A Family Homecoming (6 page)

“Have you ever seen so many weddings?” Lily Mae asked when they were finished ordering. “Everybody's getting married on the run these days. Not a good thing, if you ask me. People should take time to get to know each other.” She eyed Kyle. “What kind of work do you do? I might know of an opening you can check on.”

“Thanks,” he said, “but I don't need a job.”

“Hmm, independently wealthy, huh?”

Danielle shifted impatiently at the woman's nosiness but said nothing. Kyle was an adult. He didn't need her help in fending off the inquisition.

“Seems odd that you haven't visited your family.” Lily Mae turned to Danielle. “You and young Sara here have been in town about two years now, haven't you?”

“Yes,” Danielle said.

Janie, their waitress, who also managed the place, brought plates of steaming food. “Lily Mae thought Wayne Kincaid was an escaped convict when he showed up in Whitehorn and wouldn't confess his life story to her. She had everyone thinking he was out to murder us in our beds.”

Lily Mae glared at the saucy young woman. “Well, how was I to know? He acted as if he had dire secrets, not telling anyone where he came from or why he took a job at the Kincaid ranch when everyone knew it had a curse on it. And probably still does.” Her heavily mascaraed eyes narrowed on Kyle. “It makes a body wonder is all.”

Before thinking about what she was doing, Danielle snapped, “My husband's business is his own, but I can assure you he has no prison record. For your information, he's a good and honorable person. He works for the…” She noted the four pairs of eyes staring at her. “Well, he isn't a criminal,” she concluded hotly.

“I'm with the FBI,” Kyle said quietly.

“Well, the FBI,” Lily Mae said, obviously flabbergasted at this piece of news. “Well, I never. The FBI.”

Danielle clenched her hands together in her lap.
She was mortified by her outburst. A large hand closed over hers and squeezed gently. She glanced at Kyle. He withdrew his hand, but his eyes stayed on her.

His gaze roamed her face like a summer breeze, caressing her sweetly, conveying his thanks for her defense. The tension oozed out of her. She looked down, embarrassed but somehow glad…and maybe a little proud.

“Are you working on the kidnapping case?” Lily Mae demanded, recovering.

“I think that's in good hands,” Kyle responded. “Shane McBride and Rafe Rawlings are on top of it. I'm home on an extended vacation.”

Lily Mae's face lit up. “Rafe Rawlings. Now there's a story. Did you know he was called Wolf Boy because he was found in the woods when he was just a tadpole? Turns out he belonged to Lexine Baxter. Illegitimate, of course. She abandoned him, poor thing. But he was adopted by a local rancher, so it turned out all right in the end.”

She continued the tale of how another rancher had been accused but acquitted of killing the man who had been Rafe's father. Turned out Lexine had done that, too, although that had probably been an accident. And then there was the case of Clint Calloway who, it was finally discovered, was the illegitimate son of that old scalawag, Jeremiah Kincaid.

Kyle frowned. “So how did Jenny McCallum get to be the Kincaid heir?”

“Oh, she was another of Jeremiah's bas…” Lily Mae glanced at Sara, who had lost interest in the grown-up talk and was busy loading her fries with
ketchup. “She belonged to Jeremiah, too. Her mother died bringing the child to him. That's how come Jessica and Sterling adopted her. Lexine tried to get rid of Jenny, too.”

“My heavens, she must have been the most terrible person in the world,” Danielle said, shocked.

“Believe me, there are others just as bad,” Kyle told her, his expression becoming harsh and forbidding.

“Like the case you were on?” she asked, reminded again of his long absence.

“Yes, like that.”

Danielle was aware of Lily Mae hanging on their every word and glance. No telling what stories the woman would be spreading about them after lunch.

Not that it mattered, she reminded herself. This was but an interlude. Soon he would be gone again, out of her life forever. Except to visit Sara. When he had time. And that was the way she wanted it. It was.

Lily Mae regaled them with other stories after that. Danielle only half listened, but Kyle asked questions and wanted to know about everyone in town. He was looking for clues, she realized after a while, as he encouraged the town gossip to divulge more.

After the meal, Kyle drove Danielle and Sara to the grocery. Forcing a lightness he didn't feel, he and Sara joined forces to buy every treat in sight. Danielle kept saying no. She gave in to chocolate cake, though.

“Mommy always had a weakness for chocolate,” he confided to Sara.

Sara gave a little giggle.

Danielle stopped dead in the aisle. Tears sprang into her eyes.

