by B. J Daniels
“I still don’t understand how Jonas thinks he can get away with this.”
“Because he has.”
He glanced over at her, seeing that she was right. Jonas did rule that compound like it was his own country, and because his society was considered a church, he was protected.
“He has Grace,” she said. “He knows I can’t live without her. Except he’s wrong if he thinks I’ll let him keep my child, let alone that I would ever be his wife.”
Colt glanced over at her. “So he knows we’ll be back.”
Chapter Seven
Lola looked out the side window as the road skirted Gilt Edge. Her heart beat so loudly that she thought for sure Colt would be able to hear it. Tears stung her eyes, but this time they were tears of relief.
Colt believed her.
The liberation made her weak. She’d seen his face earlier in the laundry when the baby had turned out not to be hers. She’d seen the heart-wrenching sympathy in his gaze, as well as the pain. He’d been so sure at the moment that she was everything Jonas had told him. A mentally unstable woman who couldn’t accept the death of the baby she’d carried for nine months. His baby.
But Colt had seen the truth. He’d seen Elmer’s slight nod, and when he looked at everything, he knew she was telling the truth.
She wiped at her tears, determined not to give in to the need to cry her heart out. They still didn’t have Grace. Her stomach ached with a need to hold her baby. Jonas had Grace and that alone terrified her. Would he hurt the baby to get back at her?
No. He’d fooled the sheriff. He would feel safe and superior. He would simply wait, knowing, as Colt said, that they’d be back. Or at least she would. Jonas thought he’d fooled Colt, too.
She tried to assure herself that Jonas wouldn’t hurt Grace just to spite her. The baby was his only hope of getting Lola back to the compound. She’d looked into Jonas’s eyes as they’d left. He hadn’t given up on her being his wife. He would need Grace if he had any hope of making that happen.
At least that must be his thinking, she told herself. It would be a cold day in hell before she would ever succumb to the man. And only then so she could get close enough to kill him.
“Do you think Jonas knows I’m Grace’s father?” Colt asked, dragging her out of her dark thoughts. “He looked me right in the eye and told me that you swore you didn’t know who the father was.”
“I did. I was afraid he’d come after you. Or send some of his men to hurt you—if not kill you. He was quite upset to realize I was pregnant. I told him I didn’t know your name. You were just someone who’d helped me.”
“Helped himself to you. Isn’t that what Jonas thought?”
She shrugged. “He was so angry with me. I’m not sure when he decided he wanted my baby. Our baby.”
“Well, he can’t have her.”
“We will get her back, won’t we?”
He reached over and took her hand.
“I mean, if you dig up the grave and prove that—”
“Lola, that would take time and be very iffy. First off, that is probably what Jonas is expecting us to do. Second, even if we had proof that your baby didn’t die, I’m not sure we could get a judge to send up an army to search the place for Grace.”
“Then what do we do?” She felt close to tears again.
“The problem is that it is hard for the authorities to get involved in these types of pseudo-religious groups, especially when, according to Jonas, you’re a member—and so were your parents. It’s your word against Jonas’s. So I’m afraid we’re on our own. But that’s not a bad thing.” He smiled at her. “I’ll do everything in my power and then some to bring Grace home to you.”
She smiled and squeezed his hand, knowing that she could depend on Colt.
* * *
COLT PULLED UP in front of the Stagecoach Saloon on the outskirts of Gilt Edge. The large dark SUV that had been following them drove on past. He tried to see the driver, but the windows were tinted too dark. The license plate was covered with mud, no accident either, he figured.
But it didn’t matter. He knew exactly where it had come from.
“The sheriff’s brother and sister own this place,” Colt said as he parked and turned off the engine. “They serve some of the best food in the area. I thought we’d have something to eat and talk. It shouldn’t be that busy this time of the day.”
Lola’s stomach growled in answer, making him smile. “I thought I would never eat after Grace was taken from me. But soon I realized that I needed my strength if I had any hope of getting her back. Not that I was given much food on the compound.”
They got out, Lola slowing to admire the place. “I love this stone building.”
“It was one of the original stagecoach stops along here. Lillie Cahill bought it with her brother Darby, to preserve it.” He pushed open the door and Lola stepped in.
“Something smells wonderful,” she whispered to Colt as they made their way to an out-of-the way table by the window. All this time eating nothing but the swill that had come out of the compound kitchen had left her ravenous.
There were a few regulars at the bar but other than that, the place was empty. A man who resembled the sheriff came over to take their orders. He had Flint’s dark hair and gray eyes and was equally good-looking. “Major McCloud,” the young man said, grinning at Colt.
“Just Colt, thank you.”
“I heard you were back. Welcome home. Again, so sorry about your father.”
“Thanks, Darby.” All of the Cahills had been at the funeral. Colt’s father would have liked that. He’d always respected their father, Ely Cahill, even though a lot of people in this town considered him a nut. “This is my friend Lola.”
Darby turned to Lola and said, “Nice to meet you.”
“Congrats on the marriage and fatherhood. How’s your family?” Colt asked, since that’s what small-town people did. Everyone knew everyone else. He was sure Darby had heard about Julia and Wyatt since they’d all gone to school together.
