SEAL Of My Heart (33 page)

“So were you after the money all along, Sheila?”

“Better to marry a rich man than a poor man, Kate. Didn’t your mama ever tell you?”

“But you’ve embezzled. Surely you didn’t think Randy would stand by and let that happen?”

“Ah. I see what you’re asking. No, it was always about the money. So, when he fell for you, I was left with only one option and I took it. You’re the reason I took the money. Your fault, really.”

The phone in Kate’s chest began to vibrate again. How Kate wished she could be allowed to read it.

“So, we’re going to play a little game, Kate. Remember olly, olly, oxen free from when you played hide and seek as a kid?”

“Of course.”

“You give me time to get away?”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

“I’m going to guarantee you do. Give me your wrists.”

Kate tried to see what Sheila had in her hands. It was a clear plastic zip tie.

“Come on, put your palms together and hug this.” She walked to an old clay pipe about four inches across. As Kate placed her palms together, Sheila tucked the gun under her arm briefly until she got the zip tie around Kate’s wrists and cinched it, cutting into Kate’s flesh.

With her back up to the massive wine rack and her arms secured around the pipe, Kate had nowhere to go and no possibility of getting away.

“My more devious self says I should get rid of you for good, because somehow I don’t think you want any part of my life or my wicked schemes. Just stay away, okay? I call olly, olly, oxen free. Count to one hundred, and I’ll be gone. Gone from your life forever,” she whispered in Kate’s ear.

The buzzing started again and this time Sheila heard it and viciously dug the phone out of her bra.

“Oh, my God, Kate. Gotta go.” She tossed the cell phone against the wall and ran up the cellar stairs. At the top of the stairs Kate heard the click of the massive lock.

Sheila’s footsteps echoed throughout the cellar. Kate was halfway relieved to finally be alone until she began to smell smoke. Then she realized. Sheila had set fire to the house.

She’d remembered a conversation she’d had with Tyler about improvising. What was it he said? He could get out of any restraints. They’d practiced it. He’d even said something about zip ties. There was a way to get out of them. There were always ways to get out.

She moved her palms up and down the pipe, feeling for something that protruded to use as a temporary saw. A plastic pipe had been affixed to the ceramic one, and tied with a metal band with a nut and screw holding the band in place. The edge of the screw was sharp. Kate rubbed the zip tie back and forth over the screw edge to see if it would cut into the plastic, and while it didn’t break the tie, rubbed off some of the ribbing that held the tie in place, and after several attempts, the tie fell loose and she was able to get free.

Running up the stairs she worked the door handle, which had become warm from the fire that probably was raging on the other side. Smoke began to fill the cellar. She knew she didn’t have much time.

Glancing up toward the ceiling, she saw the fire humidity and heat sensor. Her landlords would have the information going to their cells or laptops, wherever they were. Perhaps they would alert authorities. It was easily eight to ten feet in the air and could not be reached from the floor.

She gathered up two wine liters. Aiming for the sensor, she threw them at the ceiling. The first one missed by a foot. The second one hit the sensor but appeared not to damage it.

She needed a more substantial bottle. She scanned the racks and saw some dusty champagne bottles. She lifted two and found them so heavy she wasn’t sure she could heave them far enough. Climbing back up on the table, she hoisted them at the wall, but the glass fell easily two feet short. Delicious bubbly sprayed all over the bottles below.

Her arm was getting tired. She heard a car leave the driveway, and realized Sheila had probably commandeered her SUV.

Kate decided to try one last time. Without climbing up on the rickety table, she underhanded a vintage bottle of champagne straight at the sensor, and this time the case cracked and she went weak with relief when she heard the a bell start ringing.

Now all she had to do was wait and pray someone would come before she was overcome by smoke or fire. Would they find her here in the cellar?

She heard other vehicles outside, and began to scream. “Help! Please help me. I’m in the cellar!”

Finding a metal wrench, she began banging on the clay pipe, yelling at the top of her lungs. She heard footsteps and coughing. Someone tried the door.

“Yes! Yes! I’m in here. Please help me!” she yelled.

She ran up the stairs, banging on the oak door and fell forward and onto the floor as the door was suddenly opened and a cloud of smoke engulfed her. A shirt was placed over her head and powerful arms led her outside to the yard. He stumbled, unsteady on his feet and she fell with him onto the lush green lawn.

Under the stars of the night sky, coughing her lungs out, she saw Tyler’s bare chest and realized the shirt she wore on her head had all the wonderful smells she’d missed. A pair of crutches lay sprawled to the side. She noted his upper leg was in a dark brace, held with white inch-wide straps. She fell into his arms as he lay back against the cool green grass. He held her close, while she sobbed for the sheer joy of feeling her chest press against his while he powerfully took command of her world.

She felt protected and safe for the first time since he’d left five days ago. It didn’t matter what else happened, she was safe.

‡

T
yler was sure
he’d damaged his leg, but didn’t care. The pain in his upper thigh wasn’t anything like the joy he felt at having found her. Nick and Devon had been right. There was no way this woman was ever going to let him go, and he was not going to let her go until he had to.

The fire turned out to be only superficial and was put out quickly. Investigators questioned them.

“Anything else you want to tell us, like where this Sheila or Joan or whatever her name is, where she’s headed?”

