He’d also wanted to grab Cody to his chest and hold him tight, breathe in the scent of his son and tell him that he was his father. But instead he had backed away after only a brief hug and given Cody and Allison space. He had to remind himself that to Cody he was just a family friend and what he needed at this moment was his mother.
The sound of sirens could be heard coming from the distance and hopefully with them would come some answers. “I’ll go upstairs and let them in through the front door,” Brett said.
“Can we go home now?” Cody asked.
“Not yet, but soon, Cody,” he said, once again fighting his need to hug the boy close. As much as he hated keeping Cody in this dungeon another minute, he knew he had to let Sheriff Jeffries take the lead from here.
Jeffries clumped down the stairs with heavy footsteps, followed closely by Wendall and Jim. “Thank God,” Wendall said as he saw Allison and Cody on the sofa.
“What the hell do we have here?” Sheriff Jeffries stared down at the dead body. He bent down and grabbed the bottom of the ski mask.
“Wait!” Allison protested. “Please, let me take my son out of here before anything else happens.”
“I’ll take them upstairs,” Wendall said without waiting for Jeffries’s okay. “Come on, son. You can tell me all about the little horses you keep in your room.”
Knox flashed Wendall a grateful glance. Too bad the compassionate deputy didn’t want to run against his boss in the fall. Wendall would have made a sheriff the whole town could be proud of.
Once those three had disappeared up the stairs, again Bud leaned down and grabbed the bottom of the ski mask. He tore it off.
“Earl,” Knox said in shocked surprise.
“You know him?” Bud asked.
Knox nodded. “His name is Earl Hefferman. He was my mother’s right-hand man. Last I heard, he was someplace out on probation.”
“And now he’s dead. Have any idea how that happened?” Bud asked.
“I don’t have a clue. According to Cody, somebody in a ski mask and dressed in black came down the stairs and stabbed Earl in the back,” Knox replied.
“I’ll need to question the boy. I’ll do that while we wait for the coroner,” Bud replied.
“I don’t think so,” Knox replied with a new weariness. “I’m going to go upstairs and take the boy named Cody and his mother to the hospital and then home with me. It’s late, he’s had enough trauma to last the rest of his life and you can talk to him sometime tomorrow.” Knox turned to head for the stairs at the same time Brett’s flashlight landed on something just to the side of the stairs.
“What’s that?” Bud asked.
Knox stared at the lacy lavender handkerchief. Was it possible? “It’s a handkerchief. My mother used to carry ones just like that.”
“So, it’s likely that your mother saved the boy and then made the phone call to your house. I need to get more men in the area and let them know who we’re looking for. This might be over for you, but it’s just starting for us.”
Knox crept up the stairs slowly, his mind whirling. Was that really what had happened? Had his mother somehow caught wind of what Earl had done and come to her grandson’s aid? It was difficult to believe for, if she had, it would be the first real act of love he’d ever known her to commit.
Wendall, Allison and Cody were seated on the carpeting in the living room. With Wendall’s flashlight providing the illumination, it appeared as if the three were gathered for a fun night of storytelling.
“Who is ready to go home?” Knox asked.
“I am!” Cody exclaimed and scrambled to his feet.
“Me, too,” Allison added.
Wendall and Allison also stood. “Jim and I have a few things to pick up at the house, but we’ll wait until tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Wendall. Thank you for everything,” Allison said.
“Just doing my job,” he replied modestly.
“You did more than your job, and we appreciate it,” Knox said.
Within minutes, the three of them were in Knox’s car and headed to the hospital and then hopefully home. Well, not to his home, but to the place where his heart resided.
“Mom, when we get home will you make me some pancakes?” Cody asked. “All I’ve had to eat is some bologna sandwiches and I don’t ever want to eat those again.”
Allison turned in her seat to look at him. “Cody, my love, you never, ever have to eat another bologna sandwich, and I will happily make you pancakes when you get home.”
Thank God Cody hadn’t been hurt physically, Knox thought as he listened to Allison talking to her son about all the friends and neighbors who had come out to help look for him.
Only time would tell if Cody suffered any emotional trauma. Thankfully children were supposed to be resilient and he hoped Cody would carry no scars from his ordeal. If necessary, they would see to it that Cody got some counseling.
His mother. Was she really here in Shadow Creek, and had she been in that basement with Earl and Cody? Or had Marlene Miller, the former owner of the Miller house, carried the same kind of handkerchiefs when she’d been alive? He dismissed the very idea, for the handkerchief had looked clean and new, not as if it had sat in a basement for over a year.
Thoughts of Livia continued to haunt him nearly two hours later when they gathered around the kitchen table for Allison’s pancakes. Hopefully, some fingerprints could be pulled from the handkerchief and they would tell the tale.
Cody had been checked out by a doctor at the hospital who had pronounced him fine, and the three of them had returned to Allison’s house.
The kitchen smelled of hot syrup and buttery pancakes and love. Knox watched as Allison reached over to touch Cody’s arm, swept his hair off his forehead and then squeezed his shoulder, as if to assure herself that he was really here.
