by Sherry Lewis
“I don’t know where they went.”
“Let’s check the woodshed first.” He looked back over his shoulder at Vic’s inert body. “Thank God they weren’t in here to see him fall.”
Abby wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly. She turned to look at Vic again, as if reassuring herself that he wasn’t coming after them.
Wincing at the pain that seemed to grow steadily worse, Kurt held her against him as he led her out the door and across the clearing. “We’d better let them know it’s us, or we might be attacked when we open the door.”
“The kids were wonderful. You should’ve seen them. I couldn’t believe how they fought Vic. They’ve always been so afraid of him.”
“They’re fighters, Abby. That’s how they’ve survived this long.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips and drew away reluctantly. “Hey, kids,” he called to them, “drop your weapons and come on out here. We’re getting out of this place.”
The door of the woodshed creaked open slowly before Brody stepped out. The boy’s eyes widened and a look of horror spread across his face. “Dad? Are you all right?”
“It’s nothing serious. I’ll be fine.”
“I thought he was going to kill us.”
“I’d have killed him first or died trying.” Kurt pulled Brody to him and held him tightly. “Do you know how much I love you?”
As he raised tear-filled eyes to look at his father, Brody’s lip trembled. “I love you, too, Dad.”
Erin and Michael emerged from the woodshed, their faces pale and frightened. “Abby? Kurt? What happened?”
“We’ll tell you the whole story later. Right now, we’re getting out of here.” They’d have to walk to the Warners’s, but if they hurried, they’d beat Vic even if he did regain consciousness. Hopefully, Warner would be there, but if not, Kurt wouldn’t hesitate to break into the cabin and deal with the damage later.
“You’ve got to let me at least bandage that before we go anywhere. We need to stop the bleeding.” Abby pulled back the fabric of his shirt to reveal the wound.
“We’ll stop when we’re just a little farther away from the cabin. I really don’t think he’s coming after you ever again, but let’s not take any chances.” He spoke quietly and hoped the children couldn’t hear him. No matter how crazed he’d been at the end, Vic Harrison was Erin and Michael’s father. They’d suffer enough from the horror of this evening once the shock wore off. Kurt didn’t want to make it worse for them now.
Motioning the kids to go ahead, he grabbed Abby’s hand and kept her at his side as they started toward the road. When they reached the grove of trees where Vic had hidden his truck, Kurt stopped. If they took the truck, he could get Abby and the kids safely to town and let the sheriff know what had happened up here.
He scarcely dared hope the keys would be inside, but miraculously they were. Glinting in the moonlight, they dangled from the ignition, issuing an invitation.
“Everybody in. You’ll have to sit on laps and squeeze together. Abby, you’re going to have to drive. Let’s move!”
Galvanized by the urgency in his voice, the kids climbed into the cab of the truck and Abby got into the driver’s seat. In the crowded space, Kurt pressed against the door and bit back a moan. With concern evident in his eyes, Brody clutched Kurt’s good hand and watched the road as Abby drove.
Each time they hit a rut, Abby flinched but didn’t tear her eyes away from the road. Kurt wanted to smile at her concern, but even smiling hurt too much. Closing his eyes, he tried to keep the pain at bay as the truck jolted over the rutted drive. And he focused his thoughts on the future he wanted when this was all behind them.
ABBY GRIPPED the dashboard as the sheriff’s Blazer bounced over a series of bumps in the road. Back on the road less than an hour after they’d arrived in Milford, she’d had to leave the kids with the sheriff’s wife and Kurt in the doctor’s care. She wanted to be back in Milford with them, safe and warm, not jolting over this washboard road on the way to the scene of her worst nightmare.
