“I do know you though. We’ve talked. We’ve spent time together. Okay, I admit, there is a strong physical attraction, at least for me. But it’s so much more than that. I’m a man. I know my own mind and my own heart. I want to ask you to marry me. I want to buy you a ring. I want to build you a house just the way you want it built. I want to live in that house with you and raise children with you. I want us to have a life together.”
Maryann increased her pace as if to put distance between them. He pulled her around and found that she was crying. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks.
“I’m not a domestic person like your mother and sisters. I won’t just sit in a house day after day. I need to work.”
“My mother started her own business. Why can’t you start a business here?”
“Do they really need another sweet shop in town?”
“Honey, a smart woman like you can figure out something to do. You can build your own business.”
She shook her head in denial. “I can’t see Bloomingvale as a place for opportunities.”
“Maybe not for earning millions, but do you really need a fortune to be happy? Isn’t there more to life than getting rich? Let me tell you something, money won’t keep you warm in bed on a cold winter’s night. Money can’t love you the way I will.” Rob took Maryann in his arms and kissed her with all the passion and love he felt for her. For a moment, she kissed him back with equal intensity.
“You do love me too, don’t you? Sweetheart, take the risk and marry me. All of life is a gamble. You know that don’t you? No one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. It could be good. It could be terrible. But we have this time together. We have right now and we should seize the moment. Marry me, darling. I promise you won’t regret it.”
For a moment, she stared at him, eyes jungle green and unblinking. “You can’t guarantee that. No, I can’t marry you. Don’t ask me again.” She began to run away down the street.
“Where are you going?”?
“I’m going back to the house.”
“I’ll get the truck and drive you.”
“No, I want to walk. I need a long walk. Just tell Jen and Aaron. I’ll see them later.” With that, she took off.
Rob stuck his fists into the pockets of his jeans and slowly walked back toward the picnic. For a moment, he’d been certain that she loved him too. Then she’d rejected him.
He stalked off looking for where he’d left Jen Stoddard and Aaron.
He found them right where they’d been before with the Higgins family. Jennifer and Maggie were talking together. Aaron was playing with Bobby Higgins and some other children. Nothing had changed for them. Everything had changed for him. In spite of what his mother said or believed, he knew he’d never love another woman the way he loved Maryann. It couldn’t happen.
Jen noticed him and glanced around. “Where’s Maryann?”
“She decided to walk back to the house. She didn’t want me to drive her. I’m planning on leaving myself.”
“Right now?” Jen Stoddard looked surprised.
“Yes, as a matter of fact. Do you want to pack up? I’ll drive you back to your house.”
Jen looked over at her son. “Aaron’s having such a good time right now, I’d hate to make him leave.”
Maggie took Jen’s arm. “We have room in the S.U.V. for you.” Maggie turned to him. “Eric and I will drive Jen and Aaron home later.”
Jen gave Rob a speculative look. “Rob, are you all right?”
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He stuck his fisted hands back into his pockets and hurried away.
Chapter Forty-Five
Jen had an odd sense of being watched. She looked around. No one seemed to be looking in her direction. She tried to shake the feeling. Was Samuel Forrest still lurking about? If so, that might explain her strange feeling.
Jen heard some shouting and looked over at the boys. They were playing soccer. Bobby served as goalie. Aaron barreled into him trying to score. They both tumbled and fell. Bobby shouted his indignation and punched Aaron in the face. Aaron retaliated by kicking Bobby. Jen started toward them with Maggie following.
“Let them settle it themselves,” Eric called after them. “Don’t get involved.”
But Jen ran to separate the two boys. Maggie pulled Bobby back.
“Apologize,” Maggie said to her son.
Bobby shook his head, a lock of hair falling into his face. “No, he started it.”
“You were both wrong,” Jen said. “You should apologize to each other and shake hands.”
The boys weren’t having it.
“My nose is bleeding,” Aaron told her.
“Okay, let’s go back to our picnic blanket. I have ice in the chest.”
“I don’t like Bobby anymore.” Aaron said, holding his nose.
“You’ll be good friends again. Even friends have arguments sometimes.”
Aaron shook his head. “Can we leave here with Rob and Maryann? I want to go home. I don’t want to stay here anymore.”
Jen had a sinking feeling. “Honey, let me make an ice pack for your nose. You’ll feel much better then.”
Aaron kicked a soda can that lay on the grass. “Wanna go home.”
“Honey, we’ll go back to the house soon.”
“No, wanna go home to New York.”
She found the ice in the chest, wrapped a cloth around it and made an ice pack for Aaron. “Hold this against your nose and it will feel better soon. The bleeding’s already stopped.” She kept her tone of voice soothing. But Aaron continued to be upset. His face had flushed scarlet. Jen recognized he’d become overheated and overtired. The day had been too much for him.
“I want to go home to New York,” he repeated again, this time more adamantly.
Jen felt herself losing her patience with her son. “Honey, we are going to live in Bloomingvale for the next two years. You know that. You’ll go to school here and I believe you’ll be happy.”