“What?” he asked, alarmed.

“It's Sara,” she whispered, watching as the child scampered ahead of them. “She laughed. It's the first sound I've heard from her since she returned home.”

“That's a good sign, isn't it?”

“Oh, yes!”

His heart contracted at the glow in her eyes. Once she had looked at him like that. Each time he came home, Dani had made him feel like a king. Suddenly he remembered something he wanted to do.

Clearing his throat, he said, “Thanks for defending me at the café. That was kind.”

Her retort was keen as a blade. “One should always give the devil his due.” She walked off, her chin high.

He had definitely been put in his place. But he'd seen her smile before she'd turned away. He smiled, too, as his chest eased a bit.

 

Danielle flitted around the kitchen, not doing very much but staying busy. It was Saturday and Rafe was due in a few minutes to show Sara the pictures.

“Relax,” Kyle murmured from the table where he read the morning paper.

She glanced toward the family room where Sara watched a video. She spoke in a low voice. “I'm worried.”

“About Sara?”

“Yes. Carey said to watch for signs of hysteria. If she can't handle the pictures, we aren't to press her.”

He tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her troubled face to his. “I won't do anything to hurt
Sara,” he promised. “All you have to do is say the word, understand?”

She nodded. Outside, she heard tires on the drive. “He's here.” She went to the front door and let the lawman in. He carried a thick briefcase.

“I brought a bunch of shots taken this past year. “I thought we would show them to her in groups of six.”

“Okay. Kyle is in the kitchen. We can work there at the table, if that's okay.”

“Right,” he replied, following her. “Hello, Sara, how you doing today?” he said jovially as they went through the family room. “You feel up to looking at some pictures for me?”

Sara looked at her mother, who nodded, then she nodded, too, and pointed to the television.

“As soon as her video is done,” Danielle requested. “It has another few minutes. Come have a cup of coffee.”

“That sounds good. It's colder out today than it's been all week. Too cold to snow.”

“That's what Lily Mae told me a week ago…and then it snowed sixteen inches that night.”

She and Rafe were laughing when they entered the kitchen. Kyle flashed her a quick glance, then welcomed the young sheriff. She poured coffee for them, then went to get Sara when she heard the end of the video.

Returning, she sat in her chair with Sara in her lap. Carey had thought that was best. Sara would feel safe and Danielle could tell if the pictures were upsetting her if she felt Sara trembling.

“Ready?” Rafe asked.

“Yes.” Danielle gave Sara a hug. “We want you to look at some pictures and tell us if any of the people are—” She looked at Kyle, not sure how to describe the men.

“Sara, honey, we want to know if you recognize any of the men in the pictures,” he put in smoothly. “If you think any of them are the ones who took you away. Understand?”

Danielle felt the tension enter Sara by the way she sat absolutely still.

“Do you understand, sweetheart?” she asked, stroking the baby-fine hair away from Sara's face. “You can point to the picture if you see one of the men, okay?”

Sara hesitated, looked from her to Kyle, then settled on Rafe.

“I think we're ready,” Danielle said.

Rafe laid out six pictures, ranging from young boys to old men. “Any of these familiar?”

Sara looked at Danielle.

“Do you see either of the men who kidnapped you?”

Sara shook her head.

“Okay,” Rafe said cheerfully. “We'll do some more.”

They looked through picture after picture, six at a time. After thirty minutes, Danielle was getting tired. She sensed Sara was, too. “I think we'd better quit.”

“We just have a few more,” Rafe said.

Kyle touched her arm. “It's up to you and Sara.”

“I suppose we can finish. If it's not too many.”

Kyle talked to Sara while Rafe laid out the next row of snapshots. The pictures were the typical police
mug shots. They would make Santa Claus look like a depraved maniac, they were so grim and unflattering.

“Sara,” she said. “Look at these, honey.”

Sara turned from her father to the table. She slowly looked at each photo. Then, she shook her head vehemently and put her hands over her mouth.

“She's getting tired,” Kyle murmured.

“This is the last bunch.” Rafe spread ten photos out.

“Do you see either of the men?” Kyle asked Sara.

Again she shook her head, both hands still clamped over her mouth.

“Honey, you didn't look,” Kyle said patiently. “You have to look at the pictures to be sure.”

Sara followed his finger and gazed at each mug shot. She shook her head.

“Okay, that's it.” Rafe smiled at Sara, but he was clearly disappointed.

