The rest of the day was busy but nothing else out of the ordinary occurred. No paparazzi. No more visits from Francine. Still, Bri had been a little on edge all day, not knowing what to expect, and by the time the day ended, all she really wanted to do was to go home and relax a while.
By the time she got to her house, she was yawning every few seconds, so she ate a quick supper and decided to go to bed early. She almost called Devin to ask if he’d heard anything from Francine, but on second thought, she didn’t want to give the impression she was worried about the situation in any way. Devin already felt guilty about involving her in his problems, so she decided to say nothing.
The following morning dawned sunny but cooler. Bri turned on a local radio station while she was eating breakfast and learned that schools were back in session today but starting one hour late. She wished now she’d called Devin last night because she wanted to know if he was going to allow Kaitlin to go to school or keep her home to avoid any possible contact with Francine. She couldn’t call him now. It was too early, but she’d definitely call after she got to work.
Unfortunately, with Eric back in school, Bri had no one to cover the front, and with Valentine’s Day only four days away, tourists were pouring into town and many were stopping by the bakery to buy cookies and cupcakes. As for special-order cakes, Bri had set a noon deadline today for accepting any more orders prior to the fifteenth.
Business slowed around noon, as it usually did when people took a break to eat lunch in one of the downtown restaurants. Bri had just breathed a sigh of relief when the chime above the door sounded again. She pasted on a smile, prepared to greet yet another customer. When she recognized the man coming through the door, her smile faded. “Michael,” she murmured softly.
He flashed her the self-deprecating smile that had appealed to her the day they first met in the museum in Atlanta. He’d not changed much in the interim. His dark brown hair had always been thick and healthy, but he obviously had a new stylist. Today his hair was parted on one side and dipped toward his forehead with a jaunty wave. His brown leather coat swung open to reveal a pair of tan corduroy slacks and a beige fisherman’s sweater. He looked good and he knew it.
He paused, obviously posing for effect. “Hello, Bri. It’s good to see you. And you look great. What have you done to your hair?”
Bri regarded him with her “cut the BS” expression. “My hair? I really don’t think it’s changed since the last time we met.”
His smile flickered but returned in full force. He advanced a couple more steps and cocked his head to one side as though to take a closer look. “I think it’s somewhat longer. I like it touching your shoulders that way. How have you been?”
“What are you doing here, Michael?”
His smile flickered again, then faded completely. “I saw the article about you on the Internet. I was in the neighborhood so thought I’d stop by. I’m glad to see you were able to buy your own bakery. Before you ended our engagement, I was hoping to buy one for you.”
“Oh? Was that going to be a wedding surprise?” She didn’t bother to hide her skepticism.
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? Are you seeing someone? Maybe that writer you were pictured with? The way he was looking at you, I sure got the impression he is enamored with you.”
“I really don’t see that it’s any of your—” The chime over the door sounded, and she glanced toward the front, then suppressed a moan.
Francine had returned.
Today she wore a brown suede jacket over a burnt orange sweater and a suede boot skirt. She’d omitted the sunglasses and the hat from her previous visit but still wore the same condescending smile. In spite of her unpleasant expression, she remained one of the most beautiful women Bri had ever seen.
And Michael obviously agreed. He stared at Francine with his mouth practically hanging open for a few seconds, then turned to her with a half bow. “Good afternoon. Please go ahead of me. I’m not actually here to buy anything.”
“Neither am I,” Francine informed him with a snobbish tilt to her nose. She glanced away, then looked back and examined him with a critical eye. Seemingly she liked what she saw. “But since you’re such a gentleman, I’ll go ahead and state my business with this female.”
She looked back at Bri. “Devin refuses to speak to me. He was always a bitter little man. So please inform him that I’m going back to New York. As an actor, I would be doing Kaitlin a disservice if I were to try to take her to live with me. I would not be able to devote the time to her that she would require. Everyone should understand that.”
