Shield of Refuge

by Carol Steward

  “Bad things can happen in churches, too, Amber. And whether I’m with you, or just following you like a stalker, I will be there to make sure the kidnapper isn’t.” He turned, found some corrugated cardboard and sliced a large panel off. “Now, let’s get the window covered and get you packed.”

  Later, as they drove across town to his parents’ house in awkward silence, Amber came to one conclusion.

  She had her life and issues. If she spent any more time asking questions about the crime she’d witnessed, she wouldn’t have time to do her own work. Help me leave that to You, Lord. Protect the girl, she thought as a shiver spread through her body. Bring the kidnapper to justice.

  EIGHT

  Whatever apprehension Amber had at meeting and staying with Garrett’s parents dissipated the minute they greeted her at the door. “Hi, Amber,” his mother said. “We hope you can get some rest here.”

  “Thank you for letting me intrude. I hope it won’t be any trouble.” She glanced at his father, then back to his mom.

  “Come in out of the snow,” his dad prompted. “I’m Ted. Nice to see Garrett had the wisdom to get you out of harm’s way. That downtown area has been sliding into dangerous territory for some years now. It’s definitely not a safe place for a single young woman to be living alone.”

  Ted and Grace Matthews were an attractive couple, and she could see a lot of his father’s features in Garrett. He would always be blessed with his good looks, apparently.

  “So Garrett tells me. But despite that, as soon as I have the repairs made and the security system on again, I’ll be out of your way. In the meantime…”

  “There’s no rush, Amber. Your grandmother went out of her way for me many times. Especially with changing the date for Kira’s wedding not once, but twice. I’m glad to repay the favor. And I’m so relieved that you’re keeping her shop open.”

  Garrett lifted Amber’s bag and asked which room they wanted Amber to stay in.

  “I’ve put all the wedding things away now, so Kira’s room is fine. I think it’s the most comfortable room for her, don’t you?”

  Garrett nodded. “That’s fine. I’ll be staying in my old room, if you don’t mind. And since we all have church in a few hours, we’d better show her to her room.”

  His dad locked the front door, waiting for the rest of them to get upstairs before turning out the lights.

  “It’s late, so I’ll give you the full tour in the morning,” he said softly, giving her a wink as he disappeared into his bedroom.

  “We’ll have a light breakfast around eight, if you’d like to join us,” his mother said. “But if you have the chance to sleep in, go right ahead. We’ll try not to wake you. Will you be around for lunch?”

  “No, thank you. I have plans to eat with my grandmother.”

  “If you’d like to eat here, I’ve made plenty. And your grandmother is welcome to join us, as well. Don’t answer now—just think about it.”

  She took a quick shower, put on her pajamas and crawled into bed. It had been such a long week, and she couldn’t believe she was finally at peace in the family home of the man she’d run into. She knew the chances that he’d kept her identity as the driver were slim to none. If he and his brother were both cops, it was unlikely that they’d keep that kind of thing a secret. Yet still, they’d welcomed her. And felt loved and safe and everything Garrett had promised. Would his family ever cease to surprise her?

  She fell asleep within minutes, and slept clear through church. When she woke at eleven in the morning, she quickly dressed and hurried into the hallway. Garrett’s door was open.

  Peace and quiet surrounded her. She headed for the stairs and he greeted her at the base, holding a tiny white fluffy dog.

  “I’m sorry I overslept. I haven’t slept this late in years.” The dog took one look at her and jumped out of Garrett’s arms, landing on the nearest stair.

  “That’s PomPom.” He smiled.

  She sat on the steps and let the dog sniff her. He jumped into her lap to greet her, licking her face.

  “PomPom, no! Sorry about that,” he exclaimed, pulling the dog into his arms.

  “I’ll survive. She’s much friendlier than most little dogs,” she said, standing.

  His eyes greeted her just as warmly. “I guess you pass the PomPom test. She’s a good judge of character.”

