Because You're Mine

by Colleen Coble

  She took a step closer. “That can change. We can begin again.” Had Grady managed to get the knife? She couldn’t look.

  “Quit dallying. The eye will be past soon.” His cold gaze settled on Grady. “You first, brother.”

  Grady smiled. “Let’s talk about this. We’re brothers, Barry. You won’t want to have no family left at all.”

  “Some family I have. I’ll be better off with you all dead. Then I can do what I want.” He gestured with the knife again. “In you go, brother.”

  Grady started toward the water, then hesitated and half turned as if to say more to Barry. His hand came up out of his pocket.

  Alanna saw the gleam of metal, then a knife sailed through the air and buried itself up to the hilt in Barry’s chest.

  Barry’s eyes widened. His hand clutched the knife as if he meant to yank it out, then his mouth opened and blood poured out. He fell to his knees and pitched forward. He lay there only a moment, then got to his hands and knees and staggered to his feet. His arm wavered, and he started to raise the hand holding the gun.

  Grady rushed his half-brother at the same time Alanna leaped for the gun, but the gun went off, and a red spot bloomed on Patricia’s blouse. She fell forward without a sound, and Grady stepped back when Barry swung the gun toward him.

  Grady held up his hands. “Easy, brother.”

  Pete bellowed behind her and thrashed in the water as if smelling the coppery blood in the air.

  Barry motioned with the gun. “You’re next, Jesse, old man.”

  Behind her, Alanna heard a rustle in the bushes. A black nose peeked out, and she realized Prince was watching. She saw the dog creep out from under the bushes. The wind picked up the blood scent from Patricia and blew it toward him. He whined his distress.

  “Distract Barry,” Grady whispered to her.

  Behind her back, she waggled her fingers at the dog. He crept out a few more inches, and his whining grew louder. Loud enough that Alanna thought Barry would hear it any second. She waggled her fingers again, and the whining went up a decibel.

  Barry frowned and his gaze cut to the sound. He took a couple of steps in that direction.

  “Prince, come!” Alanna called. The dog dashed from under the cover of the bushes surrounding the water. In reflex, Barry fired off a shot that went wild.

  While his attention was on the dog, Liam stepped around Alanna and grabbed a downed branch. At the same time, Grady tackled Barry. Obviously nearly spent, Liam swung the branch, and it connected solidly with Barry’s head. He reeled back and stepped into mud in the slope toward the water, then lost his balance and tumbled into the water onto his knees. The gun flew from his hands and landed at Liam’s feet.

  Barry bellowed and lurched from the water toward Liam. He grabbed the gun before Liam had time to react and seize it. Bringing up the barrel of the revolver, he narrowed his eyes. Before he pulled the trigger, a movement shot out from the bank. Prince! He ran past Barry, and the movement shifted his focus for a moment. In that instant, Liam leaped forward and wrested the gun from Barry’s hand. In his weakness, he fell back as Barry turned to reclaim it. Fire barked from the barrel of the gun, and blood began to spread over Barry’s shirt. His eyes wide and astonished, he fell back into the murky water and disappeared.

  Thirty-Four

  The fragrance of peaches from the crushed tea roses along the porch wafted to Alanna’s nose. She sat on the porch holding Liam’s hand as he lay on the swing. He was pale, but the bleeding had stopped. She could hear him struggle to breathe and prayed for help to arrive soon. The storm had blown for several more hours, and the flooded driveway cut them off from civilization.

  Alanna had tried to comfort Grady, but he’d stalked away from her to grieve in private, and she saw his shadow under the trees as he paced back and forth.

  Trees and limbs littered the saturated ground. Leaves and branches lay on the porch floor. Mud coated everything as well. The destroyed garden was a different place from the perfectly groomed space she’d first seen. The hot tea she’d made on the gas stove warmed them as the air was still cool. Their suitcases sat inside the door awaiting their departure once help arrived. She’d taken the music box too.

  Alanna didn’t intend to ever let it go.

  The whup-whup of a helicopter overhead brought her to her feet. The chopper landed in the garden to the left of the manor where the least amount of limbs littered the yard. The door opened, and Detective Adams jumped out and ran with his head down toward the house. Paramedics jumped down and they all went to Patricia’s body.

  After several minutes, Adams left the body and walked toward Alanna and Liam. The bags under his eyes were even more pronounced than usual. Alanna decided he’d likely gotten no sleep last night. She rushed to the top of the steps to greet him.

  Adams’s gaze flickered from her to Liam on the swing. “I came as soon as I could. Your message said Kavanagh killed your sister and tried to kill you? What about Barry’s mother? She appears to have been shot.”

  Alanna nodded and stepped aside to allow him onto the porch. “Liam needs to be getting to a hospital at once. I’ll explain what happened on the way.”

  Adams stepped aside as the paramedics approached. “Let them stabilize him for the trip first. You got anything to eat? I haven’t had a bite since lunch yesterday.”

  The last thing Alanna wanted to worry about was Adams’s stomach. “I think there are bennes in the kitchen. You can help yourself.”

