by Jen Talty
“You had a room full of flowers?” He peeked his head into her room. “I have a hard time believing you were a little girl that played with dolls.”
She laughed. “I had dolls, but I didn’t really play with them, unless it was to scare the crap out of my brother Edwin. He was scared of his own shadow, and I made one of my dolls into a bad version of Chucky.”
“Wonderful, now I’m going to have nightmares about a crazy doll and that movie about children and some cornfield.” Declan tugged her hand.
She glanced down at their intertwined fingers and let out a nervous laugh. “I can’t believe you’re afraid of horror movies but handled my parents and their embarrassing questions.” They watched a lot of movies together over the last year, but when anyone picked a horror flick, Declan was nowhere to be found.
“Trust me, I was shaking worse than when we had that fatal car crash last month. Your father scares the shit out of me and I’m terrified they both hate me.”
She laughed. “Right now, they think you’re the best thing since sliced bread.”
“Maybe, but that could all change in a flash and then I’ll be running naked through the corn field while your father hunts me down with a shotgun.”
She patted his shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about.” Only, she had no idea how her parents would take her news.
But she wasn’t going to tell them this visit, and she had to tell Declan first.
“Where’s your sister’s room?” he asked.
“Next door on the right.” She pushed past him and stepped into Trish’s room. It looked exactly the same as she remembered. The walls were a pale yellow and the bedspread was white with floral-accented pillow shams. A pink elephant stuffed animal sat proudly on the bed. Her sister had won that at a local carnival where she had to hit three balloons with a dart from twenty paces away. She’d been only seven and beat out everyone in the family, including their dad, who to this day swears he didn’t let her win.
Becca didn’t believe him.
“Trish didn’t go anywhere overnight without this.” Becca sat on the edge of the bed and squeezed the elephant. While Trish didn’t like boyish games, she enjoyed that carnival game because it made her the center of attention for the rest of the night, something Trish craved all the time.
“She’s seventeen now and if she ran off with that boy, I doubt she’d be bringing a stuffed animal.”
“Perhaps you’re right.” She and Trish were like night and day. Where Becca had always been a tomboy, Trish was into makeup, hair, and used to sneak regular clothing under her traditional Mennonite dress. It was highly frowned upon for women to wear anything but plain dresses, but like most things, times were changing, and more and more young girls and boys wore more stylish clothes, though still quite modest.
Trish always tried to push the envelope.
“Mind if I go through her closet?”
“Go right ahead.” Becca set the elephant on the bed before going through her sister’s drawers. A pang of guilt glided across her heart. It felt like she was breaking some sister code by rifling through her things. Her clothes were that of a typical young Mennonite lady with a few jeans, blouses, and other regular clothing dabbled in.
Satisfied there were no clues in the dresser, Becca pulled back the quilt and lifted the mattress. “Bingo,” she said, snagging what appeared to be a scrapbook or journal. “Exactly where I hid mine. We always had to make our own beds, so it was the one place I knew my parents would never look.”
“I don’t think I want to tell you what I hid under there.”
She laughed. “You’ve got that right.” She’ll never forget the first time she’d seen a dirty magazine her first week in firefighting school. Her fellow servicemen hadn’t meant to leave them laying around the break room. She didn’t know who blushed more, her or the young men in the station.
With shaky fingers, she flipped open the book.
Declan sat next to her. His one hand pressed into the bed behind her back, the other one a little too close to her bare thigh.
The first few pages were from when she was younger, so Becca flipped to the end, where she used the pages as a journal over a place to display images with crafty sayings and cute paper cutouts. She focused on the page written the day before she left home.
I really thought he loved me. Honestly, truly loved me. I read through my other entries about him and it reminds me of how sweet he could be. He promised to take me away from all this. He even said he’d take me down to see my sister, Becca, the wonder daughter. The daughter my parents are proud of, even though she ran off in the middle of the night, defying their wishes.
Declan’s fingers curled around her shoulder. “Don’t take that to heart.”
“Kind of hard not to. I’ve always known Trish had some jealousy toward me, but it’s the same with her brothers. Trish always felt like the only way to get noticed in this family was to rebel.” It couldn’t have been easy to grow up in Becca and Edwin’s shadow. The male and female perfect children, only Becca had to stumble her way back into her parents’ good graces by proving she had the chops and the faith to follow her dreams.
Only what was Trish’s dream? It seemed Trish never thought past being the center of attention and that tugged at Becca’s heartstrings.
“What else does it say?” Declan asked.
But Becca didn’t do it wrong. She’d done everything right until she joined the Air Force, which is girl-power badass. I wish I had realized that a long time ago, it might have saved me a broken heart.
Byron doesn’t even know I know, yet, but tomorrow, I’m going to confront him, and then tell him he can go off with one of the other girls he’s been seeing and telling lies too.
