Just One Kiss: A heartwarming Christmas romance (Whisper Lake Book 4)

by Barbara Freethy

  Kelly had had the baby. At least, the child was alive. Hopefully everyone else was, too. But as they moved around the corner, he could see a large shadow in the window. The person was tall, and he had something in his hand.

  His heart stopped. It was a gun.

  He had to get inside—now!

  A hand came down on his shoulder, his father's soft voice in his ear. "Careful," he said. "We need a plan. We can't rush in."

  "We also can't wait here," he growled, but he knew his dad was right. "We need a distraction."

  His dad met his gaze. "I'm on it. We're not going to lose Hannah, son. We're not going to lose Hannah or her sister or that little baby."

  "No, we're not," he said, praying that they weren't already too late, because at this moment, he had no idea who was in that house or what condition they were in.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Hannah stared at Tom Washburn as he paced back and forth, his footsteps jerky, his anger palpable. But there was something else at play—uncertainty.

  Tom had been holding them at gunpoint for almost thirty minutes. At first, he'd wanted to grab Kelly and throw her into his car, but her condition and the arrival of the baby had thrown him. He also didn't seem to know what to do about her.

  He'd ordered Hannah to sit on the floor, her back against the wall, which she'd done without complaint, not wanting to upset what appeared to be a fragile mental condition.

  "Please, Tom, just go," Kelly pleaded again, her arms around her baby, who was fitfully crying. She'd begged him before to leave, but he seemed unmoved.

  "You're mine. I'm not leaving you or our baby," Tom replied.

  "She's not our baby. She's my baby," Kelly said.

  Hannah frowned, wishing Kelly would stop talking, because she didn't think reminding him that the baby was not his was the best approach. The man was clearly unhinged. He'd be more likely to hurt a child who didn't belong to him than one who did.

  "They both need to go to the hospital," she interjected quietly.

  "Shut up," he said, his evil gaze swinging to her.

  "Kelly lost a lot of blood. Look at her face," she continued. "Look at how white it is. If you love her, and it seems that you do, you don't want anything to happen to her, do you?"

  "She's fine."

  "She's not fine. She could be bleeding internally. I'm a nurse. I know these things."

  "You're lying."

  Kelly started to gasp. "I don't think she is, Tom. I feel like I'm dying."

  Hannah didn't know if her sister was playing along or if the pallor of her skin really was a sign that she was bleeding. "Can I check on her?"

  "Stay where you are," he ordered. "You're both lying." He moved back and forth in front of the window.

  She thought she heard something outside. Maybe the police had finally come. Or else it was just the wind. Perhaps the ambulance hadn't been able to get through the snow. Jake might have been stopped, too. Although, now she hoped he had been stopped, because if he got here first, he could walk right into a volatile situation. There was no doubt in her mind that Tom would shoot anyone who walked through that door.

  Her heart pounded against her chest as an image of Jake rushing to help them, only to be gunned down, entered her mind.

  Why had she texted him? Why had she listened to Kelly? She should have called the police first.

  She forced those regretful thoughts out of her head. She couldn't change what she'd done. She had to figure out a way to get that gun away from Tom.

  "Oh, God," Kelly gasped, suddenly using her free hand to clutch her stomach. "It hurts. It hurts so much." Her sister started to breathe so hard that Hannah scrambled to her feet.

  "I told you to sit," Tom ordered.

  "Then shoot me, because I'm going to help my sister." She got up and moved to the bed, putting her hand on Kelly's abdomen. She was looking for contractions, rigidity, but she felt nothing. Kelly had to be faking it. Now what? She needed to get Tom out of the room.

  "I need a knife," she said abruptly.

  Kelly's eyes widened in shock.

  "From the kitchen," she told Tom. "I need to puncture her abdomen. It's filling with air. She's going to die if I don't do that. Can I get it?"

  "No way. You're just going to run."

  "Then you get it. We're not going anywhere. Unless you want my sister to die. Is that it? I thought you loved her."