“No!” Aaron threw the ice pack down.
As Jen bent to retrieve it, he took off running. “Aaron!” she called after him, but her son was losing himself in the throng of people. Jen started after him, keeping her eyes on the receding back of her son, only to fall hard. A child had left a skateboard out. She skinned her knee and her hands burned, but she made an effort to get back in motion again.
“Are you all right?” A man spoke to her solicitously. “Here let me help you up.”
“I’m looking for my son. He’s running ahead of me.”
“Yes, I saw him. A red-headed boy I believe?”
“How did you know?”
“We’ve met. Don’t you remember?”
Jen took a closer look. “Mr. Norris. You’re James Donne’s nephew, the accountant.”
The man smiled at her. “The very same. I saw you earlier with your son. I suppose you didn’t see me.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t.”
“There are a great many people here today. Actually, I had every intention of speaking to you, but you’ve been surrounded by people all afternoon.”
“Forgive me, but right now, I must find my son. So if you’ll excuse me.”
He took her arm and held on to it with a firm grasp. “I intend to help you look for him. As a matter of fact, I know exactly where he went. Another man stopped him and they went toward his car.”
Alarm bells sounded in Jen’s mind. “What man? Do you know who he is?”
“I can’t be certain. Why don’t we look together?”
“Yes, please show me.”
“Of course. We’ll hurry.”
Jen felt close to panic. Had someone abducted Aaron? Would he even go with a stranger? She thought of her mother’s boyfriend, then of Samuel Forrest. Would either of them go so far as to attempt to kidnap her son? She couldn’t believe it possible!
Edward Norris seemed stronger than he looked. A man in his middle to late forties, he was lean and athletic. He moved quickly, practically
dragging her along at his pace. Jen soon had trouble catching her breath in the humid air. Norris led her along a path that appeared devoid of people, a deserted area. She did see a car in the distance, a silver Mercedes. Was it the vehicle Maryann had described to her? She broke away from Norris and began to run toward the car. She called out her son’s name.
But as she came closer to the car, Jen could see there was no one in it. Where was the man Mr. Norris spoke of? More importantly, where was Aaron? Norris took her arm again, practically clamping down on it.
“Where are they?” she said. “Where can they be?”
“Let’s look back here.” He guided her toward the back of the car.
The trunk opened. Suddenly Edward Norris tried to push her into it. Jen cried out in surprise and shock. It took all her strength to keep her balance and avoid being forced into the car’s trunk.
“What are you doing?”
“Get into the trunk.” Norris removed a small automatic weapon from his pants pocket and pointed it at her.
Jen stared at the weapon. Sunlight pirouetted off the black gun barrel. “What are you doing? Where is my son?”
“I have no idea. I doubt that anyone’s snatched him if that makes you feel any better.”
Jen realized she had been targeted. “You’re the one, aren’t you? All along you’ve been trying to harass and harm me. But why? We don’t even know each other.”
“Can’t you guess? No, I suppose not. But you would have found out eventually. You were too curious about the money. You would have insisted on a full accounting. And then you would have discovered the million-dollar short fall.”
Jen shook her head in disbelief. “You stole my grandmother’s money?”
“I borrowed. I didn’t steal. It just didn’t work out. Damn bad economy. I couldn’t pay the money back. And now, into the trunk of the car, my dear.”
“No, I refuse.” Jen knew she would be dead for certain if she did as he told her.
“Then I will just have to shoot you here. Either way, you will be dead. Get in the trunk.”
He waved the gun with a menacing gesture.
Jen’s mind worked with frantic speed. Would he really shoot her here? There were people not that far away. Surely someone would hear gunshots. But would they be in time to save her? She couldn’t take that risk, could she? She had to outsmart him.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll get into the trunk.”
Jen turned as if to comply with his dictates, then ran toward a clump of trees instead.
She heard a bullet whiz by but kept on moving, her heart in her mouth. She felt something sting her left arm.
Chapter Forty-Six
Grant observed Aaron Stoddard running, his nose bloody, his shirt torn. The boy had tears rolling down his cheeks. Something was very wrong. Where was Jennifer Stoddard?
He chased the boy down and stopped him. “Where you headed, son?”
“I’m running away!” The child responded to him in a breathless voice.
“Let’s get you a drink of water. Your face is red. Where’s your mother?”
“I don’t know. I left her. She said we can’t go back to New York. We have to live here. I don’t want to live here. I want to go home. I have my school in New York. My friends are there.”
“Well, you’ll have to work that out with her. But she must be frantic worrying about you right now. Let’s go find her.”
“She’s probably with Mrs. Higgins.”
They walked to where the Higgins family was located.
“Have you seen Aaron’s mother?” Grant asked.
“I just saw Jen walking off in that direction with that accountant.” Maggie pointed. She then turned to her husband. “Eric, what’s the name of the accountant who did our taxes?”
“That would be Ed Norris.”
“What was she doing with him?” Grant wondered out loud.
Maggie shook her head. “I don’t know. He had his hand on her arm like he intended to take her somewhere or show her something.”
