Danny (Big Northwest Book 1)

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  She stared down at her plate. “Not until Sam was eighteen.”

  Their father was many things, none of them good. He was the reason they were so suspicious of the motives of others.

  Why they shut the world out.

  Why they saved their money and grew their hair.

  But one tendency he had was the reason they escaped. It was how they knew enough to understand when they would be able to stay together.

  Newspapers. He read them all. Stacks of them littered the run-down campers and trailers he lorded over, tucked into the dense trees of the Olympic National Forest.

  Far from prying eyes.

  Far from anyone who could help them.

  Craig’s jaw ticked as he stared at her.

  In the time she’d known him, Craig was always calm. Relaxed.

  In control.

  But right now he looked nothing like the Craig she’d started to know.

  He looked dangerous.

  Possibly lethal.

  “Craig?” Danny scooted her seat back, needing a little more space between them, as memories of a man she’d buried long ago barreled down at her.

  His whole demeanor changed in an instant. The clench of his teeth softened. The hard edge in his gaze disappeared. He slowly stepped toward her. “Why did your father do this?”

  Danny held perfectly still, fighting the need to run. To get away from all of this.

  But she wasn’t a coward. Not then and not now. “Because he was terrible.”

  Facing down the truth of where she came from was something Danny did every day. Struggled to keep her son from ever having to experience or understand.

  “He was a religious zealot. Believed the end of days was coming.” She swallowed hard, choking a little on what came next. “He believed God chose him to build the new world.” Danny straightened in her seat and held Craig’s eyes. “It’s why there are six of us. He intended to create as many women to breed the new population as possible.”

  It’s what she and her sisters were to him. The future of his ego. The new world would be created by him.

  He would be the new God.

  Craig’s whole body was tight. The hand holding the paper fisted, crinkling the sheet in a white-knuckled grip. The rise and fall of his chest was slow and even as his nostrils flared.

  “He had you just to use you. To farm you and your sisters out to—” The words strangled to an end as he coughed a little.

  “Not just us.” The whole story was something far more convoluted than that. “Your friend.” Danny took a deep breath and forced out the truth. “He’s not alone.”

  Craig’s face went pale. “There’s more.”

  Danny nodded. “Probably a lot.”

  Her father’s conceit knew no bounds. His loyalty was limited to a single person.

  Himself.

  “I don’t know what to say.” Craig slowly moved closer. “I can’t fix this.”

  The comment hit her in an unexpected spot. One that recognized the ridiculousness of all of this.

  She started to laugh. “Is that something you would think I’d expect you to do?” Danny snorted a little, trying to contain the crazy cackle creeping up her throat.

  The story was so far outside the realm of reality it sounded made up.

  But it wasn’t. Unfortunately.

  “I want to.” Craig moved a little faster, dropping to his knees in front of her. “I want to fix it.” His forehead dropped to hers as one hand cradled her cheek. “I want to fucking kill him.”

  “I would let you.” She barely smiled. “But you can’t.”

  “He’s already dead.”

  “Died right after we left.” All alone in the same leaky camper she and her sisters shared.

  “I hope he suffered.” Craig’s smooth voice carried the edge of before, only this time it didn’t bring back painful memories.

  Because of the soft stroke of his thumb across her cheek. The possessive way his other arm wrapped around her, holding her tight.

  “Smoke inhalation was the coroner’s best guess.” Danny scooted closer, leaning into Craig.

  He made her feel safe. Protected.

  No one ever made her feel like that. She and her sisters had to fend for themselves for as long as she could remember.

  Isolated.

  Alone.

  She didn’t feel like that so much right now.

  Danny let her head fall to his shoulder, closed her eyes and breathed deep. Was this what it was like to have someone to lean on?

  Someone to carry a little of the burdens you owned?

  “Who would send that to me, Danny?” Craig’s voice was soft in her ear.

  But the question might as well have been a full-volume scream.

  It sent a chill racing down her spine and dread fisting her stomach.

  “I don’t know.” She pressed her face closer to his neck and pulled the smell of him into her lungs, chasing a little of that feeling from before. “I don’t want to think about it.”

  “I know you don’t, but there aren’t many people who know I’m here.” He leaned back, forcing her to hold her own weight. “Who would want me to know about the article?”

  “No one.” She didn’t like what he was implying. “No one should care.”

  “No one should.” He lifted the paper and envelope clutched in one hand. “But someone does.”

  Her eyes drifted to the paper. The copy was terrible. Wherever the article came from, it was not kept in good condition. Crease lines cut across the text, making some lines difficult to read.

  Whoever sent it looked at the article often. Stared at the blurred-out faces of her and her sisters in the picture snapped by the media before being altered to protect their identities.

  Except for Sam. Her face was unobstructed because she was the only one of legal age at the time.

  The one who could save them.

  And did.

  “I need to tell my sisters.”

  Craig slowly stood, reaching out to her with one hand. “I think that’s a good idea. We need to let them know so they will be careful just in case.”

  “We?” Danny wasn’t questioning why he would assume he was involved in this.

