Why, then, wasn’t she symptomatic?
Tears filled her eyes as the realization flowed through her. She knew enough to know that amnesia wouldn’t take away her allergies to certain things. She could only think of one reason she wasn’t swelling up or having trouble breathing.
The doctor kept her under observation for over an hour to make sure she didn’t have a delayed reaction, but nothing happened. She continued to be asymptomatic.
When the doctor returned, she questioned him. “Is it possible to stop being allergic to something?”
He shook his head. “Children sometimes outgrow allergies, and with some allergens, it’s possible to build up your level of resistance to reduce your symptoms, but it’s very unlikely that an allergy would just disappear in an adult. Without knowing the extent of your allergy, it’s difficult for me to say for sure. But you’re not showing any signs of an allergic reaction, so that’s good, right?”
Ashlee wasn’t so sure it was a good thing. Troubling was a better word.
The doctor handed over her release papers. “Let me know if you have any further problems.”
“I will. Thank you.”
The nurse came in and held the door. “There’s a handsome young man out here itching to see you’re okay. Should I tell him to come back?”
“Sure,” Ashlee stated, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to see Lawson. He wouldn’t miss the fact that she wasn’t showing symptoms, either. From what he’d said, she knew he’d seen one of her previous attacks firsthand. He was bound to realize that she obviously wasn’t in distress.
He walked into the room and slipped off his hat, rubbing at his hat hair before pulling up a chair as she sat on the gurney. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.” She didn’t elaborate. She didn’t want to speculate on why she wasn’t having a reaction even though she felt the truth deep inside her. “The doctor says I’m good to go.”
He studied her face and then slipped his hat back onto his head as he guarded his eyes from giving away anything he was thinking. She couldn’t read him at all. “Let’s get you back home.”
He led her outside to his pickup and she crawled back onto the seat. They were in the exact same position they’d been in just a little while ago, but as she slipped on the seat belt, she knew something had changed. He’d called the ranch her home and she had grown to believe that, too. It felt like home, like a place she never wanted to leave. But would he still consider her welcome there after tonight?
The silence between them was deafening as he put the truck into Drive and took off, taking it slower this time back to the ranch than he had on the way to the hospital. It was dark out, but she could still make out the landscape passing by, the beautiful country scenery she was coming to love.
Tears slipped from her eyes and she wiped them away.
He gripped the steering wheel, but didn’t reach for her hand like he’d done earlier. “It’s going to be okay,” he told her softly, but she didn’t—she couldn’t—believe him anymore. Everything had changed.
She didn’t belong here and the truth was like a river that flowed between them—one that she couldn’t cross. He didn’t speak about it and neither did she, yet they knew the truth.
She wasn’t Ashlee.
She wasn’t the woman he wanted to be with. She was the woman he hadn’t a nice word to say about since the day she’d arrived.
She was Bree Taylor.
The wrong twin.
* * *
He pulled into the entrance of Silver Star and parked the pickup in front of the house, but he didn’t get out right away.
Neither of them had said a word on the drive, but his thoughts had been screaming at him the entire way. She hadn’t had a reaction to the peanuts. He could hardly wrap his brain around what that meant.
She sat silently beside him, not hurrying to get out, either, waiting on him to speak first, but nothing between them was coming as easily as it had only a few hours ago.
“I have some work to do in the barn,” he finally said.
She turned to look at him and he sensed she wanted to talk about what this incident meant. But he wasn’t in the mood to talk and he wasn’t sure what to say, anyhow. Whether she’d meant to or not, she’d deceived him in the worst possible way and now they both knew it.
Finally, she nodded and reached for the handle to open the door. He watched her walk into the house before getting out and heading for the barn. He picked up a shovel and started cleaning out one of the stalls, but it was frustrating and painful work with his injury. His limbs quickly protested and his stitches pulled. Frustration and anger bit at him that he couldn’t do the work he needed to do to work out his frustrations and keep him away from whoever that woman was inside his house.
He stopped, took off his hat and rubbed sweat from his forehead before settling it back onto his head. He stared at the house. That wasn’t fair. He knew who she was. They both knew it, although he’d not yet allowed himself to accept it.
His gut tightened. If the woman in his house was actually Bree, that meant Ashlee was the one who’d been taken hostage and possibly killed. It shouldn’t matter to him which sister had been abducted, but it did. It did matter to him.
He spotted several trucks pull in and park. Moments later, his brothers exited, heading inside. Lawson called out to Josh and hustled over to join him. “What did you find?”
“Nothing so far. I left Deputy Marks in charge of continuing the search, but it’s unlikely we’ll find anything based on the limited information we have. We’d have to literally stumble over a body at this point.”
Given that he now suspected it might be Ashlee out there, Josh’s flippant words stabbed at him.
“We will regroup in the morning and reassess.” He started to walk off, then turned back. “By the way, Dad called and told me about Ashlee’s allergic reaction. I guess you made it to the hospital in time?”
