by Cate Beauman
“So the next time you’re not.”
I’m really good—happy. Her voice echoed in his head like a fucking nightmare. He rubbed at his jaw he couldn’t stop clenching. Reagan had sounded good. He was desperately in love with a woman in some Podunk town who’d already brushed him off. Whether he wanted to or not, he needed to move on. “Yeah, sure. I’ll give you a call the next time I have off.”
“Great.” She went inside. “Goodnight.”
“Night.”
She closed her door and he walked away, hating the cool Doctor Rosner a little for being okay when he didn’t know how he was going to live the rest of his life without her.
Chapter Thirty-one
Dusk was settling over The Gap as Chase turned right off the main road and started the muddy climb toward the cabin. He swerved to avoid several potholes, the result of two solid days of rain, while Reagan sat in the passenger seat, smiling back at Jenny as she yawned for the third time. The pretty girl’s fair complexion was marred by dark purple under-eye circles—the unfortunate affliction of the truly sleep deprived. “I’ll settle Faith in if you want to take a shower and relax.”
“I’m cravin’ a warm bath, but I don’t want to be too far away from my baby girl,” she said, peeking at her daughter and adjusting Faith’s blanket as she’d done at least two dozen times since they started home from the hospital.
“Faith’s doing fine,” she reassured, brushing her hand over Jenny’s. “She rested relatively well last night, her fever’s gone, the infection in her ears is responding well to the antibiotic, and her croup is so much better. Tonight we might actually get some sleep.”
Jenny yawned again. “I’m so tired, but I feel like I might never sleep again. Sick babies sure get ya all shaken up.”
She laughed. “True, but as your friend—and a doctor at that—I’m telling you Faith is definitely on the mend. If I didn’t believe that we wouldn’t be going home.” She blinked, willing away her exhaustion.
“You’re lookin’ real tired yourself, Reagan.” Jenny’s brow furrowed. “Real tired.”
She was dragging in a way that made her residency days seem like a cakewalk. “The last couple nights have been a bit rough.”
“Maybe you should take a nap. I’ll have a bath later.”
She shook her head. “I need to catch up on a little work, which I can do while Cute Stuff sleeps.” She’d hoped to have their relocation list narrowed down by now, and she wanted to give the mysterious thin white strips of paper that kept arriving in the mail another look, but Faith’s croup hadn’t given her time to do anything but get herself and the girls through the next wild ride.
“I don’t know if I feel right about restin’ when you’re not.”
“I won’t be able to settle until I make sure I’m caught up on everything with the clinic. I haven’t checked my e-mail in three days. I probably have a dozen voicemails waiting for me.” She thought of her late-night call with Shane and Jenny’s excitement when Reagan told her he was eagerly awaiting Jenny’s next message. “Did you get in touch with Shane?”
“I e-mailed him this mornin’ from your phone when you were talkin’ to the doctor. I probably should’ve asked first.”
She shook her head. “You know I don’t care if you use my phone.”
Jenny smiled. “My heart gets all gooey every time I think about you two talkin’.” She made a pitter-patter motion against her chest. “He’s missin’ you,” she said in a singsong voice.
Reagan ignored Chase’s chuckle. “He misses you and Faith.”
“I’m tellin’ ya, Reagan, his ‘thing’ for you’s not fadin’ the way you’re sure it is. I’m still thinkin’ you should come with me and Faith to California. You can pick up where you left off.”
“That was a pretty steamy kiss at the airport,” Chase chimed in, tossing her a teasing grin.
Suddenly Mr. Serious wanted to be a funny guy. Reagan rolled her eyes at him. “You’re not exactly helping me here.”
He chuckled again.
“Chase is right, you know—steamy and really romantic. You two make a perfect couple. Someday I’m gonna find me someone who wants me the way Shane wants you.”
She didn’t want to talk about Shane or Jenny’s misperceptions of what she thought Shane felt for her. Poor Jenny would be in for a rude awakening when she eventually stepped off a plane in Los Angeles and Shane introduced her to Amber.
Jenny licked her lips and ran a hand down her ponytail. “I um, I didn’t tell him about Faith.”
