“I had no idea she knew what we were doing in the naps,” Dolly Lee wailed. “I thought she thought we were sleeping.”
“No one blames you.” Connor patted her back. “I’m thinking this note’s bogus. I wonder if Elaine wrote it.”
“But how would Elaine know about the naps?” Dolly choked on another sob.
“Should I finish reading?” Cait asked. “Or do we want to call the police?”
“I want to hear first and then call the police,” Connor said.
“I agree,” his father said. “Okay, no more interruptions. This is serious.”
Cait cleared her throat and continued.
I feel like an unwanted child. I realize now that “love child” is a euphemism. You never loved me, since you have no self-respect. Have a wonderful life playing second fiddle. Tell Dad he can’t buy me off with the apartment. I don’t want it and now that I know how he really feels, that Elaine is more important than me, I no longer have the will to live anymore. Elaine set that fire and the kitty inside the garage. I know that, but Dad insists on giving her that phony alibi. If you stay with him, it means you, too, are putting me last. Since I know you’ll always go back to Dad, no matter what, I’m going to say goodbye now. Maybe in my next life, we’ll be the mother and daughter we were meant to be. The two of us together, forever. In case you don’t get what I’m saying, I’m killing myself. Bye, Mom. I love you, Nadine.
“Not only does that not sound like Nadine, the writing is atrocious,” Connor slapped his forehead and winced, forgetting his bandages. “It’s a set up. We need to call the police.”
“Total fake,” Cait agreed. “She doesn’t even say goodbye to Connor, and, get this, she never said who should take care of Greyheart.”
“Oh, I feel so much better. I don’t know what I’d do if my Deeny really killed herself.” Dolly Lee wobbled and almost fell, but Connor’s father held onto her.
“She’ll be okay. She’s got a lot to live for. But we must go to the police station right now and report an attempted murder-suicide.”
“Murder-suicide?” Connor’s pulse hit the ceiling. “Who’s the murderer?”
“Elaine. She was despondent about causing the fire,” Dolly Lee said. “Gerald got a suicide text from Elaine. She’s also sorry she took the dog.”
“Really? She’s sorry she took Cinder?” Connor shook his head. “Then why didn’t she just give her back to Nadine?”
“Looks like we have a murderer on the loose,” Cait said. “As soon as Elaine and Nadine wake up, they’ll be busted.”
“Then we better catch them, because they might try again to make sure they don’t ever wake up.” Connor’s muscles tensed. “Dolly Lee, find Gerald and get his phone, then go with my dad to the police. We need to put a police guard on Elaine and Nadine right away. I hope it’s not too late.”
He ran back to find out where they’d taken Nadine. Guard or no guard, he wasn’t going to leave her side.
Chapter Forty-Four
Voices and sounds hovered above Nadine as she drifted at the dark edges of an emerald green lagoon. She searched for someone, somewhere. He was important. That much she knew, but who was he and why was she looking for him?
Warm water lapped at her bare feet, wetting the bottoms of her jeans. The morning mist swirled thick among the tall, green reeds. She couldn’t see him clearly, but she could feel him—iron hard muscles, long, strong arms, a shadow of a beard.
She squinted toward the shimmering light of the rising sun, as she did every morning. Her heart hammered like tiny drums heralding the dawn. Excitement rose and she stood up straighter, letting her hair fly loose.
Today could be the day of his arrival. She’d promised never to forget him—but who? Her mind was slow and fuzzy, and her tongue clumsy, unable to speak.
She closed her eyes and let words spin in her head.
My heart stands straight, a sentinel waiting. Your eyes are above me. They close not in the night. I gather your tears and string them like beads. You came knocking, but I was not there.
Your ears are as close as the trail of my voice. I touch the pink fire to taste your gray sorrow. I pluck your sweet love like peas on a vine. Where you have gone, I remember you not.
Hear me, my heart, and give me a clue. With love never gone, and eyes weeping blue. Hear me, I say, don’t go away. My heart cries so true, with love here to stay.
