"Wanna go see the horsey," Autumn chimed as she bounced on Jake's hip.
"Well, then little Darlin', let's go find her," Ryan answered. Autumn automatically reached for Ryan, and he propped her on the hip opposite her sister. "Have you thought of a name for her yet?" Ryan asked as he walked toward the barn with Cami and the girls, leaving Adam behind.
"Something on your mind, Adam?" Jake asked.
"Yeah. If you need anything, you've only to ask."
"Thanks, Adam. That means a lot."
Adam nodded. "Where's Lizzie?"
"She's got an appointment then she's heading over to meet with Sierra."
"No kidding? That's great. Lizzie and Sierra were pretty good friends in high school, right?"
"Yeah, they hung out in the same crowd back then. Sierra was always the shy one of the bunch."
"That's Sierra for you." Adam answered matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. I hope their visit goes well today. Maybe they'll connect like they did back then and keep in closer touch."
"That would—"
Whatever Adam was going to say was cut off by the sound of approaching vehicles. Jake turned to see the sheriff's SUV pull in next to his truck, followed by Logan and Brand.
"Looks like you've got company."
"Yeah. I just wonder what's going on now." Jake muttered. "Better go see what they want."
54
Lizzie
The new cast felt so much better, and it was great to be able to take it off and wash. Sure, the cast had been waterproof, and water trickled beneath it, but to feel a washcloth going over her skin was bliss. But now that she had the replacement on, she'd have to wait three more weeks to experience that feeling again.
Dr. Whitaker had given her a clean bill of health, pending the blood that she had yet to test, but Lizzie felt great and knew that all the tests would come back just fine and then she could get back to her normal, everyday life. Well, as normal as it could be right now. She was so happy and filled with excitement at the prospect of starting her life with Jake.
He hadn't proposed, but he had all but promised to spend the rest of his life with her, and she had a plan of her own as to how she was going to make sure that was exactly what was going to happen.
After her appointment with Dr. Whitaker, she'd stopped by Katie's room and proposed an alternative for their business than the original plan, and, thankfully, Katie had agreed. Now all they needed to do was work out the details, and Katie was already getting started by making a call to the lawyers.
As she pulled the truck to a stop, she took a minute to take in the Garrison mansion. It was just as she remembered it. White, clinical, and formal. She always thought with a little color and some flowers along the walkway the house would look more like a home than just a house, but apparently the Garrison's were content with the way things were. She shrugged. To each his own.
She grabbed her purse off the passenger's seat and climbed out of the truck. She walked up to the front door and paused before ringing the bell. When she was a little girl she had imagined if she ever came to the mansion, she would press the doorbell, and a tall, pale man with bolts coming out of the sides of his neck to open the door with a, "You rang." Lizzie snickered.
When the door opened, she couldn't stifle a gasp of surprise when a young, stunningly beautiful blonde dressed in tight black pants and a white blouse that stretched across her well-endowed chest opened the door.
"May I help you?"
"I'm here to see Sierra, um, Mrs. Garrison."
"Oh, yes. You must be Elizabeth. Mrs. Garrison is expecting you." The blonde gestured Lizzie inside. "Please, come in."
As Lizzie walked through the door, her only thought was if she had thought the outside of the house to be clinical and unfeeling, the inside was a whole lot worse.
55
Jake
Jake intercepted his unannounced guests, all the while trying to remember the words he had spoken to Cami minutes before, innocent until proven guilty. If only he could be that diplomatic. He'd try his damnedest, but if Logan was the man who hurt Lizzie, friend or not, he'd rip him apart.
Autumn and April came running toward them. He needed to keep them as far away from this as possible.
"Hello again, my little imps." In a sing-song voice, April started saying, "Imps, imps. Imps, imps," and Jake found himself smiling on the cusp of what he knew was going to be a tense situation. He tweaked her nose. "Why don't you go on over to the house. I believe Pappy Leo has some fresh iced-tea made."
"And chocolate chip cookies?" April asked hopefully.
