Lover's Leap (4 page)

Cam took another look in the mirror, then said, “Devin, I think I’ll take a quick shower.”

He wasn’t putting off one of the biggest moments in his life. He was practicing good grooming.

Yeah, right
.

The truth was that he was nervous about how Lori might react to seeing him. He hadn’t chased after her that day at the marina because at the time, he’d thought it the best for everyone. What if he’d been wrong? What if today turned into a disaster? Judging by his daughter’s reaction that day, Sarah hadn’t been singing his praises all this time. What if Lori hated him? What if she told him to take a flying leap off Murphy Mountain?

If that’s what happens, you’ll deal. You’ll be persistent and win her over. You can do this
.

With his thoughts on his daughter, Cam stepped into the bathroom, where everything was new, from the ceiling light fixture to the bathtub, sink, and commode, to the twelve-inch tile on the floor. Just why Cam looked at the tile and saw beige linoleum, he didn’t know, but that’s what happened. Suddenly, he was eight years old once again.

Fear leached into his bones as his eyes flew open. He lay in his bed, staring into darkness, not knowing what had awakened him but sure that he didn’t like it. His heart pounded. He gripped his sheet with trembling hands and yanked it over his head. He lay hiding, cowering, trying not to listen, but listening hard
.

Finally, he heard it. A cry. A sob. His name?

Mama
.

His mother had called for him. He needed to go see what she needed. But he was afraid. So afraid. Something was wrong. He tried, but he couldn’t make himself move
.

“Cameron,” came his mother’s thready voice. “Help me.”

Cam bit his lip and willed himself to move his feet. Daddy wasn’t home. Daddy was never home anymore. Go. Go. Go. Go. Tears rolled across his temples
.

He held his breath and listened hard. He couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear anything. Finally, panting like a tired dog, he slipped out of bed. The hardwood floor was cold against his bare feet. Cautiously, he opened his bedroom door. He didn’t see anyone or anything. Biting his lip, he stepped into the hallway
.

Something smelled bad, and it made his stomach churn. “Mom?”

No answer. Light shone from the bathroom, so he moved toward its open door. One step. Two. Three
.

He saw the blood first. A stream, a river of it, against the beige linoleum. Then his mother’s dark blood-soaked hair, her pale white face. Her eyes were closed. “Mama?” he asked in a little voice
.

Her lashes fluttered. Opened. Her voice was little more than a whisper. “Hurry. Get help.”

Where before he couldn’t move at all, now he couldn’t move fast enough. He whirled around and dashed for the phone in the kitchen. He punched 911 and lifted the receiver to his ear, and then he remembered. No dial tone. They hadn’t paid the bill. He dropped the phone and dashed out the door just as the clock chimed two a.m. Where was his dad? His dad should be here!

Cam ran to the house next door and pounded on the door, shouting, yelling, “Help me. Help me. Please. Help!”

He knocked on the door for what seemed like a long time, but no one answered. The Roosevelts didn’t like the Murphys. “Help! Please. Help!”

He saw a light come on, but nobody answered the door. Sobbing, he gave up and ran across the street. The Barlows didn’t hate his dad. Maybe they’d answer the door
.

Pain sliced into Cam’s foot. He tripped, cried out, and fell. His foot slammed against the ground, knocking the lid from the tin can free. Getting up, he ran and did his best to ignore the pain. He knocked and knocked and knocked, but the Barlows didn’t answer, either. Finally, at the third house, a woman answered the door. “My mama. She’s bleeding bad. Please, please, help us.”

Knock. Knock. Knock
. Devin’s voice jerked Cam back to the present. “Dad? You okay?”

Cam blew out a harsh breath. Holy hell. His hands were shaking, and his knees were weak. Guess he couldn’t avoid those ghosts, after all. Clearing his throat, he said, “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” He reached over and switched on the hot water. “Everything’s fine. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

Half an hour later, he emerged from his bedroom showered, shaved, combed, and dressed in his newest pair of jeans and a freshly pressed long-sleeved green sport shirt.

Seeing him, Devin’s eyes widened in surprise. As a rule, Cam seldom bothered to iron. In a demonstration of good instincts, Devin held back any smart-aleck remarks surely fluttering through his mind and simply asked, “So where is our first stop?”

