by Mia Caldwell
THREE DAYS LATER, PHAE WASN’T smiling anymore. She collapsed into her easy chair and covered her face with her hands. How had everything gone so terribly wrong?
She’d come up with an elaborate plan to end Leon’s trips to the tavern once and for all, and had it all set to go tonight, but she’d never gotten the chance to put the plan into action. Luck wasn’t with her tonight, and Leon had left the bar early, blowing everything.
She thought about the night two weeks before when she’d taunted Kent that the best woman would win their contest. She’d certainly proven that she was nobody’s best woman. She was a meddler and a fool and had probably ruined her aunt’s and uncle’s lives.
She jerked when someone pounded on her door. She glanced at her watch. It was two a.m.
“Phae! Let me in!”
She raced to the door, jerked it open, then rushed into Kent’s strong arms.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he murmured as he smoothed her hair.
Holding her tightly, he eased his way into the room, closing the door with his foot.
Phae struggled to hold back tears. “I’ve messed up so terribly. Everything I tried only made it worse, and now the worst thing possible has happened. Oh, Kent, you were right all along. I never should have messed with anyone’s lives. I should have let them handle their own problems.”
He gently shushed her and led her to the sofa. He picked up the night-vision glasses she’d tossed on the cushion earlier.
“Hey,” he softly teased, “you should take better care of these things. Don’t you like them? Where’s the case?”
“I love them. And you should take them back. I won’t be needing them anymore. I’m never going to meddle in anyone’s life ever again.”
“You just feel that way right now. I can make you feel better.”
She took a deep breath and gazed into his gorgeous blue eyes. “I’m so glad you’re here. I needed you. I completely failed with Meg and Leon. I was just at their house. Oh, Kent, something awful has—”
“Shh. Things aren’t as bad as they seem. Trust me, I—”
A car door slammed outside. Kent raised his eyebrows and looked at Phae questioningly.
“I don’t know,” Phae whispered.
Someone banged on the front door hard enough to make the frame shake.
“Let me in, Phae! I know you’re awake. You’ve gone too far this time. Open this door before I break it down. You hear me? I’ll break it down!”
“It’s James,” Phae said. “Don’t let him in. My clothes! I’ve got to change so he doesn’t see me in this.”
“You’re okay. Nothing suspicious about dressing like a beatnik from the fifties.”
“What?”
“You know, black turtleneck and slacks. Whatever. Be thankful you didn’t put on that black paint tonight. Where’s your tool belt?”
She pointed toward her bedroom. Kent leaped up off the sofa, grabbed the night vision glasses then dashed down the hall.
In a moment, he strode back into the living room, sent Phae a fortifying look, then opened the front door.
James barged inside, every part of him testifying to his fury. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, glaring at Kent.
Kent closed the door and leaned against it. “I might ask you the same question.”
James ran his hand over his head then turned to Phae, who sat glued to the sofa. “Tell him to leave. I’ve got some things to say and I don’t think you want him hearing it.”
“Leave her alone.” Kent walked over and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Phae stared open-mouthed at her livid cousin. “I don’t want him to leave. What’s going on? Why are you here?”
“Fine,” James said, “have it your way. I want you to get over to Meg’s and Leon’s right now and tell them everything you’ve done to ruin their lives.”
Tears burned at the back of Phae’s eyes. “I don’t understand.”
“Dammit, Phae! Family services took their kids tonight and Meg and Leon deserve to know who made it happen.”
“Whoa!” Kent interjected. “You need to back the hell off. Phae didn’t make this happen. Their stubbornness and refusal to see reason is why their kids were taken. And the situation isn’t as bad as you—”
James’ glare burned into Phae. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if someone hadn’t meddled where she didn’t belong. And those poor kids would be sleeping in their own beds right now instead of being shuttled to a foster home and scared half to death.”
That did it. Phae burst into tears. It was too much. James was right. She was to blame. The more she’d tried to fix Leon’s and Meg’s issues, the worse it had gotten. She’d destroyed their family.
She was the worst person who ever lived.
Kent bent down, scooped her up, then sat back down with her cradled on his lap. “It’s okay, baby. James doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. Shut up, James. So help me God, if you say another word, I’ll …”
Phae buried her face on Kent’s shoulder. She didn’t deserve his comfort, or his defense, but she needed it more than anything.
“You don’t know everything, Kent,” James said. “And it’s time you did. Phae is Captain Nice Guy.”
He said it like he was dropping a bomb on the room, and when it didn’t go off, he was at a loss to continue. Phae cried quietly and Kent held her tightly, murmuring she had nothing to blame herself for.
“I said, Phae is Captain Nice Guy. Do you understand what I’m saying?” James demanded.
“Obviously,” Kent answered. “What I’d like to know is how you know.”
“Me too,” Phae said with a sniffle.
“How do you know?” James asked.
“I figured it out,” Kent said. “Your turn.”
James finally stopped looming over them and sat down in the easy chair. “I’ve known all along. Grandma Jones told me years ago.”
