by Emily March
“Every month.”
“So, no, then. I don’t think I want to talk about Holly.”
Surprise shone in Daniel’s brown eyes. Frankly, Hope was a little surprised, herself. He was the one person with whom she spoke of Holly freely, and she’d done so ever since she and Mark had hired him to privately investigate their daughter’s disappearance four months after the kidnapping. Not talking about Holly illustrated a significant change in her relationship with Daniel. Was it because she’d popped the pressure on that particular cork by talking to Lucca? Possibly. Probably. Was sharing Holly’s story with someone other than Daniel a sign that her spirit was healing? Perhaps. Time would tell, she guessed.
She put a sheet filled with dough into her preheated oven, then set the timer. “Shall we talk about tomorrow? I have a couple of ideas about how we can spend the day. We are supposed to have sunshine.”
“No skiing. Last time I did that I almost broke my leg.”
“Actually, I thought we could either go snowmobiling or horseback riding. The family of one of my students owns a ranch, and he’s offered a trail ride. Wade Mitchell. He was my high-point man today.”
Daniel looked alarmed. “In the snow?”
“Snowmobiles usually work better in snow.”
“I’m talking about the horses. Won’t PETA be on your ass for making them go out in the snow?”
“Careful, Daniel. Your Boston upbringing is showing. Horses are quite adapted to cold weather. They have a winter coat, and Storm Mountain Ranch puts them in winter shoes. As long as they don’t get wet from rain, snow, or sweat, they are quite comfortable being outside.”
“Horses.” He looked a little pained.
“Or snowmobiles,” she repeated, smiling. “On snowmobiles we’d stay in the valley. Wade said the trail ride would take us high.”
Daniel rose and went to peek in the oven. “I’ve never ridden a horse before. But I like the sound of going high tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll give Wade a call and take him up on his offer.”
The following morning Hope wandered into her kitchen in search of coffee to find Daniel sitting cross-legged on the floor playing with Roxy. When he looked up at her and said good morning, she couldn’t miss the bleakness in his eyes.
“Good morning, Daniel,” she said lightly. “My dog is in heaven.”
“She’s a sweetheart. I was just thinking that maybe I could get a dog. Every year I do more and more work from home. I don’t travel nearly as much as I used to. I might be able to make it work, but I’d hate to get a dog and then find out I couldn’t.”
“You could foster for a rescue group and see how it goes until the dog is adopted. If you’re gone too much, you’ll know without making the commitment to having a pet of your own.”
“There’s an idea.”
“What kind of dog do you think you’d like?”
“Nothing girly like Roxy here. I’d want a big dog. A man’s dog.” He hesitated a moment before adding, “Justin had a dog. A boxer. He named her Soupy Lou.”
Hope’s heart twisted. He’d never mentioned a dog before. “Soupy Lou?”
Daniel’s lips lifted ever so slightly. “I don’t know. Gail said she thought Justin heard it on a cartoon.”
“What happened to Soupy Lou?”
Daniel exhaled a long sigh. “I’m not sure. I came home a couple of months after Justin was killed and the dog was gone. Gail wouldn’t say where. I looked for her, but …”
He shrugged, and Hope crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug.
Half an hour later, they left her house, driving out to Storm Mountain Ranch in his rental. Daniel was quiet on this, the anniversary of the most horrible day of his life. Hope offered him her silent support, holding his hand for much of the twenty-minute drive to ranch. She directed him to the stables where Wade had instructed them to meet.
Wade came out to meet them, and Hope thought the smiling young man appeared even more at home in this setting than he did on a basketball court. Dressed in jeans, boots, a cowboy hat, and a sheepskin coat, he was the quintessential mountain rancher. Give him five years and women would be swooning all over him. Not that the teens at school weren’t doing it already.
At that point, Hope got an unwelcome surprise. Instead of three horses saddled for riding, there were four. Wade wasn’t the only person waiting at the stables.
