by Lucy Clark
‘Charli put it on.’ She tugged at Charli’s hand. ‘Come on. Let’s go.’
Charli allowed herself to be led out to the car, conscious that Logan’s gaze devoured her with every step she took—not that she minded! Her smile was one of feminine satisfaction, knowing she had the power to affect him so completely.
They all piled into the car and Logan reversed out of the driveway. She felt happy…and it was nice. What was it about this man and these children? Both children kept up a constant excited chatter on the drive, but the closer they got to Ararat, the more Charli felt her mood change and her heart begin to constrict with fear.
She glanced at her surroundings as Logan drove, taking in the scenery. When Logan reached over and touched her hand, she jumped, sucking in a breath. She coughed and cleared her throat, covering over her nervousness with a laugh, but when her gaze met his, she knew he’d seen something was wrong. Thankfully, he didn’t say a word until he’d parked the car and the children were out.
‘You can have ten minutes to play in the park,’ he told them as he pointed over the grassy knoll to the play equipment.
‘Awesome, Dad!’ Owen said, and he and Trinity raced off. Logan watched them and, without looking at her, he took Charli’s hand in his and started walking slowly towards the park.
‘What have you remembered?’ His voice was quiet yet Charli heard the concern in it.
‘I remember driving through here…’ She indicated the main street in Ararat. ‘It was dark, the streets were deserted, but I remember it. I remember the drive into Halls Gap. Coming along that same road just now, it all came flooding back.’
Logan nodded. As she spoke, he could feel her begin to shake. ‘Perhaps we should go for a walk to where we found you near the Venus Baths.’
‘That’s…logical.’ Her tone was sceptical.
‘But?’
‘But I don’t know if I can.’ She stopped walking and turned to face him. ‘Honestly, Logan, just coming here, my chest feels constricted as though it’s going to implode. My hands are perspiring, my thoughts are all jumbled.’
Logan didn’t need her to tell him anything. The fear she felt was there in her eyes, which were gazing at him with hope…hope that she wouldn’t have to face her thoughts alone. Without a word, he pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
‘It’s going to be OK. I’m here to help you.’
Reluctantly, Charli pulled back and looked at him. ‘I know you are, but there are going to be things only I can face, Logan. Things I have to face so I can unravel this puzzle that surrounds me. I know I need to do this, but at the same time I don’t know if I can.’
‘You’re a strong woman, Charli. That much I do know about you.’ He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her beautiful face. ‘You will get through this, get your memory back, and use the whole experience to your advantage.’
‘You think so?’
‘I know so. Now, how about we go and look at some flowers before having that celebratory dinner?’
‘Yes. I need to let my mind relax for a while.’
Logan called to his children and, not letting go of Charli’s hand, they all walked over to the flower display. Sometimes Owen held Charli’s other hand, sometimes Trinity did. All four of them seemed quite content, and once they’d walked around the grounds they headed across the road to the restaurant, where he watched as Charli continued to laugh and enjoy herself.
Once they’d finished dessert, Logan ordered himself and Charli a coffee. Both of the children had gone to another table to talk to some of their school friends and to tell them about the soccer game. Logan could feel the interested looks he knew they were receiving on account of Charli joining their family party.
‘You know we’re the main topic of discussion tonight, don’t you?’ he murmured to Charli as they waited for their coffees.
‘Does that bother you?’
‘No.’
‘You don’t mind that people have connected us romantically?’
Logan smiled and shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t they be right?’
Charli returned his smile and sat back in her chair as the waitress put the coffee cups on the table.
‘Thank you, Bernice.’ Logan smiled at the waitress who Charli guessed to be in her early twenties. Bernice flushed slightly under Logan’s smile and lowered her eyes for a moment before leaving them alone.
Charli shook her head at Logan. ‘Do you have any idea how lethal your smiles are, Dr Hargraves?’
‘Pardon?’
Charli smiled and shook her head again. ‘Typical. That poor girl was almost knocked off her feet just because you smiled at her.’