“Shame about your friend getting hurt like that.” Sheriff Travis leaned back in his seat and sent Abby a gap-toothed smile. “I wouldn’t drag you all the way up here if I was absolutely sure about where to go, but when you get up in these mountains some of the cabins are pretty remote. Don’t want to spin my wheels looking for the place in case that old boy’s heading back down the mountain. We’ll make sure you’re safe, though. Don’t you worry about that.” He lit a cigarette with the Blazer’s lighter and exhaled noisily. “Kind of a strange thing, wasn’t it—him finding you all the way up here?”
After all the precautions she’d taken, she still couldn’t believe it. She’d thought that by keeping their situation a secret she could protect the kids. Instead, it was the secrecy that led to their discovery: Zelda would never have told Vic where to find them if she’d known the truth.
“Well, the important thing is that you and the kids are safe.” Sheriff Travis flicked ash off his cigarette and studied the rearview mirror. “And Dr. Lowe says your fella’s going to be fine. Bullet chewed him up a little on the way through. He’ll be sore for a while, but he’ll be all right.”
“Thank God for that.” Watching Vic shoot Kurt had been worse than anything Abby had ever experienced. She couldn’t imagine what she would’ve done if he’d been more seriously injured.
Sheriff Travis dragged on his cigarette and pointed at the road ahead. “Is that the turnoff I want?”
Abby studied the landscape, surprised when she recognized where they were. “On your left.”
The sheriff slowed and checked his mirror again for the vehicle carrying his two deputies. Apparently satisfied, he turned onto the rutted lane that led to the cabin. “Brinkman’ll wait out here with you while Chavez and I check the cabin. I hope you’re right and our man’s still inside. But in case he’s not, I don’t want you out here alone, and Brinkman’s one of our best. He’ll see nothing happens to you.”
Bringing the Blazer to a stop, the sheriff rolled down his window and motioned the deputies to pull up beside him. Though she’d seen Vic lying on the floor and knew that if he was still alive he’d be too badly hurt to harm her, Abby tensed, half expecting Vic to charge out of the cabin. Her heart beat rapidly and her throat constricted again. Why did they need her up here?
“Let me just parley with the boys for a minute.” Sheriff Travis pushed open the door and disappeared into the night, leaving her cold and alone and frightened.
Minutes dragged by like hours before the tallest of the two deputies opened the car door and folded himself onto the front seat beside her. “You all right, ma’am?”
Abby nodded, but kept her eyes on the sheriff and the other deputy as they approached the cabin. Both men had drawn their weapons and they skirted the clearing, staying in the deep cover of the trees.
Brinkman leaned forward, his eyes alert and trained on the surrounding landscape. “It shouldn’t be too much longer now.”
She hoped not. After their narrow escape earlier, she didn’t know how much more of this she could stand.
Sheriff Travis climbed the steps and took a stance on one side of the door while Chavez pushed it open with his hand. When nothing happened, Chavez disappeared inside, and a few seconds later Sheriff Travis followed.
What would they do if Vic had survived the fall? If he’d gotten away? It would mean more running, more hiding and greater fear, since he’d be angrier and more violent than ever. Rachel and the kids may have simply traded one hell for another.
For the first time, Abby realized how much courage Rachel had shown to break away. And at the same time, she thought of Kurt and realized how lucky she’d been to find him.
A light flickered inside the cabin. Brinkman tensed and lowered his hand to the holster on his hip. Abby tried to will her heart to beat more slowly. Tears stung her eyes at the thought of dying here in the dark, miles from Kurt and the kids.
Memories of other ni
ghts spent in patrol cars flooded over her. Visions of a future working stakeouts for the governor’s task force taunted her. She couldn’t do this—not now, not next week, not ever again.
Something had happened to her during the past few weeks. She could never go back to her old way of life. She wanted to be with Kurt and Brody, with Erin and Michael. She wanted to tell Kurt how much she loved him, how deeply the thought that he might die had cut her, and how she didn’t want to live without him.
Brinkman cleared his throat softly and scanned the clearing. “Come on, Travis, you slow son of a…gun,” he whispered. “Get your… Get out here and tell us what the…what’s going on.”