She didn’t wait for Bri to respond. She turned and would have walked away had Michael not intervened. “Forgive me for bothering you, Miss, but I feel that I’ve seen you somewhere.”
Francine’s eyes widened, almost as though she was preparing to give Michael a sharp set down, so Bri quickly interceded. “Allow me to introduce you two. Francine, this is Michael Craven, one of the most successful businessmen in the South. And Michael, this is Francine Morris—”
“Taylor,” Francine snapped, interrupting Bri. “My stage name is Taylor. I’ve never used any other name on Broadway.” She stuck out a gloved hand. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Craven.”
“Please call me Michael. You know, I’d be interested in producing a Broadway play if I could find a suitable script and the caliber of actors I’d need to make it a success. That’s always been an interest of mine.”
“Really? Perhaps we could get together sometime. I run across a few good scripts occasionally. Do you ever travel to New York?”
Michael turned his back on Bri to devote his full attention to Francine. “My business takes me there almost weekly. However, I’m headed back to Atlanta this afternoon. Why don’t you come with me? We can have dinner at one of my restaurants, talk business, and then I’ll take you back to New York in my jet.”
“That sounds lovely,” Francine replied, also turning her back on Bri.
Bri sighed in relief when Michael opened the front door and motioned for Francine to precede him. Neither turned to say goodbye to Bri, which suited her just fine. She needed to call Devin as quickly as possible and let him know what Francine had said.
Since Mrs. Sandler had gone to lunch, Bri walked to the front, flipped the sign in the door over to CLOSED, and hurried to the kitchen to use the phone there. She’d just reached for the receiver when a call rang through.
“Darn,” she muttered under her breath. Whoever it was, she needed to get rid of them fast. “Bri’s Bakery. How can I help you?”
“Bri, it’s Devin. Kaitlin’s gone.” Devin’s voice was tight, as though he was barely holding himself together.
“What do you mean, gone? Where has she been today?”
“She wanted to go to school. I took her, but she said she wanted to ride the bus home so I talked to her teacher. She’d heard about Francine being in town, and she agreed to see that Kaitlin got on the school bus this afternoon. Mrs. Lang was to meet her when she got off the bus, but Kaitlin disappeared sometime between getting on the bus at school and when the bus reached our house.”
“You’re sure she got on the bus?”
“Her teacher swears she watched Kaitlin get on the bus, and that she watched the bus until it pulled out. She says Kaitlin waved to her from the window.”
“What does the bus driver say?”
“He didn’t see her get off anywhere, but obviously she did. I’ve contacted the sheriff and he’s sending a couple of deputies to drive the entire bus route. I’m getting ready to go out myself. But you know what I’m afraid of.”
“I do, and I was just about to call you. Francine left here less than ten minutes ago, and I’m almost positive she wouldn’t have taken Kaitlin.” She quickly summarized what had happened between Francine and Michael, and she passed along Francine’s message about not wanting Kaitlin.
“Do you believe she was telling the truth?” Devin asked.
“I do
, but I’ll pass Michael’s name along to the sheriff. I don’t know whether he was driving his own car or a rental, but they should be able to find him soon enough.”
“I think my little girl ran away from home,” Devin said. Bri could judge that the words hadn’t been easy for him to say.
“Why would she do that?”
“Mrs. Lang thinks Kaitlin might have overheard us talking about her mother and started worrying that her mother was going to take her away. I don’t know. I thought I was being careful not to speak in front of her, but Mrs. Lang reminded me that Kaitlin has very acute hearing.”
“So,” he continued, “there’s a possibility she got off the bus with some other kids. The driver wouldn’t have necessarily noticed one extra child, especially if she picked some place where several children got off at the same time. And if she did that, she may be lost by now. And it’s supposed to drop below freezing tonight.”
