Love Finds a Home (19 page)

“I think we can make room on our raft.” Quinn stepped forward. “Jeremy can race with me and Cody.”

Emma felt a tug on her arm and looked down at her son’s face. The tears were still there…but so was a look of determination.

“Did you hear Mr. O’Halloran?” Emma tried to keep her tone upbeat. She couldn’t let Jeremy see how upset she was by Jake’s absence. “He offered to let you race with them.”

“Thanks, but that’s okay.” Jeremy flashed a shy smile at Quinn even as he turned down the invitation.

“Two minutes!” the mayor bellowed.

The onlookers moved closer together on the beach, the noise subsiding into a hushed anticipation.

“Jeremy, you’re under thirteen. The rules state you have to have an adult with you,” Emma reminded him.

“I know. You can go with me.”

Emma’s knees buckled. “Me?”

“We can do it, Mom.” Jeremy sounded so confident that Emma almost believed him. “You watched me and Jake put the raft together a million times.”

Not even close, Emma thought wildly. It had been three or four at the most, every time they’d asked her to time them.

She balked, her gaze locking on the yellow flag flapping offshore. For some reason, it looked a lot farther away than it had the day Jake and Jeremy had tested it out. “Jeremy…maybe you should just withdraw from the race.”

Even as she spoke, Abby was adjusting the straps on a bright orange life jacket. Emma gasped when she felt Abby put it over her head and fasten the buckles around her waist.

“You know I don’t like the water,” she told her son in a terse whisper.

“You aren’t going to be in the water,” Jeremy said. “You’re going to be on the raft.”

“But what if we lose because of me?” A very real possibility, to Emma’s way of thinking.

“That’s okay.” Jeremy tugged her toward the Team Victory flag stuck in the sand. The one that matched their T-shirts. “You and Jake said that doesn’t matter. The important thing is to have fun, remember?”

Of course she remembered. But this wasn’t exactly her idea of fun!

Emma looked over her shoulder, desperate to spot a familiar figure striding toward them. Tried to convince herself that Jake had somehow lost track of the time…

“Come on, Mom. It’s going to start.”

“Number four, Team Victory,” the announcer called.

Heads swiveled in their direction.

“Team Victory,” he repeated.

“Okay.” She drew in a ragged breath. “Let’s do it.”

Jeremy raised his hand for a high five and Emma smacked her palm weakly against his.

The announcer read through the rules one more time. Emma’s gaze traveled over the pieces of the raft and she tried to remember the order in which Jeremy and Jake had constructed it.

Where is he, God?

“Three…two…one.” A whistle blew and Jeremy gave her a hammer.

Emma worked quickly, guided by memory and the occasional instruction from Jeremy. A few minutes later, she heard a splash as one of the rafts launched. Jeremy didn’t spare a moment to glance up to see who was ahead of them.

“Ready.” They pulled the raft across the narrow strip of sand. “You’re going to have to paddle, Mom.”

Emma summoned a smile. “It’ll be fun.”

Jeremy flashed a grin.

Even as Emma positioned herself on the raft, she looked around to see if Jake had arrived. Kate, Esther and Daniel stood next to Team Victory’s flag, waving their arms and shouting out encouragements.

The raft dipped to accommodate their combined weight and water flowed over the side. Emma gasped as it soaked through her clothing.

A collective groan rose from the group of onlookers as another raft capsized. A small rowboat immediately went to the contestants’ aid.

They were in first place.

As they drew closer to the flag, Emma put her paddle across her lap. Her fingers trembled as she fumbled to untie one of the bright red bandanas from the buoy.

“I’ve got it. Let’s go!” Emma shouted as soon as it was free.

As they turned the raft around, another one bumped up against them. The jolt pitched Jeremy to the side and Emma’s heart followed suit.

She made a grab for his arm but he righted himself. “I’m okay,” he gasped.

Paddling furiously, they passed several more rafts bobbing toward the flag. Some of the contestants lay on their stomachs, using their hands and feet to paddle.

As the cheering grew louder, it occurred to Emma that they were going to win.

