Burn

by HELEN HARDT

  I had never thought of my body as special. It was a normal size six, sometimes an eight. Boobs that were not too small but also not big, a lean build, not very many curves. My eyes were a nice green, but that green eliminated a lot of colors from my wardrobe, including the purple I wanted to wear. My hair was thick and light honey blond. It had some delicate waves and fell right below my shoulders.

  My parents hadn’t thought I was special enough to pay attention to, and as a child, I’d spent most of my life with my nose in a book.

  I stared at my body, and I tried to see myself through Jonah’s eyes.

  Jonah Steel, the most magnificent man I had ever laid eyes on, loved me.

  This reflection in the mirror was beautiful to him, beautiful to a man with more strength, more intelligence, and more love to give than anyone I’d ever known. This man was devoted to his brother, to his whole family. And now he appeared to be devoted to me.

  I smiled at my reflection. My body wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but it was mine. And that’s why Jonah loved it. Because he loved me.

  I had never thought myself worthy of such love since my parents hadn’t given it to me. But Jonah thought I was worthy. Jonah knew what I was going through. I hadn’t told him the whole story, but he knew enough.

  From now on, Melanie, you will stop thinking of yourself as average. You are smart, determined, hard-working, and you are a damned good therapist. Your body and your mind are beautiful.

  I smiled when I heard the thud of cowboy boots outside in the hallway. I left Jonah’s robe lying on the floor and turned on the shower.

  * * *

  Talon met us at the door of his house, the little mutt panting at his feet. I reached down to pet Roger.

  “Felicia isn’t here yet. I figured we’d talk to her in the kitchen.” Talon turned to me. “Brooke is out on the deck. There’s a carafe of coffee out there, and some fruit and croissants.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to talk to her about.”

  “Look, Doc, no one thinks you have anything in common with an aging supermodel. But she’s just a lonely woman, and she would like someone to talk to. Jade and Marj left early this morning for their hike. The two of them really do need a break from her.”

  Jonah looked at me. “If this is uncomfortable for you, you don’t have to do it. You can stay in here with us.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t think that would be appropriate since I’ve never met Felicia. I’ll make do. I’m sure Brooke and I will be fine.”

  “Well,” Talon said, “she’s nice enough. She and Jade have a rather fragile relationship at the moment, but they’re working on it.”

  “You’re not asking me to give her free therapy, are you?” I smiled.

  Talon laughed. “No, God. I wouldn’t wish that on you, Doc.”

  I walked slowly toward the door that led from the kitchen out onto the deck. Jonah hadn’t told Talon what I’d been through, at my request. He had enough on his mind without having to worry about me.

  I walked toward the table where Brooke was sitting and helped myself to a plate. I placed a croissant on it, a pat of butter, and then a few slices of pineapple, kiwi, and some strawberries. “I guess Palisade peach season is over,” I said.

  Brooke looked up at me. “Oh, hello. You’re Talon’s therapist, aren’t you?”

  She had just met me the previous evening, but I wasn’t about to bring that up. “I am. And you’re Jade’s mother.”

  “Guilty,” she said. “What are you doing over here this morning?”

  “Jonah had some business with Talon, so I tagged along.”

  “You’re just fresh as a daisy,” Brooke said, “with gorgeous bone structure. I’d love to do a makeover for you. You’d be stunning.”

  I groaned inwardly. “How nice of you to offer. I’ll give it some thought.”

  Her smile seemed forced. “My goodness, that’s a lovely bauble around your neck.”

  I nervously fingered the diamond necklace and said a simple, “Thank you.”

  “A gift?”

  I nodded.

  “You and Jonah seem…close.”

  “I’d say we’re close. We’re in love with each other.”

  Was I allowed to say that? Jonah had only just professed his love for me last night. Maybe he wasn’t ready for Talon and everyone else to know. I bit my lip. I hoped I hadn’t just committed a major faux pas.

  I set my plate down, poured myself a cup of coffee, and sat down next to Brooke. I took in the scenery. The yard was huge and beautiful. Roger had followed me out and was frolicking around, chasing a squirrel. The pool here was bigger than the pool at Jonah’s, at least as far as I could see. It was several hundred feet away from the house. This was how Jonah and his brothers had grown up, in luxury.

  But luxury didn’t matter, not after Talon was taken. So much was more important than luxury.

  From what Talon had told me, his parents had been stern but loving before his abduction. Afterward, his mother couldn’t cope and killed herself within two years. And his father? I really didn’t know much about him. I still didn’t understand why he had buried the whole situation under the rug.

  Talon was hell-bent on figuring it out, and for the first time, I felt like I really understood his passion for uncovering the truth. I had that same passion now. I needed to know the truth about what had happened to Gina. Something about the situation didn’t add up.

  Brooke had been talking, and I hadn’t heard a word she said. “I’m so sorry. I zoned out for a moment. What were you saying?”

  “I asked if you and Jonah are serious.”

  Serious? Hadn’t I just said we were in love? That meant serious to me, although perhaps not to her. “I’d like to think we are.”

  “I see.” She took a bite of a croissant. “He’s very good-looking, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, he is.”

