Taken: A Kept Novella (3 page)

Garrett crossed his arms, cocked his head, and narrowed his eyes, but his mouth tightened as if he was fighting a smile.

Didn’t Jordan see that? Cam let go of her hand. “Thanks for letting me crash the Foster party.” He offered Dillan a hand. “Congrats again, man.”

Dillan shook his hand but looked between him and his sister. “Thanks. Glad you were here.”

Jordan’s fingers settled around his arm. “I’ll walk you out.”

So she
was
trying to get him killed. “All right.”

He said his goodbyes to Miska, to Jordan’s parents, and a now openly smirking Garrett and followed Jordan to the foyer.

She paused before the front door and smiled up at him. “Today was great, Cam.”

Yeah, it was. Except for the last thirty seconds maybe. He pushed that uncomfortableness away and took in the sight of the woman he’d fallen for. “Thanks for spending it with me.”

“Anytime. And thanks for hanging out with my family. Everyone loves you, you know.”

No. They only
liked
what they knew about him. His smile faded, and he couldn’t help running a hand through his hair, glancing around the small entryway for something to say. “Jordan…”

Why did it always come back to the secrets he’d kept? The things he regretted? To events he couldn’t change?

Jordan’s eyes held no worries, no confusion. Just confidence.

Because she was so young and innocent.

She didn’t know his story. Didn’t know his family’s saga. Didn’t know the damage done, the trouble they’d been in. Her family was perfect—just about. Could she really understand what had made him
him?

“I don’t come from this.” He flipped his hand out, gesturing to the space around him. “Your family, Jordan… They’re great, but I can’t give you this.”

“What do you mean?” She stepped closer. “Give me what? I’m not following.”

“Your parents are wonderful. You’ve got this close-knit family that loves each other. I’ve got…” A mess.

“Have you forgotten about Miska? About Garrett?” she asked, clearly referring to the less-than-perfect pasts they’d come from.

“It isn’t like that, Jordan.”

She tipped her head, gave him an
are-you-serious
glare.

“Look, I’m being honest with you. I like you… way too much. But there are things I haven’t told anybody. Things I
can’t
tell anybody.”

“Why not?”

She wasn’t even trying to understand, was she? Which showed how black and white her world was. “Because it’s not safe to, Jordan.”

“You’re not making sense.”

He probably wasn’t, not to her. “I don’t know if this is a good idea—”

She laughed incredulously. “Are you serious? You’re worse than Matt, Cam! At least we’d date for a few months before he’d disappear. You didn’t even make it through the day.”

“Hey. Stop it. That’s not what this is.”

“Really?” Her eyes shone. “You’re not ending things between us? Because that’s exactly what it sounds like.”

“There’s nothing to end, Jordan. We haven’t started.”

She jerked open the front door. “Good. Then leave.”

“No.” This whole conversation had just gone insane. “You’re blowing this out of proportion. You’re not listening to me.”

“No, I’m listening. You’ve spent a morning and an afternoon with me, and you’re chickening out.” Her voice quivered, the anger that had colored it gone. “I’m so tired of guys being like this. Playing me, jerking me one way and then the other.”

“I’m not playing you,” he growled.

“Then what are you doing?”

Her question stumped him. He was doing the same thing he always did—protecting the woman he was dating. Keeping her at a distance, just in case the past came back to haunt him.

Like before, the wall he put up would cost him a relationship, love, a new family.

He couldn’t lose Jordan. But how could he tell her everything? It wasn’t his call to make.

Dillan came around the corner from the living room, a grin on his face. “I hope I’m not interrupting, but Garrett thinks you two are—”

“Just saying goodbye.” Jordan’s voice was firm. Final. “See you at church, Cam.”

“You said you’d trust me,” he reminded her.

“And then you pulled a Matt. ’Bye, Cam.” She pulled the door open even wider and gestured for him to leave.

Cam looked at Dillan for help, but Dillan’s face only registered surprise and confusion as he stared at his sister.

Once again, Cam had made a mess of it. And in record time too. As much as he wanted to stay and fight, he couldn’t. Not yet. He nodded goodnight to Jordan, then to Dillan. “See you guys tomorrow.” He stepped through the doorway.

