Heartsong Cottage (28 page)

As people climbed into their vehicles and began to leave, Daniel leaned against his Jeep with his arms crossed and a smile on his face waiting for Shannon, who stood over by the Murphys' car looking at kiddo pictures on Sarah's phone. Celeste approached Daniel and said, “I'm heading out, too, but first I have something for you. A gift.”

He patted the Batman arm in his pocket. “I don't need any gifts, Celeste. You've already given me the world.”

“Actually, ‘gift' probably isn't the right word. This is something you've earned.”

She pulled something from the pocket of her white leather motorcycle jacket—a pendant on a long silver chain. Daniel recognized it. What seemed like half the guys in town wore it.

“This is the official Angel's Rest Healing Center blazon that I award to those who have embraced love's healing grace. You have traveled a long, arduous road littered with potholes of heartbreak, Daniel, but in loving Shannon, you have reached your destination. Love heals. Wear your pendant close to your heart and carry the symbol of love's healing grace with you as you begin a new journey of joy with Shannon at your side.”

He leaned over and kissed Celeste's cheek. “Thank you, Celeste. I'm honored. And I'm so grateful to have found friends and my second chance here in Eternity Springs. I know you are a big part of the rejuvenation of this town that made it all possible. You are truly the town's treasure.”

“Why, that's a lovely thing to say.” She beamed up at him, sunshine in her smile. “Now, I do have one word of caution before I go. About Shannon.”

“Shannon?”

“The dear girl still has a little work to do.” Celeste patted him on the arm. “Remember that, Daniel. Don't let hurt block you from the truth.”

What hurt? What truth? But before he could ask, she turned away and headed for her Gold Wing. Then Shannon walked up beside him with a gleam in her eyes and invited him home to Heartsong Cottage, and he forgot about everything else. He traveled back to town with lightness in his heart beyond all imagining when he'd arrived in Eternity Springs.

“This has been a bearable day,” he told her, taking her hand in his as they approached her back door, having parked the Jeep in the detached garage. “Justin loved the outdoors. He loved being with friends. He loved life, and today, I remembered to remember that. Having you beside me, supporting me, helped tremendously. Thank you, sweetheart.”

“I was glad to help. Everybody was. We have great friends.”

He released her hand to open the screen door. “Yes, we definitely do.”

Shannon stepped inside and he followed her, setting the empty picnic basket Hope had forgotten on top of her dryer. “I'd like music,” she said, walking toward the front room. “What are you in the mood to hear, Daniel?”

He thought of the Jerry Jeff Walker tune whose lyrics spoke of listening to country when one was in pain. “Not country. How about—”

Her startled scream cut him off.

Daniel's heart dropped. The baby! He was moving toward the doorway before the sound died away. He burst into the living room to see her standing frozen, her complexion bleached white, her hands steepled over her mouth.

Her round-eyed, horror-filled gaze was fastened on a cloud of stuffing lying strewn across the hardwood of her living room floor. Daniel gazed from her to the stuffing, then back to her. “Jeeze, honey. You scared me. I thought something bad had happened.”

She clutched at the back of a nearby chair, her knuckles white, and shifted her wild-eyed gaze toward the window as if seeking for signs of an intruder. The cop in Daniel went on full alert even as Soupy poked her head around the bedroom door, the body of the teddy bear he'd brought back to Shannon after his trip dangling from her mouth. “Bad dog,” Daniel scolded, before returning his attention to Shannon.

“It's all right, honey. I can replace it with the exact same thing. It won't be any problem to call the shop and have it shipped.”

A series of emotions flashed across her face. First bafflement replaced the fear, then slow-dawning realization, and finally, relief. “Soupy. It was Soupy.”

Who did you think it was?
“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left her in the house. She was a terrible chewer as a puppy, but I thought she would have grown out of that.”

“Soupy,” she repeated.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then offered him a bright, fake smile. “No problem. That's good. A new bear would be nice.”

