Runaway: The Sequel to Secrets, a sexy and dramatic western romance (Finding Love ~ THE OUTSIDER SERIES) (19 page)

The passion that oozed from him, the way he tightened up as if ready to stand guard and fight Caroline, the doctor, the lawyers for her was him showing her she wasn’t a nuisance, an irritation
. She was important to him. Without a doubt, she knew that in his way, he loved her, he loved Gabriel, and he loved his babies. Her husband, Andy Friessen, was a difficult man, a hard man, a strong man whom she’d never ever be able to bend to her will, but he was a man who’d always keep her on her toes, a man she loved more than her next breath.

“Go to sleep
,” he said as he pulled the door closed, and she listened to his footsteps, Gabriel’s excitement, and the young girl who was watching her babies. For the first time, she felt peace.

Chapter 28

Andy glanced in the rear-view mirror. Gabriel was grinning ear to ear in the backseat of his pickup; his bangs were drooping in his eyes. Maybe tomorrow Andy would take him and the two of them could get a haircut. Andy braked at the end of his driveway and glanced back at his home. Forty acres, with a small two-stall barn in back, a corral, some pasture—a basic, modest home he’d never once pictured himself living in. He couldn’t quite shake this sense of it being “his” and “their” home. No one was going to show up here and turn their life upside down, because for the first time in his life, he’d walked away from his family, who they were, what they were, and all that power. He hadn’t even considered calling Todd, whom he hadn’t heard from since marrying Laura. No, that was a closed chapter. Everything he did from this day forward would be his: the money he made, his property, his house. It was a way of life, and whatever he did, he could no longer be running or cleaning up anything for Todd or on behalf of the Friessens. His family came first, and everything he did would be for his family, Laura, Gabriel, Chelsea, and Jeremy. Maybe, for the first time, he understood Jed a little better.

Andy signalled and turned onto the highway
, driving into town and parking in front of Aida’s modest bungalow. Gabriel waited for Andy to lift him out and then held his hand while he led him up the steps.

Andy
noticed everything was dark and wondered if she was home. He tapped on the door. There was nothing, no footsteps, so he knocked harder, rattling the screen door.

“Where’s Aida?” Gabriel asked.

“I don’t know, bud. Let’s go around back and see if her car’s here.”

Gabriel hopped down the front steps and ran around the side of the house to the white picket fence in back. Andy opened the gate and went to the single garage behind the house. He looked in the window and spotted her car inside. Gabriel was hopping up and down
, trying to see through the window where Andy was looking.

“Just stay down
, bud.” Andy tried to turn the knob and open the garage door, but it was locked. “Aida, where are you? Maybe she’s sleeping.”

Andy yanked his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Aida’s number. He could hear the phone ringing from where he stood in the backyard. He listened to the ring echo through the house,
but there was no other sound, no footsteps, no rustling, nothing.

“Come on
, Aida, where are you? Maybe she went out for a walk,” Andy said to Gabriel, who was watching him and waiting.

Andy hated to leave
. He needed to see Aida, make sure she was okay, not just for Laura but because Andy admired her so much. She really was one of the few who’d always been in Laura’s corner and didn’t give a rat’s ass what people thought, especially him. After all hell had broken loose two days ago, when he appeared with the sheriff and Diana and Jed, who’d questioned Jules as she cried and shrieked over what she’d done, Aida had pulled him aside and questioned him on Caroline.

The woman had been furious
, but she hadn’t said one word. She’d tossed her hairnet and apron on the counter, patted Andy on the arm, and said, “You look after that girl and Gabriel. Don’t bring them back here. It’s time you struck out on your own. Make your own way. Laura and Gabriel and those babies are your family, your only responsibility now. Keep them out of this life and far away from your family.” Then she’d grabbed her purse and left. He knew she had quit, and he’d taken what she said to heart, calling a local realtor who’d found this house, his small little acreage, and set in motion what he’d already decided to do. But the fact was that Aida had a way of setting him on a path and in a direction driven entirely by his conscience.

Andy stepped onto the small back deck and started looking through the windows. The curtains were old lace and somewhat
transparent. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw someone sitting in a rocker. Andy put his face to the single-pane glass, his hand shading his eyes to cut through the reflection.

Andy pulled open the back
screen door and pounded again, yelling, “Aida!” Then he went back to the window and peeked in. There was no movement, and something unsettling squeezed inside him. “Gabriel, go down the stairs on the grass for just a second.”

Gabriel grabbed his leg and held on. “No
, Andy, don’t leave me.”

Andy bent down and held Gabriel’s shoulders, “Hey
, listen to me. I am not leaving you. I just need you to stay back. You know I’ll always look after you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

But Gabriel wouldn’t let go of his leg. There was no way Gabriel was taking one step down without Andy.

“Okay, just stand here.” He set Gabriel beside him on the other side of the door, and the boy seemed okay with that.

Andy put his shoulder to the door
. With a tight grip on the handle, he shoved his shoulder, pounding it against the door. Again he slammed it hard until it gave, the wood splintering around the bolt as he stumbled in.

He held his hand out to Gabriel. “Just stay here for a minute until I call you.”

Gabriel was standing in the doorway, wide-eyed.

Andy pointed a finger sharply at Gabriel and gave him a stern look, and he stayed right where he was
, looking up at Andy with a look that told Andy how much he depended on him for everything.

Andy stepped cautiously through the kitchen
, sniffing the air and something foul. He spotted a piece of meat on the counter with flies swarming. Then he stepped into a small dining area with a small round table and four chairs. “Aida?” he called out again as looked into the living room and to a rocker where Aida was sitting. Her wrinkled hands rested on the chair arms, and her head was slouched to the side, her mouth open.

