A peal of gunshot rang through the air. Brandy had come to … he hadn’t thought to pick up her revolver. Who would think in this situation?
“Lie down, Cass,” he instructed, pulling her feet up on the sofa. “Chad is on the way.”
Tom walked back toward the hall, lifting his gun in the direction of the door. “Don’t come out, Brandy!” he warned, praying she wouldn’t. He didn’t want to do this.
Another gunshot resonated and shards from the door flew across the hallway. “I’m warning you, Brandy. If you come out, I’ll shoot. Please don’t make me shoot you, Brandy,” he begged, tears filling his eyes.
He backed up to the phone on the wall but kept his eyes on the door. He dialed 911, quickly explaining the situation. The operator sounded shocked but remained calm. This wasn’t a common situation in this area. They didn’t have the calls the city had.
How could Brandy have done this? She’d said she loved Chad. But if that were true, why would she do this to him? Why had she agreed to date him? He knew the answer, to make Chad jealous. He should have known she didn’t feel the same as he did about her. She’d hardly ever kissed him, hardly ever said she loved him. How could he have been so stupid; how could he have been so blind?
He answered the dispatcher’s questions as he stood at the top of the stairs, but then the basement door flew open. He dropped the phone.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chad stomped on the gas as far as the pedal would allow. She was alive … Cassandra was alive, and she was going into labor.
Why was she at Brandy’s house? Had Brandy and Tom found her and brought her there? Brandy’s words suddenly came back to him, Can you give me any reason why I shouldn’t marry Tom? He’d thought she was referring to the fact if Chad could say that Tom hadn’t changed.
Had she been implying that she wanted him to tell her he was interested? Hadn’t he told her a hundred times they were just friends, admitted she was like a sister to him? Had she been the one? He couldn’t believe it … not Brandy; she wouldn’t do this to him. She couldn’t have kidnapped Cassandra and held her this entire time while she vied for his affection, acting as if she cared about him.
Chad took the turns entirely too fast, but he knew these roads; he’d been driving them for years. As long as no one was in his lane when he came around the bend, he’d be fine. He’d seen a few times where semis had come around these bends, taking up both lanes. At this speed, he’d have no time to react, but nothing mattered other than getting to Cassandra, his love, his life.
He’d almost made a grave error tonight. He shook his head. No … he wouldn’t have done anything. He’d only wanted to help. He knew there would never be anyone other than Cassandra. She had his heart from the moment he first saw her, and nothing would ever alter his feelings.
Chad pulled onto Brandy’s road. It was nearly invisible from the highway, but he’d dropped her off enough times when she was a kid. He’d known her since she was a teenager. There had to be another explanation. His truck slid sideways on the last bend of the dirt road, and then he pulled into her gravel driveway, behind Tom’s BMW.
He skipped the front steps, flying through the door without concern of what lay waiting. Nothing mattered but getting to Cassandra, and then she was there. His eyes met hers as he bounded through the door, scanning the room.
She was crying. He fell down in front of her, his hands taking both of hers into his and pulling them up to his face. It really was her; she was alive.
Tears poured down his cheeks. “Cassandra …” he moaned. “Oh, God … it’s really you. His head fell between her face and shoulder. He wanted to pull her up into his arms, but he couldn’t. His hands moved to her belly. “Oh, baby … I’m so sorry.” She winced in pain as a contraction rocked her body. “It’ll be okay, Cassandra, I’m here.” He pressed his hand against her face. She’d lost so much weight. Her normal heart-shaped face was sunken in, and she was incredibly pale. “What did they do to you, baby?”
“Chad, I need to get to the hospital. The baby is coming,” she cried.
“No, we can’t move you. Just breathe evenly, Cassandra. The contractions may stop. Try to relax. If they continue, I’ll deliver the baby myself.” Now he knew why he’d gone to medical school; he may have to save both of their lives.