Abby could feel his tension, almost equal to her own. She’d begun to wonder if she was the only one who thought the sheriff and Chavez were taking too long.
Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled. A breeze picked up for a minute, rustling leaves and brushing through the undergrowth. Abby’s senses pricked. What was happening inside?
Far away, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled again as a shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. “Brinkman,” someone shouted. “Come on in here.”
Relief washed through Abby as she recognized Sheriff Travis’s voice.
Brinkman stuck his head out the window and shouted back, “What about Ms. Drake?”
“Tell her to stay there.”
“What the…” Brinkman shot a puzzled glance at Abby. “I’m going to have to go see what he wants.” He opened the door partway, but instead of getting out, he shouted, “Hadn’t I better stay here and keep an eye on her?”
“She’ll be all right now. Looks like the guy in here’s dead. Broken neck. We’ll get an ID from her in a minute.”
Dead. The picture of Vic lying on the floor of the cabin flashed before her eyes, and with it came a strange peace and the realization that Rachel and the kids were finally safe.
Brinkman slid out of the car and smiled down at her. “You going to be all right out here, or do you want me to stay with you?”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
But as she watched Brinkman cross the clearing, she began to tremble, and by the time he reached the cabin, she felt sick to her stomach. She’d played a part in a man’s death. And no matter how sick and evil he’d become, he’d been her brother-in-law.
She closed her eyes and took in great gulps of fresh mountain air. She saw Vic again—Vic as he’d been fifteen years ago. Young and handsome in his tuxedo as he waited for Rachel at the altar, holding Erin the day they’d brought her home from the hospital, teaching Michael to play pat-a-cake. Tears slipped down her cheeks and she buried her face in her hands, letting her grief take hold.
She wouldn’t have changed her actions tonight— Vic had left her with no alternative. He’d died trying to kill her. But she couldn’t help wishing it hadn’t been necessary.
It could easily have been her life lost. Or Kurt’s. If the shot hadn’t been deflected, he might have died from the gunshot wound.
Maybe she wasn’t able to give him the life he wanted, and he might not want to make a life with her, but she loved him. With her heart and her soul, she loved him.
She didn’t expect him to love her back. And she didn’t want him to try to love her just because he thought he should. A relationship built under those conditions would inevitably fail, and too many people would get hurt when it did. Leaving Kurt and Brody now would hurt worse than anything she’d ever done. But if she stayed, she’d fall even more deeply in love with Kurt—and with his son. And when the time came to leave them, her pain would be unbearable.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“IF YOU’LL TAKE these, Mr. Morgan, you’ll be ready to sleep through the night after your visitor leaves.” The nurse shoved the small paper cup holding pain pills under Kurt’s nose.
He felt like a child again. “Let me see Abby first.”
“Mr. Morgan—”
“I’m not taking that stuff until I know what’s going on.” Kurt leaned back against his pillow and shifted his weight, trying not to flinch when pain tore through his shoulder.
The nurse smiled knowingly. “Let me know when you’re ready for them.”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
“I’m sure I will.” Opening the door, the nurse stepped back to admit Abby and pulled it closed behind her.
Kurt watched Abby pass under the light on the wall opposite his bed. Even in the dimness of the hospital room her hair looked like spun gold, and he ached to hold her. It amazed him that he’d never felt like this about any woman before.
Abby. How could he live without her? He’d treated her cautiously since the day she’d walked into his life. But discretion had gotten him nowhere. After all this time he was no closer to winning her than he’d been the night they met.
If he kept worrying about moving too fast, he’d lose his chance with her for certain. Well, he wouldn’t be cautious any longer.
When she reached his bedside, he stretched out his good arm. “You look tired.”
“I’m fine. But how are you? Did the doctor get the bullet out? What did he say?”
“I’m all right. Nothing to worry about.” Her hand felt so good in his he never wanted to let her go. “I’ve been waiting for you. What happened?”