"I bet he does. Mrs. Maguire stopped by earlier and I thought I saw her carrying a platter of them."
"Yay!" Both pixies squealed in delight. "Let's go, Mommy!"
Cami smiled at the girls but sent a look of distress to Jake.
"It'll be fine, Cami. Just take the girls by Dad's and you have a nice visit."
"Alright." As the girls started tugging on her hands, leading her toward the house, she looked back. "If you need me, you know where I'll be."
He gave her a quick wink. "Thanks."
When she and the girls were far enough away, he approached the group of men standing next to the barn.
Jake nodded. "Sheriff." Then he nodded again, "Deputy Rivers."
"Jake." They both answered.
"What's up, Brand?" Jake asked as Brand and Matt stepped out of the truck.
"We saw them pulling in and figured we'd follow so we didn't have to play catch up later on with the sheriff," Brand answered.
Sheriff Brooks nodded. "Good idea."
"So, what's up, Sheriff?" Jake asked.
The sheriff answered, "We're just escorting Mr. MacGregor to get his belongings."
"I see. Have the DNA results come back yet?"
"No. Not yet."
Logan approached slowly and cautiously. "I didn't do it, Jake. I swear I didn't."
Jake nodded, wanting more than anything to believe his friend innocent.
"Then who did when all the signs are pointing to you right now?" Ryan asked.
"I don't know," Logan said, head hanging.
"Why should I believe that it wasn't you Logan? Why should I believe that it wasn't you who tried to kill the woman I love when you had assaulted her in the past?"
Logan looked at Jake in surprise. "That was a long time ago Jake. I was a kid, one who didn't handle rejection well—or his liquor."
"And now you do?"
"Hell yeah, I do. I don't drink, and I've been rejected by any number of women in town and I handled that just fine. I wouldn't hurt Lizzie, Jake."
Jake knew in his gut Logan was telling the truth. Bailey's bark had him turning to see Cami's girls playing with the mild-mannered dog in the yard by the house while Cami and his Dad sat on the porch swing talking and drinking iced tea. Everything here felt normal. Even Logan's presence felt normal. If this was normal, then something else was wrong. What had they missed?
"Let's go, MacGregor. Get your things and you can stay at the hotel in town."
He saw April pick a daisy from the bed of flowers then hand it to Autumn who then proceeded to pluck the petals from the flower one by one. Jake held up a hand, then narrowed his eyes as he watched April and Autumn. "Wait."
Adam gestured to Jake. "I'm sorry, Jake, for the girls picking your flowers. Ever since Cami taught the girls that game, they can't resist playing."
"What game?" Jake asked.
"The 'he loves me, he loves me not' game. They play that all the time at the house."
"The what?" Jake asked.
"Come on, you've gotta know the 'he loves me, he loves me not' game." When Jake didn't answer, Ryan filled him in. "You know, you pick a petal off the flower and say, 'he loves me,' then pick another petal and say, 'he loves me not,' and keep going until you run out of petals. The last petal will tell whether 'he loves me,' or 'he loves me not'."
Sheriff Brooks and Deputy Rivers flanked Jake as realization dawne
d on him. "Holy shit!" He turned to the right, "Sheriff—"
"Way ahead of you."
Logan, totally lost, asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"The flower petals."
"Again, I repeat, what the hell are you talking about?"
Brand must have finally put two and two together, because his muttered, "Son of a bitch," was filled one of surprise.
"The petals that were found by Lizzie's flat tire. The ones at Archer's Cove. The pink petals that were found smashed in Lizzie's panties, in the box with the pictures. He played the 'she loves me, she loves me not' game." Jake clarified.
Logan shook his head in disbelief. "Jesus."
Sheriff Brooks stepped forward. "Exactly. And if you didn't know what the game is, you weren't the one playing it."
"So who was the one playing it?" Ryan asked.
"That's the million-dollar question," said Deputy Rivers.
Matt, silent until now, stated, "And one we need to find an answer to now. Before it's too late, because if Deputy Rivers is here, that means Lizzie is out there alone."
