by Mary Brady
How could she not be happy for him?
She tossed a pen at the wall and watched it leave a small mark on the paint before it fell to the floor. There were many marks on the wall and she was sure there had been none before Hunter had shown up at Morrison and Morrison that cold February day.
They had spent a gloriously long Friday night together. When she awoke, he’d been leaning on one elbow watching her. The sun had made shadows to accentuate his chest muscles and to make his skin look like something to be tasted, and she did. They’d made love before coffee and after.
When she had finally, reluctantly, said goodbye on Saturday morning, she’d had to force herself to drive away. The only thing that had saved her was her daughter. Brianna gave her a huge “welcome back” kiss sweetened by frosting from the pastry Pirate’s Roost had made.
When Brianna was off washing the sugar from her face, Christina had insisted she would be able to take care of the girl for as long as Delainey needed her to.
“I’d rather be here with the two of you. Hunter’s transient, Christina. Brianna is forever,” she had said to her sister, who’d shrugged in disbelief.
The three of them had spent the rest of the weekend working on Dora. By the time they had finished, they were all covered with paint, but two bedrooms, the bathroom and the kitchen had a clean coat of paint and there were plans that the front parlor, where the soon-to-be-working fireplace was located, would be the next to be painted, but that would be left for another time.
Christina seemed to be doing well without Sammy, probably because she didn’t have to worry about him anymore. More than once, Gregory Miller had made a personal delivery of supplies Christina had needed. The second time, Delainey had quickly dragged Brianna back to help her inspect the newly painted bedroom at the back side of the house.
Christina and Gregory, she decided, pleased her greatly.
Footsteps pounded up the stairs in the office, quickly followed by Carol appearing in the doorway of her office.
“My sister called,” Carol started without a greeting. “She said Stevie was out on the porch without a coat crying and his uncle dragged him back inside.”
“Did she call the police?”
“She said they are tired of hearing from her.”
“Even if they are tired, Chief Montcalm’s people will respond. She needs to call.”
“Can’t we do something?”
“We’re doing everything we can. The system doesn’t allow us to keep any child away from the legal guardian without proof of wrongdoing.”
“Can’t they just take him away again and check things out?”
“They might be able to. Have the neighbor call, please, Carol.”
A moment later Carol was in Hunter’s office pleading her case. She didn’t get any more from Hunter, and Delainey was sure he felt as helpless as she did about the boy.
Delainey was also sure there would never be a lack of loving people to see to her daughter in the event something happened to her. She couldn’t help believe, though, her child would be better off with a father in the equation, even if he was a half a continent away.
They had not decided anything about DNA testing when she was at his place on Friday or before she left on Saturday. Being confronted by Stevie’s situation made her believe she and Hunter should make a decision.
She crossed the hall to his office when she was sure Carol was gone.
“Hunter.” He looked up when she said his name. “We never decided about DNA testing. It might be best to get it started before you leave.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “I don’t want the test.”
“But doesn’t Brianna have the right to know?” Delainey couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“If you give me the information to your checking account, I’ll have child support deposited on the first of the month.”
“Hunter, she doesn’t need money as much as she needs a father.”
“I can’t do the test.”
She had never seen Hunter shy away from difficult things. Even in sixth grade he had faced whatever the other kids decided the new boy needed.
His mobile phone rang and he ignored it while he watched her.
He didn’t want to be Brianna’s father. She closed her eyes to think.
That was the last thing she’d expected from Hunter. He’d support the child but not claim her. Maybe it was some legal thing she couldn’t think of. Hunter was her friend. There must be a reason.
All she could come up with was he didn’t want to be a father. He liked Brianna, said he’d be happy to be her father. Had it been another man, she might have thought he had just been saying the words she wanted to hear so she’d spend the night for glorious sex.
Not Hunter. Something about Callista must still be holding him prisoner in the past. He could be thinking he’d make a mistake like that again and put Brianna in danger. He could... Oh, stop.
She opened her eyes to see him staring at her soberly.
Her intuition about what Hunter was thinking had failed her at the most disastrous time. He would go away. Never know if the child were his. She would never know. Brianna would never know.
The last was the heartbreaker. Even if Brianna seldom saw Hunter, having him as a father would give her someone to think of when other children were making Father’s Day cards or Christmas gifts.
Hunter, I hope the pain you feel goes away before you forget how to live, she thought as she turned to leave.
* * *
HUNTER WATCHED DELAINEY’S posture contract in defeat before she turned away. None of the reasons she could make up in her head would be the real reason he’d said no to the test.
Someday he might be able to do it, but all he knew was it wouldn’t be today or anytime soon.
There was one thing he could do for her.
“Don’t go.”
She stopped but didn’t face him.
Hunter dialed a number on his mobile phone.
“Stanley,” came the answer over the speaker of his phone as he got up and closed his office door.
