My ShadowMy Love

by Sharon Horton

  “Later,” Rick said.

  Again he tried to lift her up, but Cassie fought him. “Rick, we need the papers to help those babies, please. I saw a large folder before Luther found me, maybe it has names in it, please get it.”

  Rick looked at her a moment. She couldn’t be serious about papers when she had a bullet in her. Oh yes she could, he realized. Setting her down gently, he grabbed the file folder from the safe.

  With the folder tucked under his arm, he scooped Cassie in his arms. “I need to get you to a doctor,” he said trying to control the fear in his own voice.

  “I’m a doctor,” a voice said softly.

  Since Rick was holding Cassie and not his gun, he knew he was helpless. Turning slowly, he saw Dr. Stanton in the doorway holding a towel against his head. Rick and Cassie’s eyes both widened when they saw blood.

  “Please, I won’t hurt you,” Dr. Stanton said shakily. “It’s a long story, but Dr. Winthrop and I are not the enemy.” Gesturing toward Luther, he continued. “This man knocked me out a while ago. He must have thought he killed me. I’m sorry, Erica, we only wanted our girls to be safe here.” He looked to Rick. “Take her to her room, I’ll help her. You can hold your gun on me if it makes you feel better.”

  A voice cried out from down the hall, “Dr. Stanton, what was that noise? I can’t find Erica! Dr. Stanton, where are you?” It was Amy.

  When Dr. Stanton turned toward the door, it gave Rick the opportunity to get his gun. Still holding Cassie, he aimed it at the doctor. “Move slowly,” Rick ordered. “You try anything and you’ll need a doctor youself.”

  “I think he’s okay,” Cassie said, fighting a wince.

  “Right now I don’t give a damn what you think!” Rick snapped.

  “You can’t carry me and shoot him!” she snapped back. “Give me the gun and I’ll hold it on him.”

  Rick gave Cassie an expression of disbelief, then smiled. She still had fight in her. “Whatever you say, Sass.”

  Taking the gun, Cassie aimed it at the doctor while he led them slowly back to her room. Once Cassie was on the bed, Rick held the gun to the doctor’s throat. “Move very carefully.”

  The blood on Cassie’s clothing made Rick shudder slightly. She noticed and smiled. “I told you, I’m okay.” Then her smile disappeared. “Kevin! They’ve got Kevin, go after them!”

  Holding his hand up to calm her, Rick spoke softly. “Steve went after the car when we saw it leave the house earlier. Kevin will be fine.”

  “Erica!” Amy cried and ran to the bed. “What happened? Oh help her, somebody, help her!”

  “Amy, go back to bed!” Dr. Stanton said calmly. “Erica’s fine, she just cut herself. Tell the others not to worry and go back to sleep.”

  Amy stood staring at the blood soaking through Cassie’s robe. Luckily, Rick had been able to hide the gun behind his back before Amy saw it. With his free hand, he gently took Amy’s arm and led her to the door. “Do what Dr. Stanton told you,” he said firmly and closed the door.

  With Amy gone, Dr. Stanton turned to Rick. “The bullet’s near the surface so it’s not as bad as it looks. But I’ve still got to get it out and I don’t want to sedate her. You’re going to have to hold her still. Can you do that, Mr…”

  “Never mind my name,” Rick said evenly, then looked at Cassie’s scared expression. “I’m going to hold you, don’t fight me.”

  “Never,” she whispered and closed her eyes.

  It hurt, but Cassie held still as the doctor removed the small bullet from her arm. Rick held her, but he really didn’t need to. As promised, she didn’t fight him. Just as Dr. Stanton finished wrapping the wound Steve and Kevin rushed in followed by Lori and Elena.

  Kevin took one look at Cassie and let out a soft cry. “Oh God, what happened?” he sobbed, running to her side. “I’m sorry I left you. This is all my fault.”

  “Is she all right?” Steve asked Rick. “And who’s this guy?”

  “Someone who better give us a really good explanation about what’s going on around here.” Rick sneered at Dr. Stanton. “Take him downstairs and start asking questions. Kevin, where’s the other doctor?”

  “Which one?” Kevin shook his head. “Dr. Miller’s dead and we never did see Dr. Winthrop.”

