by Unknown
“You’ll be fine in here until midmorning tomorrow when my secretary will come in to check to see what needs doing. It might be a little uncomfortable, but you’ll survive.”
He stuck a dusty rag in her mouth and tied it at the back of her head. She struggled against the ropes at her wrists.
“You stay still while I go find your friend, who I’ll assume is the young Dr. Wheeler, because no one else is dumb enough to come here with you and do this.”
From the storage room she heard voices in Robert’s office. She struggled harder and he grabbed her throat. “Stop it. That’s not him.” She could see the fear in Robert’s eyes, even in the dim light, and she stilled.
“I don’t intend to kill you, but those people you hear will kill you if they find you. So do what I say if you want to live.” He stepped back and shut the closet door.
Brijette could hear Robert speaking with the others on the other side of the wall. The words were muffled but he hadn’t been lying. Cade wasn’t there.
There was a lot of angry shouting and then a gunshot exploded, followed by another. No more loud voices rattled the walls, even though she kept hoping to hear Matt’s or Jackson’s voice. If the police were doing the shooting, she’d be a lot less worried.
Filing cabinets banged open and shut while Robert’s associates discussed money. Obviously, they had yet to open Robert’s bag. She pushed her feet against the floor, wheeling the chair farther into the closet, then stopped for fear that she’d bang into something, bringing attention to herself. In the back of the dark closet, she could hear the thump of hard-soled shoes against the linoleum. Her breath hung in her throat. The knob clicked and caught. Thank God Robert had locked her in here. A shout from the office caused the movement at her door to still and footsteps faded away from her.
Leaning forward against the ropes, she sucked air into her nose, trying not to choke on the rag. Tears of frustration, anger and fear dripped onto the cloth and she bit back a sob for fear she’d suck the material farther into her throat. She had to be quiet and maybe they’d leave. Had they shot Robert? Everything in her said they had. Cade must be in the building or at the edge of the woods. She prayed this new group of outlaws hadn’t found him first.
The banging in the office halted and in the ensuing silence she strained for a signal that help had arrived. But the sound she could hear was a whispering that wasn’t human. The worst fear she’d ever known engulfed her as the first whiff of smoke swirled into her nostrils. She fought to get free, the rope digging into her wrists and ankles. Her skin tore, but the ropes stayed secure.
No, no, no. Images flashed in her brain. Cade young and gorgeous beyond belief. Dylan newly born and crying. Dylan and Cade together, laughing at a silly joke. Writhing in the chair, she pushed against the floor again with her feet, sending the chair hurtling into the door. No way she’d end her life like this, not with everything unfinished between her and Cade. They had a child to raise and maybe even a life to live together with more children. She hammered her shoulder against the door as the smoke crept into her dark cell.
THE MERCEDES PULLED AWAY as Cade raced to the door. He’d been in the woods on the far side of the warehouse when he’d heard the shot inside the building. He ran hard, scared to death of what he would find. Once inside, he followed the swirl of smoke, screaming for Brijette at the top of his lungs.
Sooty clouds billowed from a door ahead and he grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall. Spraying the doorway, he could see Robert on the floor beside his desk as flames danced across the rug toward him. He made a grab for the man, even though he could tell from the amount of blood around him that he had to be dead. After he dragged him into the hall, Cade covered his mouth and nose with the neck of his T-shirt, holding the fire extinguisher in his other hand, and stepped into the office again.
At the other end of the room, he spotted movement in a small hallway and he pushed forward into the smoke-filled space. He could see Brijette’s head and shoulders protruding from the bottom half of a door. He jerked it open, finding her tied to a chair with a cloth in her mouth. He pulled the cloth loose and she burst into a fit of coughing. Tugging at the ropes holding her to the chair, he cursed and nearly lost his breath in the smoke. He reached his arms around her, grasping the bottom of the chair, and lifted her off the ground, stumbling back from where he’d come.
At the entrance, he tripped over the body he’d left lying there and fell to the ground. The metal chair clattered onto its side and Brijette’s head made a wicked thumping sound as it hit the floor. Cade struggled to his feet, righting Brijette and the chair. Rather than try to carry her, he pushed her toward the tire storage area, the bent chair zigzagging from side to side and occasionally bumping the wall like an insane pinball. They entered the warehouse, and he fell to his knees when he heard the sound of sirens growing in the distance.
“You called the sheriff.” Brijette’s whispered words made him straighten and start untangling the knotted rope.
“Yeah, I did.”
“You called me too late.”