  She was looking for reassurance that Craig was still the same solid presence from an hour ago. The same man who claimed she should be his.

  The same man who was starting to make her hope he was right about all the things he claimed to know.

  Craig’s lips barely teased into a smile. “It’s always going to be we, Danny Girl. From now on.”

  ELEVEN

  “THIS IS YOUR fault.” Sam stared him down from across the table in the large dining room of her single-story house.

  Danny’s head barely tipped to one side. “Excuse me? How is this his fault?”

  Sam’s glare turned to where Danny sat at his side. “I’m sorry. How many times have we been mailed newspaper articles about the Backwoods Beauties?” She barely smirked as her eyes snapped back to him. “That’s right. None.” One finger pointed right between his eyes. “Your fault.”

  “Don’t point your finger at him.” Danny smacked Sam’s hand.

  “Don’t smack her.” The sister he met his first day in town swung at Danny.

  “Stay out of this, Alex.” Danny grabbed Alex’s sailing hand and held it tight. “Sam’s had it out for him from the beginning.”

  “We all have.” Alex yanked her hand free of Danny’s hold. “That’s what we’re supposed to do.” Her blue eyes narrowed on Danny. “You’re the one who changed teams.”

  Danny’s head tipped back like her sister slapped her. “Changed teams?”

  Craig opened his mouth to defend himself. Danny’s palm flattened over the general area of his lips as she stood. “You may want to be alone forever, but I don’t.” Danny’s spine slowly straightened. “I don’t want to be alone.” She said it like it was a revelation. “I’m tired of it.” She glanced his way. “I can’t do it all by myself. I’m tire
d.”

  “You don’t have to do it alone, Danny.” Sam’s tone was pleading. “We’re here. We’ve always been here.” Her eyes bounced to Craig then back to her sister. “You don’t need a stranger to help you.”

  “He’s not a stranger.” Danny’s voice was quiet now. “Not completely.” She turned to him. “Ask him anything. Whatever you want to know, he’ll tell you.”

  Her faith in him was unexpected and a little surprising.

  But not unfounded.

  “My name is Craig O’Neal.” He leaned back in his seat, trying to look more relaxed than he felt. It was usually easy for him to slide into people’s lives. Ease under their radar to gather all the information he wanted.

  But these women had every reason in the world not to trust him. Not to trust anyone.

  “I’m a private investigator hired by your half-brother to find his biological father’s family.” He looked around the table at the faces of the five women who took the world by the balls and made it theirs in spite of how their lives began. “His name is Lance Stafford. He owns a large real estate company on the east coast.”

  “You think his money matters to us?” Alex crossed her arms over her chest as she dropped back in her chair. “What matters to us is peace, City Boy. That’s all. We just want to be left alone.”

  “I want you to know that he is like you. Driven. Successful. Smart.” Craig leaned forward, hoping he knew these women well enough to give them the facts that would carry him along until they started to trust him. “But he’s not the only person I know like you.”

  Sam eyed him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “There’s more people like us.” Danny cleared her throat a little. “Like our father.”

  “Holy shit.” Frankie, the sister he could most easily identify because her curly hair was shaved short on one side, leaned forward. “You mean more beasts?”

  “Frankie.” Sam snapped her sister’s name out in warning. It made sense. None of them realized how much he knew.

  How few secrets they actually held between them.

  “More beasts.” Craig forced his hands to stay still as the urge to fidget made him restless. “There’s a family in West Virginia who run a town called Greenlea. They are like your father.” He rested his gaze on Sam. “And like you.”

  Sam stared him down, unfazed. “We’re not beasts.”

  “I disagree.” Craig crossed one leg over the other, ankle to knee, fighting to keep his cool. This was important and it made him want to talk faster, make them see he understood.

  That he wasn’t a threat. That maybe he could be a help.

  “Your brother married a woman from the family in Greenlea.” He lifted his brows to drive the point home. “A woman like you.”

  Sam’s eyes darted to Danny for a second before bouncing back to him. “Do they have kids?”

  He saw the hope in her eyes. The same hope he’d stolen from Danny, hating that it had to be done. “Only daughters.”

  Sam barely wilted. “I see.”

  “Jude will be okay. I promise.” This was his ace in the hole. A truth not even Danny knew.

  The reason he was absolutely positive no other man could be better for her.

  For Jude.

  Sam snorted. “Like you would know.”

  “My friend Joel was adopted as a baby. Raised by wonderful people who love him more than anything.” Craig, rubbed the tips of his fingers together, feeding the fidgeting that plagued him as a child. Eased the rejection he felt every moment of every hour of every day. “He is like your father. Like your brother.”

  Danny’s lips pressed into a thin line. “His parents didn’t know?”

  “Still don’t.” Craig leaned close to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders, pulling her body to his. “It was hard, Danny. But he got through it.” He dropped his head until her eyes met his. “But it won’t be like that for Jude. He has people who understand.”

  “People like you?” Sam’s tone dripped with disdain.

  So much for winning her over tonight.

  Craig turned to face her. He was tired of this bullshit. He wasn’t letting anyone get in the way of him helping Danny and Jude.