Lawson pulled off his work gloves and twisted them in his hands. “We didn’t have to rush. She never had any symptoms.”
Josh looked surprised, but Lawson wasn’t sure if that was because of the news—or because of Lawson’s wooden tone in delivering it. “That’s a good thing...isn’t it?” he asked.
He could only shake his head. It was a good thing that she wasn’t in danger, but it had left a foul taste in his mouth.
“What are you thinking?” Josh asked him.
“We’ve been assuming she’s Ashlee from the start. How else could we go about making sure that’s true?”
“You’re having doubts? You think she’s lying about her identity?”
No, he didn’t think she was lying exactly. “I believe she can’t remember—the amnesia seems real. But she only believes she’s Ashlee because that’s what we’ve been telling her all along. I just want to make certain we haven’t been jumping to conclusions. After all, she does have a twin sister.”
“We could try fingerprints,” Josh suggested. “It’s my understanding that twins don’t have identical prints.”
Lawson nodded. Bree had a criminal record—her prints would be on file. This question could be answered easily. “Good, let’s start there.” He hated the doubts that were organizing in his mind, but he couldn’t discount them. Logic told him one thing—but his heart protested against it. He couldn’t face the fact that he’d been falling for the wrong sister, that he’d been associating memories with a woman who wasn’t even there.
He knew Ashlee. Or at least, he thought he did. He’d been so sure it was her. If it wasn’t, Bree Taylor was going to have a lot of explaining to do when her memory finally returned. Why had she been in Ashlee’s car with her wallet and her identification? And, more important, where was her sister?
* * *
Ashlee allowed herself to be fingerprinted by Cecile. She wasn’t mad that Lawson had suggeste
d it. In fact, she was anxious to find out the results. After yesterday’s events—or lack of events—that suggested she wasn’t Ashlee, after all, she was also questioning everything she thought she knew.
As Cecile took each finger and placed it over the computerized pad, Ashlee couldn’t help but feel this was familiar, like she’d done this before. For once, a feeling of familiarity bothered her. She wanted clues to her past, but this wasn’t a pleasant one to discover. Had she been arrested before? Was she a criminal? This just seemed like more proof that she was Bree rather than Ashlee.
Cecile finished up. “That should do it. I’ll have someone run these through the system and we’ll see what comes back.”
Ashlee took a seat on the bench outside the interview room and waited. After several minutes, Lawson approached her, but didn’t sit beside her like he would have before. He was noticeably nervous, fiddling with his hat as he paced in front of her.
She missed the way he’d once easily slipped in beside her and wrapped his arm around her. She missed the lift of his shoulders when he grinned and the way his blue eyes glowed when he looked at her.
She closed her eyes at the realization that those days were over. The comfort and support he offered were more than likely things her sister would get to experience again, but not her, and she hated the way she longed to have him wrap his arms around her one more time and assure her everything was going to be okay.
Time seemed to drag as they waited, until finally Lawson’s phone buzzed at his hip. He took it out and glanced at the screen before taking a deep breath and putting it away.
“She’s ready for us.”
He slipped his hat back onto his head. Ashlee stood, taking a deep breath of her own before bracing herself for what was to come, and marched toward the back of the sheriff’s office.
Cecile led them inside an interview room.
“You have the results?” Lawson queried once they sat down.
“I do,” she stated.
“What’s the verdict?” he asked and Ashlee felt her heart race. Was she ready to hear this? And what would happen if these prints proved she was in fact Bree and not Ashlee? She didn’t know, but there was no turning back now.
Cecile hit a key on the computer and an image popped up on the screen. It was a photo of either her or her sister, and both she and Lawson leaned in to see the name beside it.
“Ashlee Taylor.” Lawson’s breath caught as he read the name then the charges. “Arrested in Dallas three years ago for drug possession. Looks like the charges were dismissed, but the prints remained in the system.” Lawson glanced at her and she suddenly felt on the spot by his accusatory glare before he turned his focus back to Cecile. “They’re identical twins. Is it possible they have identical fingerprints?”
Cecile shook her head. “When you asked about doing this, I had the same question. I’ve never run across a similar situation, so I did some research. Fingerprints aren’t merely the result of genetic makeup. They’re formed in the womb and can be influenced by several factors such as blood pressure, bone growth and even nutrition. Therefore, they may be similar, but no two people have identical fingerprints, not even twins.” She motioned to the points of matching. “A fingerprint match has to have several identifying characteristics shared with the ones we’ve run before they’re considered a match. In this case, all of the points match. These prints belong to the same person. There’s no doubt about that.”
Ashlee took a deep breath. This wasn’t the outcome she’d expected. The drug charge was concerning, but the name attached to it was downright shocking. According to her prints, she was Ashlee Taylor. But wasn’t she supposed to be the more responsible sister? How did a drug charge work into that? This entire situation had just been made all the more complicated.
