Then, wordlessly, he led her out of the church.
The warm early summer air felt good on her face as she stepped into the sunshine. It seemed her parents hadn’t been criminals. The relief she felt was overwhelming.
And her mother had been Eleanor’s best friend. Maybe there was a good reason why she’d ended up with her parents instead of Byron Davco. She just needed to find out what it was.
As they walked down the steps of the church, Tammie asked, “Do you think it was coincidence?”
“That they left the same night as the fire? The same night you were born? No,” Dylan said resolutely. “And you don’t, either. But just like the rumor of the church funds being stolen, there is an explanation to this, Tammie. We’re getting close. We just have to keep at it.”
She stopped midway on the steps.
“What is it?” he asked, a look of concern marring his face.
Her smile was wider than it had been in weeks. She could feel it. “It’s just.... You always do that.”
His brow furrowed. “What?”
“Make me feel like everything is going to turn out right. It’s been so long since I felt like I had...”
What could she say? She wasn’t completely sure what she was feeling, except that the more time she spent with Dylan, the more she wanted to be with him.
Reaching out, he took her hand and tangled her fingers with his. “Just say it,” he urged, coming up to the same step she was standing on. He towered over her, and yet she never felt overwhelmed by him.
“For the first time since my parents died, I feel like I’m not alone. I have you to thank for that.”
Then he looked deeply into her eyes. Bending his head, he came closer to her. She knew he intended to kiss her, and that was just fine. She met him halfway.
His lips brushed against hers, gentle at first, but then with more meaning. Tammie reached her arms up to his shoulders, pulling him closer to her. Her hands trembling on his shoulders, she pulled away from him and looked into his face. He appeared just as shaken as she felt by their kiss.
He didn’t let her go. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, gave her a warm embrace that felt like a promise, and didn’t let her go. Despite the heat of the day, she relished the warmth of his arms. She needed it.
She felt his warm breath on her head as he spoke. “Are you sure you want to go here, Tammie?”
“Does it scare you?”
“No,” he said quickly. “I can’t deny that my feelings for you have taken me by surprise. But I’m not sorry about them. I just want you to be sure about what you’re feeling. There’s so much going on right now, I don’t want to get into something with you only to find out I’ve misread what’s been going on between us.”
Tammie pulled away and looked right into his eyes. “I’m not sure about a lot of things, Dylan. But one thing I’m absolutely sure of is the way I feel about you. I haven’t felt more sure about anything in a long time.”
* * *
He’d kissed her.
Again.
Twice!
After the kiss they shared that night in the foyer, Dylan had convinced himself that it’d been a fluke. It was just two people running on anxiety and fear and letting their bodies overrule their minds. It wouldn’t be the first time. But that wasn’t it at all. Something was happening between the two of them.
He’d been feeling like a shit after kissing her. But the first thing he’d thought about was the way she seemed to fit so nicely in his embrace, like it was meant to be that way.
And then he’d kissed her again at the church. The way she looked at him, the way she felt in his arms, had let him know he wasn’t alone in his feelings. Since then, the connection between the two of them had grown too strong to ignore.
The absolute last thing either of them needed right now was to get involved in a relationship, and yet...it’s what he wanted. He wanted to know where it would lead.
He parked his Jeep against the curb in front of the Davco mansion, behind a flatbed truck.
“I wonder who this is,” Tammie said, climbing out of the Jeep and staring at the truck.
Dylan recognized it as Trudie Burdett’s. The flatbed was empty. All the furniture Dylan had seen Trudie with that day when he helped her by the side of the road would be down at the auction grounds now.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Dylan said.
* * *
“Leave me alone!”
Dylan heard the screaming coming from the kitchen as soon as they walked through the door. It sounded as if pots and pans were being thrown and dishes were breaking. He and Tammie ran to the back of the house where the sound of chaos grew louder.
Dylan put a protective hand in front of Tammie and pushed through the swinging kitchen door first.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
Serena was in her nightgown, running in circles around the workspace island in the center of the kitchen, Susan close behind her. Serena’s face filled with relief when she saw Tammie.
“Tammie, don’t let them do it! I don’t want to sleep anymore! Don’t let them do it!” she cried.
Tammie still stood behind him in the doorway. She started to advance into the kitchen fully, but Dylan held her back with his hand.
“There’s glass all over the floor,” he said. “Serena, stay still.”
Along with the glass and broken dishes on the floor was spilled food and drink, as well as a rattan tray turned over and pushed aside.
“What have you done to her?” Tammie asked Susan accusingly, her voice near hysterics.
The woman glared at her indignantly. “She needs her medication. That’s all. She’s very upset.”
“She has every right to be upset,” Tammie snapped. “It’s clear you’ve been drugging her through her food. I stopped giving it to her this morning, and look at her now.”
“You stopped giving her the medicine? How dare you interfere?” Susan yelled.
“She may have interfered,” Dylan said, making a clear path by pushing the glass and debris aside with his foot, “but Serena’s a lot better off like this, than being catatonic because of drugs.”
“You think this is better?” Susan asked, motioning with her hands to indicate Serena’s wild state.