“We have to tie the bandana to our flag,” Jeremy said as the underside of the raft scraped against the sand. “Otherwise we’re disqualified.”

“I’ll let you do the honors,” Emma said. “You’re faster than I am.” And once the adrenaline wore off, she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her upright!

They bailed off the side of the raft into the shallow water and dragged it onto shore. Jeremy sprinted ahead of her with the bandana.

Jeremy was knotting the bandana on their flagpole as she reached his side. But the small group of people clustered around him weren’t jumping up and cheering.

Emma’s heart dropped like a stone when she saw Quinn standing next to Officer Koenigs. The man’s ordinarily placid expression now reflected a grim resignation.

A sudden flashback weakened her knees.

She had seen that look before.

“First place goes to Team Victory,” the announcer said. “Jeremy and Emma Barlow. Come over here and get your trophy.”

“Jeremy—go get the trophy for us,” Emma said hoarsely.

Fortunately, her son hadn’t sensed anything amiss. With a grin, he loped over to the judge’s stand.

Abby came alongside Emma and gave her arm a bracing squeeze.

Emma moistened her lips. Her gaze cut from Quinn back to Phil Koenigs. “What happened? Is it…Jake?”

The officer nodded reluctantly. “About six o’clock, the sheriff’s department received a call that a vehicle in front of them was driving erratically. The caller followed the car until it turned off on a dead-end road about ten miles out of town.” Phil paused and cleared his throat. “By the time the officer arrived on the scene, the occupants of the vehicle had gone into a cabin. He saw stolen property in the backseat of the car and called for backup.”

“Why would Jake respond?” Emma stared at the older officer in confusion. Jake wasn’t a county deputy, nor would a police chief be expected to respond to a routine call.

Unless it wasn’t a routine call.

“Whoever was in the cabin shot at the officer,” Phil explained. “For the last few hours, the officers have been in a standoff with the two men inside. Several departments in the area responded. From what we know, they’re either drunk or strung out on drugs. I’ve been out of town the last few days visiting my daughter, but when I heard the call come over the radio, I drove back. I’d just stopped home to change into my uniform when Quinn tracked me down. He thought I should be the one to tell you what was going on so you’d hear the truth. Rumors are already starting to go around.”

Most of the words filtered through Emma’s mind.
The ones that stayed turned her heart cold.
Shot at the officer. Strung out on drugs.

“Thank you.” Emma could feel a strange numbness seeping into every pore. The rushing sound in her ears made it difficult to concentrate on what the officer was saying.

“I have to get back there now,” Phil told them. “Hopefully we’ll get this thing wrapped up soon.”

“We’ll be praying for you and the other officers,” Abby promised softly.

“I appreciate that, Miss Porter.” Phil looked at Emma, his eyes dark with regret. “I’m sorry, Emma. I wish I didn’t have to be the bearer of bad news.” Again.

The word hung in the air between them.

How could she have forgotten that this was what it had felt like? The uncertainty. The waiting. Living with the knowledge that at any moment, a situation could change. Your life could change.

“I appreciate you taking the time to come down and tell me.” Emma reached out and shook his hand.

Phil nodded curtly. “I’m sure Jake will get word to you as soon as he can.”

“Look at the trophy we won!” Jeremy skidded up, holding a small gold trophy. His bright gaze searched the faces around him. “Is Jake here yet?”

Spots danced in front of Emma’s eyes.

What was she going to tell her son?

“Not yet.” Daniel answered the question. “Something came up this morning and he had to go to work.”

“Work?” Jeremy’s brow furrowed. “He’s okay, though, isn’t he?”

Emma swallowed hard. “I haven’t heard from him
yet.” At least, Emma thought, she was telling the truth.

At the moment, she didn’t dare consider the alternative.

“What a way to spend a day.” Phil Koenigs leaned against the wall in the department break room, weariness etched in every line on his face. “Maureen will be glad when I call her and tell her to fire up the grill.”

Steve Patterson shed his uniform shirt and draped it over a chair before casting a guilty look at Jake. “Sorry, Chief. No disrespect, but I’m beginning to offend myself.”

“You were beginning to offend the rest of us, too,” Trip muttered.