“Stanley, I’ve got you on speaker. Delainey Talbot is here,” Hunter said, certain the two of them knew each other.
“Sure. Hello, Delainey.”
Delainey turned around. Interested. “Hello, Jed.”
“Have you found anything yet?” Hunter asked the private investigator.
Delainey drew her brows together in question.
“Nothing that will hold up in court or even come close.”
He motioned Delainey into the chair. “Tell us anyway.”
“Rumor has him running an illegal gambling outfit.”
“But he doesn’t do it out of his home.” Hunter knew the sheer volume of visitors at his door would hint something was up.
“No. At a bar out near the interstate, most likely.”
“Where are you now?”
“I’m in a garage I rented across the alley. I can see in the back of his house this way. These are windows his neighbor doesn’t have easy access to unless she stands out in the alley and obstructs my view. The boy came out on the porch about thirty minutes ago and the uncle yanked him back into the house. Nothing much by itself.”
Shamus spoke highly of Jed Stanley. The man seemed sharp, with good intuition.
By the look on Delainey’s face, she knew Jed was speaking about the Anning boy and his uncle.
“On occasion one of his people comes by the house. Slinks in the back door. Usually has a fat envelope sticking out of his pocket that is missing when he comes out of the house. Got several pictures of that.”
“But nothing with the boy?”
“Nothing. Wait. Holy... Oh, no.”
“What?”
“He
’s, like, pouring out something all over the room beyond the kitchen, probably a dining room.”
“You don’t think he...?”
“Man, it’s a gas can.”
“Hang up and call 911.”
Hunter snatched his phone from the desk and sprinted from his office with Delainey on his heels. They ignored all inquiries as they headed for the back door.
“My car’s closer,” Delainey cried as they burst out the door and into the snowy parking lot. “Key’s under the seat and the doors aren’t locked.”
They raced in the icy wind and lightly falling snow toward her car.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DELAINEY JUMPED IN the driver’s seat of her car, reached under the seat and pulled out the keys. Hunter flicked the snow off the windshield and had barely closed the door when she threw the car into gear and then raced out of the parking lot.
Stevie Anning’s home was probably less than ten minutes away if the lightly falling snow stayed light. He lived up the hill on the road past the old candy store. The road dead-ended about a mile off Church Street. They were much closer than the fire department and maybe closer than any of the squads out and about the town.
Church Street between Morrison and Morrison and the old candy store seemed interminably long today. Finally, she slowed to turn the corner but didn’t slow quite enough. The rear end of the car started to swing out, but she applied a little brake with her left foot and gas with her right until she made it around the corner. To Hunter’s credit, he didn’t make a sound.
“Nice one,” he said quietly as they started up the hill.
Halfway up, Hunter’s phone chirped.
“Yeah,” Hunter said. He flicked the mobile on speaker and held it in the air between them.
“Anning just slunk out the back door. Now I know why his car is parked two blocks away. He didn’t want any of his neighbors to know he was here.”
“What’s happening in the house?”
“Nothing.”
“We’re almost there.”
“I haven’t seen anything of the boy since Anning dragged him back inside.”
Sirens wailed behind them. The Cove’s finest was on the way.
“Oh, no.” Stanley shouted over the phone. “Fire. The— It looks like the dining room just burst into flames.”
“We’re here.”
Delainey raced her car up the driveway, stopping in a wild half spin that left Hunter closest to the house.
He waved Delainey away. “Get your car out of here,” he shouted to her, and ran for the back door.
Burning dread took her breath away as she spun and swayed her little car out of the way of the emergency vehicles fast approaching up the hill toward the Anning house.
Please, Hunter, please don’t go in there, she thought.
She parked her car on the street in front of the neighbor’s house and leaped out as two squad cars pulled in behind her. She sprinted around the Anning house in time to see Hunter break free of Jed Stanley’s grasp and lunge for the back door.
“No, Hunter!” she screamed. “Please, no.”
Stanley tackled him and knocked him off-balance. “Man, you can’t go in there.”
“The boy’s in there,” Hunter said calmly as he struggled to get away from Stanley’s grasp again. Both men slipped on the snow-covered concrete.
Delainey grabbed Hunter’s arm. “The police are here.”
When he still struggled, she pleaded with him. “Hunter, I cannot lose you like that. I cannot lose you.”
A pair of police officers rushed up to them. “Rescue squad has gone in the front way. If the boy and his uncle are in there, these guys will get them out.”
“The uncle’s not here. He left just before the fire started,” Stanley told the officers. One nodded to his partner, who raced away toward the front of the house.
“Come on, folks, let’s get you to a safe distance.”
They let themselves be herded to the neighbor’s front yard.
“Anning’s car is parked two blocks away on Gulls Way,” Stanley told the officer.
“Thanks,” the officer said, and radioed the other squads.
An engine and a pump truck arrived as backup to assist the firefighters who’d already entered the house.
