by Barbara Gee
He gave her a sideways look. “You trying to get me in trouble? You heard Dr. Young, and so did Jane. She’ll kick me out if I let you overdo it.”
Callie sighed. “Fine. I’ll sleep for a little bit, then you can let them come in. Ten minutes each. Then you come back.”
“Try to keep me away,” he said softly. “Now sleep, sweetheart. I’ll see you soon.”
CHAPTER 34
Brittany offered to stay the night, but Vince declined. He’d showered while the girls had taken turns visiting Callie, then eaten a big meal with Boone and Jolene while she was moved to a different room. He felt refreshed and ready for another night.
Boone and Jolene had taken off after they ate, and now the girls were leaving. The four of them were out in the parking lot where Vince had walked with them to their car.
“Maybe I’ll stay tomorrow night then,” Brittany said, “if you’re positive you don’t want me to stay now.”
“I’m positive. But yeah, maybe tomorrow.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I know I’m being selfish, I’m just not quite ready to leave her.”
Brittany leaned in and hugged him tightly. “You’re a good boyfriend, Vince. Even good enough for Callie.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Kim opened her arms for her turn. “We’ll be back tomorrow after work. I told Callie, but make sure she remembers.”
Finally, it was Rose. “Thanks for sticking by her. You might be a fairly new couple, but you’ve already faced some pretty tough tests. First Jeremiah, and now this. I’d say you passed.”
“With flying colors,” Brittany agreed. “Night, Vince. I’m going to come prepared to spend the night tomorrow, but I’ll let you have the final say.”
He chuckled. “Or Callie will. She might be a little sick of me by then.”
“Doubtful,” Rose said.
“I hope you’re able to sleep,” Kim chimed in.
“I’ll be fine. See you ladies tomorrow.”
They piled into Brittany’s car and drove off, waving. Vince stood there for a minute, watching them go and wishing he could drive Callie out of the parking lot, too. Another two days here seemed like an eternity.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked slowly back to the hospital entrance. Instead of going inside right away, he took a seat on a bench near the doors, where the late day sun was warm on his face and arms, and the air was pure and fresh, untainted by hospital smells.
Being outdoors for the first time in two days made him miss the Full Heart and Double Nickel ranches in the worst way. He was anxious to return to them, but he wasn’t naïve enough to think things would be the same as they’d been that evening up on the butte, when their future had seemed so bright.
Wow—had that really only been three days ago? It felt more like a lifetime. The attack on Callie and the revelation about her birth family had taken a big toll, and there was more to come.
Vince linked his hands behind his neck and looked skyward, fixing his eyes on a line of clouds in the distance. Although he still believed he and Callie would get their happily ever after, the path forward now had a few more twists and turns. As if there hadn’t already been enough.
Of course, when Callie had fretted about the same things earlier, he’d been quick to reassure her. He’d insisted they could go ahead with their plans to start looking for a place in Minneapolis, because that was what she needed to hear. It was also what Vince still wanted, and he prayed it was the right thing to do.
It was more complicated now, though, and a big question would have to be answered before Callie could make too many plans. What would her parents expect of her when they found out she was alive? And the logical second question….would Callie want to meet those expectations?
During their picnic on the butte, Vince remembered telling Callie that when she found out Jeremiah’s secret, it would be up to her, and only her, what she did with that information. At the time, it had been true. Gary, Kirk and Vince had been the only other people who knew who Callie really was, and they would never reveal it. She could have chosen to ignore the truth about her birth and abduction, and not contacted the Tates at all, or at least waited until she was good and ready to face them.
However, now that she’d been attacked and law enforcement was involved, she no longer had that option. The story would come out, and the Tates would learn everything. And it would cause a media reaction every bit as sensational as Callie had predicted.
Vince closed his eyes as his thoughts churned. He hated how much pain and stress this was going to cause the girl he loved. Right now it was easy for her to say she wanted nothing to do with the Tates, but when faced with her biological parents—people who’d had their little daughter taken away from them through no fault of their own—would she really be able to walk away?
He dropped his hands to his lap and let his head fall back against the brick wall behind the bench, finally letting his mind go where he’d been refusing to let it travel.
Virgil and Kay Desmond, and their beloved son, Boone. This was so darn close to their story. Boone had been stolen away from the Desmonds right after he was born, replaced by a sick newborn whose father had paid a huge sum to have his son switched with the healthy Boone. The other baby had died within hours, and Virgil and Kay had never been able to conceive again. They’d had no idea their real son was alive and well until Boone had shown up at the Full Heart Ranch four years ago, having learned the story through a failed extortion scheme.
The innocent Desmonds had been reunited with their son, their only child, and Vince had witnessed firsthand, on multiple occasions, the joy they found in him. The perfect, unconditional love of parents for their child.
Of course, Callie’s story might not have the same ending. Maybe the Tates weren’t capable of loving so deeply and unconditionally. They might be as different from Virgil and Kay as it was possible to be. Still, they deserved a chance. No matter what the ending, they deserved the chance to get to know their daughter.