“I dreamed about this,” Cody said as he wiped a dollop of syrup off his chin with the back of his hand. “I dreamed about pancakes and ham and cheese sandwiches and being here in this kitchen with all of us together.”
“We dreamed about it, too.” Allison handed him a napkin. “Well, not so much the food part, but we definitely dreamed about you being back here.”
“The worst part was being scared and having nobody to talk to. I tried to talk to the guy who took me, but he never said a word to me. I’ve never gone so long without somebody talking to me,” Cody said.
“You’re probably going to wish your mother and I stop talking to you over the next couple of days,” Knox said with a small laugh.
“No way,” he replied.
Cody ate three pancakes and then rubbed his eyes tiredly.
“I’m not a baby or anything, but maybe would you keep the hall light on for the rest of the night?” he asked Allison.
“I’ve been sleeping on your bottom bunk while you’ve been gone,” Knox said. “How about I do that for tonight and then I’ll head home tomorrow?” He shot a quick glance at Allison, hoping he wasn’t overstepping his boundaries, but she gave him a small smile.
“That would be great,” Cody said.
“Now, how about you head upstairs for a quick bath while I clean up the kitchen?” Allison said.
“Can Knox come up and talk to me while I take my bath?” Cody asked.
“Sure,” Knox replied. “And you can tell me the names of all the horses you have on your shelf. I know you told me once before, but I’ve forgotten some of them.”
He followed Cody upstairs where he took a much-needed bath and then dressed in a clean pair of pajamas. By that time, Allison had joined them upstairs to tuck Cody into bed.
He watched from the doorway as she stood on the bottom rail and swept Cody’s hair from his face, then kissed him on his forehead.
“I want you to have wonderful dreams
. I want you to know that you’re safe now and you have nothing to worry about. It was a bad person who took you, but there are a lot of good people in the world.”
“I know. I love you, Mom.”
“Oh, buddy, I love you, too.” She kissed him once again and then pulled the sheet up around his neck. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She got back on the floor and smiled at Knox. “Happy dreams to you, too.”
He nodded, for a moment too much emotion in the back of his throat to reply. When she left the room, Knox stripped to his boxer shorts and got into the lower bunk.
“I’m so glad I’m home,” Cody said, the last word ending on a yawn. “Will you tell me a story before I go to sleep, Knox?”
Knox was in the middle of a story about the first time he’d ever ridden a horse when he knew Cody had fallen asleep. For the next fifteen minutes or so, he merely listened to the sound of his son’s deep, even breathing.
Safe. Cody was finally safe and where he belonged, and Knox hoped that now he would be able to officially claim him, that the time was now right for Cody to know he had a father who loved him with all his heart and soul.
Now Knox had to figure out where he belonged. With this trauma over, the rest of his life suddenly loomed before him. One thing was clear in his head. He wasn’t leaving Shadow Creek again. His son was there and the woman he loved was there.
He couldn’t even pretend that he thought he had a future with Allison. With Cody home, she wouldn’t need Knox anymore, and he believed it was the aching need of two grieving parents that had temporarily brought them together.
Certain that Cody’s sleep was deep, he crept out of the bed to find Allison. He hadn’t even had a chance to tell her about the handkerchief.
He found her in her bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed and staring out the nearby window. “Allison,” he said softly.
She turned and smiled at him. “Is he asleep?”
He nodded and walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. “I imagine he’ll sleep until noon tomorrow. Hopefully he won’t have any nightmares.”
“I hope not, too.” She released a sigh. “Thank God it’s all over, although it was very strange, wasn’t it?”
“Maybe not so strange,” he replied and then told her about the lavender handkerchief found in the basement. “Before she was arrested, my mother was obsessed with fancy handkerchiefs. I know it was hers. She was down in that basement.”
She looked at him in surprise and then slowly shook her head. “If it was your mother, then maybe she has some good in her, after all,” she said. “I can’t be sorry that she killed the man who stole Cody away from us. Who knows what he might have done with Cody before the exchange?”
“I’m just surprised she didn’t wait until the actual exchange happened so she could kill Earl for the money he’d gotten from us. That’s more like the mother I know.”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” she replied. “If she hadn’t done what she did, there’s a possibility we might have never gotten Cody back.”
He nodded in agreement. “So I guess life returns to normal...whatever that is,” he replied. Without the worry eating him up inside, without the fear tearing at his gut, his desire for her roared to the forefront. But that was not what he saw in her eyes at that moment, and he tamped down his want of her.
“I’d like to be with the two of you when Sheriff Jeffries interviews Cody, if that’s okay,” he said.
“I think before that happens, we need to tell Cody about you. It’s a conversation that should have happened before. Maybe once breakfast is over in the morning?”
His heart swelled. “You know that’s more than okay with me. And once that is over and after the sheriff talks to Cody, then I’ll pack up my bags and get out of your hair.” There was a small part of him that held its breath, hoping that she might say something that would indicate she wanted him there with her for always.
