If You Ever Tell (23 page)

While Sierra began eating diligently, Teresa rushed to the front of the house and turned on the three bright lights lining the roof of the porch. The knoll leading from her house down to the field blazed to life. The sight of rain gleaming on grass wasn’t overly cheerful, she thought, but at least the land in front of her home bore no human presence—no presence in a long, black, hooded raincoat.

Teri took a deep breath and after making sure the front door was locked and dead-bolted, walked as steadily as she could to the phone. In a moment, Kent barked, “Hello,” in a sharp, angry voice.

“Kent,” Teresa managed. “Kent—”

“Teri? If Sharon is there, put her on the phone this instant,” he demanded.

His command took Teresa by surprise. For a moment, she went blank. Then her mind began to function again. “Sharon isn’t here. What’s wrong? Is Daniel all right?”

“No, Daniel is not all right.” Kent took a deep breath. “Sharon and I had a disagreement—hell, who am I kidding?—Sharon and I had a loud fight about her ruining Daniel’s riding lesson.”

“Kent, I shouldn’t have told you—”

“I would have known anyway. It turns out he’s cried off and on all day because he’s so disappointed about the lesson—he’s cried until he’s nauseated, and I am not going to have my son’s health endangered because his mother is smothering him under the guise of protecting him.”

“I’m so sorry,” Teri said automatically.

Kent rushed on. “Sharon’s turning him into a neurotic child. And to top it all off, she’s furious with you for telling me she snatched Daniel from his lesson after only half an hour.”

Teri was silent for a moment. She’d told herself all day she shouldn’t get further involved in this conflict between Kent and Sharon. She’d already made Sharon angry, and no matter what Kent said, Teri knew she’d been partially responsible for the obviously bad argument between her brother and sister-in-law. “Maybe you can solve this if you just talk about it instead of fighting,” Teresa said cautiously.

“Sharon won’t
talk
. She just
rants
!” Teri felt like telling Kent he, too, was doing a good job of ranting, but she knew now was not the time to point out flaws in his behavior. “She’s probably run home to Daddy,” Kent continued. “He’s the root of our problems. If Gabe hadn’t spoiled Sharon so badly her whole life, she wouldn’t think everything should go
her
way. She wouldn’t think I should have no say in the way Daniel is raised because she doesn’t think of him as
our
son but only as
her
son!”

“I think this time her behavior has more to do with me than with her being spoiled,” Teri finally ventured. “It’s true that she’s overprotective of Daniel, but frankly, I think she’s scared to death of having him in my presence because she’s never been sure I
didn’t
kill Dad and Wendy, and Roscoe Byrnes’s bombshell yesterday just made everything worse.”

Kent inhaled sharply. “That’s… ridiculous! Sharon would never think… that.”

The sharply inhaled breath, the hollow, fumbling tone of his words, told Teri she’d hit the nail on the head. Sharon doubted her and she’d voiced those doubts to Kent, who was now trying in his inept way to comfort his sister.

“Well, maybe it is ridiculous,” Teresa said for Kent’s sake.

“It is,” Kent answered promptly, a slight edge of relief in his voice. “Let’s just forget Sharon for now. When you called, Teri, you sounded upset, not that I let you get out more than my name before I started in on my problems. Tell me—what’s wrong at
your
home?”

“Well…” Teresa suddenly lost her nerve and regretted calling her brother because he was already wired and besides, he’d think she was crazy.

“Well
what
?” Kent’s voice softened. “I know you’re thinking you shouldn’t have called me at all, and certainly not after I’ve had a fight with Sharon. But Sharon and I fight a lot and we always get through it, so stop feeling guilty or responsible. And Teri, although you’re the strongest, most independent woman I’ve ever known, I’m still your big brother, so please do me the favor of turning to me now.”

“Okay. That’s sweet of you, Kent. But don’t interrupt me. You interrupt all the time and it makes me—”

“I don’t interrupt,” Kent stated.

“I rest my case.”

Kent sighed again. “You’re right,” he said in defeat. “I promise not to say a word until you tell me I can speak.”

“That will be a first,” Teri muttered dryly, “but here goes.”