“At least she can speak for herself,” Tammie said. “At least she’s not comatose—the way you’ve been keeping her.”
Susan shook her head angrily. “You have no right to interfere with her treatment.”
“I have every right. I’m her sister, and I won’t have you harming her.”
“Aurore will not be happy about this.”
Susan tried to hold Serena back by the arm, but Serena wrenched free and ran to Tammie. Dylan let her by, and she wrapped her arms around Tammie and began to cry uncontrollably.
“Take her in the other room, Tammie,” Dylan said quietly. “Make sure she’s all right.”
Tammie left the room with Serena.
Serena had somehow managed to bypass the broken glass by going around the island, but he knew she should still be checked for cuts.
He followed them into the living room. Aurore and Trudie Burdett came in from the backyard through the French doors at the back of the living room.
“What is going on here?” Aurore said, her expression one of panic.
“I was just wondering the same thing,” Dylan said.
“Serena, why are you out of bed?”
“It was an accident, Aurore,” Susan said. “She wouldn’t eat her food. She’s gone wild again.”
Dylan leveled Aurore with his stare. “The way you’re drugging her, I’d say she has a right.”
“I have never hurt Serena,” Aurore said.
Trudie put her hand over her mouth, as if to stifle a sob. “It’s too much. It’s gone on too long, Aurore. We need to tell them.”
“No,” Aurore said, panic returning to her face as she went to Serena’s side. “Serena will be all right. I’ll calm her down.”
“No!” Serena cried, burying her head against Tammie. Hurt, Aurore stood up and stepped away.
Tammie looked as if she were about to burst into tears herself. “What have you done to her?”
“Why don’t you just leave?” Susan said. “Go back to wherever you came from. You two are not welcome here.”
“Susan,” Aurore said quietly, placing a gentle hand on the maid’s back.
Aurore’s expression seemed almost as disturbed as Serena’s. She gasped. “There’s blood on the carpet. Check Serena’s feet to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. She doesn’t always feel the pain of being cut.”
It was then that Dylan noticed that Susan was holding a first aid kit in her hand.
Trudie grabbed the first aid kit from Susan. “Let me do it. She won’t let you come within ten yards of her,” she said, and sat down next to Serena, who continued to sob.
“I can’t let this go on any longer, Aurore,” Trudie said as she lifted Serena’s foot to inspect it. “Eleanor wouldn’t have wanted this to go on this way. We need help.”
Aurore straightened her spine, as if she were trying to stay in control. She spoke deliberately. “It’s gotten too far beyond that, and you know it.”
Holding a small package of gauze in her hand, Trudie threw her hands up in frustration. “We need help, Aurore! Don’t you see that?”
“We…we can handle this. We just have to stay calm.”
“Handle what?” Dylan asked.
“Nothing,” Susan said. “It’s private family business.”
“Anything that has to do with Serena is my business,” Tammie said, making Serena lean toward her so that Trudie could inspect the wound on her foot.
“They tried to kill her,” Trudie said, her voice shaky as she worked on Serena’s foot. She looked at Dylan. “You saw it. You were there. That load of furniture falling was no accident.”
“What do you know?” Dylan asked.
She turned to Aurore, as if trying to drive her point home, and shook her head. “Aaron and Connie are dead and now. Turgis’s people have nearly succeeded in killing Tammie, for the love of God. Why won’t you let this stop?”
“What do you know about my parents?” Tammie asked Trudie.
‘Trudie, don’t!” Aurore cried. “The poor girl has already been through so much.”
“She has to know!”
“You don’t know what you’re doing, either of you,” Susan said. “They’ll come after all of us.”
“Go clean the kitchen, Susan,” Aurore said. “Please, just go do as I ask.”
Susan huffed off. “It’s only going to get worse,” she said as she pushed the swinging door to the kitchen with force. “It’ll get worse! They’ll come after us!”
It was what Dylan had suspected, but hearing Trudie confirm his suspicions had only made it all the more real. The image of Tammie splayed on the ground invaded his mind again. He recalled the way the armoire had splintered under its own weight. It would have killed her had she not been so quick. The thought of that was enough to drive him mad.
He looked hard at the women. “Tell me more,” he commanded.
“That rope was cut,” Trudie said to Dylan. “After I lost furniture the other day, I had Maynard get me some thick rope at Handies Feed Store. My rope had been frayed, but the rope holding that armoire was thick enough to hold up that load, and the truck along with it. There was no way it could have been frayed. After you left, I checked. The rope had been sliced clean, and that armoire was perched on the end of the truck on purpose. The only one who’d do that was someone who intended for that rope to break. It was as if they’d been waiting for Tammie to come by.”
“Trudie don’t.” Aurore cried.
Aurore’s face was ashen as Trudie turned to her. “Don’t you see? They tried to get to Tammie again. They nearly killed her, Dutchie. You know Eleanor would never have wanted her baby girl put in harm’s way.”
“Dutchie? You mean, as in Dutch?” Tammie asked.
Aurore shrugged weakly. “It was Connie’s nickname for me. A silly childhood game we used to play. I was the duchess, your mother was the princess, and Eleanor was the countess. The nickname stuck.”