“I think it’d be better if I did this by myself.”

“I think it’d be better if I had your back.” When Cam continued to hesitate, he added, “Am I a member of this family or not?”

Dev’s question came right from the heart of old insecurities. Recognizing that fact, Cam surrendered. “Good point. All right, first stop is the Reese house. It’s just a few blocks away. We’ll walk. We can check out the street vendors on our way. It’s possible we’ll run across them there.”

“You want to approach Lori in public? I don’t think I’d like that if it were me.”

“No, but there’s no reason we can’t walk up and quietly request that we all retire to a place with privacy.”

They exited the house and headed west on Seventh until it intersected Aspen, where white tents lined both sides of the street, offering a wide variety of merchandise for sale. The street was crowded with people, more people than Cam had ever seen in Eternity Springs. The first person he recognized and made eye contact with was his third-grade teacher, Mrs. Auld.

He’d always liked Mrs. Auld. She was a good teacher who nursed his interest in reading and instilled the love for books that he’d enjoyed ever since. She’d been kind to him. After his mother died, when he’d missed school for a week because of the raging infection caused by the neglected cut on his foot, she even came by his house with a stack of books for him to borrow.

Of course, that had been before the incident with Andrew Cook. Today, when she spied him, Mrs. Auld’s eyes went round with shock, and she brought both hands up to cover her mouth.

Guess she’d recognized him, too. Cam was insulted and, frankly, hurt in a third-grade sort of way.

He gave her his shark’s smile, then glided away.

Two booths up Aspen he spied the banker, Mr. Carson, and received a similar reaction. After the third such response, by the owner of the gas station—what was his name? Barker? Parker? Something like that—Cam kept his smile pasted permanently on his face. He began to hum the theme from
Jaws
below his breath.

By the time he’d crossed Sixth Street, the weight of the chip on his shoulder had doubled.
It’s been twenty years. Can’t these people realize that things have changed? I’ve changed? But no, Eternity Springs is a Colorado version of Brigadoon. Time passes, but nobody knows it
.

Cam knew it. He’d grown up and somewhere along the way realized that while he might have been a full-blown delinquent at fourteen, he’d started out as a scared little motherless kid who desperately needed someone to have his back. None of these fine, upstanding citizens had bothered.

An oil painting on display in one of the tents caught his attention and distracted him from his dark thoughts. It depicted a springtime view of his favorite place in Colorado, the high mountain plateau called Lover’s Leap. A blanket of goldenrods covered the ground and led straight to the edge of the mountain and the ocean of blue beyond.

Noting his interest, a lovely red-haired, obviously pregnant woman approached. “That’s called Lover’s Leap. It’s a spot about ten miles from here.”

“I know it,” Cam said. His daughter had been conceived there. The painting stirred a storm of emotion inside of Cam. Love, despair, anger, joy. Infinite sadness. A part of him wanted to own the artwork. Another part of him never wanted to look at it again.

“I’m happy to answer any questions you might have,” the redhead continued. “That’s my work.”

“You’re the artist?” Cam tore his stare from the painting and looked at her. Studied her. He didn’t know her. “Are you from Eternity Springs?”

“I moved here a few years ago.” Her smile was friendly, but he thought he saw a new note of curiosity in her eyes. “You recognized Lover’s Leap. Are you from around here?”

“No.”

He didn’t elaborate, so she tried again. Extending her hand, she said, “I’m Sage Rafferty, though professionally, I’ve kept my maiden name, Sage Anderson.”

Cam took her hand but ignored the hint. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and to view your art. You have a gift.”

“Thank you, Mr.…?”

“Is this for sale? The Lover’s Leap painting?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. This painting is my contribution to the auction we’ll be having later today to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. It’s a charity our local quilt group contributes to. You’re welcome to bid on the painting, um … I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“I didn’t give it,” Cam replied, impressed by her persistence.

Devin walked up and said, “Dad. I’m in luck. Someone is selling popcorn. You want a bag?”

“No thanks.”

