“Well, um …” Apparently realizing he’d said the wrong thing, he backtracked and said, “These things take time. Your son’s estate made excellent provisions for Keeley. Even if we figure out a way to say she’s not legally entitled to the house, it’ll still belong to his young’uns. He—”
“Those young’uns are missing. They may be dead for all we know.”
So what if one of them had been found. Milton probably didn’t know that. The truth was inconsequential to her goal.
“Yes, ma’am, that’s true, but your son left Keeley in charge of their estate. He willed everything to her.”
“I don’t care if he left her the entire balance of the world treasury department, that house should not belong to her. My son would never have left the bulk of his estate to her if she hadn’t threatened him in some way.” Elizabeth added a small sob. Men could be so weak when it came to a woman’s tears. “Just knowing she’s living off of his death money is almost more than I can bear.”
“Now, now, dear lady. Don’t you fret. We’ll figure out something. It’s just going to take some time.”
“Thank you so much, Milton. You’ve always been a friend to the Fairchilds. When the time comes for your review, I’ll make certain the board of directors and shareholders are aware of your professionalism and commitment.”
“Why, thank you, ma’am. I do my best.”
“You’ll let me know as soon as you have some good news for me?”
“Yes, ma’am. The instant I know something.”
“Good.” Elizabeth hung up the phone, more than a little pleased. For a day that hadn’t started well, it hadn’t turned out too badly after all.
A small smile twisted at her mouth. Keeley would never be able to sell the house. The Fairchilds were the only family within a hundred miles who could afford to buy it. And Elizabeth sure as hell wasn’t going to pay money for it.
Neither the house nor Stephen’s money meant anything. What she wanted more than anything was to see Keeley suffer. The slut would rue the day she tried to dig herself out of the garbage she came from.
fifteen
The hum of the desktop computer behind her was a distant buzzing sound, lulling Keeley into a zombielike daze. She was so damned tired.
Hannah had been home for a week, and except for those few hours of peace that first night, sleep had become more elusive than ever. Slumber came in fits and spurts. She was constantly waking up to make sure Hannah was all right … that she was really home. And the nightmares had become even more horrendous than before. Now that she knew for sure the girls weren’t together, all sorts of hideous images were coming to her about Hailey’s whereabouts.
For the first time since this awful waking nightmare had begun, she was beginning to have serious doubts that Hailey was alive.
Rubbing her gritty sleep-deprived eyes with one hand, Keeley clicked through online sites hoping to find some kind of chatter. She’d never known sites like these existed until her girls were taken. Now she perused them every few days. Most of the comments were garbage, but she couldn’t not look at them. Someone, somewhere, might mention something that would be helpful. Another long shot, but she had to do something.
Honor had sent over a binder filled with mug shots of known child predators and criminals of all sorts. She hadn’t yet been able to show the photos to Hannah. What her little girl had gone through with this monster wasn’t known, but she damn well didn’t want to add more trauma.
She’d forced herself to look through them in hopes that she could trigger some memory. Maybe she would see someone that looked familiar. Someone she might have offended who had decided to destroy her life in revenge. If only she knew what she had done to have this kind of hatred directed toward her. She would apologize, beg, plead … do anything they wanted, if only they would tell her where her Hailey was.
“Mommy, I gotta potty….”
Keeley looked up in time to see Hannah pull down her pants as if she were going to go in the middle of the office floor. Her daughter’s independence had taken a hard hit. Before the abduction, both Hannah and Hailey were to the point of requiring very little help in the bathroom other than a gentle reminder to wash their hands.
The psychologist assured Keeley her daughter’s insecurities were normal after such a traumatic event. It was just going to take some time.
Holding her hand out to Hannah, she said, “Thank you for telling me, sweetheart. Let’s go take care of business.”
Hand in hand, they walked to the bathroom together. After taking care of those matters, Keeley saw Hannah’s eyes flutter, telling her a nap was necessary. How she would love to lie down with her daughter and let slumber carry her away. But if she slept, she dreamed, and she did not want to dream.
She followed Hannah upstairs to her bedroom and settled her on the bed. Kneeling on the floor beside the bed, Keeley repeated the prayer she’d been saying since Hannah’s rescue, giving thanks for her daughter’s safe return and asking protection for Hailey and her safe return home.
In the midst of her prayers, she heard a thump. She opened her eyes to see Cole standing beside her, dressed in running shorts and a T-shirt. Her heartbeat went into overdrive. Oh my. The man was 110 percent pure masculinity—all gorgeous hard muscle and sinew.
Keeley tore her eyes away from his mouthwatering body with difficulty and looked down at the objects he’d thrown in front of her. Her running shoes.
“Let’s go for a run,” Cole said.
“What?”
“You’re a runner, yet according to Eden, you haven’t done any running since this started. It’ll relieve some of your stress and help you sleep.”
Keeley bit her lip and glanced at her sleeping daughter. “No. I can’t leave—”
“Eden and Jordan will watch over Hannah. I’ve got my cellphone if something comes up. You need this, Keeley.”