“You were the one who sent that letter to my mother.”
Aurore stood frozen in place, but Tammie knew it was true.
“How about we get beyond all the lies and start telling the truth to each other about what’s really going on?” Dylan said.
Trudie nodded, her hands fisted at her chest. “It’s time, Aurore. This has gotten too big for us to handle on our own.”
Aurore pressed her hands to her face. “You know what will happen—”
“It’s already happening!” Trudie cut in. “It’s way out of control. One of them or both will be killed in the process, and I know you don’t want that.”
A deep sob tore away from Aurore’s throat. “Oh, the day Byron Davco befriended those fiends... There’s been nothing but bloodshed and tears since.”
“Tell me,” Dylan insisted, advancing toward Aurore. “Whose bloodshed?”
Serena was still sobbing, her face covered and her head buried against Tammie’s shoulder. It was hard to hear over her cries.
“Eleanor Davco’s death was no accident,” Trudie said, tears filling her eyes. “She was murdered by the very people who have haunted this family for years.”
“Aztec Corporation?” Dylan said.
Aurore’s eyes widened. “You know about them?”
“Enough to know Cash learned about them and they’re here in this town right now.”
Aurore began to pace and shook her head. “They said they’d kill the baby. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Serena’s sobs increased, and Tammie shushed her as best she could.
“What baby?” Tammie asked.
“My baby!’’ Serena sobbed, then threw her head back and cried harder. The rest of her words were muffled. “They stole my baby!”
#
Chapter Thirteen
The living room crackled with tension. Wide-eyed, Dylan took in the faces of the people in the room. “Serena and Cash had a baby? I’m assuming this baby is Cash’s child?”
Aurore’s face showed resignation and distress. “She is.”
“She’s a beautiful little girl,” Trudie said. “Looks just like her daddy.”
“Ellie is her name. Serena named her after Eleanor,” Aurore said, looking straight at Tammie.
Trudie put a hand over her mouth to stifle a sob and pulled Serena into an embrace. “You poor child. You’ve been through so much.”
Aurore continued to pace the room. “We didn’t mean to let it get this far. We didn’t know what else to do. Byron was able to take care of this for a long time. He tried his best. But when Byron became so ill, it all went to pieces.”
“Why don’t you start by telling us what is going on?”
He’d waited for this moment, and so had Tammie. And yet, he already had a deeper understanding of Cash and why he’d kept the truth from him.
Dylan couldn’t sit. There were too many emotions running through him. His brother was a father, and he was an uncle. It wasn’t just about his brother’s life anymore. It was about a little baby who was his kin. Of course Cash wouldn’t sit still for something like this. Of course his brother would have done everything, anything to safeguard his family. And now both he and his child were missing.
In the quiet room, fear of what might have happened leveled him. He looked at everyone and saw that they were all silent, as if everyone were waiting for someone else to make the first move.
“Tell me what happened to the baby,” Dylan said as anxiety rose up his spine.
“They took Ellie!” Serena cried. Her sobs were more under control now, making it easier to understand the words.
Tammie stroked her sister’s head. “Tell me what happened, Serena,” Tammie asked. “Who did this?”
Aurore nervously played with her hands,
as if she were wringing out an invisible wet towel. “Byron Davco was a prominent businessman in his early days. It was what drew Eleanor to him. Of course, she had always come from money and he, well...he was a poor child who’d made good after coming home from Vietnam. He’d gone to college and made a name for himself.”
“What went wrong?” Tammie asked.
She stopped pacing. “He got greedy. Oh, he loved Eleanor, but the fact that she had come from money always made him uncomfortable.” She swept her hand to take in the room. “He enjoyed what money could bring, but he always felt like he needed more, as if he needed to prove to Eleanor that he could provide for her as much as her daddy did. I wonder if he ever really knew Eleanor at all.
“Eleanor was never one for looking at pretty clothes and fancy things. She looked at a person’s heart and decided whether they were worth the friendship. We were friends since the cradle, Eleanor and I, and I never once felt her money got in the way. She was good people.”
Trudie continued. “But Byron never got over being poor. It was as if he felt unworthy, even with all that money in the bank. That’s why it was easy for Manuel Turgis to seduce him with the idea of more money.”
She turned to Dylan. “Until about ten years ago, Manuel Turgis was a high-ranking executive in Aztec Corporation.”
“So far, everything my contact in Providence has managed to uncover about Aztec Corporation has been legit,” Dylan said. He didn’t mention that his contact was his sister. Suddenly he wondered if all the poking around she’d done would somehow get back to the people at Aztec.
“And it would be,” Aurore said. “To the Colombian government, the head of Aztec Corporation might as well be royalty. And because of that, their illegal dealings are overlooked.”
Tammie looked at Dylan and then Aurore. “Drugs?”
Trudie laughed with disgust. “That’s not the half of it. It’s more than just drugs, although I’m sure that yields them a hefty bonus.”
Reckless Hours: a Romantic Suspense novel (Heroes of Providence Book 3) Page 17