Elusive Echoes (16 page)

****

Alone in her little apartment, Mel looked at
the calendar. She counted again, though she had no need. Even as
she had reassured Sean out by the back of his pickup, she'd already
guessed the truth.

It was
exactly
the right time of the month
to get pregnant.

"Okay," she said to her reflection in the
bathroom mirror. "Chances are nothing happened. Lots of people
trying to get pregnant have sex at the right time and it doesn't
work."

Fate wouldn't be so cruel as to allow
history to repeat itself. Right? Her own face mocked her from
inside the mirror.

****

Sean stopped his truck in front of the
house, still berating himself for not taking care with Mel. It was
late but a dim light shone through the living room window.

"Oh,
heck
no."

Sean pushed the pickup door closed with just
a whisper of sound. He eased his way into the shadows and around
the side of the house to the cottonwood tree. Peering up its
length, he thought about how some things never changed.

With a sigh, he jumped up and grabbed the
lowest branch.

****

Just as she was pulling the covers on her
bed back for the night, Mel's cell phone chimed. Sean's number
blinked insistently and she smiled at the warmth rushing through
her with the memories from earlier in the evening.

"Hey, lover," she murmured, flopping back
against her stack of pillows. "I miss you. I wish you could have
stayed."

His chuckle tickled her ear and inched along
her awareness, and she knew everything would be okay. No matter
what.

"I wish I could have stayed, too. But I've
got a problem child arriving tomorrow and I have to be here." He
waited a beat. "Colt's delivering your new ride tomorrow,
right?"

"Yep. Not that I mind spending the time with
you, but it'll be nice having my independence back."

He chuckled again, sending more happy little
zings of sensation to her heart. "I was just hoping you'd find your
way out here after you have wheels under you."

Mel twisted her hand and wiggled her
fingers, watching the flash of emerald and diamonds in the soft
glow of her bedside lamp with a smile. "Chances are pretty good
I'll find myself heading in your direction tomorrow."

"Good," he breathed into the phone. "Did I
tell you I love you?"

"You may have mentioned it once or twice."
Mel deliberately prolonged her hesitation, then gave him what they
both needed. "I love you, too, Sean."

****

"Anyone heading into town today?" Justin
entered through the dining room arch and crossed the kitchen. After
a quick glance at the oatmeal warming on the range, he went
directly for the fresh pot of coffee. "I need some nails for the
windows around here. Got critters sneaking in at all hours."

Sean kept his vision tunneled on his own
bowl of oatmeal, wishing Sandy would get off the health kick.

"That right? Critters?" Following on
Justin's heels, Ryan stirred the pot of oatmeal, made a face and
left the spoon standing straight up in the sticky mess. Casting a
cautious look behind him, he pulled out a frying pan, and moved to
the fridge, from which he withdrew a carton of eggs and a package
of Canadian bacon. "Are you sure they won't just chew their way in
like rats if you nail the windows shut?"

Sean rolled his eyes. "Someone have
something to say to me?"

Rubbing his eyes, Ricky entered the kitchen,
took one look at the congealing oatmeal, stopped, and eased
backward. "Ah, I'll just—" He sniffed and wrinkled his nose. "—get
something on the way to school." He shook his head sympathetically
at Ryan. "Sandy's changing Bethany's diaper. She said she'd be
right down."

Heaving a sigh, Ryan put his intended
breakfast back into the refrigerator. He turned back to Sean. "You
really okay?"

Sean held onto Ryan's gaze for a long time.
Finally, he nodded. "I'm good. Mel's coming out later. In case you
get the urge to grill her, she's good, too." He smiled. She'd been
very good.

"So she doesn't have a huge vampire bite on
her neck like that one?" Ryan gestured vaguely at Sean's
collar.

Hand sliding to his neck, Sean bent his head
to hide the half-smile. Oh, she undoubtedly had bites, plenty of
them, and not all on her neck, either. His body tingled into
primitive awareness as memories of the night before rushed to the
front of his thoughts.