  “Much obliged.” The screen door screeched when the detective stepped into the house. He returned a few minutes later with his cheeks puffed out. Two more bennes were in his hands. He chewed and swallowed. “There’s a lot of explaining to do here.”

  Alanna kept her gaze on her husband. The paramedics had inserted an IV line and were checking Liam’s blood pressure. “How is he?”

  “He’s going to be fine, ma’am,” one of the paramedics said. “Don’t you worry.”

  “Did the blade get his lung?” she asked.

  “Don’t think so. We’ll get some X-rays at the hospital though.”

  Alanna let out the breath she’d been holding. “When can we get going?”

  “Just a few more minutes,” the man said.

  Grady appeared from under the trees and walked slowly toward them. “Everyone is dead. I can’t quite wrap my head around it.” He sank onto a step and buried his head in his hands.

  She unclenched her fists. “Barry killed his mother, then tried to kill all of us. The gun went off in a struggle, and his body is in the water.” She swallowed hard. “At least what’s left after the gator was done.”

  Adams winced. “I checked some stuff after I got your message. Kavanagh has been treated for psychotic episodes ever since he was in his teens. His mother managed to hush it up when he was kicked out of school for attacking another boy when he was fifteen. He nearly killed the kid for speaking to a girl Kavanagh liked. His parents paid quite a sum of money to kill the story.”

  “Patricia covered up many things over the years,” Grady said. “If she’d let him take the consequences, maybe he could have been helped.”

  Adams nodded and swallowed another benne. “There were at least two more incidents in college, I found, both over women.”

  “What about Neila?” Alanna’s voice broke at the mention of her sister. She would never have that reunion she had dreamed of for so long. Would Paddy care when he was told, or was he too bitter? She understood bitterness. It had nearly ruined her too.

  “No sign of her, but we’ll dredge the lagoon and see if we can find any trace of her body.”

  “Patricia said they fed her to the gator.” Alanna shuddered and watched the paramedics work on her husband. They were loading him onto a stretcher.

  “Then we’ll likely never find the evidence.” Adams’s gaze lingered on Liam. “You’ve got your memory back?”

  Liam nodded, his face pale. “I remember the crash, everything. Barry said he’d killed me on
ce, so he must have planted the bomb.”

  Adams swallowed the last of his bennes. “The darkness that can lurk in the human soul still astounds me.”

  “You don’t seem surprised that he’s not Jesse,” Alanna said.

  “I was starting to have my doubts. If the second DNA test confirms the first, I’ll be a convert. Too bad they take so long.”

  “Well, I don’t need a test,” she said.

  The paramedics carried Liam past them. “We’re ready,” the blond one said.

  “Where are your friends?” Adams asked.

  The sooner she left this dark house, the better. “They got a hotel room last night when the storm started. They’re at the Charleston Place.” She hadn’t told them the circumstances, just that they’d come through the hurricane all right. The full story could wait until they were together in person.

  Adams grabbed the bags at the top of the steps. Alanna called to Prince, but the Irish Setter stayed hidden. She’d be coming back for him in the car. They boarded the helicopter and were soon airborne. She stared down at the mansion surrounded by live oak trees and black water. From up here, it appeared a beautiful home, free of the darkness that lived there.

  She scooted as close to Liam as she could get. A bit of his color seemed to be coming back. The chopper lifted into the air, and she leaned over to the window. Debris littered the grand estate below. She caught a glimpse of the gator in the water, then a red streak as Prince raced to hide under the porch. Grady sat with his face pressed against the glass and stared down at the place.

  Adams nodded to the estate spread out below them. “This is all yours now, Alanna.”

  “What?”

  “The rest of them are dead. Your marriage to Barry was legal since Liam was officially declared dead.”

  Alanna didn’t want anything of this dark place, only Prince. Maybe Hattie could be coaxed into taking some of it. “It should go to Grady, not me.” Liam squeezed her hand, and she leaned down so she could hear his words above the whup-whup of the chopper blades.

  “I have to talk to Jesse’s parents yet,” he said. “I’m dreading it more than you know. Especially Mom. She was good to me. I got to know who Jesse was much better by walking in his shoes.”

  “And your own parents. We’ll call them.” In spite of their differences, she smiled at the thought of their joy. Whatever their faults, they loved Liam. She hadn’t told him what they’d tried to do.

  Liam squeezed her hand. “Makes you wonder how much upbringing has to do with evil, doesn’t it?” he asked. “And how much is ingrained.”

  She nodded. “You were reading my mind.”

  “You might have grown up barefoot and motherless, but you overcame,” he whispered. “The person God made you to be stood up under adversity. Maybe he knew you needed to have that stress to realize your full potential. You wouldn’t be the same person if you’d grown up in a different environment.” His other hand went to her belly. “Makes the responsibility for raising our child so important. He’s put our baby with us for a specific reason. We have to do our part, then trust him with the rest.”

  Though Liam had tried to tell her this over the years, Alanna understood it now. She placed her hand over Liam’s on her belly. “Feel him? He’s moving.”

  Liam’s smile was all she needed. They’d be getting him on his feet, then manage the next few days of explanations and trauma.

