Feels Like Family

by Sherryl Woods

  “I saw him when I came in. He’s already with a client,” Helen said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Maddie frowned. “Helen, please. It’s still not safe for you to go anywhere alone.”

  For a brief flash the image of Caroline as she’d last seen her appeared in her mind, along with a reminder of the promise she’d made, not just to Caroline, but to herself.

  “Okay, fine, I’ll get Elliott,” she said, making a U-turn and heading into the spa.

  “If he can’t break free, I’ll drive you,” Maddie called after her.

  Helen chafed at all this protectiveness, but she knew it was justified. She resolved to call the sheriff the instant she reached her office and demand to know the status of their hunt for Brad. If she sensed that Brad wasn’t a high enough priority for them, then she was going to put her own detectives to work tracking him down. It was time for this to end.

  22

  With Elliott at her side, Helen walked back to her office, trying to take some pleasure in the gorgeous day. Elliott’s grim demeanor wasn’t helping. He obviously took his bodyguard duties seriously. His gaze was directed up and down the street as they walked and he answered all her questions in monosyllables without once glancing at her. Helen finally gave up trying to have a conversation with him.

  As they walked along Main Street, she spotted Ronnie inside his hardware store and waved to him. At Wharton’s, she told Elliott to wait while she poked her head inside to say hello to Grace and Neville.

  “I brought you something from Paris,” she told Grace. “I’ll bring it by later.”

  Grace’s arms were loaded down with plates of scrambled eggs and pancakes. “You had a wonderful honeymoon, then?”

  “It was amazing,” Helen confirmed, knowing that half the town would be chattering away about that before the morning was out. Maybe it would put a stop to the rumors probably circulating about her walking down the aisle under duress.

  Once they reached her office, she grinned at Elliott. “Your job here is done,” she told him. “You’ve delivered me safely.”

  “Why don’t I go inside with you?” he suggested.

  “Barb’s here,” she said, spotting her car in the driveway. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, then. You need me to go anywhere with you, all you have to do is say the word, okay?”

  “Thanks, Elliott.”

  As he started to jog back toward the spa, she opened the door and went inside. Barb glanced up from the phone call she was on and beamed at her, then mouthed, “Welcome back.”

  When Helen would have picked up her messages and gone on into her office, Barb gestured for her to wait as she wrapped up her call.

  “I just wanted to alert you that there’s a client waiting in your office,” Barb told her. “He said it was an emergency and since you didn’t have anything on your calendar for today, I told him he could come in if he didn’t mind waiting ’til you got here.”

  “Who is he and what kind of emergency?” Helen asked, annoyed because she’d counted on having the whole day to catch up on her cases.

  Barb glanced at a note on her desk. “He said his name is Bryan Hallifax.”

  “I don’t recall a Hallifax family in Serenity.”

  Barb shrugged. “He didn’t say if he lived here in town. I didn’t recognize him, either.”

  “And the emergency?”

  “Something about his wife threatening to take his kids away from him,” she said. “She hit him with this right after he got back from a business trip and he panicked. He didn’t give me a lot of details.”

  “Okay, whatever. I’ll deal with him, but no more calls and definitely no more appointments.”

  “Got it,” Barb said. “I’m sorry about this, but he was so frantic.”

  Helen gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it. I know what a softie you are.”

  When she opened to door to her office, she didn’t immediately spot the man. It was only after she’d closed the door that she saw him standing in the shadows. When he turned, her heart leaped into her throat. It was Brad Holliday, his eyes filled with rage and satisfaction at having caught her off guard.

  Helen instinctively started to yank the door back open and yell for Barb to call the police. But then she saw the gun in Brad’s hand and froze. It was trained on her.

  “Good,” he said when she stepped away from the door. “You’re a smart woman.”

  “What do you want, Brad?”

  “Justice, satisfaction,” he suggested, then shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes.”

