Then the trees started moving, branches fell and covered her, even her mouth.

  “Yeeek!”

  * * *

  THE SCREAM BROUGHT the camp out of their sleeping bags again. Heart beating fast, Caleb rolled to his feet, thinking he saw a shadowy figure run toward the trees. Someone was in the camp? An attacker? He wasn’t sure whether to go after the intruder or help the victim.

  Who was the victim? In the dark, he could barely make out anyone. He scrabbled to get his flashlight, but when he located it, the beam showed nothing but trees. And rumpled campers.

  Steve staggered to his feet. “Professor Blackthorne? Raccoons again?”

  “I don’t think so. That scream sounded human.”

  He could still make out muffled cries and they were coming from the direction of Grace’s tent.

  “Grace!” Caleb ran toward a struggling mass on the ground where the standing green tent used to be. Arms and legs thrashed beneath the canvas.

  “Hey, the tent fell down!” Steve was by Caleb’s side.

  Holding his flashlight under his chin, Caleb searched for the mesh beneath the front flap and opened it. Grace popped out, her hair standing on end.

  “Whew! Wow, that was a scare!”

  “Are you okay?” He helped her up.

  She was trembling, and without thinking, he gave her a tight hug.

  “I think so.” She told him, “I was dreaming about trees and branches falling. Then, all at once, they fell on me. What happened?”

  “That’s what I want to know.” He’d put up the tent himself and knew it had been secure.

  Moving the beam of the flashlight around, he saw the problem.

  As did Steve. “Someone tore a couple of the stakes up! Right out of the ground!”

  All the campers were awake and on their feet by now. But they hadn’t made the jumble of footprints surrounding the tent.

  “Somebody’s been up to no good,” said Caleb.

  “A stalker?” asked one of the girls.

  “Nah.” Caleb didn’t want to frighten them. “Probably just high school kids playing a prank.” He slid the beam of the flashlight around, noticing Angela’s empty sleeping bag. His heart sank. “And I think I know who. Go back to sleep.”

  “How can we sleep now?” said Sheridan, but she and the other two girls returned to their tent.

  Steve muttered but went back to his sleeping bag and Graham crawled into his tent. Jimmy had gone to one of the vehicles, probably to get something to eat.

  Caleb asked Grace to hold the flashlight while they put the tent up again. He repositioned it slightly so the stakes could be driven into new holes.

  When they had finished, she told him, “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Sorry about this.”

  “Angela?”

  “I’m afraid so.” He looked over his shoulder. “She may have run off through the woods. I’m going to look for her.”

  “I’m so sorry for all the trouble.”

  He bit back anger at his wayward daughter. “You shouldn’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

  “She may never accept me. We have to consider that.”

  He knew that, unfortunately, but he said, “You’re not the real problem.”

  They parted when Grace crawled back under the tent. Caleb glanced toward the east where he thought he could catch a glimmer of a lightening sky. It would soon be dawn.

  Using the flashlight, he followed the footprints into thick foliage until they ended at the road. He crossed it and headed for the park building, where he caught sight of Angela sitting on the concrete step.

  “I can’t believe it.” He strode toward her with purpose. “You can’t behave yourself no matter what.” At least she hadn’t taken off completely.

  She didn’t say anything, merely hung her head.

  He stood over her. “Are you ashamed of yourself? Finally? You ruined the campout.”

  She sounded as if she’d been crying when she said, “I didn’t ruin it. The students can do their projects.”

  “Well, you ruined the experience for Grace.” And would probably make him look like an idiot to his students, once they found out his daughter had sabotaged the tent.

  “You ruined things yourself. You shouldn’t have brought that woman.”

  “Grace is a decent person if you’d ever take the time to find out. My entire life does not revolve around you.”

  “It doesn’t even include me.”

  “Angela!” He felt genuinely hurt. “I can’t believe you’d even say that. I’ve worked so hard to make a life for you, to make sure that you got what a child needs.”

  She didn’t reply, merely gazed at her shoes.

  “What do you want, to be arrested or something?”

  “Arrested?”

  “One of the students might call the rangers tomorrow morning about an intruder in the camp. I’m going to have to tell them it was you.”

  “It wasn’t me, Dad.”

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  “I’m not lying. I didn’t touch that tent.”

  “Then who did?” Even as he said it, he already knew.

  “I told her not to do it. I knew it would just make even more trouble. She wouldn’t listen!”