Who calls my name? What is the time? When I last saw him, I knew he was mine. But the veil came across, and hid him from me. Love travels far, but dreams fly farther still.
Where will I find you? You promised me you’d wait. Here on the lake, of time’s eternal shore. Or back in that place, where the birds circle low, and the trees tie knots between our wanting hearts.
Anon, I must go to you, dear hart, lest the winds of sand fall through my hands, and panting for you, I find you not ever.
A buzz saw whined in the thick fiery air. Nadine swatted at a black swarm of angry flies. She raised her arms and let the warming rays of sunlight burn the hairs off her skin.
Zap. A bolt of lightning slammed her to the ground. Every hair on her head stood straight, and she felt a million volts zigzagging through her body. Pain grabbed her chest and squeezed the breath out of her. Her lungs ached like she’d swallowed sharp glass, and when she tried to scream, nothing came out.
The lagoon melted away, the mist was gone, the waters dried. Her blood surged and boiled, thundering behind her ears, pulsing and crashing, like waves in a storm.
She was caught by a riptide and plunged into the deep. Her lungs screamed for air, but warm, salty water filled her mouth—a river of tears. His tears. His blood. His life.
“Connor!” she called. “Connor, find me. Find me wherever I go. Promise me, Connor.”
“I’m here. I’m right here, Nadine. Can you wake up? Can you open your eyes?”
She climbed up from the deep, swimming toward the light. He was up there. Up above the waves. He, the man named Connor. The man who she was looking for. She had to find him. Had to before the next storm surge. Before he was lost to her forever.
She broke through the numbing water and doubled up with pain. Awareness flooded her. She was Nadine Woo Hart. She was alive and in a hospital, and if she opened her eyes, she would find the man who chased her through time—the one she always let catch her.
Struggling, she willed her eyes to open. The lids were heavy as iron plates, but she had to let him know she’d found him. She could feel and taste him, inside and out, through the very fabric of her being, in every space between her breath.
One. Two. Three. Open up.
There he was. Eyes blue as sea glass.
“Connor.” Her voice was but a croak, but he heard her and smiled.
His true blue eyes soft with adoration, he feathered a gauze covered hand over her face. “Nadine, love. You’re going to be okay. We’re going to be just fine. Oh, God. Thank you so much. I’m humbled. I’m truly blessed and I praise you, Lord.”
The effort to open her eyes was too much for Nadine, so Connor kissed her forehead and let her go back to sleep.
He, meanwhile, needed a bathroom break. He nodded to the guard and went into the men’s bathroom. He hated to leave Nadine’s side a single minute, so he rushed through the necessities, brushed his teeth and washed his face, then stepped toward the cafeteria to grab a bite of breakfast.
As he passed the nurse’s station, a doctor came out of Elaine’s room and walked by the guard who was staring at his phone. Connor wouldn’t have thought a thing, except the woman doctor glanced around furtively. When she spotted him, a jolt of panic crossed her face before she turned and walked away.
He knew that face, had seen it before, but something about the way she acted, ticked his spidey senses up a notch. He sped up his pace and followed her.
“Hey, doctor,” he said when he got close. “Could you let me know how Elaine Woo is doing? You were just in her room.”
“I can’t
tell you anything about her.” The woman’s face flushed and she blinked, her eyes darting around. “Listen, I’m late for a clinic. Why don’t you check at the nurses’ station?”
Connor looked over his shoulder. An alarm sounded and two nurses rushed to Elaine’s room.
The female doctor, meanwhile, walked the other way.
“Hey, where are you going?” Connor ran after her. “It sounds like they need you in there.”
Instead of turning around, the doctor ran faster. Connor easily caught her and looked for a name badge. There was none.
“You did something to Elaine, didn’t you?” He latched onto the woman and dragged her back toward the nurses’ station.
“Let me go. I’ve nothing to do with you. Let me go, or I’ll call the police.”
Connor held her tight and yelled at the guard in front of Elaine’s room. “Hey you, this woman walked out right before the alarm sounded. You might want to detain her.”
