The Edge of Heaven (52 page)

But that was a long time ago. Her stepfather had seen what was happening and hadn't liked it. She'd never known exactly what he'd said or done to change things between her and Peter, but they had changed. Not that it mattered now. The damage had been done a long time ago.

"Zach, there's nothing back there for me anymore."

"Okay."

He waited, patient as always, as if he thought she might change her mind. She wouldn't.

"Look, it was good to see you again," she said. Unsettlingly good. She knew she couldn't afford to linger.

"You, too. You look great," he said, and it was probably her imagination, had to be, that he stared at her legs for a minute as he said it.

She grabbed her purse, dug for her keys, then remembered one more thing. "About the engagement party... You don't really want to go, do you, Zach?"

"What if your parents were in some kind of trouble, Julie? What if Peter was? Would you want to know then?"

"No," she insisted, that little voice inside saying,
Go now, while you still can.

They were a mess no one could fix. She'd be damned if, now that she'd built a new life for herself, she'd be drawn back into theirs. If that made her selfish in Zach's eyes...

It did. She could see that. Family was so important to him.

But then, she'd disappointed Zach McRae so many times before. She'd disappointed herself, too, but she could live with that. The distance from her family was what kept her safe—and halfway sane.

"I really have to go," she said.

He nodded once again, still watching her in that quiet, unsettling way of his. She would not let him make her feel bad, and she wouldn't defend herself to him.

She wasn't going to let herself think that this meant she probably wouldn't see him again. Judging from her unsettling reaction to him, it was certainly for the best.

"I'm sorry, Zach," she said at the door.

He stood leaning casually against it. "I hope this works for you, Julie. I hope it makes you happy."

But she knew he didn't think it would. He thought it would all backfire in her face, and everything she was trying so hard to hide would come out.

Bed of Lies

The McRae's Series

Book Three

by

Teresa Hill

~

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Bed of Lies

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Complete your journey with an excerpt
 

from Teresa Hill's

Critically Acclaimed

Unbreak My Heart

Excerpt from

Unbreak My Heart

by

Teresa Hill

USA Today Bestselling Author

Prologue

Nine-year-old Allie Bennett woke to a hand shaking her shoulder, a light shining in her eyes. "Allie?" Her mother's voice was odd and tense. "Come on. We have to get up now."

"Is it morning?" She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in her soft pillow. "Do I have school today?"

"No. No school. It's not morning. But we have to get up. Now."

"Why?" Allie said. Outside, it was dark. Inside, the only light came from the flashlight her mother held.

"You and I are going away. Tonight."

"Away?" she whispered, the first flickering of unease creeping in.

Her sister, Megan, went away. And never came back.

Megan
ran
away six months ago. Allie still missed her desperately. She sneaked into Megan's room sometimes and lay on Megan's bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms clasped around them, and inside she just ached from missing her sister.

"Why are we going away?" Allie whispered, scared now. It seemed she'd been scared the whole time since Megan disappeared.

"We just have to. Be a good girl for me and hurry." Her mother went to Allie's closet and flung open the doors. "Get dressed while I pack your things."

Her mother handed her a pair of jeans and a sweater, socks and her favorite shoes. Still sleepy, she hurried to put them on, watching in growing fear as her mother hastily stuffed things from Allie's closet into two suitcases. Cold, Allie grabbed her favorite doll and sat on her bed wrapped up in her comforter.

Outside, the rain was loud. At times she heard the crackle and boom of thunder, saw a flash of lightning. Her mother, breathing hard and still wiping away tears, took Allie by the hand and led her down the big, curving staircase to the front door. Two more bags sat there, packed and waiting. From out front, Allie heard a car horn.

"There's the cab," her mother said, reaching down for the bags.

There were footsteps behind them. Allie turned and ran to her father. He lifted her into his arms and held her, something he rarely did now that she was so big.

She held on tight. "Daddy? We're going on a trip?"

"Oh, baby. I love you. Will you remember that? Always? I love you."

She nodded gravely. He put her down and went to her mother. There were whispers, strangely intense whispers. Something was terribly wrong. Sick with fear, Allie remembered the morning they woke up and found Megan gone. She wanted to be back upstairs safe in her bed.

Her mother and father began arguing. Her father said, "Don't do this, Janet. Don't take her away from me." Her mother, weeping, said, "I've already lost one daughter. I'm not going to lose another one."

And that was that. Her father turned away.

Allie ran to him and threw herself into his arms once again. "Daddy?" she said urgently. "You're not coming with us?"

"I'm sorry, baby." She saw tears in his eyes, thought his heart must hurt, just like hers did. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" she said. Whatever it was, he'd said he was sorry. When someone said he was sorry, you were supposed to forgive him and be his friend again. Her mother taught her that.

"If I could go back and change things, I would, Allie," he said. "And I'll always love you."

There was a rush of air, and the sound of the rain grew louder. Someone must have opened the front door. She buried her face against her father's neck, the next moments a terrifying blur. She remembered screaming and holding onto her father, her mother pulling her away, her father wearing such an odd expression on his face as he watched them disappear into the night.

Chapter 1

It was just a house, Allie told herself as she climbed the front steps for the first time in fifteen years and paused outside the massive door of wood and beveled glass.

Of course, that was like saying this was merely a small town in Kentucky. That it held no power over her. It was like saying all the people now gone from her life were nothing more than her family, like claiming that finding herself virtually alone in the world didn't matter in the least.