Teresa told Kent that she’d gone out earlier, leaving out the part about visiting Mac at Club Rendezvous, then about turning onto the road leading to her home just as the wind before the storm hit. “The trees were thrashing and I was driving slowly. Suddenly someone ran in front of me—a tall, slender person wearing a black raincoat with a hood. I only caught a glimpse of the face before wind blew hair across it. But there was a moment when I could see clearly—as clearly as possible considering the weather,” Teresa said earnestly. “The person had a pale face, sort of sunken eyes—blue eyes, I’m fairly sure—and black hair, long black hair, thick and straight just like mine.”

Teri paused. “The person looked right at me, then dashed into the woods beside the road. I got out of the car, but I didn’t follow. I couldn’t make myself. But, Kent, I
know
who I saw tonight. It was our mother!”

Teresa braced herself. Kent was going to either state positively that she did not see their mother or mock her as being silly and fanciful. For some reason, she could not take her eyes off the second hand of the clock on her mantle. Thirty seconds had passed before Kent said quietly, “Teri, where did you say you saw Mom?”

She closed her eyes. Her brother’s voice had the quiet, careful tone people used with the mentally ill. “I said I saw her on the road to my house,” she returned levelly. “She ran in front of my car. I almost hit her.”

“And then she ran away.”

“Yes. She darted into the stand of trees beside the road.”

“And you didn’t follow her.”

“No.”

“Why not, if you were convinced this person was Mom?”

Kent’s question drew her up sharply. What could she say? That she was both afraid it was Marielle and afraid it wasn’t Marielle and she couldn’t bear the disappointment? No, Kent never dealt in subtleties or ambiguities. Teresa’s reason for not following the figure would not make sense to him. “It all happened extremely fast,” she said, trying to sound composed. “I was still nearly standing on the brake, afraid I’d hit the person, when I caught a glimpse of the face. The storm was coming. I got out of the car. I called, but she didn’t answer.…”

More silence. Then Kent said, “Teri, you know that if you really thought you saw Mom, you would have followed her no matter how surprised you were or how hard it was raining. Now either you didn’t see anybody—”

“I
did
!”

“Okay. Settle down.” Teri clenched her teeth. “You saw someone, but no matter what you’re telling yourself now, you instinctively knew it might not be Mom and you’d be putting yourself in danger by following… it… her… whatever.”

“Mom,” Teresa said stubbornly.

“No, Teri. It may have looked like Mom, although I don’t see how someone who looked like Mom would just happen to run in front of your car and then vanish, but it
wasn’t
Mom. Teenagers like to prowl around on these warm summer nights. Maybe your windshield was blurry. Or maybe you had Mom on your mind. Or… well… had you been drinking?”

His last question set Teresa seething. “I’d been drinking boilermakers all evening. I was drunk as a lord. I’m sure I hit at least four people on the way home. You’ll read all about it in the newspaper tomorrow.”

“Now, Teri,” Kent said with the exaggerated patience he’d use on Daniel, “don’t act like that. Don’t get mad.”

“I’ll get mad if I want to!” Teri immediately realized she did sound like a child. No wonder Kent was talking to her as if she were the same age as his son. “Look, someone ran in front of the car—someone wearing a long black hooded raincoat, someone tall and slender like Mom, someone with a face like Mom’s, someone with eyes like Mom’s, someone with long black hair like Mom’s. I saw all those details clearly in my headlights. Then the person dashed into the mass of trees. All I’m asking is what you think. You don’t have to get sarcastic or act like I’m crazy.”

“Teri, I don’t think you’re crazy, but when you called, you said you’d definitely seen Mom running in front of your car, not someone swathed in a black coat and hood you got a glimpse of before they ran away. And for the record, you did
not
ask me what I thought. You stated quite definitely that you saw Mom, whom we’ve not seen or heard from for over eight years, and neither have the police. Therefore, I don’t think you have the right to get angry with me because I’m skeptical.”

Everything Kent had said was true. And everything Kent had said sounded as if he were reading it from a book about how to handle a hysteric. Teresa was furious, but she’d be damned if she’d continue to argue with her brother, to let him talk to her as if she were completely unreliable or prone to wild fantasies.

“Never mind.” She was surprised by how cool her voice sounded, considering the thumping of her heart. “You’re right. It probably was just a teenager.” Just like the one who left Snowflake at my door last night, she thought, relieved that this morning she’d been more focused on calming down Sharon than telling her about someone leaving Celeste’s night-light on the porch, a morsel Sharon would have immediately reported to Kent when he reprimanded her for dragging Daniel away from his lesson. “I guess I just had my mind on Mom and I let my imagination run away with me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh yes. I feel much better now,” she lied.