Jake listened to the officers, knowing the banter was their way of releasing stress. The men had been strategically placed around the perimeter of the cabin, forced to remain nearly motionless in the hot sun for hours.

The call came in shortly after Jake’s alarm had gone off that morning. Shots fired at a cabin north of Mirror Lake. With several county deputies on vacation, local departments had responded to the scene to help out. He got the directions from dispatch and called Emma on the way to the scene, sick at the thought of having to explain that he might not be there for the raft race.

The call had gone right to her voice mail and Jake hadn’t had another opportunity to get in touch with her after that.

The standoff had lasted all day, until one of the young men had finally staggered out of the cabin shortly before dusk. He was worried about his friend, who’d been passed out for several hours.

He was taken into custody while the other man was
transported to the hospital. Jake had remained at the scene until an inventory of the stolen property was completed and the car impounded.

The sheriff had contacted Jake after the young man gave a statement, letting him know that both men had been involved in the rash of cabin burglaries.

Jake was relieved it had turned out the way it did. Bad guys in custody—no one injured.

But would Emma see it that way?

Chapter Twenty-One

“I’
m going to take Shadow for a walk, okay, Mom?” Jeremy appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“All right. I’m sure he’d like that.” Emma forced a smile. She didn’t blame her son for needing some time alone to think.

Once they had heard the news about Jake, neither one of them had felt like staying at the park for the rest of the celebration. Emma had done her best to hide her feelings from Jeremy, but he had been quiet on the drive back home, resistant to her attempts to draw him out.

She heard the front door close and laid her head on the table.

I don’t understand, God.

The silent cry burst out of a place deep within her.

They’d gone through this before. By letting Jake into their lives, she had put Jeremy in a situation where he could be hurt again. For six years, Emma had done everything within her power to protect her son…

She closed her eyes and drew in a ragged breath. Maybe that was the trouble. She had done everything in
her
power.

When I came to the end of my strength, I called out to God. He reached out His hand and He hasn’t let go.

Jake’s words. Said with absolute certainty.

Emma had always believed in God, but after Brian died, she had pulled away from Him, too.

She felt like that father in the story that Esther had told her. And she’d said that nothing in the heart was hidden from God, so Emma didn’t bother to hold anything back this time. Even as she stumbled through the prayer, peace settled over her, a kind of peace she had never experienced before.

I’m here, God. And I’m reaching out to You. I’m tired of doing all of this alone. I need You. I want to trust You. Esther said that we can be honest with You, so here it is. I’m scared to death but I’m going to trust You. I’m going to trust that You’re not going to let go of me, either.

“Mom?” Jeremy’s soft voice intruded on her prayer. “You’re crying.”

“I’m praying.” She sniffled.

“For Jake?”

“And for me.”

The look of hope on her son’s face was humbling. She drew him close.

“Do you mind if we pray together?” he asked.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Emma whispered.

They went into the living room and sat together on the couch, heads bowed, Shadow sprawled at their feet.

Jeremy’s simple but heartfelt prayer struck a chord in Emma’s heart.

“I know that Jake has to help people sometimes, God. That’s his job. But me and mom are worried about him, so please keep him safe. Amen.”

“Amen,” Emma echoed.

The sound of a car coming up the driveway pushed them both to their feet. Jeremy raced to the window and brushed the curtain aside.

He twisted around to look at her. “I think it’s Mr. Redstone.”

Daniel?

Emma peered out the window and saw not one car, but three, lined up in the driveway. Behind the Redstones’ pickup truck she recognized Abby’s red convertible. Kate sat in the driver’s seat of the vintage Thunderbird parked behind it.

By the time Emma reached the door, people were already filing in.

“We had all this leftover food,” Abby informed her cheerfully. “So we thought we’d drop some off.”

Daniel ruffled Jeremy’s hair. “And I had to see the dog that Mrs. Peake has been talking about. He’s a local celebrity.”

“Shadow,” Jeremy said.

Emma’s throat swelled. No matter what they claimed their reasons were, she knew why they’d come.

When Brian died, people had reached out to her and she’d backed away.

This time, she opened the door wide and let them in.