“That accent.” Sage Rafferty’s gaze shifted from Cam to Devin, then back to Cam. “You’re from Australia, aren’t you?”

She knows Sarah
. “Yes, we are.”

“You’re Cameron Murphy.”

“Yes, I am.”

Now her eyes flashed, but not with fear, like the other Eternity Springs residents. Sage Rafferty’s eyes snapped with frustration. “Well, it’s about time you showed up.”

Okay, that reaction surprised him.

She put her hands on her hips and stepped toward Cam. “Does she know you are here?”

He spared a glance around. One person out of three appeared to be watching him with wide-eyed interest. “If she doesn’t know yet, it won’t be long. Is she at home?”

Now the woman folded her arms, thought for a minute, then shook her head. “She’s at the Fresh tent. It’s on the northwest corner of Second and Aspen.”

Cam turned to leave, and Sage called out a warning: “You take care with her, Murphy. She has friends in this town.”

The unspoken “And you don’t” swam after him and attached itself to his back like a remora, but it didn’t bother him in the least. Sage Rafferty hadn’t grown up in this town with him and Sarah. She wouldn’t know that for as long as he could remember, Sarah Reese had been the quintessential Eternity Springs princess beloved by all. He had been the gutter rat the townspeople barely tolerated and didn’t like one bit.

Except for Sarah. She had liked him. For a short, bittersweet, teenage-angst-ridden few months, she had claimed to love him. And he, fool that he’d been, had believed her.

Cam continued down Aspen, only now he didn’t spare a glance at any of the vendors’ tents. He ignored the buzz of conversation that followed him and turned a blind eye toward shocked, vaguely familiar faces. He was a man on a mission. A hunter tracking his prey.

A great white shark at the end of his swim from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to the middle of Nowhere, Colorado.

Then the crowd before him parted and he saw Sarah standing with a pair of tourists. He caught his breath as his body tensed. He gave her a quick once-over.

In high school, Sarah had been the wholesome, fresh-faced pixie-next-door. Now all grown up, she was a sexy, sparkling sprite, still tiny but deliciously curved. She wore a hot-pink T-shirt tucked into form-fitting jeans, and pink canvas shoes. When she threw back her head in carefree laughter, a hollow ache spread through his chest.

He had loved Sarah Reese. Deeply. Completely.
If only …

She turned her head and saw him. Those big, beautiful eyes went round with alarm, and her face drained of color. She mouthed the words
No, oh, no. Not you
.

Not me
.

A volatile mixture of anger and grief rushed in to fill the hollow place inside him.

Not me. Yeah, well, so what else is new in Eternity effing Springs?

Emotion took control and propelled Cam forward. He turned his head first left, then right, scanning the area for Lori. He didn’t see her. His gaze locked on Sarah’s. In the gorgeous eyes that had haunted his dreams for years, for decades … in the same violet eyes that had once shone with love for him … he now saw fear.

Fear. Of him? Really? After all he’d done to protect her?

Well, fine. Just fine. Maybe it’s time I earn it
.

Sporting the great white shark’s cold, dead eyes in addition to its smile, Cameron Murphy strode up to Sarah Reese in front of dozens of people on a public street in Eternity Springs, Colorado, and said, “Hello, Sarah.”

“Cam.” She swallowed, hard. “You’re here. Why?”

“I want to speak with our daughter, Lori. Where is she?”

FOUR

Sarah thought she might just have a heart attack and die right here in the middle of Aspen Street. Surely that would be better than watching the shock and surprise and scandal on the faces of her friends and neighbors as they realized who had walked up and said what.

Cam was here. Here, in Eternity Springs. Looking fierce and ferocious.

And talking. Talking about Lori.
Our daughter
.

Oh, shoot. Oh, shoot, oh, shoot, oh, shoot
.

Sarah’s stomach took a nauseated roll. Heat flushed her body. She was horrified and embarrassed and afraid. He’d outed her. The man had outed her! Here, in front of the whole world, he’d revealed her deepest, darkest secret—that he was Lori’s father.

Why?
she silently screamed. Why had he come here? What did he want?

Lori. He wanted to speak with Lori.

Over my dead body
.