  Amber wasn’t sure how to respond to his comment that she’d passed any kind of test, let alone one given by the family pet. There was so much they didn’t know about each other, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they’d ever get the chance to move beyond this awkward stage. “I hope you realize what an incredible family you have, Garrett. I thought I’d be kicked out because of running into you. Instead, they opened their home to me. I don’t remember resting this peacefully in weeks.” She couldn’t believe she’d confessed that. Her insomnia had started when she’d moved in with her grandmother. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “You needed it. I’m glad you came here, aren’t you?”

  He looked more rested, too, and she was thankful that she’d given in, if only to let him get some rest. She’d forgotten that he’d been putting in extra hours, as well. “I am. Thank you for insisting.”

  “I’ll have to insist more often, if it’s that easy.” He smiled, that slow, lazy smile that set the butterflies in her stomach free. “I made some biscuits, eggs and bacon, if you’d like some. I tried to keep them warm in the oven, but I’m not sure they’re still edible.”

  Amber needed to eat. “You made them? Or your mother did?” she asked, unable to believe cooking was also among this man’s irresistible attributes.

  “The eggs and bacon I can handle, but I confess, the biscuits are fresh from the oven, by way of the freezer.”

  Amber followed him into the kitchen, envious that he had a family straight out of a fairy tale. While she was eating, he set out an array of drinks to choose from, including a basket of tea or cocoa.

  “Mom and Dad will be home from church soon. About lunch, I explained to my parents about you not wanting your grandmother to know about the problems at the store. I think it would be easier to keep it quiet with fewer people to spill the beans, but I’ll go with your decision, as long as I’m included.”

  “You’re probably right. Nana will be suspicious if I show up with you, but if we bring her here, there’d be no hope of convincing her that there’s nothing happening.”

  He nodded silently.

  “I need to go by the shop and do some cleaning and work before I go in to bake tonight. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Garrett.” She heard the door close and his parents joined them, shaking snow off their coats and boots.

  “Good afternoon, sleepyheads,” his dad teased, a bright smile on his face. “You both look a little better after getting some rest.”

  Garrett took the pressure off her. “It’s amazing how that works, isn’t it? I know it’s late notice, Mom, but we won’t be here for lunch. I want to keep an eye on Amber, and she wants to check on the shop before we take her grandmother to lunch.”

  “You might want to take the SUV or van. Your car has a flat tire.”

  “Another one?” Garrett said. “I just got the last tire repaired two days ago.”

  “When did the last one happen?” his dad asked.

  Garrett paused. “A couple of days before the accident. I took the car in to get new tires Friday. It’s a brand-new tire.”

  Ted Matthews reached into his pocket and tossed Garrett the keys. “I’ll look into it. You two get going.”

  “Thanks. We should be home later this evening.”

  His mother nodded. “Be careful, Garrett. And Amber, tell your grandmother hello for me.”

  Amber felt relief wash through her as she lifted the glass of grape juice to her lips to wash down the biscuit. She finished her bite and carried her empty plate to the sink. “Thank you again, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. Garrett, let me go get my bag.”

 
“Don’t start this over, Amber. I insist you stay here until we have more answers.”

  She forced a smile. “And I insist I’ll be fine at home. I’m not fond of facing that alley at two in the morning.”

  “Soon enough, you’ll be back at the store, Amber. But not without a working security system. A few more nights of some real sleep will be good for you. And I’m going to be going in with you, so you won’t have to face the alley alone. It’s going to be okay. Call your grandmother and let’s get going.”

  They introduced Garrett as simply a friend, and Nana was surprisingly low-key about it. Amber and Garrett were headed back to his parents’ house after cleaning up the broken glass and adding another layer of tape and cardboard to the window when Nana called. Being a gentleman, he’d turned off the car radio when her phone rang. Nana called her to clarify that she’d heard all about her accident and the gang problems from one of the other seniors. When she started complaining about the gang problems, Amber turned the volume of her cell down, hoping to keep the conversation from Garrett. “I know Garrett and his brothers are police officers, Amber. But they’re good men that you can trust, honey,” she said over and over. “Don’t let Garrett leave you there alone until they’ve found that kidnapper and the thug who broke our window,” Nana emphasized.

