Heaven Preserve Us (22 page)

Brodie did that gruff throat thing again.

"Trust me, they can be scrumptious, steamed and tossed with
butter and a little fresh tarragon," I said. "But I don't think I'll be
able to bring myself to eat any for quite a while."

But Brodie couldn't have cared less about my culinary preferences. He was looking toward the side yard. Seeing the fur along
his spine ruffled up all stiff made my own adrenaline pump, and I
scrambled to my feet. He started barking, sharp, alarmed barks.

Luke and Seth walked around the corner.

"Hey, dog. How's it goin'?" Luke said easily.

Brodie shut up and wiggled his butt.

My own hand was shaking a bit as I waved. "You boys must be
nearly finished."

"Just spread the last of the gravel. You're all set."

"That's great!" My enthusiasm for getting the chicks had been
weighed down by the events of the past few days, but now it surfaced again. "How much do we owe you?"

Luke held up a finger and walked over to his brother. They conferred for a few moments, then Luke called out a figure to me.
"You don't have to give it to us right now," he added. "Sometime
next week'll be fine."

Relieved, I bobbed my head. "We'll track you down."

"Sounds good," Luke said and walked out to the street. Now I
saw their truck parked down the block, in front of their house.
Seth followed and paused as he shut the front gate. He lifted a
hand and a shy smile lit his face.

I waved back. "We sure appreciate all your hard work. Those
chickens are going to be the happiest in town, thanks to you two."

His head ducked in embarrassed acknowledgment, and he followed Luke home.

I should go look at how it all turned out, I thought, pulling the
down coat tighter around me and sitting back down in the rocker.
In just a minute or two ...

I was freezing when I woke up. Old, arthritic Brodie didn't seem
very happy either, having been stuck out on the porch with me.
My back was stiff, my eyes puffy, and my hands felt like ice cubes.
I reached up to feel a cool streak on my face and found a little trail
of drool.

Nice. What must the neighbors think?

The rocker was tucked far back under the porch overhang, so
maybe no one had noticed me slumbering all slumped over it. At
least I hoped so. I liked to think that at least one or two of them
might have been interested enough to come check on me. I wondered whether Allen had come to stalk me and found me slobbering on my front porch. That would be a turnoff, no doubt.

I could only hope.

Oh, God. What time was it?

Inside, the phone was ringing. I staggered in to pick it up.

"Sophie Mae? Are you all right?" Worry infused Barr's voice.

"I'm so sorry. I had a fight with Meghan last night, and I didn't
sleep very well and had an appointment this morning and came
home all exhausted and fell asleep on the front porch-can you
believe that, the front porch? And I just woke up, and I'm on my
way. You're still at the hospital, aren't you?"

A brief silence as he absorbed all that.

"I'm still here."

"Be there in a jiffy, I promise. Leaving right now."

"Hey, slow down," he said. "I'm not going anywhere. But for
the record, you scared me, not showing up when you said you
would."

"Sorry, really, really I am."

"I'm just glad you're okay. See you soon."

I hung up, loaded with guilt. Brodie waddled over to his bed by
the door, directing a baleful look in my direction before curling up
and putting his head on his cold paws.

I didn't blame him.

When I got to the hospital, Barr was dressed and impatient to
leave. I grabbed his stuff and followed behind as the nurse wheeled
him to the entrance, much to his muttering chagrin.

Outside, it had finally begun to snow.

Big, fat, fluffy flakes drifted down from the heavy clouds above.
Already a scant layer of white covered everything except the pavement, dark and wet-slick against the dazzling alabaster blanket.
Barr had stopped his grumbling as soon as we went outside, and I looked down to see an expression of pure delight on his face. I realized it was reflected on my own. We were both from a part of the
country-Wyoming for him, Colorado for me-where it seriously
snowed in the winter. While I might have complained about it
when I lived there, at heart I missed the white stuff after all.

I retrieved my Toyota from the parking garage. Once Barr was
ensconced in the passenger seat, I flipped the heater switch on
high and maneuvered through the panicked drivers toward the
highway that led to Cadyville. It would take us a while to get to his
little house on the edge of town, what with the crazies on the road
who thought snowflakes in the air meant they had to drive as erratically as possible. I concentrated on avoiding them. Barr watched
out the window for several minutes.

Out of the blue, he turned to me and said, "Kelly O'Connell
doesn't seem to exist."

A minivan cut in front of me. I braked and switched lanes,
forming my response: "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Owens was on last night. I called him and had him do a preliminary check. He got back to me almost right away-no record
of any males named Kelly O'Connell in Washington state."

"When you say `record,' do you mean he hasn't done anything
illegal?"

Barr took a deep breath. "I mean he doesn't have a phone number, an address, a car registration, or a driver's license."

