“Leave the door open.”
“I will.” He stepped out into the hallway. Kate followed, hating the fact that she couldn’t even kiss her own baby goodnight. She was a stranger and likely Hallie wouldn’t welcome that kind of intimacy at this point.
“We can do this,” he told her, as though he sensed her uneasiness. “The hardest part is over.” He led her toward their bedroom, flipping the light on as he entered.
“She’s right you know.”
He looked at her as he sat down on the bed and pulled a boot off. “About what?”
“I don’t look like the mommy in the picture.”
He dropped his boots to the floor and stood up. “Kate, you’re going to have to slow all this stuff down. You can’t expect everything to be like it was. It’s been three years.”
The words hurt, though she knew he didn’t mean for them to. He was merely being honest. And he was right. For some reason she was desperate to jump back into her former life, desperate for things to be the way they had been before she’d been taken. But they couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.
“Listen to me.” Luke walked over and stood in front of her. He picked her hands up and squeezed them. “You can’t analyze things so much. You just have to wake up every day and go to sleep every night, you know? Everything in between is what’s meant to be.”
“I want her to love me,” she said, knowing she sounded pathetic. “I want her to love me like she loves your friend Sara.”
“She doesn’t know Sara, Kate. Neither do I, at least not well. You’re going to have to let that go.”
“I’m trying.”
“So what can I do to convince you?”
“Nothing, I guess. She just talks about her a lot.” She knew she was being irrational. She couldn’t help it. Every time Hallie talked about Sara it broke off another piece of her heart.
“She likes her. She bonded with her because she’s a female adult at the daycare. She spent a lot of time there. That’s it. Once she starts kindergarten, she’ll forget all about Happy Days Daycare and Sara Hendrickson.”
“Will you?” The words were out before she could stop them.
“Damn it, Kate, don’t.”
His anger startled her and she pulled her hands from his, backing up.
He swore, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Don’t flinch at me.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
After a moment of silence, he sighed. “We’re going to have to get past this—this Sara thing. I know it hurt you to see me with her, but we’ve already talked about this.”
“I can’t help it, her name keeps coming up.” She wrapped her arms around herself, avoiding his gaze. She didn’t want to think about Sara Hendrickson with Luke, but the picture was in her head. She couldn’t get rid of it when the woman’s name kept popping up every few minutes.
“She’s a little kid, baby. She doesn’t understand that it hurts you to hear her talk about Sara. I’ll talk to her more about it tomorrow.”
“No, don’t.” Kate shook her head adamantly. “Then she’s going to get upset with me.”
Luke folded his arms over his chest. “Then what do you want me to do?”
“I guess for now, nothing.”
“Katie, it’ll pass. She won’t be going to the daycare anymore anyway.” He pulled his t-shirt over his head and disappeared into the master bathroom. She could hear him brushing his teeth. This was the first time he’d undressed in front of her since she’d been back. It felt normal, but yet awkward. Was she supposed to do the same thing?
“Stop worrying so much and get ready for bed. I’m beat.” He turned the bed down and took his wristwatch off, setting it on the night table.
She reached for a set of pajamas they had bought earlier that day, clutching them tightly to her chest. “Are you going to turn off the lights?”
He shrugged, undoing the top button on his jeans. “Not if you don’t want me to.”
“I can’t sleep in the dark.” She sounded pathetic again and she hated herself for it.
Concern marred his perfect features but he nodded his head. “It’s fine. We can leave the lights on.”
She went into the bathroom and quickly changed into the cotton shorts and tank pajama set. She brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair. She still didn’t look so good, she noticed, perusing her face carefully in the mirror. The bruises were still there and so were the dark circles under her eyes. She had to admit the hair color and cut had done wonders for her though. She didn’t look so sickly now. She set the hairbrush down and went back into the bedroom, wondering what Luke wore to bed now. When they’d been together before, he’d always worn boxers.
Apparently he still wore boxers, she discovered as she watched him climb into bed. He flopped back on the pillows and waited as she walked over and climbed in next to him. The kiss earlier had rattled her a little. She’d enjoyed it, had actually wanted more. But there was still a wall between them. Not like there was between her and Hallie, but it was there all the same.
“Do you want to talk to me about anything, Kate? I mean anything that happened while you were gone? Because I can listen. You don’t have to be afraid or anything.”
She pulled the covers up to her chin, mildly uncomfortable now. He was asking questions in a non-intrusive way but she wasn’t sure she could share anything with him just yet.
“You don’t have to talk. I just want you to know you can, okay?” He turned on his side and looked at her. “You can tell me anything, no matter what it is. I know nothing that happened to you was your fault.”
“I just want to forget,” she said, avoiding his gaze.
“It might be easier to forget if you get it out in the open.”
“I don’t think so.” She turned over and forced her eyes to close. She knew he was watching her. She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. She couldn’t let him in yet. She couldn’t share her horror with him until she was able to deal with it herself. Before long, she drifted off to sleep.
“Where’s the money, Kate?”