  “I don’t really have much choice about that, Nana. We just left the shop and are on the way to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews’ house now.”

  “If you have trouble with the insurance company, you let me know. Your grandfather put that security in to make them happy,” she said, saying all the things that Amber had expected at lunch.

  She was finally able to end the phone call.

  Garrett was silent for a minute before teasing her. “I told you grandmothers like me.”

  “So we were both right,” she said simply. “I knew she’d like you, and that she’d read more into this than there is.”

  Silence again filled the vehicle as he navigated the icy roads. She began to wonder if they would have hit it off as well if they had met under better circumstances.

  “Without making it too obvious, can you see if you recognize the car two vehicles back? It’s been behind us since we left the store.”

  She twisted to look and mostly saw snow-covered vehicles. “It looks like the same model as the kidnapper from what I can tell, but if he doesn’t have a garage, how did he disappear so quickly that night?”

  “Good question,” he said, peering into the mirror. “Hang on, I’m going to turn the corner and flip a U-turn so we can try to identify him.”

  Amber’s heart raced as she braced herself against the dash and the door. He turned the corner and started the turn, but a car was coming and he had to abandon the plan.

  Before they could turn around to get behind the car, it was long gone.

  When Andrea and Sean arrived Monday morning, Garrett was there, posing as their new coworker. While Sean showed Garrett around, Amber and Andrea pulled out the tulle and pastel ribbon to make pew bows for Maya Brewer’s wedding.

  As soon as it was 9:00 a.m., she was back on the phone with the insurance agent, pushing to get her van repaired quickly and to report the damage to the store window. Desperation set in when she lost another round with the insurance company to rush the van’s repairs. The repair shop estimated it would take at least another two weeks to finish. She needed it in ten days. They weren’t pleased to hear she had a second claim within one week, but agreed to get security reinstated in twenty-four hours.

  Saying a silent prayer, Amber asked God to send her ideas on how to get this wedding cake to the mountain resort next weekend. She needed to make a huge impression on the wedding guests if she hoped to make her business a success. She had to get her name out there if she hoped to stay afloat until the summer wedding season. It would be a long, dry spell between Christmas and the Valentine’s Day weddings. So far she had five weddings in the one week around the busy sweethearts’ holiday. This wedding could guarantee that she wouldn’t need to lay off any of her dedicated staff after the holidays.

  Andrea pulled the cinnamon crispies from the parchment paper and set them on the racks to cool while Amber listened to CiCi’s report about the third parking ticket she’d received while making deliveries. They hadn’t had this problem since Amber had had the van painted. But now that the police couldn’t identify their vehicles for deliveries, it was an issue. This time, the parking meter had expired and snow had covered the windshield where they had placed the hot pink sign inside on the dash.

  “What about those magnetic signs? We could each put them on our cars when we’re doing deliveries, plus it would give you advertising,” CiCi suggested as they finished boxing up the remainder of the pastries to go to the coffee shop down at the university.

  “I thought of that. The sign company is hoping to put our new signs up next week. Maybe they can give me an estimate on the automobile signs, too.”

  Before lunch, Amber decorated two cakes for early afternoon pickup and boxed them up.

  They had a rush of college students before she had a chance to check the invoice of Thanksgiving decorations and started pricing them. CiCi rotated the sheet cakes for the week through the stacks to let them cool.

  After lunch Garrett had gone to run errands and get his tire repaired. She’d seen more police officers stop in for coffee and cinnamon rolls than she’d seen all month. She didn’t suppose that was a coincidence.

  Amber’s mind returned to the huge wedding. Even if she could transport the four-tiered cake in the car, there was just no way it would all fit. And she needed her staff here to keep the shop open.