Andy shut his eyes and tried to tell his heart it would be okay
, but that didn’t stop the wave of emotions that was pounding at him. He pressed his hand to her neck, but there was nothing, no pulse, and even touching the wrinkled skin had his senses screaming that it wasn’t quite right. There was no life, but he already knew she was dead by her eyes. Everything that had stoked that woman was gone. The whites were gray, and the life that had once shot fire at him with one glance was cloudy and distant. Not an ounce of anything was left there. Andy squatted down in front of the old woman and pressed the back of his wrist to his mouth as he blinked back tears. How in the hell was he going to tell Laura? She’d be devastated.

“Andy
,” Gabriel called to him from the back door, and he heard the floor squeak. He didn’t miss the fear in Gabriel’s voice.

“Stay there
, Gabriel.” Andy couldn’t do anything for Aida, and he couldn’t let Gabriel see her, not like this. He yanked out his cell phone as he strode with a heavy heart to the back door, where Gabriel was trying to peek around the corner. He placed his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “Outside, Gabriel. Come with me.”

He stood outside with Gabriel on the grass
, and the little boy wouldn’t leave his side as he dialed emergency, giving Aida’s address. He was careful to keep his back to Gabriel, to not look at him. When he hung up, he pressed the phone to his forehead, and the boy he thought of as his son was so quiet. Of course, he knew something was wrong, and when he glanced down, there were tears in his innocent blue eyes. All Andy did was lean down and take him in his arms, saying, “I’m so sorry.” And he let him cry.

He didn’t know how long they’d been there
, but he figured it was about an hour as they stood outside. He spoke with a new deputy, a stocky blond guy. The coroner was just wrapping up, and they’d taken Aida out the front door. Apparently, Aida had been dead for two days. Heart attack was what the coroner said she suspected. Andy had wanted to call Jed, but he stopped before he finished dialing. He couldn’t do that to Jed. He had Diana to look after, and she was due any day. He’d seen how tired she was. The two of them had been there for Andy and Laura for days, helping to clean up and make sense of the mess his mother had created.

“Andy
Friessen?” the deputy called to him from the back door. Andy knew Gabriel was terrified, and he needed to get home, to get him away from this horrid scene that was difficult for most adults to process.

“Yes
, what is it?”

“Found something with your name on it.” The deputy gestured for him to come in.

One look at Gabriel’s lost expression had Andy lifting him in his arms. “We’re going home after this, okay? Everything’s fine.”

Gabriel said nothing but rested his head on Andy’s shoulder as he walked into the house behind the deputy.
He noticed the rotted piece of meat was now gone.

“We found this on table with your name on it.” The deputy held out a brown envelope
, the kind that had bubble wrap inside.

Andy hesitated a second before taking the envelope. For the life of him
, he couldn’t figure out what Aida would have left for him. “I’m taking my kid home now. I gave you my number, so if you need anything, you can call me.”

The deputy flushed with an expression that appeared so much like sympathy as he gazed at Gabriel. “We’re just about done here. I’ll call you after I hear from the coroner
, but it looks like she went peacefully.”

Andy could only nod as his throat thickened with emotion.
He left, carrying Gabriel out the back door, the envelope in his hand.

Chapter 2
9

Laura had been awake when he got home. She was in their cozy living room
, nursing the babies. Dinner was ready, but he’d long since lost his appetite.

Jenny was in the kitchen
, lifting a steaming casserole out of the oven. “My mom sent this over,” she said.

“Thanks
, Jenny. That’ll be all for tonight. Why don’t you head on home before it gets dark?”

Gabriel was still in his arms as
he held open the door for the young lady as she pulled on her coat.

“What time would you like me to come in the morning?”

“How about ten?”

She nodded and hopped down the steps and toward the path that led to her parents
’ neighboring property.

Gabriel’s head was still pressed against Andy’s shoulder and into his neck
, and Laura was frowning from where she rocked one of the babies. The other was now nestled in a bassinet beside the rocker.

“What’s going on
, Andy? Is something wrong?”

She was so perceptive
, and his jaw was clamped together so hard it had begun to ache. He rubbed Gabriel’s back and then set him down.

“Hey
, listen, I want to talk to your mom a minute. Can you run upstairs to the bathroom and wash your hands for dinner?” Andy went down on one knee in front of him. Gabriel said nothing, but the sadness in his eyes tore at Andy’s heart. He wanted to make it better, to take away that hurt and put back the joy that had flickered from his eyes and just this morning had lit up his entire face. But he couldn’t. “You’re my big boy. Come on, get going.”

And Gabriel did
. He climbed up the stairs, and Andy waited until he was in the bathroom before sitting on the stool in front of Laura. He peeked at his son, who was in her arms and now sound asleep. When he looked up at her, she was watching him with fear and uncertainty.

“Something happened when I went to Aida’s.” He cleared his throat and glanced away to pull himself together.

“Andy, you’re scaring me.” Her voice trembled.

Andy reached over and scooped the baby from her arms,
setting him in the bassinet beside his sister. Then he took both Laura’s hands in his. “Laura, Aida had a heart attack and died. I found her in her rocker.”

Laura was crying
, and Andy pulled her onto his lap. She must have known she was scaring Gabriel, as she tucked her face into his chest to muffle her sobs. Andy spotted Gabriel hovering on the steps. “Come on down, bud. Your mom’s a little sad. I had to tell her about Aida.” Andy reached out his hand to Gabriel, and the little boy hurried down the stairs and into Andy’s other arm. Laura reached out and touched her little boy’s shoulder, then looked up at Andy with red, swollen eyes.

“Andy
, she was all I had for family. She was like a mother to me.”

“I know. But you’re wrong. I’m your family. We’re a family, you and me, Gabriel and Chelsea and Jeremy.
All of us, Laura. Aida—I’m so sorry, honey.”