by Lavada Dee
“You think?” Cooper reached for a cup of coffee. “Did you stay the night?”
“Yeah, I want…need to talk to you. In hindsight, I probably should have done it before we started for home.” Grant picked up a piece of toast and pushed the plate toward Cooper. “Have some of this because what I have to say is going to make you need to get yourself in shape.”
Cooper did what he asked and had to admit the toast tasted good. Saying as much, he took another bite. “So shoot. From the look of your face, it doesn’t look like particularly bad news. Has it got anything with you taking some time off?”
“I wasn’t sure you even heard me last night.” He paused, seemingly to gather the words he needed. “You look better this morning than you have in months. If I thought it was a turning around point for you, I’m not sure I’d tell you this.”
He paused, taking another hefty drink of coffee. “These past five months have been pure hell for you, and, watching, we’ve all been in it with you.” He gave a half laugh. “Remind me never to fall in love. I’m not sure I could survive it.”
He paced over to the window and back. When he sat down, he made eye contact with Cooper and held it. “What would you do if you knew where Galynn was at?”
The coffee cup in Cooper’s hand sloshed when he banged it down on the coffee table. “What the hell do you mean? Do you know where she is?”
Grant was unfazed. “I might. So would you go get her?”
The air left Cooper’s lungs, and he slumped back against the sofa. “Until this very minute, I would have said absolutely yes, but…” He ran a hand down his face. His voice was devoid of emotion. “Hell, who am I fooling? When she left here, she was scared to death. Nothing’s changed—”
Grant interrupted him. “Right, I hoped to hear you say something like this. Think, Coop, let’s say you did find her. Say she’s pregnant…”
Cooper came off the sofa in a flash and grabbed a handful of Grant’s shirt. “Pregnant, no chance, she couldn’t be.” Turning loose of Grant’s shirt, he moved to the window. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to slow his heartbeat. A galley humor intruded with the thought that at least he had a doctor in the house if he had a heart attack. “Galynn was obsessive about taking her pills. She said that she’d never bring a baby into the world to be hurt by that—”
“Coop, listen to me. I gave Galynn some pretty heavy antibiotics for that infection. It would have, or could have, made the birth control pills she took ineffective.”
Cooper felt like his legs weren’t going to hold him as he sank down on the sofa. Leaning forward, he put his head in his hands. “This changes everything. She has to be just over five months along.” He took another deep breath. Neither brother said anything for a few minutes while he absorbed what Grant had told him. When he did speak, his voice sounded strangled even to his ears. “I can’t believe she wouldn’t tell me about the baby.”
Grant’s voice was low. “That’s just it. I don’t think she’d deny you your baby. What I think is that she’s coming back. I’m guessing it’s after she has the baby. After that I have no idea, but if I was a betting man, I’d say she’s intending on leaving the baby with you while she goes back and confronts what she believes is life threatening to her baby.”
Again the silence stretched out. Cooper finally broke it. “How can you know this? Why wouldn’t she just keep running?”
Grant shook his head. “Because she hasn’t been on the move and she didn’t go all that far. And…”
“And what?”
“Cooper, we all saw how you two felt about each other. None of us question your feelings for her or how she felt about you. What you two had is special. I just think that the baby is going to make her rethink the way she’s living.”
“So how do you know all this? I thought long and hard about hiring a private detective. In the end I couldn’t do that to her. It would be too much like what Mick was doing.” He ran his hand down his face. “Of course, I didn’t have any idea that a baby was a possibility.”
Grant got up and walked over to the French doors. “One of my patients saw all us at the lodge one night, and when he saw Galynn in Johnson Pass, he recognized her.”
Coop needed some space, and he had to pee. He took care of urgent matters, then splashed cold water on his face. For the first time in months, he looked at himself in the mirror. No wonder the family worried about him. Even the bad boy look of an early morning beard didn’t hide ravishes of the past months’ abuse.
