Magnolia Sky

by Susan Crandall

  Throughout the day she hoped against hope that Sarah and Nicholas would appear. Three different times she called the clinic to see if they’d shown up there—or at least called to tell Molly they were all right. Carmen assured her that she’d call the instant she heard anything. She never called.

  By the end of her shift, it was beginning to sink in that Molly might never see either one of them again. She left work with a growing sense of loss. By the time she was warming up a can of soup for her solitary dinner, she’d managed to fall into a perfectly disgusting quagmire of self-pity.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t love medicine. She did. But living like this wasn’t enough anymore. The past days events had shone a bright light on the fact that her personal life consisted of no more than a visit home at Christmas and a single, watered-down friendship with a woman she barely knew. She really needed to rethink her life, reassess what she really wanted.

  As she was going to bed, she decided, tomorrow she would decide. She would have the whole day to herself. She’d take stock, then take hold of her life and set it on a course that would deliver the fulfillment she was currently lacking. Deciding to decide delivered a measure of calm. She went to sleep certain that when she awakened her future would begin to take shape.

  Just as Molly was stepping out of her morning shower, a frantic knocking sounded at her apartment door. She grabbed her robe and tied it around her as she hurried to answer it, wondering if the building was on fire. Instead of a fireman with an ax waiting for her when she opened the door, she was stunned to see a nervous-looking Sarah holding Nicholas.

  Sarah didn’t hesitate, but stepped right in. “Close the door.”

  Molly did. “What’s wrong? I’ve been so worried about you two.” She looked at Sarah. Even with cheeks reddened by the chill air, the girl looked like the walking dead, exhausted beyond normal new-mother exhaustion. “Sit down.” Molly pointed to the only piece of furniture in her living room, a futon.

  Sarah sat and laid the baby next to her on the futon. She unwrapped him from thick blankets. Molly looked closely at the child to assess his health. His appearance was the opposite of Sarah’s, good color, alert, bright eyes.

  Sarah didn’t look at Molly when she said, “I need your help.” She raised her blue eyes then, and the deep purple smudges beneath them were even more evident. “I need you to keep Nicholas for a day or so.”

  Molly drew a deep breath to silence the What! that was about to pop out of her mouth. Then she sat down on the floor next to Sarah’s feet and said, “Tell me what’s happening.”

  “I just have to take care of a few things—and I can’t have the baby with me.” Again, Sarah’s gaze skittered away from Molly’s probing expression.

  “This has to do with Nicholas’s father?”

  Sarah nodded and ran a pale finger along the baby’s cheek. Then she looked Molly in the eye. “He can’t know about Nicholas. That’s the only way I can protect him.”

  “Sarah, don’t you have someone—”

  Jumping to her feet, Sarah threw her arms in the air. “Don’t you think if I did . . .” She stopped herself and took a breath. “I understand how much I’m asking. I don’t have much time—and I don’t have anywhere else to turn. Once I get this taken care of, Nicholas and I can start over . . . safe.”

  “My God, what kind of man is this?”

  “Dangerous.”

  The way she said it made Molly’s blood run cold. She decided if she was going to do this, she deserved more of an answer. “How could you have gotten involved with—”

  “He’s not what he appears. He’s very convincing in his lies. The ugly truth is buried so deep . . . when I found out, it was too late. All I could do was run to protect the baby. But I can’t run anymore.” There was a chilling finality in her last statement.

  Molly had the odd feeling she was caught up in a weeknight television drama. “Why not? If you’ve stayed away from him this long, why can’t you just leave it this way?”

  “Because I’m a liability. He can’t afford liabilities. It’s just a matter of time.”

  “You make it sound like he’ll kill you.”

  “He will.” Her voice was flat, as if fear had ground away all emotion until there was nothing left.

  “If he’s dangerous, you should go to the police.” Molly grasped Sarah’s hand; her flesh was as cold as a corpse.

  Sarah looked down at her and ignored the statement. There were tears in her eyes. “Will you take him? I don’t have a lot of time.”

  “What if I can’t?”

  Sarah’s eyes closed briefly and she drew a breath. “Then I’ll have to leave him somewhere else.”

  “With someone else?” Even as Molly said it, she knew that wasn’t what Sarah meant.

  “No. Abandon him somewhere where they’ll take care of him—like the hospital . . . a church.”

  Molly shot to her feet. “You’ve got to be kidding! You’ll never get him back.”