  “Dr. Miller is dead?” Dr. Stanton asked Kevin quietly. “Oh thank the heavens.” He looked at Rick and his gun. “I assure you Dr. Winthrop and I can explain everything fully when he returns. But, please, let me calm these young ladies down before your friend here scares them into an unhealthy state.”

  A tug at his arm brought Rick’s attention to Cassie. “He’s right,” she whispered, “they’re probably scared to death. If Kevin goes with him? It’ll calm them down.”

  Rick nodded. “Okay, everyone out then. Lori, you stand guard outside.” The door closed leaving them alone. Rick helped Cassie into a sitting position where she immediately fell against him. He held her as close as he dared, being careful of her injured arm.

  She began crying. “I’m sorry. I thought if I could throw myself against Luther hard enough, I could get the gun away from him. I knew he was going to shoot me anyway.”

  “I’m glad you rushed him,” Rick soothed. “The way he was standing, I couldn’t get a clear shot at him. I didn’t want to risk a stray bullet hitting you, so when you made your move, I made mine.” He smiled down at her. “You’re a brave one, Cassandra called Cassie.”

  His smile fading, Rick lowered his head and kissed Cassie’s trembling lips. Then he gently lowered her to the pillow. “We’re getting you out of here very soon. I’m going to go talk to the doctor now, so you rest, promise me you won’t move?”

  “I’ll promise you the moon,” she whispered.

  Rick grinned and bent down to kiss her again. “Don’t need the moon when I’ve already got the world.” Before opening the door, he looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. “Looks like Joe Jones will be sleeping elsewhere tonight.”

  Cassie raised her own eyebrow and lifted the blanket as an invitation for Rick to join her. His mouth moved into the smirk Cassie loved then he closed the door.

  Trying to ignore the pain in her arm, Cassie turned on her side to rest. Within a minute, she felt the gentle touch that she knew now was a kick and not just a fluttering. The baby kicked her hard enough to let her know he was really there and maybe even a little upset by all the commotion out there. Her arm throbbed, but she no longer felt it. Resting her hand over the baby, she treasured the soft thrusts against her palm until as quickly as the kicks had come, they stopped. With a soft sigh she closed her eyes and waited for Rick to return.

  Rick returned, but not alone. Dr. Stanton was with him.

  The doctor walked to the bed and sat down carefully. “I want to give you something for the pain, Erica,” he said gently.

  Cassie looked at Rick, he nodded at her. Apparently no one had told Dr. Stanton that her name wasn’t Erica. Whatever he wanted to call her didn’t matter, she was not taking any kind of drug for pain and that was final.

  “I don’t want a painkiller,” she protested. “It doesn’t hurt that much. I felt worse being kicked by last year’s derby winner.”

  “You probably weren’t pregnant then, were you?” Dr. Stanton questioned. “You’re in pain and that’s not good for your body. It causes stress and that in turn isn’t good for your baby. I’ll give you something very mild to help you sleep.” He looked at Rick and then back at Cassie. “Your friend here says it’s all right.”

  “My friend?” Cassie tilted her head at Rick. She smiled then looked at the doctor. “Are you sure it’s safe for the baby?”

  Dr. Stanton nodded and Cassie accepted the medication without further argument. As he was leaving, Dr. Stanton turned to Rick. “You should get some rest too, friend of hers. You don’t look like you’ve slept in a week.”

  Rick didn’t reply and the doctor left the room.

  “More like two weeks,” Cassie whispered.

 
“Feels more like two years,” Rick agreed, crossing the room. Sitting close to Cassie, he took her left hand and replaced the wedding band on her finger. “Keep this on. No more friend business.” She answered him with a kiss.

  “So,” Cassie said slowly. “Are you going to tell me what all happened tonight? Luther and Dr. Miller are dead, Steve and Kevin are fine, but what happened?”

  Rick stretched before answering. “I’ll tell you tomorrow, it’s a long story.”

  “Not if you or Steve tells it,” Cassie quipped.

  Catching him off guard, Rick laughed. “I guess you’re right about that. Lori was there too, she can tell you.”

  “Lori was there?” Cassie’s eyes widened. “What about Elena?”

