“Trust me. This is a Humvee. It’ll work. Just hang on.” He pressed the horn and turned the flashers on while she gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles.
He dialed 911. “I have a runaway Humvee heading toward Park City. Send someone to alert the other drivers. We’re going to run off the road close to Kimball Junction.”
He dropped the phone without bothering to turn it off and continued to press the horn while she wove around a minivan, narrowly missing the van and the edge of the road.
With teeth still clenched, she gritted out. “I can’t do this.”
“Just a few more feet. We’re almost there.” With some relief, he jerked the wheel to the right and onto a graveled shoulder and then into the dirt up the side of a foothill.
Sirens blared somewhere behind them.
The Humvee continued to slow as it headed up the hill. It stopped just a couple of feet from the top. “Step on the brake.” Zack said. Not knowing what good it would do, she complied. He jerked the Humvee into park.
Sondra dropped her head on the steering wheel, her whole body shaking. She took a shuddering breath.
Zack’s face was white. “That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever lived through. Bar none.”
Sondra, her face still on the steering wheel, said, “The mouse was worse.”
Chapter Twenty, Will
An officer appeared at their window a few minutes later, shaking his head at the laughing couple. He took a report and was followed shortly after by a tow truck.
Sondra called Nikki. “Can you come pick us up? We’re almost at Park City just past the brake check area.”
“What are you doing there?”
“I was driving Zack’s Humvee when the brakes failed.” Sondra’s light tone was a triumph of will.
“They failed? Wasn’t that scary?” Nikki’s voice conveyed all the horror she was feeling.
“Terrifying.” Sondra confirmed.
“Are you okay?” Nikki’s voice shook.
“Not a scratch. Not even on the Hummer.” Sondra reassured her.
“How did you know what to do?” Nikki sounded awe-struck.
“Zack talked me through it.” Sondra was matter-of-fact.
“How did he know what to do?”
Sondra turned to look at Zack, who was working with the tow truck driver in getting the Hummer down the slope. “I have no idea. Maybe it was military training. I’ll ask when I get off the phone.”
“You do that.” Nikki paused and then continued, “Brad and I will head right out. We’ll see you in a bit.”
Zack joined Sondra as she was shutting her phone. She said, “Brad and Nikki are coming out to get us. Let’s go pick up my car and try again, but you can do the driving, if that’s okay.”
“That’s fine.” He put a reassuring arm around her shoulders. “When we come back, we’ll have to stop at the dealer to get your stuff. The brakes should be fixed tomorrow.”
Sondra shuddered. “I’m done driving the Hummer, that’s for sure.”
“I heard about corroded brake line problems, so I had the lines replaced with stainless steel. That was supposed to prevent corrosion. I don’t know what happened.” He was watching the tow driver, who was maneuvering the Hummer to pull it out onto the road.
She shivered; more in response to their close call than the winter chill. “Whatever the deal is, I’m done for the day. Attorney or not, I can’t control basic mechanics.”
He chuckled. “I’m glad to know you understand your limitations. I was beginning to wonder.”
“Speaking of limitations, is there anything you can’t do?”
“What do you mean?” Zack glanced down to meet her eyes.
“How did you know how to handle the failed brakes?”
“Basic driving one oh one.” He pulled her closer. “Nippy out here, isn’t it?” She nodded mutely, and he continued with his original thought. “Didn’t they teach you how to handle failed brakes in driving school?”
She shook her head, her hair brushing against his coat. “Not that I remember.” She tried to ignore his distracting cologne and continued, “If they did, I must’ve slept through that part. It’s been so many years since I took Drivers Ed, I wouldn’t remember anyway.”
“Maybe it was something we covered in military school. I guess I’ve forgotten, too.”
“Whatever the deal is, I’m impressed you kept your cool and handled it like you did.” She stopped herself from touching his hand and stuffed her hands in her pockets instead. Her desire to touch him was something she needed to keep under control. She hid her agitation with her carefully-controlled voice. “My brain quit working. I needed someone to talk me through.”
The tow driver pulled up next to them and rolled down the passenger window. “Do you two want a ride? I don’t want to leave you out in this cold.”
Zack didn’t wait for a second invitation. “We’d really appreciate it. My wife’s sister is coming out to get us, but she won’t be here for another thirty minutes.”
She didn’t want to admit it, but having Zack refer to her as his wife warmed her soul. Maybe there was hope, after all.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the driver’s gravelly voice. “Hop on in.”
She wasn’t as sure of the driver as Zack was. The man looked like he was easily four hundred pounds and he chewed tobacco for a living. The odor coming from the open door meant she’d probably want a shower the minute she arrived at Zack’s place. A crumpled fast food bag sat on the seat, and the man who looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days swept it onto the floor.
Zack boosted her onto the seat. She slid reluctantly over and tried to keep her distance from the odorous driver.
A few minutes later, they pulled into the dealership that would handle the repair on the Hummer. “Thanks for the ride.” Sondra reached to shake the driver’s hand, hoping her repulsion wouldn’t show in her eyes.
“Yeah. Thanks.” Zack smiled at the driver and helped Sondra out.
