Harlequin Intrigue March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2

by Nichole Severn

  “Did your wife get custody of him?” she asked.

  “No, God got custody.”

  She stared at him for several long moments and then took a step toward him. “Oh Hunter, what happened?”

  “Let’s go back to the living room to talk.” He didn’t want to talk about Danny here in the room where the little boy had spent part of his short life.

  They returned to the sofa, and this time she sat close to his side, her warmth and familiar scent a balm to him as he dived into the pain of his past.

  “We didn’t plan for Emily to get pregnant so quickly after we got married, but despite our precautions, it happened. I was thrilled. All I’d ever wanted was to be a deputy and to have a family.” He paused a moment, trying to swallow against the emotion that rose up inside him.

  As if she sensed his sudden struggle, she reached out and took one of his hands in hers. Her gaze was soft and gave him the strength to continue.

  “I was thrilled when Danny was born. He was the most perfect little boy. He was such a happy baby. He rarely fussed, and I would have given my life for him.” Hunter’s chest tightened.

  “When he had just turned a year old, we discovered he had leukemia. For the next year, he was in and out of the hospital for chemo, and we’d hoped that he’d beat it. But just after his second birthday, we lost him.”

  “Oh Hunter. I’m so very sorry. I can’t even imagine the pain of losing a child.” She squeezed his hand and then leaned closer and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He pulled her close and buried his face in her sweet-smelling hair. He found comfort in her embrace. He’d grieved so long and so hard all alone. It was oddly soothing to share this horrible event in his life with her.

  Tears burned at his eyes, but he swallowed against them. He had already shed more than enough tears over losing Danny.

  He finally released her. “I’ve heard that the loss of a child often causes a divorce,” she said. “Is that what happened to you and your wife?”

  “No, although certainly we did grieve separately, but I had every intention to try to make the marriage work after Danny was gone. Unfortunately, she didn’t. The same day we buried our son, she told me she’d been having an affair since the day we got married and she wasn’t even sure Danny was mine.”

  Ainsley gasped. “What kind of a woman was she? To do that to you? To do that to any man at a time like that.” Anger fired in her eyes.

  “It didn’t matter. That little boy was mine the moment a nurse handed him to me after his birth. She couldn’t take that away from me, no matter what she said or what she had done.”

  “Love is what makes a child yours, not genetics,” she replied fervently.

  “Another point of pain was I guess everyone in town except me knew that Emily was cheating on me. In retrospect, the signs were all there. She was often unavailable to me. She never let me see her phone. There were dozens of flags...I just didn’t want to see any of them.”

  “Hunter, I’m so very sorry for you.” Sympathy replaced the momentary anger in her gaze. “You deserved so much better than that, and I’m so sorry you had to go through so much.”

  “I have no other secrets, Ainsley. I was just afraid if I told you about all this, you would somehow see me differently.”

  “Differently how?” She looked at him curiously.

  “I don’t know...I thought you’d somehow see me as weak and stupid,” he confessed.

  “Oh Hunter. Rather than making you look weak and stupid, all this makes you look incredibly strong and compassionate and loving. It takes a strong man to shed tears, to be vulnerable with his emotions.”

  Once again he pulled her into his arms and held her close. The sound of rain began to patter at the windows as if it were his tears for Danny.

  Still, there was a new peace inside him where his past was concerned. There would always be sadness in his heart when he thought of his little boy, but he was truly ready to move on from that and seek new happiness in his life.

  He leaned back from her. “Maybe one day you could come over and help me pack away the last of the items in Danny’s room.”

  “Are you sure you’re ready to do that?” Her gaze was incredibly soft.

  He nodded. “Actually, it’s past time. I don’t need the things to remember him. Besides, maybe someday in the future it would make a great bedroom for a little girl.”

  “That would be nice in time,” she replied. “But of course I’ll come over and help you whenever you’re ready.”

  “Thanks, Ainsley, and I promise there are no more secrets in my life.”

  “I’m glad you shared with me.” She smiled at him. “While I waited to talk to you this evening, I’d almost convinced myself that you had an insane wife locked up in that room—although your wife had to have been insane to cheat on you.”

  He laughed. “Ainsley, you are good for my heart and soul.”

  She held his gaze for a long moment. “Hunter, I...I...” She looked down and then back up at him. “I...I probably need to get back home since I have Melinda at Juanita’s on an unexpected night.” She stood from the sofa.

  “I really appreciate you coming over tonight.” He got up as well to walk her to the door. “And I really hate to send you out in the rain.”

  “It’s not raining that hard, and I don’t melt when wet,” she replied with another one of her smiles. She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for sharing with me tonight, Hunter.”

  “Thank you for your caring and support.” He opened the front door and peered out into the dark, rainy night. “Why don’t you call me so I know you got home safely?”

  “I can do that,” she replied.

  “At least let me get you an umbrella.”

  “That’s not necessary. I’ll be fine. I’ll call you when I get home.” With those words she stepped outside and hurried to her car.

  He watched until she backed out of his driveway, and then her car lights disappeared, swallowed by the darkness of the rainy night.