  “He would’ve made a gorgeous male model in his day,” Brooke said. “When I was modeling, all the top models couldn’t have held a candle to him.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. Jonah was indeed gorgeous. I wasn’t exactly sure what to say to her, though. It didn’t matter because she kept talking.

  “Jade and Talon said Jonah had a huge crush on me. He had my posters plastered all over his bedroom wall.”

  I wasn’t much younger than Brooke herself, and I remembered her posters well, specifically one of her in a blue bathing suit. It had been one of the best-selling posters of all time. I had spent many hours staring at that poster in the local Kmart, wishing I had a body like hers.

  She was still a very pretty woman. Her blond hair was short now, and one of her eyes was slightly squinty—from the accident, Jonah had told me. She had light silvery-blue eyes much like Jade’s. And although she was wrapped in a terrycloth robe, I figured her body was still way above average.

  For a moment, self-doubt crept into me. I was no Brooke Bailey.

  But Jonah loved me. Hadn’t I just promised myself to stop thinking of myself as average?

  First step. Do not let Brooke Bailey intimidate you.

  So I laughed nonchalantly. “I’m sure he did. I’m sure most adolescent males worshiped you from afar.”

  “Oh, yes. You should’ve seen the fan mail I got. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a letter from Jonah himself.”

  I smiled. No reason in the world existed for me to envy this woman. She was living in the past, unable to accept that her modeling days were over. Clearly, she was lusting after Jonah. Could I blame her? The man was magnificent.

  But he loved me. I didn’t need to throw that in her face. It was enough that I knew.

  She returned my smile, pulling a smartphone out of the pocket of her robe. “Would you excuse me? I need to send a quick text.”

  Chapter Twenty–Five

  Jonah

  Felicia had arrived, and Talon was bringing her to the kitchen when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Another text from the
strange number. I would have to have words with Brooke at some point, but obviously not now.

  I stood when Felicia entered the kitchen. “Thank you for coming over on a Sunday,” I said.

  “Mr. Jonah, I’m confused. I thought I was meeting with Mr. Talon and Miss Jade.”

  “Jade and Marjorie had some plans,” Talon said. “So I asked Joe to come over.”

  “Is something wrong? Are you not happy with my work?”

  I cleared my throat and looked to Talon. It was up to him to take the lead here. Felicia worked here, at his house, although technically the house belonged to all of us.

  “Your work is fine,” Talon said. “We’ve always been very pleased with you. You know that.”

  “Oh, good.” Felicia rubbed her hands together nervously. “Is there any coffee?”

  I stood. “Of course. I’ll get it.”

  Felicia stopped me. “No, I’ll get it. I know my way around this kitchen better than any of you.” She smiled.

  She came back with a mug of coffee and sat down.

  I looked at Talon again.

  This time he cleared his throat. “Felicia, this isn’t easy.”

  Her eyes widened. “Are you letting me go?”

  “I don’t want to, but something has come to our attention that we need to discuss.”

  “Oh, no…” Tears formed in her eyes.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s my parents… They’re so sick and old… And I…”

  “Felicia, don’t worry about your parents. We will make sure they’re taken care of.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve been feeling so guilty.”

  “About what?”

  “I…” Tears misted in her eyes. “I’m afraid.”

  “Look, there’s no reason to be afraid,” I said. “Let us tell you why we called you here, and we’ll go from there.”

  She nodded, trembling.

  Talon cleared his throat. “We found a business card in Jade’s old room. It has three sets of fingerprints on it. One of them is yours.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Felicia said.

  “You don’t seem surprised,” I said.

  She shook her head. “I’m so sorry,” she said again.

  “Time to come clean, Felicia.” Talon rubbed at his temple, the muscles in his forearms strained. “This family has been through a lot, and we need the truth from you. Now.”

  Felicia swallowed audibly and nodded. “A couple months ago, a man came to my house. He was dressed all in black, even a black mask.”

  At the words “black mask,” my brother visibly stiffened.

  “He said if I didn’t do what he said, he would kill my parents. They are old and weak, and they could never fight back. I didn’t know what to do.”

  “Felicia,” Talon said through gritted teeth. “What did he ask you to do?”

  “He gave me a red rose and told me to put it on Miss Jade’s pillow. And then he gave me a business card that belonged to her old boyfriend, Colin Morse. He told me to drop it somewhere in Miss Jade’s bedroom.”

  “And did you?”

  “Yes. I put the rose on her pillow one morning while she was in the shower. The business card, I didn’t just drop it. I…put it under the carpeting. When those private investigators came to the house and pulled everything out of Miss Jade’s room, and then no one said anything to me, I figured they just threw the business card away.”

  “No, we didn’t throw it away. We had it analyzed for fingerprints. That’s how we found yours.”

  “I suppose I should’ve worn gloves. But I wasn’t thinking straight, Mr. Talon. I was so scared.”

  “Felicia, we’re glad you didn’t wear gloves,” I said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t know what happened.”

  “You do believe me, don’t you? You know I would never hurt any of you. I love your family. You’ve given me so much.”

