She nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Carson didn’t know how he remained standing while she ripped out his heart. At this moment he didn’t know a lot of things.
“What if I told you I’m in love with you? Would you stay?”
She flinched, but she refused to lift her eyes. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded.
He swallowed the painful lump in his throat, convinced it was his pride. “Don’t go.”
“I have to,” she whispered.
Carson nodded, then lowered his own gaze. “I’ll make sure that I have the car fixed by this afternoon.”
“Thank you.” She turned and left the shop without so much as a backward glance.
Carson sucked in his breath, but thought the air was too thick for his lungs to filter. That had to explain the unbearable pain in his chest, but he had no such explanation for the rush of water that flooded his eyes.
Chapter 26
Robin picked at her breakfast and tried to give her mother pitiful glances. For the most part, Julia ignored her. She’d hoped when her mother went to see Carson at his shop that he would have been able to change her mind about leaving.
When the prayer went unanswered, Robin confronted her mother with reasons why they should stay, but she might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the good it did.
Julia had made it clear to everyone at the inn that today was their last day in Moreland, and Robin’s desperation grew with each tick of the clock.
“Finish eating your breakfast,” her mother instructed without looking at her.
Robin’s gaze fell to her plate, and she didn’t think that she could eat another bite. “Can I at least play one more game of touch football with Bobbi and Stanley?” she asked in a near whine.
Julia stopped setting the table and drew in a deep breath. Robin watched as she counted to ten under her breath, and had the sinking feeling that her mother was going to tell her no.
“Robin, we’ve already been through this.”
“But Carson—”
“Mr. Webber,” Julia corrected.
“Mr. Webber is still working on the car. Can I go play until he’s done, or until we leave with Pierce?”
“Mr. Taylor.”
“Until we leave with Mr. Taylor.”
Sighing, her mother finally looked up at her, and Robin mouthed the word please.
They looked at each other for a long time, and Robin instinctively knew that her mother was reconsidering.
“How long is this game supposed to be?”
Robin tried not to jump for joy. After all, she hadn’t said yes just yet.
“No more than a couple of hours.”
Julia continued to hold her gaze before finally saying, “All right.”
Robin sprang from her seat. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Hold up, young lady. You come back here and finish your breakfast first.”
Rushing back to her chair, Robin shoveled the rest of her flapjacks into her mouth.
“Slowly,” Julia reprimanded, but the corners of her mouth tilted up into a smile.
Robin reluctantly slowed down.
A few minutes later, the other guests filtered into the breakfast area. Robin’s and Julia’s solemn faces stood out from the others’ jubilant ones, and they struggled through inquiries as to what was wrong from everyone except for Lilly.
Julia did her best to ignore the woman, but no matter where she went in the room, she felt Lilly’s heavy gaze on her.
Robin forked the last of her pancakes into her mouth, jumped from her chair, and gave Julia a quick peck on the cheek before dashing out of the inn to go play with her friends.
“No running,” she and Lilly commanded in unison.
They glanced at each other, and Julia regretted it. Had Lilly been crying? Other than the large, puffy bags under her eyes, it was hard to tell.
Their gazes slid away from each other.
Lilly regretted her confrontation with Julia last night. With today’s announcement of Julia and Robin’s departure, it was clear to Lilly that her new friend and potential sister-in-law was in some kind of trouble. She should have thought of that and should have approached her with support and offers of help instead of her tactless badgering.
Though she’d known Julia for only a short time, she was more likely to believe that Julia was running away from trouble as opposed to causing it.
Now she waited for the chance to get Julia alone so she could assure her there was no need to leave town. But each time she’d made eye contact, Julia had averted her gaze.
Yesterday she and Julia were the best of friends. Today they were oceans apart.
Frankie and Nicholas rode past the Moreland City Limits sign and were amazed at what was laid out before them.
“What a backward-looking town,” Nicholas mumbled under his breath.
“I’ll say. I didn’t think towns like this still existed.”
“That’s makes two of us.” Nicholas shuddered. “Place gives me the creeps.”
Frankie only nodded while his acute gaze swept over the small crowd of people milling about the center of town. “But this place is nearly perfect for someone who wants to disappear.”
Nicholas laughed. “Nobody can get away from the Montellos. If you don’t believe me, just ask David Mercer and his goofball brother.”
“I don’t know, Nick. Those goofballs managed to shake the Montellos for a few years.”
“But we got them, didn’t we?”
Frankie frowned and looked over at him. “I thought this Dr. Kelley knocked her husband off.”
“Not hardly.” Nicholas laughed. “Our guy at the Bureau took care of that two-bit thief. That’s how we know the good doctor has our merchandise. Our guy was able to get David to talk before finishing him off.”
Suddenly the holes were filled in for Frankie, and new ones formed in his head. “Why didn’t Uncle Vinny tell me all of this before?”
