Lonestar Homecoming

by Colleen Coble

  He nodded. “God has his ways, honey.”

  His face blurred in her vision again. “I’ll get Hope.” She stepped back, and his hands fell to his side.

  He walked beside her toward the car. “I have a granddaughter. I’ve always wanted another little Gracie.”

  “She looks more like Mom than like me. Dark hair and eyes. The dimple in her cheek is on the same side as Mom’s.” She opened the back door.Hope still slept in the booster seat. Gracie touched her daughter’s arm. “Hope.Wake up, honey.”

  Hope’s eyes flew open. “Are we there, Mommy? At my grandpa’s house?” She rubbed her eyes, and the crayons fell from her lap.

  “We sure are.” Gracie unbuckled the seat belt and lifted Hope’s sturdy little body out of the car. She turned with her daughter in her arms. “Hope, this is your poppy.”

  She slipped into the nickname she’d called her own grandfather. Judging by the way her father’s face lit, she knew it was the right choice.

  “Hello, Hope,” her dad said, his voice choked. “I’m very glad to meet you. Do you know I’ve always wanted a granddaughter? There’s something very special about baby girls.” His gaze flickered to Gracie, then back again.

  “I’m not a baby,” Hope said, her voice rising on the last word.

  “Of course not,” he said gravely. “I’d say you’re big enough to help me muck out the stables, aren’t you? And you’re certainly big enough to pull weeds in the garden.” He held out his arms. “Would you like to come with me?”

  Hope glanced at her mother, then she held out her arms and went straight into her grandpa’s embrace. “You don’t have to carry me, Poppy. I can walk.” But she made no move to squirm down.

  “I rather like carrying you,” he said with a quaver in his voice. “Let me show you the barn.”

  Gracie watched them walk away. She pressed a hand against her chest to calm herself. A fresh sense of cleanness washed over her.This was the right thing. Opening her car door, she found a small notebook in her purse and jotted a note to her dad.When she put it in the screen door, she went to her car and got in.

  A WELL-KEPT WINDMILL ROTATED IN THE BRISK BREEZE THAT BLEW IN OFF the desert. Michael turned the rental car into the driveway. “Allie’s car isn’t here. I was so sure Gracie would be here.” He pounded the steering wheel.

  “Maybe she called her dad.We should at least talk to him,” Rick said.

  “Yeah.”Michael ran down the windows and shoved open his door. “Stay, Caesar,” he ordered before heading to the front porch.

  “Nice place,” Rick observed. “Looks like her family has money.”

  Michael rarely noticed such things, but he took note of the large house, well-kept outbuildings, and yard. The iron fence all the way around the property cost plenty too. “Guess so. Gracie never mentioned it.”

  Gracie hadn’t mentioned a lot of things. He bounded up the steps to the front door and pressed the doorbell.

  “Gracie?” The door flew open, and an older man appeared. He held Hope by the hand.The light in his eyes died when he saw Michael and Rick.

  “Daddy!” Hope said. “Did you bring Mommy back?”

  The man glanced down at the little girl, then back to Michael. “You’re Michael?”

  Michael nodded. “Gracie isn’t here?”

  The man held open the door. “Come on in. I think there’s a lot to sort out.”

  Michael and Rick stepped inside onto travertine floors and followed Lister through the entry to the living room. Nice paintings and pottery. Like Rick had said, the guy had money.

  When he sat down, Hope clambered into his lap. “Where’s my mommy?” she asked, her dark eyes anxious.

  “We’ll find her,” Michael said, smoothing her hair. He adjusted her so her head rested against his chest. She clutched his shirt as if for comfort.

  “Can I offer you a soda or coffee?” Lister asked. “I’m Paul Lister, by the way, but you probably knew that much.”

  Michael studied the man’s face. He guessed Gracie’s father to be around sixty. Lister’s hair was mostly gray, but it still held a few streaks of blond the same color as Gracie’s. And she had inherited the man’s vivid blue eyes. “How long ago did she leave?”

  “About an hour ago. I was in the garden when they came. I can’t tell you what a joy it was to . . .” His voice choked and died. “I’ve watched for her for five years.” He looked at Hope. “And to find out I had a granddaughter—it was the best day of my life. Until I came around to the front of the house and found she’d left me a note.” He fished a paper from his pocket.