  "I do love her. She's mine. The baby is mine. We're going to be a family," Tom said, his words becoming more frantic and desperate.

  "Then help me save her life. Please." She had no idea what she was going to do with the knife if he actually brought her one, but if she could get him out of the room, she could lock the door and maybe buy them a little more time, although the flimsy lock on the door probably wouldn’t hold him back long. Her mind raced as she calculated how long it would take her to shove the dresser in front of the door. He could shoot his way through the wood.

  This could be the worst plan she'd ever come up with.

  Kelly screamed in agony, even as her hand stroked Violet's back. The baby began to cry, too.

  Hannah felt like joining them. She needed to release the tension and the fear, but she had to stay strong. "We're going to lose her," she said. "Help me, Tom."

  "You're lying," he said, shaking his head. "You're not going to cut up your sister. She's faking. She's not dying."

  Her ruse was not working, and a sense of overwhelming despair came over her.

  What was she going to do now?

  And then she heard a loud bang.

  Tom's gaze flew to the door. Another bang came from the front of the house, louder this time.

  Her heart sang with relief, as Tom raced out of the room. She ran to the bedroom door just in time to see the front door of the cabin swing open. Tom took several wild shots.

  She screamed, terrified that it was Jake that Tom was shooting at.

  But then out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jake come out of the kitchen. He launched himself on Tom's back, taking him down to the floor. The gun flew out of Tom's hand. She closed the bedroom door and then raced forward to grab the gun. Once she had it in her hand, she didn't know what to do. The two men were fighting for their lives, knocking over furniture, landing punishing blows, but they were so tangled up together, she couldn't pull the trigger and accidentally shoot Jake.

  Tom had at least fifty pounds on Jake, but Jake was punching with a ferocity she'd never seen. Still, she didn't know if he could take Tom down. She wanted to help. She had to do something. She had to save Jake and her sister and her niece and herself.

  As Tom shoved Jake off him with almost superhuman strength and lunged to his feet, she had her chance. She fired a single shot, hitting Tom square in the chest.

  Tom's eyes widened in shock as he fell to his knees and then onto his back.

  Another man came through the door, and she turned her gun in his direction.

  Davis McKenna quickly put up a hand. "It's me, Hannah."

  She blew out a breath, her hand still shaking. She needed to let go of the gun, but she couldn't get her fingers to move. And then Jake was there.

  "Give me the gun, Hannah," he said quietly.

  She met his gaze and his eyes reassured her. She let him take the gun, relieved when it was out of her grip. She was reeling. Blood was racing through her veins and her heart was beating way too fast.

  As Davis checked on Tom, she said, "Is he dead?"

  Davis looked back at her. "Yes. He's dead."

  "I killed him." She felt numb with shock. She should feel bad that she'd killed a man. She'd spent her entire career trying to save lives, not take them. But she couldn't get to that expected feeling of remorse. She kept remembering Tom's madness. He'd killed Kelly's boyfriend, and he'd threatened to kill all of them.

  "Where's your sister?" Jake asked. He put the gun on the nearby mantel and took his hands in hers.

  "She's in the bedroom. I should get to her."

&nbs
p; "I'll check on her," Davis said. "Take a minute, Hannah. Get your feet back under you."

  As Davis left, Jake gave her a searching look. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?"

  "No. But if you hadn't come, he would have killed me, maybe Kelly and Violet, too." She drew in a much-needed breath. "But you came—just in time."

  "I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here. We ran into a few problems on the way." He looked back at the man on the ground. "I assume he was alone. Is there anyone else we have to worry about?"

  "No. He was alone. He was crazy, Jake."

  "I'm so happy he didn't hurt you. I heard a woman scream, and my heart stopped."

  "That was Kelly. She was faking pain. We were trying to get him to go into the other room."

  "Thank God." He put his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze. "I was so worried about you, Hannah."

  She savored the comfort of his arms for a long minute, wanting to stay there forever, but the sound of Violet's cries brought her head back up. "Want to meet my niece?" she asked.