Lucca Romano leaned against the stable door, his arms folded casually, a faintly satisfied grin on his face. Wade said, “Welcome to Storm Mountain, Ms. Montgomery.”
“Thank you, Wade.” She introduced the boy and Daniel, and while Daniel asked the young man a few questions about riding, she turned to Lucca. “Well, this is … unexpected.”
“I was at the gym working with Wade when you called. He invited me to tag along.”
After you made it impossible for him not to do so, I’m sure.
“I told him you wouldn’t care.”
Keeping her voice lowered, she said, “You were wrong. You should have asked me, Lucca.”
“When? The guy hasn’t left your side since he arrived two nights ago. Emphasis on the word ‘nights.’”
She folded her arms. “Tell me you don’t think I’m sleeping with him.”
He opened his mouth, then obviously changed his mind about what he was going to say. “No, I don’t. But dammit, Hope, you are sleeping with me. I think the least you could do is tell me why another man is spending the night at your house.”
Hope was not in the mood for male ego and jealousy, so she snapped. “Because today is the eighth anniversary of his four-year-old son’s abduction and murder, and I am his friend.”
It stunned him, as she had known it would. The jealous light in his eyes faded to shame, and he glanced over to where Daniel stood talking to Wade about the horses. “I’m so sorry.”
“You should be.” He’d made a huge assumption and leap of action, and it totally annoyed her. “He has enough to deal with today without you goading him over something that doesn’t even exist.”
“You’re right. I had no idea.” He took a step away from her and added, “I’ll leave.”
“No,” Daniel said.
Hope looked around to see that her friend had approached and obviously overheard at least some of her exchange with Lucca. A grin played at his mouth and amusement shone in his eyes. It was such a relief to see something other than bleakness in his gaze that she didn’t mind its being at her expense.
“I think it will be nice to have someone else along on our ride,” Daniel continued, extending his hand to shake Lucca’s. “That way when I fall off the horse and break my leg, Wade will have help hauling my butt down the mountain.”
“Would you stop with the broken leg business?” Hope asked, rolling her eyes.
Daniel spoke to Lucca. “Are you an experienced rider?”
“Actually, I am. I did some coaching stints in Texas and the West and learned then.”
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a Mule—the four-wheeled kind as opposed to the four-legged variety. Wade introduced his father to Hope and the two men. David Mitchell was an older version of his son, tall and broad-shouldered with a weathered face that reflected a lifetime of hard, physical work.
“Welcome to Storm Mountain,” he said. “Looks like y’all are going to have a nice day for a ride.”
The group exchanged pleasantries for a moment, then David turned to Lucca. “Could we speak privately for a moment, Mr. Romano?”
“Of course.”
As the two men walked away, Wade’s worried gaze followed them. Family, Hope thought. Sometimes it can be such a burden. Then her gaze fell upon Daniel, who was the closest thing to family that she had. Her brother, in so many ways. The brother whose eyes once again had gone bleak. She crossed to him and gave him a hug. Sometimes, family is all that helps you survive. “If you fall and break your leg, Daniel, I’ll make sure the doctor gives you a pretty pink cast.”
“You are all heart, Hope.”
Then, because Wade looked so miserable and she was, after all, his teacher, she made an effort to take care of him, too, by providing a distraction. “Wade, why don’t you tell Daniel the Ute legend about the Storm Mountain hot springs?”
Wade did as she asked, though his gaze continued to dart to his father and his coach. The conversation did look serious, and Hope was as curious as Wade. When the two men finally shook hands and turned to walk back toward them, Lucca caught Wade’s gaze and gave him a reassuring wink. Hope relaxed and after a moment, Wade did, too. They climbed onto their horses and started off.
It was a lovely ride. The horses Wade had chosen for them were accustomed to inexperienced riders, having been used for tourist rides the preceding summer. Sunshine and temperatures in the forties cleared the evidence of the previous day’s snowfall but for the shaded spots where patches of white would last until spring.
They mostly remained silent while they rode, though Daniel and Lucca did discuss cars and trucks for a time, and the easy way they conversed made Hope glad that Lucca had tagged along.