Lawson stared at her until she squirmed under his gaze. “Stop looking at me like that,” she demanded. “I’m as surprised as you are.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“What doesn’t make sense? That I’m Ashlee, after all? Or that I’m not the perfect woman you remembered me to be?” The wounded expression on his face told her that her words had hit their mark. She hadn’t meant to be so mean about it, but they’d both needed to face the truth. He’d been imagining her as someone she wasn’t and could never be.
He sighed. “I guess I have sort of placed you up on a pedestal, haven’t I?”
“You keep saying we had this picture-perfect relationship, but if that’s the truth, then why did I leave? Something wasn’t right or we would be married today, wouldn’t we?”
He nodded, but rubbed his face. “I’ll give you that, Ashlee, but this drug charge doesn’t make any sense. I could understand if Bree was arrested for possession, but not you.”
“I don’t understand it, either, but I don’t have an explanation. I guess I’ve changed a lot since you knew me. Six years is a long time.”
He shook his head, unwilling to believe she’d fallen so far. “Not that long.”
Cecile put up her hands to stop their bickering. “Wait, there’s more.” She hit another key and another mug shot appeared, also her, but the name that popped up with it was Bree Taylor.
They both looked at her, confused.
“What does this mean?” Lawson asked Cecile.
“The prints captured another match. Bree Taylor’s.”
Ashlee sucked in a breath. Her fingerprints matched prints recorded in the system for both Ashlee and Bree? “I thought you said twins didn’t have identical fingerprints.”
“They don’t. I might expect both sisters’ prints to pop up just because of the similar points of matching. But, in this case, all points match both sets of prints.”
“What does that mean?” Lawson asked Cecile.
“It means the prints on file for both Ashlee and Bree were made by the same person. Without additional evidence, we can’t say whose is whose. These tests are just inconclusive.”
Lawson again trained his stare on Ashlee and she squirmed. It wasn’t the conclusive evidence they’d wanted, but it seemed to be yet another point checked off in the not-Ashlee column. She was more and more convinced she was not Ashlee Taylor. But that still didn’t answer the more pressing question.
Where was her sister?
* * *
Ashlee and Lawson returned to the ranch, the cab of the truck once again silent as they drove. At any moment, she expected Lawson to toss her out of the truck for being a fraud. And she wouldn’t blame him if he did. The truth was, she wished he would say something to give her a clue about where his mind was—even if it meant yelling at her. Anything was better than the silence between them.
He parked in front of the house, but didn’t get out.
“Let me guess, you have chores to do in the barn.” He’d used that excuse to keep himself busy and away from her several times now and it was getting old.
“That’s right, I do. This ranch doesn’t run itself. It takes a lot of work.”
His defensive tone made her cringe. She didn’t doubt there was work to be done, but he had always found time to be with her during her first few days on the ranch. The timing right now made it clear that chores were being used as a good enough excuse to stay away from her.
She got out and walked onto the porch just as the door swung open and his mother met her. “Hi, Ashlee. This was delivered for you.” She handed Ashlee a box labeled with her name. She wasn’t expecting a package and who would know she was staying here anyway? The only scenario to explain it was that maybe Jake Stephens had finally caved and sent her the client files they’d requested. Reassured that must be what was in the box, she thanked Diane, then hurried upstairs to the bedroom and tore open the package. She wasn’t even sure she should be opening it since it was meant for Ashlee and... Well, she wasn’t sure she should open it. She probably wouldn’t even know what she was looking
at, but she still needed to take a look before handing them over to Lawson and Josh.
If she knew for certain she was Bree and not Ashlee, it would explain why seeing Jake Stephens had had no effect on her.
Chalk one more up for the not-Ashlee column.
The files she’d expected weren’t inside the box. Instead, she found a cell phone, a DVD with the words Watch Me written on the plastic case, and a typewritten note.
Return what Travis took from us if you want to see your sister alive again. We’ll contact you with a location. Come alone or Bree is dead.
She gasped and realized this was a second ransom demand. They were giving her another opportunity to bring her sister home. She booted up the old desktop computer on Kellyanne’s desk and popped in the DVD. The screen flickered, then a video image appeared. Ashlee gasped and covered her mouth in horror. The image was of her sister tied to a chair, tape covering her mouth and bruises on her face. A newspaper was taped to the front of her shirt. Tears filled her sister’s eyes as a voice off camera barked orders at her after pulling off the tape.
“Speak,” growled a rough voice from behind the camera.
“This message is for my sister Ashlee. They’re including this paper so you can see I’m still alive. However, they assure me that I won’t be for long unless you return what Travis took from these men. They’ve included a burner cell phone in the envelope. They’ll send you a text message with the meeting place. They don’t want a repeat of what happened before. Come alone or they will kill me.”
Ashlee stared at her sister’s image. Tears began to stream down her face at her sister’s plight.
“I’m sorry, sis. I’m sorry for putting you in this situation. These guys mean business. They want what Travis took from them.” She choked over her words before continuing. “You never should have been put in the middle of this. I’m so sorry.”
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