Sanctuary

by Brenda Novak

  Parker had finally gotten so frustrated he’d hung up.

  “Do you want to try calling Bonner again?” he asked after giving himself a few moments to cool off.

  Hope glanced at the phone, and Parker could tell that calling Bonner was the last thing she wanted to do. But she got up from the other bed and came over.

  “No one’s answering,” she said after a few minutes.

  “We’ll try again later.”

  “Maybe I should call my mother, see if she’s heard anything.”

  One of her younger sisters answered, judging by Hope’s end of the conversation. “Hi, LaRee, this is Hope. Do you remember me?…It’s been a long time, honey…I know. Yes, that was me in the park. Listen, have you seen Faith?…It’s really important that I find her…Are you sure?”

  She shot a look at Parker; something was obviously wrong.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “My father’s there. He wants to speak to me.”

  “Good. See if you can get him to help us.”

  “You don’t understand. I’m the last person he’d—Hello,” she said into the phone. “I don’t care whether you like it or not, we need to find Faith. Arvin’s lost his mind. You know he killed our cat…He said he was going to make us pay…No, I’m not lying. You can ask Bonner…I won’t leave Superior until I’ve talked to Faith, Jed. Only when she tells me she wants to stay will I go…Because that’s your name. I certainly don’t claim you as my father…No, you listen, I—”

  Parker gently nudged her. “Let me talk to him, okay?”

  Hope blinked up at him. “What?”

  “Let me talk to him.”

  Without saying anything further, she handed him the phone. He lifted it to his ear to hear a gruff male voice yelling something about what an ungrateful child she’d always been.

  “Excuse me,” Parker said, cutting him off.

  “What? Who is this?”

  Hope moved to the bed, sat cross-legged on top of it and stared at him. “My name is Parker Reynolds. I’m a friend of Hope’s, and we’re on our way to Superior.”

  “Well, you might as well turn around because there’s nothing here for either one of you,” came the answer.

  “I’m afraid we can’t do that,” Parker replied. “Faith’s about to have her baby. She could go into labor at any time. We need to find her and make sure both she and the baby are safe.”

  “We take care of our own around here. There’re plenty of women who can deliver that baby. You don’t need to involve yourself.”

  “I’m already involved…Jed, is it? And I’m going to stay involved until we find Faith. If you want us to leave, you can make it real simple. Have Faith call us, okay?”

  “I won’t have her do anything of the sort. I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but—”

  “I’ve told you who I am,” Parker interrupted. “Now you need to know one more thing. I won’t stand by and see you or your crazy brother abuse Hope or Faith any longer, do you understand? And if Arvin hurts Faith, there’s going to be some serious trouble. You need to tell him that. You need to tell him that he’s going to be sorry he ever met me.” He hung up because he wasn’t willing to give audience to the explosion of temper that met this announcement.

  “That probably calmed him right down,” Hope said, and for the first time since they’d left Enchantment, she seemed to be on the verge of smiling.

  Parker chuckled because there wasn’t anything else he could do and walked over to her. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked, sitting beside her and taking her hand. “You have me really worried, you know that?”

  She stared down at their entwined fingers. “You didn’t even want me to work at the center. Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Why are you helping me?”

  Parker ran the knuckles of his free hand down the side of her face, so tempted to tell her the truth that the words nearly formed on his tongue. But then he thought of Dalton’s boyish, endearing smile, pictured his son throwing a football or talking about some girl who sat next to him at school and got him in trouble because she talked too much.

  Dalton had become his life. He didn’t know what he’d do if Hope decided to fight him for her son. He couldn’t tell her. But he owed Dalton’s birth mother. He’d help her find her sister.

  “I need to check on Dalton,” he said, and moved back to the phone to avoid answering her.

  Bea picked up on the third ring. “Hi, Bea, how’s Dalton?” Parker had asked her to stay at the house until Dalton’s grandmother arrived. It hadn’t been easy talking Amanda Barlow into baby-sitting, but she’d finally agreed and was due to arrive that evening.

  “He’s fine,” she said. “I got him from Holt’s house just a few minutes ago, and he’s just now finishing his homework and having a snack. Amanda called to say she’ll be a little late tonight, but she’s still coming.”

  “Good.”

  “It’s your father,” he heard her tell Dalton.

  “I want to talk to him,” Dalton said.

  The phone changed hands. “Hi, Dad. Why haven’t you been answering your cell?”

  “My battery’s dead, and I left my charger in the other car. But I’ll buy a new one as soon as I can find a place that sells them, so you should be able to reach me by tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow! Where are you?”

  “I’m in Utah, and it looks like I’m going to be here for a few days. Will you be okay with Grandma taking care of you in the evenings?”

  “Yeah. She told Bea she’s bringing me a pitching machine. That’s why she’s gonna be late. She needs Grandpa to load it for her. And we’ll be going back to her place for the weekend.”

  “Do you mind?”

  “I guess not.”

  “How did school go today?”

  “I got an A on my spelling test.”

  “That’s great. Put your paper on the refrigerator so I can see it when I get home.”

