“It hurts too much.”
“That’s life. You don’t think I wasn’t hurt, damaged for years? You think you lost a lot? The day she died I lost my sister and my mother.”
“You ungrateful little disappointment. You can never make it up to me for her loss. Not ever. I wish you’d died instead of her!”
Carol stormed out of the restaurant and the rest of them just sat there in shock. After a few seconds Joseph asked, “Is someone going to go after her?”
“Nope,” Don said, picking up his water and taking a sip.
Kyle looked even more stricken than Cindy felt. He looked up at Cindy and there was horror in his eyes. Suddenly he looked to her exactly like he’d looked on that terrible day so many years before. There was the same shock and fear and confusion on his face.
“Cindy?” he asked, lips trembling. “I’d like the locket,” he said.
She handed it to him and he opened it up and stared at the two pictures inside. Tears began to stream down his cheeks. He looked back up at her.
“Thank you. This is the best gift anyone could have received.”
“Mom doesn’t agree,” she said, struggling not to cry.
“Mom’s wrong. About a lot of things,” he said, whispering at the end.
“Thank you.”
“You’re stronger and braver than I could ever be. And you’re so much more than Lisa was, too. You’re the best of us and I’m sorry I haven’t told you that before,” he said.
She got up from her seat, walked over and hugged her brother. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her shoulder as they both began to cry.
“I’ve worked so hard to try and get her approval,” Kyle said. “Not anymore. She doesn’t deserve my effort or yours.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Cindy said, choking a bit on the words.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so stupid and so selfish. I’m sorry I didn’t understand you. I don’t like Jeremiah, but I am grateful that he’s made you so happy and I’ll never say a bad thing about him again,” he vowed.
Cindy cried harder and hugged Kyle tighter. “Thank you,” she whispered.
At last she let go of her brother and went back to her seat. She noticed that everyone at the table seemed to be struggling with their emotions. Everyone except her father. He looked up at her, his face a mask.
“I’m sorry. I thought I could help her, but I can’t. She’s refused therapy. Over the years I kind of gave up. I figured she was just who she was at this point. But what she just said is completely unacceptable. I love you, Cindy. I love you, too, Kyle. And I owe it to the two of you to give it one last try to get her to a place of healing. But I promise you this. If I can’t she won’t step foot at your wedding.”
“Thank you, Dad,” Cindy said, struggling to control her emotions.
“We don’t need her there,” Kyle said, his voice strong. “Anything you need for the wedding, Cindy, and I’ll do everything I can to get it for you.”
She wiped at her eyes. “We could use a good photographer.”
He smiled at her. “Done. I’ll take care of that. Don’t give it a second thought.”
She nodded.
“Anything else, you tell me.”
“Me, too,” her father said.
“And us,” Geanie spoke up.
“Heck, you know we’ve got your back,” Mark said.
She looked around. “Then that’s all I need.”
~
After they left the theme park everyone scattered. Cindy’s father went to find her mom and then was going to go straight to the airport, so they could fly home early. Joseph and Geanie went home to take care of the dogs and her Blackie. Mark and Traci took the twins home.
To her surprise Kyle offered to go with her to the hospital. She decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. They drove to the hospital in relative silence.
Right before they got there Kyle said, “I’m sorry about Mom.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I feel like it is. I worked so hard to get her attention, to make her proud, that I never really realized how she was treating you.”
“I seriously doubt that it would have changed anything if you hadn’t worked hard to make her proud,” Cindy said, trying to reassure him.
“Thank you for giving me the locket. I will treasure it.”
“Now you have two things of Lisa’s,” she said.
“Yes. I wish I had more.”
“Mom’s a psycho,” Cindy said.
“Yes, yes she is.”
~
Jeremiah felt pain as he began to wake up. He didn’t like it, but he could swear he heard Cindy’s voice and more than anything he wanted to see her. Being able to see her would be worth any pain he could experience.
The pain grew sharper as he struggled to open his eyes. He became aware of other sounds around him, mostly beeping machines. He finally forced his eyes opened.
He looked up and saw Kyle smiling down at him. “There’s my future brother-in-law. Glad to see you awake finally.”
Jeremiah blinked rapidly, sure that this was a dream or an hallucination. Every time his eyes opened, though, Kyle was still there.
“Where am I?” Jeremiah finally asked. “Am I dead?”
“Very much the opposite,” Kyle said, still smiling.
Jeremiah turned his head slowly, looking for Cindy. He had been so certain that he’d heard her voice.
“She ran to the coffee machine, she’ll be right back,” Kyle reassured him.
“I must be dying if you’re smiling,” Jeremiah said, slurring his words.
“No. You’re going to live,” Kyle said.