“But I’m only a little over eight months. Isn’t it unsafe in the eighth month?”
“That’s a fallacy. The baby will have already turned. Its lungs will be completely formed; the baby just grows in the last few weeks. Shh now … try to relax,” he said, soothing her face again. “I missed you so much, Cassandra. Everyone told me you were gone, that you left me or that you drowned, but I never believed them.”
Tears poured down her face again. “It was so horrible, Chad. Why would Brandy do this … I thought it was Michelle. I thought —”
“Shh … everything is all right now. We are together. Brandy did this? Where is she? Where’s Tom?”
“I think she’s dead. Tom was yelling at her not to come up the stairs. She had a gun … she shot through the door … he told her to stop, but she kept coming, then I heard his shotgun. And then he ran down the stairs screaming. Oh, Chad … this is all so horrible.”
“Hang on, Cassandra … don’t move, baby. I’ll be right back.” Chad stood up and walked to the edge of the stairs, looking down. “Tom?” Tom was at the bottom of the stairs, Brandy’s head in his lap.
“Don’t come down here, Chad. I called the police … but … it’s too late … she’s gone. I had to do it …” His voice trailed off, and Chad could hear the pain in his tone.
Brandy … dead? “Oh, God, no …” Chad turned back to Cassandra, who was trying to sit up, tears pouring from her eyes again.
“She’s dead? Brandy’s dead? I … no matter what she did …” Her eyes closed, and she fell back.
Chad heard the wail of sirens as the police made their approach. He walked over to the front door, flipping on the lights, then walked back to his wife. Nothing mattered but Cassandra. He knelt down beside her. “Have the contractions stopped?” he asked, pressing his lips to her forehead. She was burning up. They needed to get her to the hospital, but he didn’t want her to move until she was stable and the contractions slowed. The longer the baby stayed inside, the better.
The door flew open, and two officers entered the house, guns drawn. They sized up Chad and Cassandra, deciding they weren’t a threat.
Chad shook his head as tears filled his eyes again. He pointed to the stairwell. “They’re downstairs. But the person responsible is gone.”
One of the officers crept slowly to the top of the stairs, looking down at the scene below. “Put your hands up, sir, and step away from the gun,” the officer commanded.
The sound of Tom’s footsteps was heavy on the stairs as he took them one at a time.
“Don’t look, Cassandra, close your eyes, love.” Tom would be covered in Brandy’s blood. He held his face close to Cassandra’s, blocking her view. He didn’t want to look either. He couldn’t imagine that the girl he’d always thought of as his best friend, the girl he’d always counted on, could’ve done this.
It took a while for the officers to clear the house, and then Chad watched as they carried a stretcher out with Brandy covered. How could this have happened? What had he done to cause this? He’d never approached Brandy; he’d never led her on purposely. He’d leaned on her because she’d been there for him all these years, but he’d never given her any indication he was interested.
He couldn’t make sense of it. She’d admitted that she didn’t love Tom on several occasions, but he thought she was content and had tried to be happy for her even if he thought she was making a mistake by settling for someone she didn’t love.
Poor Tom, he’d been so horrible to him. He owed him for his wife’s life — and his baby’s life, he realized. How could he ever make it up to him? All the times he’d accused Tom —
“Chad?” Cassandra’s soft voi
ce broke him from his thoughts. Her breathing had calmed enough that they should be able to get her to the hospital.
“Yes, love,” he asked, caressing her face again. It was so good to be able to touch her again. Every time he looked at her, it overshadowed everything else around him.
“Are you and Michelle …” she struggled for the words, “back together again?”
“No, Cassandra. I told you … only you, my love. I could never …”
“But she —” Cassandra obviously didn’t want to say Brandy’s name; she too had thought they were friends, he knew. “She gave me pictures of you and Michelle together. Michelle had her arms around you, and you were dancing with several different women. I thought that you’d forgotten me …” she whimpered.
