Runaway: The Sequel to Secrets, a sexy and dramatic western romance (Finding Love ~ THE OUTSIDER SERIES)

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  Laura didn’t have a chance to think or worry or wonder about anything as she dressed in the comfortable sweatpants, t-shirt, and jacket Andy had brought. By the time she was ready, he had both babies buckled into their car seats, and he carried both car seats out of the hospital and secured them into the backseat of the truck, then helped Laura in.

  She never asked where they were going, because she just assumed they were going back to Jed and Diana’s, but when her brain finally clicked and registered they were going the wrong way, she glanced over at her husband and asked, “Andy, where are we going?”

  He didn’t look at her as he drove down the highway headed toward the Friessen mansion. “We’re going home, Laura.”

  She started sputtering and couldn’t seem to form one reasonable word. She wanted to demand he stop and turn around, and she was about to yell when he signaled at a dirt driveway right before a crop of oak trees and turned down the tree-lined driveway, pulling up to a lovely two-story house painted gray with white trim. Jed’s truck just happened to be parked in front.

  Diana waved from the lovely covered porch that appeared to wrap around the front of the house. Laura didn’t realize Andy had stopped and shut off the engine until he opened her door.

  “Andy, whose house is this?”

  Andy unbuckled her seat belt and reached around her waist, lifting her out and setting her down. “It’s ours.”

  Gabriel raced from around the side of the house, Danny running after him, his tiny little legs pumping, and Jed followed. Andy lifted Gabriel in his arms, and when he reached for Laura, grinning ear to ear, she held out her arms to take him.

  “No way, bud. Your mom is doing no lifting for a while yet, so you’re going to have to make do with me.”

  “Andy, I don’t know what to say. How did you…?” She set her hands on her head and just stared at the beautiful square home with a peaked roof and windows everywhere. It was a home from her dreams, but she couldn’t figure out what he meant by it being theirs.

  Andy slid his arm around her shoulder. “Go in and take a look. I bought it for us. Had to move mountains to make it happen so quickly, but it was already empty. The owners left it furnished. They were planning on selling off the furnishings anyways, as they’ve retired and have a place in Arizona. The title still has to clear, but it’s just ours, no servants, no mansion, just a small house.”

  Laura threw her arms around him and was rocked by the wave of emotions, joy, happiness, everything, and she couldn’t stop the tears as she pressed her face into Andy’s chest.

  “I thought you’d be happy?” Andy said as he held her with his one arm, the other holding Gabriel.

  “I am so happy. I can’t believe you did this. I just wanted a house for us, our own place, and you did this….” Laura gazed up at Andy as Gabriel patted her cheek. “I love you,” she said.

  Andy leaned down and kissed her. “Why don’t you go on in the house? Diana’s inside. I’ll bring the babies in.”

  “Hey, you, why don’t you come with me?” Jed reached for Gabriel. “Come on, Laura. I’ll walk you in. I hope you don’t mind, but Diana took charge of getting some things ready for you.”

  “Why would I mind? I can’t believe this, Jed. This is a dream. It’s all I wanted, just something for us.”

  Andy paused outside the door and watched Jed, who herded both kids inside and held the screen door open for Laura. And he smiled.

  Chapter 26

  The babies were upstairs in the nursery, sleeping after Laura had nursed them. Jed had hired a local woman and her husband to set up the cribs and organize the nursery for them. He’d also hired the woman’s daughter to stay and help Laura for the next few weeks with the babies, with Gabriel, and with the house. She’d been greeted by the young lady, who was closer to Laura’s age and who’d helped get the babies settled while Diana showed Laura her new house. It had five bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a living room, and an open kitchen.

  It was a comfortable home, and Laura felt herself sighing in relief when she didn’t see one useless trinket anywhere. She yawned, holding the mug of green tea that Diana had just poured for her.

  “You should really go lie down, Laura, get some sleep.” Diana sat across from her and leaned back in the armchair at the kitchen table, running her hand over her large, swollen belly.