Kate lay huddled in the middle of the floor, her hands over her head. She’d deflected two of his blows already and another was on the way. His boot connected painfully with her back, swiftly nailing a kidney. She flattened out, unable to stay rolled into a ball anymore.
“You bitch, tell me where the money is!”
“I don’t know about any money.” The words came out on a sob and she wanted them back. She didn’t like to cry in front of Louis. It made her feel even smaller, inferior.
“Listen, you worthless little bitch, your family is gone. You hear me? Gone. You have no reason not to tell me what I want to know now. Where the hell is the money?”
Kate recoiled as he stepped near her again. This time he nailed her in the arm. She ignored the pain and braced herself. He was reaching for her. His hands clenched in her hair, dragging her up off her stomach. He stared into her eyes, hatred oozing from his pores.
“You don’t mean shit to me, you know that? I’d like to kill you right now so I don’t have to look at your sorry face again. But I want that money and I’m going to keep you here until I get it, you got that?” He shook her violently, nearly tearing a chunk of hair from her head. “Do you understand me?”
Pain radiated from every limb of her body but she found the strength to nod.
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a knife. Terror overtook her and she flinched as the blade flipped open.
“Just so we have no confusion, I’m going to leave you a little reminder of how things around here need to be.” He jerked her head by the hair again. “For every day you don’t tell me where that money is, I’m going to take a chunk of your pretty blonde hair.” Before she could stop him, he yanked her up and the knife connected painfully with her scalp. She let out a scream, even though she knew no one could hear her. He tossed her back down onto the floor a moment later, a
good-sized chunk of her hair in his hand. Before he could step toward her again, she scurried across the floor like a rat and crawled into the closet, burying herself as far back into the darkness as she could.
“Go ahead and hide little one. I’ll be back….”
Luke sat up straight in bed, terror jolting through his body as he heard her scream. When he looked to the spot next to him, it was empty. He knew immediately where she’d gone and jumped out of bed. He tore across the room and looked into the closet, not sure exactly what he was going to find. The screams were deafening, almost to the point of painful. She sounded like an animal being slaughtered.
His eyes focused on the back of the closet where Kate sat, hands over her head as though warding off a blow.
“Katie, it’s me. Stop it.” He crawled in after her, desperate to reach her, to bring her solace again. “It’s Luke. Look at me.” He reached her quickly and grabbed hold of her chin. “Look at me, Kate.” He was surprised when she swung at him, her tiny fist connecting with his jaw. She would have hit him again but this time he blocked her, grabbing her wrists and holding her back. “Damn it, stop it.” He shook her for a moment and suddenly her eyes flew open. Her screams were reduced to tiny mewling sounds, almost like a cat. She stared up at him terrified and another piece of his heart broke. Before he could even move, she crawled toward him and into his lap, burying her head in his chest. He held her there, not knowing what else to do.
“Daddy?”
He froze, his head turning and his eyes locking with Hallie’s. She stood in the doorway of the closet, Beasley clutched to her chest tightly. She looked terrified.
“It’s okay, baby.”
“I heard screaming and it scared me.” She reached up and popped her thumb into her mouth, a habit he’d broken her of months ago.
“I’m sorry, Chipmunk. Mommy just had a bad dream, that’s all.”
“Someone hurt her,” Hallie said softly.
“Yes, baby, someone hurt her.”
“I’m scared, Daddy. I don’t want to be in my room alone.” Luke grimaced as he watched the tears pool in his daughter’s eyes. Kate was still trembling and he didn’t want to let her go either.
“Go crawl in my bed. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Hallie scampered over and climbed up on the big bed. Luke turned to Kate, who was still huddled in his arms, but was now looking up at him sadly.
“It’s okay now. The dream’s over and you’re home again.” He ran a hand over her hair, still holding her tightly. “I promise it’s going to be okay.”
“I’m tired,” she said softly, her eyes already beginning to droop.
Carefully lifting her into his arms, he carried her back over to the bed and laid her down, pulling the covers up over her. Her eyes shut immediately and she burrowed her head into her pillow. He watched her for a while, unsure what he should do. Hallie lay in the middle of the bed, thumb still in her mouth, clutching her monkey tightly under her chin. She didn’t appear to mind lying next to Kate. She just stared up at her father, expectantly. She wasn’t going to sleep until he was apparently. He walked over to the other side of the bed and climbed in, pulling the covers up over both he and Hallie as he made himself comfortable.
“Why did someone hurt her, Daddy?” Hallie turned onto her side and looked up at him solemnly.
“I don’t know, baby. There are bad people in the world. That’s why we never talk to strangers.”
She appeared to accept that. “Oh.” Her eyes started to drift shut and he watched as she struggled to keep them open.A moment later, she was fast asleep.
EIGHTEEN
The next morning, Luke was the first one awake. He opened his eyes to the sight of his daughter snuggled up against Kate, her tiny arms wrapped around her monkey as she slept. Maybe there was hope for the two of them yet, he thought grinning. He quietly climbed from the bed, knowing he had several phone calls to make before anyone else in the house was awake.