‘Oh. Really?’ Logan glanced over his shoulder at Bernice who was watching them and quickly looked away.
‘You seem surprised.’ Charli laughed a little. ‘Don’t have a clue how you affect women, do you,’ she stated rhetorically.
‘I doubt it’s just me. I’m sure Bernice would blush and go all coy if any man smiled at her. It’s just the age she is.’
Charli laughed again. ‘Careful, Logan. You’re starting to sound like an old man.’
‘Well, I’m far too old for her at any rate.’ He picked up his coffee and took a sip, the napkin sticking to the bottom of the cup. ‘Spilt again. Why do they do this?’ he asked as he pulled the napkin off. ‘Why do they put it under the cup? It isn’t going to do me any good if I want to wipe my mouth because it’s already soaked up with the coffee she spilt carrying it over.’
Charli’s eyes sparkled with delight at his tirade. She picked up her own cup and had the same thing happen. They both laughed. Logan reached over and pulled her napkin off, then frowned as another piece of paper appeared to be stuck to the bottom of her cup. ‘Hold on.’ He peeled it off and opened it.
The laughter disappeared from his face and he quickly glanced around the restaurant.
‘We’re leaving.’
‘Logan?’ Charli felt a prickle of apprehension wash over her. ‘Logan? What is it?’
Logan held the note firmly in his hand. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He called to his children.
‘Logan? Let me see.’
‘You don’t want to.’
‘Logan!’ Charli was now starting to get very worried.
Logan glanced down at the paper in his hand before reluctantly giving it to her. Charli opened it with trembling fingers and read the smudged words.
Charlotte, I’ve found you.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHARLI was still trembling when Logan helped her through the front door of his house and removed her coat. Thankfully, the children had kept up a steady chatter on the drive back, accompanied by many yawns, and now Logan was telling them to brush their teeth and to start getting ready for bed.
‘Stay here,’ he told Charli as he led her to a seat in the living room. ‘I won’t be long.’ Logan knelt down beside her as she sat, reaching his hand out to tenderly tuck a few strands of hair behind her ears. ‘You’ll be fine.’ He stood and brushed his lips reassuringly against hers before turning and walking out of the room.
She heard him rushing his kids through their night-time routine, and although she felt sorry that she was the cause of his impatience, she was also grateful that the sooner they were settled in bed, the sooner Logan would be back at her side.
Fifteen minutes later, he came back into the living room and sat down beside her. He reached out and took her hand in his. ‘Charli?’ Her name sounded like a caress and she turned to face him. Logan clenched his jaw when he saw the unshed tears glistening in her eyes.
‘I’m so scared, Logan,’ she whispered, her lower lip beginning to crumple. ‘Someone is looking for me and it’s petrifying.’
‘Do you know who?’
She shook her head. ‘But now I know why I didn’t want to stay in hospital, why I haven’t wanted to be left alone.’
He nodded. ‘I was thinking about that, too. If someone was looking for you, then checking t
he hospitals would be an obvious first step.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘You’re safe here.’
‘Am I? I don’t think so. Not any more. Don’t you see, the person who wants to find me saw me with you tonight. All he had to do was to follow us home. He could be out there, right now! I’ve put you in danger, not to mention your children.’ Her voice cracked on the last few words and the tears which had been threatening to fall ever since she’d read the note started to slide down her cheeks.
‘Hey. Shh.’ Logan touched her face, smoothing her hair back. ‘We’ll work it out—together.’
‘I can’t bring you into this.’
‘We’re already there, Charli.’
‘Don’t say that. That’s more guilt to lay at my door should anything happen to you.’ She wrenched free from him and stood, starting to pace. ‘I need to move, I need to walk.’ She headed for the door.
Logan was out of his chair like a shot. ‘No!’ He grabbed her shoulders and pointed her in the direction of the corridor. ‘You can’t go outside. Pace up and down here.’
‘But I’ll wake the children.’