“You know my father. He operates on a need-to-know basis. And the only thing you needed to know was to find the doctor.”
Frankie’s discomfort grew. In all the years he’d worked for the Montellos, he’d never been treated as though he were some flunky they couldn’t trust with information. Then again, his family had never sent more than one guy to a job before.
“So let me get this straight. Vinny had one of our guys do in the brothers, then send me to find the girl, and brought you in…to do what?”
Nicholas’s answer was a wicked smile.
Frankie shouldn’t have been surprised, but a part of him was. What if the girl truly didn’t have their merchandise? It was possible, wasn’t it? A man whose life was in danger was liable to say anything that would save his neck.
Hell, Frankie thought, why should he care? Nicholas was right. He should only be concerned about his part of the job and nothing else. So what if this turned out to be another job that ended with murder? It wouldn’t be the first time.
“So how do you want to play this?” he inquired. His attention was still on the people walking about the small town.
“We need to stop and ask someone where this Georgia Inn is located.”
“I don’t know. We don’t exactly blend in with the tapestry. If we go around asking questions, people are going to remember our faces.”
Nicholas shrugged, then retrieved his cell phone from his hip pocket. “Then let’s just give Information a call.” He looked down at the gadget and his snide grin quickly slid downward.
“What’s wrong?”
“No service. We must be out of range.”
“How come that doesn’t surprise me?”
Nicholas mumbled under his breath. “This woman had better have our merchandise. She’s starting to be one pain in my backside.”
Frankie said nothing as he pulled his car to a stop in front of a small building with a rickety sign that said Nick’s Drug Emporium.
“I thought you said that we couldn’t go around asking people questio
ns?”
“We’re not going to. We’re just going to use that pay phone.” He nodded to an old-fashioned phone booth near the side of the building.
“You think that thing works?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Frankie said, disengaging his seat belt, but he froze before reaching for the door handle.
“What is it?” Nicholas asked.
Frankie didn’t respond. He was too busy trying to get a better view of one of the little girls that had stepped out of Nick’s Drug Emporium.
Another group of children playfully tossing a football between them joined the two girls.
The girl with the cat-shaped eyes glanced in his direction, and Frankie smiled at Robin Kelley. “Well, well, well. Look what we have here.”
PART III
Chapter 27
Julia had helped clean up after the breakfast crowd and then had retired to her room to finish packing her things when a light rap sounded at the door. She drew in a deep breath, already suspecting who was at the door.
“Come in.”
“Miss Julia?”
She turned, surprised and concerned to see Pierce Taylor standing at her door.
“Hello, Pierce. What brings you here?” His smile appeared nervous and his gaze eluded hers. “I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to take you down to Columbus today. I’m afraid something has come up.”
Dread and disappointment sank like a rock in the pit of her stomach. She should have seen this coming. “Pierce, did Carson ask you not to take me to Columbus?”
“No, ma’am. It’s just like I said. Something has come up and I won’t be able to take you,” he lied miserably.
Julia drew in a deep, patient breath and strode over to him by the door. “Look, I know that you and Carson are good friends, but I really need this favor from you. If it’s money, I have a little saved up—”
“I don’t want your money.” Pierce perked up and for the first time met her gaze.
“Then what?”
Pierce smiled awkwardly. “Well, to be honest with you, Julia, I don’t want to see you go. Since you came into town, it’s the first time that my buddy Carson has been able to talk of anything other than Karen, and, of course, Bobbi.”
She stared at him incredulously. “So you’re going to force me to stay here?”
“Now, don’t look at it like that. Why, half the townfolk are itching for you two to hook up. You guys are perfect for each other.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“Come on. You and Robin love it here. You told me yourself just last week. So why do you want to leave now?”
Before Julia could answer, Lilly joined Pierce at her door.
“I need to talk you,” she said with a slight sniffle.
Pierce took this as his cue. “Well, I apologize again, and I hope this doesn’t cause any bad feelings.”
Julia opened her mouth to stop him, but he bolted from her door with another awkward smile.
Now Lilly smiled nervously.
“Did I come at a bad time?”
Is there any other time? she wanted to say, but instead she sighed and felt as if she’d shrunk a full two inches. “No, no. Please come in,” she said, moving away from the door.
Lilly entered and closed the door behind her. “I want to apologize for last night. It was never my intention to chase you out of Moreland. I guess I was just concerned for your well-being, but I’m sure it didn’t come across that way.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Then let’s just pretend that last night never happened and you don’t have to leave.”
Julia wished she could pretend that last night had never happened. She wished a lot of things had never happened. She attempted to meet Lilly’s gaze, but felt the overpowering sting of tears. Why did this have to be so hard?
“It’s time for us to go,” she said simply.
For the first time since Julia had met her, Lilly was speechless.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed my time here with the people of Moreland, and especially your family.”
