A Family Homecoming (11 page)

“It's already past eight,” she said when Sara picked out her favorite book for a bedtime story.

Sara pointed to her father.

“You want Daddy to read it?” Danielle glanced at Kyle who had paused in the doorway. “Would you mind?”

“Not at all,” he said with a smile. “Reading about—” he glanced at the title “—the adventures of a magic princess is my kind of fun.”

Sara handed Kyle the book, then took Danielle's hand and tugged her across the room. She pointed out where her mom was to sit on the side of the bed, then where her dad was to sit beside them on the floor.

Danielle eased her legs to the side a bit more when his shoulder grazed them. He started reading in his pleasant baritone, putting drama in the story and using different voices for the characters. He was better then she was at this.

She became lost in listening to his voice. Traces of memories floated through her mind like snapshots in an old photo album. Summer days and long walks. Winter nights and a warm body to cuddle up against. The crunch of leaves in the fall. Spring…the time she loved best. When all the world awakened, and flowers bloomed…and all the world fell in love.

Kyle shifted so that her legs became his backrest. She sat as if paralyzed for the remainder of the story. Heat and electricity fizzed up her thighs and into her abdomen. This physical thing was all that was between them now. That was all she felt—a physical attraction.

Finally the story was over. Danielle sighed in relief when Kyle moved. She tucked the covers around Sara, who promptly pulled her arms from under the covers and reached for her parents.

Giving a tug on their sleeves, Sara pulled Kyle and Danielle down so that they could kiss her on each cheek at the same time. It was something they had once done often.

Kyle's cheek brushed hers. She felt the abrasion of his beard, the warmth of his skin. Heat lightning arced from the spot all the way down her spine. She quickly kissed Sara, then pulled back from the electric contact.

Before she could leave, Sara folded her hands under her chin and silently said her prayers. Danielle was swamped with love for their brave little girl and hoped Sara wasn't praying for things that couldn't be.

“Night, love,” she whispered.

“Night, punkin,” Kyle said at the same time.

He retreated to the doorway while Danielle tucked the covers around Sara again. When she exited, he turned off the light and shut the door, then followed her to the family room.

“I thought I'd catch the news,” she said, taking a seat on the sofa, nervous about being alone with him after what had happened that morning. “I want to watch the weather.”

“Me, too. We don't need another storm if we're going to catch those guys. If it snows, they'll hole up until the roads are clear again.”

“Do you think they'll come back here?”

He moved from window to window, shutting the curtains so no one could see inside. “The burglary
could have been someone totally unrelated to the kidnappers.”

“I had assumed it was one and the same.” She rubbed her temples where a headache lurked. “I guess there could be more than one set of crooks around.” Her laughter sounded strange to her ears.

He stopped behind her. To her surprise, he started rubbing her neck. It was heavenly. He massaged the tension out of the muscles running to the back of her skull, then he rubbed her temples in circular strokes that varied from firm to soft. She closed her eyes.

“I'll give you just thirty minutes to stop that,” she managed to say, her voice only slightly shaky.

“Shh,” he murmured.

Oh, she shouldn't let him do this. Her resolution not to let him touch her again softened and melted away like a lollipop left out in the rain. She sighed.

He continued rubbing her neck and stroking her temples until she was nearly asleep. She hardly listened when the weather was discussed.

“No storms coming,” Kyle said at the end of the announcement. “Good.” He sounded pleased.

“The kidnappers will come out of hiding,” she murmured. “The sooner you catch them, the sooner you can leave.”

His hands tightened momentarily, then resumed their soft stroking. “I talked to Luke while you were in the shower earlier today. He thinks I'll be offered the field office here. They want me to run it.”

She stood and faced him. “Here? You'll be staying?”

Her voice was a croak of disbelief. She wasn't
ready for this information. She didn't know how she felt, how she should react…if she could bear it….

His laughter was sardonic. “I can see that doesn't exactly thrill you.” He leaned both hands on the back of the sofa. “I'm going to be part of Sara's life. Make up your mind to that.”