  Helen moved cautiously until she was behind her desk, where she could sit down. Hopefully the solid desk would offer some protection for the baby if Brad decided to fire the gun. Unfortunately, she’d never installed the panic button that some attorneys insisted on having on the floor beside their desks. She dealt with divorces, not criminal law.

  She forced herself to look directly into Brad’s eyes. They were filled with hate. Still, she managed to keep her tone even and reasonable. “Brad, don’t you think you’re in enough trouble after what you did to Caroline? Do you really want to make things worse?”

  He gave her a wry look. “Like you said, I’m already in a lot of trouble. What’s a little more? I don’t have much to lose. You took everything from me.”

  Helen knew better than to engage in an argument with someone who wasn’t thinking clearly. Some instinct, though, made her want to get through to him, maybe save him from himself.

  “Brad, you know that’s not true,” she said quietly. “You still have plenty of money. You have your kids.”

  “They hate me now.”

  Helen knew the sons were angry, but his daughter was another story. “Your daughter doesn’t hate you. She’s trying very hard to believe in you, but if you do something to me, that will be it. She won’t be able to ignore the truth—that you’re not the man she thought you were.”

  His laugh was bitter. “But don’t you see? I’m not the man she thought I was. And it’s all because of you.” His expression hardened. “Now I want you to know what it’s like to have your life ruined.” The gun in his hand wavered as he spoke, but it was still pointed at her.

  Helen was beginning to doubt her ability to make Brad lower the gun, and a cold fist of fear formed in her belly. She scanned her desk looking for anything heavy enough to serve as a weapon. A crystal paperweight, an award from the bar association, could probably do some damage and it was within reach. She knew she’d only have a split second to throw it at him and pray her aim was accurate. Maybe if she kept him talking, she could get her hands on it before he realized what she was up to.

  Sweat rolled down her back as she rested her hands on top of her desk, hoping the sight of them in plain view would make him lower his guard. “Brad, you really don’t want to do anything you can’t take back. Why don’t you put the gun down and let’s talk? Maybe I can help you find a way out of this situation you’re in.”

  “You’re a helluva lot better than Jimmy Bob,” he said, “but even you aren’t clever enough to fix this. My life’s over.”

  “Come on. It doesn’t have to be that way. You’ll serve a little time, maybe even get probation for what you did to Caroline,” she said, deliberately minimizing what was likely to happen. “Then you can have a fresh start.”

  He shook his head. “You can’t fast-talk your way out of this, hotshot.”

  Helen’s hand had been inching toward the paperweight and now closed around it. It felt solid in her grip, but was it enough?

  Just then Barb tapped on the door. Brad’s head jerked in that direction and Helen took advantage of his distraction to hurl the paperweight directly at his head. It hit with a glancing blow that wasn’t nearly enough to cause serious injury. He whirled around and shot without taking time to aim. The bullet splintered the wood on the corner of the desk. Outside the door, Barb screamed.

  Helen dove beneath her desk, but not quickly enough. A second shot grazed her arm, sen
ding a bolt of searing pain through her. A third shot went wild and shattered a window.

  “You bitch!” Brad yelled, just as the first sirens split the air.

  It took Helen a second to realize they weren’t police sirens at all, but the building’s security alarm, set off when the window shattered. Nonetheless, the sound was enough to make Brad bolt from the room.

  Then Barb was there, helping Helen into her chair, murmuring apologies even as she used a towel she’d grabbed from their restroom and tried to stem the bleeding.

  “I had no idea,” she said over and over. “I’m so sorry. I should have asked more questions. God, what was I thinking?”

  Helen squeezed her hand. “Barb, it’s okay. How could you know? You’d never met Brad.”

  “But I should have been more suspicious. Everyone in town knew you were off on your honeymoon this week. The second he called for an appointment on a day you were only supposed to be catching up, I should’ve guessed he was up to no good.”

  “Barb, you can’t second-guess the motives of every potential client.”

  “But that man almost killed you!” she said. “I’ll never forgive myself for that.” She glanced around, her expression panicked. “Where are the police, dammit? And the paramedics? You’re bleeding!”