“Fine. Lillie’s married and now has a son, TC. She married Trask Beaumont. If you’re sticking around for a while, you’ll have to meet Mariah and my son, Daniel. Don’t know if Flint mentioned it, but his wife, Maggie... Yep. Expecting.”
Colt laughed. “Must be somethin’ in the water. Which reminds me. Ely still kickin’?”
Darby laughed. “Hasn’t changed a bit. Still spends most of his time up in the mountains when he’s not hanging around the missile silo.” He sighed. “So what can I get you?”
“What’s cooking today? Something smells delicious.”
“Our cook, Billie Dee, whipped up one of her down-home Texas recipes. Today it’s shrimp gumbo. Gotta warn ya, she’s determined to add some spice in our lives and convert us Montanans.”
“I’ll have that,” Lola and Colt said in unison, making Darby chuckle.
“Two coming up. What can I get you to drink?”
Colt looked at Lola. “Two colas?” She nodded and Darby went off to place their order.
“What was that about... Ely?”
“The Cahill patriarch. Famous in these parts because back in 1967, he swore he was abducted by aliens next to the missile silo on their ranch.” Colt explained how the government had asked for two-acre plots around the area for defense back in the 1950s. “You might have seen that metal fence out in one of my pastures? There might be a live missile in it. No one but the government knows for sure.”
“The missile silos on your property would be scary enough, but aliens?”
He laughed and nodded. “What makes Ely’s story interesting to me is that night in 1967 the Air Force detected a flying-saucer type aircraft in the area. Lots of people saw it, including my father.”
“So it’s possible Ely is telling he truth as he knows it,” she said, wide-eyed.
He shrugged. “I guess we’ll never know for certain, but Ely swears it’s true.”
Darby brought their colas, and they sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.
“It feels so strange to be in a place like this,” Lola said. “It’s so...normal. I haven’t had normal in way too long.”
“How long had you been held at the compound before I met you in Billings?”
“Almost a month. The first week or so I was trying to get my parents’ remains released to a mortuary in Gilt Edge. Jonas had been kind enough to offer me a place to stay until I could make arrangements. I didn’t realize that he was lying to me until I tried to leave and realized there were armed guards keeping me there. At least I wasn’t locked up in a cabin that time. I had the run of the place, or I would never have gotten away in the back of the van when the sisters drove to Billings.”
And Colt would never have met her. They would never have made love and conceived Grace, Colt thought. Funny how things worked out.
Darby put some background music on the jukebox. The sun coming in the window gave the place a golden glow. Colt had been here a few times when he was home on leave. He was happy for Lillie and Darby for making a go of the place.
“How did you manage to get away this last time?” he asked.
“I’d been hiding my pills under my tongue until Sister Amelia left my cabin. I would spit them out and poke them into a hole I’d found in the cabin wall. The night I escaped, I pretended to be sick and managed to distract Sister Rebecca. When she wasn’t looking, I hid the fork that was on my tray. She didn’t notice that it was missing when she took my tray and left. I used the fork to pick the lock on the window and went out that way.”
Darby returned a few moments later, accompanied by a large woman with a Southern accent carrying two steaming bowls of shrimp gumbo.
“Billie Dee, meet Colt McCloud,” Darby said as he joined them. “Colt and I go way back. He’s an Army helicopter pilot who’s finally returned home—at least for a while, and this is his friend Lola.”
“Pleased to meet you,” the woman with the Texas accent said. “Hope you like my gumbo.”
“I know we will,” Colt said, and took a bite.
“Not too spicy for you?” the cook asked with a laugh.
“As long as it doesn’t melt the spoon, it’s not too spicy for me,” Colt said, and looked to Lola.
She had tasted the gumbo and was smiling. “It’s perfect.”
Billie Dee looked pleased. “Enjoy.”
Darby refilled their colas and gave them pieces of Billie Dee’s Texas chocolate sheet cake to convey both “welcome home” and “glad to meet you.”
Left alone again, Colt asked, “How are you doing?”
Lola realized that she felt better than she had in a long time. Just having food in her stomach made her feel stronger and more able to hold off the fear and frustration. She needed her baby.
But Colt believed her, and that made all the difference in the world. That felt like a huge hurdle given how convincing Jonas could be. Even more so, she was glad that she hadn’t been wrong about Colt. They’d only been together that one night, but she hadn’t forgotten his kindness, his tenderness, his protectiveness. Just having someone she could depend on... Her heart swelled as she looked over at him. “We’re going to get Grace back, aren’t we?”
* * *
JONAS STOOD AT the window of his cabin. He’d had his cabin built on the side of the mountain so he could look down on the compound. For a man who’d started with nothing, he’d done all right. He often wished his father was still alive to see it.
“Look, you sanctimonious old son of a bitch. You, who so lacked faith that I would accomplish anything in my life. You, who died so poor that your congregation had to scrape up money to have you buried behind the church you’d served all those years. You, who always managed to cut me down as if you couldn’t stand it that I might do better than you. Well, I did!”