The question hung in the air—was he also going to be part of hers? “Sara will be thrilled. She loves you very much,” she finally said.

He stared into her eyes without speaking. Slowly the challenge in his softened and his expression changed. His gaze became lambent, sexy. The hunger of the morning returned, darkening his eyes to sooty black. Without looking away, he swung his leg over the sofa and slid down onto the cushions. His thigh pressed against her knee.

With one tug, he pulled her into his lap. She didn't protest. She knew she should. But she couldn't. The beat of her heart was too loud. She couldn't hear anything else.

“I've been thinking about your lips,” he murmured, his mouth poised above hers. “All day. Give me your magic kiss. Make me whole again.”

The words made no sense, but the intensity did. It matched that within herself. To her shame, she didn't fight him. Instead, she lifted her face to his and gave him the kiss he asked for.

It was bliss. It was foolish beyond measure. It was heaven. It was dying and being reborn.

She pushed her fingers into the dark strands of his hair and held him closer. She didn't question the rightness or fairness of the hunger, only that it was
there between them and it hurt more to resist than to give in.

At this moment.

“I'll think about tomorrow when it comes,” she mused aloud when the kiss ended.

“Don't think about it at all,” he advised. “It only makes you ache for all the promises that won't be filled.”

She snuggled her face into the groove of his neck and shoulder. “Have all your promises been lies?”

“Not all.” He kissed the side of her face, nuzzled along her neck and ear. “Whatever I said to you…it was never a lie. I've never lied to you.”

“But when you left…?” Her voice trailed off into a question.

“I had to. I had to,” he repeated.

She pressed her face against him and sighed. “Let's not talk about it. It doesn't help.”

Kyle felt the hot scalding tears against his neck. Dani was crying? “I never meant to bring you anything but happiness,” he tried to explain.

“Then how could you leave like that? Without a word. With no explanation. I thought you'd be back. I needed you. But you never came. Never.”

“Shh. I know.” He ran his hands over her back, into her hair. He tried to tell her with his touch how much he regretted hurting her. Maybe he had made a mistake in not allowing her to make the choice.

No, he knew her. She would have chosen to be with him, no matter the danger. She and Sara could have been killed. And that he couldn't allow.

“I can't go back. I can't change—”

She was out of his arms in a flash. “No, you can't.
Neither can I. Not that much. You just can't walk back into the house and into the life we had. It's gone.”

The pit of darkness stirred inside him. “I know,” he said. “I knew it when I walked out.”

He couldn't face the pain, the stark and dreadful hurt that lay exposed in her eyes. He hadn't realized it would hurt her so much. She had had all that love inside, that deep quiet well of peace, to draw from.

It was what he had called on at his blackest moments. He had used her strength to keep going in the fight for justice. “If I hadn't stuck it out, we would have never been safe,” he found himself explaining. “You and Sara and I…we would have always had to be on the run, always looking over our shoulders for the chance encounter with the one person who could identify me. I couldn't take that chance.”

She let out a shaky breath. “I know.” Her smile broke his heart. “I understand, truly I do. You had to go on with your work. It's important. I know that. A family only holds you back.” She left him with that thought.

Long after Danielle was in bed, and the house was quiet, he sat in the dark and digested her words. The one time his family had truly needed him, he hadn't been available.

He had been so intent on his mission that he had ignored all distractions, even Luke's summons to come to the office. He had succeeded in closing his case, but he had failed as a husband and a father.

D
anielle woke with a sneeze the next morning. Her head hurt and her throat was raw. Kyle took one look at her when she entered the kitchen and told her to sit down. He poured a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice and brought them to her at the table.

“I'll walk Sara to school this morning,” he said. “You stay in and nurse that cold. You got any echinacea?”

“No.”

“I'll pick up some in town.”

She gave him a baleful glance, then ignored him. He grinned in that maddening male way that said he had everything under control. To her surprise, he proceeded to get Sara up and ready for school, including fixing her breakfast and supervising brushing her teeth.

