“Nah, it’s not about that.” He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a little squeeze. “Don’t worry. Your mom and dad are just working through some questions with Uncle Tully.”
He’d no sooner uttered the words when Tully appeared. He raised his eyebrows at Charlie when he spotted him, before turning to hold open the door for the others. Officer Kirk straightened and took a few steps to stand in front of Lucy when Thorne emerged. As he passed, he made a little finger waggle at Lucy but didn’t utter a word before exiting the station.
When Paige exited the office, she looked lost in thought. She didn’t notice Charlie until she was nearly right on top of him.
“Charlie,” she gasped, readjusting her stance.
“What happened in there?”
Paige glanced at Lucy. “Walk me out?”
He nodded. “Lucy, stay here with Officer Kirk. Your mom and dad are coming now.” He followed Paige out into the evening sunset. “It’s amazing the difference a day makes,” he said, staring at the horizon. Her eyes followed his gaze toward the pink and purple clouds in the distance before returning to look at him. He knew she was thinking of their plane ride as well. How could she not? He’d had trouble thinking of much else for most of the day until...until he wasn’t thinking about it anymore.
“Thorne filed a police report. He demanded I be arrested for kidnapping, but Tully is hesitant to do that after hearing my side of the story.”
“I doubt he has much of a choice if Thorne is her father.”
“Tully’s been in contact with the police department back in Ohio. There are criminal charges to sort out and then custody things to sort out. The fact that Lucy has been living with Mara and Peter for over ten years makes things very complicated.”
“Can they really make Lucy go to live in that cult?”
Paige wrapped her arms around herself. “Oh, Charlie, I don’t know. I saw so many strange things when I was living at Thorne’s compound but no smoking gun to prevent him from getting custody.” Her tears made his gut twist, the gravity of the situation hitting them both again and again, like waves crashing against the rocks. “Just when I get a grip, I begin to think about it all over again.”
“Me too,” he said.
“What should I do?”
“What can you do?” He didn’t want to say it but the only thing she could do now was testify that Thorne wasn’t fit to be a father, and she’d stolen Lucy to protect her from him. Maybe if a court believed Lucy had been in real danger...
“Do you hate me?”
His eyes met hers, and he knew he should tell the absolute truth. There had been enough secrecy over the last several days.
“Never.”
“Never?”
He nodded. “I admire your courage. I’m worried you’ll get prosecuted for it now.”
“I don’t care. I’d do it again.” He believed her.
“I would have done the same thing...”
She shifted on her feet when he didn’t continue. He understood why she kidnapped Lucy and was thankful for her action. Lucy was one of the biggest joys of his life and she’d certainly enriched the lives of everyone around her. She had deserved better than the distorted life Thorne would have given her.
To think of Paige holing herself away in Ohio, keeping a low profile, keeping the secret for all these years just to protect Lucy, it made him realize she was a stronger person than he was. He would always hold Paige in his deepest respect and be eternally grateful to her for not leaving Thorne’s compound without his little niece.
But the day’s revelations had made something shift within his soul, and the last holdout he’d had to trust again had crumbled. For days he’d believed he and Paige were falling in love with each other. To now discover she’d had an ulterior motive, a desire to use him to get to Lucy, made his heart begin to harden again. He was all too familiar with this betrayal, this tune of playing the fool. He believed Paige when she said she’d fallen for him before she knew he was Lucy’s uncle, but still, places deep in his soul had already begun to ache and throb. The aftershocks, he was certain, would last long after Paige was gone.
“I can’t do this now. Do you need a ride back to the shop?” he managed to say. She accepted his invitation by shuffling to the passenger side of his truck.
“How did you get here?” she asked.
“Walked.”
“From the woods?”
“And hitchhiked.”
“Isn’t that dangerous, trusting a stranger?”
It could be. He’d figured he’d already been burned by trusting a stranger once this week with his heart. All that was left to risk now was a shell of his former self.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHARLIE STEERED TOWARD the sports shop. Now that things had come to light with Thorne, Paige had no other reason to stick around town. He assumed she’d want to get back to her car and make her way to Ohio...
But he didn’t feel like asking her. He was so exhausted as the events of the day had worn on his soul; he didn’t feel like uttering a single word more. As Paige sat in silence, staring out the truck window, he relaxed into his seat and embraced the quiet. It was the vibration of his cell phone that broke the silence.
“Hey, sis.”
“Is Paige with you?”
“Yes, she’s here.” He flicked a glance and found Paige hanging on his every word.
“We’re heading back to the house. Bring her with you.”
“I don’t think she’ll want to come—”
“She must. We need to work this all out, and Paige is essential to that conversation. Meet you at home.”
Mara hung up the line before Charlie could protest. He dropped the phone back in the cup holder and continued to grip the steering wheel. He could feel Paige’s eyes boring holes into the side of his face. A full minute ticked by without her asking for clarification on his phone conversation before he finally explained.
“Mara wants you back at the house to straighten things out.” Paige still stared at him. “What?” he said, his eyes darting at her from the road.