Logan shrugged. ‘Walk quietly. Besides, I’d rather you wake the kids than have something else happen to you.’ He pulled his cellphone from his jeans and punched in a number.
‘Who are you calling?’
‘Wil.’
‘What can he do about it?’
‘I don’t know. Analyse the handwriting, check out this house to make sure no one’s waiting outside. Make enquiries at the restaurant we were at tonight.’
‘But you’ve already done that,’ Charli protested, but Logan wasn’t listening. He was describing the situation to Wil.
‘Yeah, I asked the waitress, Bernice was her name, if she’d seen or spoken to anyone,’ he told Wil. ‘She said she had and gave a description of a man who had come to the bar when she was making our coffees at the counter. She said he had a nice smile, blond hair and grey eyes. She said he’d chatted for a few minutes but hadn’t ordered any food or drinks. She was pretty shaken up when I told her this man may have put a note beneath Charli’s cup.’
‘Did he have an accent? Was he American?’
‘She didn’t say and I didn’t ask. Questioning is your field of expertise, not mine. I just wanted to get Charli and the kids out of there as soon as possible.’
‘Have you spoken to the Ararat police about this?’
‘No.’
‘OK. I’ll get onto it. Now, give me specifics. What time did you arrive at the restaurant? Where did you go before that?’
Charli continued to pace up and down the corridor while Logan talked. The more she walked, the easier it was to think. Her emotions began to change from fear to anger. Strength began to build up and she knew that whatever it was or—more to the point—whoever it was who was looking for her wouldn’t go away, so she may as well face it. And she’d be glad to…if she could remember! She growled with frustration, her pace increasing.
‘OK. I’d better go. Charli’s about to wear a hole through my floorboards.’
‘You don’t have floorboards,’ Wil pointed out. ‘You have a cement slab.’
‘Either way, she’ll do structural damage to my home if I let her go any longer. Call me when you have something.’ Logan rang off and Charli gave him a withering look.
‘What was all that supposed to mean?’ She spun on her heel to face him.
‘Charli.’ Logan headed up the corridor and took her hand in his. She wrenched away.
‘Don’t touch me.’
‘Hey! I’m not the bad guy here,’ Logan said, but didn’t make any further move to touch her. ‘Come into the kitchen where we can talk, and I’ll make you a drink.’
‘I don’t want a drink.’
‘Come on. There’s even room to pace. Maybe not as long as the corridor here but, still, room to move. Tea or coffee…or something a little stronger?’ When he received no reply, he turned and left her to it, switching on the kettle. A moment or two later, Charli stormed right over to him and stood toe to toe with him.
‘Don’t tell me what to do. Got it?’
‘Got it.’
‘And don’t tell me everything’s going to be all right, because it isn’t.’
‘OK.’
‘I’m mad.’
‘I can see that.’
‘I’m livid, furious, incensed beyond belief.’
‘I believe you.’
‘How dare someone make me feel this way? It’s so unfair, especially when I can’t remember anything.’
Logan nodded, unsure what he was supposed to say.
‘I’m trying so hard to remember, Logan, so hard, but it doesn’t work like that, and then out of the blue—whoosh—I’m flooded with memories. That number, that big number I remembered, is for the safe in my laboratory. It’s on the wall, behind a Monet painting.’ She spread her arms wide. ‘I don’t even know where my laboratory is!’
‘Wil can find—’
‘Wil can find out, yes, I know, but why can’t my brain just click back into place and start working normally again? I’m starting to remember things but only every now and then. It’s like…Swiss cheese. Lots of holes in it.’
Logan nodded. ‘That’s the way it is, sweetheart. I wish I could snap my fingers and make it all better, but I can’t.’ He raked a hand through his hair, his own frustration building. ‘We have got to do everything we can to remain focused about this, even when it drives us insane.’
‘I know you’re right.’ Charli was amazed to feel her anger beginning to fade. ‘But it’s highly annoying.’