Sara pointed to her hair just before they headed out the door and shook her head.

“It looks fine,” Kyle told her. He'd parted it to one side and put in a barrette to hold it out of her eyes. The barrette was already slipping.

Sara shook her head firmly and pulled the unruly curls into a bunch at the back of her neck.

“She wants a ponytail,” Danielle explained.

“Is that what you want?” Kyle asked the youngster.

Sara nodded.

“Then you have to tell me.” He dropped to his haunches. “Tell me what you want, Sara. You can talk. Tell me.”

The room fell to instant silence.

“Kyle,” Danielle began.

He waved her to silence. “It's okay to talk, Sara. You don't have to be afraid, not of Mommy and Daddy.”

Danielle's mouth dried up as the tension mounted. Sara's eyes seemed to fill her face. She placed both hands over her mouth and shook her head, slowly, then faster.

“Sara—”

“Kyle, please don't force her—”

“I'm not going to force her to do anything,” he said softly. He leaned close to Sara. “You know we love you, don't you?”

The five-year-old hesitated, then nodded.

“You have nothing to fear. You're here at home. It's safe here. You're safe here, Sara.” He lifted her into his arms and rose. “I'll never let anyone hurt you. That's a promise, okay?”

She nodded again.

He looked over at Danielle. “That's a promise,” he repeated, his eyes locked with hers.

She wanted to tell him not to make promises he couldn't keep, but something held her silent. It seemed important to him that she believe him, too.

And she did. In as much as it was in his power to do so, he would keep them from harm. She didn't doubt that he would give his life for them. If only he would also share it with them.

When she nodded, he set Sara on the stool and left them for a moment. Danielle studied her daughter. The fear had gone, and the child seemed deep in thought. Danielle wished she could get some vibes the way Winona Cobbs did. Maybe she would know how to help Sara then.

Right now, all she felt was the pain of breathing. She sipped the coffee and let the heat soothe the raw flesh of her throat.

Kyle returned with a brush and hair band. “Okay, Operation Ponytail coming up.”

Sara grinned.

He brushed the fine blond hair into a bundle in his left hand, then worked the band on carefully. The pony fell into an untidy mess on the nape of Sara's neck.

“You have to hold it tight and get the band right down to her scalp.”

“I'm afraid I'll pull.”

“Sara's used to that. You have to keep it tight. Wrap the band around your fingers several times before you slip it on.”

He brushed the curls into a relatively smooth bun
dle again. After wrapping the band around his fingers, he tried to get it over the bunch before it fell apart.

“Well, I got half of it in,” he said, surveying the results with a critical eye.

Sara giggled. Danielle had to smile as he frowned and started over.

“You have to grab her hair right at the scalp with the fingers the band is on,” she suggested helpfully. She made little grabby motions with her fingers in a circle.

This time he looked seriously determined as he doubled, then tripled the hair band around the fingers of his right hand. He held the ponytail in place with his left hand, then grabbed the hair next to the scalp.

“Ha, just like wrestling a snake,” he declared. “You got to get it right behind the head.”

“Now pull the band over the hair with your left hand while you hold on for dear life with the right and pull it through,” Danielle directed.

“Got it!” He finished the chore while Sara winced a bit but remained silent.

He looked so proud that Danielle couldn't help but laugh. Sara checked her hair with both hands, then beamed at her dad. Their smiles were very much alike, father and daughter. Danielle had to look away as her heart acted up.

After the other two left, she took a shower, which unclogged her stuffy nose and made her feel better. She dressed, took two aspirin and two multiple vitamins, then lay on the sofa and watched clouds gather over the mountain peaks west of town.

Snow, she thought with a shiver. Her eyes drifted shut, and she dozed until she heard an engine in the
driveway. She recognized the truck and its driver. Kyle had returned.