Danielle stood. “Come on, you can watch Frosty while Mommy and Daddy talk to the policeman.”

Sara finally dropped her hands and nodded, obviously happy with the thought of watching two of her favorite videos in one day. Danielle saw her snuggled into the corner of the sofa and the movie on before she returned to the other room.

Rafe was ready to leave.

“Wait,” she requested. Something in her tone must have alerted the men. “I think there was something about those last pictures, the ones where Sara covered her mouth and shook her head,” she said in a low tone so Sara couldn't overhear. “I know Sara. She gets nervous when she lies. She'd been bored at that
point, then suddenly she changed. She became tense and…maybe frightened.”

Rafe pulled out the last sixteen photos. The three of them looked them over. He pointed to one. “That's Willie Sparks. Kidnapping and a million dollars is a pretty big operation for him, but with someone else directing, he could be in on it. I'd hoped she would pick him out so we would have something solid to go on.”

“I don't know,” Danielle said slowly, troubled. “I just don't know.”

Kyle laid a hand on her shoulder. “Give it a rest for now. Maybe something new will come up soon. In the meantime,” he said to Rafe, “there's no reason we can't do some checking on this Sparks guy and see what he's been doing lately, is there?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

The two men exchanged grim smiles.

Danielle watched them with something akin to envy. They were comrades in arms. They spoke the same language even without words. She felt left out.

The loneliness of the past two years washed over her, reminding her she was the outsider. As soon as Kyle was sure Sara was safe, he would be off.

D
anielle put her hand over the phone and spoke to Kyle. “It's Jessica McCallum. She's inviting us to dinner tonight at her place. Shane McBride and his wife will be there. Do you think it's safe to go? Sara and I haven't been out at night since—”

“Not without me.” He directed a level look her way.

“You're invited, too,” she hastened to say, realizing she hadn't made it clear they were all expected. As if they were a real family.

“Yes. I want to talk to McBride's wife.”

Danielle hoped Jessica hadn't heard his reason for attending. She spoke into the receiver. “Yes, we can make it. At seven? That will be fine. Yes. See you then.”

Hanging up, she realized she had deferred matters
of their safety to Kyle. She shouldn't start depending on him again. He wouldn't be around long. A sigh worked its way out of her. A terrible heaviness settled around her heart.

Troubled, she finished flouring the chicken pieces she'd planned for supper, then stored them in the refrigerator. Finished, she stood at the sink, unsure what to do next.

Sara was taking a nap. The house was silent and forbidding. Danielle glanced outside the window, her gaze on the shadows under the pine trees as the afternoon sun slowly went down. As was her habit now, her eyes scanned the horizon, searching for the danger she sensed always around her and Sara. The feeling wouldn't go away!

“Relax,” Kyle said, suddenly beside her. “You're as jumpy as a rabbit on opening day of the hunting season.”

“I feel that way.”

She tried to take a calming breath, but the scent of him caught in her throat. Once she'd loved to bury her face in the groove of his neck and shoulder and inhale the spiciness of his aftershave and the warmth of his skin.

Once, so very long ago.

The grief of his absence rose from that nameless place inside her, making her clench her teeth as pain pierced her soul and reminded her again of his leaving her.

A finger under her chin turned her to face him. “You look so forlorn sometimes,” he murmured, his mouth no more than inches from hers. “Like an orphaned Bambi with no one to turn to.”

“I've felt that way, too.” She tried for a light tone, something to ease the tension that sprang between them.

“I'm not going to leave until this whole mess is cleared up. You have my word on it.”

His voice was deep, solemn, a pledge to her and Sara's future. She fought an urge to lean into him, to share the burden of their child's safety, to admit all the many fears she'd faced during the past few weeks. She swallowed, then swallowed again as tears fought a battle with her pride.

“Because we're a case?” she finally asked.

“Because you're my family.”

Their eyes locked, his hard and determined, almost angry. She knew the question had been cruel. “I'm sorry,” she managed to say.

He shook his head. “It doesn't matter.”

She heard the resignation in his tone, the knowledge that it was over between them. She saw the bitter despair in his eyes. She didn't understand it.

“You really cared about us, why would you stay away for two years?”

“I told you.”

“Our safety.” She shook her head. “A family stays together, works through the problems together.”

“I made a decision based on the information I had at the time. I can't go back and change it.”

He met her gaze steadily. Why did his being there make the death of their marriage seem so much harder? How could it have happened when she'd loved him so much?

“Dani,” he said softly, suddenly, as if the old loving name were torn out of him.