Bri could hear the fear in Devin’s tone so she kept her own voice matter of fact. “I’ll contact Arthur right now. He knows about a dozen men he can call on to take part in a search. They’ve done it before. He knows to coordinate with the sheriff so their efforts aren’t duplicated. I’m going home right now and look around my place. My house isn’t far off the bus route, and Kaitlin might have decided to visit the kittens.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Devin said and hung up.
Bri called Arthur, then scribbled a note to Mrs. Sandler telling her what had happened and asking her to cover the store as best she could but not to worry if sales were lost. Sales were totally inconsequential in comparison to that darling little girl who had stolen Bri’s heart. She didn’t want to think of Kaitlin being cold or afraid but she knew that was a good possibility.
Twenty minutes later, Bri pulled into her driveway and saw Devin’s Jeep parked near the house. He obviously had started searching on his own because when she cut her motor, he pushed the barn door open and stepped outside.
Bri unfastened her seat belt and jumped out. “Any sign that Kaitlin has been here?”
Devin shrugged. “I can’t say for sure but I think two kittens are missing. How many were there to start with?”
“Six, but sometimes they’re sleeping up in a stall or even behind a post where you’d miss them in the shadows. I’ll check.”
She hurried into the barn with Devin at her heels. “I called Arthur. He’ll have the search party ready in half an hour. Because Kaitlin must have got off the bus somewhere in this neck of the woods, they’ll make my house their headquarters. You can wait with me if you want the latest news from those out searching.”
“I don’t think I can sit and wait,” Devin said. “I’ll have my cell phone wherever I go and you can call me if there’s any news.”
While she talked, Bri had been searching the barn and calling for the kittens. All came running except two—Greybeard and Little Bit. She looked at Devin. The anguish in his eyes was difficult to face, and she feared her next words might make it worse. “I think Kaitlin’s been here. Her kittens are gone, along with a feeding dish and, if memory serves me correctly, a basket that Mom once used for gathering eggs back when she kept chickens.”
Devin shook his head as though to clear it. “Where on earth could she have gone with two kittens?”
Bri felt just as mystified as he looked. “Could she have taken them to your house?”
Devin pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “Mrs. Lang agreed to stay until I get back, and her daughter Jennie is keeping her company. I’ll ask them to search the house.”
When he hung up a few minutes later, he blew his breath out in a sigh. “Mrs. Lang says she’s almost certain Kaitlin couldn’t have got in the house without them knowing it, but they’ll search anyway. And Jennie’s husband has joined them too, so he’ll search outside. They’ll call if they find anything.”
“That’s good,” Bri assured him.
“I still don’t know why she would have run away. Surely she knew I’d take care of her no matter what.”
“There’s no way of knowing what goes through a child’s mind sometimes. Let’s go in the house. I need to get coffee started in case any of the men drop by to warm up.”
Devin looked at the sky and frowned. “What time does it get dark?”
“We have a couple more hours of daylight left. And even if we haven’t found her before it gets dark, everyone will keep looking.”
“You go ahead inside. I’m going to join a search party.” He started to turn but paused when Bri reached to grasp his arm.
“I keep wondering where Kaitlin would take the kittens. She’s a bright little girl. She’d know she has to take care of them and keep them warm. Remember, she was worried about them staying warm enough in the barn?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Did we talk about the cave in front of Kaitlin?”
Devin’s frown eased a little. “I don’t recall. We might have.”
“It wouldn’t have been on the day you and I made our trek to the cave, because she’d gone to the Wheeler house to ride Mister Patches. But I seem to recall that we mentioned it the following day when you brought her back out here to pick out her second kitten. We’d had our hot chocolate and cake pops and you were leaving. You thanked me again for showing you the cave and said how thrilled your protagonist would be to have a dry place to sleep for a couple of nights.”
“I remember now.” Devin’s eyes had widened with renewed hope. “You and I both laughed.” His expression darkened. “But we didn’t say anything about how to get to the cave, did we?”
“Maybe. Didn’t you mention being glad that you hadn’t picked up any beggar’s lice when we walked through my field to the woodland even though beggar’s lice might be something you’ll use in a future story?”