  “Mmm hmm,” Rick answered. “Both of them. You’ll hear the whole story, don’t worry.” Leaning close, he sighed. “I’m looking forward to going home.”

  “Me too,” Cassie said softly, then added, “You want to tell me where that is?”

  Rick’s mouth opened slightly. She was right, he’d said “home”, but they didn’t have a home. At least not the home he’d promised her. No house with furniture and no kitchen with cookies in the oven, no lawn that needed mowing. And worst of all, no nursery for her to spend her days decorating while waiting for their baby.

  He struggled for the right words of assurance then remembering that actions were sometimes better than words, Rick cupped his hand under Cassie’s chin and lifted her face to his. She smiled and a kiss prevented the words from needing to be spoken at all.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The sound of voices filtered into Cassie’s senses. Her eyes were closed, but she was awake enough to realize that the voices were real. Moving brought pain to her arm and she was reminded of the previous evening’s occurrences. Immediately she opened her eyes.

  “Beach house?” she asked aloud.

  “Beach house,” Rick said, sauntering to the bed. “I wasn’t about to leave you in that other place. By the time Martin and the others got back, you were sound asleep from that medicine, so I brought you here.”

  “Martin’s here?” Cassie asked confused. “Where’s everyone else?”

  “They’re here too,” Rick answered, gesturing toward the living room. “Martin came in for our little powwow with Dr. Winthrop. Are you in a lot of pain, I can get you something.”

  Cassie shook her head. “I want to go out there, help me.” She gave Rick a look he knew well. “Rick!”

  He started to argue then shrugged and picked her up. When they entered the living room, Cassie was met by applause. Rolling her eyes, she smiled and pretended to hide her face against Rick’s shoulder. He set her on the couch next to Lori, who gave her a careful hug.

  “You scared the heck out of us, young lady,” Lori scolded tenderly. “Once we knew Kevin had been set up, we all but flew back to that house to help you.” She smiled at Rick. “I guess Cassie can do well for herself in more ways than one.”

  With his usual smirk, Rick didn’t answer verbally. Pushing Lori’s shoulder to move over, he sat down next to Cassie. She leaned against him. Then he sighed, “She wanted to be out here and I—”

  “Know better than to argue with her,” Steve finished. “How’re you feeling, sweetheart? Lori’s right, you scared us plenty.”

  “Plenty,” Martin agreed.

  “Me too,” Cassie choked. “Now will you or someone please tell me what’s going on? Where are the doctors and the papers, did you find information about the babies?”

  “Calm down, I’ll tell you,” Rick patted her knee.

  “I’ll tell her,” Lori spoke up. “If you or Steve tells her, she’ll be after me anyway to tell her what you two left out. Lay back, Cass, it’s a long bumpy ride.” Lori stood up so Cassie could lie on the couch. Taking a chair next to Steve, Lori looked back at her friend. “The first thing you should know is that you were right about bringing Elena along on this venture. Steve and Kevin would have been dead along with you and Rick if she wasn’t here.”

  The mention of Kevin made Cassie scan the small room. “Where is Kevin?” she asked sitting up.

  “He and Elena went for a walk,” Rick said softly, pulling her back against him. “He feels bad about leaving you last night. And he should.”

  “Don’t say that, Rick,” Cassie argued. “His leaving gave me the chance to get into Dr. Miller’s office.”

  “Will you two kindly shut up and let Lori finish her story?” Martin grinned. “I haven’t heard the whole thing myself.”

  “Thank you, Daddy.” Lori smiled. “Anyway, last night around one, Elena woke up from a bad nightmare. She was trembling and said she felt something was wrong, but didn’t know what. I told her to go back to sleep and she tried, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, so I sat up with her until she fell back asleep. Then a while later she sat bolt upright and screamed. I believe in intuition, so out the door we went.

  “I wasn’t aware that Steve and Rick were planning on splitting up if there was trouble at the house, so at that point I didn’t know Steve had followed Dr. Miller and been ambushed. I drove until we saw lights down a dirt road I never even noticed before. We continued a while then I turned off my headlights.” Lori gestured toward Rick. “With the help of the night goggles, I saw Steve and Kevin being held at gunpoint by two men. Since they didn’t know I was there, all I had to do then was shoot out their headlights like I was at a target range. Ping, ping, ping and they didn’t even know what hit ‘em.”

