Deadline

by Judy McDonough

Cade walked into the plantation house kitchen in the middle of a conversation between Eddie, Delia, Delphine, and Kristy. "Which daughter left a hole in your heart?" he asked, overhearing Eddie's last sentence.

  The shock spread on their faces, except one. Kristy lowered her head, avoiding eye contact. He sent out a cautionary plea. "What's going on?" The silence concerned him. "Where's Caroline? Somebody better tell me what's going on. Right now."

  "She didn't tell you, Beau?"

  Kristy stood quickly, interrupting Eddie. "Cade, please come outside with me. I need to talk to you. . .where there are no knives or anything breakable within reach."

  "She didn't tell me what? What the hell? Come on! What didn't she tell me?"

  "Shhh. Just come with me. Please."

  She dragged him from the kitchen by his hand.

  Confused, Eddie whispered, "I thought Caroline talked to Beau yesterday?"

  Delia quietly answered, "So did I."

  Cade impatiently followed Kristy onto the front porch. "Seriously, Kristy. Where is Caroline?"

  "Sit down."

  "Oh please, come on! Is she okay?"

  "She's fine. Please. Sit."

  Against his better judgment, Cade sat in the rocking chair. "There. I'm sitting. Now tell me what the hell is going on."

  "Okay. Caroline is fine. She has a message she wanted me to give you. I didn't want to be the one who told you, but she made me promise." Cade frowned. "She went back to Chicago yesterday with Trevor." He abruptly stood, his fighting instincts ignited.

  Kristy flinched. "Sit down, please. You are huge and intimidating, and if I'm gonna get this out I need you on my level." Cade stiffly perched on a rocking chair, his movements slow and calculated. "She came by your cabin twice and was very upset when she couldn't tell you goodbye." Kristy sighed and rubbed her face in frustration as she paced in front of him. "I woke up dreading this talk I would have with you today. I can't tell you why she left. I can tell you what she told me to tell you, but I didn't believe a word of it, and neither will you."

  "Well, what did she tell you to tell me?"

  Shaking her head, she closed her eyes. Cade was sure she said a little prayer. "It didn't make any sense to me, but she said it would make sense to you. She said, 'Tell him I care deeply for him and that's why I'm leaving.'"

  Cade didn't react. Not outwardly. But inside, he battled an onslaught of emotion, frustration, desperation, and a little anger. And something else. Something like victory.

  "You see, that's what doesn't make sense to me. She loves you, so she's leaving to get married to another man." Kristy looked braced, like she waited for Cade to blow up and start yelling, but he didn't. "Aren't you going to say anything? Yell at me? Kill the messenger?"

  "She loves me?" Cade smirked.

  "Um. . .yeah! Hel-lo? Any idiot can see that. Where have you been? Did you hear that last part, though? About her leaving to marry someone else?"

  "Yeah, I heard you. But if she loves me I've got some time to change her mind."

  Kristy cringed. She clearly had more to say. "Oh yeah. There's one more thing I forgot to tell you. Trevor is a first-class manipulator, you see, and he, uh. . .he somehow managed to talk her into marrying him in, um, six weeks."

  Cade flew out of the chair and towered over Kristy, gently gripping her shoulders.

  "Damn. You're fast and strong, yet gentle. You have freakish control over your temper. You're beautiful and you smell great. Caroline is an idiot."

  "She's marrying that bast—she's getting married in six weeks?" A string of profanities escaped him.

  "Believe me, hot stuff, I tried very hard to talk her out of it. It's painfully obvious she loves you more than him, but for some crazy reason she is stuck on the fact that she just met you and that she's already agreed to marry Trevor. It's like she's convinced she can't give the ring back. Or worse, she's afraid of Trevor. Who knows what's going through that crazy girl's head? I've known her for ten years, and she still manages to surprise me."

  "This is not good. She can't marry him. Do you understand that? We cannot let this wedding happen."

  "Well, what do you propose we do? I'm open to suggestions. She's staying at my place until the wedding, and I'm supposed to drive her car back to Chicago."

  Cade lit up. "I have some things I need to do first, but I have an idea. You go ahead and fly back up there, tell Caroline something was wrong and the car wouldn't start. Tell her I wouldn't let you drive it all that way until I had the opportunity to check it out."

  Kristy pursed her lips. "Nope. Won't work. Trevor took it into town before they left and had everything checked already. She won't believe anything is wrong with it."

  "I don't care if she believes it or not, either way you'll be there and her car won't be. I will drive it up there myself. I just need to check on some things and get my facts straight first."

  "Wait, what are you talking about? What facts?"

  "It's a long story, but I'll try to sum it up for you. He sat her in the rocking chair and paced. Eddie has been contacted by several companies lately trying to coerce him into selling his property. He's turned them down flat because he has no intention of selling. One particular company has been trying to bully him—KC Real Estate Investors."

  Kristy sucked in a breath.

  "Yes, you heard me right. That day in the kitchen when you told me about Trevor's dad, I nearly flipped. I had just spoken to Eddie about the harassment. I did some checking and Kenneth Callahan also owns all the surrounding properties around the Fontenot plantation. I'm going to see if I can learn more about our friends, the Callahan's."

  "What in the world would Trevor's dad want with property down here when he lives in Chicago?"

  "I'm not sure, but I'm going to find out. I need to do the research. Kristy, you don't think Trevor is only marrying Caroline to get his hands on the Fontenot property, do you? I mean, clearly his dad wants it, otherwise he wouldn't be trying to force Eddie's hand."

  "Yeah, but if it's his dad who wants it, what good would it do for Trevor to marry Caroline?"

  Cade looked at her sternly and lifted his chin. "Think about it. If Trevor marries Caroline, and Eddie makes her a beneficiary, and then something happens to Eddie, Caroline inherits her share. A share which also belongs to Trevor through marriage. Right?"

  "I don't know. Legality is not my field of expertise."

  Cade smiled. "Well, darlin', I'm going to find out. I have some favors I need to call in, but I will get to the bottom of this. Hopefully, I can change her mind." Cade kissed Kristy's cheek and hugged her tightly. "Thanks for being the messenger. Sorry for intimidating you. Please don't tell Caroline anything I told you. I don't want her to know until I have all the facts."

  Kristy smiled, agreeable to anything he proposed. "My lips are sealed. I promise."

  ***