His fingers paused. He’d almost failed her worse than ever before. In his throat, a huge lump welled as he tried to put on a brave front so she wouldn’t know how scared he’d been. “I know, damned cell phones. Never work when you need them to.” His voice cracked.
Her breath rasped a few more times and she coughed.
“Cade.”
He stopped, forcing himself to meet her eyes. “What?”
“In case something worse happens in the next few minutes, I have to tell you that I love you. You know it, right? I mean, you already know I’ve always loved you.”
He put a hand on each side of her face and pressed a kiss on her slightly sooty lips. “I know. And you know I still love you and always will. But if this situation gets worse in the next few minutes I’m going to find a gun and start shooting because this is ridiculous.”
She grunted, then snorted and started laughing until she choked.
“None of this was in my plan,” she whispered when she caught her breath.
He hugged her to him, chair and all since he couldn’t seem to get the ropes loose. “Some things never are,” he murmured against her hair.
EPILOGUE
BRIJETTE WATCHED Cade put steaks on the grill as a light breeze pushed a puff of smoke in her direction. The long-sleeved shirt she wore felt good in the barely cool fall air. Across the yard the newly added gazebo cast shadows on the lawn and she could hardly believe she and Cade had been married there a few months ago. Cade had purchased the old house he’d been renting from Robert’s extended family who’d yet to finalize what exactly they would do with his business.
“When’s Dylan coming home?”
She glanced at Cade, who’d taken a seat across from her. “Not until tomorrow. She’s spending the night with your mother. They’re working on that quilt they’re entering in the competition tomorrow.”
Cade snorted. “I can’t get over the fact that she bought a house here.”
Brijette shrugged but before she could comment she heard the sound of voices from the front of the house. “That must be Jackson and Emalea, right on time.”
Cade got to his feet. “Jackson’s always on time.”
“I know one night you thought he was late.”
“Yeah, but that was my fault.”
He waved the couple to the patio as they rounded the corner of the house. Jackson went to the grill and lifted the lid. “My favorite.”
Emalea laughed. “Everything is his favorite.”
“Can’t help it if I like to eat.” Jackson and Emalea sat across from Cade and Brijette.
“Any word on Robert’s killers?”
Jackson looked at Brijette for a minute, then sighed. “No, there’s not. I wish I had better news. The investigation is still open but it’s been several months and we haven’t been able to tie anyone to that night. We never found the Mercedes or any clues to their identity.”
&nb
sp; “I wish I’d seen more so I could help.”
Jackson shook his head. “It’s a good thing you didn’t. This way those people have no idea you or Cade were anywhere near there.”
Cade’s hand squeezed her leg. “He’s right about that, Brijette. We wouldn’t want to be constantly looking over our shoulders, wondering if somebody’s going to come after us.”
She nodded. “At least you and I can go to the clinic at Willow Point in peace now.”
The sound of the phone ringing brought Brijette to her feet and she hurried inside to answer. Five minutes later, she was still standing in the kitchen listening to Dylan ramble on about her and Mrs. Wheeler’s busy evening and even busier day to follow. When Dylan ran out of steam, Mrs. Wheeler took over with as much energy as the young girl.
Cade came in the room as she was hanging up. “I was beginning to worry about you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve just been through an entire lesson on quilt-making. It would seem your mother has become the queen bee of the quilting society in Cypress Landing.”
He laughed. “She always has to be the queen of something.”
“This is good for her, though.”
“Do think she’s changed?”
“I think she’s finally learned how to be herself and enjoy it without trying to run everybody else’s life.”
Cade pulled her against him, his hand warming a spot low on her abdomen. “How much longer should we wait before we tell them?”
“A few more weeks, just to make sure everything’s going well.”
Cade nodded. “I hope you know this is killing me. I can’t wait to shout to the whole world that I’m going to be a dad again.”
“I’ll remember that one morning about 3:00 a.m. when this baby gets here.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “I guess I’d better get back to our guests before they think we’ve abandoned them.”
“I’m going to check the potatoes, then I’ll be right there.”
She opened the oven, touching the foil-wrapped potatoes, then closed it again. With a sigh, she tossed her oven mitt on the gleaming countertop. This was a long way from the wooden shack where she’d spent her early years. Somehow, dreams she’d kept hidden for most of her life had managed to come true. When she’d escaped the backwater she hadn’t expected someone like Cade to meet her back there. But he had. They’d both finally found what they’d been looking for when they first fell in love that summer in Cypress Landing.