  Michael leaned forward to take it from his hand. He caught his breath as he skimmed it.

  Daddy, I’m so sorry I have to leave.A very bad man is after me, and I had to make sure Hope would be all right before I tried to fix this problem. I’ll never forget the look on your face when you saw me. It will keep me strong for what I have to do. Keep Hope happy. If I can come back, I will. Michael will probably find you. He won’t understand, but tell him I love him and the kids.This is the only way I know to keep everyone safe. Love, Gracie

  He wanted to crumple the note and fling it to the floor. “It’s insanity! She can’t go up against the cartel by herself.” He handed it to Rick to read. “Did she say anything that might tell you where she planned to go?”

  Lister shook his head. “I had no inkling she wasn’t planning on staying. She didn’t seem upset or frightened. Just glad to be home. Then she was gone.”

  “I know where she went,” Hope said in a small voice.

  Michael glanced down at the little girl. “You do? Where did Mommy go?”

  “She went to see Daddy Cid. He called when we were in the car. Mommy said she’d meet him.”

  “Did you hear her say where to meet?” Michael kept his voice low and soothing.

  Hope scrunched up her face. “I can’t ’member.”

  “Think, honey. If I can find Mommy, I can bring her home.”

  Hope chewed on her lip. “She said an engine lodge.”

  “Good, honey.You’re such a good helper!” He turned to Rick. “Engine lodge?”

  “Or Indian?” Rick suggested. “Davis Mountains State Park has the Indian Lodge.We could start there.”

  “What’s the fastest way to get there?”

  Rick considered the question. “Probably flying into Alpine and driving out there from town.”

  “Did Mommy say anything else?” Michael asked Hope. If they had no other clues, all they could do was drive the roads through the park and hope to spot the car.

  “She said something about oranges,” Hope said.

  “Oranges?”

  Hope scrunched her face. She rubbed her head. “I was sort of sleeping. Don’t be mad.”

  Michael hugged her. “Oh honey, I’m not mad.” At least not at her. “You’ve helped me a lot.”

  “Will you find Mommy?”

  “I’m sure I will.” He prayed he would find her in time.Though the thought of her lying dead in Allie’s car was enough to make his heart seize.

  “Can I stay here with Poppy?”

  Michael exchanged a long glance with Lister. “I’d suggest you, um, go to town where there are other people,” he said, picking his words with care and shooting a meaningful stare Lister’s way.

  “There’s a nice hotel with a pool in town,” Lister said. “Sounds like a party waiting to happen.”

  “A pool?” Hope sat up. “Can I go swimming?”

  “You sure can,” her grandfather said. “I’ll buy you a new swimsuit.”

  Michael stood and handed Hope over to Lister. “Take good care of her,” he said.

  “Find my daughter,” Lister said in a low voice. “I’ll be praying.”

  “We’ll need all the prayers we can get,”Michael said grimly, heading for the door.

  26

  HIGHWAY 118 WOUND THROUGH BREATHTAKING MOUNTA IN SCENERY, BUT Gracie barely noticed the mountains and canyons along the double-yellow-line
d road. The turnoff should be just ahead. She couldn’t let herself think too much, or she’d turn tail and run. A sign announced the entrance to Skyline Drive.

  The road to perdition.

  She slowed the car and turned onto the drive. Cid was probably already at the appointed place. The question was whether he was alone. For all she knew, he was waiting with a gun to shoot her and would throw her body over the side of the overlook. She found she was okay with whatever happened.While she didn’t want to leave her family, her soul was clean. Anything that happened now, God was allowing. She could accept that.

  The road proceeded up Limpia Canyon, past the McDonald Observatory. Her cell phone lost its signal.The picnic area in Madera Canyon wasn’t far now. She saw the sign and turned into the parking lot.There was one other car in the lot. A gray Mercedes.Though she didn’t recognize it, the fact that it was a Mercedes told her Cid was close by. She parked and got out. There was no one in the other car, so she started toward the trees. The scent of pine washed away her fear, and she straightened her shoulders.

