by Anna Scott
Riley texted back seconds later, assuring me that he would send someone over immediately and to sit tight. Three minutes later, I watched as the Lexus rolled out. One minute after that, the detectives I had met earlier arrived. I tried to get a look at the plate on the back of the car when it went past, but not surprisingly, it was covered with mud, an obviously intentional action on the otherwise pristinely clean vehicle.
Thankfully, the unmarked vehicles drove through the lot and instead of approaching me, officer Draper called me. In case someone else was watching, it was a smart move. I repeated what I had seen and told him which way I saw the car go. Within seconds, Draper was off the phone and traveling in the same direction.
Knowing that I needed to get back upstairs, I did my best to shake off the unease, finished in the truck and headed inside.
Chapter 8
Gillian
"My stars, Reed, did you buy out the store?" I giggled and worried about how much he had just spent. I really didn't want to max out my credit card on the overabundance of pink he purchased for me.
"I didn't, actually, there were plenty of blue things left in the store." He was so proud of himself, there was no way I was going to voice my concern over the money. I'd find a way to pay for all this stuff - somehow.
I looked at all the toys and things in the backseat of the truck, not to mention the flowery pink high end car seat he had somehow figured out how to strap in all by himself. Since I wasn't aware of him being around kids much, or at least not in charge of them, I was pretty impressed. We were getting settled in the truck, ready to hit the road. We were both anxious to get back and I couldn't wait to leave this place. There was a feeling of dread surrounding me like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and it worsened the longer I stood there.
The truck was quiet as we got on our way and my mind began to swirl again, I had called my parents earlier in the day, my mom had been devastated, and even apologized to me for not listening to my concerns, something she absolutely never did. My father had been concerned that I was taking on too much, with the cafe, my education, my own life and taking on a little girl. He suggested that I bring Kelly to them, that they would take care of her. I knew that they meant well and that they would do their best by her, but I wasn't sure that my parents would be able to handle a two-year-old with my father's health problems. I was also worried that they would leave her with my brother and his family since they lived close by, I was actually certain they would since my mother believed that my brother was perfect and my father didn't see the truth even when it was staring right at him.
I had no way of knowing what the future held for Reed and me, but I was certain that I would be able to take care of Kelly on my own. It would be a struggle at least for the first few weeks while I set up childcare for her, but my staff was reliable and I would be able to lean on them until I got things in order.
The papers had been delivered while Reed was at the store, and we were wished well by the social worker, Mrs. Pierce and the officers I had met earlier in the day. I received a warm hug from Mrs. Pierce, promising that she would keep in touch and handshakes from everyone else. The officers spoke quietly with Reed for a few minutes before we left. He didn't tell me what they said, but with Kelly close, I didn't think it was the right time to ask.
An hour and fifteen minutes into the drive, I turned my head to investigate since Kelly had been silent for a while. In the beginning, she had been jabbering on and on, playing with a couple of her new toys. The sight before me was so comical I couldn't help but laugh, which in light of everything that had happened, quickly turned to a muffled sob. Kelly was securely strapped into her bright pink car seat, her stuffed dog against one shoulder, a baby doll laying across her lap, a blanket lovingly covering the doll and a pile of blocks on top of the doll's stomach. The funny part was not only that she apparently passed out in the middle of eating a cracker, the half eaten remnants clutched in her little hand, but the entire space surrounding her was filled with toys, gear and anything else that Reed apparently thought she would need for the trip.
"I know this is too much for you to bare precious, I'm so sorry, I just wish there was something I could do for you," Reed consoled, reaching across the seat between us and laced his large hand with my much smaller one.
"She was so close; you know? Only a couple of more weeks and she would have been in McKinney."
"Yeah," he hesitated, gave my hand another squeeze and asked, "Did you talk to your parents?"
"I did, mom's a mess. She feels guilty."
"Neither of you could have known what was going to happen."
"I know. I think she is most upset because she discouraged me from trying to get Kelly before, from getting Missy help. She buried her head in the sand, not wanting to see what was happening."
We stayed quiet for a while before Reed asked, "Tell me how I can help you, what is the thing that's weighing heaviest on your mind?"
I thought about it for a few minutes, of course the thing weighing on me most was the loss of my cousin, but I there wasn't anything he could do about that. "I need to find childcare for Kelly, and I need to get the spare room set up for her."
"Well, I think with all of us, we can help with Kelly until we find the right place for her. I'll call mama when we get back. Why don't we move your desk and stuff down to the front bedroom and put Kelly in the middle one, that way she's closer to us."
Us? She would be closer to us? Seriously? Was he saying - I didn't even have the mental capacity to deal with that. I knew that giving myself to him the night before was huge for me, that I cared a great deal for him and from the way he behaved it seemed that he felt the same, but us?
"Is your basement finished?" He asked out of the blue.
"Yeah, mostly. The flooring is old linoleum, but the walls are done."
"That's good, we can probably set something up down there. When we get home, I'll take a look at it okay?"
"Reed?" I didn't know what I was going to ask him, but it seemed like I needed to ask him something.
