Christmas Cover-Up

by Lynette Eason

  She slid to the sofa next to her mother, and Katie restrained herself from reaching out and touching the girl. Lucy hugged her mother, then crossed the room to her father and wrapped him in a tight hug. She looked at Katie. “I want to see your evidence. If what you say is true, I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

  Katie nodded. It seemed to be all she could do.

  Tears in her eyes, Lucy smiled, then moved to wrap Katie in a tight hug. “I’ve missed you.”

  Katie let a sob slip out as she hugged her sister back. “And oh, how I’ve missed you.”

  Lucy drew in a deep breath and looked at her parents. Katie followed her gaze. They looked shell-shocked. Katie knew what she had to do. She looked at her sister. “Take your time and reassure them, then call me.” She pulled a card from her pocket and slid it in her sister’s hand.

  Lucy’s tears spilled over, but she simply nodded as Katie turned to leave.

  Jordan slipped his hand over hers and gave her a squeeze. She squeezed back and made it out the door and into the car before she turned, wrapped her arms around his neck and cried her happiness into his shoulder.

  And bless the man, he let her do it.

  After about ten minutes, he started mopping her face with a tissue. “Come on, Katie, I’m going to need an oar to steer the car if you keep this up.”

  She sniffed and sat away from him, taking the tissue and finishing the job. “I’m sorry, I’m just so happy and almost unwilling to believe it’s true. We found her.”

  He handed her a bottle of water. She eyed it suspiciously. “How long has this been in here?”

  He laughed. “Since last night. It won’t kill you, I promise.”

  She took a swig and sighed. “I need to call my parents.”

  “Yes.”

  Katie took out her phone and dialed her parents’ number. Her mother answered on the second ring. “Hi, Mom. I’ve got some news for you.”

  “News? What kind of news?”

  “We found Lucy.”

  EPILOGUE

  Katie looked around the dinner table. Christmas Day had arrived with snow flurries and cold temperatures, but inside her parents’ warm house, Katie marveled at her mother’s bright eyes and happy smile. She kept coming back to the sight of Lucy sitting between her birth parents, with the parents who’d raised her sitting across the table.

  Jordan sat to her right. And wonder of wonders, his parents had agreed to join them. His father wasn’t falling over himself to be pleasant to Katie, but at least he could be in the same room and not cast blame.

  Jordan said his parents had spent many hours working out the fact that his mother had chosen to keep Neil’s secret. They were going to counseling to deal with everything, including accepting that Katie didn’t deserve Paul’s blame. And he was beginning to see the light.

  Katie just shook her head. Never in a million years would she have pictured this scene. And yet here they all were.

  Tears threatened and she rose on the pretense of carrying some empty dishes into the kitchen.

  Jordan followed her. She put the dishes into the sink and felt his hands fall on her shoulders. He turned her to face him. “All you all right?”

  She looked up into his eyes and felt her heart kick into overdrive. “I’m more than all right. I don’t have the words to describe how I feel right now. I feel overwhelmed with how everything worked out.” A tear slipped down her cheek and he brushed it away. “This isn’t the normal ending to a kidnapping.” She blinked. “I really believed she was dead, Jordan.”

  “I know. I did, too.”

  “And I keep having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that we found her.”

  “I know.”

  “You know how Lucy’s other mother said that Lucy was her gift from God? Well, reuniting our family is another gift.”

  “God’s done some amazing work over the last few weeks. One of those things was keeping you alive to enjoy this moment.” He pulled her to him and buried his face in her neck. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d been killed.”

  She pushed him back and cupped his cheeks with her palms. “I think I love you, Jordan.”

  He blinked, then gave a laugh and grabbed her around the waist to lift her so they were nose to nose. “I know I love you, silly woman.”

  He kissed her, a long, thorough kiss that left her breathless. She grinned. “I’m so thankful God sent me to Finding the Lost.”

  “Will you marry me?”

  She gaped. “Marry you?”

  “What? Too soon?”

  “No. Yes. Maybe. No.”

  He grinned. “So which one do I pick?”

  She laughed through her tears. “Yes.”

  “Soon?”

  “Soon.”

  “Awesome.”

  He planted another kiss on her lips, and she clung to the happiness and blessings God had chosen to bestow upon them.

  She pulled back. “Not every day is going to be this wonderful, you know.”

  “I know, but let’s enjoy while it lasts.”

  “I’m good with that.”

  She kissed him again, knowing her future was bright and God’s love was enough to get them through whatever came their way. God’s unconditional love. A love she couldn’t earn, but which was freely given.

  A love she accepted with a grateful heart. A love she planned to pass down to her children and her children’s children. Children. The thought made her weepy again. Oh, yeah, she wanted children. Jordan’s children.

  Jordan pulled back and kissed her nose. “Merry Christmas, Katie.”

  “Merry Christmas, Jordan.”