56
Lizzie
"Follow me please. Mrs. Garrison is waiting for you in the solarium."
What the hell was a solarium?
"Thank you."
As they made their way through the house, Lizzie noted white, white, and more white. The only splashes of color were where paintings hung on the walls, and those were dark, dreary and oddly abstract. Lizzie had no clue what they represented, nor did she care to find out.
They reached the doorway to a room of wall-to-wall windows. She noted Sierra sitting peacefully in a wicker chair in the far corner of the room, staring out a window. Lizzie also noted this was the only room she had seen that had any color, and it was beautiful. Teal, aquamarine, lavender, gold, and pink were splotched on the cushions of the wicker chairs, and the same color scheme was found in the window valances and area rugs.
"Mrs. Garrison, your guest has arrived," Blondie said dutifully.
"Thank you, Barbie."
"It's Darbie," Blondie corrected with a huff.
"Oh, I apologize. I never can seem to get your name right," Sierra replied straight faced. "Please, come in Lizzie."
Lizzie stepped inside the room of light and color and greeted Sierra with a light hug.
"Welcome."
"Thank you, Sierra. And thanks for inviting me."
"It was rude of me not to invite you sooner."
"Please, drop the 'lady of the manor' routine. We've known each other too long to be like that."
"I'm sorry. I've just grown so accustomed to it."
"That's a shame. I liked the old you much better. But I see you still have a little sass in there." At Sierra's confused look Lizzie continued, "The Barbie/Darbie thing?"
Sierra smiled. "Oh, that."
Lizzie laughed. "Yes, that. That was hilarious. And is Barbie always so obedient?"
Sierra looked at Lizzie blankly for a minute and then burst out laughing. "Yes, I do believe she is. Woof." When Sierra finally stopped laughing, she looked over to Lizzie. "I haven't laughed like that in…well, too long."
"That's a shame. You have such a glorious laugh, Sea."
"And I haven't been called that in—"
"Too long," Lizzie finished for her.
Sierra smiled a soft smile. "Yes, far too long."
"Your room is great. So much color."
"It's the only part of the house that doesn't remind me of a mausoleum."
Lizzie snickered. "God, yes. It's just so…"
"Sterile?" Sierra asked.
Lizzie nodded.
"I still feel that way. When I first moved in here, I was afraid if I got too close to anything it might get dirty by osmosis or something. Now I purposefully touch things, leaving my fingerprints behind."
Lizzie tsked and Sierra shrugged before leaning toward Lizzie. "And if the maid is purposefully bitchy toward me, I lick the mirrors."
"That's so gross," Lizzie laughed. "Some things never change." Namely Sierra's sense of humor and sassiness.
"Thankfully, no." Sierras smile faded. "Though sometimes you have to suppress yourself." Lizzie stood there, unsure what to say. Sierra sighed. "Come, let's drink some tea and catch up on things." Sierra motioned to the chair and Lizzie took a seat.
"Sounds like a great plan."
57
Jake
"So where do we start looking?" Ryan asked.
The sheriff spoke first, "Who in Chance Creek has pink flowers like those?"
"Just Lizzie and us," Jake said. "I've never seen anyone else with daisies that color pink. Lizzie had her dad order them special and planted them when she was eight as a present for her mom on Mother's Day. She gave Amy a bunch to plant here too."
Logan held out a hand. "Wait a minute. I saw flowers like this but not in the yard. They were in the house, in a pot by a window."
"Where did you see them?" The sheriff asked.
"Let me think." Logan's eyes narrowed. "It was the day of the rancher's meeting. When we went around to talk to the ranchers, right after Lizzie's tire got slashed."
Jake was getting impatient. They needed to know now. "Christ, Logan, think!"
Recognition dawned in Logan's eyes and then he muttered a rough and fearful, "Oh, God."
58
Lizzie
Lizzie and Sierra were having a wonderful time getting reacquainted, but she had yet to broach the subject of Todd and Ethan. Maybe now wasn't the best time. She didn't want to see the light in Sierra's eyes dim. And it always did when she mentioned Todd.