  Kiki.

  “T
hat’s enough from her, too.” He quickly made up his mind. “Wandering around in the middle of the night. Pulling pranks. She’s not even of age. I’m going to have a talk with her foster parents.”

  “Dad! They’ll put her in the state juvenile facility!”

  “Yes, they probably will. Maybe that would be better for her. Give her some structure and discipline.”

  “Dad, please! She’s my best friend.”

  He sighed. What was he going to do?

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  NELLIE HAD BECOME something of a night owl as she got older, especially on the weekends when the consignment shop was open only Saturday afternoon. She got a kick out of fixing a big bowl of popcorn and allowing herself the luxury of eating it in bed while she and Olive watched one of the classic movie channels.

  It was around midnight on Saturday when she decided there was a movie she wanted to see starring Gary Cooper. She’d always loved that actor. After putting a bag of popcorn in the microwave, she poured herself a drink of water. She nearly spit it out when she heard the most unholy screams coming from the direction of the community’s parking lot.

  “What in the world?” She grabbed her robe and, doing a fancy dance with her feet to keep Olive inside, exited the condo.

  Lights were turning on in other units. A couple of people joined her on the trek out back.

  “Someone’s been attacked!” cried Sandra Higgins, a neighbor from the other side of the little plaza dividing the buildings.

  “Sounds like it,” agreed Nellie, though she wasn’t the sort to come to hasty conclusions. However, she was suddenly sorry she hadn’t brought her broom as a weapon.

  Several residents had gathered together in a little group around a figure sprawled on the concrete. It was Mr. Cassidy, the quiet man who lived in a corner apartment. Nellie couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked as if he had a big gash on his head.

  “Did you see it?” Cassidy panted as the others helped him get up. He didn’t seem to be badly hurt.

  “See what?” said Nellie, looking around. “The trespasser? Is she back? I thought the police took care of that.”

  “It ran right over me! It was big and black and white!”

  “It?” repeated Nellie.

  “The ghost cow!” exclaimed one woman. “It really is haunting the place.”

  “There are no ghosts!” Nellie insisted, though her voice quavered. Big and black and white?

  Mr. Cassidy groaned and picked up his glasses, which had fallen on the concrete. “I couldn’t see so well without these, but, well, it sure felt like a cow. Galloped right up behind me and knocked me flat.”

  For once, Nellie was speechless.

  * * *

  ON MONDAY MORNING, Grace felt great physically. Despite being startled awake twice during the night of the camping trip and having a tent fall on her, she’d had no trouble going back to sleep. Chalk it up to the power of nature and its bone-deep peacefulness.

  She’d slept fairly well last night, too, even though she’d headed for bed questioning her relationship with Caleb. She was beginning to wonder how serious they were going to get and whether going forward was such a good idea when his daughter objected so strenuously. That thought was the only darkness shadowing the beautiful sunny day she could see outside her office window.

  With a brisk knock on the door, Carol poked her worried face in. “There are a couple of people from Green Meadows here to see you. Are you available?”

  “Sure,” Grace said with surprise, not having expected anyone.

  The receptionist opened the door farther to admit Nellie Martin and Ed Cassidy, another resident of the community. Like Nellie, Ed had purchased one of the smaller apartments and lived alone. Today, he wore a large gauze bandage on his forehead.

  “What can I do for you?” Grace asked, motioning for them to take a seat in the comfortable chairs across from her desk.

  “Well, um...” Ed began, then cleared his throat.

  “It seems we’re still having ‘ghost’ problems,” Nellie said bluntly.

  Grace was nonplussed. “What? Is the trespasser back?”

  “It wasn’t human,” Ed broke in. “Ran right over me in the parking lot.”

  “Not human?”

  “I said it was a ‘ghost’ problem but it’s got to be a human or an animal,” said Nellie, correcting her companion. “I told Ed we should talk to you. I think somebody is trying to mess around with us out there. We have to do something about it.”

  “First things first.” Grace needed focus. “Exactly what happened? When?”

  “On Saturday night I went out to the parking lot to get something out of my car,” explained Ed. “I heard some kind of noise—scraping or some such—and then a big animal came up from behind me and knocked me flat. Could have given me a concussion.”

  Grace stared at the bandage. “Did you go to the emergency room?”

  “It wasn’t that bad a bump. I got more of a scare, really.”

  “What on earth?” Grace remained puzzled. “Was it a robbery attempt, I wonder?”