  The audience rustled out beyond the heavy velvet curtains. This would be Alanna’s last concert for a few months. Her belly hung low with the weight of their son, due in another three weeks.

  Ena gave a test tweet on her pennywhistle. Liam picked up his bodhran and sticks. “Ready, my love?” he asked.

  “Will you be nervous?” she asked. “Both sets of parents are out there tonight, meeting each other for the first time.”

  “It’s not everyone who has two sets of parents,” he said, smiling down at her. “I’m glad they were willing to get along.”

  The last few months hadn’t been easy. Jesse’s mum, in particular, had been devastated and still clung to Liam as if some part of her boy lived in him. And really, didn’t it? Liam wore Jesse’s face. It had taken Alanna a little while to get used to the change. They’d discussed having surgery to restore Liam’s looks, but it hadn’t seemed worth the pain and expense. The man she loved was more than his face—he was his character, his integrity, and his spirit.

  Things were stiff between Liam and his father right now. She hoped tonight would help mend the breach. Life was too short to hold grudges.

  The curtain opened to the stage band’s strains of “Nightsong.” The audience roared when they stepped to the stage. Alanna’s eyes widened when Liam stepped to the mic. He usually had to be coaxed to sing.

  “This is a song I wrote for my wife, Alanna, the love of my life,” he said. “Many of you have heard the story of how even supposed death couldn’t separate us. The song has never been more appropriate than this moment.”

  He held out his hand to her, and she took it in a daze. Her face could crack from the smile she wore. Liam picked up the mic and began to croon the lyrics to “Nightsong” to her.

  “Two souls bound and none can sever. This nightsong is for you. Our love will last through fire and trouble. This nightsong is for you. Though death may try to break our hearts, I’ll find you where’ere you go. This nightsong is for you.”

  God had been so faithful, she realized in a rush of emotion that choked any possibility of joining Liam in the song. Even when she had doubted, God had performed the miraculous. She held her husband’s hand and faced the crowd, which was on its feet roaring its approval.

  Tears filled her eyes and spilled to her cheeks. Love was the greatest gift of all and transcended death. Her heart full, she managed to sing the final chorus of the song with Liam. He swept her into his arms, and his lips met hers as the crowd nearly lifted the roof from the rafters.

  Discussion Questions

  Have you ever been ashamed of your heritage and upbringing or did you grow up in the perfect family? How did it affect you?

  Do you think Alanna handled the situation with Liam’s parents correctly? Why or why not?

  Have you ever been angry with God? If so, how did you handle it?

  Evil can lurk behind the most handsome face. How can we recognize it?

  Prejudice can exist against many different ethnic groups. Alanna experienced it from being a Traveler. How do we combat prejudice?

  Jesse wanted the accident to be a chance for him to be a better person. Do you think it’s possible for a person to change that much?

  Patricia went to great lengths to protect her son. Do you think she could have changed anything if she’d acted differently?

  Alanna realized God created every person uniquely. Have you seen that in your life and the lives of others?

  Acknowledgments

  I’m so blessed to belong to the terrific HarperCollins Christian Publishing dream team! I’ve been with my great fiction team for fourteen years, and they are like family to me. I learn something new with every book, which makes writing so much fun for me!

  Our fiction publisher, Daisy Hutton, is a gale-force wind of fresh air. She thinks outside the box, and I love the way she empowers me and my team. The last two books have been with my terrific editor, Amanda Bostic, who really gets suspense and has been my friend from the moment I met her all those years ago. Fabulous cover guru Kristen Ingebretson works hard to create the perfect cover—and does. And, of course, I can’t forget the other friends in my amazing fiction family: Becky Monds, Kristen Golden, Karli Jackson, Jodi Hughes, Paul Fisher, and Kayleigh Hines. You are all such a big part of my life. I wish I could name all the great folks at HCCP who work on selling my books through different venues. I’m truly blessed!

  Julee Schwarzburg is a dream editor to work with. She totally gets romantic suspense, and our partnership is pure joy. She brought some terrific ideas to the table with this book—as always!


  My agent, Karen Solem, has helped shape my career in many ways, and that includes kicking an idea to the curb when necessary. We are about to celebrate fifteen years together! And my critique partner of seventeen years, Denise Hunter, is the best sounding board ever. Thanks, friends!

  I’m so grateful for my husband, Dave, who carts me around from city to city, washes towels, and chases down dinner without complaint. My kids—Dave, Kara (and now Donna and Mark)—love and support me in every way possible, and my little granddaughter Alexa makes every day a joy. She’s talking like a grown-up now, and having her spend the night is more fun than I can tell you. And as I write this, my little grandson, Elijah, is due to arrive in two weeks. Exciting times!

  Most important, I give my thanks to God, who has opened such amazing doors for me and makes the journey a golden one.

  About the Author

  Photo by Clik Chick Photography

  Colleen Coble is a USA Today bestselling author and RITA finalist best known for her romantic suspense novels, including Tidewater Inn, Rosemary Cottage, and the Mercy Falls, Lonestar, and Rock Harbor series.

  Visit her website at www.colleencoble.com.

  Twitter: @colleencoble

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