“Let me go,” the female doctor hissed. “I’m going to sue you for assault.”
“What seems to be the trouble here?” the guard asked.
“This man’s assaulting me. I was going about my duties,” the doctor said.
“Ask to see her badge. Ask her why she was in that patient’s room,” Connor spoke to the guard. “Meanwhile, you better hope the patient doesn’t die, because you were supposed to be guarding her and instead, you were playing on your phone.”
The policeman’s face hardened and he glared at Connor. “Are you out of your mind? Why should I stop doctors and nurses from going into her room?”
At that moment a nurse came out of Elaine’s room, yelling, “Code blue. We need a team here.”
Connor almost ran into Elaine’s room to see if she was okay, but a freight train of panic slammed into him. If there was one phony doctor sent to hit Elaine, there could be another one trying to get Nadine.
He left the fake doctor with the guard outside of Elaine’s room and ran toward Nadine’s room.
“Has anyone been to see my wife?” he asked the guard outside the door.
“Only her brother. He’s in there with her right now.”
At once, everything clicked into place. Nadine’s brother had been talking to that woman, who must be the hated Emmeline. Nadine’s brother hadn’t stuck up for the truth when Elaine accused Nadine of stealing her car.
Nadine’s brother had said he was visiting friends in the neighborhood when the fire started. Nadine’s brother had helped him move some of her stuff to his parents’ house.
Connor barreled into Nadine’s room and caught Michael injecting something into her IV.
Not giving him a chance to finish, Connor tackled Michael and knocked him to the floor.
“Guard,” Connor yelled. “This man injected something into her IV. Hold onto him.”
He shoved Michael at the shocked guard, and in a single motion, he ripped the IV from Nadine’s vein, praying whatever poison that was injected hadn’t emptied into her.
Thundering footsteps appeared as doctors and nurses rushed into the room, surrounding Nadine.
Emmeline charged into the room, dragging a policeman with her.
“That’s the one who tried to kill the patient,” Emmeline pointed to Connor. “I told you, he’s her ex-boyfriend.”
“That’s right,” Michael said. “He tackled me and pulled out this patient’s IV.”
“They’re lying, Officer,” Connor said, pointing at Michael. “I caught this one red-handed with a syringe.”
“I pulled it away from him.” Michael stabbed his finger at Connor. “He was the one injecting his wife’s IV. He found out about her life insurance policy. Officer, I’m a doctor at this hospital. This man’s the intruder.”
“That’s right,” Emmeline said. “I caught him coming out of Elaine Woo’s room. He had the gall to accuse me of funny business.”
“Everyone, shut up!” the harried police officer said. “I’m taking all of you to the precinct. You can either come willingly, or I’ll arrest all of you.”
“You don’t have to arrest Connor,” a small voice said from the bed. Nadine had woken up. She lifted a shaky finger and pointed at Michael and Emmeline. “They are the murderers. They tried to kill me and Elaine. Emmeline injected us with the Michael Jackson drug, and then they turned on the gas. Michael soaked rags with linseed oil to let it sit until a fire started.”
Nadine paused, out of breath, and then her lips wobbled. “They didn’t even have enough mercy to let my kitten and puppy go. My poor Greyheart and Connor’s Cinder died in the fire.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Connor crossed to her side. “Greyheart and Cinder got away. In fact, the only reason I pulled the fire alarm was because I saw Greyheart and I knew you must have been in trouble.”
“Greyheart’s alive? And Cinder?” Nadine raised her hands, clasping it. “And my sister, Elaine. Is she okay?”
“She was rescued, yes.” Connor didn’t want to say anything in case Emmeline had succeeded in offing Elaine just now.
“Okay, you two,” the policeman said to Michael and Emmeline. “You’re under arrest.”
He and the other guard handcuffed Michael and Emmeline, ignoring their protests.
Right before they were led away, Emmeline turned to Michael and snarled. “We should never have taken the cat. We would have gotten away if it hadn’t been for that pesky little kitty.”
