Escaping the Past (Wester Farms) (32 page)

“What a way to wake me up,” she breathed at him as he filled her.

“I could wake up like this every day,” he said against her skin.

Just
un
til you go home
. Aloud, she murmured, “You make one heck of an alarm clock.”

She
sighed
as he began to move.
His movements were slow and languorous, drawing out the pleasure until she quaked around him and he stiffened above her.

He rolled, taking her with him, her front pressed to his. “What time is it?” she mumbled, her face pressed against his chest.

He groaned. “Time to get up, unfortunately. I turned the clock off a few minutes ago. I was just watching you sleep.” He brushed the hair from her forehead.

“You’re not supposed to watch me sleep,” she scolded quietly.

“How would you know?” he teased. “You’ve never slept with anyone before. Never woken up beside someone you care about.”

Her heart started to pound. “You care about me?” She tried to sound playful but her heartbeat echoed in her head like a hammer knocking on wood.

He tweaked her nose. “Of course, I do, silly. Why else would I be here?” He smacked her bottom soundly. “Better get up. Bunch of hungry men downstairs.”

Lou groaned, trying to catch her head up with her heart. “I almost forgot Sadie is gone.” She rose and tiptoed to the bathroom. She turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray, then felt him slide in behind her. He took the soap from her and washed her back and the rest of her body. Then he shampooed her hair, gently rubbing her scalp. He pushed her back beneath the spray and kissed her soundly.

“Better get out before I muss you up again.” He turned her around and pushed her out. He washed himself quickly and tied a towel around his waist. He winked at her as he went out the door to go to his own room to get dressed.

She was getting way too attached. He was only going to stay for a short time
,
and then he had his life and his work to return to. There was no way she was leaving the only family she had ever known, not that he had even asked. She wasn’t a city girl
,
and he had made it clear he didn’t want to be a country boy. He didn’t want to be embroiled in a family, even if it was his own.

As soon as he was out of earshot, she rifled through the clothes that had been flung on the floor the night before and pulled out the small jean miniskirt. She reached into the back pocket and retrieved the phone number
Wes
had slipped to her. Her heart pumped a crazy rhythm in her chest as she dialed the phone.

A sleepy voice answered and said, “Hullo?”

“This is Lou Smith. You wanted me to give you a call?”

She heard him shuffle on the other end.

“I need to meet with you. You’re in serious danger and I can help.”

“I thought you were the danger,” Lou replied, deadpan.

“Not me, Lou, but I know who is. How soon can you meet me?”

“I’ll call you when I can get free.”

“I’ll be waiting
.
”

****

Brody whistled while he dressed. He had never felt as content as he did at this moment. He was home. He was with his family. He was with Lou. He had missed this. He had let his anger and his drive to succeed at all costs keep him from the people he loved the most. He barely made it home before his mother’s death but that just made him more determined not to miss one single moment from here on out.

He skipped down the stairs and stopped briefly in the office. He picked up the phone and dialed. He reached the night secretary for his boss, the chief of surgery. “Surgical suite. How can I help you?”

A smile lit his face. “Hi, Beautiful! Do you miss me yet?”

He could hear the smile on her weathered old face. She was sixty-five if she was a day old. “Is that you, Brody?” she chuckled.

“Oh, shucks. How’d you know it was me?”

“
Nobody else tries to sweet talk me the way you do
. What can I do for you?”

“Is the chief around?” Brody asked.

“Nope. He’s in surgery. We just happen to be short one hand around here, you know,” she said candidly. “When are you coming home?”

“Well, that’s what I want to talk to the chief about. I spoke to him last week about maybe transferring to the local hospital here. Do you know if he looked into it for me?”

“Leaving us, are you? What’s her name?” the old woman asked. He could hear her fake fingernails tapping on her desk.

“What makes you think there’s a ‘her’?” Brody asked.

“Because only a woman could make you want to stay away,” she replied.