Could she do this? Take an hour from her worry and give herself this break? She missed running. It had once been her passion, had often been her salvation. On the day her mother died, she’d given up competing in races, but had continued to run to stay in shape and because she loved it so much.
Since her girls had been taken from her, she’d rejected doing anything that made her feel better. Guilt again. Not being able to stop the man from taking her children tore her insides to shreds. She’d trained much of her life to be the fastest runner she could be, yet when it counted the most, she had failed. She’d told herself that the man who had tried to abduct her had slowed her down. While that might be true, it didn’t make her feel any better.
She looked up at Cole and shook her head. “I can’t.”
“It’s not up for debate. I need to talk with you and I’m going for a run. Go get dressed.”
Adrenaline-drenched anger brought Keeley to her feet. “Now, wait just a minute. I—”
Cole grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly before letting her go and stepping back. Keeley stopped breathing. This was the first time he’d physically touched her since that night. An ache she’d tried to quell built up inside her. How she wanted to have that experience again … but only with this man.
“You need this, Keeley. Go.”
She found herself headed toward the door before she realized it. His touch had left her so unsettled, she needed some time to herself. When had a man’s touch ever made her want to lean into him instead of pull away? Only this man.
Even at the beginning of her relationship with Stephen, when she’d thought she loved him, he had never made her heart pound as Cole did with that one small touch. She could still feel the warmth of his hands, the strength of his fingers pressed into her shoulders. Odd tingling sparks of electricity seemed to be attacking her entire bloodstream.
Attributing it to exhaustion and lack of sleep did no good. Her body knew what it wanted … she just had no idea how to go about getting it. As she dressed, her heart continued its hard thumping beat. She had asked him once … could she build up the cou
rage to ask him again?
Half an hour later, Keeley couldn’t believe her exhaustion. She’d barely been able to run two miles before she’d had to ask Cole to stop and walk. He, on the other hand, hadn’t broken a sweat. She hadn’t realized how quickly her endurance had been depleted. As much as she didn’t want to give him credit for practically dragging her from her house, she was glad he did. Staying at home, worrying herself sick, was accomplishing nothing.
“Feel better?”
“Yes. Thanks. Hard to believe I used to run that distance in half the time and barely break a sweat.”
“We’ll make sure we run every day; your endurance will come back quicker.”
She took a deep cleansing breath, already feeling more at peace.
“Was your husband a runner?”
Keeley swallowed a chuckle. The mental image of Stephen in shorts and running shoes brought her an amusement about him she hadn’t felt in a long while. “No, Stephen wasn’t into physical activity other than the occasional game of golf.”
“So this trail was just for you?”
She glanced over at him, saw the questions. She had an easy answer for him. “Guilt.”
“What?”
“He bought gifts for me. Cars, jewelry … the mansion was a complete surprise. We were living in a very nice house a few miles down the road. About a year after we were married, he said we were going to breakfast and instead brought me to my new home.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know then that the building of it coincided with a new affair. Apparently every time he started a new one, he appeased his conscience by giving me a new gift. This trail was part of another new affair.”
The expression on Cole’s face was priceless. She already knew this man well enough to know he would never consider cheating on his wife. He might not necessarily stay in a bad marriage, but she could never see him being unfaithful. He had too much integrity for that.
“How did you find out about the affairs?” he asked.
The disgusting memory caused her to grimace. “I found a pair of thong underwear in his suit coat. He must have forgotten they were in there, because when I confronted him, he looked stunned. He also looked guilty as hell.”
“He didn’t try to deny it?”
“At first he tried to backpedal, but he couldn’t come up with any kind of reasonable answer. When I kept at him, he finally admitted it. Then it was like a dam burst inside him … everything flooded out of him … like he couldn’t stop until he revealed every sordid detail. That’s when he explained about the gifts … as if that somehow made it better or more forgivable. He told me he started having affairs only a few months after our marriage.” She swallowed hard. “I asked him how many. He couldn’t remember.”
“Bastard.”
A small smile tugged at her mouth at Cole’s obvious anger on her behalf. “It doesn’t really hurt anymore. Not like it did. Though it still makes me angry that I was so incredibly stupid.” She sighed. “And then, somehow, after I found out, it seemed everyone knew. I didn’t go into town much even then, but the couple of times I went, it was like everyone stopped and stared and then started whispering all at once.”
“And that was just days before he was abducted?”
Keeley scrunched her nose. “Yeah, which, looking back on it, had to make me look guilty.”
“And you never found out who was spreading it?”
“No. Of course no one would have told me who started it. Neither Jenna nor Miranda knew either.”
“Could it have been Stephen?”
“I don’t think so. He seemed genuinely ashamed. Though I think he was sorrier that I found him out than he was for actually cheating.” Keeley shrugged. “Stephen wasn’t the man I thought he was, but he wasn’t a bad man. Just very weak and shallow … incredibly spoiled. He felt guilty but not guilty enough to stop.”
“I’m sorry.”
Keeley tilted her head to look up at him. “We all make our choices. Stephen made his.” Her mouth moved up into a trembling smile. “Besides, he gave me the most beautiful gifts in the world.”