From the neighbor’s front lawn, Delainey could see flames shoot up above the rear of the house where Hunter would have gone in. She reached for him and stood in the protective shelter of his arm.
Firefighters dragged the hose with superhuman strength around the house. Delainey knew the man giving orders, Bryan Manning. The shield on his helmet said Chief B.C.F.D. Whatever he said the firefighters carried out immediately. The men with the hose took up a stance to brace themselves and gave a signal they were ready.
Soon water poured on the fire and white steam commingled with the dark gray smoke as both curled and danced with the flames. Smoke reached where Delainey, Hunter and Jed stood, bringing with it mist from the fire hose.
“Please, Stevie, please don’t hide from the firemen.” Hunter squeezed her and she realized she had spoken aloud.
The cold wind and mist took their toll and Delainey started to shiver. A neighbor wrapped a blanket around the two of them and Hunter thanked her.
Smoke now billowed from the front door of the house and the firefighters had not come out with the boy. Where were they? If the boy wasn’t in there, they had sent the firefighters in to a dangerous situation with no child to rescue.
Delainey leaned out from under Hunter’s arm to address Jed. “Are you sure the boy was still in there?”
“All I can say for sure is the little guy wasn’t with the uncle when he left.”
Suddenly, in a big puff of smoke, the house seemed to spit out the firefighters. Stevie was limp in the arms of one of them. His limbs dangled and his head lolled.
The man lowered the boy gently onto the waiting stretcher, where a paramedic applied an oxygen mask and started assessing him.
Delainey tried to get to the boy, but one of the police officers stopped her. “Give ’em room, ma’am. Are you the boy’s mother?”
“He doesn’t have parents, only an uncle.” A rat of an uncle, she thought. “Is he okay? Do you know? Can you tell me?”
“No way of knowing right now. There was very little smoke in the basement where they found him, so it’s not smoke inhalation. We’ll get him stabilized and take him to the emergency department at the clinic as fast as we can. Do you know where the uncle is?”
Jed stepped forward and volunteered the information he had previously given. “One of the other officers already called it in.”
“So that makes you...his lawyers?”
“Only interested parties,” Hunter answered as he brought Delainey closer to his body because she just couldn’t seem to stop shivering.
“If you’d wait until we get your names and addresses, that will make our jobs easier.”
“Sure,” she said, huddled against Hunter.
Another ten minutes and the crowd grew. The woman who had originally filed the complaint against Anning came over to say she’d told everyone so and hurried back inside where it was warmer.
A short while later the police officer had the three of them get into the squad car and give him all the information they had.
They all smelled like smoke and even the men shivered until the squad warmed up. Pressed up to Hunter, Delainey couldn’t think of a place she felt safer.
She let Hunter and Jed answer the officer’s questions while she huddled, hoping to find some sort of reason to keep Hunter at her side. She closed her eyes and when she did, she saw him, Brianna and her skating on a pond. They all wore old-fashioned clothing and they laughed and giggled as they spun around and around.
After skating, they had thick and tasty hot chocolate at her parents’ house, except it wasn’t her parents’ house. It was Cora and they were all sitting around the fireplace in the parlor. Christina and Gregory Miller were sitting side by side on the couch holding hands and her parents sat on the other end of the couch. Hunter sat in the stuffed chair and she sat in his lap. She smiled and looked into his face. He turned his dark blue eyes on her and she felt all the love and contentment she’d ever need to feel. Someone called out her name.
She opened her eyes and sat up. A cold breeze blew inside the squad car as the officer held the door open for them to get out. It had been a lovely dream.
“Are you ready to go?” Hunter asked her.
Since she was shivering again, she nodded. She sent silent wishes for safety to the firefighters still battling the blaze.
Hunter thanked Jed and bid the man goodbye. Jed turned to her and nodded. “Ms. Talbot.” When he doffed his black cap, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Thanks, Jed. The boy would have been in serious trouble if not for you.”
He grinned and sprinted away, she assumed back to his car and to his family. He’d obviously spent a lot of time watching the boy and deserved to get back to his life.
She and Hunter hurried to the warmth of her car and once inside, Hunter turned to Delainey and leveled a serious look at her. “That’s how a law firm does surveillance.”
“Point taken, Mr. Morrison.”
She stopped at Morrison and Morrison and dropped off Hunter, picked up her coat and purse. It was barely afternoon, but she couldn’t stay. She needed to go see her daughter.
A shower first. Her clothing smelled like smoke and she didn’t want to scare Brianna or even to speak about a boy in danger.
As the water washed down her body, bringing the awful burning smell out of her hair, she relived the fire as if she were standing in the middle of it. Fear rushed up and over her and she staggered back against the wall of the shower, her arms clutched around her slippery body.
Hunter would have given his life for the boy, she had no doubt. The big-city attorney had values that fit right into this little town.