Thank goodness Sarah’s daughter was safe and sound and away in Virginia, working a summer internship at a horse farm. He’d be hard-pressed to track her down there. The last thing Lori needed was to have Cam Murphy show up without warning to turn her world upside down.

Like he’s just done to me
.

Okay. It had happened. That milk had been spilled. The water was already under that bridge. The horse had already bolted from the barn. So now what?

I’ve used up all my clichés, that’s what!

Damage control. She needed to do damage control. Quickly.

Sarah cleared her throat and managed to squeak out a shaky “Hello, Cam. If you’ll give me a moment to secure my booth, I’ll be happy to go somewhere with you and discuss … things.”

“Just tell me where to find Lori,” he repeated, his expression hard, his eyes twin green glaciers.

Sarah glanced frantically around in search of a friend. Where was Nic? Where was Sage or Ali? Where in heaven’s name was Celeste?
I need help!

But instead of a friend, she spied Pauline Roosevelt watching with avid fascination from the tent directly across from hers. Sarah softly groaned. Pauline had lived next door to the Murphys when Cam was little. She’d inherited the title of Eternity Springs’s biggest gossip after Glenda Hawkins moved to Florida, so of course she’d be the one to witness this disaster. The other woman’s eyes gleamed with scandal and disapproval.

Sarah wanted to melt into the earth and disappear. She turned a pleading gaze back to Cam. “This isn’t the place for this discussion. I’ll be with you in just a minute.”

She didn’t wait for a response but turned away and reached for her cash box. She’d no sooner picked it up to leave when a pair of tourists approached, asking to purchase more of the poppy-seed muffins they’d had for breakfast. A quick glance at Cam’s impatient expression had Sarah ready to tell the tourists to help themselves for free, but then an Aussie-accented voice offered, “I’ll be glad to man your booth for you.”

Sarah turned her head and spied the teenager who’d driven the tour van the day of their ill-fated reef trip. The one who’d called Cam “Dad.” While her stomach took a little flip at that particular memory, he flashed her a grin and added, “You can pay me in some of those chocolate-chip cookies. I’m starved.”

“Oh.” This was the child Cam had wanted. Sarah knew she shouldn’t hold his father’s betrayal against him. It wasn’t his fault that his father was a sorry rat bastard. She should be sensitive to that fact. Wasn’t the whole “sins of the father” nonsense at the heart of this trouble? She would be above that. Besides, she needed the help. “Okay. Thank you, um, Donnie?”

“Devin.” He stepped up and smoothly slipped the cash box from her hand. “You have a price list somewhere?”

“Yes.” She tugged a tri-fold brochure sporting the Fresh logo from a plastic display box and gave it to him. “Thanks.”

“Happy to help.” Devin turned to the tourists and flashed a smile. “G’day, ladies. Would you two lovelies care for a drink with your muffins? Looks like we have lemonade, iced tea, or bottled water.”

For just a moment, Sarah stood, watching the teenager from Australia flirt with the middle-aged women from Georgia. Devin appeared to be completely comfortable with the situation, and she had no more reason to delay. Besides, Cam looked like he was about to blow.

She moved out from behind her sales booth and took off walking up Second Street, away from the crowd, away from Pauline the Nosy. Cam Murphy strode along beside her.

Cam Murphy at her side! Sarah swallowed hard against a nervous giggle.
Holy Moses
. This was certainly a first. She and Cam had never walked together in public when they were teenagers. Had she ever dared, her parents would have heard the news before she’d ever made it home. Her dad would have met her at the door with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed in a disapproving frown. Her mom would have wrung her hands with worry, tears pooling in her eyes. It would have been just like the afternoon that they confronted her about her obviously pregnant belly.

What a difference twenty years made. Dad wasn’t alive to frown, and Mom didn’t know how to worry anymore.
Am I lucky or what?

A strangled laugh escaped her.
You’re hysterical, that’s what you are
.

Sarah fought for control by focusing on her surroundings. It was a beautiful afternoon in Eternity Springs. The sky above was clear and a crisp, brilliant blue. Sunshine warmed the easy breeze fanning through the mountain valley. On any other day, she would have taken delight in the sight of a red-tailed hawk making lazy circles around the spire of Sacred Heart Church. Ordinarily, she would have appreciated the riot of pinks, reds, yellows, and purples blooming in flowerpots and baskets at every residence and business along the street. Today she barely noticed the beauty surrounding her.