Although he acknowledged that truth, it didn’t settle things in Vince’s mind. He hated the idea of Callie being pulled in yet another direction. She would already be splitting her time between the Double Nickel and Minneapolis, and adding New Orleans to the mix had the potential to move the dynamics of their own relationship right past “complicated” all the way to “impossible.”
Vince felt his stomach turn to stone at the thought. He could no longer picture a future without Callie Green. No one else could ever make him feel the way he did with her. And yet it would be unforgivably selfish of him to try to influence her against getting to know her parents. He couldn’t put his happiness above theirs, especially when they were as innocent as Callie was in all this.
He wanted to, but he couldn’t. The decision was Callie’s alone, and Vince needed to let her make it with total confidence that he’d support her either way. It was what she’d do for him if the situation was reversed, and he would do no less for her.
With at least that much resolved, he closed his eyes and soaked up a few more minutes in the sun. He was vaguely aware of people passing by, but no one interrupted his solitude. After a while, he roused himself, trying to shake off his oppressive thoughts before he went back inside.
Back to Callie.
The girl who was his present and, he desperately hoped, his future.
***
He found her new room on a different floor, relieved that he could just walk right into the unit without having to be buzzed in. He showed his ID to the new guard at her door, and went in to find her sleeping. Returning to the hall, he chatted quietly with the deputy until his phone vibrated a few minutes later, displaying Tuck’s name on the screen. Vince excused himself to take the call, then went around the corner, ducking into a dark, empty room where he could talk without anyone overhearing.
He listened carefully as Tuck gave him an update. O’Riley still wasn’t talking, but Kirk, the private investigator, had come through ye
t again. He’d managed to dig up proof that O’Riley’s plane ticket had been purchased with a credit card under the name of an obscure business Kirk had expertly traced back to Elliot, and with that knowledge in hand, the New Orleans police had gone to pick up Elliot for questioning.
According to the cops who had gone to his house, Elliot had answered the door himself, and after his initial shock, he’d pretended to be completely cooperative. He’d agreed to go to the station with them, and asked if it would be okay to go to the kitchen to grab his phone and wallet before they left for the station.
He’d been granted permission—and then disappeared. He’d gone out the back door and somehow gotten away. The police didn’t know whether he was on the run, or holed up somewhere, but they were confident they’d find him soon. They’d put out an immediate APB and had dozens of personnel looking. They’d cast a wide net, and were pretty sure they knew the perimeter of the area he’d been trapped in. They fully expected Elliot to be caught within twenty-four hours, forty-eight at the most.
The men discussed the situation for a few minutes, then Tuck said he and the sheriff wanted to come to the hospital the next morning to interview Callie and get the details of her attack. Vince asked if it would be okay for him to contact Gary and see if he could come along, to officially fill Callie in on everything, starting with his very first conversation with Jeremiah about the journal. Tuck offered to call Gary himself to coordinate things, and Vince was glad to let him handle it.
After promising to text Vince with a time, Tuck hung up and Vince went back to Callie’s room. She was awake, and he saw a look of relief cross her face when he walked in.
“Hey,” he said softly, leaning down to press a kiss to her cheek. “Did you think I wasn’t coming back?”
“No.” She squirmed a little. “Well, maybe. Brit said she was going to offer to stay the night so you could take a break from this place. I didn’t know if you’d take her up on it or not.”
“Not,” he said with a smile. “Maybe I’ll let her stay tomorrow night. We’ll see how comfortable that recliner in the corner is.”
He settled into the chair by her bed and she reached out and put her hand on his arm. “You smell good.”
“I took a quick shower since Jolene was thoughtful enough to bring me some clothes. Then I went and ate with her and Boone. So you don’t have to worry about me starving.”
“That’s good. I’d like to take a shower myself, but I want to eat even worse.”
“You didn’t get any food yet?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I got the broth and jello. Green jello.”
“Ah, that hardly qualifies as food. Think you can hold out for breakfast or should I go try to find you something?”
“I’ll wait for breakfast. I’m not supposed to have real food until then, and I don’t want any more jello. Jane said having an appetite is a good thing, so I’ll try to be thankful my stomach is growling.”
“Thatta girl.” Vince wove his fingers through hers. “Have I told you how glad I am you’re okay?” he asked quietly.
She smiled, her green eyes warm. “I’m glad you’re glad. But Vince, I really need to know what’s going on. I need answers.”
He nodded, knowing he’d feel the same way in her shoes. “Tuck and the sheriff are going to come talk to you tomorrow. I asked Tuck to see if Gary Denton can come, too. He knows more than I do. He can start at the beginning, or at least from when Jeremiah first came to him.”
“Good. I want him to tell me everything.” Her eyes narrowed curiously. “Why do you think Grandpa told you about the journal? Did he just need to get it off his chest?”
“I think that was part of it, but he also asked me multiple times to promise I’d be here for you when you found out. He didn’t want you to have to deal with it all alone.”
“I can’t believe he knew for a year and never told me.”
“He didn’t want it to be true. Telling you would mean he couldn’t pretend it wasn’t anymore.”
“He could have died without telling anyone. That would be almost the same as it not being true.”