Thinking about his father made his pulse rise dangerously. He had to be careful not to get upset. Stress made his condition worse. So much worse that some of his followers had started to notice.
He stepped over to the small table where he kept his medication. He swallowed a pill and waited for it to work. He tried not to think about the father who had kicked him out at sixteen. But it wasn’t his old man who was causing the problem this time. It was Lola.
“Lola.” Just saying her name churned up a warring mix of emotions that had been raging inside him for some time. Over the years, a variety of willing women had come to his bed in the night. He’d turned none of them away, but nor had he wanted any of them to keep for himself. Until Lola.
Her mother had shown him a photograph of her daughter back when Maxine and her husband, Ted, had joined SLS. The Society was just getting on its feet in those days. The Daytons’ money had gone a long way to start things rolling.
Jonas had especially liked Maxine, since he knew she was the one calling the shots. Ted would do anything for his wife. And had. All Jonas had to do was steer Maxine in whatever direction he wanted her to go and Ted would come along as a willing participant. If only they were all that easy to manage, he thought now with a sigh.
The photo of Lola had caught him off guard. There was a sweetness, a purity in that young face, but it was what he saw in her eyes. A fire. A passion banked in those mesmerizing violet eyes that had made him want to be the one to release it.
He’d done everything he could to get the Daytons to bring Lola to the California ranch. But the foolish girl had taken off right after high school to attend a college abroad. She’d wanted to become a teacher. Jonas had groaned when Maxine told him, and he’d conveyed his thoughts.
I think she could be anything she wants to be with my help. I really want to help her meet her potential. Lola is destined to do so much more than teach. She and I could lead the world to a better place. She might be the one person who could bring peace to the world.
Maxine had loved it, but Lola hadn’t been having any of it. Right after college she’d headed for the Virgin Islands to teach sixth-grade geography at a private school down there. What a waste, he’d thought, not just for Lola but for himself. He had imagined what he could do with a woman like that warming his bed at night. They could run SLS together. Lola would bring in the men. He’d bring in the women. They could build an empire and live like royalty.
He’d known that Ted wasn’t happy after the move to Montana. Jonas had heard him trying to get Maxine to leave. That was the first time that Jonas had realized that Ted had held out on him. Ted hadn’t bought into SLS either mentally or financially. He hadn’t turned over all his money. He’d set some aside for Lola, and no small amount, either.
Ted’s dissatisfaction and attempts to get Maxine to leave hadn’t fitted into Jonas’s plan. He suddenly realized there was only one way to get Lola to come to him. Maxine and Ted would have to die—and soon.
Getting Maxine to sign a paper of her intentions to persuade Lola to marry him had taken only one private session with her. Maxine had bought into SLS hook, line and sinker. If she wanted to save her daughter... He’d promised to give Lola the kind of life her mother had only dreamed of. Then he’d had Ted and Maxine disposed of and, just as he’d planned, Lola flew to Montana, bringing all that fire inside her.
But he’d underestimated her. She was nothing like her mother. He’d thought that his charm, his wit, his sincerity would work on the daughter the way it had on her mother. That was where he’d made his first mistake, he thought now as he watched dusk settle over the compound.
There’d been a series of other mistakes that had led to her getting pregnant by another man. That was a blow he still reeled from. But it hadn’t changed his determination to have Lola, one way or another. Not even some Army pilot/rancher could stop him. No, he had the one thing that Lola wanted mor
e than life.
She would be back. And this time, she wouldn’t be leaving here again.
Chapter Eight
After shrimp gumbo at the Stagecoach Saloon, Colt took them to the grocery store. He and Lola grabbed a cart and began to fill it with food. He loved her enthusiasm. After being locked up and nearly starved for so long, she was like a kid in a candy store.
“Do you like this?” she would ask as she picked up one item after another.
“Get whatever sounds good to you.”
She scampered around, quickly filling the cart with food she obviously hadn’t had for a while as he grabbed the basics: milk, bread, eggs, butter, bacon and syrup.
“I suspect you can live on pancakes,” she said, eyeing what he’d added to the cart.
He’d only grinned, realizing that he’d never enjoyed grocery shopping as much as he had with her today. They felt almost like an old married couple as they left the store. He found himself smiling at Lola as she tore into a bag of potato chips before they even reached the pickup. He unloaded their haul and had started to replace the cart in the rack when he heard someone call his name.
“Colt?”
He froze at the sound of Julia’s voice. Somehow he’d managed not to cross paths with her since he’d been back in town, but only because he’d shopped either very early or very late. He’d picked a bad day to run out of groceries, he thought now with a grimace.
“Colt?”
Lola set her potato chip bag in the back of the pickup bed and walked over to join him. He could feel her looking from him to Julia, wondering why he wasn’t responding. With a silent curse, he turned to face the woman he’d been ready to marry a year ago.
Julia looked exactly the same. Her dark hair was shorter, making her brown eyes seem even darker. She looked good, slim and perfect in a dress and heels. Julia always liked to dress up—even to go to the grocery store. Gold glittered at her ears, her neck and, of course, on her ring finger, along with the sizable diamond resting there. The one he’d bought hadn’t been nearly as large.