‘That’s one word for it. I can think of a few more, such as harassment, badgering and emotional manipulation. We need to get to the bottom of this, Charli, and that I promise you, we will do.’
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms about his waist. Logan instantly embraced her, holding her close. ‘You have no idea what it means to me to know I’m not alone in this.’
‘I can guess.’
‘I don’t want to go back to America,’ she mumbled.
‘I know.’
‘When the time comes…’ She stopped, hesitated and then pulled back slightly to look at him. ‘When the time comes, will you come with me?’
Logan looked down into her blue eyes and the anguish he saw there twisted his gut. ‘I don’t think I can.’
Charli nodded sadly and he felt awful for letting her down.
‘I have responsibilities here and they’re not that easy to get out of. I have my children, my clinic, the hospital.’
‘Yeah. Yeah. I know.’ She shrugged and stepped back from his embrace. ‘No harm in asking, though.’ Her words were spoken softly and he could hear the hurt in her tone. She wasn’t trying to manipulate him…not on purpose…but it was working nevertheless.
‘Charli.’ He reached for her but she shook her head and he raked a hand through his hair.
‘I need to try and sleep.’
‘Are you going to be able to?’
‘I hope so. I need to have my wits about me if I’m going to beat this guy.’
‘Chuck?’
She raised her gaze to his and nodded. ‘Yes. It’s Chuck. I feel it.’
‘And the necklace?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. If he’s…romantically connected with me, it’s well and truly over, especially as he’s scaring me stupid.’
Logan nodded. ‘Believe in yourself.’
The tension drained out of Charli and she dragged in a cleansing breath. ‘Yes. Yes.’
‘I’ll double-check all the locks on the doors,’ Logan said softly. ‘Let me know if you want any paracetamol or even a sleeping tablet. There’s nothing wrong with taking one in this instance.’
‘I’ll be fine.’ She headed out of the room but stopped as Logan’s cellphone rang.
‘It’s Wil,’ he said, reading the name on the LCD screen, and quickly connected the call. ‘What’s the news?’
‘I’ve patroll
ed past your house and there are no suspicious cars in the neighbourhood.’
‘Good to hear.’
‘Ararat police have spoken to Bernice and they’re getting an artist to draw up a picture from her description. She said he had a…different accent, but she wasn’t sure from where.’
‘It’s a start.’
‘Apparently she said he had hypnotic grey eyes and a nice smile. Why can’t girls say that about me?’
Logan smiled a little, glad Wil had eased the tension a little. ‘Gee, mate. I have no idea.’
‘How’s Charli holding up?’
Logan’s gaze met Charli’s. ‘She’s not doing too badly, given the circumstances. Probably coping better than you or I would.’
‘Now, that’s saying something. OK, buddy. Stay safe and I’ll check back with you if I find out anything more.’
‘I’d appreciate it.’ Logan rang off and passed the information on to Charli about the artist and that the man had an accent.
Charli closed her eyes and rubbed her fingers over her forehead. ‘I think I’ll take that paracetamol now, if that’s all right.’
Logan opened the cupboard door. ‘That’s more than all right.’ He handed the tablets to her, watched her swallow them, and then they walked down the corridor towards the bedrooms. He checked both of his children and was surprised when Charli followed him into their rooms. She didn’t say a word until they were standing outside her bedroom door.
‘I’m sorry, Logan.’
‘What for?’
‘For dragging you into this mess.’
‘You didn’t drag me and we still don’t know what sort of mess it is.’ He gathered her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers. ‘I’m sure, whatever it is, you’ll meet it head on and triumph.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because the good guys are supposed to finish first.’
‘Am I a good guy, though?’ The question was asked very softly but Logan had to admit she had a point.
‘I know it sounds clichéd but, whatever happens, you’ll do the right thing.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because you have an honest heart. Regardless of the fact that you can’t remember who you are or who’s after you, you’re honest, Charli, and you need to hold firm to that. Trust your instincts, just as you’ve been doing, and you won’t go wrong.’