  * * * * *

  Questions for Discussion

  Katie Randall’s little sister disappeared from their front yard fourteen years ago. She has blamed herself ever since. Do you think she was irresponsible in leaving her sister to help her neighbor? Have you made a mistake in your past that had serious consequences you still blame yourself for?

  Jordan Gray only works cold cases. He has his own past mistakes to overcome and forgive himself for. He feels like it’s his fault a child died, which is why he no longer works current abductions for the FBI. He joins Finding the Lost and meets Katie. Do you think the timing is coincidental, or do you think God sometimes places people in our lives at just the right time for a specific purpose?

  Katie has dedicated her life to finding her sister. She feels like she is unworthy to have happiness until her sister is found. Is there something you’re so passionate about that you would put your life on hold to “fix” it?

  Jordan is attracted to Katie, but his parents blame her for Neil’s death. He doesn’t want to do anything to upset his parents, so he has to fight his attraction for Katie. Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t want to hurt someone so you put your own feelings aside?

  More than anything, Katie wants to be loved. Why do you think she feels the way she feels?

  Katie does her best to earn her mother’s love and each time she does something her mother still doesn’t love her. It’s like being rejected over and over. If you were in Katie’s shoes, would you keep trying or would you give up? Why?

  What is your favorite scene in this story?

  Who is your favorite character in the story?

  Detective Frank Miller was going through a very hard time, with his marriage crumbling and his niece dying. He made a decision to kidnap a child in order to save his sister’s life and pull he
r out of her depression. What did you think about Frank after you found out his reasons for taking Lucy? Did you feel sorry for him at all? Why or why not?

  Were you surprised Katie’s sister, Lucy, was still alive?

  When Katie finally finds her sister and has to tell her sister’s “parents” that they have “adopted” a kidnapped child, they are devastated. Did you feel compassion for this couple? Why or why not?

  Katie finally realizes that she can’t earn her mother’s love any more than we can earn God’s love. We will never be good enough or do enough right things to make God love us. He chose to love us so much that He sent His son to die for us. Katie’s mother finally tells her why she pushed her away for so long and tells Katie she loves her. Her mother’s confession and subsequent offer of love frees Katie up so much. But what if Katie’s mother hadn’t come around? What if Katie had to go through the rest of her life without her mother’s love? Do you think she would have found peace at some point? Especially with Jordan by her side?

  Jordan’s mother kept her knowledge about Neil from her husband because she was scared it would bring on another heart attack. Do you think her reasons were valid? That she did the right thing? Or do you think she should have told him? (Remember, she just lost her son, and losing her husband because she told him the truth about Neil would have destroyed her.) What would you have done in her shoes?

  What about Jordan? Should he have kept the truth about Neil’s activities from his parents? Do you think letting them, most specifically his father, believe that Neil was wrongly arrested was the right thing to do? To spare their feelings? Or do you think it prevented their healing?

  Were you surprised by who the villain was? If so, who did you think was the bad guy?

  Be sure to check out

  Lynette Eason’s next book in her WRANGLER’S CORNER series, CHRISTMAS RANCH RESCUE, written with her daughter Lauryn Eason.

  When danger comes to her ranch, Becca Price must depend on a childhood friend to stay alive at Christmas

  Read on for a glimpse of

  CHRISTMAS RANCH RESCUE

  Becca Price’s slowly healing back shouted its discomfort as she heaved the water hose into the horse’s stall to fill the bucket. She ignored the pain and listened to the old barn creak. The feeling of someone watching her spiked the hairs on her neck and she shuddered.

  Someone watching, waiting. Not exactly how she wanted to start her Monday morning.

  The ominous feeling had just grown stronger over the past few weeks ever since her fall. She glanced around and did her best to shake off the creepiness.

  Again.

  Unfortunately, she just couldn’t quite manage it. A shiver rippled up her spine and it had nothing to do with the forty-degree temperatures outside.

  “Nathan? Is that you?” Nathan Williams, her former best friend and reformed practical joker, was back in town and asking to see her. Maybe he’d come early and was reverting to their teenage days.

  Silence echoed back at her. She wished Jack, her five-year-old golden retriever, had followed her into the barn. He’d tell her if someone was out there. But he’d taken off across the backyard and through the pasture.

  She shook her head. “Focus on the horses,” she muttered. Owning her own barn had been a dream since childhood. A little pain—and paranoia—wouldn’t stop her from giving her clients what they’d paid for. “One down, eleven more to go.”

  She moved to the next stall. The pretty paint nickered and nuzzled up against Becca’s face. Absently, she stroked the animal’s warm neck. She couldn’t help but scan the open area between the stalls once more even as she took comfort in the horse’s calming presence. He didn’t seem worried. Becca stepped back and her foot caught the edge of the bucket, dumping what she’d just filled.

  She sighed and righted the pail to start over. Even with all of the hard work, she wouldn’t do anything else, have any other career—not even use the medical degree she’d been arm-twisted into getting. At least not right now. Right now horses were her passion.

  No matter the backlash she got.