“Do you want me there?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“I can’t make an emotional turn of one hundred and eighty degrees in less than an afternoon, Paige.” There were a lot of things he had wanted over the last few days that had dissipated faster than a kiss evaporating on his skin. He’d gone from wanting Paige to be his wife to not knowing if he could trust her again. He had to focus on helping Mara and Peter protect Lucy now. He didn’t have time to sort out his complicated feelings for Freckles.
They were first to arrive at the house, so Charlie let them in. He flipped on the kitchen light and stared around the stark white countertops. The entire place now looked so barren and cold. A threat to his niece’s future was all it took to crush his optimistic nature.
“Want a drink?” he managed, shuffling to the fridge. Paige nodded, sliding up onto a counter stool across from him. All Mara had was some sort of fruity red punch. He poured two glasses and stood across from Paige, eyeing her.
“You’re never going to forgive me, are you?” she whispered. He clenched the glass in his hands. He didn’t know what he would forgive her for, exactly. She hadn’t intended to hurt him. She hadn’t lied to him about being related to Lucy for any reason meant to hurt him. She had wanted to protect Lucy as they all did, but still, he somehow felt used.
“What else do you have in common with Lucy?” he asked, trying for a polite distraction. Paige smiled and ran a finger around the rim of her glass.
“I don’t see much of myself in her, if that’s what you mean. I was a shy kid and Lucy is a ball of light.”
Charlie bit back a smile. He knew exactly what she meant. “She’s going to set the world on fire, that’s for sure. Although maybe
you would have been different, given a different childhood?”
“I don’t know. There’s no way to tell, really. How much is nature versus nurture?”
“Does she remind you of anyone in your family?”
Paige looked thoughtful for a moment. “Aunt Joan is a force of nature, but I wonder how much of that was developed because she had to be strong. First she had to navigate years of drama with her twin sister and then she had to take care of Uncle Craig when he got sick...”
Charlie nodded, remembering her uncle. “Have you talked to them recently?”
“Not more than a few words. I should call.”
“There’s a lot to update them on, huh?”
Paige took a sip of punch. “They’d be here by my side if they could.”
“Are you worried this new development will affect your uncle? I mean, this kind of stress...”
He immediately regretted his words when Paige wavered on her seat. Moving around the island, he was to her side in a blink, but what he wanted to do there, he couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t hold her, but he still needed to be near. Paige forced a smile, as if appreciative of what little he could offer.
“I’m okay,” she said. “This kind of stress isn’t good for him, but the three of us knew Thorne might find Lucy eventually. I only hoped he wouldn’t until after Lucy had turned eighteen and aged out of his legal hold.”
“Were you the one to name her Lucy?” Charlie asked, the question coming to him in a moment of curiosity. “Or was it your mother?”
“Me. It might be unbelievable, but I can’t remember the name my mother chose before she died. I was very moved when I learned Mara and Peter kept it.”
“I can’t imagine her as anything but a Lucy.”
“Me neither. Now that I’ve met her...” Paige took his hand, her soft fingers delicately weaving against his. “You’ve changed my life, Charlie. You’ll never understand the gift you’ve given me these last few days.”
“Introducing you to Lucy.”
“I’ve loved her from afar for ten years, so to finally get to hug her and know her has filled a deficit in my heart. Yes, you did that.” Paige rose, taking his other hand in hers too. “But I meant how I feel about you, Charlie.”
He squeezed her hands tightly before releasing them. It was too much—this desire to both embrace her and pull away at the same time.
“I have to take a shower,” he said, making for the hallway as Paige stared after him. “They should be here soon. Make yourself at home.” He could use some time alone before everyone arrived and they rehashed the worst of the day. He left her sitting under the warm glow of the kitchen lamp as he shot for the shower. He wanted hot water on his skin and a hard smack in the face for rushing too quickly into another heartache.
By the time he emerged from the bathroom, he heard voices chattering downstairs. He hoped they weren’t pressing Lucy too hard. That kid was innocent and sweet and didn’t need to hear all the scenarios of what might happen to her. The first scenario was that he’d beat Thorne to a pulp if he even tried to come near his niece.
As he towel-dried his hair and tugged fresh clothes on, he heard an unfamiliar voice in the kitchen. It was an older woman’s voice, that much he was certain, but he couldn’t place her. CeCe? Dolores? His brain flipped like a rolodex, trying to pinpoint who it was. When he at last made his way to the kitchen, he saw a woman, sixty years old, but with Paige’s likeness. Her tired face lifted as Paige rose to her feet for introductions.
“Hey, Charlie,” Paige said, waving him forward. Mara, Peter and Tully looked up from around the kitchen table. The new woman’s blond hair, though graying and askew, might have clued him in, but it was her hazel-green eyes that made him certain. Even with the lines and puffy circles earned after many sleepless nights, no doubt, nothing could disguise the relation.