  “No one stole anything. I said it was some kind of animal,” said Ed. “I couldn’t see the details.” He pointed to his wire-rim glasses. “It knocked them off. But I could tell it was big and black and white. It had terrible breath, too. All hot and foul like.”

  Grace tried to figure out from his description what had attacked him but, for the life of her, could come up with nothing. Big and black and white? “Could a local farmer have had some livestock escape? It might have been an accident, not a deliberate prank.”

  “Or some teenager decided to take another swipe at us,” said Nellie. “So far, we’ve had painted walls and broken windows. Now this.”

  Grace objected, “On Saturday night, the teenager who was responsible for those other acts was on a camping trip.”

  Nellie shrugged. “I’m just saying, it seems like another prank.”

  “Well, I’ll look into it right away,” Grace promised. Though what she was going to do, she had no idea.

  “I guess we should tell the police,” said Nellie. “But I thought we needed to talk to you first, since I heard you were already working with those teenagers.”

  “I’m putting together some community service for one of them.”

  Grace didn’t know about Kiki. Caleb said Angela’s friend had visited the campground in the wee hours of the morning. Would the girl have had enough time to visit Green Meadows’ parking lot beforehand? If so, she would have been on a scooter.

  Grace asked, “You didn’t hear the sound of a motor, like one from a scooter, before or after you were hit, did you?”

  “No, no motor. Just a scraping sound and thudding feet.”

  Feet? “Hooves? Could it have been a horse?”

  “Big as a horse,” was all Cassidy said.

  Grace didn’t think Kiki had access to a horse and she couldn’t have ridden it all the way to Birdwing Park. Not to mention Angela had claimed she drove the scooter up there.

  “Exactly what time did you say this happened?” was Grace’s final question as Nellie and Cassidy got ready to leave.

  “I was about to watch a midnight movie when I heard the commotion,” Nellie told her.

  “Midnight.” Then Grace added, “Don’t worry about talking to the police. I’ll contact them.”

  “This has to stop,” Nellie repeated, getting up.

  “It certainly does.”

  Grace watched the pair leave, then turned to gaze out the window again, thoroughly perplexed.

  * * *

  BY MIDAFTERNOON, GRACE had talked to Alex Novak, who suggested she install security cameras. She wrote down the number of someone local who could do the work but decided to deal with that tomorrow.

 
Meanwhile, Alex had also asked about the community service so she needed to call Caleb to see if Angela had come up with any ideas for the mural she’d suggested. She was about to make the call when she saw her father enter the offices, a grumpy look on his face. But then, when didn’t he look grumpy?

  Henry Huber gave Carol a nod, put his briefcase down and came right on in to talk to his daughter. That was unusual, since he normally summoned her to his own desk.

  “And how have things been going with you?” He made himself comfortable in a chair.

  “I had a good weekend. Camping. How’s Milwaukee?”

  “I got a lot accomplished. Green Meadows been nice and quiet?”

  “Uh...”

  He raised his brows.

  “Except for something or someone running down a resident in the parking lot.” She may as well tell him. Otherwise, he would hear it somewhere else.

  “Now the parking lot?” His face darkened. “One of your precious teenagers again?”

  “Not Angela Blackthorne, the girl who broke the window. She was on the same camping trip as me.”

  “You went camping with her? Is that a new way to counsel troubled teens?”

  “No, Dad. The campout was an extra-credit project for Caleb’s environmental issues class. Angela just happened to come along.” She went on, “Her friend Kiki, the other culprit in the pranks at Green Meadows, showed up later on, so it can’t have been her that knocked Mr. Cassidy down in the parking lot, either.” At least she didn’t think so. Alex Novak wasn’t so sure.

  “Was this Cassidy hurt?”

  “Just a scratch.”

  “This is outrageous, don’t you think?”

  “All these incidents? Yes.”

  “Are you sure it’s not the teenagers?”

  “Fairly certain. Ed Cassidy said some kind of big animal knocked him down. With foul breath. Neither of the teenagers has a cow or horse at their disposal.”

  “Cow? Cows and horses are vegetarians. They have sweet breath.”

  “They do? When did you smell a cow’s breath?”

  “Your great-grandparents had a farm. You know that.”

  She nodded. “I guess I do.” That was long before her time.

  Her father gave a short laugh, though nothing was funny. “I don’t know about ghost cows, of course. Sure it wasn’t a Newfoundland?”