  He finally closed the door and with his cell phone in hand, he went back into Danny’s room. The sorrow that had lived here was now tempered by the scent of Ainsley that lingered, by the support of her caring arms around him.

  Yes, it was time to pack away the items in this room and put his past truly behind him. He no longer needed these things to remind him of what he’d gone through. Ainsley was partially responsible for him moving on and looking forward instead of backward.

  He left the bedroom and returned to the living room. He sank down on the sofa and checked the time. The rain was now coming down in torrents, although there was no thunder or lightning. He hoped Ainsley remembered to call him when she got home.

  There had been a moment when he’d thought she was going to tell him something, but then she apparently changed her mind. What might she have to share with him? He pushed that moment out of his head. If she did have something to tell him, then hopefully, eventually she would.

  He still hoped to get to the bottom of the roses that had been sent to her and the nasty note left at the café. Both left a bad taste in his mouth and unsettled him, and he knew she was worried about the same things.

  He wouldn’t feel better until he solved the mystery of who had sent the flowers and left the note. It was so odd, to get beautiful roses and then the horrible note. Were they from a single person or two separate people? Once again he wondered if and when something more might happen, and if there would be a dangerous escalation?

  * * *

  SHE’D ALMOST TOLD HIM. There had been a moment when she’d been comforting him that Ainsley had wanted to come clean and tell him the truth about herself. But the moment had passed without her confessing anything.

  Did she really have to tell him anything? The people from the battered-women underground had assured
her that her new identity would stand up under any scrutiny. Could she go forward with Hunter and never tell him the truth?

  She didn’t believe she could. But she had to pick the perfect time to tell him about Peter and how she had violated a child custody order and gone on the run.

  She felt like she just needed a little more time. She wanted to see if her daughter would come around where Hunter was concerned—once she did, then it would be time for Ainsley to come clean with Hunter.

  The rain pelted her car window as she drove down Main Street, making visibility difficult. But it was easy to see the car lights that fell in too close behind her.

  She frowned. It was too dark for her to be able to tell what kind or color of car followed her. Were they actually following her? Or was it just a coincidence that somebody was driving so close to her?

  Her heart beat an uneven rhythm as she tightened her fingers around the steering wheel. Was it possible the person who had left the nasty note was behind her right now? Were they going to run her off the road? Try to get her out of her car?

  She shuddered with relief as the car turned off on a side street and disappeared from her sight. She released a deep sigh. God, she had gotten herself so worked up, and it had probably just been somebody in a hurry to get home in the rain.

  The next couple of days passed without incident. Hunter told her he was still hunting down the sender of the roses and the note, but she knew he had nothing to go on and so was expecting no real results.

  She now sat in Dr. Atkins’s office, waiting for Melinda to get finished with her latest therapy session. On the way over Melinda had told her mother that Peter had stopped talking to her every night, but he still talked to her every other night or so. Ainsley hoped that this was a sign that slowly Melinda was giving up the fantasy of her father talking to her at night.

  Tomorrow she, Hunter and Melinda were set to go out for pizza, and Ainsley definitely didn’t want any repeat of the last time the two people she cared about had tried to spend time together.

  Dr. Atkins had spoken to Ainsley first to see how things had gone over the past week. Ainsley had told her that for the most part Melinda had stopped talking about Peter, but Ainsley wasn’t sure if that meant Melinda was putting away the fantasy or if she’d simply stopped sharing with Ainsley.

  Forty minutes later Dr. Atkins and Melinda walked out. Once again they were both smiling, and Ainsley felt herself relax. “If you don’t mind, I’ll call you later in the week to touch base with you,” Dr. Atkins said to Ainsley. “Unfortunately I’ve had an emergency come up, and I need to leave right now and head to the hospital.”

  “Then I’ll talk to you later and we’re out of here,” Ainsley replied.

  “How are you feeling?” Ainsley asked once she and Melinda were in the car.

  “Good, but I’d feel better if we went to get ice cream.”

  Ainsley laughed. “Is this going to be a thing every time we see Dr. Atkins?”

  Melinda giggled. “Yeah,” she replied.

  “Then I guess we’re going to get ice cream.” Ainsley would have liked to hear from Dr. Atkins after she’d spoken to Melinda, but she’d just have to wait to hear from the doctor. Although her first instinct was to ask Melinda all kinds of questions, she refrained from doing so.

  While the two ate their ice cream, Melinda talked about school and the friends she had made since they’d been in Dusty Gulch.

  “Don’t forget that tomorrow night we’re going out to the pizza place with Hunter,” Ainsley said.

  “I know, and I told you I’ll behave,” Melinda replied.

  “Honestly, Melinda, Mr. Hunter is a really nice man.”

  “I can be nice to Mr. Hunter and still go with Daddy when he comes for me,” Melinda replied.

  “That’s true,” Ainsley said even though she wanted to protest and tell Melinda her father wasn’t coming for her. “And I would appreciate you being nice to Mr. Hunter.”

  “Can we go for ice cream tomorrow night after the pizza?” Melinda said hopefully.