“Vic’s dead, Kurt. His neck broke when he fell…”
“Dear God. Have you told the kids?”
“Not yet.”
“I want to be there with you when you do.” The death of their father, no matter how vicious he’d been, would be devastating to Erin and Michael.
But Abby shook her head. “I’m going to tell them as soon as I leave here, and you’re obviously not going anywhere for a few days.”
“I don’t want you to have to do this alone. You’ve been through too much already. At least let me give you moral support when you tell them.”
Again she shook her head. She obviously didn’t intend to let him assume even a minor role in her life any longer, when what he wanted was a whole future with her.
Kurt caressed her hand with his thumb. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, Abby.”
“I don’t think—”
Straining upward, he kissed her lightly. “I hated your being back up there while I was stuck here, not able to help.”
“I was fine, Kurt. I worried about you.”
He held her gaze with his own and kissed her again. If he didn’t say it now, he never would. “Abby, I love you. Please stay. Don’t go back to Baltimore.”
When she twisted her hand away from his, a sick feeling crept over him.
“I can’t stay.”
“What?”
“I’ve got to take the kids back to Rachel—”
“I’ll go with you.”
“—and there’s the new job.”
“Turn it down.”
She hesitated for a second before she shook her head. “I can’t. It’s not that simple.”
“It’s exactly that simple. I love you and I want you to stay. I want you to be my wife. And Brody would love to have you for a mom.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?” He reached for her again, but she escaped to the foot of his bed and faced him across it.
“Kurt, I care about you deeply. You’re a wonderful man and my life is going to feel empty without you—”
“It doesn’t have to. Why can’t you stay?”
“Kurt, please—”
“I’m telling you that I love you, Abby. With all my heart. And you’re telling me you care for me? That I’m wonderful? Is that all?”
“What you want—what you need from a wife—I can’t give you. I can’t have children, Kurt. I’ve told you that before.”
“Is that what this is all about? Children? I don’t care.”
“You think that now, but it does matter. Ever since I met you, you’ve talked about giving Brody brothers and sisters—about wanting a life like Jack and Theresa’s. And I know how much Brody wants t
hat.”
“Abby—”
“No. Don’t say anything else. I’ve been through this once already with Steven. I’m not going to go through it again. Not with you.”
Abby watched Kurt’s eyes lose their spark, and she thought her heart would break. “I see. You expect me to be exactly like Steven, to react the way he did, to reject you eventually because you can’t give me children?”
“I know—”
“No, you don’t know. What I want, Abby—”
A movement near the door caught their attention. Kurt broke off just as Jack poked his head into the room. “Hey, you two, are you okay?”
Abby couldn’t make herself speak and Kurt answered only with cold silence, but Jack seemed not to notice. “Theresa’s talking to the doctor. She’ll be here in a minute.” He crossed the room and pulled a chair up to Kurt’s bedside.
Abby turned away, hoping Jack wouldn’t see her face. She had to get out of here. If she stayed in this room another second, she’d lose control completely. Besides, they’d already said everything they had to say.
While Jack badgered Kurt with questions, Abby slipped out. Walking quickly, she almost made it to the front door before tears blurred her vision and the lump in her throat threatened to choke her. With a sob, she burst through the door and hurried into the night.
She’d done what she had to do, but nothing in her life had ever hurt this much.
ABBY ZIPPED CLOSED the last bag and lifted it from the bed, then ticked items from her list of things to do before she and the kids left Pine Cove. She’d reserved a motel room for tonight in Seattle and called the airline. She’d cleaned the house thoroughly, washed the bedding and arranged to leave the key on the kitchen table for Zelda.
She’d sold her car to the garage and talked with Richard Schurtz on the governor’s task force. Though her heart wasn’t in it, she’d accepted the position and agreed to start work on Monday. Now she had nothing left to do but wait.
But waiting meant thinking of Kurt, as she had every spare moment of the past few hours. And thinking of Kurt only brought fresh pain.