The door closed, loudly, behind him.

Cam halted on the sidewalk, tempted to turn around and tell her to quit throwing a fit. But this wasn’t the right time or place. Not when they were celebrating Dillan and Miska’s engagement. Jordan needed an evening to cool off.

And he needed time to think. To figure out how to be open with a woman when he couldn’t even talk about the majority of his life.

Basically, he needed a miracle.

Anna was already home when Cam pulled into his driveway. Her car was tucked in the garage, out of sight like always, but the front door was open, the screen door offering a peek into the entryway.

When he walked through the door, the sound of Anna cleaning the kitchen met him—the clank of a pot in the sink and the steady splash of running water. He tossed his keys onto the console table by the coat closet and followed the sounds.

She was looking over her shoulder at the doorway when he entered, her hand clenched around a metal sauce pan. Her grip relaxed, and she smiled at him. “Hey. How are you?”

“I’m okay.” He eased onto a stool on the other side of the island. He felt old. Old, tired, weary. “How are you all?”

“Hanging in there.”

“How’s Sophie?”

“The same.” She rinsed the pan and set it on top of a stack of other clean dishes in the dish drain. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to head back. Spend the night with her.”

Which meant he might not make it to church tomorrow. Wouldn’t get to see Jordan. What timing. He ran a hand down the back of his neck. “Sure.”

She dried her hands on the towel on the oven rail and tightened her ponytail, studying him the entire time. “Cameron? What’s going on?”

He rested his elbow on the island top, ran his thumb across his lip, and stared past her, out the kitchen window into the backyard.

Avery and Logan chased each other across the grass, hidden by the high walls of his privacy fence.

What he wouldn’t give to have a whole family. To have a wife he loved, who loved him back. To have his own kids filling the extra bedrooms in his house—the bedrooms Avery, Logan, and Anna now filled.

Anna interrupted his thoughts. “What happened with Jordan today?”

“Her brother got engaged.”

“Your friend? Dillan?”

Cam nodded.

“And Jordan?”

He met Anna’s eyes. “She wanted to date me.”

“That’s great.”

“
Wanted
. Past tense.” He sighed. “I brought her here today. Just for a few minutes. She saw your picture. Yours and Sophie’s.”

Anna glanced at the fridge, then back at him. “What happened?”

“The same thing that always happens. I can’t tell her anything—except she took it wrong and got mad at me. Thought I was ending things.”

“Are you going to let her go?”

“No.” The word came without thought, but once it was free, he didn’t try to take it back. “No. I feel like she’s the one for me. I’ve spent these years getting to know her, and then this past month since she’s been home…”

“So tell her.”

The simple sentence shocked him. He could only blink Anna’s way. “Tell her?”

“About us. About everything. You knew, Cameron, that someday there’d be a woman worth sharing it with.”

She sounded so sure. “You’ve never met her.”

“You’ve told me everything I need to know. Plus you’re different when you talk about her. She matters. A lot.”

She did. “You sure I should tell her? You’re the one with the most at stake.”

Anna shook her head. “You’re not losing this one because of me. You tell her. And if you want me here when you tell her, I’ll be here.”

Just that quickly, the weariness of loss lifted from him.

Anna had never talked like this before. She’d always been so full of fear, always watching over her shoulder. Always hiding.

“What if…” he started.

“What?”

“What if she doesn’t take it well?” Why was he still grasping at reasons to hold back? Jordan might be young but she was solid. Mature. Their story wouldn’t freak her out.

“Pray about it, Cameron. Ask God to guide you. But if you’re asking me, I’ve heard enough to know that there’s something special about this girl.”

There absolutely was.

Anna pushed away from the island. “Have you eaten?”

“Yeah. You guys?”

“Just finished. Can you make sure Avery and Logan get their baths tonight?”

What a woman Anna was, carrying such a heavy load. And now she was freeing him to go after the woman he… well, loved. “We’ll be good here, Anna. Go take care of Sophie.”

She kissed him on the cheek as she passed by.

“Jordan.”