“You must be Aunt Joan,” he said. Joan reached out a hand, but Charlie pulled her into a hug instead. Joan let out a little laugh, accepting his embrace. As he glanced around the kitchen for Uncle Craig, he gathered she’d had to make a difficult decision: fly to support her niece or stay with her sick husband. It would be an excruciating decision and one he could honor with a hug.
Paige’s face softened at the sight of them, and her eyes seemed to convey a thank-you with only a blink.
“Charlie, we were filling Joan in on what happened today. She flew in and surprised me.”
“I knew you’d tell me not to come, but Craig insisted. He told me to ‘go get our girl.’”
“How did you find us?” Charlie asked.
“When my plane touched down, I called the police station to give my account of what happened before Thorne muddied everyone’s opinion.”
“You talked to Tully, didn’t you?”
“I picked her up from the airport myself,” Tully said.
“You really do know everybody in this town, Tully,” Mara said. He chuckled.
“I’m still working on it.”
Charlie looked around the room. “Where’s Lucy?”
“We dropped her off with a friend for an overnight,” Mara said. “I don’t want to scare her. Watching movies and eating junk food should be the most of her concerns.”
“Aren’t you worried Thorne could take her while she’s gone?” he asked.
Tully smiled. “She’s with Stephen Kirk’s daughter.” Charlie got the point. Officer Kirk was one of the toughest cops in Roseley. He’d no sooner let a person come near Lucy than he’d let someone harm his own kid.
“I’m glad she’s having fun,” Joan said. “But I sure did want to meet her.”
“You’re her aunt,” Charlie muttered, the realization dawning over him. She had more connection to Lucy than even he did. Joan smiled and patted him lightly on the arm.
“There will be time enough for that. I want to hear what the plan is to keep that lousy con man away from our girl.” Joan took a swig of coffee and slapped the table with a resounding force, making even Tully sit a little straighter. He muffled an amused smile, before spreading out paperwork from the station.
“There are a lot of factors involved here from a legal standpoint and a custody standpoint,” Tully began. “Paige, when you and Joan took Lucy, you crossed state lines. That makes things more challenging and unfortunately a lot worse for the both of you.”
“How challenging, though, can this really be?” Paige asked. “I can’t imagine any person in the world could learn about Thorne and want to send Lucy to live with him.”
“The law is not as simple as that.”
“It should be. If I had to do things over again, I’d take Lucy in a heartbeat. I could never have lived with myself if I had escaped and left Lucy there.” Paige turned to Tully. “What do we do next?”
“Hire a lawyer—”
“Done,” Peter said. “We meet with our legal team in the morning.”
Joan reached for Mara’s hand. “Are they any good?”
“Best in the tristate area. Do you have one?”
Joan nodded. “I will by tomorrow.”
“How much did Dr. Hathaway know?” Tully asked. Aunt Joan shook her head.
“We told him Lucy was Paige’s child, and the father was a danger to her. That’s it,” Aunt Joan replied.
“Can you get in trouble for talking to us, Tully?” Paige asked. Tully shook his head.
“Charlie’s family is my family. I’m here as a friend first and foremost, Paige. I did recuse myself from the investigation this evening.”
“Does Paige need to stay here in Roseley?” Joan asked, bringing everyone’s eyes to her niece. “I only ask because I have to return to Craig in the morning. As much as I didn’t want to leave him, I had to fly out tonight to make sure she was okay.” She turned to Paige. “You know I couldn’t stay away thinking of you facing Thorne all alone—”
“You need to check in with the police within one hour of arriving back home,” Tully explained. “They’ll monitor you and be the first to make contact in the event you are brought up on criminal charges, which you will be. Don’t leave town, and don’t evade them. It makes you look guilty and hurts the case.”
“Why hasn’t she been brought up on charges already?” Mara asked.
“The police need to first prove Lucy was kidnapped. They need to prove Thorne is her father, as he says he is, and that things happened the way he described them. They’re most likely interviewing Dr. Hathaway and will come knocking on your door shortly. Paige, don’t be surprised if they show up possibly as soon as you get home.”
Charlie lowered his eyes to his lap. Paige would return home to help Uncle Craig fight for his life, and he’d stay in Roseley to help Mara and Peter fight for Lucy. It seemed backward somehow that they couldn’t be together to fight for their families side by side. He didn’t envision a future with her anymore, but as much as he now felt distanced from her, it was hard to bid her goodbye.
* * *
PAIGE BROUGHT MARA a cup of hot tea as the others continued to talk around the kitchen table. The house was dark and quiet except for the warm yellow light fixture hanging over the kitchen table and the others’ voices, which had dropped to murmurs. Mara had shuffled to the adjoining living room, wrapped herself in a shawl and cuddled at the end of the couch, her legs tucked up to her chin.
“I should be fixing you tea,” Mara said, accepting the hot mug with a weak smile. Paige shook her head and covered Mara with another blanket before resting on the floor beside her.
“I’m so sorry, Mara. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”
Mara stared at the hot tea before shifting her gaze to Paige.
“Somehow I think you do. The way you told the story of escaping with Lucy—”
Where the Heart May Lead Page 21