My heart bucked, and I had to remind myself to pay attention
to the traffic. "Are you saying he's using a fake name?"

"Maybe. Or he's not really from Seattle. Owens will try to do a
more in-depth check when he comes in for his shift today. As a
favor to me, I might add."

"And a favor to me. I understand. But, Barr, Meghan's dating
this guy, whoever he is. In fact, she's out in a freakin' yurt with Erin
and him right now."

"I'll find out more when I can," he assured me. "Do you know
where they are?"

I shook my head. "Someplace in the Cascades." My hands were
white on the wheel, only unlike the other drivers around me, it
wasn't because of the weather.

At Barr's house I helped him find a suitcase and a big duffel
bag, and we filled them with everything we thought he might need
during his sojourn at the Bly-Reynolds homestead. Traffic was
bumper to bumper by then, and it took half an hour to get across
town. He was gray with exhaustion when I helped him inside and
up the stairs to Erin's bedroom. I went back down to unload his
things from the car.

When I hauled them up to his new, if temporary home, he was
reclining on the bed, propped up by the big purple hippo. He
looked upset to see me carrying the heavy bags, but I waved off
any apology before he could speak.

"Don't start. That's why you're here, after all. So we can take
care of you. Do you want help getting into your pajamas so you
can get some sleep?"

His answering look told me just what he thought of that idea.
"I'm fine in my sweats. Just going to take a quick nap."

"Okay." I walked over to the window and opened the curtains
so he could see the snow still coming down outside. When I turned
back, he had begun to snore lightly.

Downstairs, I let Brodie out to do his business. Then I found
some leftover split pea soup with ham in the freezer and heated it up. A thick slice of homemade bread with butter and a glass of
cold milk to wash it all down. I felt like a little kid eating that meal,
and figured Barr would welcome some of the same when he woke
up. I put the rest of the soup in a bowl, ready to heat, and went
into the living room.

I couldn't sit down, restless energy prompting me to pace while
I waited for Meghan and Erin to get home. I was worried, and not
only because she was out there with some guy that didn't exist on
paper. The snow would be much worse in the mountains, and I
didn't even know where to send help if they needed it. Getting
back would be difficult at best. They had shelter, and would probably be okay if they had to stay out there all night, but the very
thought made me more anxious than ever.

I'd built a fire, swept and mopped the floor in the kitchen and
entryway, dusted the living room and scrubbed the toilets in both
the upstairs and the downstairs bathrooms when the phone finally
rang. I was tidying the books on the shelves in the living room by
then, and ran to pick it up before it woke Barr.

The caller ID said it was a wireless call, but no name or number. Figured. I may have had a bit of an attitude in my voice when
I answered.

Not Allen. Meghan. Thank God.

"Be there soon," she said. "We only now got to where there's
some cell phone reception, and I knew you'd be worried."

"Talk about understatements. Where are you?"

"Coming south on Highway 9. The traffic's bad, but we got off
the mountain before it really started to storm."

"Everything okay?"

She sighed. "Yes. It's fine. And we had a wonderful time, thanks
for asking. Is Barr there?"

"He's upstairs, asleep. Getting packed up and over here took it
out of him."

"Tell him he can stay as long as he needs to. See you soon"

We rang off, and I realized I hadn't asked for the number of the
cell phone she'd obviously been calling from.

Still, I felt a lot better.

MEGHAN DIDN'T GET HOME for almost another two hours. I knew
the traffic would hold them up-the roads turned into parking
lots when it snowed, and everyone desperately tried to get home,
but I was getting worried all over again by the time they finally
came in a bit after nine.

Barr sat at the kitchen table, insisting he didn't want to be
treated like an invalid. "I only need a little more rest than usual."

"Okay," I said, and pointed to the bowl of hearty soup. I
reached for a chunk of bread and the butter.

"A guy could get used to this," he said, spooning up a bite.

The front door banged open, and I left him to his dinner. The
sharp scent of winter cold greeted me in the foyer. Erin came in
first, blinking sleep out of her eyes and rubbing at the imprint of
rough upholstery on her left cheek. Meghan came in next, ruddycheeked and glowing even after hours spent in traffic. Kelly entered behind them, carrying our big picnic basket and an empty wine bottle. Brodie toddled over and gave him a big, brown-eyed
doggie grin.

Traitor.

"You made it," I said, taking the basket and bottle from Kelly.

He shucked out of his coat and laid it on the bench by the door.
"What an experience! I've never seen people react to snow like that in
my life. I have to say, I'm in fairly desperate need of your facilities."

Huh. If he were from Seattle he would have known what to expect from a Northwest snowstorm. I waved him toward the downstairs bathroom.