“Oh.”
“I mean I said Faith’d had a bit of a cold, but I didn’t tell him the rest.” Jenny fiddled with her fingers as her eyes darted to Reagan’s then to her nails. “He probably would’ve just worried.”
“I don’t think you did the wrong thing.”
She met Reagan’s gaze. “You don’t?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t mention it either.”
Jenny expelled a long breath in what could only be relief. “Okay. Good. I guess maybe I kinda feel like I lied.”
She cleared her throat, well aware she and Jenny had both kept the truth from Shane. “I want you to share your life and troubles with Shane if that’s what you feel comfortable doing. He’s a great guy who cares very deeply for you and the baby, but worrying him about something we had under control isn’t necessary.”
“Exactly.”
She gave a decisive nod, easing her own conscience. “Exactly.”
Chase tossed Reagan a look, frowning.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You had plenty to say just a second ago.” She batted her lash at him.
“Shane’s a good buddy of mine. I think he would want to know if things aren’t right.”
“Faith’s fine,” she justified.
He shrugged. “You asked. I answered.”
She didn’t like Chase’s answer. “He can’t move on if he’s constantly worrying about the girls.”
He raised his brows as he concentrated on the road. “He can’t or you can’t?”
She frowned.
“Geez, guys, I didn’t wanna make thing’s all uncomfortable.”
“You didn’t.” She smiled, ignoring Chase’s last comment.
“Okay. Good.” She sat back in her seat, checking on Faith. “So, I know you’ve gotta work, but maybe we could play a game or somethin’ later—maybe kinda relax and settle back in. Now that we’re goin’ home and I have time to think about it, I’m gettin’ real nervous about our court date tomorrow.”
Jenny was anxious, but Reagan was eager to get their hearing with the judge over with. “We can do whatever you want, but I don’t want you worrying too much. Your mother’s on board with our plan. This is more of a formality than anything. You want to leave, I want to take you and Faith, and your mother isn’t objecting. My attorney sees this as pretty open and shut.”
Despite her reassurances, concern still filled Jenny’s eyes.
“I promise, sweetie,” she said, giving Jenny’s hand an encouraging squeeze.
She nodded. “If you say it, I’ll believe it.”
“Good.” Reagan smiled. “So what do you want to play?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ll let you decide. If you want, I can make us a snack first.”
Jenny wrinkled her nose. “Unless it’s somethin’ that doesn’t need cookin’ I should probably help.”
Reagan grinned as Chase laughed. “I was thinking of trying my hand at brownies.”
Jenny gave her a pained look.
“Or not.”
“I’m not tryin’ to hurt your feelin’s, but seriously, Reagan, you’re not much of a baker…at all.”
“But I’ve mastered grilled cheese. There wasn’t one burnt spot on anyone’s sandwiches the other night. You’ve gotta give me that.”
“You’re learnin’, but you’ve got yourself a long way to go. Kinda like my nursin’. We’re just gonna have to keep he
lpin’ each other.”
“All right, a mini cooking lesson and—”
Chase slammed on the brakes, the jolt interrupting Reagan’s thoughts as she faced front. “Oh my God,” she shuddered out, staring in horror at the clinic’s broken windows and DOCTOR DEVIL spelled out in bright red spray paint across the cabin’s porch, but it was the white crosses with FED1, FED2, FED3, and FED4 staked by the burning animal carcasses that turned her stomach completely. “Chase—”
“Stay buckled,” he said as he whipped the vehicle around in a backup maneuver worthy of the movies and started down the road much faster than they’d arrived. “Call the cops while I get us out of here.”
“But—”
“Call the cops, Reagan.”
Knowing he was right, that there was no other choice, she pulled the phone out of her purse, dialing 911 with trembling fingers.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“Yes, I would like to report a vandalism at the Black Bear Gap Clinic in Black Bear Gap, Kentucky.” Although what she’d just seen was so much more than that. The spray paint and damaged door from the night Shane was still here had been a fairly harmless warning, but the disgusting mess they just left behind was an unmistakable threat.
