Annie nodded. “If it would make you feel better, you could go and I could keep an eye on the house. I can sit right there on the front stoop.”
Ty was torn. He hated to leave the house unattended for even five minutes, but he didn’t want to risk Annie’s safety. “No, we’re sticking together. This won’t take long.”
At the drive-through, they ordered breakfast sandwiches, hash browns, juice and giant containers of coffee. Annie’s disgruntled complaints about the grease in their order brought the first smile to his lips in what seemed like forever.
“Hey, it was your idea to come here,” he reminded her. “You can eat salads and oatmeal for a week to make up for it.”
“I’ll have to,” she said.
Back at Dee-Dee’s they took their food and went to sit on the front steps. The air had the crisp bite of fall in it. Leaves on the huge old trees that lined the street were starting to turn. In South Carolina it was easy to forget how dramatically the seasons changed further north.
“The neighbors will probably call the cops on us,” Annie said.
“Let ’em,” Ty said belligerently. “I wouldn’t mind filling the local police in on what Dee-Dee’s up to.”
“Can I ask you something?” Annie said eventually.
“Sure.”
“Why are we waiting around here if you’re so convinced that Dee-Dee’s fiancé is mixed up in this and will give them whatever money they need to take off?”
“Because my mom and Helen are convinced that Dee-Dee wants this to be handled in court.”
“Could Dee-Dee have Trevor at her fiancé’s place?”
“I suppose it’s possible,” he admitted. “I know his name’s Jim Foster, but I don’t have an address or phone number for him.”
“I’ll try Information,” Annie said.
Unfortunately, the list of potential James Fosters was too long to be much help. Even so, she said, “I’ll start calling, if you want me to.”
Ty nodded. It was better than sitting around waiting for daylight and doing nothing.
Before she could start dialing, Ty reached for her hand. “Thanks for coming with me.”
She met his gaze. “I’m glad you asked me,” she said quietly. “It means a lot that you didn’t take off alone and leave me in the dark about what was going on.”
She smiled at that. “I guess we are.”
“I guess we’re making progress.”
He held her gaze then. “Marry me, Annie. When this is over, marry me.” Before she could answer, he rushed on. “I know I promised you all sorts of romance and serious courting, but right this second I need to know that, no matter what, we’re going to be together forever.”
For a moment, he thought she might hold out for the promised romance, but instead, she slid a little closer to him and slipped her hand into his. “Yes,” she said quietly. “Whenever the time is right and Trevor’s back where he belongs, I’ll marry you.”
Ty’s heart turned over in his chest. “I love you, Annie Sullivan.”
She nudged him in the ribs. “Good thing, because now that I’ve said yes, you’re stuck with me.”
With one last smile for him, she turned her attention to the list of numbers she’d managed to get from Information and started to make the calls, wincing when more than one of the recipients made a rude comment about the early hour. Each one turned out to be a dead end.
“The right one must have an unlisted number,” she finally said in defeat.
“It’s okay. We’ll find them,” Ty said with grim determination. “Maybe one of the neighbors will have a number for him. People should be getting up soon.”
They sat there, side by side, until after daybreak. Ty felt the oddest sense of contentment steal through him, even under these awful circumstances. He could almost believe that with Annie by his side, everything would turn out okay.
He glanced down and saw that her eyes were closed as she leaned against him. Little wonder, after driving all night herself before he finally convinced her he was calm enough to take the wheel. He figured they could sit here a little longer before stirring things up with the neighbors.
To his shock, though, a few minutes later he heard the front door of Dee-Dee’s house open. He shook Annie even as he shot to his feet. The woman standing in the doorway was vaguely familiar somehow, but it most definitely wasn’t Dee-Dee. His heart sank.
“You might as well come inside,” she said. “The neighbors will start to talk if you hang around out here much longer.”
Ty stared at her incredulously. “You’re inviting two perfect strangers into your house? Are you nuts?”
She grinned at him then. “You don’t remember me, do you? I don’t know why I’m surprised. Back then, you only had eyes for Dee-Dee. I’m Andrea.”
A faint memory stirred. “You were going out with…” His voice trailed off.
She laughed. “I’m not surprised you can’t remember. I could hardly remember myself from one week to the next. These days, however, I’m living a perfectly respectable life.” She gave him a pointed look. “Just like Dee-Dee.” She finally turned her attention to Annie.
“And you’re the girl who got away,” she said. “Ty talked about you a lot back then. In fact, he talked about you so much, I have no idea why Dee-Dee ever thought she had a chance with him.”
Her humor and candor finally struck a chord with Ty. She’d been the voice of reason years ago, clear-headed, a little bit cynical, when so many of the other girls had been starry-eyed romantics.
“So you and Dee-Dee are roommates now?” he said.
She nodded. “I gave her a place to stay when she first came back from Wyoming. Neither one of us has been near a ball park in years. And, of course, she’s about to marry Jim, who’s about as respectable as they come. The only thing missing from her life is her little boy.”
“She can’t just take him from me,” Ty said.
“She went to the court,” Andrea reminded him. “She has permission for him to be here until custody is settled.”
“Then if she’s doing all this by the book, where is she?” Ty demanded.