Phae sat up straight, stunned. Her grandmother had told James? Why would she do that? Phae had trusted her to keep the secret and she’d been betrayed.
She hardly registered that Kent and James were talking.
“I don’t see how you could have figured it out,” James said.
“And I don’t see what difference it makes,” Kent said. “If you’d shut up for a second I could tell you—”
Phae found her voice finally. “James, how could Grandma have told you about me? Did she tell you about Chicago, too? She told you all my secrets, didn’t she?”
“I don’t know anything about Chicago. She told me about your night-time activities long before the paper started calling you Captain Nice Guy. Grandma wanted to protect you, to make sure that I or one of my deputies didn’t shoot you some night thinking you were a criminal.”
“Grandma didn’t trust me to be good at this?” she asked.
“Unbelievable. That’s what you take away from it.” James’ upper lip curled. “It had nothing to do with trust and everything to do with people who love you trying to protect you.”
“I don’t know what to think,” Phae said.
“I know what to think,” Kent said. “Your grandmother loved you and didn’t want you hurt, so she protected you the best way she knew. The same thing you did for Meg and Leon. Isn’t that right, James? Family protects family.”
James blew out a loud breath. “Dammit.”
“I really did try, James. I’m so sorry I messed it all up. When you told me I was the last chance, I did everything I could think of, I swear. I just wasn’t good enough,” Phae said, quickly sinking back into devastation.
“What did he tell you, Phae?” Kent asked. “About being the last chance?”
“I put a bug in her ear a few days ago, that’s all,” James said. “I stopped by to let her know what was happening and hint that maybe Captain Nice Guy would come up with something to save the day.”
Kent’s chest swelled. “What the hell? You go to her, put that kind of pressure on her,
and then come over here yelling and blaming her when it doesn’t go down how you wanted? That’s a load of crap.”
James looked like he wanted to say something, but his mouth snapped shut. He looked at Phae, then at Kent, then he looked down at his hands. He appeared to be thinking.
Finally, his massive shoulders slumped. He looked back up at them. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I shouldn’t have blamed you, Phae. I’m so mad that this happened, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. You tried to help and I can’t fault you for that.”
Phae shook her head. “No, you’re right. It is my fault. The only thing to do is go over and confess that I’m Captain Nice Guy. I’ve been the one trying to keep Leon away from the tavern. It should end the worst of the fight, anyway.”
“I don’t know if it would help,” James said, sounding bleak. “Maybe we should leave it alone.”
“I can’t believe the kids are gone,” Phae said.
“Me either.”
Kent sighed. “You Joneses. You’re good people and I’m lucky to know you. But you’re terrible listeners.”
“We are,” Phae said.
James nodded morosely.
Kent sighed again, slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Hold on. I’ve got a message.” He listened for a while, then with a smile, he stuck the phone back in his pocket.
He patted Phae’s back and dried her tears with his fingertips. “Let’s go, beautiful. There’s something you need to see.”
She didn’t know what he was getting at, and she wasn’t in a place to try to figure it out. “I can’t, Kent. I need to go to Meg’s and Leon’s and try to do something. Even if it’s too late.”
“It’s not too late,” Kent assured her. “Do you trust me?”
Her instinct was to immediately say yes, but she took a few seconds to think about it, to make sure she’d gotten it right. She had. “I do.”
His face lit up, so handsome and bright it made her heart ache. She didn’t feel worthy of him tonight.
“Then believe me when I say everything is fine. Now let’s go and see what needs to be seen.”
Phae glanced over at James who was eyeing Kent with a speculative expression.
“What’s this about?” James asked.
“It’s a surprise,” Kent said. He gently lifted Phae off his lap and set her on her feet, then he stood himself. “We’ll go in my car. You follow us, James. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.”
Chapter 25
PHAE STOOD ON THE HILL that faced Leon’s and Meg’s property. Kent and James flanked her on either side. She could hardly believe what she saw.
Massive floodlights lit the area below, turning night into brilliant day. Four massive earthmoving machines slowly crept across the landscape, trolling the banks of the river that separated Leon’s property from the Slinkers’ property. Dump trucks and other smaller vehicles dashed around the site like insects in a behemoth’s wake.
“What the hell is happening down there?” James asked.
Kent rocked on his heels, pleased. “They’re moving the river. Well, it’s more like a creek, but a big creek. And they’re going to move it.”
Phae gawked at him. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Why the hell are you moving the river, Holmes?” James asked.
“I’m not moving it. They are. Or more accurately, your Great-Great-Great-whatever-Aunt Elfleda is moving it.”
James snorted. “She doesn’t have that kind of money.”
“She may have a benefactor, an anonymous benefactor as far as everyone knows, everyone but us and Elfleda,” Kent said.
Phae immediately saw the brilliance of the scheme. The pieces fell into place and she beamed at Kent. “I get it. You’re brilliant!”
“Oh, I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
James looked at Phae questioningly.
“Elfleda steamrolled over Leon and George Slinker,” Phae said. “I bet she told them she was going to fix the situation and they were going to shut the hell up and get out of her way. The river’s going back to where it was before the flood, isn’t it?”