The chief’s secretary was known for spreading rumors so he said, “There’s no woman, Rita. Just a lot of obligations that are going to take up my time for a while.”

He heard a noise in the doorway and looked up to find Lou staring at him blankly. He turned his back to her and said quietly into the phone, “Can you get with the chief and have him call me about that matter as soon as you see him?”

“Sure thing, Hun. I’ll take care of it for you.”

“Talk at you later, Rita.”

“Bye, Brody.”

****

She knew it, knew it, knew it, knew it. There was no
“
woman back home.
”
At least not one that would make him want to stay. He just had some obligations. She slammed a frying pan on the counter. She guessed he needed to stay long enough to tie up the estate and the farm and was asking for an extended leave. Too bad she hadn
’
t heard the whole conversation.

“There’s no woman,” Lou mocked under her breath just as Brody walked up behind her.

“What’d you say?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she snapped.

“What can I help with?”

“Nothing,” she snapped, again.

“You can’t do this all by yourself, Lou. Just tell me what to do,” he requested.

“If I have to tell you what to do, it’s really not a very big help,” she replied.

His eyebrows drew together. “Something bothering you?”

“Why would something be bothering me?”

“I don’t know. You just seem kind of tense.”

John walked into the kitchen at that moment.

Lou sighed loudly and smiled at him. “Thank God you’re here. Can you help me get breakfast on the table?”

“At your service, ma’am,” he replied as he filled the coffeepot and started setting the buffet.

“Well, hell,” Brody said. “I could have done that.”

“Never mind. We have it under control.” Her smile did not quite reach her eyes.

“If you say so,” Brody said as he walked outside and sat down on the steps of the porch.

“You guys okay?” John asked.

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“You seem kind of tense.”

“Must be your imagination.”

The three of them ushered the hands out and cleaned up after breakfast with Brody pitching in as he saw what needed to be done. Lou wiped the sink dry with a towel and hung it over the edge.

“You feel like running today?” Brody asked.

“No,” Lou replied, touching her forehead. “I have a headache. I’m just going to go and lay down for a minute.”

“I’ll go with you,” he said, starting to approach her.

She held up a hand and pressed it to his chest. “I won’t be able to rest if you’re with me. Just give me an hour.”

Brody stepped back and quietly said, “Whatever you say.”

She turned and walked upstairs alone.

Chapter Twenty-One

Lou quietly closed the door to her room and reached under the mattress to remove the envelope full of photos
Wes
had given her. She dumped them onto the bed and thumbed through them. She smiled as she saw the solemn teenager and her worn
-
out mother, looking so alike yet so different. Her mother had looked tired even after a full night’s sleep. She didn’t look much older than Lou
. S
he had gotten pregnant at such an early age.

Lou stood up and looked into the mirror, comparing her image in the photo with the one in her hand. She had changed. She had grown. She had become more than she had ever dreamed of being as a child. Her bleak existence had become rosy, filled with love and laughter. Instead of living in squalor, she lived in a fine home with wonderful people whom she could call family. They cared for one another, worked side by side and went to bed looking forward to each new day.

“This, too, shall pass,” Lou mumbled as she put the photos back in the envelope and tucked them back under the mattress. These feelings of hopelessness and worry would soon pass. They would be over. Something had to happen to change it all. Now she just had to wait and see what the climax would be.

Lou lay down on the bed and fluffed the pillow beneath her head. She closed her eyes and thought of her daughter and Jeb and Sadie, all of whom were safe. Then she thought of Brody and John, who were downstairs, keeping a watchful eye. She drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

Lou woke a short time later to the feel of a hand brushing the hair from her forehead. She felt strong fingers linger over the scar at her temple. She reached without opening her eyes and clasped the fingers in her own hand, squeezing gently.

“Ready to get up, sleeping beauty?” Brody asked.

“Why?” Lou groaned.

“I need to run some errands. I wanted you to go with me.” Brody said. “John is going, too.”

“So, you don’t have anyone to babysit me?” she asked.