Quickly he showered and dressed. Once in his office downstairs, he dialed Detective Archer’s phone number. He wanted to know if any progress had been made on Louis Ferndale’s whereabouts. Naturally the detective wasn’t in so he had to leave a message. After that, he called his assistant coach to check in. Kevin Brundage was a twenty-seven year old former proquarterback. He’d injured himself, much the same way Luke had, and after enduring endless rounds of rehab, had given up on resurrecting his career. Being born and bred in Seattle, he’d moved back home and hooked up with Luke to help coach a losing high school football team.
The update was good from Kevin. He had the rosters complete and was working on the playbooks. They wouldn’t have training camp for a few more weeks so Luke didn’t have to worry about that. Things were under control. He hung up the phone, pleased that at least he didn’t have to worry about work troubles.
The last call he made was to Nate. His brother was at the office by now so he called him there.
“I was just about to give you guys a call. Didn’t want to wake anyone.”
“We had a late night,” Luke said, leaning back in his chair. “Kate had another nightmare and ended up in the closet again.”
Nate swore. “Did she talk about it at all?”
“No. I have a bad feeling she used to hide from someone in the closet. Hallie heard her screaming and got scared.”
“Shit,” Nate said. “I can come pick her up. Maybe she should stay with us until things calm down a little.”
“Let me think about it. Right now I don’t know what to do.”
“Maybe call the doctor she saw in the hospital. Have him recommend someone for her to see.”
“You mean a shrink.”
“It‘s something that is probably inevitable, Luke. She’s been through a hell that we can’t even begin to understand. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Hallie to see one too. This is a lot for a little kid to handle, man.”
Luke knew his brother was right. “I’ll look into it. Kate’s been through a lot in the last few days. I want her to settle in—to feel right about things. She’s still worried about the Sara thing.”
“Why?”
“Hallie’s pretty attached to Sara. She talks about her a lot. It makes it hard for Kate to deal with things. She thinks I still have feelings for Sara.”
“Do you?”
Irritated, Luke grimaced. “No. I told you that night at the barbecue, before Kate was even back, that I wasn’t sure what I felt for Sara—that I didn’t want a serious relationship.”
“And Kate doesn’t believe you,” Nate figured out.
“I don’t know. She did see me kiss Sara. That did some damage.”
“She’s the love of your life, man. Just tell her that. The honesty is there in your eyes. I know because I’ve been fighting it for the past three years.”
Luke heard the doorbell ring and frowned, wondering who would be stopping by unannounced. If his brother was on the phone with him, it obviously wasn’t Nate. “I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” He disconnected the phone and went into the hallway just in time to see his pajama clad daughter whip the front door open. He opened his mouth to reprimand her but the words died on his lips. Karen McPherson stood on the front porch, her face bruised and battered. She looked at Hallie momentarily and then up at him.
“Go upstairs,” he told Hallie, walking over and standing between her and Karen.
“But Daddy I—”
“Now!”
The sound of his angry voice propelled her into action and she scurried off.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“No. I’m done talking to you. I told you before not to come around my family again.”
“I have a message from him,” she said quietly. “From Louis. He found me at the bus depot and tried to kill me. I should have known I would never be able to get away. I wasn’t planning on coming back here, you have to believe me.”
“I don’t have to b
elieve anything you say.” He looked at her face and neck. She was bruised up pretty good, but he had a hard time believing that Louis Ferndale had just let her go.
“I made a scene and some cops were standing nearby. He took off and so did I,” she said, as though reading the skepticism in his eyes. “He’s not going to give up on Kate, Luke. And this time, he mentioned your daughter.”
Luke’s vision clouded and before he could stop himself he stepped forward and grabbed her by the neck. It would take very little effort for him to snap her neck in half. And by God, he wanted to. As he stared down into those bulging blue eyes, he realized that she most likely wouldn’t have cared if he had just finished her off. Instead, he let her go, mildly ashamed that he’d put his hands on a woman with the intent to inflict pain. “I’m warning you now that if anyone harms a hair on my daughter’s head, I’ll find you myself and kill you.”
“It’s not me. I wouldn’t hurt no kid,” she said nervously, rubbing her sore neck. “Louis is real angry at Kate now. I’m only the messenger.”
“Then you give Louis a message for me. You tell him to go ahead and bring it on. Because this time, I’ll be ready.”
“You’re making a mistake, Luke. He’s evil.”
“Thanks for the warning.” He slammed the door in her face.
“Daddy?”
He stiffened, whipping around to find Hallie standing at the foot of the stairs, now fully dressed. She held a brush and two rubber bands in her hands. He could only pray she hadn’t heard that entire exchange.
“Who is that lady?” she asked, offering him the rubber bands and the brush.
He knelt down to her level, his hands gripping her tiny shoulders. “I don’t ever want you to open the door like that again, okay? Not ever. I will answer the door. Do you understand?”
Hallie’s eyes crumpled and he knew he was hurting her feelings. After all, she’d always been allowed to answer the door before. Before, it had almost always been Uncle Nate or Aunt Suz on the other side of the door. Now, things were different.
Root of All Evil Page 17