Honeysuckle Summer

by Sherryl Woods

  Carter touched her cheek. “I know you want to believe that killing him would let you live a normal life again, and maybe it’s even true, but there are better ways to handle this. Let me go and see him. I’ll find out what his plans are, what his frame of mind is. For all we know, he’s going to relocate to Alaska.”

  “He hates cold weather,” she said automatically.

  Carter frowned at the glib comment. “My point is that we need to know if he has a plan for the rest of his life. We can go from there.”

  Raylene nodded reluctantly. “But we’re not ruling out the gun.”

  “Not entirely,” he agreed, though with obvious reluctance.

  She met his gaze. “Thank you for giving me some time to get used to the idea that he’s going to be free. Now I have time to figure out what’s best.”

  Carter regarded her with alarm. “But you won’t do anything hasty, right? Promise me, we’ll work this out together. Please don’t make me regret telling you.”

  Ironically the panic she’d felt outside earlier, the fear she’d felt when Carter had told her the news, all of that had faded now. What she was left with was a cold emptiness inside, and the kind of grim determination she’d never expected to experience. Paul Hammond wouldn’t terrorize her again, not ever. No matter what she had to do to stop him.

  Carter walked away from Raylene with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He’d seen something in her eyes that had terrified him. Though he admired her for wanting to face down her ex-husband, he knew without a doubt that such a confrontation was bound to turn out badly. She was no match for a bully who’d likely let his resentment fester during a jail term.

  Once again, he contacted Travis and filled him in. “I didn’t like what I heard in her voice. If I don’t take the initiative here and deal with Hammond myself, there’s no telling what Raylene might do.”

  “How can I help?”

  “I can circulate the word with all the deputies in the area, but as thin as we’re spread, it’s going to take more men to make sure Hammond doesn’t get near her again.”

  “I’ll make some calls,” Travis said at once. “How about I get Cal Maddox, Ronnie Sullivan, Erik Whitney and my cousin Tom over to my place later tonight? I’m sure we can put together a plan to keep her safe.”

  “That would be great. Around eight?”

  “Make it nine. Erik works at Sullivan’s, but he should be able to break free by then.”

  “Aren’t you on the air tonight?”

  “I’ll ask Bill to stick around and cover for me.”

  “Look, Travis, I don’t know what your timetable is for the wedding, but you might think about having Sarah and the kids move in with you sooner rather than later, at least until this is resolved,” Carter told him. “I’m going to do anything I can think of to make sure Paul Hammond never sets foot in Serenity, but you don’t want to take any chances that they could get in his way.”

  “Done,” Travis said at once. “But that will leave Raylene there all alone. She’ll be a sitting duck.”

  “She wants a damn gun,” Carter said, still shuddering at the thought.

  “I suppose I can understand that,” Travis said. “She should be able to protect herself.”

  “Come on. You know Raylene as well as I do. If she even shot the man in the toe, she’d be riddled with guilt forever.”

  “You have a point. Okay, we’ll thrash all this out tonight.”

  “Thanks, Travis. I owe you.”

  Once he’d gotten off the phone with Travis, Carter radioed the sheriff and told him what was going on. “Can you free me to take a trip to the prison? Shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.”

  “I’ll cover for you myself,” the sheriff promised. “Tell that SOB to stay the hell out of my county, you hear.”

  “That’s the plan,” Carter confirmed.

  But two hours later, he walked away from the prison with a certainty that Paul Hammond wasn’t going to make things easy. He was still seething with barely contained anger at the woman he blamed for ruining his career and putting him behind bars.

  And there wasn’t a doubt in Carter’s mind that given half a chance, he’d want to finish the job he’d started the last time he’d beaten her. Behind the smooth facade, Carter had seen a man who was coldly calculating revenge.

  Raylene had the local paper spread out on the kitchen table and was circling ads for places for rent when Sarah came home from work.

  “What are you doing?” Sarah demanded, looking over her shoulder.

