“Are you in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Is he armed?”
“Yes.”
Tommy grabbed the phone from Cait and slammed it down. “You witch. What were you telling him?”
“Nothing.”
“You better cooperate with me or I’m telling everyone you aborted our baby.”
“I didn’t. I lost it.”
“It doesn’t matter. Once I tell them, they’ll always think it in the back of their minds.” He smirked and gave her a slow wink. “Come on, I know you can do it. They’re going to come to the door now, and I’m going to use you as a shield. You’re going to tell the sheriff to let us go. Tell them you and Glen came with me willingly. If we’re not followed into Nevada, I’ll drop Glen off at a gas station and he can go. But you, my sweetness, you’re mine.”
“I’m not going with you.” Cait knocked her head back, hitting him. “Brian already knows about the baby, and my family will believe me when I tell them you’re lying. There’s no proof. None. No visits to the doctor. No clinic visits. No witnesses. Nothing. I lost the baby in the toilet all by myself. So say what you want. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Don’t make me blow up your life.” Tommy’s eyes narrowed wickedly. “Don’t make me tell the world who your mommy’s baby daddy is. You play this right, and Thornton’s going to fund our travels. You screw up, and the world will know what a slut your mother was.”
Cait slapped Tommy hard. “You leave my mother out of this.”
The horror of finding that picture came crashing back on her and she reeled. She’d pushed it out of her mind while dealing with Brian’s problems, but could her mother have truly kept this secret from her all these years? And what would it mean if she was really the senator’s daughter?
She hadn’t recognized the man, but by Brian’s sudden silence, she should have known that he had.
“Your choice, witch.” Tommy twisted her arm behind her back, seemingly oblivious to the pain she inflicted, which meant he had to be high. With the gun on her temple, he marched her to the front door. “You better hope there aren’t any trigger happy cops out there. Oh, and if you see Brian, tell him you don’t love him anymore. That you’ve always loved me and you only used him.”
“What does hurting Brian have to do with this?”
“You say everything the way I want, and maybe I’ll keep your secrets. It would be a shame if the senator and your mother were outed. You know that sweet little baby picture of yours? I have it.”
“How did you know?”
“I read Mrs. Thornton’s diaries. She found a note from your mother telling Thornton she was pregnant. Of course it was way before her time, but she followed it up. She used that dirty little secret to make the senator overlook her own affairs.” He yanked the heavy front door open and pushed Cait out in front of him.
Cait gasped at all the spotlights trained on her. Behind the lights were rifles pointed at them.
“Tell them,” Tommy growled in her ear.
“Hi, I’m Cait Hart, I mean, Cait Wonder,” Cait recited. “I came willingly with this man. Here are his demands. You are to let us drive away. Me, Thomas, and the boy, Glen. If we are not followed, we will let Glen go at a gas station.”
“Tell them I want to make a deal with Senator Thornton,” Tommy hissed.
“Tommy has a deal he wants to make with Senator Thornton. It’s private, so you’ll need to get the senator on the phone.”
“That’s all for now.” Tommy said. Keeping the pressure of the gun barrel on Cait’s head, he shouted to the gathered cops. “Next time we come out, have Brian Wonder stand by. Cait has a message for him she needs to say face to face.”
Cait was dragged back into the house. There was no way the SWAT team could get a clear shot at Tommy, not with the way she shielded him.
Her stomach turned at the message she was supposed to deliver to Brian. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have had a single worry. She’d recite her lines, and Brian would know she was lying, that she was coerced to say those horrid things.
But Brian was different.
Brian took everything literally.
And Brian would be very, very hurt, because even though he’d never said it out loud, he loved her in his “own way.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Pain seared through Brian’s arm as he rolled in the mud under the deck. Tommy was smarter than he’d thought. Instead of waiting inside the house like a sitting duck, he’d put Cait and Glen inside as bait and was lurking out back.
He pushed his gloved finger into the wound in his shoulder, hoping to staunch the flow of blood.