“I’m not so sure about that, Teri. You don’t really sound—” Someone pounded on Teresa’s front door and she nearly screamed. “What’s
that
?” Kent demanded.

“The door…” Teresa’s stomach knotted and her hand clamped the phone receiver in a death grip. “Someone’s at the door.…”

“For God’s sake, it sounds like they’re trying to knock it down!” Kent shouted in her ear. “Is it those two guys you keep around there?”

“No… they wouldn’t…”

Suddenly she heard Mac MacKenzie’s familiar strong, deep tones that had always been like the sirens’ call to her, no matter what the occasion. “Teri, come to the door! Teri, it’s me—Mac.”

“Did I hear Mac MacKenzie?” Kent demanded.

“Teri, open the door! One of your horses is loose. It’s running like crazy.…”

One of the horses? Loose?
Running?
Teresa knew something had scared it, and abruptly all of her own fear vanished. “Something’s wrong with one of the horses, Kent,” she said in a rush. “I have to go.”

Kent was still shouting questions when she slammed the phone back in the handset. Sierra beat her to the door. Later, Teresa thought they must have made a frightening couple—the dog barking deafeningly and jumping, Teri wild-eyed and panting—as she unlocked the door and flung it open to find Mac drenched in rain, raising his fist to give the door one more whack. Teresa darted back just in time to miss his fist and he stumbled into the room.

“God, I almost hit you!” Mac boomed.

“The horse!” Teri yelled above Sierra’s excited barking. “Which horse is running loose?”

“I only got one good look. I think it’s solid black—”

“Eclipse!” Teresa gasped.

“It was running around those rinks or rings—whatever you call them. It acted wild.”

“She’s my horse.” Teri reached for her windbreaker hanging on the coat tree beside the door. “Was Gus or Josh chasing her?”

“Gus or Josh?”

“My hired hands.”

“No one was out there. Just the horse.” Teri pushed past Mac and stumbled on the rain-slicked porch. “You’re not going to try to catch that horse alone!” Mac exploded.

“No, I’m not. You’re going to help me.”

“Help you! I don’t know how to—”

Mac’s car sat in her driveway, the engine running, the headlights slicing through the darkness. “Drive down to the barn,” Teresa called to him as he followed her to the car. “Go slowly, but leave the lights on when you stop.”

Teresa’s gaze swept the fields spreading away from the barn. Lights shone in the windows of the Gibbses’ cottage, but the barn sat in complete darkness. She couldn’t understand it. If Eclipse had managed to get away from Gus or Josh, why weren’t they trying to retrieve her? And why would she have bolted away from either of them anyway? Eclipse was not docile, but she certainly wasn’t skittish, either. In fact, Teri could never remember the horse being frightened into an uncontrolled run—

Until tonight. Teri’s eyes widened when she saw the black Arabian tearing across the wet grass, veering dangerously close to the sides of the riding rings, tossing her ebony head in the slanting rain. “My God,” Teri groaned. “There she is, Mac. What on earth has gotten into her?”

“You’re asking me?” His question could have sounded flippant, but it didn’t. Suddenly Teri realized that although Mac didn’t share her knowledge or love of horses, he was almost as shaken as she was by the sight of the beautiful horse running in a panic—a panic that could end with a broken leg or worse if she crashed into a fence. “What should we do?”

“Stay calm,” Teresa said as they pulled slowly up to the barn. “Don’t yell at her to stop. I’m going into the barn to get a bridle.”

They ran to the wide barn doors, one of which stood partially open. Fear fluttered in Teri’s stomach. Neither Gus nor Josh would leave the doors open on a stormy night when the horses tended to be nervous. In fact, Teri knew that when storms lasted through the night, one of them usually slept in the barn, quieting any horse that became frightened or skittish. But not tonight. Tonight the barn was completely dark and the only sounds were those of horses stamping and snorting.

Teri looked at Mac. “I know you’re not crazy about horses. You can wait for me out here beneath the overhang.”

Mac looked at her and shook his head, sending raindrops flying from his wavy hair. “I’m not letting you into that dark barn by yourself.” Secretly, Teresa was relieved, although she’d never show it. Mac’s strong male presence made her feel stronger and calmer, even if he didn’t know a thing about how to corral a runaway horse. “Besides,” he continued. “I don’t dislike horses. I just don’t know anything about them.”