  A soft chuckle came from Steve. “Ping, ping, ping, the lights went out and Lori dropped the one guy where he stood. I almost missed my chance to jump Dr. Miller before he could react.”

  Lori waited for Steve to give her the floor again. “When I saw Steve go for the doctor, I moved the van closer. Unfortunately for Dr. Miller, he struggled a little too much and the gun he held fired right through his chin and out the top of his head. We stood there looking at one dead body and one wounded henchman.” Her eyebrows rose. “Anyway, then Kevin shouted ‘Cassie!’ and we all got in the van and headed back to the house. On the way Steve explained that Rick had stayed at the house and sent him after Dr. Miller’s car, alone.” Lori shuddered involuntarily. “If it hadn’t been for Rick staying behind…”

  “But he did,” Steve said, taking Lori’s hand. “And something else, too. From what we’ve been discussing all night, about the time Dr. Miller was knocking on your and Kevin’s door was when Elena first woke up. What’s stranger than that is—”

  “Steve,” Rick interrupted. “Not now.”

  “Please don’t edit this story, Rick,” Cassie whispered. “Go on, Steve, what else?”

  Steve looked at Rick, who nodded his permission for him to continue. “From the time frame it’s also about the time Luther must have arrived at the house.”

  Frowning, Cassie looked at Rick. “I thought the plan was for you and Steve to stay together.”

  Rick didn’t have a chance to respond before Steve spoke up again. “Well, Sassy Cassie, it looks like a little of you has rubbed off on him. Seems he decided to change his mind and do something completely different. I guess being sass—er, headstrong is contagious.” Steve’s expression turned almost grave. “It’s a good thing too since Luther turned out to be involved.”

  At the mention of Luther, Cassie shivered. “He was waiting for Kevin and Dr. Miller to leave the house before he came looking for me.” She looked up at Rick and saw his jaw twitching rapidly. “And now I’m pretty sure he was waiting for you to be brought back so he could kill you in front of me.”

  “You sure attract interesting men, Cass,” Steve said with a slight smile.

  “Steven!” Lori and Martin shouted simultaneously.

  “Sorry,” Steve said, looking embarrassed. “Bad joke. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that if Rick hadn’t stayed back at the house, Cassie, you would’ve been either dead or taken by Luther.”

  “Which wouldn’t have happened a
t all if you hadn’t discovered the envelope in Winthrop’s office,” Rick said, looking at his wife. “After that I couldn’t bring myself to leave you and follow the car.”

  “It’s a good thing, too, since I made the stupid mistake of sending Kevin off with Dr. Miller,” Cassie admitted.

  “You’re wrong there, babe,” Rick whispered as if he had forgotten they weren’t alone in the room. “From what Kevin told me, if you hadn’t insisted he leave, Dr. Miller would have shot him right there in your room. Had either of you argued, it would have endangered those girls more. And since Kevin did leave, it gave you the chance to get to Miller’s office, making it harder for Luther to find you.” His voice lowered. “It’s strange, but it’s a good thing he was already in the house before Kevin left with Dr. Miller. Otherwise he would have seen me come in through your window. I went to your room the minute I saw the car leave. When I didn’t find you in it, I went looking and found both of you. I’m sorry, though, that I didn’t spot Luther entering the house. I don’t know how I missed it unless he slithered in through a basement window.”

  Cassie rested her head against Rick’s shoulder and closed her eyes. He had known she needed him and had risked coming inside even when he didn’t know Kevin was gone. Thinking how close she had come to losing Rick to Luther caused a soft cry to escape her. The others heard it and exchanged uncomfortable glances.

  “I think maybe we better be leaving now,” Martin suggested. “I told Dr. Winthrop we’d stop by and go over that list of mothers with him.”

  The comment brought Cassie’s attention back into focus. “You mean the missing ones? What about the babies, where are they? And how did Luther get out of jail? And what about Kevin’s father, is he involved with all this?”

  “Later,” Rick said firmly. “That’s a whole other story and you need rest now.”

  “I want to…” Cassie tried to argue, but was stopped when Steve stood and crossed the room.

  Lifting her off the couch before she could object he looked at Rick. “May I?”