Carrying his bowl to the sink, Sean rinsed
it thoroughly. Warm water coursed over his hands, and he thought of
Mel's heated responses to him, but he tucked that particular memory
back where it belonged. When he turned from the sink, Ricky was
staring at him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Sean's composure slipped a
little and he considered that condom. The one Sean hadn't been able
to make use of the night before. The one now in
Ricky's
wallet. He'd made good and
sure to replace it with several that morning, hoping it wasn't too
little, too late.

"You ate the oatmeal." The kid spoke slowly.
His eyes were wide with awe. "You hate oatmeal."

"Hey, sometimes I get hungry, kid."

His new brother shot him a look that said he
knew exactly what Sean had been hungry for. Ricky shook his
head.

Not at all comfortable, Sean grabbed his
denim jacket from the hook next to the door. "I'm expecting Devil's
Advocate in about an hour. I'll be in the stable."

"Devil's Advocate?" Justin added more sugar
to his coffee. "Is that a horse or a lawyer?"

Sean threw his father a sarcastic smile.
"Thoroughbred. Got hurt in a stable fire. He won't be racing again
but they're hoping he'll work out as a stud."

"Aw, jeez." Justin set his coffee cup on the
table and eyed the oatmeal on the stove again. "Racing's just the
waste of a good horse."

"Yeah well, this job's gonna pay the bills
for a long time."

"Ha! Know what else pays the bills?" asked
Justin. "Getting the cattle to market."

"Got the trucks coming out beginning of next
week," said Ryan.

Oh, thrills. His least favorite activity in
the world, shipping cattle to be slaughtered. Sean's smile felt a
little tight, but he sighed and nodded. "I'll clear my
calendar."

"There's Daddy." Sandy entered the kitchen,
one shoulder occupied by a bright-eyed Bethany struggling to focus
on her surroundings. "Need me to freshen up the oatmeal?"

"No!" Justin, Ryan, and Ricky answered at
the same time.

Hiding a snicker, Sean ducked outside,
pulling the door closed behind him.

****

The unopened letters in her hand bore
postmarks from different cities, all of them west of the
Mississippi River, most in the Southwest, though a couple were from
Kansas and the last had come from Iowa. Denny. He probably hadn't
written to her out of any sense of family ties. So what was he
after? She'd read his last note. Now she needed to find out what
he'd sent to her over the last several months.

A flutelike warble filtered through the
screen door as a meadowlark greeted the morning. It was a happy
sound, in obscene contrast to the task before her. Mel sat at her
tiny kitchen table, enjoying the cool autumn breeze that
occasionally fluttered the papers on the table. Her hands shook as
she tore open the oldest letter and slid out the single folded
sheet of white paper.

Chapter Ten

Mel needed a lawyer. She needed to talk to
DC, and probably needed the investigator Justin had suggested. She
had no clue where to start.

And she had to have another uncomfortable
conversation with Sean. He'd been understanding about her pregnancy
as a teenager, hadn't thought less of her. Would he understand that
she needed to find out what had happened to her daughter?

She looked at the letters on the table in
front of her. She'd been right. They were snakes. She was pretty
sure the things Denny had written would be considered evidence in
the investigation of the attorney in Oklahoma—if he'd actually been
involved in selling her baby, that is. The one thing that worried
her was that she had made no attempt to find her child before now,
hadn't reported the birth or that she'd been forced to give her
away. And according to her brother, that made it look like she'd
had a part in the selling of her baby.

Not a day had passed since her baby's birth
that Mel hadn't thought about her, worried and prayed for her. But
not until Bethany's birth had Mel thought she should go looking for
her own daughter and risk disrupting the child's life; a life Mel
had always tried to convince herself was happier without her in
it.

Her cell phone chirped and she answered it
without looking.

"It's been eight hours, thirty-seven
minutes, and . . . fourteen seconds since I kissed you goodnight.
Miss me yet?"

A grin slid across her face. "Justin, I
thought I told you not to call me at this number."

"Ha, ha." Sean's voice oozed with sarcasm.
"Not that I begrudge my dad some action—as long as I don't have to
hear about it—but not with my girl. So, do you want to try that
again or do you have something to tell me?"