“You don’t need a babysitter. I just wanted your company.”

“Yeah, right,” she said, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. Her stomach protested the quick movement and she covered her mouth.

“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out and touching her forehead.

She nodded, fighting back the nausea. “I’m fine. Must just be the stress.” She moved into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. “I feel like someone has sawed off my right arm with Sarah not here. I just don’t know what to do with myself.”

He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. “I know what to do with you,” he said low in her ear.

She smiled and touched her lips to his. “We had better go if you want to be back before lunch.”

He patted her bottom and said, “I need to grab something out of the safe. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Lou walked down the steps and met John, who was pacing in the kitchen.

“What’s got your tail in a twist?” she asked playfully.

He pointed to his cast. “I get this thing off today. Hallelujah!” he yelled. “I might just have to keep it because it sure does get me some points with the ladies.”

“You get any sympathy dates last night?” Lou asked.

“Not yet but I got some sympathy phone numbers
.
”
H
e grinned like a child.

Brody walked into the kitchen.

Lou walked by John and tapped his shoulder. “You’re incorrigible,” she stated.

“And you, Lou, my friend,” he paused for dramatic effect and then pointed at the base of her neck, “have a hickey right there.” He laughed uproariously and Brody had to cough to cover his own laughter.

Lou tugged at the neck of her shirt, raising it higher. Her face colored instantly and she huffed out the door
, sure the
two grinning men
were
trailing her to the Jeep.

Brody got behind the wheel of the Jeep and started the vehicle. He opened the glove box and placed a large wooden cask inside along with a small velvet box. He closed the glove box, his hand brushing Lou’s knee as he did so.

“What’s that?” she asked.

Brody smiled at her. “The attorney brought me a list of my mother’s assets, jewelry
,
and things that were in the home at the time of her death. There was one piece of jewelry in the safe that wasn’t on the list. I want to take it and have it appraised so it can be accounted for.” He shrugged. “That’s all.”

She pointed to the small box. “And that one?”

“Oh, that’s just a ring of my mother’s. I want to take it and have it cleaned. Sentimental reasons, I guess.”

John chimed in from the back seat. “Can you drop me off at the doctor’s office?”

“Yeah,” Brody nodded. “Can Lou go with you while I go to the jeweler’s?”

“What if I want to go to the jeweler’s?” Lou broke in, her eyebrows drawn together.

“I’ll need a few minutes at the jeweler’s,” Brody answered. “John looks like he could use some company.”

“But…” Lou started.

“Please?” Brody asked patiently.

“Well, if you don’t want me to go with you
…
” Lou frowned.

“I knew you would understand,” he said, clasping her hand in his own and squeezing before he pulled into a parking space at the jeweler’s. He leaned over and kissed her soundly. “Stop by when John’s done and pick me up.”

He left no room for argument as he retrieved the jewelry cases from the glove box and slid out of the Jeep. He slammed the door behind him
.
Lou sat still and watched him cross the street, until
John bumped
her arm.

“I’ll be glad when I can drive again,” he said, bringing her out of her reverie. She slid into the driver’s seat and fastened her seatbelt, unable to figure out what bothered her so badly about this one trip to town.

****

Brody walked into the jewelry store and approached the sales clerk.

“Can I see the store manager, please?” he asked casually, clutching the boxes in his hand.

“Is there something I can help you with, sir?” the gentleman smiled at him.

“I need to have a piece appraised that I feel is quite valuable. I need to speak with the manager about it, please,” he stated
,
his voice quiet.

“Certainly, sir. I’ll see if he’s available,” the clerk replied, ducking behind a black curtain into a back room.

A portly, balding gentleman shouldered his way through the back door and approached Brody. “May I help you?” he asked austerely.

Brody turned toward the man and held out the smaller of the two boxes. “Let’s start small, shall we?” He opened the lid of the small jewelry piece and held it out.

“This was my mother’s engagement ring. I would like to have it cleaned and restored. Can you do that for me? It’s an antique.”