The man had been jealous. Over her. The tall, dark, and handsome GQ model pro athlete had been green-eyed enough to arrange to be here today. Call her shallow, but nothing had done her ego quite so much good in a very long time.
Wade guided them to a spot that offered a breathtaking view of snow-topped mountains to the west. Someone had fashioned log benches situated perfectly for enjoying the scenery. “Can we stay here for a little while?” Daniel asked.
“Sure. It’s a good place to stretch,” Wade replied.
Hope sat beside Daniel on the bench while Wade and Lucca took care of the horses. Hope heard the boy ask Lucca about the conversation with his father, but she dismissed her curiosity about that and turned her attention to her friend.
“This was a good idea, Hope,” he said. “Though I will admit I was ready to get down from that horse.”
“I thought you’d enjoy it.”
“A dose of ‘peaks’ on a day of ‘valleys.’ You’re pretty smart, Hope Montgomery.”
She laced her fingers through his. “Do you want to talk about Justin?”
He gave a long pause before saying, “The rage is mostly gone now, which is a good thing. But I walk around with this big, black empty space inside me that I had hoped would go away. Now, I don’t think that will ever happen. It’s so heavy and dark and cold. Some days it’s bigger than others. Some days it’s so big that it takes up my whole sky.”
“I know,” Hope told him, meaning it.
“Gail’s sister called me last week. The family is planning a memorial service on the anniversary of her death. They invited me to attend.”
“Will you go?” she asked, hoping that this scar, at least, might have begun to heal.
“No. I don’t think so.” Daniel rose to his feet. “I need to walk a little bit.”
She could see the tears flooding his eyes. “Want some company?”
“No, thanks. Just let me …”
“Sure, Daniel. Take all the time you need.”
When her friend disappeared into the trees, Lucca took his seat beside Hope. “Is he okay?”
“He doesn’t like me to see him cry.”
Lucca picked a stick up off the ground, tugged a knife from his pocket, and began to whittle. “Tell me about Daniel, Hope.”
Her gaze locked on the trees where he had disappeared, she said, “Justin was with his mother at the mall. They were at the food court and a man at the table next to them had a heart attack. Daniel’s wife started CPR on him and a group of people surrounded them. In the confusion, Justin got scared and backed away. Someone took him. They found his body four days later. Gail committed suicide seven months after that.”
Lucca muttered a curse. “How horrible. How does anyone come back from something like that? A family completely destroyed.”
“It hasn’t been easy,” Hope continued. “Daniel was a police detective, and after Gail died, he quit the force and went private. He works child abductions, both recent cases and cold ones. We hired him to search for Holly, and he and I became friends. We spend our anniversaries together.”
By now, Lucca had sharpened the stick to a pencil point. He flipped it around and began whittling the other end. “He’s still looking for Holly?”
“Oh, yes. Holly’s is a special case to him. She and Justin shared the same birthday. I think if he could bring Holly home to me, it would help heal his heart almost as much as mine.”
“Have there ever been any leads?”
“For Holly?” Hope shook her head. “No. Margarita Santana disappeared into the immigrant community. But that’s part of what gives me comfort. I know who stole my daughter. I think she did it because she wanted to mother my girl, as opposed to the perverted murderer who took Daniel’s son …” Finding it difficult to talk about someone so evil, she hesitated. “To use.”
“Did they find the killer?”
“Yes, but not for three years, when he was apprehended for another crime. DNA evidence tied him to Justin’s murder. He was a pedophile.”
“Dear Lord.” Lucca moved his knife with such force that he broke his stick in two. “I cannot imagine anything worse. I’m glad he has you for a friend.”
“Me, too.” One of the horses let out a loud whinny, and Hope looked over to where Wade stood. “So what did Mr. Mitchell want?”
“An honest assessment of Wade’s talent. It sounds like he’s trying to come to grips with the idea that Wade might win a college scholarship.”
“He didn’t ask you to torpedo Wade, did he?”