“Any time.” The driver smiled and waved as Zack closed the door.
“Nice guy.”
“No doubt.” She said while she tried to remember if she’d put any hand sanitizer in her purse. She’d have to settle for a trip to the bathroom and a bar of soap. After a quick detour to the ladies’ room, she settled next to Zack in one of the hard plastic chairs stationed around a big screen tv in the waiting area.
She pulled out her phone and tried to call Nikki. She frowned at her phone. “They must be in a dead zone.”
“Probably,” he agreed. “The canyon blocks signals. You can probably leave a text and she’ll get it when she gets close.”
“Good idea. All this stress is making me brain dead.” She admitted.
“You handle stress every time you enter the courtroom.”
“That’s different. Someone’s life isn’t on the line.” She paused and her brows drew together. “Speaking of lives on the line, do you have any secrets I don’t know about?”
“Considering how long we’ve known each other, I would say there’s a whole lot you don’t know, but I assure you, there aren’t any dank, dark secrets. What about you?”
“Well, I probably have a few angry people out there somewhere.” Her smile was sheepish. “I can be ruthless in the courtroom.”
Zack chuckled. “I can imagine.” Then his eyes grew serious. “Based on your find, I’d say someone has a vendetta.”
Sondra drew a weary hand across her brow. “That’s clear. I just don’t know who.” She peered at Zack through lowered lashes and tried to puzzle out the unknown. Whoever had killed Dewk knew she was married. The wrapping paper on the dinnerware was a clear indicator. What did that mean, and more important, who would hate her that much?
* * *
Nikki and Brad showed up about half an hour later. Sondra was happy to see how good Brad looked. He’d put on weight just during the week they were gone. The new therapy was definitely helping. Maybe Nikki w
ouldn’t have to be a single mother, after all.
Zack followed Sondra’s lead and didn’t mention what they’d found at the house. She was grateful he seemed to understand her desire to protect Nikki and Brad. Despite Brad’s appearance, they were still under a lot of stress with his treatments. He looked better at the moment, but the future was still an unknown.
Trying to keep her mind off recent events, Sondra leaned forward from her seat in the back and said, “Brad, you’re looking a lot better than when we left just a week ago. How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling better than I have in months.”
“What are your plans for the future?” This was the first time she’d dared voice her thoughts. A future hadn’t seemed possible just a few weeks before.
Brad and Nikki exchanged a meaningful glance, and then Nikki turned her gaze back to the road. Brad turned slightly in his seat so he could address them in the back. “If I feel as good as I do right now, I was thinking of approaching my old boss to see if he’d let me start working part time.”
“That’s fantastic.” Sondra hoped her enthusiasm for the topic would hide her agitation at the situation she was in. The thought of someone stalking her shadowed her thoughts. “Do you think he’d let you do that?”
Brad nodded. “He promised me my old position back if I ever wanted it.”
“I know you were an asset to the firm.”
Brad smiled. “I’d like to think so. I was top salesman several years in a row.”
“Nikki told me that. What a blessing he’s held a spot for you.”
Nikki nodded. “We’re excited to even be thinking about it.”
Zack sat back and pressed his lips together. The action was subtle enough that Sondra wouldn’t have noticed had she not been attuned to his every move. He was holding something back, and she wondered what it was. There was enough going on that she appreciated his silence.
Dewk’s death and the death of the twins were new enough to cause another downpour, and Sondra really didn’t want to break down in front of everyone. Her last conversation with Nikki let her know Nikki’s tears were close to the surface, too. It wouldn’t help Brad’s healing if he was surrounded by two women in hysterics.
The topics of conversation went from corroded break line failures to their parents’ mission in Norway. Sondra had missed her last couple of skype visits.
“Mom’s beginning to worry about you. She said you haven’t contacted her in three weeks. She missed your call on Christmas the most.”
Sondra couldn’t stop the guilty flush that spread over her cheeks. “I need to talk to mom,” she mumbled and then wondered how she was going to without mentioning the faux wedding. Well, she amended, the faux marriage. The wedding was real enough.
Much to her relief, Zack switched to weather and sports. Brad took his cue and the two men talked animatedly while Nikki and Sondra stewed in their own thoughts.
When they stopped at Sondra’s townhouse, Nikki stepped out to join Sondra in the driveway. “Thanks again for your sacrifice with the twins. I can’t tell you how much that meant to us.”
The men had continued their conversation on the other side of the car. Sondra looked at Brad. “Do you think if he gets better you can just adopt?” She didn’t want to say anything to Nikki, but this sacrifice for her had been a lot bigger than she’d planned, and thinking about trying again while putting her own happiness with Zack aside was a torture she wasn’t sure she could live through.
“I don’t think an agency would work with us, even if he gets better. And then there’s the problem of the surviving babies. I can’t bring myself to just have them terminated.”
Sondra gasped. “I didn’t think of what would happen to them. What do they do with the unwanted embryos?”
“They either destroy them or they send them to the university to experiment on.”
Sondra’s heart constricted. After seeing the living, thriving embryos in the microscope, she couldn’t bring herself to think of them as anything but her nieces or nephews. How could anyone think about having them killed or worse? She choked on her words. “I-I can’t believe it.”