Daniel watched her closely, reminded of crime victims in the wake of an attack. He hadn't missed her hand moving to cover her belly, a mother's protective gesture as old as time.

This wasn't about the bear. What was he missing here? “Shannon, what did you think—”

“Excuse me,” she interrupted. “I need to run to the bathroom. Growing baby, you know.” Then she dashed for the bathroom, leaving a frowning Daniel in her wake. What the heck was that all about? Her reaction had been totally out of proportion to the event.

Daniel stared at the closed bathroom door. This wasn't the first time she'd reacted peculiarly, either. His mind returned to Mallory Square during their Key West visit. She'd blanched then, too. “When somebody called her by a different name,” he murmured softly.

Well, crap. He didn't need a visit from his Gypsy sixth sense to figure this out. Shannon was afraid. Of something. Someone. He'd shaken it off then, but he couldn't—wouldn't—do that this time. She had thought this blizzard of stuffed-animal polyfill was something other than what it was. The pieces to this particular puzzle fit together nicely and presented a clear and disturbing picture.

Shannon was afraid of someone.

Or, maybe he should say Chelsea was afraid of someone.

Seriously afraid. And she hadn't told him. After he'd laid open his soul to her, she'd continued to keep secrets? Why?

She doesn't trust me.

Why not? Because he failed his family once before? She's afraid history would repeat itself?

The idea was a knife to his heart, and harsh words formed on Daniel's tongue. Then the words Celeste had spoken to him that morning echoed through his mind.

“About Shannon.”

“Shannon?”

“The dear girl still has a little work to do.” Celeste patted him on the arm. “Remember that, Daniel. Don't let hurt block you from the truth.”

He repeated those words to himself now and added,
Slow down. Don't assume. Get the facts and keep the focus on what's important.

Something had the woman he loved frightened to death. He needed to find out what that something was.

Damned if he'd lose this second chance.

He turned on his heel and went into the kitchen where he removed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the tap. He drained it, refilled it, and drank half of it down again. At the sound of Shannon's return, he set down his glass and filled a second glass with water and faced her. She still looked pale.

“Are you all right?” He handed her the glass.

“I'm fine.” She sipped the water.

“In that case, why don't you tell me what's going on, Chelsea?”

*   *   *

Shannon couldn't hold back a little whimper. He'd put the clues together. No big surprise, of course. The man was a detective.

Facing her moment of truth and the steady demand in his crystal-blue eyes, she briefly considered attempting to bluff her way through it, though better sense prevailed. Daniel didn't deserve more lies, and something in his expression—patience, maybe?—suggested that everything would be okay. Hadn't she decided while washing her face not two minutes ago that if the moment presented itself, she'd come clean with him?
Here's your moment.

“I planned to tell you, Daniel.”

He folded his arms and waited without speaking.

“I thought it best to hold off until after today.” She dragged her fingers through her hair and crossed to the stove. “I need some tea. Do you want some tea? I'm going to make some tea.”

She noisily filled a kettle with water—banging the sink, rattling the lid, and setting it clumsily on the burner. She was shaking badly. Without saying a word, Daniel walked over and put his arms around her and held her. It was exactly what she'd needed, and relief washed through her.

Turning to face him, she took a deep breath and said, “I'm being stalked. The bottom line is that I'm hiding from him. Eternity Springs is my refuge.”

Daniel lifted his hand and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sit down, Chelsea, and tell me your story from the beginning.”

I'm not that woman anymore.
“Shannon. I'm Shannon. She's who I am now.”

“Okay.” He pulled a chair away from the kitchen table. “Sit down, Shannon.”

His easy acceptance of name choice had tears pooling suddenly in her eyes. Her knees a little weak, she sank into the chair.

“The beginning,” he encouraged.

“You have to promise me if I tell you, you'll leave it alone. You can't fight him. He will win. He wins every time.”

“Just talk to me, okay? From the beginning.”