  If Cid thought he would be meeting the meek woman he’d nearly forced to marry him, he was going to find her much changed.

  “Gracie.” Cid’s voice spoke to her right.

  She turned toward the gloom of deeper forest. “Cid? Where are you?”

  He stepped out from a grove of pines. “I am here.” He wore pressed jeans.The first three buttons of his red silk shirt were undone to reveal two gold chains around his neck. His leather loafers looked new. A diamond earring glinted in one ear. Beside him, Gracie was a common sparrow. It always amazed her that he had ever looked at her twice.

  He held out his hand. “I will take your cell phone.”

  Reluctantly, she handed it to him. His smile broadened as he looked her over. “Gracie, I have missed you so much.”

  His voice was like the stream murmuring so seductively in the background, inviting her to step closer.The problem was she’d nearly drowned in the bottomless pool of his deceit last time. And his exterior was like a coral snake—beautiful but deadly.The orange scent she smelled was a warning.

  “Hello, Cid,” she said. He held out his arms, but she stepped back. “I’m married.”

  His eyes darkened. “Where is my amenable little Gracie?”

  “She’s had enough of letting you pull the wool over her eyes.”

  “Yet you came when I called.”

  “Cid, you threatened my family. Of course I came.”

  He snorted. “Your family. It did not take you long to run from my arms to another man. I do not like that, Gracie.”

  She could have told him she had to hide from him and his cronies. She could have said she loved Michael. But in the end she said nothing and stared at him until he glanced away.A tiny triumph, but an important one. He needed to realize she wasn’t going to let him browbeat her. Not anymore.

  “I brought food. Some sub sandwiches.” He took her elbow and guided her toward the picnic table. A red and white cooler was on a white plastic tablecloth.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  His fingers tightened on her elbow until she winced. “You are not going to waste the food I bought, Gracie. Enough with your defiance.” He forced her onto the picnic bench and slammed a sandwich in front of her. “It is your favorite.Turkey with a kick. I had them put on lots of banana peppers.”

  Her hands folded in her lap, she stared at the sub. She’d choke if she had to swallow his food. Let him shoot her now and be done with it. His hand touched her hair in a caress. He bent toward her, and his lips touched her neck. She barely suppressed a shudder, but he must have sensed it because his lips tightened, and he moved across the table from her.

  He unwrapped her sandwich. “Eat.”

  Her pulse stuttered at the dark threat in his voice. She picked up the sandwich, but her insides roiled. She took a tiny bite and got only bread.With no moisture in her mouth, the bread was like sandpaper. She chewed it as best she could, then washed it down with a sip of the bottled water in front of her.

  “Hope is asleep in the car? I have a sandwich for her too.”

  “No. I didn’t bring her with me.”

  He put down his sandwich. His dark eyes narrowed to slits, and his mouth twisted. “What do you mean, you did not bring her? You agreed you would come back to me. Is this some kind of trick?”

  She shook her head. “No trick, Cid.You are forcing me to come back, but I’m not letting you raise my daughter. I’m willing to sacrifice my own happiness, but not hers.”

  He rose and came toward her. She scrambled to her feet and backed away, but he sprang and gripped her forearms in a bruising hold. “I suppose you left her with that perfect husband of yours. No matter. One of my men can pick her up.We will make sure that family doesn’t disturb our happiness again.”

  She struggled but couldn’t escape his punishing fingers. “She’s where you’ll never find her.”

  He shook her hard enough that her head flopped back and forth. “Idiot woman! It is not you I want!”

  He shoved her. Gracie reeled back, then hit the ground. Gravel dug into her back. Ignoring the bite of the rocks in her palms, she scooted away from him.

  Cid glowered over her. “Hope is the key to everything. I never wanted you.” His hand swept dismissively. “Look at you. Shy and timid.”

  “I never pretended to be anything else.”

  “You never tried. Always jeans and T-shirts. A real man wants a woman with some plumage.”

  “What do you want with me, then?” she whispered.

  Not listening to her, he paced the clearing. “I was willing to put up with you in my bed for my father’s sake.” He leaned down and hoisted her to her feet. “Where is she?”