  Ainsley laughed. “Girl, you’re pushing your luck with all this ice cream.” Melinda grinned at her and licked at the cone she held in her hand.

  Both mother and daughter were in good moods as they returned to their apartment. As they stepped out of the car, darkness had begun to fall.

  Despite the shadows by the door, the square package on the stoop was hard to miss. Wrapped in bright pink paper and sporting pink and yellow ribbons, it looked like a birthday present waiting to be opened.

  “Mom, is it your birthday?” Melinda immediately asked.

  “No, honey. It isn’t my birthday.” Ainsley stared at the box, her heart thudding loudly in her ears. She knew Hunter was on patrol tonight, but there was no way he’d drop a package outside her door and not tell her about it. So, who had left it? And what was inside?

  “It looks so pretty. Aren’t you going to pick it up?” Melinda’s voice reached through Ainsley’s racing thoughts.

  Ainsley bent over and picked it up and then unlocked the door and together they stepped into the little apartment. Ainsley carried the “present” into the kitchen and set it on the table.

  She stared at it, unsure if she should be afraid or not. With the roses and the note, she had no idea what to expect. She suddenly became aware of Melinda staring at her curiously. “Mommy, aren’t you going to open it?”

  “Maybe later. Right now you need to go get ready for bed. You have school tomorrow.”

  Melinda looked at her curiously. “So, you aren’t going to open it now?”

  “No, honey. I might even wait and open it tomorrow night when Hunter gets here,” Ainsley replied. “Now, run in and get a quick shower.”

  An hour later Melinda was in bed, and Ainsley sat at her table and eyed the package. She hadn’t wanted to open it in front of Melinda in case it was something inappropriate for a young girl to see.

  Just because the packaging was fun and pretty didn’t mean there was something fun and pretty inside. Or did it? Dammit, who had left it for her?

  There was no way she was going to wait until the next night to find out what was inside. She picked the present up and shook it. It had a little weight to it, but made no noise when she moved it back and forth.

  Just open it, she told herself. Whatever was inside couldn’t hurt her. She was being completely childish in being afraid of what she didn’t know.

  The present had obviously been wrapped with care. The ends were perfectly folded and taped. She opened one side. Beneath the wrapping paper was an ordinary brown cardboard box. Carefully she took off all the paper and folded it neatly.

  She then eyed the cardboard box. She thought of the beautiful roses she’d received and then the nasty note. There was absolutely no way to anticipate what might be inside the package.

  Just open the damned thing, she repeated to herself. She grabbed a pair of scissors, cut the tape across the top of the box and then opened the flaps.

  A scream rose up inside her, and she slapped her hand over her mouth to keep it inside. She shoved away from the table, nausea threatening as fear and horror shot through her.

  Hunter. She needed him. She leaned forward to grab her purse straps and then pulled it into her lap. She fumbled for her phone and then hit the button that would call him.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Hunter raced across town to get to Ainsley’s place. Her tearful call had been nearly incoherent. All he really got out of it was that something had happened and she needed him.

  Because there were few people out on the streets, he could push the speed limit to get to her. Unfortunately, he’d been on the other side of town when he’d gotten her call.

  He wasn’t supposed to be on duty at all, but he had taken on an extra shift because of another officer being off for a family death. With so few deputies in the town, it
wasn’t uncommon for all of them to pick up extra shifts to make sure the town was protected at all times.

  He finally pulled up by her door. He’d barely gotten out of his car when she flew out of the apartment and into his arms. She cried into the front of his shirt, her body shaking as he pulled her close.

  He let her cry for several moments and then he unwrapped her arms from around him. “Ainsley...honey, what’s going on? What’s happened?”

  “I...we went to Melinda’s a-appointment and then g-got ice cream and wh-when we got home there was a p-present on the doorstep.” The words jerked out of her amid her tears.

  “A present?”

  She nodded and drew in several deep, long breaths in an obvious attempt to calm down. “It was wrapped up pretty like a present.”

  “Why don’t we go inside so I can see it,” he suggested.

  “Melinda is asleep. I wanted to scream, Hunter.” She grabbed his arm. “I still feel like screaming.”

  “You try not to scream and I’ll try to keep it down so neither of us wake up your daughter,” he said gently. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her toward the door.

  “It’s on the kitchen table,” she said. “I...I’m not sure what it is. All I saw was blood and fur.” A sob choked out of her.

  He went directly to the table where a square cardboard box set next to some ribbon and pink wrapping paper. She stopped behind him.

  He opened the flaps and almost jumped backward. He forced himself to lean in to get a good look at what was inside. He grabbed gloves out of his back pocket and pulled them on, then moved the contents inside the box to better identify what it was.

  “It’s a dead rat,” he said softly. It was a dead, bloody rat with the throat cut. He closed the box and retaped the lid. “Do you have some sort of a sack I can carry all this out in?”

  She went to the cabinet beneath the sink and pulled out a café takeout sack. “Hunter, please help me make sense of this,” she said, her voice shaking as she handed him the sack.