For a moment, she saw the same torture in his eyes that she felt inside. She started to open her arms to him and offer him all the comfort she could give, knowing she would find the same in his arms.

The moment hung suspended between them like a golden thread of promise, tantalizing her with what could have been. Could have been, but wasn't.

“It's too late,” she whispered.

He stepped back, his face once more controlled, an unreadable map of a place so remote she knew she would never find it. “Yes, I know.” He gave an odd half laugh. “You don't have to worry. I won't force myself on you.”

With that strange remark, he left her and went outside. Through the window she watched as he followed every track in the glistening snow as he surveyed her tiny kingdom. She had never worried about him forcing himself on her. That had never crossed her mind. She went to check on Sara, feeling like the doomed princess in some dark fairy tale that had no happy ending.

 

“There. That's it.” Danielle pointed out the driveway leading to the McCallum house.

Kyle turned in. The headlights of the truck picked out the details of the vehicle already there. He parked behind Shane McBride's car. Sara unsnapped the seat belt and looked up expectantly, her eyes shining.

Danielle unfastened the belt and opened the door. Kyle took hers and Sara's hands as they walked up the snowy sidewalk to the front door. Jenny was there before they could ring the bell. “Come in,” she urged.

She tugged Sara inside. Danielle and Kyle followed them as Jessica came to greet them.

“I'm so glad you could come. Kyle, it's nice to meet you again. Here, we'll hang your coats in the closet. There's a peg for your hat,” she told Kyle.

In a couple of minutes, they filed into the living room while the girls scampered off to Jenny's room where her dog was banished for the evening.

Jessica introduced Kyle to Sterling—the two men had already met that week, Danielle learned—and to the other couple, Angela and Shane.

Angela, who was about five or six months pregnant, wore a holly-red maternity outfit with matching tights. Her cheeks were pink, and she looked healthy and happy. With her dark hair and green eyes, she was a perfect foil to Shane's clean-cut good looks. Shane was around Kyle's age, Danielle thought. Angela was in her late twenties, early thirties.

The two were clearly in love. It showed in the way they glanced at each other, in the way Shane's hands were there to help her up or hold her chair when they went to the dining room, in the way her tone changed each time she spoke directly to him.

Danielle's throat closed in the alarming way it did when Kyle had appeared on her doorstep, dusted with snow, during the blizzard. She followed Jessica into the kitchen where the girls were sitting down to their supper. Sugar, Jenny's dog, sat quietly by Jenny's chair.

“Sara wants a dog,” Jenny told them. “She could ask Wayne if Freeway and Daisy have had any more pups.”

Danielle noted the light in her daughter's eyes as
she gazed at Sugar and couldn't say no. “We'll see,” she promised vaguely.

“A dog might be a good thing,” Jessica suggested.

“It would bark at night if strangers tried to get into your house,” Jenny said earnestly, her blue eyes solemn. “And it could bite the two bad men who took Sara.” She squeezed her friend's arm. “A dog is a very good thing.”

Sara nodded, then looked at her mother, her heart in her eyes.

Danielle sighed and gave in to fate. “I'll ask Mr. Kincaid next time I see him,” she promised.

“I'll help you remember,” Jenny said. “Wayne is my brother, just like Clint. I'll tell him if you forget.”

Danielle couldn't help but laugh. “Thanks.” She helped Jessica serve the crown roast and roasted potatoes. After taking her place at the table, she was startled when Kyle leaned close.

“You were laughing,” he said. “That's the first time I've heard your laughter in two years.”

She glanced into his eyes, then away. She couldn't face that heated gaze without melting, and she couldn't afford to do that. Kyle would be gone soon, back to his old life, the one he'd had before meeting her, she had realized during the long months of loneliness. The one he preferred.

“What was funny?” he persisted.

“I…nothing.” Longing rose in her, along with the grief she thought she'd learned to live with.

“Jenny thinks Sara needs a dog,” Jessica mentioned when she was through serving. “I think Freeway and Daisy have some pups that are about four months old. You should ask Wayne about them.
Sugar has been a wonderful pet. She's smart, a good watchdog and she adores Jennifer.”

“A mutual admiration pair,” Sterling added. “It's very humbling to know you come in second to your child's dog in her affections.”

The six adults laughed. Shane patted Angela's tummy. “Maybe we should ask Kincaid about a dog for our girl here,” he suggested, a world of warmth in his tone.