Suddenly, she didn't want to tease anymore.
"I do miss you. A lot."

"What's wrong?" The laughter had gone from
his voice as well.

"I'm really just missing you." She blinked
back the tears. "Turns out I'm pretty attached to you."

Concern crept into his voice. "Are you sure
that's it? I can get Ry to wait for the horse I've got coming in
this morning."

"You just take care of your horse so you can
give me my alone time tonight."

She closed her phone. Would life ever be
uncomplicated for them?

The sharp rap at her screen door interrupted
her irritation, and Mel blinked in surprise at the man on the other
side.

"DC. Hi." She held the door open so he could
enter.

The sheriff looked uncomfortable. "Sorry for
the early hour, but I've got something you're going to want to
hear, and I'm guessing you'd rather hear this in private."

Mel pointed to the sofa, and followed him
over.

"There is no easy way to say this." DC
opened a small black notebook. "A speeding ticket was issued by
State Police to a Mr. Dennis DeVayne on US-189 out of Jackson last
Saturday afternoon."

Mel's heart dropped to somewhere in the
vicinity of her stomach, where it continued to beat rapidly. "So he
is in the area."

"He was around last Saturday at least." DC
closed his notebook and tapped it with his fingers. "He also ran a
red light in Jackson, got caught on a camera." He met her stare.
"Back in July."

Mel squeezed her eyes for a second, trying
to push back the uneasiness. "He wants something. He's been hanging
around."

DC rubbed his jaw. "Well, you know him and I
don't. I can't really say anything other than he appears to be a
lousy driver."

"I've been getting letters from him since
May but they've been from different cities, out of state."

DC spread his hands. "So he's on the move a
lot and keeps coming back here, or he mails them to an accomplice
to mail to you. Nick DeVayne maybe? I haven't found anything in the
system on him at all. Maybe he's being careful." DC gave her a
pointed look. "Or something might have happened to him. Do you want
me to look at the letters? If there's anything remotely
threatening, we can at least get it into the system and start
looking at Dennis."

Mel drew a long breath. "I . . . think I
should bring them to you later. I think—maybe I need a lawyer."

As she finished speaking, he was already
shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't hear what you just said.
Were you looking for me to recommend an attorney, Mel?"

Mel flashed a grin. "If you weren't married
already, I'd so go after you."

With a quick laugh, DC stood. "I'm guessing
your boyfriend would have something to say about that."

"Actually, we've had a development." She
held out her left hand.

DC's face split into a wide grin. "Well,
son-of-a-gun. The boy finally got around to asking.
Congratulations, Mel. You set a date?" He held up a hand like a
stop sign. "And I'm only asking because Rachel will have my head if
I come home with this news and no date."

It felt good to laugh. "We're thinking
January."

"It's been a long time coming." He stepped
back and examined her face, nodding with approval. "You look
happy."

She was happy. But she was also scared. Mel
bit her lip. "Can I ask a hypothetical question?"

"Sure." He bent to retrieve his hat from the
coffee table.

Mel took a deep breath then let the words
out in a rush. "If a fifteen-year-old girl has a baby and lets her
parents put her up for adoption . . . and it turns out the baby was
sold illegally by the parents, how much trouble can the girl get
in?"

DC straightened, leaving his hat on the
table. He regarded Mel in silence, a speculative look in his eyes.
Finally, he answered. "I'm not a lawyer. But hypothetically, I
think it would depend on how much the baby's mother benefited from
the sale, whether she was a willing participant. If she spoke up at
some point to protect the child. Legally, selling babies is
considered human trafficking."

Mel closed her eyes against a wave of
nausea. "Okay. Thanks."

"What's this about?" asked DC gently. "Are
you in some kind of trouble, Mel?"

"I'd be real appreciative of that lawyer's
name now."

The sheriff gave her a long, hard stare. His
battle between duty and friendship was easy to read. Mel met his
gaze with a level look, letting him see her fear without openly
admitting to anything.