  “Why didn’t you come to us?” I asked. “We trust you to come into our home. We trust you with our security codes. Why would you not trust us with this?”

  She trembled, clenching her coffee cup. “I was scared. I was so afraid he would hurt my parents.”

  “Felicia,” Talon said. “I want you to think hard. Can you tell us anything else about the man?”

  “Just he was all in black.”

  “How tall was he?”

  “I don’t know. Average I guess.”

  “His build? His eyes?”

  She widened her eyes. “Blue. He had blue eyes. Cold blue eyes.”

  “Could the man in the mask have been Colin Morse?” I asked.

  Felicia trembled. “I… I don’t think so. I only met Mr. Morse once, but he was taller than this man. I don’t remember the color of his eyes, but I don’t think they were blue.”

  I had only met him once myself, and I couldn’t remember the color of his eyes. “Do you remember his eye color, Tal?”

  He nodded. “Not blue. They’re greenish brown. You sure this guy had blue eyes, Felicia?”

  Felicia gulped. “Yes, I’m sure. I’ll never forget him.”

  “Did he tell you why he wanted you to do this? Was he trying to frame someone?”

  She shook her head vehemently. “No. He didn’t tell me why, and I didn’t ask. I didn’t think to. He had a knife to my throat, Mr. Talon.” Felicia burst into tears.

  Talon clearly wasn’t in the mood to coddle Felicia, so I went to her and placed my hand on her forearm. “Calm down. You’re safe here. We just wish you had told us when this happened. We could’ve installed a security system in your home, to make sure your parents were safe while you were gone.”

  “I could never ask you for such a favor,” she sobbed.

  “I don’t know how we would have handled it at the time,” I said, “but we would have believed you, and we would have helped you.”

  “I know that. I was just so”—she hiccupped—“frightened.”

  I looked at Talon. “We need to get a system installed at her home. Pronto.”

  “Agreed,” he said.

  “Then you’re not going to let me go?”

  Talon shook his head. “No. But we are going to ask you a lot more questions about this. Can you deal with that?”

  She hiccupped again as she nodded.

  “I have some private investigators working on this. I’m going to have them question you. Perhaps the police also. This is important, Felicia. Do you understand that?”

  She nodded, still sobbing. I got up and grabbed the box of tissues from the counter and set it down in front of her. She took three and blew her nose.

  “Do you understand?” Talon said again.

  “Tal…” I began.

  “Joe, look, this is serious. She might have information that can lead us to the perpetrator.”

  “Yes, she might, but right now, hounding her isn’t going to get you anywhere. She’s not in any condition for it.” I secretly hoped he wouldn’t bring up the DNA test right now. I wasn’t sure Felicia could handle it.

  My phone buzzed again. Goddamnit, another fucking text from Brooke. Just what I didn’t need at the moment. She was supposed to be out there talking to Melanie, and she’s fucking texting? I set my phone down harshly on the table.

  “Anything wrong?” Talon asked.

  “No.” I turned to Felicia. “You need to get hold of yourself. Pull yourself together. We’re not going to let you go, but if anything like this ever happens again, you need to come to us.”

  “Yes, of course. But he threatened me and my parents. Said if I said a word to you—”

  I stopped her with a gesture. “We know what he said. But you need to trust us if something like this ever happens again. You need to trust us to protect you. We will protect you.”

  And for the first time in twenty-five years, I actually felt like I could protect someone I cared about.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” I said, pocketing my phone, “I need to
have a word with the ladies outside.”

  Chapter Twenty–Six

  Melanie

  Conversation with Brooke had grown stale. The only thing she wanted to talk about was her glory days of modeling, so I let her talk. I had nothing to say to her anyway.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when Jonah walked out the sliding doors onto the deck. Thank God. I hoped they were done with Felicia and that we could go home. I smiled to myself. I was thinking of Jonah’s home as my home.

  When I looked up at him, his facial features were tense, his gorgeous full lips set in a line.

  “Jonah?” I said tentatively.

  He softened. “Hey, sweetheart. Have you two had a nice”—he cleared his throat—“talk?” His gaze riveted to Brooke’s phone sitting on the table.

  “Oh, yes,” Brooke said, gushing. “Melanie here is a wonderful conversationalist.”

  Ha! I’d hardly said two words. But I smiled. “Yes, we’ve been just fine.”

  “Let’s go home,” he said, holding his hand out to me.

  I took it and didn’t look back at Brooke as we walked to the kitchen. Felicia was nowhere to be found. Just as well.

  I said a quick good-bye to Talon, and then we were on our way home.

  * * *

  Once we walked in the house, I turned to Jonah, taking his hand. “Can you come with me? I want to show you something.”

  “Of course.” He followed me to the guest room where my folders were still splayed on the floor.

  I was about to do something I had never done. I was going to show someone else the suicide letter from Gina. I had never put it in her official file since it was private correspondence between her and me and had nothing to do with our sessions. I had no idea if she’d left any other notes. Her parents never mentioned any to me, but they hadn’t talked to me much except to accuse me of not recognizing that she was suicidal and then to file a charge against me with the medical board.