  It was an hour trip up the canyon to the mountain resort. They couldn’t make more than one trip with all the last-minute decorating she had to do on the cake. Not to mention they were expecting another small storm to bring a few inches of snow to Fossil Creek. That could mean a foot or more at the resort.

  Desperate for something to take her mind off everything that had happened, Amber moved the costume masks to the back rack, clearing space for turkeys, snowmen and Christmas decorations.

  It was almost closing time when she looked out the front windows and saw Garrett. She dropped the small box of party favors on the floor.

  “Are you okay?” CiCi asked, looking out the window. “Did we have another order to be picked up? Did we forget something?”

  “The guy coming this way…” Amber mumbled, kneeling to put the plastic turkeys back into the box. “He’s the one I ran into.” She wasn’t sure why she was explaining his real identity to CiCi. “He’s going to be working here for a while. They seem to believe all these mishaps are related to each other.”

  “That hunk in the gray polo is a cop?”

  She pushed the box onto the shelf and hurried to pick up the packages. “That’s him.”

  “That’s the guy you flipped over to his roof and spun like a top? You didn’t tell me he was good-looking and built like Brad Pitt.” CiCi quickly fanned herself. “Oh, my, girl, he doesn’t look happy.”

  Amber groaned. “I hope that scowl doesn’t mean more bad news. It’s bad enough the mess I made of my own business. I sure didn’t need to ruin someone else’s career, too.” She finished filling the box just as he walked into the shop.

  “Did they find her?” Amber asked immediately, standing to face him.

  He looked a little puzzled. “Find who?”

  “The girl who was attacked,” she said, feeling the draft from the open door blow stray hair from her ponytail into her face. “You don’t look happy.”

  Garrett looked worried. “I just tried calling and no one answered.”

  She felt the temperature in the room go up. “The phone hasn’t rung, has it, CiCi?” She realized the two hadn’t met and quickly introdcued them.

  “All afternoon?” he asked, clearly surprised.

  “We had one or two earlier, but…” She nervously brushed a stray hair behind her ear. “Sometimes the wet weather knocks out
the phones in these old buildings. I’ll check with the neighbors, though.”

  He raised his hand to stop her. “I’m sorry, I guess I’ve come to expect the worst this week. I just went to get the tire fixed, and found out it wasn’t just a nail that I’d picked up somewhere. Someone put a metal spike right in the middle of it so I couldn’t miss it.”

  “I’m sorry about the tires, Garrett.” She figured she could ask him more about whether it was related after CiCi had gone. “Do you have any idea who might have done it?”

  He shook his head. “I’m sure there’s a list of criminals who’d like to get back at me. Anyway, I really wondered if I could interest you in having dinner with me. That is, unless you already have plans.”

  Amber glanced at CiCi, then back to Garrett and felt her heart race. “Sure, dinner’s good.” She needed to give him her cell phone number in addition to the work number. Maybe this wouldn’t have caught her so off guard. “CiCi, if you’ll just get the last of the dishes soaking, you can go on home.”

  “I really wouldn’t mind finishing up here first…” CiCi said hesitantly.

  Amber felt a blush creep into her face. “Thanks for offering, CiCi, but I’ll be working late anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow. You do have my cell number, don’t you?”

  CiCi nodded. “Tomorrow’s another late morning, remember. I’ll see you about nine, then, if you’re sure…”

  “Go ahead and put down six o’clock on your time sheet.” While CiCi gathered her belongings, Amber tried to mentally prepare herself to face Garrett. She couldn’t help thinking how odd it was that she had no hesitation spending time with a cop—with Garrett—when she’d disliked police officers for so long. He and his brother seemed totally different from the officers who had changed the course of her life.

  Amber heard the back door close and instinctively followed. “I’ll be right back.” She ran into the kitchen, pulling her ponytail holder from her hair. She placed her hair band on the coat rack, and peered out the peephole.