“What are your plans?”
That single question effectively killed any hope he had of a future with her. “I’m not sure. All I know is that my plans will be here in Shadow Creek. I’m not going back to the Rangers and I want to be here always and forever for my son.”
He rose from the bed. “And now I think what both of us need is some good sleep. Good night, Allison.”
“Good night, Knox.”
He left the room and crawled back into the lower bunk. He should be deliriously happy. Cody was home safe, and tomorrow the boy would know that Knox was his father and that was all that mattered. And he was happy, except for the aching pain in his heart where Allison was concerned.
Chapter 16
Breakfast at ten thirty the next morning consisted of biscuits and gravy and plenty of laughter. Cody ate like he’d been starved for months and nobody mentioned the ordeal he’d been through.
Rather, the talk was about school and his friends and how he couldn’t wait to get together with Josh and play. It was the normal chattering of a nine-year-old boy and Allison relished every word that fell out of his mouth.
It had taken her forever to go to sleep the night before. Where before it had been fear that had kept her tossing and turning, last night it had been gratitude. Thankfully, when she did finally fall asleep, it had been a rest with no nightmares.
“Now I’m full,” Cody announced.
“I would think so,” Knox said in a teasing voice. “You ate like a horse.”
“I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you go upstairs and make your bed while I clean up the kitchen? When you come back down here, Knox and I want to have a little talk with you,” she said.
“Am I in trouble?” Cody asked.
“Heavens, no,” Allison replied hurriedly. “It’s going to be a good talk.”
“Is it about a horse?” Cody asked eagerly.
“No, but it’s about something as good as a horse. Now scoot. The faster you get your bed made, the faster you’ll know what we’re going to talk about.”
“Come on, Cody. I’ll go with you and between the two of us we can get that bed made in no time,” Knox said.
As the two of them thundered up the stairs, Allison got busy clearing the table. It was time...past time for them to tell Cody the truth.
There was no question now in her mind that Knox would be the man Cody needed in his life, the father who would always be with him to guide and love him. She trusted Knox in a way she never had before.
There was also no doubt in her mind that Cody loved Knox, too. It showed in Cody’s eyes when he looked at Knox, in the easy way he talked and laughed with him.
Yes, it was time for this talk to happen, for her son’s sake and for Knox.
It didn’t take long for the three of them to meet in the living room. Allison sat on the sofa next to Cody and Knox sat on the chair opposite them, positively vibrating with anticipation.
“Cody, do you remember when you asked me about your father and I told you he was off somewhere fighting crime?” she began.
“Yeah, I remember.” Cody’s blue eyes, so like Knox’s, gazed at her curiously. “Have you talked to him? Does he know I got kidnapped?”
“Yes, he knew, and he did everything in his power to find you. He walked the streets and hunted all over the entire town to find you and bring you home,” she said.
Cody leaned forward. “Is he here now? Can I see him?”
Allison smiled. “All you have to do is look across the room.”
Cody stared at her for a long moment and then looked at Knox. “Is it you? Are you my dad, Knox?”
Never in a million years would Allison forget the expression on Knox’s face as he answered. It was a mixture of love, of hope and a touch of soft vulnerability. “It’s me, Cody. I’m your dad and I hope you aren’t disappointed.”
Tears blurred her vision as Knox pulled Cody up on his lap and the two hugged. The world was finally right. Her son had the kind of father she wanted for him, the man he’d yearned for all his short life.
“I’m never going to leave you,” Knox said as Cody clung to his neck. “I promise you, Cody, I’m always going to be here for you.”
“This is way better than a horse,” Cody said, and then they were all laughing and crying with tears of joy.
Surprisingly Cody had no questions. He just reveled in his newfound father. Unfortunately, the celebration was cut short by a call from the sheriff, telling them he was on his way over to talk to Cody.
“Are you okay to tell the sheriff everything that happened?” Knox asked Cody.
“Yeah, but I don’t know much. I just got kidnapped and chained to a wall and then I ate bologna sandwiches. I only saw his face once and that was when he came down without his mask on. Then the next time he came down, he had on the mask and that other person killed him.” Cody’s eyes darkened. “That was kind of scary. I didn’t know if I was going to get killed or not.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but I’m so proud of how brave you are,” Knox replied.
Cody puffed up his chest. “I guess I take after my parents,” he said proudly.
“Oh, yeah? You know what I think the first official thing we should do as father and son is?” Knox asked.
“What?” Cody’s eyes shone bright.
“Tickle Mom.”
“Oh, no,” Allison protested. She tried to get up from the sofa, but the two males were on her, Cody tickling her tummy and Knox holding on to one of her ankles and tickling her bare foot. She screamed and laughed and delighted them when she got the hiccups.
She was still hiccupping when Sheriff Jeffries arrived. She and Knox sat on the sofa with Cody between them. He held both of their hands as the sheriff eased down in the chair opposite them.
A united front, that’s what the three of them represented as they faced Bud. Thankfully, the man had the good sense to be kind as he asked Cody question after question.
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