“No. You have to promise. I want your word, Daniel, otherwise I will sit here until doomsday, and I won't say a word.”

“Honey. That's not—”

“Your word, Daniel!”

His lips went flat and he sighed. “All right. One question first. Are you wanted by the authorities?”

She blinked, totally taken off guard. “No. Not at all. I haven't done anything wrong. I haven't even had a traffic ticket in ten years.”

“Okay, then. You have my word.”

“Good. All right. Whew.” She exhaled a heavy breath and began. “Okay. I grew up in the Midwest. My parents divorced when I was a teenager and my mother remarried a nice guy from California. My father moved to Argentina with his girlfriend. I haven't seen him since. My stepdad was a great guy and my mom was happy, so it was all good. I did my undergrad at Stanford. I started dating a boy—Ted Colby—who was a computer engineering student. We fell in love and got engaged. It took me way too long to figure out that Teddy and his circle of friends—all idealistic computer nerds—had become involved in computer hacking. Serious hacking. Government databases and stuff.

“That
is
serious.”

“I told Ted he had to stop. We almost broke up over it, but he eventually agreed that the thrill wasn't worth the risk. He told his friends he was quitting and that started a big brouhaha with the guys. The leader of the group was charming and friendly and very good-looking. He came to my apartment to plead their case, but he couldn't change my mind. He seemed to give in graciously. Yet, from then on, something about him made me uncomfortable.

“The summer before our final semester, Ted did an internship in Chicago. I worked a summer job, so I stayed busy, but I was alone. A few times the guys invited me to hang out with them, and I did. It was all friendly and innocent—until the night Russell followed me home and wouldn't leave.” She paused for a long moment, working up the nerve. “He raped me.”

Daniel swore beneath his breath and the gentle encouragement in his eyes evaporated in a flash of fury. “God, Shannon. No. Did the cops—”

“I didn't report it.”

“But—”

“No. Let me get this out. I didn't report it because when I told him I was going to, he laughed in my face. No one would believe me. I was a little nobody from Kansas. He was somebody. Well, the son of somebody. He came from money. His father was a politician.”

“Who?” Daniel demanded.

Shannon held her hand up, palm out, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Go on.”

“I didn't tell Ted until he came home. August fifteenth. I told him August fifteenth.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “They all shared a house. An older place. Two stories. All the bedrooms were upstairs. Ted went home to confront Russell. The official story is Russell wasn't home. Ted somehow tripped down the stairs and broke his neck. Just an accident, everyone said. I even believed it. In fact, I blamed myself. He'd been so angry and I thought he must have been distracted and that's why he fell. I cannot tell you how horrible I felt.”

“What made you suspect Russell?”

“His smirk at the funeral when he looked across Ted's casket toward me. I will remember it until my dying day. We were leaving the cemetery and he sidled up beside me and said, ‘I told you to keep your mouth shut.'”

Daniel muttered a curse.

“Even then, I told myself my suspicions were crazy. Being a rapist didn't make someone a killer. It wasn't until later, after the second … incident … that suspicion escalated to belief.”

“So he's your stalker.”

“As always with Russell, I can't prove it, but I know he is. I didn't enroll that semester. I was a basket case and I left school. I moved home, rented a duplex near my mom's house, and took an admin job at the local high school. I came home one afternoon and found a Ken doll on my front doorstep. His head was separated from his body. I didn't think much about it at first. I thought a neighborhood kid had been playing on my porch. The next time, though, was creepy. He came into my house and left the first teddy bear on my bed. The bear had a big red bow tied way too tight around his neck.”

“Teddy bear. Ted,” Daniel murmured, making the connection. The kettle began to whistle, and he poured hot water into a mug and set it in front of her.

She chose a tea bag from the caddy on the table. “I think so. Since then, it's always been teddy bears, and the frequency with which they appeared escalated. I moved four times. He always found me. When the bears began showing up without arms and legs and the missing limbs turned up at Mom's house, I really began to get scared.”