  She stared up at him defiantly. “I won’t tell you.”

  “You will tell me where to find Hope, or the crows will pick the flesh from your bones. And I will find her anyway, only she will not have her mother.”

  Looking into his dark eyes, she didn’t doubt he spoke the truth. “No,” she said.

  His hand went to his pocket, and she knew he concealed a weapon there. She bolted for the trees. He shouted after her, but she plunged into the cool sanctuary of the pines.

  A PINE BRANCH SLAPPED GRACIE IN THE FACE. SHE STUMBLED AND WENT down on one knee, then regained her feet and rushed across the blanket of pine needles. Stupid, so stupid. He’d set a trap, and she’d walked right into it. She had to get away, warn Michael, so he could help her save Hope. She should have done that in the first place, but she’d thought she could fix this problem herself.

  If she could lose Cid, she might be able to circle back around to her car. He bellowed her name, but he wasn’t close.The trees were so thick through here, he would have trouble spotting her. She needed a place to hide.

  She kicked off her flip-flops, pausing long enough to angle them in a different direction. It might throw him off.A ridge of rocks poked up just across the creek.When she plunged into the stream, the cold shock of water made her gasp. She struggled against the suction of the muddy bottom but managed to reach the shelter of the rocks and hunker down behind them. She lay on her stomach and peered through a wedge in the rocks.

  Cid emerged from the trees, then stood, staring around. He stooped and picked up one of her flip-flops, then stared in the direction they pointed. She willed him to follow the false trail she’d laid. When he kept the slipper and headed away from the creek, she let out the breath she’d been holding. Once he was out of sight, she rose and rushed away.

  For the next two hours she hid, then watched before finally circling back to the parking lot.The dying sun threw rays of red and gold across the tops of the piñon pine trees and cast shadows deeper into the forest. Cid surely assumed that she’d found help somewhere by now. He would have run away before the law showed up here. Glancing around the area one last time, she exited the forest and ran for her car. Cid’s Mercedes was gone, just as she’d suspected.

  She dug her key out
of her pocket, then opened her car door.The lights didn’t come on inside. Surely she hadn’t left the lights on or done something else stupid to drain the battery. Jamming the key into the ignition, she turned the key.The engine clicked, but nothing happened. “No!” she muttered.

  “You stupid chica,” Cid said from behind her.A steel barrel pressed against her neck. “Get out of the car.”

  Her hands dropped from the steering wheel. She glanced around for a weapon, but the front seat held only her purse. Her ankle gun was out of reach.

  “Move before I blow a hole in your head right here,” Cid snarled.

  She got out and went to stand near the front of the car, where she’d be closest to the woods. If she got a chance, she’d bolt again. Cid had a length of rope in one hand and a revolver in the other.

  “Turn around,” he barked.When she complied, he roughly wound the rope around her wrists. He jabbed her between her shoulder blades. “Move. Over there.” He pointed.

  She saw his car parked down the road in a turnout. Stupid, stupid. If only she’d paid better attention. She stumbled along on sore feet. When she neared his car, the passenger door opened. A black-haired man she didn’t recognize got out, but she had no eyes for him. Her attention was riveted by what the lighted interior of the car revealed: her daughter’s frightened face in the backseat.

  She started forward. “Hope!”

  Cid grabbed her bound hands and yanked her back cruelly. “Not so fast.” He shoved her face-first onto the hood of the car. “Stay right there.”

  The heat of the engine radiated through the hood against her cheek. She turned her head to watch the two men.And a woman, who stepped from the passenger seat.The woman who had warned her.

  “Watch her, Zita.”

  “I am sorry,” Zita whispered when she stopped behind Gracie.

  Cid stepped nearer to the other man. “You get ahold of Wheeler?”

  “Yeah. I sent him a picture of the kid crying in the backseat.That should make him see reason.”

  Gracie shoved herself upright. “What’s Sam Wheeler got to do with this?”

  Cid quirked an eyebrow. “You will be quiet or I will shoot you right here in front of Hope.You don’t deserve to live after the way you treated me. I am letting you live to keep her calm.” He gestured to the car hood. “Lie down on there again. Not another word.”