Chad remembered the night all too well. The night Brandy had talked him into going out with them; she’d been so insistent. She must have taken pictures with her phone. Again he was overcome, shocked, at how she could have hidden all of this from them.
“I went out with them a couple of months ago … I got drunk, Cassandra, but nothing happened. I came to my senses and threw myself back into work and church. I realized that I had allowed evil to enter my heart and was falling right back to the person I was as a teenager. I’d attempted to take an overdose to kill myself the day they found your car, but luckily passed out before I could … I can only thank God for that blessing. And then I was so depressed that evening at the club I decided to drown my sorrows in alcohol, as I had done in the past. Until Tom said one word, he’d said the word ‘commitment’, and I realized I was breaking the commitment I’d made to you and to God. I realized if there was ever a chance of you returning to me, that I had to get my life straight. So after Tom dropped me off at home, I fell to my knees and prayed once again for God to deliver me. From then on, I prayed every morning for you to come back to me, and I’m not ashamed to admit, I nearly cried myself to sleep every night. Cassandra, you are everything to me.”
“I’m sorry this all happened, Chad. Your life would have been much easier if you’d never met me.”
“But not better, Cassandra. I love you … I will always love you. And there is no force in the universe that will change that status, so you better get used to it. We have a lot of time to make up. I’m stronger now, though. I know I don’t want to live without you, but I will not feel so threatened that I will do anything stupid that may make you ever want to leave me. I had to be brought to my knees to realize what a fool I was, but I am a better person because of it. No matter what happens in the future, I know I will love you until the day I die.”
“Thank you, Chad. I worried so much about what you would have thought in those first few days, and then she told me you had tried to kill yourself — Oh!” Cassandra’s hands went to her stomach.
“Another contraction?” His eyes darted to her hands, resting on her stomach. “I was hoping they’d finally stopped.”
Cassandra smiled. “No … that was a good feeling. That was a kick … I think the baby is a boy. He kicks me constantly.”
Chad moved his hands to her belly. He’d missed this part of her pregnancy, but now maybe he had a chance to experience the miracle of life inside his wife.
“There … did you feel that?” She moved his hands to the exact spot where the baby had kicked.
Tears flooded his eyes. “I did. Oh, Cassandra,” he blubbered like a fool again. What would she think of him? He didn’t care. He would never hide anything from her. He would show her how he felt about her every single day for the rest of his life. He would never take anything for granted ever again. Life was too precious.
Her hands went to his head, and she moved her fingers through his hair. She was comforting him. He laid his head on her shoulder, keeping his hand on the baby. “I love you, Cassandra.” A rush of air left his lungs. “Thank you, Lord, for giving me back my life … thank you.”
They returned home the next morning. Cassandra’s contractions stopped, and the doctor said all would be well. The baby looked very healthy and should be directly on schedule to arrive in approximately three weeks.
Chad wanted to soak up every minute of those three weeks. He’d missed too much time of Cassandra’s pregnancy.
The doctor ordered bed rest, so Chad made up one of the downstairs rooms, so she didn’t have to climb the stairs, and so he could be close to her.
Since it was winter, he brought Mark in to take over the store. He could trust Mark to make sure all went well while he was gone because he simply was not leaving Cassandra until the baby was born. And then after that, he wasn’t sure how long before he would go back to work. Eventually, Cassandra would kick him out of the house, he was certain. But until that time, he would stay beside her.
“Chad?” Cassandra called him to the bedroom. He’d only been out of bed long enough to make coffee.
He rushed back to the room. “Is everything okay?” he sputtered, rounding the door. She never asked for anything. He had to constantly offer suggestions to make her comfortable.
Even getting up in the morning to go to the restroom and clean up, she insisted on doing everything on her own.
It had only been three days and already she looked better. He fed her every few hours, trying to build up her strength.
“I’m fine … I want you back in bed,” she said emphatically, and if he wasn’t mistaken, a little seductively.