“At Jim’s, about a half hour out of town,” Andrea said. “She called and told me to keep an eye out for you. She had a feeling you’d come tearing up here the second you got the court documents. I’ve already called her. She should be here soon.”
Annie squeezed his hand. “I told you it was going to be all right.”
Ty wasn’t going to be convinced of that until he held Trevor in his arms again, but at least he could almost believe that would happen sooner, rather than later.
Annie felt as if she were caught up in some kind of a nightmare, though it was finally taking a turn for the better. Once Trevor walked through the door and Ty released the breath it seemed like he’d been holding most of the night, the nightmare truly would end.
In the meantime, she couldn’t help looking around at the cozy little house where Dee-Dee lived, marveling at how ordinary it seemed. The furniture was comfortably shabby. There were plants on every windowsill. The art on the wall was cheerful and bright. When she commented on it, Andrea said casually, “Oh, yeah, Dee-Dee painted most of them.”
“She’s an artist?” Annie asked in amazement.
“I say she is. She says she’s just dabbling.”
“She’s good.”
“Tell her that. Maybe your opinion will count more than mine. Of course, she hasn’t listened to Jim, and he collects masterpieces. Can you imagine?” She seemed awed by the idea of it. So, to be honest, was Annie.
Ty said nothing, his gaze firmly fixed on the front door. When they finally heard a car turn into the driveway, he was off the sofa and outside before Annie could blink.
She followed slowly behind him, just in time to see Dee-Dee emerge slowly from behind the wheel. She walked around to the passenger side and reached for the door, but Ty was there before her, yanking it open and releasing Trevor from his car seat.
�
�Hey, buddy,” he said, clinging to him so hard Trevor finally complained. With obvious reluctance, Ty set him down.
“Daddy, guess what?” Trevor said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Me and Mommy had a ’venture.”
“I know that,” Ty said.
Andrea crossed the yard and hunkered down in front of him. “Hi, Trevor, I’m your mom’s friend Andrea. Know what? When I found out you were coming, I baked a ton of cookies. Want to come inside and have one while the grown-ups talk?”
“Uh-huh,” Trevor said at once. He looked first to his dad, then his mom. “’Kay?”
“It’s fine,” Ty said, then glanced to Annie.
“I’ll go with them,” she said at once.
They left Ty to have it out with Dee-Dee. From time to time their voices escalated, but they immediately reined them in, whether out of concern for the neighbors or to keep Trevor from hearing the argument.
Sitting with cookies and a glass of milk, Trevor talked about the excitement of the trip, about the big house where he was staying and the swing set in the yard. He was clearly unaware of how much tension there was over it.
Andrea ruffled his hair as she took a seat at the kitchen table. “She’s a good person,” she said to Annie. “And this thing about not being able to have any more kids, it’s really hit her hard. Maybe you could convince Ty to give her a break.”
“Ty’s the only one who can decide how he wants to handle this,” Annie said. “He’s been there for his son from the beginning.”
“Not the very beginning,” Andrea corrected. “I was there when she was puking her guts out with morning sickness. I was there when she lost her job because she couldn’t be on her feet long enough to wait tables. Ty was trying to pretend it was all going to go away, so he could be with you.”
Annie winced at the picture she was painting. “The point is, the minute he knew Trevor was his son, he took responsibility for him. He’s raised him.”
“Only because Dee-Dee gave him that chance. She recognized that Trevor would have a better life with Ty. Isn’t that what a mom’s supposed to do, what’s best for her kid? She was barely more than a kid herself, but she did the right thing.”
“It’s still the right thing,” Annie said.
“Haven’t you ever done anything you wanted to take back?” Andrea asked. “Hasn’t someone ever given you a second chance?”
Despite her desire not to hear what Andrea was saying, her words resonated with Annie. “I understand what you’re saying, but it’s not up to me,” she repeated.
“Just do what you can, what feels right to you, that’s all I’m asking,” Andrea said.
Annie merely nodded. What else could she do? The request wasn’t unreasonable. It just meant that she and Ty might be at odds on the most important issue they’d ever have to face.
When Ty finally walked inside, he was more at peace, but he still didn’t entirely trust Dee-Dee. As they’d talked, though, he’d seen for himself how scared Dee-Dee had been that he would cut Trevor out of her life forever. He also saw how attached Trevor was to her. As much as he might want it, he knew he couldn’t go back to the way things had been.
Reluctantly, he’d come to a decision. He’d give the visit a few more days. Maybe by then he’d be able to reason with Dee-Dee. Perhaps there was a compromise they could both live with, one that would prevent the need for a lengthy court battle. Of course, he didn’t intend to let Trevor or Dee-Dee out of his sight in the meantime.
In the kitchen, he explained his decision to Annie. “If you can stay, I want you here, but I understand if you need to get back. I’ll arrange for a flight to Atlanta or Columbia, whichever we can get first, and then have a car pick you up to drive you from the airport to Serenity.”
Annie nodded, her expression neutral. “I think that would be best.”