  Becca tightened her jaw. She’d succeed. She would. She’d find the money to keep the barn going. Somehow, someway. And she wouldn’t ask her parents for help—that was for sure. She’d go back to working a full-time job before she’d ask them for help. Which they wouldn’t give her anyway.

  Don’t let me give up, please God. Give me strength. The prayer felt weird, and she felt almost guilty for praying it. Her parents had both been born in Wrangler’s Corner and grown up not too far from where Becca now lived. But they’d had bigger dreams than horses and ranching. Not only for themselves, but for her, too. Their only child. So they’d packed her up and moved to Nashville when she was seventeen years old.

  She still wasn’t sure she’d forgiven them for that—even though she’d gone along with it without outward argument.

  Somehow she’d survived the move, the new school, and the never-ending social engagements she’d been required to attend. She’d excelled at pleasing her parents.

  Until she’d had enough.

  A year ago, she’d bought this place with the small bit of money her grandmother had bequeathed her and moved home.

  The barn door squeaked again and she jumped. “Nathan? If that’s you, it’s not funny.”

  Silence echoed back at her. Nathan used to like practical jokes, was always pulling off some stunt when they were in high school, but he’d never been mean or deliberately creepy. Even he wouldn’t take it this far. When he’d called this morning and asked to see her, she’d been stunned. Pleasantly stunned for sure, but she knew she hadn’t hidden her surprise well. “I’m back in town,” he’d said, “and I need some work. Do you think I could come talk to you about a job?”

  She stumbled through a yes and he’d promised to be there shortly.

  But even he couldn’t have gotten here that fast. So that meant someone else was there. But who and why wouldn’t that person answer her?

  Her pulse began a swift beat and her nerves shivered. Becca kinked the hose and the water flow stopped. She stepped from the stall and looked out into the open area. Nothing. Again. She shuddered and bit her lip, chastising herself for jumping at her shadow. No one was there after all.

  The door to the barn creaked but didn’t open. She stomped her foot and turned back to stare at the door. She’d moved too fast. Pain shot through her and she grimaced. “Hello?”

  Only the sounds of the horses answered her. Her nerves stretched and she moved from the stall to the center of the barn. Her boots crunched on the combination of dirt and scattered hay as she stopped and listened. Before the accident, she would have marched up to the door and thrown it open. Now, fear invaded her body, and she shivered. It didn’t make sense, but she couldn’t shrug it away.

  She reached for the pitchfork she’d leaned against the stall opposite the paint’s.

  A flash of memory taunted her. Pounding hooves and a horse’s crazed whinny. She gasped and knew the memory was from the day of her fall. She had very little recollection of what had happened that day.

  Four weeks ago when she’d awakened in the middle of the field, the pain had taken her breath away. Christine Hampton, her trainer, had been on the phone screaming at the 911 dispatcher.

  Now it seemed as if someone was trying to get in her barn. And Becca didn’t know if she had the strength to defend herself if that someone had evil on his mind.

  * * *

  Nathan Williams watched the trees pass by as his anger simmered beneath the surface. The conversation with Clay Starke had riled him, and he almost missed the turn for Becca Price’s gravel drive. He pressed the brake hard and made a quick turn in the right direction.

  Once he knew he was back on track, he let the conversation he’d had not twenty minutes earlier run t
hrough his head. He’d been in Clay’s office, sitting across from the man who’d just asked him to spy on the woman who’d been his best friend since childhood.

  Granted, they hadn’t spoken much in the past several years, but she’d meant the world to him once upon a time, and he was kicking himself over what he’d just agreed to do.

  When Clay Starke, sheriff in the small town of Wrangler’s Corner, Tennessee, located about an hour outside of Nashville, had called asking for his help, Nathan had listened with the intention of letting Clay down gently.

  However, when his friend had told him about Becca’s accident and that she was desperate for help, he hadn’t been able to say no. He’d come home and found out what was really going through Clay’s mind. “It’s possible she’s running drugs off her ranch and I need it proven one way or another.”

  “There’s no way that’s possible.” He’d immediately defended Becca. “I’m not going to do it.” He’d shoved the chair back and stood, anger thumping through him. Betrayal burned in his belly. “You lied to me.”

  Clay had leaned forward, regret and determination stamped on his lined face. “I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell you everything because I knew this would be your reaction. I remember how crazy you were about Becca in high school.”

  “Yeah, well, she wouldn’t give me the time of day, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?” At least not in the romance department. But she’d loved hanging out with him at his house and playing Sunday afternoon football in the big backyard with him and his dad.

  Clay had sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I’m at the end of my rope, Nate. People are dying. The last victim of an overdose, Donny Torres, was only nineteen years old. And while he had a rap sheet as long as your arm, he didn’t deserve to die.”

  “I agree.”

  “I talked to Donny’s parents. I’ve known them for a while now, and I knew Donny well. He was a hard case, I’ll admit. He didn’t hang around with the good guys and his name has popped up several times in my various investigations. I think he knew a lot more about the drugs in this town than he was letting on. And…”