  Just then from outside, another shot rang out, followed by a collective, horrified gasp—the onlookers who’d apparently gathered when the alarm went off.

  “What happened?” Helen asked Barb, even as she rocked back and forth, clutching her bloody arm and trying to ignore the pain.

  “I don’t know,” Barb said, pressing the towel to the wound, her expression grim. “The EMTs should be here any minute. Just take deep, slow breaths—you’re hyperventilating. Come on, sweetie. Slow breaths. That’s it.”

  “Oh, God, my baby,” Helen whispered, her hand on her still-flat stomach.

  “Hush now. Your baby’s going to be just fine,” Barb reassured her.

  Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the EMTs arrived. When Barb started to move out of their way, Helen grabbed her hand and clung to it. “Don’t go.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Let me call Erik and I’ll be right back.”

  “No,” Helen said. “He’ll just worry.”

  “He has a right to worry, don’t you think?” Barb scolded.

  Helen must have answered a hundred questions, first for the EMTs, who were insisting that she go to the hospital, then for the police, who were surprisingly tight-lipped about whether Brad was in custody or not.

  It seemed like hours, but was probably no more than minutes before Erik arrived. Kneeling down in front of her, he took her hands in his.

  Expecting a lecture about her recklessness, Helen was surprised when he turned the full force of his fury on the police. “Where the hell were you? Someone was supposed to be watching her at all times!”

  The officer closest to them, a fresh-faced kid new to the force, winced. “The sheriff thought you all were still on your honeymoon. No one notified us you were back.”

  Erik turned pale. “Then this is my fault,” he said, lifting his gaze to meet hers. “It’s because of me you were shot.”

  “Don’t be crazy,” she began, but before she could say another word, he was on his feet and out the door. She stared after him in confusion.

  “Ma’am, we need to get you over to Regional Hospital to be checked out,” the EMT told her. “The wound’s not deep, but I gather you’re pregnant. You should probably see an obstetrician while you’re there.”

  Helen nodded, then glanced up at Barb. “I need Erik.”

  “He’ll be there. I’ll see to it. You go with the EMTs. I’ll follow. I’ll call Maddie and Dana Sue, too. They’ll want to know about this.”

  “You don’t need to bother them,” Helen said, but Barb merely shot her a look that said she was the one making the decisions for the moment. Helen didn’t waste any more breath arguing.

  Docilely, she let the EMTs carry her to the ambulance on a gurney. They managed to shield her view of all the activity still going on on the street. Maybe it was just as well. She suddenly felt drained.

  Inside the ambulance, she closed her eyes and tried to block out the worry that was crowding out everything else, even the pain. She didn’t understand that bleak expression in Erik’s eyes right before he’d taken off, but somewhere deep inside, she knew she was responsible for putting it there. He felt guilty. She got that, no matter how misguided she thought he was. She also suspected the depth of that guilt cut to the heart of why he’d never wanted to marry or have children.

  She knew suddenly and with absolute clarity that she could lose him over this. And the realization scared her to death.

  Erik was mindlessly stirring a triple batch of brownie dough when Maddie and Dana Sue converged on him in the kitchen at Sullivan’s. They looked a little like avenging angels, and he seemed to be the target.

  Not that he was surprised. He’d known that sooner or later someone would tell them what had happened to Helen and how he’d abandoned her. He simply hadn’t been able to make himself stay. Her pain, the blood, all of it had brought back too many heart-wrenching memories.

  Worse than that had been the crushing fear that he would lose this wife, this baby. Even though his medical training told him Helen would be fine, he’d panicked. There was no way of getting around that. He was human. Maybe it was time they all understood that. He was nobody’s hero.

  “Why are you here?” Dana Sue demanded.

  “Someone has to think about the restaurant,” he retorted as he kept right on stirring. “We open in a couple of hours for lunch.”

  “Let them eat fast food or grab a burger at Wharton’s,” Dana Sue snapped. “That’s what they did before Sullivan’s existed. They can do it again for one day.”