A furry beast pounced on him, drawn by the scent of blood. Brian ducked, raising his hand to protect himself. It was only a matter of time before Tommy found him hiding under the deck.
Lick. Lick. Lick. A wet tongue slathered his face, and hot breath puffed in the cold, dank air.
“Melia. What are you doing here?”
The black chow dog wiggled and snorted, then crawled from under the deck.
“Don’t go out there,” Brian hissed, but it was too late. The dog disappeared into the darkness.
“He’s over here,” a man shouted. “Come out with your hands up and don’t make sudden moves.”
From the spotlight of the helicopter, Brian could see he was a policeman, not Tommy.
“I’m Brian Wonder,” Brian said. His entire body exploded with pain as he crawled out from under the deck.
“Slowly, where we can see you.” The officer shined a bright light over his face.
Blinded, Brian shielded himself with his good hand. “I’m hit. I can’t raise my other arm.”
“That’s Brian,” Connor said, rushing forward to help him. “He’s not the kidnapper.”
“To the front of the house,” another officer shouted. “The kidnapper came out with the hostage.”
“Hostage? You mean Cait?” Brian gulped big gobs of air. “Is she okay?”
“I’ve found him,” the officer said into his shoulder mic. “We have a gunshot wound. Officer involved shooting.”
“Never mind me,” Brian said. “I need to get to Cait. I can’t let that maniac hurt her.”
“She wants to speak to you,” the second officer said. “It’s a hostage situation. They’re demanding safe passage in exchange for letting the kid go.”
Despite the screaming pain in his shoulder, Brian loped after the officers and elbowed his way to the front of the row of policemen.
The porch light was on, and the door closed.
“Where’s Cait?” He sank to his knees, as his shoulder throbbed with so much pain he felt like passing out.
“He took her back in,” Todd said. “We expect them to come out for the car. The key is to get the hostages away from Harper so we can get a shot off.”
“We have them surrounded. They can’t get away.” Brian held onto the sheriff’s vest. “Right?”
“They want to negotiate with the senator, and we have the kid’s safety to think about. We can’t just shoot at them when they drive away.”
The door opened again, and Brian staggered from his knees toward it, flanked by two deputies.
Cait’s pale face was twisted with pain, and she gritted her teeth, as if she were enduring untold agony. A masked man shoved her forward, holding his gun against her temple.
“Pay attention, Wonder,” Tommy said. “Cait will let you know what she really feels about you.”
Cait’s teeth chattered, and her eyes were wide. Her eyebrows pointed down like a dog’s tail between its legs, and tears glistened in her eyes.
“Brian, you’re hurt,” she muttered, her voice weak and trembling.
Tommy prodded her with the muzzle of his gun, and Cait continued staring straight into his eyes.
“Remember, I’m not hungry,” she enunciated like a robot. “I don’t love you. I used you. Let me go with Tommy, but remember, I’m not hungry.”
“Sti
ck to the script, witch.” Tommy twisted her arm further, making her wince.
“Get your hands off my wife. She’s lying about not being hungry.” The words slurred from Brian’s mouth, and he watched in horror as Tommy turned the gun on him.
“She doesn’t love you, Wonder,” Tommy shouted, waving the gun. “She came here with me to dump you.”
“She’s not hungry.” Brian roared. He stared down the barrel of the gun and then faced Cait. “I love you, Cait.”
“I already know.” She knocked her head back into Tommy’s jaw and threw her fist into his groin.
Tommy bent over and the gun went off. Brian charged toward Cait, and a flash of black fur and teeth leaped for Tommy’s backside.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Tommy shrieked while the cops surrounded him, flipped him on his stomach and cuffed him.
Melia growled and snarled and had to be pried off Tommy’s buttocks, ripping his jeans down to his holey boxers.
But Brian wasn’t going to unlock his lips from Cait’s anytime soon. He kissed her deep and needy, drinking all of her in, and thanking God that he’d lived to let her know how very precious she was to him.