“I’ll never forgive myself for this,” Lilly admitted in a trembling voice.
“Lilly, please.” Julia moved over to her and chanced meeting her gaze. “This is not your fault. We were just passing through, remember?”
“You can’t tell me that you weren’t planning to stay here. What about you and Carson? I thought you two were really hitting it off?”
“Carson and I are not a couple. We never were.”
Lilly started to say something, but apparently thought better of it.
“I care for your brother,” Julia went on to say. “And who knows—maybe in another time or place we might have been able to mean more to each other.”
Lilly wiped her tears. “Your leaving is going to destroy him. I just know it.”
Julia opened her mouth, but Lilly raised a silencing finger. “Please hear me out. Since you’ve been here, you’ve been able to draw him out of his memories of the past. He’s discovered he can love again without guilt or feeling that loving someone new is some type of betrayal to Karen’s memory. If you leave now, I don’t know what he’ll do. I don’t think he’ll try again.”
“I’m no martyr for love.” Julia shared a sad laugh with her. “I’m not too sure if I put much stock in the emotion myself. I’ve loved and lost. I’ve loved and have been betrayed. The mere thought of trying again is also overwhelming for me.”
“So is that the real reason you’re leaving?” Lilly asked.
A denial crested Julia’s tongue, but her voice failed to say it. Her hesitation gave Lilly courage to say more.
“Maybe your visit here was no accident. Have you ever thought about that? I mean, really thought about it?”
Julia had, but it was hard to believe that fate had anything to do with the mess that had brought her here. “I think you’re trying to see too much in this.”
“I know I sound like some romantic lunatic and all, but really, Julia. What is love if not fate? I mean, what is the likelihood of two people finding the perfect person in a world of millions without fate or destiny?”
“You’re right,” Julia readily agreed.
Lilly flashed a brilliant smile. “I am?”
“Yes. You do sound like a romantic lunatic.”
“Make fun of me if you want to, but I’m right and you know it. Fate brought you to Moreland, and you’re running not because whatever you fear is chasing you, but because you’re afraid to let destiny take its course.”
Before Julia could think of a quick retort, there was yet another knock at the door.
“Goodness, are we having the town meeting here today and no one told me?” Julia asked, moving toward the door.
When she jerked it open, her heart skipped a beat when she saw Carson monopolizing the door frame.
“Hello,” he said, locking her gaze with his midnight eyes.
There was no question in Julia’s mind that she was in the middle of a town’s intervention. The problem was that she didn’t know how to handle it.
“I’m mad at you,” she announced when she managed to pull out of her trance.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Lilly said, easing between them and disappearing down the hall.
“Can I at least come in?” he asked.
“No.” She crossed her arms and held her ground. “You told Pierce not to take me to Columbus.”
“Is that what he said?”
“He didn’t have to say anything. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Carson failed to suppress his smile, and Julia felt her anger ignite.
“Let me ask you this—is there anything wrong with my car? Or was that also a ploy or yours to keep me in town?”
“What are you asking me exactly?”
Carson covered his heart with his hand as if he were hurt by the question, but for some reason, this time Julia wasn’t buying it.
&nbs
p; “You tricked me,” she accused him.
“Hey, it’s not as though I hustled you out of repairs by sharking you at a pool game. I have my morals, you know.”
“I don’t believe this.” She jumped away from him. Though stunned by his level of deception, she couldn’t help the small smile that lifted the corners of her mouth.
Carson moved into the room and shut the door behind him. “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. And you left me with little choice in the matter. You seemed in such a rush to get out of Moreland, and I wanted to get to know you better, so I did the only thing I could think of—I stalled.”
“You lied.”
“You say tomato and I say—”
“I would have never thought you were capable of such deception.”
“To be completely honest with you, until today I thought that all your car needed was a simple alternator. But there seems to be something else wrong with it.”
“Yeah, right. Now I’m supposed to believe you?”
“No, really. I can’t seem to get your car started.”
There was a loud knock at the door.
“Who is it now?” Julia asked, jerking the door open.
“Julia, Carson. You both need to come downstairs,” Lilly said in a rush.
“Why, what’s wrong?” Julia asked, her stomach muscles tightening at Lilly’s horrified expression.
“It’s Bobbi and Robin. The kids downstairs say two strangers snatched them kicking and screaming right outside of Nick’s Drug Emporium. You’d better hurry. The sheriff is downstairs.”
Chapter 28
Julia raced down the stairs with her mind in a whirl. Someone had her daughter and it was all her fault. What had she been thinking, allowing her to roam around a strange town with little or no supervision? Had she been so confident as to believe that no one would penetrate Moreland’s protective shell and find them?
Suddenly her line of thinking from the past month seemed immature and idiotic.
By the time she reached the landing and stood beneath Sheriff Benton’s concerned gaze, her body shook in violent tremors.
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