  Erik frowned at her. “You don’t mean that.”

  “I most certainly do,” Dana Sue said. “Your wife was just shot by a maniac. Nobody in this town gives a damn about brownies right now. Everyone’s worried sick about Helen and the baby. If you think brownies are more important, then there’s something wrong with you. You should be with Helen. At the very least you should be on your way to the hospital.”

  “I was with her. She’s in good hands,” he insisted, though his pulse still jolted when he thought about how close he’d come to losing her.

  “That’s it?” Dana Sue said incredulously. “You spend two seconds with her, then turn her over to strangers?”

  “They weren’t strangers. She knew everyone in that room,” he muttered defensively. And they’d all been capable of handling the crisis that had leveled him.

  Maddie, who’d been silent up ’til now, finally spoke up. “Erik, you don’t have any reason to blame yourself for what happened,” she said, studying him intently. “And right now blame’s not what’s important. You need to get to the hospital and be with your wife.”

  Dana Sue yanked the bowl of brownie mix away from him. “Go, dammit! I’m capable of making the stupid brownies for once. I did it often enough before I hired you.”

  “I’ll drive you,” Maddie said.

  A part of Erik wanted to argue. A part of him wanted to stand his ground, to hide out right here in a world that made sense to him, but deep in his gut he knew both Maddie and Dana Sue were right. His place was with Helen. He’d just lost his mind for a little while when he’d realized how close he’d come to losing her. The sense of déjà vu had been overwhelming.

  “Okay, let’s go,” he said at last.

  Dana Sue looked triumphant, but Maddie merely looked relieved.

  “We’ll call you from the hospital,” she promised Dana Sue.

  “And I’ll be back in time for the dinner rush,” Erik told her.

  “You most certainly will not be,” Dana Sue said. “Especially if they release Helen from the hospital. You’ll need to stay with her. Tess and Karen can fill in. I’ll call them right now and explain what’s going on.”

&
nbsp; “We’ll play it by ear, then,” he said, which was as much of a concession as he was prepared to make.

  In the car, Maddie glanced at him. “You okay?”

  “I’m not the one who was shot.”

  “They say when you love someone, it’s possible to feel their pain.”

  “Oh, please, spare me the psychobabble,” he said. “But I understand what you’re trying to say.” He swiped a hand over his eyes. “When I got the call from Barb, you have no idea what went through my mind.”

  “Oh, I think I have some idea,” Maddie responded. “I suspect it was a lot like what Dana Sue and I were thinking— What if it’s more serious than Barb is saying? What if we lose her?” She met his gaze. “Am I close?”

  Erik smiled, relieved to know he wasn’t alone with a heavy load of guilt. “On the money.”

  “I imagine Barb’s feeling the same thing about now,” Maddie went on, “since she’s the one who let Brad into Helen’s office. But the truth is, all the blame should be directed at Brad. He’s the one who lost his grip on reality just because his divorce didn’t go the way he’d anticipated. He was the one with the gun. He shot himself when he saw the police closing in. None of that is the behavior of a rational man. Accept what he did, maybe even pity him, but then let it go. Nothing matters now except making sure that Helen and the baby are okay.”

  “That all sounds very mature and rational, but I still feel this overwhelming sense of guilt.” The deputy’s words echoed in his head. “Did you know I never thought to let the sheriff’s department know we were back from Paris? If I had, there would’ve been someone keeping an eye on her.”

  “You’d just come back from an incredible honeymoon. You can be forgiven for not thinking about a threat that was made weeks ago in anger. All of us had at least some reason to believe the danger was past.”

  “You didn’t,” he corrected. “You insisted that Elliott go with her to the office.”

  Her lips curved slightly. “I’m a mother. I worry about everything. Ask my kids. Even though Ty’s away at college, I worry about whether he’s wearing a sweater when it’s chilly or whether he’s brushed his teeth at night or has eaten a decent meal. It’s all force of habit.”