Laughter bubbled up Connor’s throat, and he and Nadine laughed heartily.
Yep. Everything was all due to that little gray, but very brave-hearted, kitten.
Everything!
Chapter Forty-Five
“Put your hands over your eyes, no peeking.” Connor’s voice purred low and gentle next to Nadine’s ear as he helped her from the cab of his pickup truck.
The ride from the hospital had been short. They’d headed down the hill to Irving Street, then drove past the fire station and all her favorite places to eat.
After a few miles, Connor turned down an alleyway and asked Nadine to close her eyes. She complied, somewhat, but her heart was pounding like crazy and she could taste the scent of the sea and knew they were close to the ocean.
Connor had been secretive, and all the usually talkative Harts were closemouthed when it came to their living arrangements. All she knew was they were not moving in with Brian and Cait because Connor’s mother was allergic to dogs and cats.
Meanwhile, her sister, Elaine, had also recovered and was living back home with their father, leaving Nadine’s mother alone in their old apartment, playing second fiddle. His wife, Maggie, had returned to nurse her daughter back to health. Some things never changed.
At least her father had refused to bail Michael out of jail, and he and Emmeline were awaiting trial on a whole slew of charges serious enough to put them in prison for a very long time. The strangest thing was the platonic love between Michael and Emmeline that had existed ever since elementary school, well before Michael found out he was gay. The two had their perfect upscale life planned to a tee, and the entire love affair between Emmeline and Nadine’s father was a fake to get their father to turn against Nadine and Elaine so that Michael and Emmeline would be the sole heirs to the Woo fortune.
Was it any wonder Nadine needed to be far away from her dysfunctional family? Although she and Elaine had forgiven each other after their joint ordeal, they still had a long way to go before being true sisters. Elaine was suffering from depression and anxiety attacks—post traumatic stress disorder and staying with both her parents in her childhood house—which meant Nadine and her mother were once again the odd ones out.
Nadine had Connor now, and a new life to live. She craved peace and quiet to reassemble her studio and start painting again. Her heart ached at the loss of her canvases—all except for the ones she’d worked on in Reno. Connor had fetched everything, of course, and she’d spoken on the phone with the folks at Wildwood Flower Lodge, and they’d wished her well.
“Keep
your eyes closed,” Connor said, leading her by the hand down the sidewalk. His warm lips were at her ear, kissing and nipping her. Despite wanting to be surprised, Nadine turned toward his sexy mouth, savoring his taste. His burns had healed during the time she recuperated in the hospital, and he kissed her back passionately.
“You ready?” He placed his strong and protective hands over hers and peeled them from her face. “Okay, open them up.”
A turquoise blue painted wooden building loomed in front of her. It appeared to be a miniature warehouse with brightly painted windows. Up top were vented windows, propped open above a graffiti-art covered corrugated metal rollup garage door.
“Oh, Connor! I love it.” Nadine squealed and jumped up and down, clapping her hands over her mouth. “This is so cute! How’d you manage this?”
“I told you I had some warehouse strings.” He placed a well-deserved kiss on her lips, and she greedily devoured him for a moment, before curiosity got the better of her and she mumbled, “I bet it’s even better inside.”
“It is, especially now that you’re home.” He opened a heavy oak door and flicked on the lights.
The interior was painted yellow and the floor was epoxied concrete. An assortment of mismatched furniture sat in the front room: a “sectional” sofa made up of stacked pallets with canvas pads and rainbow striped pillows, a bamboo coffee table, a roll top desk, a dog bed for Cinder, and a cat tree for Greyheart. Further in was a metal outdoor bistro table and two chairs. Garage cabinets lined one wall where the stove and refrigerator were, and curtains partitioned off what she figured were sleeping areas.
“Woof, woof.” Cinder’s toenails clicked over the concrete floor as she jumped from one of the curtained areas.
“Meow.” Greyheart pounced from the top of the refrigerator to a large worktable with a shelf made with two doors on cinder blocks.
Spring Fling Kitty: The Hart Family (Have A Hart Book 3) Page 25