"Baby, listen, I want to put a security system in. It may seem unnecessary, but we don't know what happened. With my job, there will be times I can't be there at night and I want both of you to be safe in the house. I'll call Jake when we get back."
"Jake?" I asked, stupidly, since that was the least important part of what he just said.
"Yeah, he's the tech guru of the group, he'll have pretty much everything we need to at least get it up and running. I can order the rest and add it in later."
"That sounds expensive, I have some money, but I'm not rolling in it."
"Don't worry about that, okay? Let me take care of you a little bit."
I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but I wasn't going to quibble. He was right about one thing, we didn't know what had happened to Missy, and I knew less than anyone. I knew she was murdered. I didn't think that anyone even knew that I existed, but with Kelly in the house, I wouldn't be stupid enough to decline his generosity.
"Okay, thank you, but just use what Jake has on hand, I can borrow it for a while and later I can figure something out." He didn't agree, his lips tightened but he nodded in what I was reasonably sure was his capitulation.
"Baby, this is too soon, I know it, but last night," he took a breath and held my hand tighter, picking it up and bringing it to his lips for a quick kiss, then he continued, "I think you know that after everything, after last night, you're essential to me. I hope that if you don't feel the same way about me yet, that you will. Sometimes life has a way of bringing people together at the exact right moment, when they need each other most. I don't know what the future holds, but I want you and now Kelly to be a part of mine."
"Reed," I cried, unable to stop the flow of tears streaming down my face. They were a mixture of desperate sadness and elated joy. He was the kindest, sweetest man I'd ever known. "I - I, oh, Reed," I blubbered, totally failing at expressing myself. I cared a great deal for him, and I want
ed to tell him, but instead he kissed my knuckles and promised that we could talk more about that later. He held my hand, but otherwise let me sit in silence for a while. Thankfully, I was able to pull myself together.
"Did anyone come to the apartment while I was gone?" Reed asked out of the blue. I had been staring out my window, without taking in the scenery, lost in my own spinning thoughts.
"Um, a couple of officers came and went, no one else I don't think."
"Officers you had seen before?"
"Yes and no, there was a different one too, but I think he just came in to talk to the detective and left."
Reed nodded, apparently satisfied by my answer. "Is something wrong, I mean something else?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to tell you everything I can, okay?"
"Okay"
"You know there are things I'm going to know, specifics, that I can't share with you until everything has been fully investigated, but aside from that, I'm going to keep you totally in the loop."
"That's good, I don't want to be protected from information I need to know."
"I agree. So, when I was moving Kelly's stuff around and repacking the truck, I saw a guy sitting in a car across the lot. It caught my attention, so I called sergeant Riley and he sent the detectives out. Before they got there, the guy pulled out, like right before."
"Do you think he knew they were coming?"
"I don't know, but at this point, anything is possible."
"Do you know who he was, did you see him?"
"No, no idea, it was a newer Lexus, gold, and had twenty-twos."
"Twenty-twos?" I had no idea what that meant and felt kind of stupid. I knew enough about cars to buy one that was reliable and to keep it running without being taken advantage of at the repair shop, but beyond that, I had no clue.
"The rims, the tires on the car are really thin and the rims are wider than normal."
"Oh, yeah, I've seen that, mostly in Dallas though."
Reed chuckled, probably thinking the same as I did, that a look like that would stand out in our area, of at least the way it was when we were kids. The town where we grew up had seen a huge influx of residents over the past several years.
"I just want you to keep your eyes open, okay. If you see a car like that, call me right away. I don't care if its a false alarm. I got a strange vibe and I don't ever ignore my intuition."
"Okay, I will, promise."
We were both quiet for a few minutes. The traffic was heavier and the drive was taking us longer than I had hoped. Thankfully, Kelly was asleep and hadn't given us any trouble. I wondered about the man Reed had seen, and worried that he was somehow related to what had happened to Missy. The detective told me that she had been found dead in the living room. He didn't give me any details about her murder, or if there was a suspect. I knew that leaving that information out had been intentional.
"Gilli," Kelly moaned from the back seat. When I glanced back, I saw her little arms stretching up over her head and her little mouth opened wide in a yawn.
"Hi, baby. Did you have a good nap?"
"I didn't nap, only Princess did." Her lips pouted out as her stubborn tone demanded that I believe her.
"Did Princess have a good nap?"
"Yes, she was very tired." Kelly picked up her baby doll, held her to her shoulder and began to pat and stroke the dolls back. "Now, she's very hungry."
"We can't have that," Reed told her, a grin on his face. We were only about twenty minutes from home, so I had assumed that we would just head there so I could make something, until Reed got off the freeway and drove into the parking lot of a local waffle house. "Does Princess like waffles?"
"Yes, she likes them a bunch." Kelly's speech was actually rather good for two-year-old, at least I thought so, I could understand almost everything she said and she said a lot. Her R's sounded more like W's most of the time and she had a habit of cutting off syllables sometimes, but it wasn't drastic.