Chase took the phone from her hand as he turned left on the main road. “This is Chase Rider, head of security for The Appalachia Project. I need officers at The Black Bear Gap Clinic as soon as possible. I don’t know. If you could have a squad car wait. Yes. Thank you. This number is fine.” He hung up.
“What are we gonna do?” Jenny asked, reaching for Reagan’s hand, gripping her fingers, as she clutched at Faith’s car seat with the other.
“We’re going to drive around for a few minutes until I get some backup,” Chase answered, his entire demeanor changed as his gaze darted constantly from the windshield to the rearview mirror.
Jenny’s eyes grew impossibly wider as she looked at Reagan. “Backup?”
“Everything’s going to be okay,” Reagan soothed, even as her own heart pounded. “We’ll figure this out.”
Chase drove another four miles toward Rock Creek when Reagan’s cell phone rang again. “This is Chase Rider. Thanks. We’ll be right there.” He flipped a u-turn and punched up his speed, making it back to the clinic as two police cars raced up the clinic road. Another cruiser stopped along the shoulder, and Chase flashed his lights, rolling down Reagan’s window as he pulled over. “I’m Chase Rider, Head of Security.”
“I’ll follow you up, Mr. Rider.”
“Thanks.” He secured Reagan’s window, and they began their journey up the endless five miles. “When we get the okay, we’re going to go straight inside. Reagan, I want you to slide over to the driver’s seat and come out that way. Jenny, I’ll help you get Faith and we’ll all go in together from there.”
Jenny swallowed. “Then what?”
“I’ll close up the curtains, and we’ll go about our business, but I want you staying away from the doors and windows until I have a better idea of what’s going on.”
“What about Ethan?” Reagan asked.
“I’ll wait for more information from the police, then I’ll give him a call.”
She nodded, her mind already spinning, trying to think of ways to handle damage control. Chase would call Ethan, and Ethan would call the director. After the conversation Ethan and the director were bound to have, it would be a miracle if she was allowed to finish off the terms of her new timetable. With the Mable and Henry rumors stirring, there was little hope of convincing anyone, let alone herself, that she would find her way back into The Gap’s good graces. Thank God tomorrow was Jenny’s court hearing.
They pulled up in the driveway to blue lights blazing as two officers walked the property in the fading light.
The officer who followed them came up to the window. “They just radioed me. The house looks secure.”
“Thank you,” Chase said, then helped Jenny get Faith out of the back as Reagan finagled her way out the driver’s side.
“Goddamn it stinks out here,” Chase said, hurrying them to the front door, carrying Faith’s car seat.
Reagan pressed her hand to her nose and mouth in defense against the overwhelming stench of the skunks smoldering in their yard as she climbed the stairs, staring at the wretched crosses, the intention unmistakable—grave markers for herself and the three people who lived with her.
Chase shut the door behind them, leaving the retched scent outside.
“Well, this wasn’t exactly how I thought we would spend the rest of the day,” Reagan said, toeing off her shoes.
“I wish I could say home sweet home,” Jenny said as she looked around uneasily, taking Faith from her carrier and holding her close as the baby started to cry.
“Stay here while I get to the—” A knock interrupted Chase. “Who’s there?”
“Jessie Hendley.”
Reagan barely suppressed a groan as she stepped up to Chase’s side. “It’s Jenny’s mother.”
Chase opened the door.
Mrs. Hendley stood in her familiar baggy jeans and oversized t-shirt, plugging her nose. “What in the name of our all mighty Lord is goin’ on around here?”
“Why don’t you come in?” Reagan pulled her inside, attempting to keep the smell out.
“Mommy—”
“There be cops all over the place. And what is that—animals burnin’? Smells like skunk.”
Reagan pressed her lips together as she nodded. “Unfortunately someone thought they would have a little fun at our expense.”
“It don’t look like no fun to me.”
“No, it certainly doesn’t. Can I offer you a seat and something to drink?” She made a sweeping motion with her hand, hoping to draw Mrs. Hendley’s attention to the cozy surrounding of where Jenny and Faith lived.