Even though he was about to pass out, he couldn’t stop kissing her and muttering, “I love you, Cait. I love you, Cait,” until she told him to shut up and kiss her properly.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Christmas Eve dawned bright and sunny, and snow glistened over every treetop. Cait and Brian, along with their family, the Colsons, and the Thorntons hiked to their outdoor Christmas tree to finish decorating it.
Melia bounced around them in circles and rolled in the snow. That dog loved the cold so much she’d slide across an icy pond on her stomach to get cooled down.
Meanwhile, Sierra walked slowly next to Brian who had his arm in a sling. A bullet had ripped through his shoulder when the officer shot him, thinking he was Tommy.
“Come on, hurry up!” Glen waved his hand and skipped back toward them. He chased Melia around a tree trunk, then stopped to give Sierra a hug.
The dog had a concussion, but even though she wobbled a little, she wanted to stay with the pack.
Cait hooked her hand around Brian’s elbow and leaned into him. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah, pain killers are making me loopy, but I wouldn’t miss this tree trimming party for the world.”
“Especially since we spent all day yesterday and the day before woodburning your slogans,” Linx said. “Your grouchy dog-hating brother-in-law cut all the hearts, grumbling the whole time since you’re out of commission.”
“Not my fault I couldn’t wield a saw.” Brian lifted his sling slightly.
Cait turned back at her brother and gave him a wink, catching him ogling Linx’s swaying hips. She had to admit the two of them would make a handsome couple. She had that sultry gypsy look down, while Grady, who was also a brown-eyed brunette looked like a rogue pirate. It was too bad he and Linx’s dog, Cedar, didn’t get along.
Grady had knocked at her door that night when Cait had been kidnapped, and Cedar had gone nuts, barking and whining and pawing at the door. Linx had never seen anything like it, so she’d isolated Cedar in one of the dog runs to keep her and Grady apart.
“Cedar would have loved playing with Sierra and Melia,” Linx sighed, then darted Grady a dirty look. “You’re lucky I have the hots for you, or I’d sic her on you.”
“I look forward to it,” Grady drawled. “She didn’t sound like she hated me. All that whining and barking was her way of showing she has the hots for me, too.”
“Ewww,” Jenna said, rolling her eyes at the blatant flirtation. Her basset hound, Harley, trudged behind her. His short, stubby legs were completely buried in the powder, and his ears floated like water wings.
Beside her, Larry held her by the hand and scooped Harley up with his other beefy hand. “Maybe you should get some action with Cedar. Want me to set you up?”
Connor and Nadine’s Dalmatian, Cinder, stretched her legs and galloped from one tree trunk to another, while Connor had his arm around his pregnant wife, looking like he was already a proud father.
The other pets, Greyheart, the cat, and Cassie and Casey, the two lovebirds were back at the cabin. So far, the birds had the cat on the run, flying overhead like little kamikaze planes.
It was lucky the senator opened his lodge to parts of their family, because there was no way every family member and their many significant others and pets could have fit in the tiny cabin. Only Dale and Grady were so far still single, without pet or pal. Their elves had been casual dates who would spend Christmas with their own families, leaving the two single Harts free to flirt with the many Colson sisters.
From the looks of it, Grady was stuck on Linx, but Dale was playing the field. Cait smiled to herself and swore she would not interfere—not anymore. Now, her main focus was her darling Brian, and she would shower him with all her attention, unless he needed his alone time.
Laughing and chattering happily, the large group crossed the frozen creek on a footbridge and wound around a hillock to the site of Brian and Cait’s Christmas tree.
It rose majestically over the landscape, frosted white with blobs of snow piled several inches high on all the branches, except for the spire at the top.
“Our star is up there!” Cait pointed, drawing in an excited breath. “Brian, when did you put it up?”
“Not me.” His mouth gaped open, and he shook his head. “I gave up, remember?”
Cait tapped Connor and Larry. “Did you guys bring a ladder?”