  “Okay. So why are you in Utah?”

  “A friend of mine needed me to bring her here.”

  “Hope?”

  “That’s her.”

  “Oh, good. She’s with you, then? Can I talk to her?”

  Parker glanced over at Hope and sucked in a quick breath as he caught a glimpse of her bare back. “She’s busy right now,” he said, forcing himself to turn away while she finished changing her shirt.

  “Aw, Dad,” Dalton complained. “Come on. I just want to talk to her for a minute.”

  Parker sighed and waited for Hope to finish righting her sweatshirt. “He wants to talk to you,” he said, and passed her the phone.

  * * *

  MILDLY SURPRISED, Hope put the phone to her ear. Parker was so protective of Dalton, she couldn’t believe he was letting her speak to him.

  “Hi, Dalton,” she said somewhat hesitantly. “What’s up?”

  “I talked to Mrs. Holt today.”

  “You did? What happened?”

  “I told her I appreciate that she’s concerned about me, but I’m doing fine.”

  “Perfect. And? What did she say?”

  “She said she was glad to hear it, but that I still need a mother to help me smooth the rough edges.”

  “What rough edges?”

  “I don’t know. I guess watching too much TV and getting in the mud and all that.”

  “And your response was?”

  “My dad’s met someone, and I think he’s going to marry her soon, so you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

  Hope’s jaw sagged. “You didn’t.”

  “Yup. And being respectful worked great, just like you said,” he replied.

  “But who has your dad met?” she asked.

  “Are you kidding?” he laughed. “You!”

  * * *

  ONCE IN THE BATHROOM, Hope cast her jeans aside and pulled on the sweat bottoms she’d brought to sleep in, still feeling a little shell-shocked from her conversation with Dalton. Where could he have gotten the idea
that she and Parker might get married?

  “Hope?” Parker knocked on the door. “I’m going out for some ice. Would you like anything?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “You wouldn’t eat when we stopped. How about a cup of soup?”

  “I’m really not hungry.”

  “You should eat something.”

  “Okay,” she said. It was easier to give in than to fight him. “Just get me a sandwich or whatever’s easiest.”

  “Great. I’ll be right back.”

  She didn’t step out of the bathroom until she heard the door close behind him. Maybe if she fell asleep before he returned, he wouldn’t pose any more questions about her conversation with Dalton. He’d already asked her, three times, what Dalton had wanted to tell her. She’d glossed over their attempt to get Mrs. Rider to butt out of Dalton’s life and didn’t mention the part about her. But she knew Parker was still curious. She’d reacted too oddly there at the end.

  Unfortunately, she was too worried about Faith to go straight to bed. She thought maybe she should try calling Bonner one more time.

  She dialed his number and hoped Charity didn’t answer. What her sister had said hurt, especially now, when there was so much else going on in her life.

  The phone rang and rang without answer. Hope hung up and dialed again. After six rings, someone finally picked up.

  “Hello?” A male voice.

  “Bonner?”

  “Who is it?”

  Hope would have breathed a sigh of relief, except speaking to Bonner wasn’t a whole lot easier than talking to Charity. “It’s Hope.”

  No response.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  “What can I say? Your father said you’re with a man. I’m not going to lie and say that doesn’t bother me.”

  “How can it bother you?” she asked. “It’s been ten years.”

  “It could be fifty. It wouldn’t change anything.”

  “Well, he’s…he’s just a friend,” she said.

  “You’re sure about that?”

  Hope remembered Dalton saying, You! and shook her head. Could the world get any more confusing? “I’m sure. Listen, I really need to find Faith.”

  “You’re not the only one.”

  Hope stiffened in surprise. “What do you mean by that? Don’t you know where she is?”

  “No.”

  “You’d tell me if you did, wouldn’t you, Bonner?”

  “Hope, if I knew where she was, I’d go get her myself. Jed’s going crazy. Arvin disappeared three days ago, and we haven’t heard from him. We’ve been in meetings all day, trying to figure out what we should do.”

  “So you’re telling me Arvin hasn’t come back to Superior.”

  “That’s what I’m telling you.”

  “He will,” she said. He had to, or they might never find Faith….

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “Where else could he go?”

  “I don’t know,” Bonner said. He sounded tired and far less pompous than he had in her living room in St. George. “Everything’s in a bit of an uproar here. We’re handling the situation as best we can.”

  “Just do me one favor, okay?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Call me if you hear anything.”

  “Why would I do that?” he asked.

  She hesitated. “For old times’ sake?”

  She thought she heard him sigh. “Fine,” he said, and she gave him the number at the motel, as well as Parker’s cell-phone number.

  * * *

  “WHO WAS THAT?” Parker asked, letting himself in just as she was hanging up. When they’d checked in, he’d asked if she’d like a separate room, and Hope had told him she saw no point in renting two rooms when they were only going to be sleeping for a few hours. But her motivation hadn’t been nearly so practical. She’d wanted to keep Parker with her. She was still afraid to depend on his support, but she couldn’t deny that having him there made everything more bearable.