“That’s my clever lady,” Kent said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “The river goes back to where it was and in exchange, George Slinker drops the lawsuits and calls off his sister-in-law.”
“Is that Aunt Elfleda down there?” James asked, pointing at the brightly lit front porch of Leon’s house.
Phae squinted and could barely make out the tiny body ensconced in the big wheelchair, her fluffy white hair a halo around her head. “Yep. That’s her. Up and kicking at this time of night.”
“What about the kids?” James asked. “Where are they?”
“They should be here any minute,” Kent answered. “The message I got at Phae’s house was that they were being bundled up and would be heading home soon.”
James waved an arm at the unprecedented scenario playing out below them. “Couldn’t this construction have waited until morning?”
“That was Elfleda’s idea,” Kent said. “She said having all those big machines behind her when she confronted them would make it more real, intimidate and convince them that she meant business. She was right. I hid nearby in the shadows when the confrontation happened. Slinker agreed quickly, and it’s no wonder. His wife looked outraged enough to leave him when she learned that Leon’s and Meg’s kids had been taken because of her husband and sister-in-law. Truth is, she may have been enough to get Slinker to back down all on her own, without moving the river.”
“Maybe, but who could be sure? You did the smart thing,” Phae said.
“I don’t know,” Kent said. “Elfleda and I planned this together, and we meant it to only be a last ditch plan in case Meg and Leon didn’t straighten up. Neither of us thought it would actually go so far as the children being taken. If we hadn’t waited, we could have saved those kids a lot of fear tonight, and saved all of you a lot of heartache.”
“You’re smart as hell,” James said, “but you’re not a fortune teller. I think everything may have happened exactly the way it should, especially for Meg and Leon. If they aren’t honest, if they don’t put their old fears behind them and help each other heal, then there’s no hope for them as a family. I think this scare with their kids is going to show them what’s really important.”
Phae hoped he was right, and deep inside, she took some of his words to heart for herself. Honesty. Putting her old fears behind her. Healing. Knowing what was important. She realized, she was guilty of the same sins as her aunt and uncle.
Kent squeezed her shoulder. “Look.” He nodded toward Leon’s house.
She watched a car pull in the driveway. Two small figures jumped out of the back seat and ran toward the porch, while two larger figures ran down from the porch to sweep the little ones into their arms. A woman stepped out of the car holding a baby and walked up to the reunited family.
The kids were home where they belonged.
Phae looked up at Kent and saw that he hadn’t been watching the scene down below. He’d been watching her reaction. In the reflected light of the work site below, she easily read the tenderness in his expression.
She felt light, like sweet spring air. She laughed, pulled away from Kent, spread her arms, twirled and waved at the scene below. “You are one crazy, crazy man. I can’t believe you did something this huge, this over-the-top, this amazing. Look down there. It’s nuts and all kinds of wonderful!”
“If I’d known it would make you laugh like this, I’d have done it even bigger and crazier, with helicopters maybe, whatever it took,” he said, laughing with her and catching her up in his arms again.
A tingle spread through her.
Fear. Honesty. Healing.
It was time. Time to stop holding everything in. Time to let go and take a chance.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and he squeezed her around her waist.
She looked deep
ly into his dear eyes and risked everything. “I probably love you, Kent Holmes.”
She knew what he’d say before he said it; it was written on his handsome face.
“I probably love you, too, Phae Jones,” he said, his voice low and edged with powerful emotion.
“You’re going to kiss me, aren’t you?”
“Damned straight I am.”
Phae only halfway heard James speaking from somewhere far away.
“Uh, think I’ll be heading down to the site and make sure everything stays in order down there. See you two … later.”
Phae and Kent remained wrapped in one another, gazing into each other’s eyes.
“I thought he’d never leave,” Kent said.
“Who?”
Kent grinned. “Did I say I love you?”
“Probably. You can say it again if you want.”
“I already did.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“Your wish is my command, beautiful,” he said, and his lips descended on hers.
And he stole her breath away.
“KEEP YOUR EYES SHUT,” KENT said, guiding her with an arm around her shoulders.
Phae walked easily on the smooth, level ground, trusting he wouldn’t let her fall. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t know if I can take another surprise tonight. My eyes are still dazzled from the lights at Meg’s and Leon’s.”
“Just a few more seconds. It’ll be worth it, I promise.”
“I believe you,” Phae said with a laugh. “I’d be a fool not to. After the surprise can we go back to my apartment and finish what we started with that kiss?”
“Actually, I’d planned to take you home to my place.”
“No way I’m going to Miss Eugenia’s house, Kent. You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I wasn’t talking about Aunt Eugenia’s house. I said I wanted to take you to my place.” He stopped walking and let her go. “You can open your eyes.”
Phae opened her eyes and blinked. They were standing in front of the old Belleterre Mansion. Not far from the old downtown area of Zeke’s Bend, the home had been empty for as long as she could remember. It sat tucked away in the middle of a huge lot, surrounded entirely by wrought iron fences and stone plinths, shielded by dozens upon dozens of trees, many of them century oaks.