“Don’t look at us,” Connor said. “Maybe a little bird flew up there and put up the star.”
As everyone gathered around the tree, Glen jumped up and down, flapping his hands like he was about to helicopter to the top. “You guys wished for a little elf to put up the star.”
“It was you?” Brian clapped his good arm over the boy’s back. “You put it up?”
“I’m an expert tree climber,” Glen said. “I was hiding up in the tree that day when the cops came.”
“Looks like we have to have you over every year to put up the star,” Brian said, ruffling the boy’s bright red hair.
“This tree is lovely,” Cait’s mother said, putting her hand over her heart. “It’s the best tree ever. I think I see some little animals rustling between the branches.”
The dogs, of course, sensed the squirrel family and stood under the tree barking.
“I can see some of the ornaments you put up already,” Melisa said, brushing snow off a wood-burned owl. “But let’s get Brian’s hearts up there, and sing our Christmas theme song for the year.”
Every year, Cait’s family added another tradition to their Christmas repertoire. They had so many that it was hard to keep track of. Last year was the Christmas sweater contest, where everyone had to don a ridiculous sweater.
This year, it was burning messages onto pieces of wood and putting them up on the tree. It seemed like Melisa also wanted to add a theme song, although no one had decided on one.
In typical Hart family fashion, everyone had an idea, but at the end, they all voted that Cait, the one person who for once had no suggestion, would decide on the theme song.
“First, let’s put up the ornaments,” Cait said, to give her time to wrack her brain. She loved every song, but some were too obvious, like “O, Christmas Tree,” and everyone always suggested, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Too trite. It could have been a “Blue Christmas” had Brian left her with the two blue chow dogs, but now that they were together and in love, it wouldn’t fit. Maybe something about love during the holidays was in order.
“I want to go first,” Glen said. He dug through the bag of ornaments and found the one he’d written. “Love is having my dogs back.”
Senator Thornton, who had been standing next to Cait’s father, walked up to his son. “Put that one way up high.”
He’d arrived a few days back and claimed his son. It turned out he’d already done a
DNA test when Glen was born, because he’d suspected Alana and her many infidelities. He explained that he had no idea she was hitting on her students. He thought she had affairs with the other teachers and coaches, perhaps she had done them, too.
Brian had been disappointed that he wasn’t Glen’s father, and so was Cait, but they’d had a private conversation with the senator who’d acknowledged that Cait was his daughter.
They’d made a pact to protect the secret, in exchange for Brian and Cait being made godparents for Glen. The senator also regretted forcing Glen into military school, and he made arrangements for Glen to go to a school for gifted children in Washington DC and keep his dogs at the same time. Almost losing Glen and the scandal of his wife’s crimes going public had humbled him and made him reevaluate what was truly important, and that was Glen’s health and emotional wellbeing—not political power and the image of the perfect family.
Todd had found Cait’s purse and baby picture in Tommy’s rental car and had discreetly given it back to them without putting it in the evidence bag. He had enough on Tommy to convict him on several counts of assault, burglary, and kidnapping.
Since the senator was so elderly, Connor picked up the boy, hefting him as high as he could. Glen hung the ornament midway up the tree. Turning to his father, he said, “Your turn, Dad.”
“Uh, do I have to?” The senator gave everyone a self-deprecating grin.
“You made one yesterday,” Glen said. “I’ll hang it up for you.”
“Here it is,” Linx said, digging into the bag. She handed an angel-shaped ornament to him.
“You have to read it, Dad.” Glen bounced on Connor’s shoulders.
“Love is forgetting the bad and remembering the good,” the senator read. “It was kind of hard to squeeze all that in.”
One by one, the rest of the family read their “love” quotes.
Love is waking up late and the bed’s already made.
Love is not ever keeping secrets.
Love is upside down and inside out.
Love is hearts over heels.
Blue Chow Christmas: The Hart Family (Have A Hart Book 4) Page 17