  “I finally got hold of Bonner,” she said.

  Parker stopped digging in the sack of takeout food he’d brought in with him. “Charity let you through?”

  “I don’t know if she was there. He answered the phone.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Faith and Arvin aren’t back in Superior yet.” She decided not to tell him that the entire church was frantic, wondering where Arvin had gone and what he was doing, and that even her father, the great Jedidiah Tanner, was worried. She was afraid Parker would insist they turn the whole thing over to the police and go home, and she couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t go back to Enchantment without Faith.

  “That’s good,” Parker said. “That gives you time to get some rest.”

  Hope nodded and accepted the burger he handed her, trying not to grimace. She stared at it for several seconds, wondering how she was going to get anything down when she was so tense. But Parker was watching her, so she unwrapped it and took a small bite—a bite she had to wash down with soda.

  “Was Bonner friendlier than your sister?” he asked, motioning her to take another bite.

  “He wasn’t unfriendly,” she said when she’d managed to swallow a second time.

  He gave her the sack. “That doesn’t tell me much.”

  Hope shrugged, glumly eyeing her burger, knowing from the smell of the sack that Parker had bought fries, too. “He didn’t say a whole lot. He agreed to call us if he hears anything, though.”

  “That’s big of him.”

  “I guess.” Hope took another bite of burger and commanded herself to chew, but the moment Parker turned his attention to the television, she quickly dumped her entire dinner in the garbage. She couldn’t eat any more, not without being sick.

  “You ready to—” He turned and saw that her burger was suddenly gone and frowned. “Hope, you have to eat. If you don’t keep up your strength, how will you help Faith?”

  “I ate all I could,” she said truthfully. How was she going to help Faith, anyway? All Hope could think about were the true-crime shows she’d seen on television—the ones where dead bodies were buried in the woods or thrown in a river. The victim was almost always a woman. And the murderer was almost always the woman’s husband.

  Damn Arvin! Why couldn’t he just leave them alone? He and the other Brethren had destroyed enough lives.

  If only Hope hadn’t left the cabin…Suddenly remembering the telephone number she’d found written on her baby’s empty file, she went back into the bathroom for her duffel bag, dug the scrap of folder out of her jeans and put it inside her purse. She didn’t want to lose it. Logic told her that chances were good it had nothing to do with Autumn.

  Emotion told her it might be her only link.

  * * *

  PARKER’S TIRED EYES burned as he sat on the foot of his bed and watched television, waiting for Hope to fall asleep on the other bed. He thought the noise of the TV might help them block out the sound of the ice machine a few doors down, and the folks in the room next door, who had two very noisy children. He needed something to distract him from the memory of seeing Hope’s bare back. He’d never considered a woman’s back as particularly erotic, but that one glimpse of Hope had had a powerful effect on him. Maybe it was because he remembered so clearly the feel of her smooth skin.

  “Aren’t you going to sleep?” Hope asked.

  Parker glanced back at her. She was still wearing the baggy sweatshirt she’d changed into, and her hair was mussed, but it only made her seem more accessible….

  He didn’t need accessible. He needed to find Faith and get home where he was safe with Dalton.

  “I’ll relax eventually,” he muttered.

  “Don’t you want to lie down?”

  “In a minute.”

  He returned his attention to the television, but she propped herself up on her pillow and gazed at him in the mirror. “I mean with me,” she said when she caught his eye.

  H
er words hit him like a strong right hook and left him reeling, unable to respond. So much of what was happening made no sense. Somehow he was in a motel room with the one woman he should avoid at all costs—and he wanted to make love to her more than he’d ever wanted to make love with anyone before.

  It had to be fate’s revenge for what he’d done.

  “I don’t think that would be a very good idea,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “You said you didn’t want to make love with me. I don’t think you should trust me to—”

  “I didn’t say that tonight,” she interrupted.

  He swallowed hard as he stared at her. The promising swell of her breasts beneath the soft cotton of her sweatshirt was almost too tempting to refuse. But he knew, if he made love to her, his conscience would eventually get the best of him and he’d end up telling her about Dalton. He wouldn’t be able to lie to her at that point—at least he wouldn’t be able to lie to her and continue living with himself.

  “You don’t really want something that intimate right now,” he said. “You’re frightened for Faith and you’re hurt and confused and—”

  “I know what I want,” she replied. “I want to feel alive again. I want to know there are still good things in my life. I’m tired of playing it safe and living in the background of other people’s worlds—like…like some sort of character actor with a part too small and insignificant to be fulfilling.”

  Her eyes seemed to ask him not to refuse her and the torture he saw in their depths was nearly his undoing. “Hope, I’m sorry….”

  “Forget it,” she said, and rolled over.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  PARKER TURNED DOWN the volume on the television and studied the lump in the other bed. Then he pulled off his shirt and socks, donned the basketball trunks he generally wore to bed during the spring and summer and tossed his clothes into the corner.

  The sound of his jeans hitting the floor made Hope turn. He motioned for her to move over.

  “Forget it. I’m fine,” she said.

  “Move.”