“I don’t see anything, do you?” asked Garrett.
Amy waited while their eyes adjusted to the dark interior.
“Nothing.” Kevin replied, sounding totally dejected.
His expression conveyed his disappointment and Amy’s heart broke for him. Garrett stepped aside and Amy poked her head inside the shed, having to see for herself that it was empty. And then she heard a whimper. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” asked Garrett.
A familiar woof rang out from the far corner of the shed, reverberating in the small confines.
“Rover! Is that you?” Kevin shuffled Amy aside and stepped farther into the shed.
A scraping sound was followed by scratching on the wooden floor.
“Look under that blanket I cover flowers with when the weatherman forecasts frost,” ordered Amy.
Just as Kevin reached for the worn, faded cloth, a couple of heads, one red and furry and the other one blonde, popped into view.
“Hi, Daddy.” Sarah smiled and then yawned loudly. Kevin bent down and his daughter threw her arms around his neck. “We found this playhouse and I pretended I was Snow White. I fell asleep under the blanket so Rover could kiss my cheek and wake me up just like the prince.”
“Yes, Rover is a prince, sweetheart. He stayed with you and made sure you were okay.” Kevin glanced at Amy, attempted to disguise his emotions. Six foot four inch cops don’t cry in public, not even happy tears.
“Didn’t you hear people calling you?” asked Garrett, ruffling her blonde curls.
“Garrett, this girl could sleep though anything. Trust me,” said Kevin, beaming.
“I can attest to that. I vacuumed the entire upstairs in my house one night while she was sleeping.” Amy shook her head.
“I’ll let everyone know Sarah’s been found,” said Garrett, as he exited the shed. He paused and touched Kevin’s shoulder. The gesture said it all. And then he headed across the lawn.
Kevin stood, lifting his daughter into his arms. “Let’s get you out of here, Sarah. This isn’t exactly a playhouse.”
“A playhouse should have toys, Daddy. Bonnie has toys in her playhouse, and a doll house, and Barbie dolls, and a little table and chairs for tea parties…”
“We’ll get you a proper playhouse, sweetheart.” Kevin hugged her tightly. “Just promise me you won’t crawl into any sheds and fall asleep until I can buy you a playhouse, okay? Promise?”
“I promise, Daddy.” Sarah hugged his neck and kissed his cheek.
“Weren’t you afraid of the dark?” asked Sally Wilson, smiling.
“No,” whispered Sarah. “Rover snuggled with me. I could see a little bit, so I wasn’t scared, Daddy. Can my playhouse have more windows and pretty curtains?”
“We’ll get a playhouse with lots of windows.” Kevin set her down, patted her head and suddenly noticed Amy standing at his elbow.
“Sarah, I’m so happy we found you.” Amy bent down and hugged the sweet girl who’d come to mean so much to her. Not until this moment, had she realized she couldn’t love her more if she were her own. “I was so frightened when we realized you were lost.”
“I wasn’t lost, Amy. I was in here, sleeping like Snow White.” Sarah met her eyes, with a confused expression on her face.
“Amy, I’m sorry. It’s just…” Kevin’s pained expression conveyed how much he regretted his words.
“I know.” Amy met his eyes and smiled. “If you’d lost Rover, I would have chewed you out, too.”
“Still, I should have known you felt bad enough already.” Kevin reached for her hand and squeezed it. He whispered in her ear. “You love Sarah more than her own mother ever loved her.”
Amy turned her attention back to Sarah. “I bet you’re hungry. Let’s get you some milk and a cookie, okay? And then you’re getting a bath. Look how dirty your pretty dress is.”
Kevin brushed her ear with a kiss. “Spoken like a true mother. I wouldn’t have thought of that, but you’re right. She’s probably dehydrated from sleeping in that hot shed, and the dog needs water.”
“Rover needs milk and cookies, too.” Sarah glanced up at Amy with twinkling eyes.