“Most people don’t think about it.” Nikki paused and stared at her joined hands. Her agitation was showing in her white-knuckle grip. “We didn’t pray about whether or not to create them in the first place, but we prayed a lot in trying to decide what to do with them after we made them. We knew we wouldn’t use a dozen. There’s no way I was going to attempt to carry them after he passed…” Her voice faded off and she stared blankly at the peak above them. “We decided we just couldn’t choose death for our little ones. Our will states that we want our babies adopted by an LDS couple.”
Sondra’s mouth dropped open and then slammed shut. “Can you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Adopt out embryos?”
“Because there are so few infants available for adoption, desperate couples are turning to other means of adoption. It’s bigger than you think, and it’s cheaper to adopt an embryo than it is to perform IVF.”
“I had no idea.”
Nikki nodded. “It’s amazing what infertile couples are willing to do to add children to their family.”
Sondra stared up at the same peak that seemed to hold Nikki’s interest. After a moment of silence and deep thought, Sondra turned back to Nikki. “I don’t want my nieces or nephews raised in another family. At least, not all of them. I promised I’d try again. And I will.”
The sun seemed to burst across Nikki’s face. “You don’t know what this means to me. Thanks so much. I know you’ll do all in your power, and Brad and I have talked about it. We don’t think it’s fair to ask you to do this again.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering, and I will try once more. That’s all I can give. I have my own life I want to work on.”
Nikki hugged Sondra fiercely. “I know you do.” Nikki couldn’t stop the tears coursing down her face. The men were still talking, but they were looking at the sisters with matched horror. The waterworks were noticeable. Sondra tried hard to contain her own. Nikki whispered. “I know you’re sacrificing more than you’re saying. Zack is the catch of a lifetime. Don’t let him go, and please don’t waste any time in telling him how you feel.”
Sondra bit the inside of her lip and wished life would be that easy. She still had to balance her desire for an eternity with Zack with his protective instinct. She didn’t want him feeling trapped to her by obligation. She wanted their eternal venture to be a mutually-agreeable contract. How could she accomplish that while trying to fulfill her promise to Nikki?
Brad stepped over and asked, “Are you alright?” His tender concern was apparent in his voice.
Nikki nodded. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
Sondra was relieved to see them leave. She didn’t want to explain why she didn’t invite them in the house. She stared at the door a moment, almost expecting whoever was stalking her to come running out with a machete, and then moved to the number pad to unlock the garage. She handed Zack the keys. He backed the car out, walked around the car to perform a brief inspection, and then opened the hood.
Sondra’s brows drew together. She shook her head slightly. “What are you doing?”
He met her gaze. “At this point, I don’t think we can be too careful, do you?”
She slapped her left hand over her mouth, unable to process the image of someone tampering with her car. The reality was bigger than she’d imagined.
After his brief but thorough exam, he opened the door for her and made sure she was comfortably settled.
As they were heading back up the canyon to Park City, Zack asked in a carefully casual voice, “I noticed you and Nikki were having an intense discussion.”
She closed her eyes a moment and then met his curious eyes. “Did you know embryos that aren’t used are either destroyed or used for experimentation?”
He pressed his lips together just like he had in the car. It was a slight m
ove, but she noticed. Her eyes narrowed. “You knew, didn’t you?”
His nod was short and quick, and he didn’t elaborate.
“How did you know?”
After another pause and a too-careful move to pass another car, he finally admitted, “I’ve been doing some research. And yes, I read about that.”
Her brows drew together in a puzzled frown. “Why were you doing research?”
He sighed. “I really didn’t want you going through that nightmare time again. I know Nikki and Brad wouldn’t if they’d seen you in the hospital that night. They didn’t. I did. I just can’t bring myself to support you in this.”
She pressed her lips together. His resistance was bringing out the mule in her. “This is something I want to do for Nikki. And my nieces or nephews. I can’t stand to think of them as dying because I didn’t step in to help.”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “I thought you’d be this way.” He passed another slow-moving truck. “Can you at least promise me you won’t try to carry all your sister’s children?”
She bit back a retort. Instead, she quietly said, “I already told Nikki I would only try once more. I have my own life to live. She can’t expect more than that.”
The relief on Zack’s face startled her. She was touched by his concern. From his reaction, it was apparent that he really didn’t want to see her suffer again.
Not waiting for him to talk, she went on, “Nikki told me that they’ve already written out a will that specifies any remaining embryos will be saved for an LDS couple interested in adopting.”
He glanced at her, obviously startled by the revelation. “Can you do that?”
“I don’t know. It’s nothing I’ve been involved in. I haven’t studied the law involved with embryo adoptions. I’ve only worked with couples who are adopting born children. I’ll have to look into it.” She stared out the window at the passing scenery and realized with some surprise that they were passing the spot where Zack had jerked the steering wheel and got them off the road. Their conversation had kept her from stressing over their earlier trauma. She turned back to him, “All I know is that Nikki seemed to think her will was legitimate. She firmly believes that an LDS couple will be found for her remaining children.”
Lined With Silver Page 20