  “Finding my own place to live,” Raylene told her,

  Sarah sat down at the kitchen table and regarded her with dismay. “What brought this on? I thought you planned to buy this house from me once Travis and I are married. I’ve been counting on that.”

  “I still want to do that, but I can’t stay here right now.” She filled Sarah in on the news Carter had shared about Paul’s impending release from prison. It was six to eight weeks away, but she explained that she had to start making her plans now. “I won’t stay here and risk putting you and the kids in danger.”

  “But you said Carter’s going to deal with him,” Sarah said. “I can’t imagine he’ll set foot in Serenity once Carter has a come-to-Jesus talk with him.”

  “I’m not taking any chances,” Raylene argued, her jaw set stubbornly.

  “Let’s think this through,” Sarah pleaded. “We’ll get everybody together and talk about what’s best.”

  “It’s not a group decision,” Raylene retorted. “It’s mine, and I’ve made it.”

  “Well, you’re not moving out tomorrow, no matter what, so put that paper down and let’s fix dinner. I always think better on a full stomach.”

  Raylene recognized a stalling tactic when she saw one, but she folded the newspaper and put it aside.

  “Is everything all set for the picnic on the Fourth?” Sarah asked, deliberately changing the topic.

  With everything that had happened that afternoon, Raylene had pushed the barbecue completely out of her head. “I think so. Dana Sue insisted on bringing the fried chicken and ribs. I’m making the salads. Erik’s doing the burgers and the pies. Maddie said she’d find red, white and blue paper plates and napkins. Ronnie’s in charge of getting sparklers for the kids and making sure they don’t set themselves on fire.”

  “And Annie?”

  “To be honest, I think she’s having a little trouble juggling work and dealing with Trevor and a new baby on her own with Ty on the road. I didn’t give her an assignment.”

  “She’ll be furious if she thinks you let her off the hook because she can’t cope,” Sarah said. She closed her eyes and sighed. “I remember what it was like for me when I had Tommy and Libby so close together. I know exactly what she’s going through, but every time I offer to pitch in, she bites my head off.”

  “I’ll have her pick up some soda or something. And I’ll make sure she knows her most important assignment is to pay attention to what’s going on with Carrie,” Raylene said.

  “Have you heard from Carrie since she dropped by?”

  “Not a word. Maybe she had a lot of studying to do for finals, but school’s been out for a week now, and she hasn’t been by again. She may be embarrassed about having revealed so much. I’m glad this picnic’s coming up so soon. I don’t want to take too long to figure out if she really is in trouble. At least Carter told me that she’s been talking to him about how miserable she’s been here. That’s a start.”

  She hesitated, then met Sarah’s gaze. “There’s something else you should know.”

  “Yes?”

  “I tried to make myself go onto the patio earlier today. Carter found me out there. I was a total basket case.”

  Sarah’s eyes lit up with excitement. “But you were on the patio? That’s fantastic.”

  “Did you miss the part about me being a basket case?”

  “I don’t care. A basket case who’s actually outside completely on her own
after all these months is still fantastic!”

  “You’re way too easily impressed,” Raylene said.

  “Wait till you tell Dr. McDaniels. I’ll bet she’s impressed, too.”

  Raylene studied her. “You really think it was that great, even though Carter found me pretty much unglued?”

  “I think it was amazing, and so should you. You should be proud, Raylene. You left this house without me or Dr. McDaniels! Whoo-hoo!”

  Raylene grinned at her enthusiasm. “I guess it was kind of cool.”

  “Better than cool. Awesome!”

  “Okay, you can settle down now,” Raylene said dryly. “I didn’t walk on water.”

  “No, but you walked on bricks,” Sarah replied. “In my book that’s, what, half a dozen steps in the right direction.”

  Raylene tried to view it through Sarah’s eyes. Maybe it had been a little bit of a triumph after all. The all-important questions, though, were whether she could make herself do it again and how long it would take before being outside started to seem like second nature, especially now that she knew Paul could be a more immediate threat.