“No.” She stayed by the door, keeping her hand on the knob. “My phone’s still not connected, and the rain kept me away, but I came to tell you I ain’t goin’ through with your lawyer’s high ideas.”
“Mommy.” Jenny rushed forward. “Our meetin’ with the judge is tomorrow.”
“Hush now, Jenny.” Mrs. Hendley pointed at her daughter. “You gettin’ on out of here was supposed to be for the best, but I’m thinkin’ this ain’t the right decision after all. The Lord’s been tellin’ me different. I come down here and see that He’s right.”
Chase’s phone rang. “I need to take this.” He walked off to the kitchen.
“Mrs. Hendley, letting Jenny get an education is a wonderful choice. And quite frankly, Jenny doesn’t appear to be welcome in this town anymore.”
“If she comes on to church with me and I tell them she was lured away by the devil, they’ll take her back, I’m believin’.”
“I don’t want to stay here, Mommy.” Jenny grabbed the bottle from the diaper bag, giving it to Faith as the baby started to cry. “I want to take my girl on out of here and get my education.”
“I’ve been prayin’ mighty hard on this one, Jenny, and you’ll be stayin’ here.” She turned and walked out the door.
“Mrs. Hendley.” Reagan followed her outside. “I hope you’ll reconsider.”
“I was hopin’ I was wrong about you, Doc Reagan, but I’ve a mind to believe that paint on the wall.” She gestured to the words DOCTOR DEVIL. “You gone and made my daughter more sinful than she already was. You gone and killed some little girl with your quackery and desecrated poor Henry’s remains. You, Doc Reagan, are Satan in disguise. That pretty face and fancy education hides the true heathen you are.”
Reagan crossed her arms in the chilly air. This was so much worse than any nightmare she could have imagined. “Mrs. Hendley—”
“I’ve got nothin’ more to be sayin’. Jenny’s got ‘til tomorrow to pack herself on up and head back to the house.”
“What about Faith?”
“I guess she’ll have to be bringin’ her. Them Staddlers is better than you, and that’s not sayi
n’ much.”
“I won’t force her to leave. I still plan to speak with the judge.”
“She’s my girl, Doc Reagan. Not yours.” She walked off, and Reagan closed her eyes.
“Damn it.” She turned and went back in, walking to Jenny crying and sitting on the couch as Faith continued drinking her bottle.
“She’s not gonna let me go.”
Reagan sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s take this a step at a time.”
“There isn’t much need. I know mommy. She’s set her mind to sayin’ no.”
“We’re still going to see the judge. Hopefully we can convince your mother—”
Jenny shook her head adamantly. “No. I bet she said stuff about how you were the devil.”
Reagan swallowed.
Jenny rushed to her feet and started pacing. “When Mommy brings up talk of the devil that’s the end of it. Even if somethin’ has nothin’ to do with the devil she brings it up.” Tears poured down her cheeks. “I never got to go to birthday parties and the sleepover with my friend down the road because celebratin’ such foolishness was the work of the devil.”
“Jenny—”
“I’ve been thinkin’ I should write a note sayin’ I want you to raise Faith, and I should leave. I’m her momma. If I say it, the judge will listen. You’d be a good mommy to her. I want Faith to go on away from here.”
Reagan stood in Jenny’s path. “I’m not leaving here without you.”
“I saw those crosses outside. It’s not safe for you here. You need to be leavin’.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you.” She snagged Jenny’s elbow, squeezing gently. “Period.”
“If I run away you won’t have much reason—”
“Stop it,” she said sharply. “I don’t want you saying or even thinking like that. I’m not leaving here without you. If you run away, I’ll have to stay longer, because I won’t go until I find you.”
Jenny burst into another round of sobbing.
Reagan wrapped her up, holding on as her chest tightened until the fear and stress made it hard to breathe. “We’re leaving together,” she said as she ran her hand down Jenny’s hair. “You, me, and Faith. I’m promising you I won’t leave you behind.” She eased back, looking Jenny in the eye. “You and Faith are my family. You two are mine. Your mother gave birth to you, but you’re mine, Jenny.”