  “I will soon. I wanted to talk to you. This is all so surreal. I still can’t believe Andy did this. I don’t know if he has any idea what it means to me to have my own home, our home. Just us and our kids. I never expected this.” Laura sipped on her tea and studied Diana, who had dark smudges under her eyes. She looked so tired. “You feeling okay, Diana? You look really worn out.”

  “Oh, you know how it as at the end the last few weeks. I just haven’t been sleeping well. I’m ready to have this baby, though.”

  “I know you’ve done a lot to help us, and I hope it didn’t put too much of a burden on you, especially now, and you and Jed looking after Gabriel, and what you did here. Diana, I owe you so much.”

  “You owe me nothing, honey. We’re family, in an odd sort of way, and your turn will come. Besides, I’m real happy to see you and Andy together and having worked things out. He loves you, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so unburdened, so happy.” Diana watched Jed and Andy out in the yard with Gabriel and Danny. The two men were talking and laughing.

  “Diana, what happened?”

  Diana jerked her gaze back to Laura and frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “Andy wouldn’t tell me anything. I think he was trying to protect me. But there was that legal document where I supposedly signed away my rights. I told Andy the only thing I remembered signing was those forms from Jules. Now we’re here. What about Doctor Richardson and Caroline?” She gestured with her hand and moved uncomfortably in her seat.

  “Oh, I see. Well, for one, Andy is a Friessen man, and they like to hide things from us. I know they honestly believe they are protecting us by keeping us in the dark. You know this, and you’ve really got a better chance of taming a black bear than you do of getting our men to change, so you’re going to have to get smart and accept some things. When you can’t, figure a way to come at it in a different direction.”

  She laughed softly, and then a shadow of worry filled her expression. “Jules swore she didn’t know what you were signing. She said Caroline gave her the papers, said they were some medical documents that Andy forgot to get you to sign, and every page had already been marked for where you were to sign. But we don’t know for sure. In all fairness, I don’t think she realized the lengths that Caroline would go to. Caroline’s lawyer who did up the documents can’t and won’t speak to us, and he did nothing wrong, as he didn’t have you sign or participate in any way that makes him accountable. Caroline says that she gave the documents to Jules, and Jules had you sign them knowing full well they were to terminate your rights. It came down to Jules’ word against Caroline’s.

  “Jules quit, by the way. She was devastated, and Andy refused to pursue it with her. He dropped the matter on my recommendation. A few of the staff did quit apparently once they heard of this, but you can’t get Caroline for anything on this; she’s too slick. Besides, the documents have been voided, shredded, and were never filed with the court.” Diana gazed out the window again. A darkness appeared in her expression that Laura could only put to some skeletons or something hurtful Diana was holding on to.

  “Diana, you’ve never told me about your past with Andy,” Laura said. She watched Diana’s face pale as she firmed her lips.

  “Sometimes what’s in your past is so painful and filled with hurt that it’s best left there. My past with Andy is buried and done, and that’s where it needs to stay. Besides, just watching Andy here, and when he told Jed what he was doing, buying this place, we couldn’t believe he was walking away from everything he’s ever known. We’re proud of him, and so should you be. Put everything behind you. You should know Doctor Richardson was a
bsolved of any wrongdoing. She did follow the letter of the law with the termination of parental rights. She won’t speak with me, but my doctor said she’s ethical. She’s known her for years, so I believe she didn’t know the truth. She should have asked you, in all fairness, but I also believe what she said to Andy, that she was disappointed in you that you’d walk away so easily for money.” Diana gestured her uncertainty with her hands. “Oh, it looks like we’re about to be invaded.”

  The kids, Jed, and Andy clomped in the front door, everyone making a beeline for the kitchen.

  “Kids are hungry,” Jed said.

  Diana and Laura exchanged a look and then burst out laughing.

  Chapter 27

  “Andy, what about Aida?” Laura slid back the green and white duvet from the queen-size bed in their comfortable bedroom, with an oak dresser and mirror, a chest of drawers, and a closet. It was just a bedroom, no walk-in closet, no fireplace, no extravagance, and she’d wondered for a moment if Andy would miss all that.