Mom and Dad actually are encouraging this law school stuff, and maybe they’re serious about letting me stay on campus. Becca is right, I have to get my shit together, and it starts with saying goodbye to Byron.
Until the next time…
“That was the last entry,” Becca said, closing the book. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“I wish I could lie to you and tell you I felt differently, but it sounds like she had every intention of breaking it off with this Byron guy.”
“And she was going to confront him.” Becca chomped down on her fingernail. There had been nothing to believe that Byron was violent. All the information they had about his criminal record hadn’t shown any evidence of a temper.
“I need to call Tex, and we need to see if we can get a location on Byron. We should leave now,” Declan said.
She breathed in slowly through her nose, exhaling through her mouth. She repeated that another five times, doing her best to remain calm. Every alarm bell in her head rang at full blast.
Her sister could be dead.
“Becca?” Declan tilted her chin up with his thumb and forefinger. “Becca?”
“What?” She blinked a few times, but her eyes wouldn’t focus. “I’m fine,” she muttered, continuing with her controlled breathing.
“Relax, sweetheart. We’re going to find her.”
“You can’t promise that we’ll find her alive.”
“Don’t talk like that,” Declan said, cupping her cheeks and lowering his eyes to catch her gaze. “We need to have a little faith in the man upstairs.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could utter a single syllable, he kissed her with his warm, tantalizing lips. He satisfied a thirst that she had deep in her throat. She was going to have to tell him soon about the baby. She had no right to keep that information from him. Whatever happened going forward, he needed to be part of the equation.
Her parents might have gotten over her leaving in the middle of the night, but having a child out of wedlock, with a man that didn’t love her, that made her a harlot.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from down the hallway, but that didn’t stop Declan from deepening the kiss, wrapping his arms around her body, drawing her tight.
Sh
e pressed her hands against his chest and pulled back just as her father came into her peripheral view, but he stepped back and cleared his throat.
“Declan,” she whispered.
He took her hands in his and brought her to a standing position. “Let’s go find your sister.”
Chapter 5
Declan had spent the last ten minutes listening to Becca read through the rest of Trish’s journal or craft book, or whatever one called it. She’d been head over heels in love with this Byron kid. Hell, he wasn’t a kid at twenty and probably severely hardened by his time in jail. He’d manipulated Trish and her need for attention. Byron knew exactly what to say to get Trish to follow him to the ends of the world. Declan just hoped they’d be able to find the couple, and more importantly that Trish was unharmed.
That was something he had serious doubts about, however, he couldn’t let Becca, or her family know that’s how he felt. Becca needed him to be her rock, and he could give her that. The need to protect and care for her came as natural to him as running into a burning building.
He fought his feelings for her tooth and nail and now he regretted not letting his love for this woman blossom while they discovered and explored each other. He didn’t need a lot of time with her to know she was the one.
His mother always told him that when the right one came along, it would be both terrifying and joyful. He never understood that love could be such a sharp contrast, but that’s exactly how he felt about Becca.
He rolled the Charger to a stop in front of a double wide in a trailer park just outside the town limits of Walnut Creek.
“Let me do all the talking and asking of questions, okay?” The anger seeping from Becca’s body filled the air like thick smoke choking and burning his lungs. He couldn’t let her go off on anyone they might speak to or they’d never find Trish, and time was of the essence.
“I can’t promise I’ll keep my mouth closed.”
“At least I know you’ll try.” The pavement crumbled under his boots. He took his sunglasses off, shoving them in his breast pocket. He’d worn a pale-blue button-down shirt out of respect for her parents’ lifestyle. The jeans didn’t really fit in as most men wore black slacks, but it was close enough.
An older man wearing a jean vest with chains dangling everywhere stepped from the trailer. He wore a red bandana, and both arms were lined with tatts. The right was dedicated to a bald eagle and the American flag, while the left had an image of a woman with long hair and an ominous smile.
“Can I help you?” the man asked, folding his thick arms over his broad chest.
“We’re looking for Byron Richards.”
“That’s my son. What do you want with him?” The man broadened his stance.
Declan took that as an act of quiet aggression. “He’s been seeing my friend’s little sister.”
“The Mennonite girl, right?”
“Yes. And she’s missing,” Declan said, holding Becca’s hand with a little more strength than necessary. He wasn’t sure if he was the one squeezing or if it was her with the death grip, but he supposed it didn’t matter.
The man took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I kicked my son out a couple of weeks ago.”
“Why?” Declan asked.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but he was freeloading, and I won’t have it. He’s a grown man and capable of work. If he can’t live by my rules in my home, he can go find another place to live.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“A couple of days ago. He said he got a job as a mechanic up in Canton and already found a place to live.”
“Do you know the name of the auto shop?”
“The name is Putter Auto. I already told the police all this.”
Declan arched a brow and stole a glance at Becca. “When were they by?”
“Two days ago. They were asking about the girl, whom I never met before. I didn’t even know he’d been seeing anyone.” The man relaxed his stance. “I’m sorry she’s missing, and I truly hope you find her. If I knew more, I’d tell you and the police.”