“Keep Aaron with you.”
“Sure, we were going to take Jen and Aaron home.”
Grant ran in the direction Maggie had indicated. He had an uncomfortable feeling that something wasn’t right. His cop instinct told him that Jennifer Stoddard wouldn’t be walking off with Norris when she had every reason to worry about her child.
He heard the unmistakable sound of shots ringing out and unsnapped his holstered weapon as he ran. He saw Norton not far from a car with a gun drawn. Was he intending to shoot Jennifer Stoddard? Grant had the gut instinct that was the case.
“Drop your weapon!” he shouted, raising his own gun.
The accountant turned around, his eyes wild and pointed the handgun at him.
“If you don’t drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head this instant, I’m going to have to shoot you. Do you understand?”
Norton did as he was told. Grant cuffed him, hands behind his back and forced the man face down on the ground. He kept his foot on the small of Norton’s back as he used his cell phone to call for back-up.
“Okay, now where’s Mrs. Stoddard?” When Norton didn’t answer immediately, Grant readied himself to give the man a hard kick. Then he heard the cry for help. He left Norton, warning him to stay where he was and not move.
He found Jennifer Stoddard, lying on the ground at some distance from Norton almost covered by dead leaves. Her arm had bled out from a bullet hole. He immediately took a clean handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it against the wound.
“Thank you for finding me,” she said, her voice barely audible. “He wanted to kill me.” She explained about the embezzlement of funds from her grandmother’s account. Then she fainted in his arms.
He used his cell phone again and called for an ambulance. Burt Russell soon arrived and took charge of Edward Norris. Grant told him to read Norris his rights and hold him in custody.
He rode with Jennifer Stoddard to the hospital in the ambulance, holding her hand, after reassuring her that her son was fine. He did his best to comfort her, kissing her forehead, caressing her cheek. He realized that he wasn’t behaving in a professional manner, that his feelings for her went a lot deeper than he cared to admit but somehow he couldn’t help it.
As he waited in the hospital corridor, Grant phoned Maryann Waller and told her what had happened. She in turn told him about seeing the silver Mercedes previously.
“You should have told me at the time,” he said.
“Jen asked me not to bother you.”
“You shouldn’t have listened to her.”
“I’m sorry.” He had reprimanded her and hoped it hadn’t come off as too harsh, but Jennifer could have easily been dead.
“Will Jen be all right?”
“They’re treating her right now. She was lucky Norris isn’t much of a marksman. It could have gone the other way.”
“What should I tell Aaron?”
“Just that his mother had an accident. She’s okay and will come home soon. Maggie and Eric Higgins are going to bring Aaron home.”
“Yes, in fact, they just pulled into the driveway.”
“Okay. Don’t worry. Your friend really is going to be fine.”
Grant checked on Jennifer after the doctor told him it was all right to see her. She looked as pale as the sheets.
“How are you feeling?”
She managed a wry smile. “I’ve felt better. But I’m alive and grateful to you for that.”
“Actually, I think you saved yourself with your own fast thinking. Norris must have derailed.”
“He did steal a great deal of money. He says he lost it gambling.”
“They going to take the bullet out soon?” He stared at her bandaged arm.
She moved her head from side to side. “The bullet only grazed my arm. They’re giving me antibiotics as a precaution against infection, but I’m all right.”
He took her hand in his and sat down beside her. “
You gave me a scare,” he said.
“How did you know what happened or where to even look for me?”
“Cop radar.”
She gave him a dubious look and he laughed. “Okay, I’ll confess. I saw your kid running and crying. So I knew something had to be wrong. When I asked him where you were, he told me about the argument you guys had. He thought you might have gone back to the Higgins family. When I asked Maggie, she told me she’d seen you walking with Norris. That sounded off. So I took myself in the general direction she’d seen you go and I heard the gunshots.”
“At least I had the presence of mind not to get into the trunk of his car. He tried to force me but I got away from him. Thank you for saving me, for rescuing me. Thank you for helping my son as well.”
“Just doing my job, Ma’am.”
“And you do it very well indeed.”
He caressed her cheek. She held his hand tightly in her own. “I always knew you were a hero.”
He pulled away. “I don’t know why you’d say that.”
“Because it’s true. I forgave you for what you did to me back in high school. I suppose you don’t even remember.”
“What I did to you?” He felt incredulous.
He heard her call after him in an alarmed voice as he left, but he didn’t turn around. He’d had enough.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Maryann felt relieved when she found out that Jen would be released from the hospital the following day. She took Aaron with her to pick up Jen at the hospital. Aaron rushed into his mother’s arms.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run away like that. I should have been there to protect you from that bad man.”
Jen hugged her son with her good arm. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Maryann says I should give Bloomingvale a chance, that’s it’s a good place to live.”
Maryann patted his head. “That’s right. I think you’ll like going to school here. You’ll have an adjustment to make, but it’s going to be fine.”
Jen turned to her. “Thank you.” There were tears in her eyes.
“How’s the arm?”
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