“That’s exactly what he’d planned to do, but in the end, as he started getting sicker, he decided he couldn’t keep it from you. He wanted you to be told the truth. After that, it would be up to you.”
Callie gave a short, mirthless laugh. “Only it’s not. Thanks to my brother, everyone’s gonna know, whether I choose to go public with it or not.”
Vince nodded slowly. “Yeah, they’ll know, but it’s still up to you whether to have anything to do with the Tates.”
“I suppose,” she said, her eyes troubled.
He rubbed his thumb along hers. “Jeremiah really was trying to do right by you. He didn’t know your brother was the one who sent you away with Tabby, and he certainly didn’t know he was still a danger to you.”
“I guess I can understand why he thought I should know. I just don’t know what I’m going to do.” Callie swallowed hard, her eyes shiny with tears she was holding back. “At this point, meeting the Tates—my parents—is the last thing I want,” she said, her voice husky. “Is that a terrible way to feel?”
“Nah, I think it’s the normal way to feel. This is all brand new to you, sweetheart, and you found out in a terrible way. You need time to work through it.”
“It might take a while,” she said sadly.
“That’s okay.” Vince put his hand on her knee, over the blankets. “You’ll figure it out eventually, and I’ll support whatever you decide.”
She gave him a grateful, tired smile. “Can I ask you one more question, if I promise to wait and let Gary answer all the rest?”
He saw the uncertainty in her eyes, along with the pain and exhaustion. He couldn’t refuse her. She could ask for anything right now, and he’d move heaven and earth to get it.
He wrapped both his hands around hers. “Like I could say no to you,” he said softly. “What’s your question? If I know the answer, I’ll tell you.”
***
Callie’s throat went tight at the emotion in his voice. It was impossible to doubt he truly cared about her. He showed it constantly, in so many ways. She’d never expected to be so incredibly blessed, never expected to find a man like Vince Abbot.
She let her eyes roam over his face, wishing she knew what came next for them. She wanted to go back in time, back to the butte. To the evening when they’d been so sure of where they were going. So confident their relationship was going to work.
She was still confident. She loved him, and she was pretty sure he loved her back. She still believed it was God’s plan that they’d come together, and with His help their relationship would survive. It’s just that things were going to be harder than she’d thought.
A bump in the road. That’s what Vince had called the Tate situation. It felt more like a mountain to Callie, but she wouldn’t know the full scope until after talking with Gary tomorrow. She dreaded that meeting, dreaded finding out more things that could complicate her life even further.
Her head was starting to throb, and she knew she needed to stop thinking about all things Tate. And she would, as soon as she got the answer to one more question.
Vince was waiting patiently for her to ask it, allowing her the time she needed. She dropped her eyes and stared at their joined hands for a long moment before meeting his steady gaze again.
She was barely able to get the words past the lump in her throat. “Vince….do you know my real name?”
It shouldn’t be important. Whatever the name on her real birth certificate, it wasn’t her. She was and always would be Callie Grace Green. But it was who she’d been meant to be, and for some reason that affected her deeply.
His blue eyes locked on hers, as if asking whether she really wanted to know. Finally, he gave a brief nod. “I do,” he said, his voice low and rough.
“Will you tell me?” she whispered.
He scooted closer and propped his elbows on the bed, still h
olding her hand. His eyes were warm and understanding, like he knew it was an important moment for her.
“It’s Lila,” he said softly. “Spelled L-i-l-a. Lila Tate.”
CHAPTER 35
In New Orleans the day before:
Elliot slammed the rusted metal door shut and leaned heavily back against it, halfway expecting to feel someone pushing on it from the other side. He was pretty sure no one had followed him, but it’s not like he had experience running from the police. Maybe they’d gone into stealth mode, hiding in the shadows and behind buildings as they’d pursued him, waiting for him to get to his destination before pouncing. Toying with him until the trap was sprung.
The door stayed still, however, and there were no sounds from the other side of it. Elliot tried to relax, but adrenaline was still coursing through his entire body. He was literally shaking with anger and fear, and who wouldn’t be, under the circumstances? Finding cops on your doorstep, escaping out a back door to make a panicked run through yards and side streets, and then desperately breaking into your own abandoned warehouse—it was enough to leave anyone a little worked up. Or more than a little, if his heaving breaths and the silver sparks of light in his vision were any indication.
He leaned over and rested his hands on his knees, forcing himself to take slower, deeper breaths. He was safe for the time being, and he needed to calm down and give the adrenaline in his system a chance to subside. If he couldn’t keep the panic under control, he’d never be able to figure out how to get out of this filthy warehouse and find someone who could clear up the mess he was in.
Elliot realized now that he should have left town as soon as he’d heard someone had been at the police station asking questions. And if not then, he certainly should have disappeared when he’d failed to make contact with Craig for so long. There were plenty of places he could have gone to lay low until he knew what was going on, if only he’d had the foresight to do so.
Instead, he’d stuck to his normal routine, thinking that would show anyone watching he had nothing to hide. Yeah…..right. Talk about a plan backfiring. He’d been a sitting duck when the cops showed up, thanks to that “normal routine.”