  “Come on, get in bed. You’re about to fall over.” Andy was standing right in front of her in jeans and a plaid shirt. His jaw was scruffy, as he hadn’t shaved for a few days. Did the man have any idea how much she loved that look?

  Laura was still in the sweatpants and t-shirt she’d worn home from the hospital, and she eased onto the bed and scooted down as Andy covered her. It was late afternoon, and Diana and Jed had just left with Danny. Andy had noticed Laura’s head weaving a bit while she sat at the kitchen table with her eyes shut, and he had lifted her in his arms and carried her upstairs to bed.

  “Andy, I’m worried about Aida. You didn’t tell me about Jules and some of the other staff quitting.”

  He was leaning over, his arms braced on either side of her, and his scent was so him that she just wanted to pull him beside her and curl up into him. She touched his face, and Andy pressed a kiss into her palm.

  “I’ll go see Aida. I’ll make sure she’s okay, but I want you to get some sleep. You’re just out of the hospital.”

  “Andy, I can’t hear the babies. Can you get a baby monitor?” she asked in a panic. Even though there was someone here to help watch over her babies, she needed to be able to hear them before she could rest.

  “I’ve got a monitor, but let Jenny get the babies. I’ll take Gabriel with me to see Aida. Jenny is only here during the day. She’s got it now, and we’ll have it tonight. Sleep now while you can.” Andy kissed Laura again.

  “Andy?”

  He stopped and gave her one of those exasperated looks as he tapped his hand on the doorframe.

  “You don’t have to protect me so much. Are you ever going to tell me what happened with Caroline?”

  “Well, that’s where you’re wrong, Laura. I do need to protect you, and the only thing you need to know is that it’s over with what my mother did and with everyone involved. I’ve handled it. I’m your husband, and if anyone tries to pull any underhanded shit against you, to hurt you, I will deal with it. That is my right, and I will always take care of my family.”

  Wow. Talk about saying all the right things. Did he have any idea how important it was to her to hear that? Slaying her dragons, fighting her fights, taking care of his family, her. My God was all she could think as she said, “Okay.”

  The passion that oozed from him, the way he tightened up as if ready to stand guard and fight Caroline, the doctor, the lawyers for her was him showing her she wasn’t a nuisance, an irritation. She was important to him. Without a doubt, she knew that in his way, he loved her, he loved Gabriel, and he loved his babies. Her husband, Andy Friessen, was a difficult man, a hard man, a strong man whom she’d never ever be able to bend to her will, but he was a man who’d always keep her on her toes, a man she loved more than her next breath.

  “Go to sleep,” he said as he pulled the door closed, and she listened to his footsteps, Gabriel’s excitement, and the young girl who was watching her babies. For the first time, she felt peace.

  Chapter 28

  Andy glanced in the rear-view mirror. Gabriel was grinning ear to ear in the backseat of his pickup; his bangs were drooping in his eyes. Maybe tomorrow Andy would take him and the two of them could get a haircut. Andy braked at the end of his driveway and glanced back at his home. Forty acres, with a small two-stall barn in back, a corral, some pasture—a basic, modest home he’d never once pictured himself living in. He couldn’t quite shake this sense of it being “his” and “their” home. No one was going to show up here and turn their life upside down, because for the first time in his life, he’d walked away from his family, who they were, what they were, and all that power. He hadn’t even considered calling Todd, whom he hadn’t heard from since marrying Laura. No, that was a closed chapter. Everything he did from this day forward would be his: the money he made, his property, his house. It was a way of life, and whatever he did, he could no longer be running or cleaning up anything for Todd or on behalf of the Friessens. His family came first, and everything he did would be for his family, Laura, Gabriel, Chelsea, and Jeremy. Maybe, for the first time, he understood Jed a little better.

  Andy signalled and turned onto the highway, driving into town and parking in front of Aida’s modest bungalow. Gabriel waited for Andy to lift him out and then held his hand while he led him up the steps.

  Andy noticed everything was dark and wondered if she was home. He tapped on the door. There was nothing, no footsteps, so he knocked harder, rattling the screen door.

  “Where’s Aida?” Gabriel asked.

  “I don’t know, bud. Let’s go around back and see if her car’s here.”