Reed climbed down as I turned in my seat to dig through the pile of goodies for a clean diaper and package of wipes. Before I got there, Reed had my door opened and was waiting for me. "I'll get it, babe, hop down and stretch your legs." I let him guide me down and happily accepted the kiss he placed on my lips. He then moved to Kelly's door, had it opened and her out of her seat quickly, easily moving her to his hip and he was able to find what we needed without delay.
"I can do it," Reed told me, moving back to the front. It was a good thing too; Reed's truck was so tall that I would have struggled getting Kelly down on the seat to change her. I watched with avid fascination as Reed had her shorts off, diaper off, wiped down, and redressed in seconds.
"Where did you learn how to do that so fast?" I asked, pretty sure he didn't have any children out there.
"Dylan, you have to be fast with him, as soon as the cool air hits, he sprays."
"Oh no!"
"Yeah, it only takes getting hit in the face with that stream once before you know to go quick."
"Do you watch him often?"
"I have a couple of times, but usually it's with the group."
"Waffles!" Kelly exclaimed as soon as we walked through the doors. Since it was still early for dinner, the place was pretty empty. An older woman rushed from behind the counter to the hostess station and the flood of pride I felt when she took us in, Reed, huge and handsome, Kelly happily in one arm, me held safe and secure in the other, surprised me. I hadn't ever felt that way. This wasn't my family, but the image that planted in my head wasn't one that would go away anytime soon.
Reed motioned for me to go ahead of him, as the waitress led us to our table. When we arrived, he requested a booster seat for Kelly. I scooted over on my side of the booth and as the booster was placed there, Kelly flung her arms around Reed's thick neck and shouted, "No, I sit with you!"
Without a word, he grabbed the little seat and moved it to the open side, settled Kelly in it and sat next to her. The waitress handed us our menus and asked for our drink orders. Perusing the menu, I made my selection and assumed that Reed had done the same when he laid his menu on the table on top of mine. I shifted, getting ready to help Kelly, who was quietly talking to her baby doll, Princess, and showing her the pictures of food choices on the kids' menu. Before I was able to open my mouth, Reed got there and explained the options to both little girl and doll. The scene before at the truck, him holding her, him changing her and helping her select her meal, all of it, all he'd done for me melted my heart. I knew that Reed was a good guy, I'd seen it countless times but this, this was a testament to just how wonderful he truly was.
"Mickey Mouse pancakes!" Kelly shrieked, so excited about her choice that she bounced up and down in her seat. She slapped the menu once, then wrapped her little hands around Reed's hefty bicep and squeezed, laying her head on him in a mini hug. He wrapped an arm around her back and held on. For a girl who was wary of men, she had seriously taken to Reed. I knew that children were an especially good judge of character, they went with their instincts and Kelly really liked Reed.
About half way through the meal, Reed pulled the phone from his back pocket, checked the display and his lips firmed into a thin and obviously irritated line.
"Sorry baby, I've gotta get this," he told me distractedly. He stood from the table, looked at Kelly and promised, "I'll be just outside for a minute, you be good for Gilli, okay?"
"Okay," Kelly's focus shifted from her breakfast for dinner, up to Reed and she gave him her beautiful, if messy smile.
He had let the call go, but after giving me a kiss, strode outside, pressing buttons I assumed to call whomever it was back. Reed was gone long enough for Kelly to finish eating and to begin coloring on the backside of her paper menu. She babbled on and on about "Weed," who I knew was Reed, of course. She explained in her little girl way, what each squiggle, line and scribble was on the page. I ate, with one eye on Kelly and the other toward the door. I wanted to know what was wrong, and all of a sudden realized that Ree
d had been gone all day. He was in the middle of some kind of serious case at work and as far as I knew had basically just fallen off the grid for the past several hours. I hoped that he wasn't being reprimanded by his boss right then. I didn't know what I would have done without him, but I didn't want it to turn into a problem for him.
Finally, after another few minutes passed, Reed re-entered the restaurant and sat down. I could feel the anger or frustration radiating off him, but he did his best to mask it.
"Is everything okay?" I asked quietly, reaching out to touch his forearm.
Reed took a deep breath and let it out. Placing his other hand on top of mine, he smiled, if only a little, and assured me that we would talk later. The worry must have shown on my face, because he did his best to convince me that all was fine.
As we drove the short distance to my house, my phone rang. Glancing at the screen, I looked up at Reed and grimaced. It was Mr. Moore, who was a great attorney and Amber's dad, but with all that was going on, the call frightened me.
"Gillian, how are you doing dear?"
"As well as can be expected I think. You?"
"Of course, are you back home yet?"
"Almost, we just stopped to eat."
"Well, I've spoken with the social worker you dealt with in Louisiana. Once Melissa's apartment can be checked for any updated paperwork, I will begin the process of applying for your permanent guardianship."
"Good, thank you. What do you need me to do?"
"Just prepare, someone from our county will likely be in contact over the next few days. They'll want to do a home visit and ensure that Miss Kelly has everything she needs and that you are in the process of creating a life for her that will work. You'll need to acquire some kind of appropriate childcare and have her basic needs covered."