  11

  Carter was surprised to find Walter Price among those at Travis’s place when he arrived that night. He hadn’t realized that Sarah’s ex-husband would be tight with her current fiancé. He supposed in a small town it would be hard for the two men to avoid each other.

  “I spend a lot of time at the house with the kids,” Walter explained when they were officially introduced. “Raylene’s been a good friend to me. When Travis told me what was going on, I wanted to help.”

  Carter nodded. “We can use all the help we can get.”

  Cal Maddox, Ronnie Sullivan and Tom McDonald nodded agreement. “Whatever you need,” Ronnie said, his expression grim. “That man will not get anywhere near Raylene on our watch.”

  “Amen,” Erik added, walking in the door in time to overhear Ronnie’s comment.

  “We should speak to Elliott Cruz, too,” Cal said. “Maddie says he was at The Corner Spa the day Raylene turned up all battered and bruised. He really took it to heart. He didn’t even know Raylene at the time, but he was ready to charge off and beat the guy to a pulp. Plus, he’s a solid block of muscle. I imagine any man encountering him would think twice about doing anything when he’s around.”

  Carter was relieved to know there were so many men he could count on. “We should definitely include him, then.”

  Travis handed out beers all around, then looked at Carter. “Did you go to the prison?”

  Immediately sobering, Carter nodded. “We’re dealing with one angry man. He blames Raylene for all of it. He says he’d never have wound up in prison if she hadn’t lied about everything that happened. He still claims she took a tumble down the steps at their house to get all those bruises. He says that’s probably why she lost the baby, too, that it had nothing to do with him.”

  “Typical,” Ronnie said grimly. “Men like that rarely believe they’ve done anything wrong. I ran across a few when I was working construction. They’d get a few beers in them, lose their tempers and take it out on their wives or girlfriends just because they were handy. What I never got was why the women put up with it.”

  “For one reason or another, they don’t think they have a choice,” Carter said, citing some of the things he’d been told during his police academy training. “Usually there’s a lot of psychological abuse that goes along with the physical abuse. The women are isolated, convinced somehow it’s their fault, that if only they were more perfect, their men wouldn’t resort to hitting them.”

  Walter seemed to be squirming uncomfortably as Carter talked. Carter turned to him. “Everything okay?”

  “I’m just thinking how close I came to being one of those men,” he said very quietly. He turned to Ronnie. “You know what I was like when Sarah first left me. I never laid a hand on her and I’d like to believe I never would have, but I was filled with all this rage. And Lord knows I’d made her feel like she was to blame for all the misery in my life. Thank goodness, she was smart enough to leave when she did. I finally got a grip and faced the fact that most of the problems in my life were my own. I never want to be that domineering, controlling kind of man again.”

  “Well, you certainly won’t get away with it with Rory Sue,” Ronnie said, lightening the moment. “If that girl is anything at all like her mama, you’ll dance to her tune, or not at all.”

  Walter chuckled. “I’ve noticed that. We seem to be at odds most of the time over who’s in charge. Doesn’t matter if we’re talking pizza or sex.”

  “Now, those are the kind of discussions that can liven up a marriage,” Ronnie said. “Dana Sue and I have had our share.”

  As the laughter died down, Carter said, “Let’s get back to Paul Hammond. I’ll be notified the minute he walks through the gates at the prison. I’ll make sure there’s an active restraining order in place and that he knows about it. Not that it’ll be worth the paper it’s written on, if he wants to get his revenge. I keep hoping he’ll come to his senses and see that being free is more important than getting even, but I’m not counting on it.”

  Carter sighed just thinking about how many women were injured, even killed, despite having a restraining order on file. He was convinced it would be useless in this situation, too. If Paul was determined to make Raylene pay for what he perceived as her deliberate betrayal, he’d just do it.

  “Beyond the restraining order, we need to do everything we can to be sure Raylene’s never in that house alone and that somebody’s always nearby keeping an eye on things,” he added.