  Gabriel hopped down the front steps and ran around the side of the house to the white picket fence in back. Andy opened the gate and went to the single garage behind the house. He looked in the window and spotted her car inside. Gabriel was hopping up and down, trying to see through the window where Andy was looking.

  “Just stay down, bud.” Andy tried to turn the knob and open the garage door, but it was locked. “Aida, where are you? Maybe she’s sleeping.”

  Andy yanked his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Aida’s number. He could hear the phone ringing from where he stood in the backyard. He listened to the ring echo through the house, but there was no other sound, no footsteps, no rustling, nothing.

  “Come on, Aida, where are you? Maybe she went out for a walk,” Andy said to Gabriel, who was watching him and waiting.

  Andy hated to leave. He needed to see Aida, make sure she was okay, not just for Laura but because Andy admired her so much. She really was one of the few who’d always been in Laura’s corner and didn’t give a rat’s ass what people thought, especially him. After all hell had broken loose two days ago, when he appeared with the sheriff and Diana and Jed, who’d questioned Jules as she cried and shrieked over what she’d done, Aida had pulled him aside and questioned him on Caroline.

  The woman had been furious, but she hadn’t said one word. She’d tossed her hairnet and apron on the counter, patted Andy on the arm, and said, “You look after that girl and Gabriel. Don’t bring them back here. It’s time you struck out on your own. Make your own way. Laura and Gabriel and those babies are your family, your only responsibility now. Keep them out of this life and far away from your family.” Then she’d grabbed her purse and left. He knew she had quit, and he’d taken what she said to heart, calling a local realtor who’d found this house, his small little acreage, and set in motion what he’d already decided to do. But the fact was that Aida had a way of setting him on a path and in a direction driven entirely by his conscience.

  Andy stepped onto the small back deck and started looking through the windows. The curtains were old lace and somewhat transparent. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw someone sitting in a rocker. Andy put his face to the single-pane glass, his hand shading his eyes to cut through the reflection.

  Andy pulled open the back screen door and pounded again, yelling, “Aida!” Then he went back to the window a
nd peeked in. There was no movement, and something unsettling squeezed inside him. “Gabriel, go down the stairs on the grass for just a second.”

  Gabriel grabbed his leg and held on. “No, Andy, don’t leave me.”

  Andy bent down and held Gabriel’s shoulders, “Hey, listen to me. I am not leaving you. I just need you to stay back. You know I’ll always look after you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  But Gabriel wouldn’t let go of his leg. There was no way Gabriel was taking one step down without Andy.

  “Okay, just stand here.” He set Gabriel beside him on the other side of the door, and the boy seemed okay with that.

  Andy put his shoulder to the door. With a tight grip on the handle, he shoved his shoulder, pounding it against the door. Again he slammed it hard until it gave, the wood splintering around the bolt as he stumbled in.

  He held his hand out to Gabriel. “Just stay here for a minute until I call you.”

  Gabriel was standing in the doorway, wide-eyed.

  Andy pointed a finger sharply at Gabriel and gave him a stern look, and he stayed right where he was, looking up at Andy with a look that told Andy how much he depended on him for everything.

  Andy stepped cautiously through the kitchen, sniffing the air and something foul. He spotted a piece of meat on the counter with flies swarming. Then he stepped into a small dining area with a small round table and four chairs. “Aida?” he called out again as looked into the living room and to a rocker where Aida was sitting. Her wrinkled hands rested on the chair arms, and her head was slouched to the side, her mouth open.

  Andy shut his eyes and tried to tell his heart it would be okay, but that didn’t stop the wave of emotions that was pounding at him. He pressed his hand to her neck, but there was nothing, no pulse, and even touching the wrinkled skin had his senses screaming that it wasn’t quite right. There was no life, but he already knew she was dead by her eyes. Everything that had stoked that woman was gone. The whites were gray, and the life that had once shot fire at him with one glance was cloudy and distant. Not an ounce of anything was left there. Andy squatted down in front of the old woman and pressed the back of his wrist to his mouth as he blinked back tears. How in the hell was he going to tell Laura? She’d be devastated.