“Good try, Sweet Pea. Rover gets water and a doggie treat.” Amy smiled, and Rover’s ears perked up when he heard ‘treat’.
“I’ll take care of them. Come on you two. Let’s get you a drink.” Sally Wilson took Sarah’s hand and led her toward the house with Rover prancing along beside his pint-sized friend.
Amy looked heavenward. “Thank you, God, for helping find them. All sorts of horrible thoughts and scary scenarios raced through my mind the entire time they were missing. I never want to relive something like this again.”
“Amen to that. I think I’ve aged ten years in the past couple of hours.” Kevin dragged his hand through his hair and sighed. “I really need that steak now. I haven’t got the energy to even stand upright much longer.”
“Let’s get you some food.” Amy slipped her arms around his waist and he wrapped his arm around hers. Together they strolled toward the house.
As Kevin and Amy neared, they observed Sarah and Rover sitting together on the deck’s top step. Both of them were enjoying a treat and a drink while listening intently to Sally Wilson lecture them on the importance of staying in sight of your parents and not going investigating strange buildings on their own.
Chapter 13
Sarah had returned to school three weeks ago.
Days were shorter, nights cooler, autumn leaves covered the ground, and snow lurked around the corner. Amy’s relationship with Kevin had turned decidedly serious, in every way, and she couldn’t be happier.
Her days hadn’t been filled with so many activities in years, and she often questioned whether she’d survive it all. She stood in her slate-tiled two-person shower, eyes closed in bliss, while a stream of steaming water pummeled her aching body.
“Am I up to the challenge?” She’d lost count of the number of times she’d asked herself this question.
Amy struggled to keep up with one seven-year-old on a part-time basis. Many mothers had three or four children to chauffeur around, to supervise and care for, and to assist with homework. They had houses to clean, meals to cook, some even worked full or part-time. How on earth did they manage it all?
“Because that’s what mothers do,” she answered her own question. Amy recalled how her mother had kept her, an only child, organized while serving as a Girl Guide leader, coaching soccer, organizing bottle drives, and contributing to more bake sales than she could count. Whether a woman worked out of the house or not, was raising one child or a half dozen, motherhood was a full-time job.
She climbed out of the shower and smiled as she toweled off. She couldn’t recall ever having so much fun, filling her days with so many commitments. And being so busy and pressed for time helped keep her focused during writing sessions. Every hour counted and procrastination had become a thing of the past. She’d never been so organized in her life. And it was all due to an adorable little girl whom she’d come to love as her own.
Every day she spent five hours in her office writing, editing, or working on social media and promotion. Then she met Sarah after school at Kevin’s home and worked with her, practicing her printing and listening to her read.
Her little pupil had progressed rapidly; Amy had witnessed remarkable improvement since she started working with Sarah this summer. Mrs. Harris set a place for Amy at the dinner table without being asked. She was quickly becoming part of the furniture at Kevin’s townhouse. Even Mrs. Harris had praised her for helping Sarah so much.
Monday night was Girl Guides night. One of the leaders expected to give birth in three weeks. All the forms were completed and Amy had been approved to replace the soon-to-be new mother as a leader on a temporary basis. Every week, Amy stayed to help with the girls’ projects and she loved every minute of it, especially seeing Sarah so happy. Rover slept in the car until the meetings were over.
<
br /> She’d brought him in one night and did a program on caring for a pet. All of the girls fell in love with the big friendly dog, and some admitted they were jealous of Sarah having him for a playmate every day. Sarah beamed with pleasure at being Rover’s special friend.
After drying off and applying scented lotion to every inch of her body, Amy donned silk pajamas and crawled between satin sheets. The bedside clock only read ten o’clock, and she attempted to enjoy the newest book released by a local fellow author. When her eyes refused to stay open a few minutes later, she set her ereader aside, turned out the light, and fell asleep in a minute.
It seemed only a short time had passed before she awoke from a serious face licking.
“Go away, Rover, I’m sleeping. Get back on your own bed, you bad dog.” She rolled over onto her other side.