"Mrs. Garrison, would you and your guest like more tea?" Blondie asked.
And just that quickly Sierra's relaxed demeanor once again turned formal. "Yes, thank you, that would be lovely."
"I'll be back in a few minutes then," Blondie replied as she steered the tea cart out of the room.
Lizzie looked over at Sierra. "She is so formal. How do you stand it?"
Sierra shrugged. "You learn to adjust."
"I'm not so sure I could put up with that day in and day out."
"You learn to overlook things," Sierra replied softly.
"What things?"
Sierra laughed bitterly and then fidgeted with a button on her sweater. "Just that Todd pays her in ways other than her salary."
Lizzie couldn't have been more shocked if Sierra had just announced that Todd was a cross dresser. "What? And you let him?"
"You don't understand, Lizzie. There is no 'letting' Todd do anything. Todd does what he wants when he wants or everyone around here is unhappy."
"And are you unhappy?"
"Not always."
Lizzie noted Sierra rubbing a spot on her arm and wondered. "Does he hit you, Sea?"
"I'm not sure this is an appropriate topic," Sierra said, and then pointed to a figurine on the table. When Lizzie looked at her in confusion, Sierra mouthed the word, bug.
Lizzie mouthed back, Holy shit! That's crazy!
Sierra mouthed back, And so is he.
"Ah, here's our tea," Sierra said as they heard the wheels of the cart down the hallway. Both Sierra and Lizzie were startled to see a smiling Todd pushing it through the doorway of the solarium.
When Todd reached where they were sitting, he pressed a chaste kiss to Sierra's cheek. "Yes, darling, here's your tea. Welcome to our home, Lizzie."
"Thank you, Todd. Your house is beautiful." She hoped she didn't get a pimple on her tongue from the lie.
"Thank you," Todd replied as he poured more tea for them.
Todd sat on the arm of Sierra's chair, draping an arm around her shoulders, and stared as the women sipped their tea. Lizzie watched Sierra go from laughing and vibrant to formal, passive, and stiff in the blink of an eye. Damn Todd for doing that to her.
"Have you ladies been having a good time?"
"Yes, Todd. Sierra has been the perfect hostess."
"That's great to hear considering Sierra has never be
en the perfect hostess."
That pissed Lizzie off and she knew she should have bit her tongue, but she just couldn't hold back the words that spilled from her mouth. "That's not a very nice thing to say about your wife, Todd. She's a wonderful woman."
Todd smiled a mocking smile. "Yes, she is a wonderful woman. When she's with someone else."
Sierra's eyes widened.
"What do you mean by that?" Lizzie asked cautiously.
"Just what I said. She's not a wonderful woman when we're together. She's doing all kinds of little things to get herself into trouble."
Lizzie's vision momentarily blurred, and she felt woozy. She pressed a hand to her forehead, then when her vision focused, she looked at Todd who had a knowing smile on his face.
"I don't think she purposefully tries to make you angry, Todd. She was just telling me how much she wants to be the perfect wife for you." Another lie, but at this point she didn't care. She just wanted to help Sierra. Her vision blurred around the edges again and she was hot. So terribly hot. Maybe they had taken too much blood at the Medical Center.
"Are you alright?" Todd asked.
"I-I'm not sure. I don't feel quite right." Her head spun, and her speech slurred. She broke out in a sweat. What was wrong with her?
Oh God.
She looked at Todd and he continued to smile.
"You'll be fine in a minute," he told her.
"What did you do?"
"Just a little something to help us get the real party started."
Lizzie looked at him and saw only a blur of movement, and like a light bulb being turned on, she knew. "It was you. This whole time, it was you."
"Yes, Lizzie, it was me. Now be a good girl and go to sleep," Todd said as he forced her to drink more tea. He pinched her nose, so she had no choice but to swallow when he tipped the cup up and poured it down her throat.
When Petals Fall: A Cowboy, Second Chance Romantic Suspense (Chance Creek Book 1) Page 27