The change in Cindy’s brother was bewildering to say the least. Before he could question it further Cindy walked into the room. She saw him, squealed, and set down the two cups of coffee she was holding.
She ran over to him and took his right hand in hers.
“Hey, Hon,” he managed to say.
Kyle picked up one of the coffee cups. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone for a few minutes,” he said, heading out the door.
“What’s with him?” Jeremiah asked.
“I’ll explain later. Right now, I’m just so happy that you’re okay,” she gushed.
“Am I? Okay?” he asked.
“You’re going to be just fine. The doctors say there will be a lot of physical therapy after your collarbone heals. The burns aren’t permanently disfiguring.”
“And my hand?” he asked.
She smiled. “They were able to reattach your fingers. Martin had put them on ice and we got you into an operating room with minutes to spare. The doctors say it’s going to take a lot of physical therapy, but they’re optimistic that in a year or so you’ll regain some use of them.”
“No permanent damage done,” he said, relief flooding through him.
“Hopefully not.”
“I’ll have to thank Martin.”
“We need to invite him to the wedding,” Cindy said.
He chuckled at that. “Fortunately, he has time to work out his schedule. And I have time to work out my fingers,” he said.
She teared up. “That’s good. I want you to be able to feel it when I put a wedding ring on the one.”
He grabbed the back of her head with his good hand. “Even though it’s not there I feel it already,” he said.
He pulled her down and kissed her. When he finally let go she pulled back and just stared at him. “I notice you waited to say something that romantic until you were in a public place and I couldn’t take advantage of you,” she said.
He laughed out loud. “That was not intentional.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Even still, I think all of us have been spending entirely too much time in hospitals.”
“Tell you what, I promise to go at least six months without getting hurt if you do.”
“It’s a deal
.”
~
Friday morning Mark walked into the police station. It hadn’t even been a full week since he was there last, but it might as well have been from the way he was feeling. He made it to his desk and Liam looked up from his.
“What did I miss?” Mark asked.
Liam raised an eyebrow. “Well, you know Keenan resigned and we arrested Nita Rayburn.”
It seemed anti-climactic for Mark since he hadn’t been the one to arrest Nita and he hadn’t seen Keenan resign. He wished he’d seen the look on the man’s smug face when he realized how Nita had manipulated him into helping her with her scheme.
“Any luck yet on figuring out who Nita hired to kill the pastor and plant the evidence?”
“Unfortunately, not yet. She never knew his name, never saw a face, you know.”
“Great,” Mark muttered.
“Maybe the District Attorney can get it out of her, make it part of a plea deal.”
Mark shook his head. “Anything else?”
“Other than that, the only things you missed around here were the discovery of a new arsonist, an off-duty officer getting the crap kicked out of him by a troop of girl scouts, and the captain almost quitting after a very heated discussion with some government type.”
“What?” Mark asked, his eyes bugging out of his head.
“Yup and the Escape! Chanel is going to film a reality series here in the precinct.”
“Okay, I see. You’re messing with me.”
“Only about the reality series. The rest happened.”
“I’m out of it for a couple of days and the whole station falls apart,” Mark said.
“Apparently there is no Pine Springs Police Department without you.”
“Ha ha, very funny.”
“It wouldn’t be nearly as funny if it didn’t seem true. While you were away you got about five thousand messages. They’re all on your desk just waiting for you to give them your personal touch.”
“You’re in an interesting mood,” Mark noted.
Liam flushed. “Rebecca’s folks are coming into town. We’re going to have dinner.”
“Meeting the parents so soon?” Mark asked. “I’m shocked. One would think that you had designs on their daughter.”
Liam blushed harder.
“I bet she likes it when you blush like that,” Mark said. “Personally, I think it makes you look like a little school girl.”
“This school girl would be happy to have it out with you,” Liam said.
“Pistols at dawn? Swords at noon? I have to warn you, I’m getting quite good at dueling with spoons.”
“Looks like I’m not the only one in a very special mood,” he noted.
Mark smiled. “What can I say? It’s a beautiful day. You’ve got to enjoy those while you can.”
“Amen to that.”
Mark took off his jacket and then sat down at his desk. He eyed the rather formidable pile of paperwork stacked there. Next to it was the pile of messages that Liam had referenced. Mark began to sift through them.
Sadie Colbert, the mother of Not Paul’s son, had called. That was right. She had wanted to tell him something. He kept flipping through his messages until he came to one from Kendra in Protective Services. She was the one he’d asked to find Not Paul’s son in the system. He stared at it as his stomach did a somersault. The message was marked Urgent.
20
Mark grabbed the phone and called Kendra. She answered on the third ring.
“Hi, Kendra, it’s Mark Walters.”
“Mark, you caught me just before I was going to lunch.”
“Did you find something on the baby boy?”