“Get her again, Rover!”
Amy startled and then smiled, recognizing the voice. “Why are you getting my dog to do your dirty work?” she asked, her eyes still closed.
“So you’re awake?” Kevin sat down on the bed beside her.
“Is it too late to ask for my key back?” Amy cracked one eye open. The love of her life sat there, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I distinctly recall emphasizing the fact that that key and access code were only to be used in case of an emergency.”
Rover leapt off her bed and settled back on his own doggie bed.
“This is an emergency. I require a kiss from a beautiful blonde and this was the first house I thought of,” explained Kevin, lying back on the comforter, his head on the other pillow, hands stacked on his chest.
“It had better be the only house you think of,” countered Amy, swatting his arm. She glared at Rover. “Some watch dog you are. Aiding and abetting. Waking me from a sound sleep.”
“In his defense, Rover charged downstairs when he heard me come in. Met me at the bottom of the stairs with his tail wagging. If he hadn’t recognized me, it could have gone quite badly.”
“Maybe I should hire a stranger to test your theory some night.” Amy raised one eyebrow.
“Could result in biting, stitches, a lawsuit...”
“Right. Dumb idea.”
Kevin yawned. “I just completed the shift from hell. If the government set the legal drinking age at eighty, it would make my job a lot easier. There are way too many people whose thought processes totally shut down when they drink. Alcohol causes some people to do the damnedest things.”
“Poor guy, close your eyes, and relax that stressed body and mind.” Amy slipped out from under the comforter, reached over and rubbed his temples.
“If you keep touching me, not one inch of me is going to relax.” Kevin moaned in pleasure as she continued massaging his face and then moved down to his neck and shoulders. “Keep working your way down. It feels wonderful so far.”
“I’ve had a hard day, too, you know. It’s Monday, and that means Girl Guides. Those girls ran me ragged and drove me crazy tonight.” And then she noticed the grin on his face. “What?”
“Sarah’s teacher left a message on my cell phone this morning. When I called her back, she requested I drop by after school today to discuss Sarah. I cringed at the thought, but she surprised me with the news that my daughter is now performing at her grade level. Miss Caruthers asked me what I’d done to bring on such a significant change in attitude and such a remarkable academic improvement in her student.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“That Sarah has a new mother substitute who deserves all the credit.” Kevin gently pulled her shoulders forward and kissed her nose. “I suggested you accompany me to the next parent interview. Sarah’s teacher says she’s eager to meet you.”
Amy felt herself redden with the praise. “I just helped her with her printing and reading, helped her sounding out her words and showed her how to hold a pencil in the proper manner. Nothing special.”
“I beg to disagree. You’ve won over Sarah’s heart, and that is priceless. She trusts you. She loves you and more importantly, she feels loved not just by me but by all of us. Mrs. Harris is praising you at every turn whenever one of the church ladies drops over to the house for a cup of tea. You’re just a halo short of sainthood in her opinion. And it takes a lot to make an impression on Mrs. Harris. I don’t think I even passed muster with her at first.” Kevin chuckled while he wound strands of her hair around his fingers.
“On Saturday morning over pancakes, Mrs. Harris asked me, what was my favorite cake? I immediately answered red velvet. Tonight after Girl Guides, she served Sarah and me a huge piece of red velvet cake with a glass of milk. That cake was delicious!” Amy grinned and playfully bobbed her eyebrows. “Next Saturday, I’m going to mention how much I love butter tarts.”
Kevin chuckled. “The week after tell her carrot cake. That’s my favorite.”
“I was so tired that I didn’t even stay for a second piece of cake. Just tucked Sarah into bed, which has become as much of a Monday night ritual as the meetings have.”
“Won’t hear any complaints from me.” Kevin grinned. “You could stay and tuck me in, too, if you’d like.”
“Mrs. Harris would chase me out of the place with a broom to my behind. She’s a good Catholic woman and wouldn’t condone any bedroom monkey business no matter how innocent.” Amy wagged her finger at him.