Kate laughed. Tyler was getting looked over by the paramedic who was poking and prodding him and causing him a bit of pain. “I know she’s headed to greener pastures. Somewhere where she’ll be surrounded by stupid rich guys.”

The investigator shared her chuckle. “Unfortunately, that could be just about anywhere.”

“It could, except for one thing.”

“And what’s that, Miss Morgan?”

“I can tell you how to find exactly where she is, and where she goes after that.”

Tyler turned his head. “What? How?”

Kate shook her head. “At the time, I thought it was a stupid idea. The guy who sold me the car she took said I’d be glad I bought it someday, and you know, he was right. For once the salesman was right.”

“About what?” Tyler asked.

“No. It couldn’t be that easy!” the investigator exclaimed.

The flashing red lights and white spotlights played circus acts across Tyler’s face. “Someone tell me what’s happening?”

“She bought one of those car locator things,” the investigator said. “I’ll be God damned. Wish I didn’t have to share this with the FBI, but they’ll want to pick her up. Hate it when I make it that easy for them after all the bullshit they give us.”

Kate didn’t care. “The best thousand bucks I ever spent.”

Within seconds, cooperation between the insurance company and the police yielded the car, with a very surprised Sheila talking on her cell phone to one of her girlfriends.

Kate was relieved this chapter with Sheila was over. This would give them important time to work out the details of their new lives together.

Two weeks later
, Gretchen flew down for their engagement party. Tyler’s parents came down as well. Kate’s nieces were all over Tyler, who still had to be careful about his leg though he was off crutches. They’d all gone on long walks in the wine country, since Tyler had some time off and the girls loved having him around as a father figure. Kate’s mom and Tyler’s mom got acquainted and enjoyed each other’s company. Linda Gray talked about the spicy love affairs she was cooking up in her books, avidly listening to Tyler talk about his SEAL buddies which were fodder for her stories.

The two of them worked a little over at Nick and Devon’s winery. Tyler told her about the nursery sale and Sophie, Nick’s sister, who had always had the dream of living in paradise. Just seemed right to be working on the legacy she had started, with her new friends. Part of Kate understood what Sophie saw in the little valley floor surrounded by vineyards. Maybe with her knowledge of the wine business, she could add some of her own magic to the mix.

After the engagement dinner, held by candlelight in the modest living room of her parents’ home, Kate’s mother asked for the floor. All the guests, including Tyler’s parents and Linda, had left, and the girls were put to bed. Gretchen was staying over, so only Tyler, Kate, Gretchen and Kate’s parents were left.

In a very solemn mood, Mrs. Moore brought out a cardboard shoebox and placed it on her knees. She looked at her husband, who pulled his chair up alongside her, placing his arm around her shoulder. He kissed her on the cheek, then removed his arm and waited for her to speak.

“I’m afraid I have a confession to make to all of you,” Kate’s mom began. “Something that’s been brewing for over thirty-four years.”

Gretchen and Kate shared a look. Kate didn’t have a clue what her mother might say next.

“Tyler, when Kate told me her story about meeting you on the plane, it affected me so deeply. And Joe and I have talked about it, and we need to tell you our story. And this affects you, Gretchen, as well.”

“Me?”

“I met a young Marine who was coming home at Christmas to visit his parents before his final deployment over in the Middle East. We met and talked. Talked about a lot of things. I had a boyfriend at the time, but I was afraid to tell him. This handsome,” she looked at her husband, “young man in uniform was really the first fighting man I’d ever met. I was immediately struck with his sense of honor. His duty to country.”

Kate’s mom cried quiet tears. Her husband took her hand. “You’re doing great, Louise. We’re all here.”

“We wrote to each other after we parted. I have to say that we fell in love over those letters.” She placed her palm on the box. “These letters.”

Gretchen was watching her parents, first studying her mother and then her dad. Her spine had straightened.

“We agreed to meet, and he flew out one weekend and we stayed together in San Francisco. It was a very painful parting. I don’t have to tell you how difficult it was for me. But he wrote to me every day.”

Kate’s mother looked down at the box.

“The letter I wrote telling him I was pregnant never reached him. It was returned with several other things he’d asked to have sent to me in the event of his death.”

Kate looked up at her sister and saw Gretchen crying softly as she realized the young Marine had probably been her father.

“I loved him, Gretchen. He’d never been raised in a family, didn’t even know where they were, or it might have been different. When I met your father some weeks later and we began to date, he came to love the baby growing inside me, Gretchen. You were that baby. And we decided that the best way to honor that young Marine was to give you the family he never had. These are his letters, all of them. I want you to have them, honey. They belong to you.”

‡

I
t was touching
to watch Gretchen go upstairs, after hugging her parents close, wiping the tears from her mother’s face, kissing her cheeks, and then taking the private box of loving words up to her room. Tyler loved these people as much as he loved his own family.

He was filled with gratitude toward the young Marine who had come into Kate’s mom’s life, into her heart, and departed this world, making the ultimate sacrifice and leaving behind some little piece of magic, the magic that was Gretchen.

He knew this was something that could happen to him and Kate. And he realized right then that Kate’s mom had made the right choice. She went on with her life. She created as perfect a world as she could, gave her baby a father, a good man who would always love Gretchen as his own child.