  “I’m in,” Cal said at once.

  “Me, too,” Ronnie said.

  “I’m already over there several times a week,” Walter added. “No reason for that to change. I’ll just hang out a little longer, make sure things are quiet.”

  Tom McDonald’s expression had turned thoughtful. “As you well know, Carter, we don’t have our own police force in place yet, but we do have a public-works crew. Let me see if I can coordinate with them and anyone else I can think of from the utility companies in the area to see if we can’t find a lot of work that needs to be done on that street. At least I might be able to add some extra eyes and ears for a couple of weeks when the time comes. We’ve got enough advance notice that I may be able to get this in place.”

  Carter was astonished by the show of support.

  “You all are amazing,” he said. “Thank you. You’re going above and beyond.”

  “Hey, we look out for our own around here,” Cal told him. “And, believe me, in one way or another the Sweet Magnolias require a lot of looking after.”

  Ronnie smirked. “Please tell me you have not ever said that to them. These women of ours think they can take perfectly good care of themselves.”

  “And they can,” Cal said hurriedly. “Doesn’t mean they don’t wander into trouble they can’t handle from time to time. I think they appreciate that they always have backup.”

  Erik shook his head ruefully. “Well, I for one have never heard Helen admit they need it. Remember her stalker? She thought she could take him down single-handedly. Almost got herself killed trying to prove it.”

  Carter shuddered. “Please tell her not to give Raylene any ideas.”

  “You really don’t want me telling Helen anything,” Erik said. “She’ll do exactly the opposite.”

  “That’s true,” Ronnie confirmed. “Helen’s a stubborn one.”

  Carter sat back and listened as these men talked with clear-eyed vision about the strong, ornery women in their lives. He’d never run across a group of men more obviously devoted to their spouses, flaws and all. For the first time in his life, he was envious of the solid marriages they had. With responsibility for Mandy and Carrie still very fresh, he thought it would be a while before he could risk having that kind of relationship with anyone. And yet here he was, already involved enough with Raylene that he felt this overwhelming need to make sure sh
e was safe.

  “You know,” he said eventually, “when I first heard people talk about the Sweet Magnolias and how deep their friendship ran, I was skeptical. Seemed to me there’s always some fussing and feuding when a bunch of women get together.”

  The other men groaned at the comment and Carter winced. “Okay, so it sounds sexist. The point is that I’m seeing them in a whole new light now. There’s a rare kind of loyalty at work, isn’t there? And it extends to you guys, too.”

  “It does,” Ronnie confirmed. “And now that you’re with Raylene, you’re a part of it.”

  Walter studied him with a narrowed gaze. “You are with Raylene, right? This isn’t just some macho need to protect her just because it’s what cops do? You really do care?” The genuine note of concern in his voice proved how deep his own caring for Raylene ran.

  “I care,” Carter confirmed. He was far more certain of that than he was of his readiness to act on his feelings…or Raylene’s ability to handle the kind of relationship he might someday want.

  The Fourth of July dawned with a hard rain that left the ground steaming the second it ended and the sun came out. By the time the parade started, the skies were blue and the streets had dried off, though there were still enough puddles that most of the kids in town had managed to get soaked along the sides of the parade route down Azalea Drive and onto Main Street.

  Carter stood on the town green with Carrie and Mandy to watch their first big event since coming to Serenity. Carter had heard people talking about how much the residents of Serenity loved their holidays, and they were about to see that firsthand.

  “This is so lame,” Carrie grumbled as a ragtag group of veterans marched by, some in uniform, some out, waving small American flags.

  “It’s not lame,” Mandy said indignantly. “Those men fought for our country.”

  Carrie flushed at the criticism. “I know that. If we were in Columbia, though, they’d all be wearing uniforms and marching in time to the music.”

  “Who cares what they’re wearing?” Mandy retorted. “Look how proud they are. And look at how everybody’s clapping for them. I think it’s awesome. Show some respect.”