Declan handed the man his card. “If you hear from him, can you give me a call?”
“Will do.”
Declan tugged at Becca’s hand, but she dug her heels into the ground.
“I didn’t get your name,” Becca said.
But Tex had given them Byron’s father name, so Declan wasn’t sure why she was asking, but decided to let her have a crack at it.
“It’s Lester.”
“Lester,” she started, “did Byron leave anything behind?”
“Some clothes. I told him he had one month to get them all. If not, I’d donate them. I don’t think he’s coming back for them since he called me a jerk of a father when he left.”
“Do you mind if we take a look at them? Look inside his room?” Becca asked.
Declan inched closer, slipping his hand from hers and wrapping his arm around her waist, bracing for Lester to tell them to take a hike. The intel Tex had given about Byron’s father wasn’t much better than his son. Though it had been years since he’d been picked up for anything and he’d supposedly turned over a new leaf.
The jury was still out.
“Are you related to the girl that’s missing?” Lester asked as he rubbed the side of his scruffy face.
“She’s my little sister.” Becca’s voice quivered.
Lester nodded. “All right. Come on in.”
Declan blew out a long breath as he followed Becca and Lester into the trailer. As mobile homes go, it was spacious with a large family room. A dark-brown sofa was pushed up against the wall under a window that looked out over the backyard. A blue recliner with a handmade afghan tossed across it separated the family room from the kitchen.
“Anyone else live here?” Declan asked as Lester pushed back one of the bedroom doors.
“Just me.”
Declan leaned against the doorjamb, watching Becca look under the bed, in the closet, and open and close the dresser drawers, shoving what few contents were inside around.
“What are you looking for?” According to the journal, Trish had been inside this trailer at least once, if not more.
“I have no idea, but maybe she left something behind, or he did.” Becca glanced up. “I don’t believe Byron just up and got a job and moved my sister there. When Trish is done with something, she’s done and all she wanted to do was confront him for using her and cheating on her.”
“I already sent Tex the name of the auto shop. He’s got a buddy that happens to be in the area, so he’s going to stop in and see what’s what. If Byron is there, we’ll drive up tonight. If not, we’ll stay at your folks tonight and regroup in the morning.”
“I can’t sit around and do nothing.” Becca planted her hands on her hips and stared.
Declan swallowed. He understood her restlessness, but they had only one lead, and Tex’s old teammate, Wolf, happened to be in Canton for something else and said he’d stop by. He was closer, and it made more sense.
“I want to talk to some of her friends, but they might be more apt to talk with you,” Declan said.
Becca rubbed her eyes, looking the other way.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here. If we hear that Byron is in Canton, I’ll turn the car around and drive like a mad man to get you there. I promise.”
Becca nodded, taking the hand he offered. One thing he wished more than anything was to be able to hold her in his arms all night. It wasn’t about sex right now, he just wanted to comfort her. Be there for her.
Be her rock.
Be the man she relied on.
Shit, he really was head over heels in love with her, and they hadn’t even had a single date. His mother always told him that when it was right, he’d know it.
Well, he’d tried to run from it, and that had gotten him nowhere.
“Thank you for your time.” Declan shook Lester’s hand.
“My son is a lot of things, b
ut I don’t think he’d hurt that girl.”
Declan led Becca back to the car, where he tucked her in the passenger seat. He could feel the tension seeping from her skin. He had a sister, and he couldn’t imagine what it might be like to know she could have been kidnapped, or even just run away with a deadbeat guy.
Declan pulled out of the trailer park and headed back toward the farm.
“Why don’t you check my phone?” He pulled it from his back pocket and rested it on her thigh. He thought if she had something to focus on, it might change her mood.
She tapped the keypad and scrolled through his texts and emails.
“Nothing.”
“We’ll hear something soon.” He gunned the muscle car as he entered the highway. He’d always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but the older he got, the more he only wanted to settle down and have a family. He’d watched many of his co-workers find the love of their lives and ride off into the sunset.
Could he have that with Becca?
“Can I ask you something?” She shifted in the seat, facing him.
“Of course.”
“It couldn’t be a coincidence that your passcode is my first name and the first letter of my last name. So, why’d you make it that? And when?”
He gripped the steering wheel. Butterflies danced in his stomach as if he were in middle school and trying to steal his first kiss.
The only question that remained was would he be truthful.
Screw it. If he wanted a chance, he had to be.
“Remember Hunter and Claire’s big party a few months ago?”
“You mean the one where I fell down the stairs and took you out with me?”
He laughed at the memory of him trying to catch her before she face-planted on the floor, only she ended up with her face in his chest and her legs around his waist.
It was a really nice feeling, even if it had thrown his back out.
“Do you remember me kissing you?”
“I wasn’t drunk, so yeah, I remember. But then things got all awkward again.”