“You’re probably right.” Kevin conceded. “But I overheard her talking to Mrs. Jenkins when I arrived home last night. I caught the words ‘lovely young lady’ and ’serious some day’ before I entered the kitchen and interrupted their conversation.”
“And you concluded she was talking about me?”
“The two of them blushed as red as a tomato when they realized I’d overhead part of what they’d said.” Kevin chuckled. “Good detective work tells me they were discussing us.”
“Detective work? You’re not a detective, and you told me you’d always passed on the opportunity to move your career in that direction.” Amy tilted her head.
“I’ve been reconsidering the idea. Pays more.” Kevin shrugged.
“What promoted this decision? Does the difference in our net assets bother you, Kevin?” Amy propped herself up on one elbow.
“No. Well, maybe a little. Never mind the fact your late husband provided for you if the unthinkable happened, which it did, you’re just too successful of an author for my own good. But I’m okay with it. It’s not that. It’s time I face a new challenge. I’ve decided to start doing some plain clothes assignments, special duties work. Move my career toward the investigative side.” Kevin grinned.
“Well, Mr. Future Detective, do you suppose Mrs. Harris suspects we’re not playing Monopoly when you’re over here?” Amy met Kevin’s eyes.
“No way. She doesn’t suspect a thing,” said Kevin, grinning.
“I bet.” Amy punched his arm.
“I always report that I cleaned you out of all your money and properties in record time. Mrs. Harris just thinks you stink at Monopoly.” Kevin covered his head while she pummeled him with her pillow.
“No Monopoly for you tonight, mister.” Amy leapt off the bed. “I’m starving and I’m making myself a sandwich.”
“If the choices are Monopoly or food, I’ll choose food tonight. I haven’t eaten a thing since coffee break this morning.” Kevin swept her up in his arms and headed out of the bedroom. “Cook for me, woman, before there’s nothing left but skin and bones on this frame.”
At the top of the stairs, Kevin brushed her mouth with his lips and then deepened the kiss. Amy became vaguely aware of him carrying her back into the bedroom. And then he lowered her onto the bed, started unbuttoning her pajamas top.
Monopoly won out over sandwiches.
****
The next morning, Amy opened her eyes and discovered herself wrapped in Kevin’s arms. She smiled as he softly snored, lying beside her in the huge bed. She attempted to slip out of his embrace without waking him, but no such luck.
“Don�
��t worry,” mumbled Kevin, sounding half asleep. “I called Mrs. Harris last night so she wouldn’t worry. I told her something came up, and I wouldn’t be home until morning.”
Amy tilted her head. “Did you use your cell?”
“No, your phone.”
“You have caller I.D. at home.”
“Yeah.” Kevin’s eyes flew open. “Oh, crap!”
“The good Catholic woman is going to know you were here.” Amy chuckled. “In fact, she probably caught on to exactly what part of you came up.”
Kevin scrubbed his face with his hand.
Amy grinned. “Pitiful display of police work. Some detective you’ll make, foiled by caller I.D,” she teased.
Kevin playfully lunged for her.
She screamed and raced out of the bedroom. Rover followed her. “No way. My dog needs to go outside and I’m hungry. How does a veggie omelet sound?”
Kevin grabbed a quick shower, donned his clothes, and wandered downstairs to the kitchen ten minutes later.
Amy turned toward him and burst into tears.
“What on earth happened?” he asked, wrapping her in his arms.
“I...I...totally forgot...until I just glanced at the calendar,” stammered Amy, between sobs. “Today is September 27.”
“So?” Kevin leaned back and met her eyes.
“Two years,” sobbed Amy. “My husband died, two years ago today.”
Chapter 14
How could she have forgotten what day it was?
September 27th brought all the remembered pain and torturous heartache to the forefront of Amy’s mind. And the realization that she hadn’t remembered the anniversary of her husband’s death until she’d glanced at the calendar almost brought her to her knees.
Love To The Rescue Page 14