The tears rose perilously near the surface. Danielle fought to keep her smile in place.

“You know you're having a girl?” Kyle asked.

“Yes. We saw her on the sonogram.”

Kyle frowned. “Did you have one of those?” he asked, his deep-blue gaze on Danielle.

She nodded.

“Why didn't I know about it?”

“You were on a case, remember? It was the time you went to the Pentagon to talk to someone about the quasi-military group that had bought a place up in the mountains.”

“Did you know Sara was a girl?”

“Yes. I didn't want to, but I couldn't help looking while the doctor checked her out. She was sucking her thumb. I have a picture of it. I didn't show it to you when you got home because…”

“Because?” he said, his voice dropping to a deep, quiet level that caused a hitch in her heartbeat.

“Well, I didn't think men were interested in things like that.”

“I think men are more interested than you women give us credit for,” Shane told her. “We just have to be careful and act like we're not impressed, else you
gals might think we're mushy and wimpy and all that.”

That drew another laugh. The conversation moved on to other topics like the town and the weather after that. Later, when everyone was relaxing over coffee in the living room, Sara came and sat in Danielle's lap. Jenny sat beside her father.

“I came here for the peace and quiet of the town,” Angela said when Kyle asked about her coming to Whitehorn. “Little did I know.” She shook her head and glanced at Sara.

“The two men in the parking lot wanted to know about some money your…uh…late husband had?” Kyle asked.

“They wanted to know where the money was. They said Tom had it and I had better hand it over. I can't imagine what they were talking about. The business was nearly broke, I discovered after his death. I don't know what he was mixed up in, but those men…well, they scared me.”

“You didn't recognize either of them?”

“No, they wore ski masks over their faces. They were dressed in jeans and winter coats. I have no idea who they were. Maybe I was a case of mistaken identity, too, the way Sara was because she was wearing Jennifer's coat.”

Shane took her hand when she sighed, her face puzzled and troubled by the strange happenings.

Danielle felt Sara stiffen slightly. Glancing down, she saw the child wasn't asleep as she'd thought, but was watching Angela, her blue eyes filled with fear. Danielle experienced once again the helplessness she'd felt upon learning Sara had been kidnapped.
Not even the gun in her purse—and yes, she was licensed to carry it—offered her any comfort. What chance did a lone woman and child stand against two hardened criminals?

Sometimes, usually late at night when she couldn't sleep, she doubted herself as a woman and a mother. Her husband had essentially abandoned her and their child, putting his case before their happiness. She couldn't seem to break through her daughter's fear and get her to talk. Maybe it would never happen.

Kyle laid his hand on her arm for a second, then moved on to Sara. The five-year-old's hand looked so tiny in his. She watched as Sara hesitated, then closed her fist around his thumb and held on, her manner slightly wary, but at the same time, trusting. She saw Kyle swallow hard and blink the sudden sheen from his eyes.

Her own smile trembled as she welcomed this first, tiny gesture of confidence toward a male that Sara had displayed since the kidnapping. Danielle turned her attention back to the conversation, which was still on the scuffle in the parking lot that occurred prior to the men grabbing Sara.

“I've wondered whether Tom's partner had anything to do with those men,” Angela was saying. “He disappeared after Tom's accident, leaving me to straighten out the mess at the office and close the business down.”

“What was his name?” Kyle asked.

“Dillon Pierce. I never liked him,” Angela said, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

Sara pulled away from Kyle. She placed both hands over her mouth. Danielle looked on, puzzled, as Kyle
watched their daughter intently. She leaned her head over so she could see Sara's face, but the child kept her head down and her hands over her mouth.

“Sara is tired. I think it's time we were getting home,” Kyle announced suddenly. He stood and offered to take Sara, but she shook her head and buried her face in Danielle's neck.

Danielle saw the quick flash of pain in his eyes. “I'm sorry,” she said. “It's just…it's not you personally,” she finished lamely.

“I know. She's wary of strangers, all strangers.”

His smile broke her heart. She looked away, feeling sad and confused and uncertain.

 

Danielle roused from her introspection when Kyle pulled up in front of the house. The lights spilling from the windows looked inviting…like home.

“Wait,” Kyle said when he pulled into the garage and turned off the engine. He came around the truck and lifted the sleeping child from her arms.

Sara woke, looked from Kyle to her, then settled her head against his shoulder and went back to sleep. Danielle quickly went ahead and unlocked the kitchen door and held it open. Kyle carried Sara to the bedroom.