Rory (12 page)

“You’re as stupid as you look
kid.”

“How dare you talk to her like
that,” said Cass taking a step toward him. He grabbed her, taking her by
surprise and then flung her backward, her butt stinging when she hit the icy
pavement.

“You have one day or I’ll be
coming back, and not just for you but your stupid friend here too.”

He turned and walked away. Cass
burst into tears while still sitting on the ground.

“Aunt Cass, don’t cry because
he’s not a nice man.”

Emily sat next to her and flung
her arms around her neck.

“Let’s go tell Uncle Shane that
the man pushed you and made you cry.”

“No, Emily, promise me you won’t
tell Shane or your dad, and especially not
your
Uncle
Rory about this?”

“Why, he’s a mean man. Uncle
Shane will put him in his jail.”

“I know, but you have to promise
me.”

“Okay, I promise.”

“Good, now let’s get your money
picked up and let’s go home.”

Cass’s leg hurt her again. It
hadn’t given her any trouble for the last month or so, but now she felt the
need to hobble around. She’d brought trouble to the Malone family yet again.
They’d paid the ultimate price before, and she couldn’t let anything happen to
Emily, so she knew that she’d have to leave town. Lead the man away from Timber
Creek and back to Tacoma.

****

Rory stepped into the kitchen and
looked around. Something was different. The place even smelled different. Where
was Cass?

He kicked off his boots and
walked along the hallway. He opened back the door to the bedroom and just as he’d
suspected, it was empty. Her bag and suitcase was gone, not a shred of evidence
she’d ever been staying with him. He picked up his phone and called her number.
It went straight to voicemail. He didn’t bother leaving a message.

Had she planned to do this? Just
leave without telling him so he wouldn’t make her change her mind?
 
She’d been with Emily most of the day, or so
he’d thought. Maybe she was at Flynn’s place but why take all her belongings?

Rory grabbed his hat off the peg
in the hallway and went outside, got in his truck and began heading down the
road to Flynn’s house. When he arrived there, Flynn answered the door.

“Hi, you want to come in?”

Rory stepped inside and followed
him through to the living room where his new nephew was fast asleep in
Natalie’s arm.

Flynn was right; Sean was going
to be a little heartbreaker. He had the Malone dark hair and even the telltale
cleft in the chin.

“I don’t suppose Cass’s here with
you?” he asked.

“No, she dropped Emily back home
about three hours ago and said she was going straight to your place,” said
Flynn.

“Anything wrong?” asked Natalie.

Rory sat down and took off his
hat and set it on his lap.

“I just got home and all her
stuff’s gone. She’s gone.”

“But she would have told us,” said
Natalie.

“Let’s find out if she said
anything to Emily,” said Flynn. “Emily, you want to come and talk to Uncle Rory?”

His niece was in the living room
within minutes.

“Did Cass say anything about
leaving Timber Creek?” asked Natalie.

Emily shook her head.
 
“The man made her cry.”

“What man?” asked
Rory.

“I’m not supposed to tell you or
Dad, and I can’t tell Uncle Shane.”

“Tell us what, honey?” asked
Flynn.

She shook her head. “I made a
promise.”

“Emily, you have to tell us,”
said Natalie.

She shook her head continually.

“Emily, will you stop that and
tell us what happened when you were with Cass,” said Flynn.

“I promised Cass and she’s my
friend so I can’t break it, or she won’t be my friend anymore.”

“That’s okay honey because if
she’s in trouble you’ll be helping her,” said Rory.

“Really?” asked Emily.

Rory nodded.

“The man called me stupid when I
tried to give him the money, and he pushed Cass to the ground.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about
this when you got home?” asked Flynn.

Emily burst into tears and ran
over to Natalie and put her head on her shoulder. “He was a nasty man. I didn’t
like him.”

“It’s okay honey. You’ve told us
now, and Rory and your Dad can help Cass,” said Natalie.

Flynn pulled Rory out of the
room. “You know anything about a man and money?” he asked him.

“I think it’s the guy from Tacoma.
I thought all along that her accident wasn’t just a hit and run. She was in
some trouble, and shit, what if he’s hurt her?”

Rory took a deep breath.

“You think she might have gone
back to Tacoma or what?” asked Flynn.

“I don’t know but let’s get Shane
in on this and start looking for her or at least this man Emily told us about.”

****

Cass knew she’d done a dumb
thing. She should have left Timber Creek, but she just couldn’t. This was home.
Rory had been right. She couldn’t keep running from the past…from the present
either. She should have gone back to Tacoma, but instead she’d booked into a
motel under a false name.

It was getting dark, and she made
sure the chain was on the door. She went into the bathroom and splashed her
face while glancing at the pregnancy test she hadn’t had the courage to use.

She took a deep breath and
decided she needed to go to sleep. Things always looked better in the morning light.
She’d wake up and figure out what to do and where to go so no one got hurt.

****

Rory paced up and down in Shane’s
office as his brother sat on the phone calling around to see if anyone had seen
a woman fitting Cass’s description.