  He smiled. "I do."

  They walked into the bedroom where Davis was examining Kelly and the baby.

  "You did well, Hannah," Davis said approvingly. "Everyone looks good."

  "Hannah was amazing," Kelly said, meeting her gaze. "Although, for a minute there, I was scared you were going to cut me open."

  "I was just trying to get him out of the room."

  "I know. I tried to play along."

  "You were almost too good. I started thinking you might really be in pain."

  "I feel wonderful now. Dr. McKenna said Tom is dead." Her sister's gaze sought hers for confirmation.

  "Yes, he is. He can't hurt you again, Kelly. You and Violet and Brett are safe."

  Her sister's eyes watered, and tears slid down her cheeks. "Because of all of you. I didn't know what was going on when I heard the shots, but I just had faith that the next person to walk through the door would be someone who wanted to help me." She looked at Davis. "I couldn't believe it was you, Dr. McKenna."

  Now that Hannah thought about it, she couldn't quite believe it, either. She looked at Jake. "How did you and your father end up coming here together? You never do anything together."

  She saw Jake and his father exchange a look, and then Jake said, "That might change. It turns out we're a better team than I thought."

  "Jake has a lot to tell you," Davis added.

  She didn't know what that meant, but seeing that the anger was gone between them, she felt very hopeful that they might be finding their way back to the relationship they'd once had.

  "I want to hear it all," she said. "But we need to get Kelly to the hospital."

  "That won't be happening for a while," Jake said. "A tree fell across the road and the bridge is down."

  "Are you serious? How did you get here then?"

  "Jake found a way," his dad put in. "He's very resourceful."

  "So are you," he told his father. "You drew Tom's attention without managing to get yourself shot."

  "You needed a distraction; I gave you one."

  "So, what are we going to do?" Kelly asked.

  "We'll stay here until help comes," Davis told her. "Don't worry, Kelly. I will take care of you and your baby until we can get you to the hospital."

  "You're being so nice to me, Dr. McKenna—all of you are," Kelly said, her eyes tearing up once more. "I don't deserve it. I abandoned my family years ago. And then I came back and left my son for Hannah to take care of." Kelly's gaze sought hers. "I thought you might hate me, Hannah."

  "I could never hate you. You're my sister."

  "But I left you behind."

  "It hurt," she admitted. "But we were all in survival mode after Dad died."

  "I made so many mistakes."

  "We've all made mistakes," Davis interjected. "It's what you do after that, that matters."

  "He's right," she told her sister. "We all make mistakes, and we hope that we can do better and maybe eventually someone forgives us." She looked at Jake. "Or we forgive them."

  His eyes darkened. "You said that might take a miracle."

  "Well, I think we got one. And as you told me a few days ago, it is the season for miracles. We even have a newborn." She smiled, suddenly realizing the best part of all. "And this year I also get to help Santa Claus deliver one little boy his only wish—to get his mother back for Christmas."

  "Is that what Brett wanted?" Kelly asked, her eyes tearing up once more.

  "Yes. He adores you."

  "He's my heart. It was hard to leave him, but I had to get him to safety."

  "You did what you needed to do," she told her sister. While she still had mixed feelings about Kelly's disappearance so many years ago, she did believe her sister had done the right thing when she'd left Brett in her care.

  "I thought about you a lot over the years, Hannah," Kelly said. "I've been following you online. You don't post much, but sometimes your friends do, and you're in the picture."

  "Following my life online would never tell you the real story," she said. "There's a lot you missed, Kelly…a lot with Mom."

  "What happened with Mom?"

  At that question, she realized that Kelly hadn't known how bad their mother's drinking had gotten. "Too much to get into now," she murmured. "But people tried to find you over the years, and they never could. I guess you changed your name after you got married."

  "There's a lot you don't know, too," Kelly said with a heavy sigh.

  Seeing how exhausted her sister was, Hannah knew this wasn't the time to fill each other in. "We'll talk later. You should rest."