When he got back to the kitchen, Grant greeted him with a big grin plastered across his face. For a second, his heart stood still. Had this all been a sham to pull him back to the living? As fast as he thought it, he discarded it. “So get the grin off your face. Johnson Pass isn’t that far. If I leave now, I can be there by nightfall.”
Grant held up his hands in mock surrender. “Coop, think, if you go after her and can convince her to come back with you, what then?”
“I’ll worry about that later.”
“You know she’s still going to be terrified of the ex husband or whatever, and your hands will still be tied because you won’t be able to confront him.”
Grant poured them each a fresh cup of coffee and motioned Cooper to a kitchen chair, but he shook his head. He was too geared up to sit. Instead, he took his cup and leaned against the counter. Just the thought of the baby gave him a jolt of pain. He’d have given anything to be with her from the first. By now, the baby would be moving. He didn’t want to waste another minute of this precious time. “I’m not going to let her have the baby by herself. I’m—”
Grant again held up his hand, silencing Cooper. “I didn’t think you would. Think, man, Galynn is safe where she is. The guy that told me said she looked great, maybe a little tired, but it was like seven in the morning. Probably just not fully awake.”
Cooper clamped his jaw shut on the words he wanted to shout. He knew his brother had a point. She’d never let him confront Mick straight on. Never let him contact the authorities. Would she leave the baby and go back to try to force Mick’s hand? He knew he’d never allow that. He’d follow her and…He remembered the bruises and scars. No way would that happen while he still drew a breath.
He wanted to slam his fist through something. Before he even thought, he gulped the hot coffee. “Damn!”
Grant shot up out his chair and took the cup from his hand before he had time to throw it across the room. “Okay, that was smart. Come on. Sit down. I have something I want to run by you. And just so you know, Galynn is working in a little café called Ruby’s. It’s just across the street from the bus stop.”
Cooper closed his eyes. How could she be so close and he didn’t know? A few hours and he could be there, but Grant had it right. Nothing would have changed. She either wouldn’t come back to him, or she’d want to take back off as soon as the baby came. A spark of hope flared. She still had over three months before the baby’s due date. He’d have that time to convince her to marry him, let him take care of her and their baby. Grant’s voice cut into his thoughts.
“I can almost see what you’re thinking. However, instead of going after her, what if you use this time to get a clear picture of this guy. We…”
“Mick.” Cooper’s voice grated as he spoke the name. “His name is Mick. Galynn thinks he’s on steroids. She said he’d been changing, becoming more violent. Almost insanely so, losing complete control.”
Grant nodded. “He could have a brain infection or tumor. Does he have family?”
“Galynn said she tried to talk to his mother, but she didn’t believe her. It seems this guy can go from zero to one hundred in a flash. One minute he’s a nice, congenial guy, and the next a monster. She said she even went to the police, but he’s an officer. All they did was tell her about the stress of the job and advised her to be patient.”
Grant took Cooper’s coffee off the counter and handed it back to him, then poured himself another one. Sitting back down, he looked over at Cooper. �
��What you’re saying makes me think even more that we head for Atlanta. You know the school she worked at and her friend’s first name. I looked up the obituaries, and I found her mother’s. It mentions a daughter survived her named Galynn Reade. We should be able to find where she lived. We can take the laptop, and I’ll research it on the way. With any luck, we will be able to have this guy committed, or if he’s taking an illegal substance, arrested. I—”
Cooper didn’t let him finish. He pulled Grant out of his chair and hugged him. Laughing, he said, “Darn, if you aren’t the best piece of work I could have had the luck to draw for a brother. I owe you.” Words rushed out of his mouth as he verbalized what he needed to do. “But you don’t have to do this with me. I can take it from here.”
Chapter 17
Cooper glanced at his watch. It had only been a little over twenty-four hours since they’d left home. He was still reeling from all his family, especially Grant, had done to help him. He’d contacted Chuck, his foreman, and been assured that they would keep everything going. His dad had reinforced it, saying he’d keep in touch with the construction office and crew.