Cam’s voice behind her made her falter, her shoulder bumping the auditorium door as she left the church service Sunday morning. She turned.

He was a few people behind her, quickly making his way through them to her.

He hadn’t been at Sunday School that morning—which had surprised her, honestly. For almost as long as she’d known him, he’d been known as the guy who dated the new girl for a few weeks, then ended it. But he’d never not shown up the Sunday after a breakup. Where had he been today?

He stopped in front of her, closer than she expected. “Hey,” he said, his voice low and serious. “You got a minute?”

He thought whatever they had to talk about would only take a minute? Should she be insulted or relieved? “I guess.”

He reached for her arm, then caught himself and motioned to the side of the foyer.

Jordan followed him. “You missed Pastor announcing Dillan and Miska’s engagement.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t…” His words fell flat again, like he was struggling over each one. “I couldn’t get away when I wanted to.”

Okay. She had no idea what to say to that. To any of this.

“Can I apologize?” he said. “For how everything ended yesterday? I just started saying the stuff I normally do, and I wasn’t thinking about how it would come across to you. I’m sorry for that.”

An apology was nice, but what did it change? “Thank you.”

“I’ve thought about yesterday a lot.” He swallowed and looked down at his hands, scowled at them. “About the things I wanted to say to you but didn’t think I could. About things going on in my world, things nobody here knows about…”

Cam and his secrets. She and Miska had talked about him last night after he’d left, about how whatever was in his past had to be something big for him to still keep from addressing it. “Are you ever going to share it with anyone?”

He met her gaze, his hazel eyes deep and somber. “I’d like to tell you.”

His words stilled her.

“You asked about that picture on my fridge. And I told you I wanted to tell you someday. If you’re still interested in hearing it, I think the time has come.”

So quickly? How had
someday
become the next day? “Who is she?”

He lowered his voice. “She’s my sister.”

Why was that such a secret? “And the little girl?”

He cleared his throat. “My niece.”

“She has Down Syndrome?”

He nodded.

“Why the big secret? Are you ashamed of her?”

“No.” His response was quiet but filled with frustration. “Sophie’s the best—” He glanced around the foyer, then back at her. “Jordan, I want you to meet my sister. Can I pick you up tomorrow night? Bring you to my house to meet her?”

Why was he being so secretive about a sister and niece? What story could there be? “Of course.”

“Thank you.” His shoulders eased. A hint of a smile crossed his face for the first time. “I know you’re giving me another chance after last night, and I want you to know—”

She interrupted him with her hand. “We’re just talking, Cam.”

“I know, but I can’t imagine letting you go the way Matt did. Matt was a fool for not grabbing you up.”

Was she hearing him right? Who was this—a Cam look-a-like? “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just give me a chance.” His fingers tangled briefly with hers. “Tell your brothers to spare me. ’Cause I don’t think I can hide how I feel about you anymore.”

Dead ends. Every. Single. One.

He tossed his pen onto the bedspread and leaned back against the headboard. Outside his hotel window, Sunday marched into Monday. Even the nearby highway seemed to be quieting.

He was never going to figure this out if he didn’t sleep.

He closed the laptop and set it, his yellow notepad, and pen on the table by the window. Peterson, his client, said there was no way he’d identified the wrong guy. This Cameron Winters had a friend who’d been caught up in a love triangle gone wrong, a huge media story about the baseball player that had been all over the news a year ago. That’s where Peterson had seen Winters—on TV coverage, with his friend and the friend’s girlfriend heading into a courthouse to testify. It had taken some doing to ID this nameless friend who wasn’t a part of that media blitz, but Thomas had done it. And Peterson swore that Cameron Winters was Hannah Rice’s—or Hannah Winters’ or whatever she went by now—brother. Peterson had met him once, just before it had all started. And Peterson never forgot a face.

Hopefully Peterson was right.

In the bathroom, Thomas stared at his bleary eyes in the mirror. He had a few more places online where he could look for Hannah. And if that didn’t pan out…

He took out one contact, then another. He didn’t want to tip his hand yet, but if Hannah didn’t show up, he’d just have to find out what Winters’ neighbors knew.

And if they didn’t know anything…