“By damn, I think you’re right. Do you have a flashlight I can borrow? I might need it before I can get to the cave and back.”
“I’ll get two flashlights,” Bri said, turning toward the house. “I’m going with you, of course.”
“What if some members of the search party come here to warm up?”
“I’ll leave the front door unlocked. Everybody would know to make themselves at home.”
Fifteen minutes later, Devin, with Bri alongside, had slogged through her field and stepped into the edge of the woodland. The skies had clouded over to the point that they needed their flashlights as soon as they stepped among the trees, and the going became slow. Patches of snow still lingered in shaded spots along the pathway, and a strengthening wind flung dead pine needles and droplets of frigid water into their faces.
Devin trod ahead, trying to slow his pace enough to allow Bri to keep up, but his instinct was to hurry. He had never known such fear and—even with his writer’s imagination—would never have thought that such fear could exist. If Kaitlin wasn’t at the cave, would they locate her tonight? If not…but he refused to think along those lines. That way madness lies. Shakespeare had certainly known how to cut to the chase.
But what if Bri was wrong and Kaitlin hadn’t gone to the cave after all? What if Francine had kidnapped his little girl? Francine didn’t love Kaitlin. She would use her but could never really love her. She wasn’t capable of unconditional love.
Still, the idea of Francine’s having taken Kaitlin seemed more logical than supposing that the child had been able to walk from the bus route to Bri’s barn, capture two kittens and then make her way to the cave. Was he wasting time plowing through this soggy woodland instead of trying to track Francine down?
“Slow down, Devin,” Bri called from somewhere behind him. “We’re getting close to the drop-off. You run the risk of hurting yourself if you fall.”
He knew she was right so he paused to wait for her. “Sorry, Bri.”
“No apology necessary. But the slope is likely to be slick. We should take it easy.”
He merely nodded. Still, he slowed his steps for a couple of minutes but, without intending to do so, h
e soon sped up again. He heard Bri behind him, her breathing heavy as she struggled to keep up.
And then his right foot hit a patch of snow and the ground disappeared. He landed hard on his back and starting sliding toward the drop-off. He grabbed at the undergrowth, but roots loosened by recent rains couldn’t hold him or slow his descent. He went over the drop-off in a tangle of arms and legs, and his flashlight flew out of his hand. The light blinked out, and the air left his lungs with a resounding grunt when he hit the bottom.
He’d barely had time to draw a breath when he heard Kaitlin’s muffled scream. Ignoring the briars that tore at his sleeves and the sharp rocks that cut into his hands, he scrambled to his feet, prepared to start running toward the cave. He would have to move more by instinct than anything else because his flashlight had rolled into the underbrush and he had no time to search for it. Thank God Bri was behind him.
In fact, he could hear her crashing through the undergrowth on the bank above him. “Be careful, Bri, but hurry. I heard Kaitlin scream.”
“I heard her too,” Bri puffed. “Her voice sounded muffled, so I think she’s in the cave. Here, let me toss you my flashlight.”
Devin turned back to see Bri standing at the top of the drop-off. Before he could speak, she pitched her flashlight toward him. He instinctively reached to catch it.
“Go on,” Bri ordered. “I can get down on my own. Find Kaitlin.”
He needed no further encouragement. He turned and ran, using the flashlight’s beam to guide him around the edge of the bluff and toward the mouth of the cave.
“Kaitlin,” he shouted. “Kaitlin, can you hear me?”
“Daddy! Daddy, I’m here, in the cave.”
And then the beam of light found his little girl. She stood at the opening of the cave. Her coat was muddy and torn. Her shoes and legs were covered with mud. Her hair was a tangled mess around her face, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.
“Daddy, daddy, I’m sorry!”
He fell to his knees in front of her, pulling her into his arms and hugging her so tight she huffed out a quick breath of protest. “Too tight, Daddy.”
My Cupcake, My Love Page 8