There was a long pause and then she said. “You know, it’s been forever since you and I had lunch. I think that’s a great idea.”
Alarm bells went off in his head. They’d never had lunch together. Never even met face-to-face. Something was wrong, and she clearly didn’t want her coworkers overhearing her.
“Just tell me where,” he said.
“The Thai Kitchen in the Old Town section of River City.”
“It will take me about thirty minutes, but I’ll be there.”
“See you soon,” she said, sounding way too chipper.
Mark hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket.
“Everything okay?” Liam asked, looking up at him with a frown.
“I don’t know.”
“You need backup?”
Mark shook his head. “I think I need to go alone on this.” Something twisted in his stomach. He didn’t like this. The last thing that had to do with his ex-partner got him stabbed and nearly killed. The knife wound was still healing, and it twinged in pain as he thought about it.
He wrote down the name of the place where he was going and handed it to Liam.
“What’s this?”
“Where I’m going to meet Kendra from Protective Services for lunch right now. Call me in an hour-and-a-half and if I don’t answer, send the cavalry.”
“Seriously?” Liam asked.
“Yeah. Something’s wrong and she clearly didn’t want to say anything over the phone.”
Liam nodded. “Okay. Be careful.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Mark said.
~
Cindy slipped into a pew next to Geanie and Joseph. She gave them both a nod before turning her eyes back forward. She felt so odd. She was grateful that she and all her loved ones were alive. She couldn’t stop thanking God for sparing Jeremiah and for the good news she’d just had from the doctors.
Her heart was full of thanksgiving which was why she felt so out of place among the mourners. Pastor Ben’s funeral was being held at the church as was fitting.
Dave was the one speaking. He was obviously very shaken up, but he was doing his best to keep it together. Her heart went out to him. He’d had it rough lately.
Geanie grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Everything okay?” she whispered.
Cindy nodded. “We’re not dead. Everything’s great.” It sounded horrible, but it was the truth.
Geanie smiled at her and squeezed her hand again. Warmth flooded through Cindy. It was good to have family.
~
Jeremiah was dozing when he heard a light step enter his room. He wrestled himself awake just in time to see Martin sitting down in the chair next to his hospital bed.
“Glad to see you in one piece instead of three,” Martin said.
“Glad to be in one piece,” Jeremiah said. “Thank you for that. I heard you saved my life, so thanks for that as well.”
“Which time?” he smirked.
“Chest compressions.”
“Oh that. No big deal,” Martin said with a shrug.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but why are you here?”
Martin rolled his eyes. “Just a social call, I assure you. Wanted to see for myself that you really do have nine lives.”
“Did you find what you were looking for after the other day?”
Jeremiah was referring to the weapon that the Iranians had planned to buy off the arms dealers.
“You mean the object that was the subject of the little business deal that you stepped in the middle of?”
Jeremiah nodded.
“We did.”
“That’s good.”
“Of course, things could have gone smoother if you’d stuck to my plan.”
“I couldn’t risk any of them getting away.”
“I know,” Martin said grudgingly. He glanced at his watch and then stood up. “I have a plane to catch.”
“Making the world a safer place?”
“Something like that. After all, I don’t have to worry about Pine Springs. You’ve got this place covered,” Martin said with a wink.
“Good luck.”
“Thanks. You know, that’s quite a family you’ve built for yourself. I wasn’t sure if I should shoot som
e of them or recruit them.”
Jeremiah chucked. “I know the feeling.”
~
Mark made it to the restaurant and walked inside, scanning every face in the room. A slender woman in her forties with dark skin and short, black hair waved to him. He moved to her table.
“Kendra?” he asked.
“Mark, have a seat,” she said.
“How did you know it was me?” he asked.
“You’re the only guy who’s come in here in the last fifteen minutes who looked like a cop.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. But I also had an advantage. I looked you up online while I was waiting.”
“Don’t believe everything you read,” he said, not even wanting to imagine what she might have read about him online.
“So, you’re not the hero cop who thwarted the Passion Week Killer?” she asked.
“I had help.”
She nodded. “I ordered the ginger duck for you. It’s the only good thing on the menu.”
“Thanks, I think,” he said.
“It should be out in a couple of minutes.”
“Great. In the meantime, care to tell me why we’re meeting like this?”
She dropped her eyes and picked up her water glass to take a sip. He noticed that her hand shook slightly.
“Someone hacked my home computer and my work computer yesterday,” she said.
“Both? That doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
“I didn’t think so either. And for the last few days I’ve felt like someone is watching me.”
“Have you talked to the police?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “That’s what I’m doing right now.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I caught one of the supervisors looking over the files in my inbox two days ago when I got back from lunch early. He tried to pass it off that he thought I had a file he needed, but…”
In the Presence of Mine Enemies Page 16