He had not bothered her since she’d returned home, afraid that her body might go back into labor. Sheepishly, he’d asked the doctor when she wasn’t around if making love in the ninth month was allowable. The doctor had said it was fine as long as she was comfortable; however, he did recommend they wait a few days and it be her decision.
He was okay with that. Though he’d been starved for too long for her touch, all he cared about was the fact that he could hold her in his arms. Every morning when he woke up and she was there, he said a prayer thanking God again for the miracle of her return.
Chad crawled back in beside her. Coffee could wait.
“Do you think …” she started, then stopped. “Never mind …” she trailed off.
“What is it, baby? What do you need?”
“I don’t need anything but you, Chad. I was just wondering if we could try … if it was safe … but I’m positive that is the last thing you’d want right now … never mind.”
“Cassandra, what are you suggesting? Are you asking me if I want to make love to you?”
She veiled her eyes in embarrassment, nodding.
“Baby, there is nothing else I want more right now. I’ve wanted to make love to you from the moment I brought you home from the hospital, but it has to be your decision. If you feel up to it, that is, but it is perfectly safe. Some experts even recommend it.”
“But would you want to make love to me in this condition? I’m huge.”
Chad couldn’t contain a chuckle. “You’re beautiful, darlin’, and YES! I want to make love to you so badly that I can hardly control my mind right now. Is that what you want? Will you allow me?”
“Please,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I want you to hold me and never let me go.”
“Gladly, my love, I was only waiting for you.”
They spent the better part of the morning entwined together under the sheets. Cassandra had never been more beautiful and had never felt so wonderful in his arms.
In the evening, she allowed him to love her again, and after that, he didn’t have to wonder. If she even looked at him seductively, he was happy to oblige. As he’d said, they had a lot of making up to do.
Epilogue
Three weeks on the nose after Cassandra’s rescue, her water broke. Chad rushed her to the hospital, and surprisingly, only four hours later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy weighing in at seven pounds and seven ounces. He was blessed, that was obvious.
Michelle had given birth the day before. She’d told him the truth about her pregnancy. She’d gone off and found someone. Hopefully, she woul
d see the error of her ways and would eventually find a decent father for her baby girl, who amazingly looked nothing like her. She had dark hair and blue eyes, unlike Michelle’s blond hair and hazel eyes. Chad was secretly thankful he’d been in another state with Cassandra, or he was sure people would think he was the baby’s father.
Tom had been deeply depressed for the three weeks preceding both births, but Chad saw his eyes light up when he held his niece. He would make a great uncle, he was certain of that fact, watching the way he cooed over the little bundle of joy. Michelle would be fine; Tom would take care of them both.
Brandy had deeply affected all of their lives. No one could believe that she was capable of such an act. Except Detective Bearns. He’d said he’d seen many a once beautiful and loving girl turn bad after life had gotten a hold of them. At first, he’d pointed the finger at Chad and questioned him extensively, but Tom and Michelle came to his defense, both admitting to Bearns and Cassandra that Chad had been nothing but a friend to Brandy.
“So …” Cassandra asked, breaking him out of his thoughts as she’d always managed with just the sound of her voice. “What would you like to name him?”
“Well, I certainly don’t want to give him either of my names … but I was thinking … after all, I do owe Tom for his and your life.”
“You want to name him Tom?” she asked surprised.
“No … not exactly. But I do owe Tom everything, so I was thinking Turner might be nice, just as a tribute to him and then James after your father. Turner James Wilkinson, what do you think? I think it has a nice ring to it.”
“I like it.” She smiled. “But I think our next boy should have at least Chad as a middle name.”
Chad shook his head. “Again with your plans. Do you think everything will go exactly as you plan, Cassandra?”
She laughed. “I hope not. So far, the detours have made my life better than I could ever have imagined.”
Southern Romantic-Suspense Boxed Set (Southern Romantic-Suspense Novel Book 0) Page 96