  Sarah blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. “But he’ll be safe.”

  Molly had seen plenty of kids from foster care end up in the ER. It had happened again just this week. Somehow she kept herself from saying, Don’t bet on it. “I’ve got two days off. Can you be back here before my shift on Friday at three?”

  Molly grabbed her into a quick, fierce hug. “Thank you.” Then she stepped an arm’s length away. “Promise me you’ll protect him . . . no matter what. Keep him from his father.”

  Molly looked at her sternly. “If I knew who his father was, that’d be a whole lot easier to do.”

  Sarah stared hard into Molly’s eyes. “No. Just the opposite.”

  Molly tore her uneasy gaze from Sarah to look at the baby who’d fallen asleep on the futon. She could not let this child get swallowed up in the system.

  “You’re sure the father doesn’t know?” Molly asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “I still think you should go to the police.”

  Sarah gave Molly a quick hug. “Everything he needs is in the case. I’ll be back before your shift on Friday.”

  “I’m worried about you,” Molly said gravely.

  “Don’t worry about me. Nicholas is the one who matters.”

  Putting her hand on the door knob, Sarah paused and looked back at the baby one last time. Molly couldn’t help but think she looked like a sad fairy princess; fair and beautiful, yet caught in a nightmarish tragedy.

  Sarah said, “Thank you,” once again, and slipped out the door.

  Molly stood for a long moment, just staring at the closed door, an impotent fear filling her throat.

  As Molly gave Nicholas his five a.m. bottle the next morning, she turned on the television news and discovered that Sarah was dead.

  THE EDITOR’S DIARY

  Dear Reader,

  Like spin-the-bottle, love can be a complete game of chance. So pucker up—you never know when the bottle will stop and your Prince Charming will reveal himself. Just ask Analise Abbott and Rebecca Tremaine in our two Warner Forever titles this August.

  Karen Robards raves “Susan Crandall is an up-and-coming star”. Prepare to be dazzled for her latest, MAGNOLIA SKY, is going to sweep you off your feet. Luke Boudreau has been agonizing for five months over what to say to the mother of his best army buddy Calvin Abbott. After all, how do you express your regret and sorrow that someone died while saving your life? Now, finally at the door of Calvin’s Mississippi home, the moment is upon him. Praying to forgive himself for surviving and find a moment’s peace, Luke never expected the truth to explode like a bomb. In all the time they were together in the service, Calvin never even hinted that he was married. He certainly didn’t behave that way either. Yet Analise Abbott stands before him like an angel, her green eyes full of life, her sweet smile full of warmth and the promise of something more. Torn between loyalty and temptation, can Luke open himself up to love with Analise?

  Journeying from the sweet aroma of magnolia in Mississippi
to the hint of desperation as a woman bolts from her wedding, we present Julie Anne Long’s THE RUNAWAY DUKE. Mary Balogh calls this “a delightful debut novel—brimful of wit, action, passion, and romance” and she couldn’t be more right. Get comfy—you’re never going to want this to end. Rebecca Tremaine isn’t the genteel lady her mother dreamt she’d be. She’s wretched at embroidery and pitiful at the pianoforte. But when she’s caught in a compromising position with a dandy, her parents have had enough. Arranging a hasty marriage, they never suspected she’d find an ally to thwart their plan. Connor Riordan has no idea how this happened. His life as a groom on the Tremaine estate was peaceful and isolated—just what this Duke of Dunbrooke “killed” in action at Waterloo needs to keep his cover. But a true gentleman never turns away a damsel in distress. As Rebecca and Connor race through the countryside, escaping Rebecca’s parents, her fiancé and the highwaymen out to get them, can love catch them?

  To find out more about Warner Forever, these August titles, and the author, visit us at www.warnerforever.com.

  With warmest wishes,

  Karen Kosztolnyik, Senior Editor

  P.S. September is right around the corner, but don’t put away those tank tops yet. Indian summer is about to begin with these two hot reasons to keep your A.C. plugged in: Sue-Ellen Welfonder pens a sensual Scottish medieval about an aloof warrior who must marry for money but never expected to lose his heart to his spirited young bride and her searing kisses in WEDDING FOR A KNIGHT; and Toni Blake delivers the sexy and heartwarming erotic romance about a man determined to get revenge, the woman he falls in love with, and her diary—his weapon of choice—in THE RED DIARY.