“No. It’s obvious he loves his son. I think David Mitchell is the kind of man who believes in hard work, and if Wade’s hard work earns him a collegiate spot, his father won’t deny him the opportunity. I don’t think he’ll like it necessarily, but that might change once he gets used to the idea.”
“He’s scared of losing his son,” Hope said. Then, as Daniel exited the woods a few moments later, his eyes red-rimmed but a gentle smile on his face for Hope, she added, “David Mitchell needs to understand that there is losing, and then there’s losing.”
“Amen to that,” Lucca said. “Amen to that.”
“Dear Lord, pray for us,” Gabi said as she watched her mother march up the sidewalk toward Aspenglow, where her children waited. “She’s on the warpath. Really, she has all the nerve. We’re not the ones who were flaunting our illicit love affair in public.”
“Illicit love affair?” Max drawled. “Hell, Gabi. You sound like a virgin spinster.”
“I may be a spinster, but I’m darn sure not a virgin.”
“Aargh!” Zach said. “Please. No more.”
One hand on her hip, Gabi dramatically waved the other. “Give me grief if you want, but you weren’t there to see it. She all but gave that ice cream cone a blow job.”
Max said, “Gabi! Please.”
Tony scowled at his brothers. “Leave her alone. She has a point, you know.”
Lucca grimaced. Of the five Romano siblings, Gabi and Tony were the only two who didn’t know about their father’s betrayal. Friday night he and Max and Zach had decided to keep that information to themselves unless it became clear that telling would help the family unit more than keeping silent hurt it.
He hoped they could get through this meeting without damaging Gabi’s and Tony’s opinion of their father, but the next few minutes would tell that tale.
Maggie Romano opened the door to her bed-and-breakfast and stepped inside. She unwrapped the yellow scarf from around her neck and hung it on a coat rack before beginning to pull off her gloves, tugging finger after finger while visually taking inventory. “You are all here. Good.”
She put her gloves in her coat pocket, then hung her coat on the rack with her scarf. She wore a red skirt and jacket. A power suit. Okay. This could be trouble. She’s not going to go the teary, vulnerable, “please understand” route. Sh
e’s in “I’m your mother and you will obey me” mode.
That would work for the boys, but Gabi was a wild card. She could get on her high horse and out-Mom Mom if she so desired. Lucca had seen it happen more than once, and the afternoon in Gunnison had devastated Gabriella.
Nothing I like more than navigating a minefield with two emotional women.
His mother stepped into the remodeled room that would serve as Aspenglow Place’s public parlor. Max had built a fire in the hearth, and for a moment, the crackle of burning wood was the only sound to be heard. Then Maggie took a place in front of the fireplace, folded her hands, and said, “Thank you all for coming here tonight. I think it’s important that this family continues to communicate. I know you all undoubtedly have things you’d like to say to me. However, I get to go first.
“Due to unfortunate timing, my private business has become family public knowledge. I regret that. It was not my intention to parade my new relationship in your faces. That said, now that the cat’s out of the bag, I want you to know that I will demand you be respectful of my choices, just as I am of yours. I want you to know that I will always value your father and honor this family he gave us. I have and will continue to mourn his loss.
“But I am relatively young and I am ready to move forward. Your father would have wanted me to be happy. I would hope that you, my children, would want me to be happy.”
Lucca glanced around the room to gauge the temperature of his siblings’ reaction. Max and Zach looked cool. Gabi and Tony appeared to be sucking on prunes. He cleared his throat. “We do want you to be happy, Mom. I think everyone was a little shocked at first.”
Gabi snorted. Maggie shot her a disapproving scowl.
Max said, “We feel protective of you, Mom. We’re afraid that you’ve gotten too serious with this fellow too soon. After all, how much does anyone know about this Richard guy other than that he’s a decent contractor?”
“We don’t want you choosing someone just to avoid being alone, Mom,” Tony added. “This guy might have substance abuse issues or mental health problems. Is he divorced? Does he have kids? Maybe he’s looking for emotional and financial help with his children.”