  "I'll get my bag," Davis said. "I left it on the porch."

  As they left the bedroom, her gaze went to Tom Washburn, who was lying in a pool of his own blood. Jake picked up the heavy afghan on the back of the couch and covered Tom's body. "Thank you," she said, relieved not to have to look at his face.

  Davis collected his medical bag, then went back into the bedroom.

  Needing some air, she stepped out onto the porch, happy to see that the storm had abated. It was a little past five, but it was no longer snowing, and dusky light was breaking through the thinning clouds. She was less happy to see that the road leading to the cabins was piled high with snow. It could be a while before anyone could get to them. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket. "I still don't have a signal."

  "Neither do I," Jake said, taking a look at his phone. "But I spoke to Adam on my way up here. I told him everything you told me. He was in Black Falls at that time, but he said he would send Brodie here and an ambulance."

  "That was a long time ago, wasn't it?"

  "Yes. They must not be able to get through."

  "Can they do what you and your father did?"

  "That would be dicey. We used part of the tree that knocked out my truck as a bridge. I'm sure Brodie could get across, but there's no way Kelly and Violet could make it." He paused, and then stepped forward, putting his arms around her.

  Her heart sped up once more as she gazed into his warm brown eyes. "I was worried about you, Jake. I was afraid you'd come in and Tom would hurt you before you even knew he was there. I shouldn't have texted you. I shouldn't have involved you."

  "Are you serious? Of course you should have texted me. And you gave me enough information to be cautious in my approach."

  "I'm so glad you're all right, although your face is kind of bruised."

  "I'm pissed he landed even one punch. But you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine." He gave her a searching smile. "Did you mean what you said in there—about forgiveness?"

  She smiled back at him, certain in her answer. "Yes. I forgive you, Jake."

  "Really? You're not just high on adrenaline and relief?"

  "No. I forgave you a couple of days ago."

  "You could have let me in on that."

  "I did have sex with you. That should have been a clue."

  "It gave me hope, but afterward…You gav
e me your body, but not your heart, and I want both."

  "I want both, too. That's why I pulled back. Because I didn't feel like you were a hundred percent in."

  "I am in. I've wanted to tell you everything for a long time. And now I can."

  "Why?" She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Why can you tell me now?"

  "Because I finally confronted my father, and I told him that I was going to be completely honest with you."

  Her gut twisted at his words. Deep down, she'd had a bad feeling that whatever Jake was holding back had to do with his dad, and now she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it. "If it has to do with your father, then maybe you shouldn't tell me."

  His gaze narrowed. "You wanted this, Hannah. You told me it was a dealbreaker."

  "I thought I needed it, but I don't think I do. You've earned my trust a thousand times over the past few days, Jake. I'm ready to move forward. I can let the past go."

  "I'm ready to move forward, too, and to let the past go, but I want to tell you, Hannah, at least part of it. Will you listen?"

  "Of course."

  "The afternoon of the prom, I found out something about my father. It shook me up so much, I got drunk, and you know the rest. I promised him I would never tell anyone what happened, because it would hurt my family, and I couldn't do that. Paul was just starting to get his life back. My mom could finally stop worrying about losing my brother. And you…" He shook his head, his eyes filled with regret. "I really wanted to tell you, Hannah, but I couldn't. I knew that if I saw you that night, I would tell you. And I knew that if I spent any time around you after that, I would tell you. I had to let you hate me. I had to let you think that I just got scared about how serious we were. You said my excuses kept changing, because I couldn't find a way to make it better without hurting you more. It just about killed me. As soon as I could leave town I did, and I stayed away, so I wouldn't be tempted to tell you or anyone else."

  There was so much raw honesty in his eyes that she knew he was telling her the truth. She could also read between the lines of his story, and she felt a rushing wave of disappointment toward Davis, not as much for whatever he'd done—although she could guess—but for the promise he'd asked his son to keep. "I'm sorry, Jake."