Flying wasn’t Cooper’s favorite mode of travel, but when Grant said it was a thirty-hour drive to Atlanta, he gave in and booked a flight. Not having a major airport close by presented another problem, but they finally managed to get out of Bozeman on a late flight. With transfers, they would reach Atlanta the next afternoon.
The announcement to prepare for landing was a welcoming sound. He nudged Grant awake.
Both men needed a shave. One of them was an imposing sight, two were over the top, and they got admiring looks as they exited the plane. Grant stopped to give one woman a second look, and Cooper growled at him. “C’mon, man. We’ve got things to do.” He pointed to the sign with the word “Baggage.” They’d only brought carry-ons, but there would be car rentals down there. Good thing, because he wasn’t in the mood to wait at the carousal for luggage.
A half an hour later they were out in the muggy, hot weather of Atlanta waiting for the rental car to be brought up. Grant pulled out his cell phone. “I’m going to call Devon and see if he has any addresses for us. We need to check into someplace, and it would be good to be fairly close to the school or where Galynn used to live.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t really care. Close to the airport will work, too. Let’s just find this guy.”
Cooper paced along the curb. It seemed like they were moving in slow motion. He needed to find and talk to Galynn’s friend, Nancy. It was Sunday, so if Devon didn’t come up with a home address, they’d have to wait and go to the school where she taught. Working like this without any plan was against his nature, but there wasn’t much he could do. Things would change fast as they gained information.
Grant had the phone up to his ear and was patting his coat pocket. “Damn! I don’t have a pen. Guess this wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve done. Devon found addresses for us, but what I thought I was going to do with them while standing on the curb is beyond me.”
“We’ll have him text them to us. The car is here.” Cooper slung his bag in the back and motioned for Grant to get in. A few minutes later, they pulled up to a motel. “This will do. It’s at least in the general direction of Nancy’s house.”
Cooper threw his duffel bag on one of the beds. Grant had Devon on the phone again. He could hear Grant’s side of the conversation and could hardly contain himself. It made sense to go over to Nancy’s house tonight. Tomorrow would be a school day. If they didn’t see her tonight, they’d have to wait until after school, which would mean an entire day wasted.
Cooper could hardly contain himself. There were more “ifs” to all this than he liked, and Nancy was the key to everything.
Grant flipped the cell phone closed and turned to Cooper, who paced across the small room. “Will you settle down? It’s hard to concentrate with you prowling around.”
“I know. It’s hard to sit still. I feel so…” He reached for the doorknob. “I’ll tell you what. You’re a lot calmer than I am. Why don’t you call Nancy and try to set up a meeting. I’ll run down to the coffee shop and get us a couple of coffees to go. That way if we can get a hold of Nancy, we can take them with us.”
Grant disagreed. “I think we should wait on going over to Nancy’s. Devon gave me the addresses for Galynn’s house and Mick’s parents’ place. We can get some sleep and scope them out in the morning. That way we can call Nancy and arrange to meet her after school tomorrow.”
Cooper almost exploded. “No! I don’t want to waste a whole day.” He swung the door open. “I’ll get those coffees. Call Nancy.”
When Cooper got back to the room with the coffees, Grant took one. “I got a hold of her. She sounded a little standoffish.”
“And did she agree to let us come out to her house?”
“Like I said, she was cautious. She didn’t want to give me her address, and I for sure didn’t tell her I already had it. But—”
Cooper turned back to the door. “Well, fine, we’ll just surprise her. Look, Grant, I am not going to wait until tomorrow.”
“If you’d let me finish, she agreed to come here. We’re going to meet with her in the coffee shop in an hour.” He scowled at Cooper. “You look like the king of bad boys.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t look any better. Guess we’d better clean up, huh?”
Grant nodded. “You think?”
Cooper couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. Finally, after months, things were moving. Not as fast as he would have liked, but he was getting close.