“Hailey and Hannah,” Cole said.
“Yes. Even as angry as I was when I realized what he’d done—had been doing for years behind my back—I could never regret the marriage.” Weary of thinking about her failed marriage, she said, “You needed to talk with me. About what?”
He was silent for several seconds as if he wanted to say more. Then he said, “Tell me why Elizabeth hates you so much.”
Keeley waved a hand at him; they’d gone through this already. “I wasn’t good enough for her son.”
“That may be part of it, but I’m not sure it’s the biggest part. I think that’s what she wants you to believe.”
“But what other reason could she have?”
“Your mother.”
“Mama? What would my mama have to do with it?”
“I’ve finally found some townspeople who don’t mind talking to a stranger. A few of the older citizens of Fairview have opened up in the last couple of days. Judging by some of their comments, I think there might have been something between your mother and Baker Fairchild, Stephen’s father.”
Keeley jerked to a stop and snarled, “That’s a bald-faced lie.”
Cole held up a hand. “I’m not saying they had an affair. I’m just saying they had a friendship … possibly a light romance?”
“No. My mother never dated. My father died before I was born, but there were never any men in her life.”
“What about men who wanted to be in her life?”
Keeley sighed. “Maybe you’d better tell me what you’ve heard.”
“Do you know Robert Mendel?”
“Never heard of him.”
“He’s retired now, but he used to be in charge of the janitorial services at several of the businesses in town. I stopped for coffee at Amelia’s and he came in for lunch. We were sitting side by side at the counter and struck up a conversation. Seems years ago … you would’ve been just a baby … Baker Fairchild had a thing for Kathleen Daniels—your mother.”
“What kind of thing?”
“I think he called on her from time to time.”
Anger surged. The people of Fairview had shunned and whispered about her mother for years. Damned if she’d let that start up again. “Baker was already married to Elizabeth … my mother would never—”
“I’m not saying she had an affair with him, but according to Robert, Stephen’s father and mother separated a few years after they were married. They eventually reunited, but during the time they were apart, he showed a particular interest in your mother.”
Keeley was stunned. Could this be true? Her mother had never mentioned anyone but her father. Could that be the real reason behind Elizabeth’s hatred?
“What does Robert Mendel think happened?”
“His memory was spotty, but there were rumors of Baker visiting your mother. Apparently the town gossips put two and two together and decided they were having an affair. Then something happened and Baker went back to Elizabeth.”
Keeley shook her head slowly. “This is so hard to believe.”
“Robert seemed credible; I detected no malice or spite. Said Elizabeth was publicly humiliated. That the whole town kept waiting for them to divorce, but it never happened.”
“Stephen was older than me. Surely he would have known about it.”
The palpable silence after her statement jerked her to a full stop. Blood rushed to her face and just as quickly receded. She looked up at Cole and saw he knew exactly what she was thinking … and that he agreed.
She didn’t want to say it, but it had to be said. “You think that’s why Stephen married me, don’t you? To spite his mother.”
Though she saw the answer in his eyes, he asked, “Do you think it’s a possibility?”
Keeley looked away from his compassion and stared sightlessly into space. Stephen’s protection of her against Elizabeth had been hit-or-miss. She’d always assumed i
t was because he was so self-centered. She still believed he was, but with eyes wide open, she saw some of the most damning evidence in a new light.
His charming assurance that eloping and then telling his family about their relationship was the best way. His insistence that she name both of her girls after her mother. The fact that his mother had trash-talked her daughter-in-law for years … Stephen had known and had done nothing to stop it. Had never even told her.
She shook her head slowly. “I must be the stupidest person on this planet.”
“Naïve, not stupid. You believed the best—”
Furious tears rushed to her eyes; she jerked around to face him. “Stupid. Ignorant. The entire freaking town was talking about me behind my back. Everyone knew about Stephen’s affairs. And now I find out our marriage was all about getting back at his mother.” She turned away again. “Everyone manipulated me and I had no clue. No. Freaking. Clue.”
Cole pulled her around to face him. “Keeley … don’t. First of all, you don’t know if that’s the reason he married you.” He raised a hand to stop her when she opened her mouth to argue. “Okay, I agree the evidence looks bad. It may have been a factor … I don’t know. Thing is, don’t take the blame for other people’s evil actions.”
Breath shuddered through her. Cole was right, but that didn’t make her feel any less stupid.
“As small as this town is, I’m surprised you never heard the rumors about your mother … no matter how long ago it was.”
She snorted. “No one would have told me. When you’re the town outcast, hearing gossip firsthand is rare, especially since much of the gossip was about me or my mom.” Keeley ticked off her supposed sins. “She was an unwed mother. My father was from Venezuela, so my skin, hair, and eyes are darker than most people’s around here and we were dirt poor. Not the best way to gain popularity in a small town.”
“Kids can be cruel.”
“Kids, yeah. But it was their parents who reinforced it. You know that old saying ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’”
Last Chance 05 - Second Chance Page 16