The man smiled as he took the box from Brody. “Quite a treasure you have there,” he said. “Are early congratulations in order?” he asked, his eyebrows arched.

Brody nodded. “Only if she accepts my offer,” he answered, smiling.

“With a betrothal ring like this, how could she refuse?”
 
The salesman
was obviously a man who appreciated a good piece of jewelry. He passed the small box to the sales associate. “Set this up to be cleaned and restored.” He turned back to Brody. “You had another piece?” he asked.

Brody held out the larger wooden cask. “This was part of my mother’s estate when she died but I couldn’t find paperwork to go with it. All the other jewelry had appraisals or valuations so, I just need to find out the value this piece and get official papers for it.”

The balding gentleman cracked the lid of the cask slightly and gasped at the huge diamond that winked back at him. He immediately grabbed a small eyeglass and looked closely at the large gem. Brody saw beads of sweat form on his forehead and the man’s breathing increased to the point where Brody thought he was going to pass out.

“Are you okay?” Brody asked, gripping the man’s shoulder.

The inspection glass fell from his eye and hit the floor as he opened the eye to regard Brody with fascination. He stuttered, “W…w…would it be ok with you if I take this in back for a m…moment?”

“If you’re sure you’re okay,” Brody answered hesitantly.

The man held up one shaking finger and whispered, “Just one moment.”

Brody watched the storeowner go through the curtain and was slightly perplexed when he saw the man pick up the phone. He held the large cask open, talking to the person on the other end, his voice a frantic whisper. He peered over his shoulder and noticed Brody looking at him. He drew the phone closer to his mouth and continued talking. He motioned for an employee to draw the curtain closed.

Brody turned and surveyed the shop. He walked around, admiring the watches and earrings, wondering what type of jewelry Lou would like. Nothing so ostentatious, as he regarded a large piece of jewelry. She was an understated kind of girl. Just the kind he liked.

Brody smiled at the
sight
of an adolescent girl who was with her parents, choosing her first pair of earrings, obviously her birthday present. Brody glanced at his watch, wondering what was taking so long.

Growing frustrated by the wait, he rang the bell for an associate to come out and just give him a receipt for the jewelry so he could leave them and come back later. From the back of the store, a larger gentleman entered the room. He pushed the curtain aside, yet held the jewel cask in his hand. He approached Brody quietly and looked him in the eye. Brody recognized the gentleman as someone familiar but he couldn’t place where he knew him from until he smiled. Crooked teeth and a sneer belied the feigned good cheer. Brody stood up straighter and flexed his own hand, remembering when he had broken those same teeth the night the larger man had tried to steal Sarah.

The man
slowly lifted the edge of his jacket and showed Brody he was armed, the feigned smile never leaving his face.

He began quietly, nodding his head toward the young girl and her parents. “Do you see that nice little family over there?”

Brody nodded, every muscle in his body on alert.

“You don’t want anything to happen to them, do you?”

Brody shook his head.

“Then I’ll tell you what you’re going to do.” The smile became sinister. “You’re going to turn around and walk out that door with me and you’re going to do it without making a scene. I can take that whole family out
.
”
H
e showed Brody the gun in the holster again
.
“
B
efore you can blink. Understand?”

“Understood,” Brody replied.

The man
walked from behind the counter and to the door of the jewelry store,
with
Brody following behind. He held the door open and Brody walked through it. Gary motioned him toward a large SUV, the one he remembered from the dance.

He
opened the door of the SUV and indicated Brody should get in. Just then, he heard a loud and friendly voice behind him.

“Brody! How’s it going, man? It’s been years since I saw you last!”
T
he man cuffed Brody on the shoulder. Then he stepped closer to Gary and stretched to his full height. He reached into his own holster and pulled his gun, holding it down by his leg. He said a little more quietly. “I got the same call you did, Gary. Boss said to tell you this one is mine.” He reached and took the wooden cask from Gary’s outstretched hand. “You want to make a big deal of it?” he asked Gary.