* * * *
Grant and Cooper stood as a couple approached their table. Cooper took the lead that Grant had been assuming. “Ms. Shellard?”
Her smile was a little hesitant. She had a death clutch on her purse. “I’m not sure I should be talking to you. But, when you phoned, you called Galynn by her real name. She wouldn’t have let just anyone know it.”
Cooper motioned them to the opposite side of the booth and slid in beside Grant. “This is my brother, Grant. He talked to you on the phone.”
Nancy smiled over at them, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She introduced her husband and told them to call her Nancy.
Cooper drew in a deep breath. He needed to relax. “We probably caught you right at dinner time. I know this isn’t the best time to meet, but we just flew in and wanted to talk to you as soon as possible.” He motioned the waitress over and asked for menus. “Grant and I ate while we were waiting for you, but I wouldn’t mind having a piece of that berry cobbler.” He smiled and felt the mood of the table shift. Good, he hadn’t been hungry when he’d ate dinner with Grant, and he didn’t really want the cobbler, but hey, whatever worked.
Nancy looked at the two brothers. “Tell me a little about yourselves and how it is you’re asking for information about my friend.”
Cooper didn’t miss the protective tone in Nancy’s referral to Galynn as her friend. He took a breath and made eye contact with her. “First and most important, I love Galynn. More than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. I…” He stopped and ran his hand over his eyes, shielding her from seeing the emotion he felt sure was visible.
Nancy listened as Cooper told her how he’d found Galynn on the road. He went on to tell her how badly she was hurt and a little of the weeks she had been with him. He finished by telling her how a patient of Grant’s had mentioned seeing her. “When he assured us she was safe, we decided to resolve the threat Mick presented before going to Galynn. If she’s still scared Mick will try to hurt me and my family, she won’t come back to me. The only other option would be to run with her, but I know she won’t go for that either.” He purposely omitted saying anything about the baby.
Nancy blinked back tears. “I’ve known Galynn since grade school. She’s like a sister to me, and these past months have been horrible without her.” A sob escaped, and her husband reached for her hand. She pulled a tissue out of her purse and wiped her eyes. “
I’ve been so scared. We both agreed that she wouldn’t contact me. Or at least not until she was in a safe place.”
“It’s over now, hon,” her husband whispered.
“I’m sorry.” She smiled over at Cooper and Grant. “This is hardly the time to cry.”
Cooper nodded. “Can you tell us anything about Mick, anything that might help us diffuse the threat he is to Galynn?”
“Oh, I can do better than that. Do you believe in fate, divine intervention?” She didn’t wait for a reply. “Things that have happened recently are surreal.”
Cooper sat forward, willing her with his body language to get to the bottom line. “What do you mean surreal?”
“I’m sorry. Of course you don’t understand. Let me start back a little bit. You may know some of this…”
After Cooper assured her they didn’t know much of anything about Mick, he said, “Please go on.”
“When Galynn left, I tried to keep tabs to see if he left town. I was surprised when he didn’t, or at least not for any prolonged time. I did hear that he had some trouble with his job, so they put him on suspension. Then about a week ago a real estate property management company gave Mick an eviction notice on Galynn’s house, where he was still living. He went crazy. He tore the notice up and slammed his fist through the wall.” She stopped and looked over at Cooper and Grant. “Again, this is just what I heard and not firsthand. I don’t know how a property management person would be involved.”
Cooper’s voice sounded strained even to his ears. “Go on. Don’t worry about rumor. We’ll follow up on what you’re telling us.”
Nancy’s voice shook a little. “I guess one minute he was screaming and hitting things, and the next, he collapsed on the floor. The real estate guy called 911. From what we’ve heard from his brother, Mick hasn’t regained consciousness.”
Cooper picked up his cup and sat it back down without drinking anything. No one said anything as the silence stretched out. Cooper finally said, “Do you know what hospital he’s in?”