Peace fell over her. She felt better having him home. She listened to his movements when he entered the house. She knew when he bent over her and tucked an afghan around her. She heard him build a fire in the grate and knew when he closed the curtains, all without opening her eyes.

She slept heavily after that.

The jarring ring of the telephone woke her up. She sat straight up and threw off the afghan, alarm running through her. Kyle answered the phone in the kitchen before she could reach for the one on the end table.

“Danielle?” he called. “You'd better pick up.”

Her hand trembled as she lifted the receiver. “Yes? Who is it?”

“It's Lynn. From school. The principal and I are in the office with Sara. She's crying—”

“What's wrong?” Danielle demanded. “What happened?”

“We don't know. The kids went out for their recess as usual. She was fine then. Jenny and Sara and two other girls jumped rope, then rested on a bench at the corner of the playground. The four of them got up to play on the gym. Jenny and Sara went to the water fountain. It was odd. She was fine one minute, then the next she was running and shaking and crying. I took her into the classroom. She went to her seat, put both hands over her mouth and sat there crying. She hasn't stopped.”

“Where was Rawlings during all this?” Kyle wanted to know.

“He had checked the grounds and everything out this morning, then he had to go to court on another case. He's back now. He's questioning some of the kids.”

“I'll be right there,” Danielle said. “Would you stay with Sara until I arrive? She trusts you.”

“Of course,” Lynn assured her. “She's really upset, almost hysterical.”

In the background, Danielle could hear the principal speaking in soothing tones. She couldn't hear Sara. “Okay. Tell her that Mommy is on the way.”

“And Daddy,” Kyle added grimly.

Danielle hung up and dashed to the kitchen. Kyle was already putting on his coat. She pulled on her boots and grabbed her coat. “Let's go.”

“Wait. I want to set the detectors.”

She hit the button to open the garage door, grabbed her purse and found the keys to her car while she ran down the slippery path. Before she could get inside, Kyle caught up with her.

“Get in the truck,” he ordered.

She jumped in without arguing. He took off, the back tires throwing a plume of slushy snow behind them. At the school, he parked near the door. Danielle jumped out and raced to the office, Kyle on her heels.

Danielle burst into the room without knocking. Lynn and the principal were kneeling on the floor beside Sara. Sara was sitting in a chair, her knees drawn up to her chest, her face hidden behind her hands. Her head flew up, terror on her tear-streaked face, when Danielle and Kyle entered.

Sara held out her arms. Sobs racked her small body. Her mouth opened. “M-mommy!” she cried.

Danielle caught her daughter to her and held her tight. “There, darling, there. It's okay. Mommy's here. And Daddy.”

Sara had a stranglehold on her neck. One arm loosened and she held it out to Kyle. “Daddy! Don't leave me!”

Kyle closed his arms around Sara and Danielle. He crushed both of them to him. “I won't leave you, Sara. Not ever. Promise.”

Danielle dropped her head back and stared up at him, tears in her eyes. “She spoke,” she said softly, not sure it wasn't her imagination. “Sara spoke.”

He nodded and blinked his eyes rapidly. “Let's see if we can sort this out,” he suggested after giving them another collective hug. “Maybe we should sit down.”

Danielle's legs were definitely shaky. She took the chair Sara had vacated and settled Sara on her lap. The other three adults arranged themselves in a semi-circle around them.

“Sara, something scared you,” Kyle began. “Can you tell me what it was?”

Sara shook her head and stared into her lap. She sniffed. Danielle dug a tissue from her pocket and held it while Sara blew her nose.

Kyle laid a reassuring hand on Sara's knee. “You have to talk, sweetheart. This is important.”

Danielle forced herself to borrow some of Kyle's infinite patience and sit still. She felt the tremors that coursed through Sara and hated the men who had done this to a child.

“I'm not supposed to,” Sara said at last.

“Who said you weren't supposed to talk?” Kyle asked in an interested tone.

Another silence. Finally Sara murmured, “The bad man.”