  And that included her sisters. They could either get on board, or kiss his ass. He was fine with either.

  “Exactly.” He stood up from the table, pulling Danny along with him. “I’m not leaving, ladies. I’m here for good so you better get used to seeing this face.” He leaned down until his eyes were level with Sam’s.

  She was the one who’d pulled them from the miserable world they grew up in, and that meant he respected the hell out of her.

  Appreciated how hard it must have been to be in charge of her sisters while they grew up. How much she’d sacrificed.

  But he wasn’t going to let her force Danny to keep sacrificing out of fear.

  “You’ll learn to like me, and if you don’t, I don’t really give a shit.” Craig straightened, turning to lead Danny from the room. He stopped in the doorway, turning to face the sister who was struggling with a change that was always going to happen. “And for the record, cinnamon raisin cookies are my favorite.”

  He tucked Danny under his arm and walked her out into the cool night air. She stared straight ahead, eyes wide, lips fused together in silence.

  “I didn’t mean for that to go as far as it did.”

  “Sam’s just protective of us.” Danny took a deep breath. “It’s hard for her.”

  “Did she think you were all going to live like this forever? That none of you would ever want more?”

  “More is scary, Craig.” She glanced up at him through her lashes. “Men have not been good to us.”

  “There are good men, Danny. Lots of them.” He needed her to know he wasn’t the exception to the rule. That her life was. “What about JD?”

  “When Sam turned eighteen she wanted to run away. Find help.” She went quiet for a minute, lips rubbing together as she focused on the ground in front of them. “I didn’t want her to go alone, so I went too.”

  Craig pulled her closer.

  “We snuck out in the middle of the night and ran through the woods. There was a cabin a few miles away and the people there helped us. Gave my sisters and I a place to stay while an attorney helped us figure out how to live in the world.” She barely smiled. “It was JD and his parents. They were our first look at what we should have had.”

  “They were good to you?” He already liked JD. The man was honest as the day was long, but there wasn’t a doubt in Craig’s mind Danny’s friend would have ended him if he’d done the women of Shadow Pine wrong.

  “They were very good to us.” Her smile lifted a little. “Still are.”

  “I can’t wait to meet them.” Knowing at least a few people were there for Danny and her sisters to lean on, eased the nagging frustration he carried for a past that was unchangeable.

  “They will like you.” Danny shook her head, eyes barely rolling.

  Craig chuckled. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “It’ll just piss Sam off more.” She laughed a little. “But to be fair, Sam likes to be pissed. I think it’s her superpower.”

  “What’s your superpower?” He could think of about a hundred, but was more interested in where Danny felt her power laid.

  “Bringing the dead to life.” She laughed. It was light and easy.

  It was how he always wanted her to sound. To feel.

  The house was quiet as they walked up the stairs. Danny unlocked the door and made her way down the hall to the great room where Jude was sprawled across the couch, a little trickle of drool running out of the corner of his mouth.

  “To sleep like a kid with no worries.” Craig shook his head at the sight.

  “I don’t know what that’s like.” Danny’s lips twisted in a sad smile.

  “But your son does.” Craig lifted the empty bowl of popcorn off Jude’s belly. “Because of you.”

  “I hope so
.” Her eyes dropped his and the smile on her lips was a little less sad. “I just want him to have a different life. A better one.”

  “He does.” Craig unwound the blanket tangled around Jude’s jean-clad legs. “He has a mother who loves him more than anything.” He carefully lifted one foot to pull the fleece fabric free. “Who spends time with him.” He folded the blanket and rested it on the back of the sofa. When he glanced up Danny was watching him.

  “What’s your mother like?”

  She knew. He could see it on her face.

  “Busy.” He didn’t want to hold back with her. Not ever.

  But explaining his upbringing right now felt selfish.

  Mostly because it was. He had nothing to complain about. He grew up in a huge house with all the materialistic shit he could ever want. All the food he could eat.

  “You want me to carry him up?”

  “Do you mind?” Danny’s sad smile was back. “He’s not as light as he was a few years ago.”

  Craig carefully hooked one arm under Jude’s knees and the other across his back, hefting him up from the sofa. “He’s not light.” The kid was solid. A testament to what good food and plenty of fresh air and exercise could do.

  “He’s growing like crazy.” Danny led him to the stairs. “It makes me a little sad.”

  “I would guess it’s bittersweet.” Craig angled Jude’s long body between the wall and the rails, being careful not to bang his head or feet in the process.

  “Some days more bitter than others.” Danny pushed a door on the left open wide, waiting for Craig to go in first.

  He moved through the tidy room to the large bed in the center of the far wall. Danny pulled down the covers and stepped back while Craig laid a still soundly-sleeping Jude across the mattress. She whipped the blankets back over him. “He can sleep in his clothes.”

  Craig chuckled. “I did it last night and survived just fine.”

  Danny stopped, her eyes thoughtful as they looked up at him in the darkness. “Was that just last night?” She barely shook her head. “It feels like it’s been longer than that.”