He put the phone down. “We might have
a lead. A woman in her mid-twenties checked into Timber Creek Motel around six
under the name Julie Smith.”

“You think it’s Cass?”

“Not the most original
name,
and the description is a perfect match. I’ll go check
it out for you.”

“No, I’ll do it,” said Rory
standing.

“Rory, this is police business
now.”

“I said I’ll do it.”

“Then you’ll come along with me
and let me handle it okay?”

Rory nodded.

****

Cass put her head under the
covers. Someone was messing with the lock of her door. One more turn and they’d
probably be inside the room. She reached over for her cell phone and was about
to call 911 when a hand slapped it away.

He snapped on the light and stood
over the bed looking down at her.

“You really are a pathetic young
woman, aren’t you Perkins.”

“I’ll get you the money but please
just leave town and don’t hurt anyone.”

“Too late for
that.”

Cass’s heart beat faster when she
saw him pull out a gun. “Now get up because you’re going for a little walk.”

He was going to kill her.

She slowly got out of bed and
thought only of Rory and the thought of never seeing him again. She loved him.
In all honesty the first time she’d seen him her head had skipped a beat, but
he never showed her any interest. Ryan had, and so their fate was sealed. She
closed her eyes realizing that she knew that all along and only now, close to
possibly being killed, she’d finally admitted it to herself. She’d never really
told Rory how much she loved him. And now those words would never pass over her
lips.

A tear slid down her cheek.
 
She grabbed her coat and felt the gun being
poked into her back.

“Walk outside and to the blue
truck and don’t try anything.”

“I’m not going to.” She’d totally
accepted that this too was her fate.

Just as she got outside she saw
Shane and Rory heading their way. The man lifted his gun up and fired a shot,
hitting Shane in the arm. He went down, and Cass screamed. The next target she
knew would be Rory, and she couldn’t let him hurt him. She thought back to the
night when Ryan had dashed into the burning house to try and get her father to
safety. She’d stood there watching and waiting not knowing that neither of them
would exit the home because a beam had fallen and trapped them.

She sound of the man about to
fire the gun again snapped her back to the present. Rory would try and save her,
but this time a Perkins would save a Malone. As the man fired she dived in
front of Rory, the bullet hit her and all she remembered was hitting the
ground.

Chapter Fifteen

Rory paced up and down the
corridor in the hospital. His mother pulled at the hem of his jacket.

“Will you sit down because you’re
going to wear the pattern off the carpet,” she said.

Lacey came toward them, and Rory
swallowed.

“Shane’s going to be fine. The
bullet just nicked his arm and went clean through.”

Rory threw his arms around her
and cried into her shoulder.

“Any news about Cass?” asked
Lacey.

Rory shook his head.

“Will you tell his guy to sit
down and relax,” said his mom.

“I can’t. I just can’t,” said
Rory.

Cass had tried to save his life.
She was a hero. Or was it a heroine? Either way she’d shown what a brave strong
person she was, and if anything happened to her he’d never be able to live with
himself.

His mother pulled on his jacket
again when they saw a doctor heading their way.

“Mr. Malone?”

Rory nodded.

“She’s going to be fine. The
bullet hit her shoulder, but we got it and there’s no permanent damage.”

“Can I see her?”

He nodded.
“As
soon as she comes out of recovery.
She mentioned before we put her under
that there was something she needed to talk to you about.”

Probably that she was leaving
Timber Creek for good, and that was going to break his heart.

****

Cass opened her eyes to see Rory
sitting by her bed. She hadn’t died. Or maybe this was heaven.

“Hi honey, how are you feeling?”

“Sleepy.”

“You want something for the
pain?”

She shook her head. “I don’t want
too many drugs because of the baby.”

“Okay then. Wait a minute…”

She was conscious enough to know
that it had slipped out of her mouth. It’s not the way she’d wanted to tell him
their big news.

“You’re going to have a baby?”

She nodded.

“My baby?”

“Your baby,” she whispered.

“Cass, did you know that when you
dived in front of that bullet?”

She shook her head. “I was
conscious enough when they brought me in to tell them I might be and when I
came around they said I was right, I’m pregnant.”

Her eyelids were getting heavy.

“I’m going to have a baby,” said
Rory.

“They’re a lot of work,” said Cass
sensing her words
were
getting slurred.

“I don’t care about that because
we’re going to have a baby,” said Rory.

Epilogue

Marie looked at her handsome
eldest son and new daughter-in-law. The shooting star had come through for her.
They’d all found wives.
Shane and Lacey.
Flynn and Natalie.
 
And
now Rory had Cass, and in August they were going to be parents to a baby boy.
Oh how she loved modern technology taking the guess work out of pregnancies and
Rory’s eagerness to know the sex of the baby. He was going to make a wonderful
father.

 
Three new grandsons, and of
course, her darling Emily.
Best of all she was the mother of three happily
married sons. Her own mom had been right about the legend of the shooting star.
She looked up. There was a reason they called this state the last good place on
earth. It was because this was where your dreams
came
true.

The End

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