Kyle nodded solemnly. “He had no right to tell you that. Mommy and I are the only ones who can tell you never to talk. Your teacher can tell you to be quiet when you're here at school, but no one else can tell you to do things unless Mommy or I say it's okay first. No one, understand?”

Sara looked at Danielle who nodded.

“Okay.” She still didn't sound totally convinced.

“What did you see?” Kyle asked. “What scared you?”

Sara bit her lip. She sighed heavily as if giving up a worrisome burden. “It was the bad man. Dillon. He's mean and he has a snake tattoo. He said he'd come and…and hurt Mommy if I ever told about him and Willie.”

Dillon. Willie. Danielle's blood ran cold. Those were the men Shane and Rafe had mentioned. Dillon Pierce. Partner to Angela McBride's former husband. Willie Sparks, a local ne'er-do-well.

“I won't let anyone hurt Mommy,” Kyle promised.

“He said he'd kill her…and cut out my tongue, so I'd better not say anything,” Sara continued, her eyes wide.

Danielle saw the muscles contract in Kyle's arm and knew he was feeling the same as she was. She would have gladly strangled the man if he'd been at hand.

“He won't hurt anyone,” Kyle stated in a voice that inspired confidence.

Danielle felt the tension seep out of the child.

Sara glanced at Lynn. “You couldn't see him. He was hiding behind the corner of the building when I went to get a drink of water. He said I had to go with him. But I didn't,” she said proudly. “I went to the teacher like Mommy said I should if anything happened.”

“You did exactly right,” Danielle assured her.

“Absolutely,” Lynn echoed, her face grim.

The principal shook her head. “But we've been so careful. How could he have gotten on the property without being seen?”

“He looked like Mr. Rafe,” Sara explained. “He weared, I mean, wore the same clothes and a cap.”

“He was dressed as a custodian,” Kyle concluded, his face expressionless. “How many men are usually here?”

“Two. And both of them were painting in one of the temporary classrooms. I was talking to them about how long before we could use the room when the secretary buzzed me on my pager. Lynn was in the office with Sara when I arrived.”

Kyle stood. “It's easy enough to get coveralls and a cap and look official. The guy is getting bolder.”

Or more desperate, Danielle thought. He wanted the money he thought Angela had. And he needed to silence Sara so he couldn't be identified. But by who else, besides Sara.

“He has to be known to someone else around here,” she said aloud. “Otherwise why be so worried
about a five-year-old? They wouldn't likely meet on the street, especially during school hours.”

“Exactly,” Kyle said. “He needs to know if the police are already on to him.”

His eyes met hers, and she knew he was ahead of her. He had already figured that out.

“Are they?” Lynn asked.

Kyle nodded. “Dillon Pierce. We suspected him almost from the first. He had motive—a million dollars Angela's first husband embezzled and Dillon thinks Angela has. He followed her to Whitehorn and hooked up with Willie.”

“Willie was nice,” Sara said suddenly. “He got my favorite cereal for breakfast, and he played cards with me. Dillon was mean. He was always mad.”

Danielle hugged her. “Well, he'd better watch himself. He's in big trouble.”

“Are you going to put him in jail?” Sara asked her father.

His grin was sardonic. “You bet.”

“When you catch him, then he'll be sorry.”

“Right,” Kyle agreed. “He'll be very sorry.”

“I think there'll be a line of men wanting to speak to the man once he's caught,” Lynn said. “You and Sterling McCallum, Jenny's father. Shane. Rafe. Ross has mentioned what he'd like to do to men who would take a child.”

Ross Garrison, her very new husband, was an attorney. He'd been worried that Lynn might be the target the men were after for some reason, that they might have attacked the wrong woman just as they'd taken the wrong child. Having Sara in her class had put her in danger, too.

Lynn and Ross and Danielle had talked about the complications, along with Sterling and Jessica. Lynn had insisted she wasn't afraid to take Sara back into her classroom. Ross had agreed it was best for Sara and the right thing to do. He, too, kept an eye out for strangers hanging around the school or their house.