“Then I’ll make the arrangements.” He made the necessary calls, but his gaze never left Annie’s face. She looked unbearably sad. When he’d hung up from the last call, he said, “I’ll take you to the airport. There’s a flight leaving in ninety minutes.”
“You stay here with Trevor,” she said. “I can take a cab.”
Ty wasn’t always attuned to the moods of other people, but there was no mistaking the fact that Annie was withdrawing from him right before his eyes. He made the call for a taxi, then walked with her to the porch to wait.
“You understand why I have to stay, right?”
“Of course.”
“And you know I want you here?”
“Sure,” she said, though she sounded oddly defeated.
“Okay, then tell me why you look as if I’ve just stolen something precious from you.”
Before she could reply—if she’d even intended to—a cab pulled to the curb. She pressed a quick, impersonal kiss to his cheek. “I’ll see you at home.”
And then, before he could get to the bottom of what was going on in her head, she was gone. And he had a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach that unless he figured things out in a hurry, she might be leaving him for good.
Two days after she’d returned from Cincinnati, Annie was just finishing up with a client when Elliott came to her, his expression filled with barely contained fury. “There’s someone in your office. You need to see her right now.”
“Who is it?”
“She wouldn’t give me a name. She said she was an old friend.”
Annie shrugged. She couldn’t imagine any reason for the big mystery, but she had a few minutes before her next client was due. “Okay, I’ll see her. Let me know when Phyllis gets here, okay?”
“I’ll take Phyllis’s session today,” Elliott said. “You’re going to need more than a few minutes,” he said, his tone as grim as his expression.
Annie studied him. “What’s going on? Something about this woman upset you?”
He nodded. “She had bruises, Annie. Ugly ones. Some look fresh to me. Others look as if they’re fading. I’d lay money that she’s been abused. If I’m right, the first call you need to make is to the police.”
“Maybe she was in an accident,” she said, unable to imagine who she knew who was likely to have been abused.
Elliott shook his head. “You’ll see. Just go before she changes her mind about coming here and takes off. She’s awfully skittish. For all I know the person who did this to her is right on her heels.”
Annie practically ran to her office. When she opened the door, she took one look at the woman huddled in a chair, her face turned away. But even before the woman turned to face her, even before she saw the extent of the damage, she knew.
“Raylene,” she whispered. “Oh, my God, Raylene, who did this to you?”
It had been four months since Helen’s mother had moved in. She was getting around well now and no longer needed Mrs. Lowell to help her beyond driving her to physical therapy, but Helen still didn’t believe she was ready to live on her own. As much as she’d griped about Flo’s presence, she was reluctant to see her move out. She kept thinking about the lost opportunity to finally make a real connection with her mother. Time was slipping away, and the bond was no stronger than it had ever been.
Unfortunately, now that the condo in Florida had sold and the money would soon be in the bank, her mother seemed determined to start looking for her own apartment. Mary Vaughn had set aside time to take them around tonight.
However, when Helen came in from work expecting to find her mother ready and filled with exuberance, she found Flo sitting on the sofa, all dressed except for her shoes. She was wearing a pair of slippers. She was also verging on tears.
Helen immediately went to her. “Mom, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did you fall again?”
Her mother shook her head.
“Then what’s going on? Why do you look as if you’re about to cry?”
Flo gave her a plaintive look. “I wanted to be all dressed when you got here, so we could go out and look at apartments. I even spoke to Mary Vaughn myself this after
noon, and she says she has some perfect ones for us to see.”
Helen still wasn’t getting the problem. “It looks to me as if you’re ready to go. If you’re not feeling up to it, though, we can do it another day. There’s no rush. In fact, I think it would be better to wait another week or two, at least.”
Her mother shook her head. “I feel fine, but we won’t be able to go another day, either.”
Helen regarded her blankly. “Mom, I’m not following this. What’s the problem?”
Flo gestured across the room to a suitcase. “I had the nanny bring that down. I wanted to put on a pair of my favorite shoes.”
“Okay,” Helen said slowly. “Were they missing? Did you forget to pack them?”
Flo looked up at her with a dismayed expression. “I can’t wear them. None of them. Not one single pair of shoes I own.”
“Why on earth not? Are your feet swollen?”
“Just look at them,” her mother said.
Helen opened the suitcase that had apparently been stuck in the back of the closet since they’d driven up from Florida in the car she’d rented for the trip. At least she assumed it had been there, because she couldn’t recall seeing it before. She knelt down and examined the shoes, a dozen or more pairs of the kind of high-heeled sandals she might have chosen. Oh, these weren’t the expensive Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blahniks that filled her closet, but the styles were similar, sexy shoes meant for a woman who was steady on her feet. These were indulgence shoes, the kind Helen knew better than anyone, because she had a wardrobe of them.
“If I put those on, I’ll break my neck next time,” her mother said despondently. “I’m just too old and unsteady to take that chance.”
Helen couldn’t help it, she started to chuckle.
Her mother regarded her indignantly. “It’s not funny.”
“It is a little bit funny,” Helen said, grinning. “All these years I’ve wondered why you and I were nothing alike. Oh, we’re both workaholics, but that’s because you had to be and I love it. These shoes…” She picked them up one by one and held them in the air. “These are what we have in common.”
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