The beast at her side overwhelmed all her senses.

Anger emanated from him in waves. The farther they walked, the faster he walked. Since she took two strides to every one of his, Sarah soon jogged to keep up even as she wondered why she bothered. Then, just as they approached Cottonwood Avenue and Angel Creek beyond, a thought occurred to Sarah that brought her to an abrupt halt.
Whoa, did I dodge a bullet
.

Lori had considered coming home this weekend for a visit, but a last-minute camping invitation from a college friend had changed her mind. Sarah had been disappointed, but since she knew she’d be busy due to the quilt festival, she hadn’t protested. Now she realized that the camping opportunity had been a blessing for them both.

Cam’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Do you really want to do this here? Beside a trash dumpster?”

“What? Oh. That’s not … No, I thought we’d go there.” She gestured toward Angel Creek and the grounds of Angel’s Rest. But before she could explain further, a familiar voice interrupted her.

“Sarah, my dear,” Reverend Hart called out from the porch of Alton and Wendy Davis’s home. “I’m surprised to see you away from the Fresh tent. Don’t tell me you’ve sold out already. I’ve been planning to blow my diet on one of your brownies.”

The Methodist minister wore a welcoming smile as his gaze shifted expectantly toward Cam.
Oh, no
. Sarah had no intention of introducing Cam to the local clergy.

“Just taking a break, Reverend. You’ll still find plenty of sweets to tempt you at my booth.” She started walking away before she’d finished speaking. When Cam fell in beside her, she said, “We can talk at Angel’s Rest. There’s a gazebo across the footbridge and behind that stand of cottonwoods. We’ll have some privacy there.”

He smirked. “Some things never change, do they? Still afraid to be seen with me.”

The unfairness of the comment stung her.
He
had been the one to insist they keep their relationship a secret, not her. At one point she’d been more than willing to tell her parents about him and to go public with her love for Cameron Murphy, but oh, no. He wouldn’t have it. He’d wanted to protect her reputation.

At least, he’d wanted that until the fight with Andrew Cook that sent him to juvenile detention. After that, he didn’t care about anything or anyone but himself.

Rather than respond, she gave him a withering look and continued toward the footbridge, her temper sizzling, aware that he followed half a step behind. How dare he say that
she
didn’t want to be seen with
him
. He’s the one who rejected her. Rejected their child. Now he shows up here out of the blue, outs her, and wants to be Lori’s father? After he’d spent most of Lori’s life being daddy to somebody else? The nerve of the man!

She flexed her fingers against the itch to whirl around and slap him. No, to make a fist and punch him, over and over again, while she railed at him, telling him exactly what she thought of him. That wouldn’t do. If she got started, she wouldn’t stop, and a public street was not the place for what she needed to say.

Not that privacy was possible now. Not after he’d said what he’d said within earshot of Pauline Roosevelt. Why in heaven’s name had he approached her in public? Had he intentionally wanted to blow up her world?

With each step and every new realization of ways in which his action would affect her, her temper soared. By the time they crossed the creek and approached the gazebo, she was about to explode. She stepped into the shelter and rounded on him, spitting out her words like machine-gun fire. “How dare you!”

“Where is she?” he shot back.

“How dare you waltz into town after all this time and try to ruin our lives!”

“What poison did you feed to her about me?”

“Do you have any clue what you’ve done?”

“Why did she run away that morning?”

“Why did she run away?” Sarah repeated, blinking back furious tears that made her all the angrier. Be damned if she’d let him make her cry. Not again. The ocean of tears she cried two decades ago was enough. “I’ll tell you why she ran away. Because you’re a loser, Cam Murphy! She doesn’t need you in her life. She doesn’t want you in her life. You aren’t worth having in her life!”

He clamped his jaw shut. A muscle ticked at his temple, and at his sides, his hands fisted. In the tiny part of her brain that remained rational, Sarah waited to feel fear that he’d use those fists against her—like father, like son. That fear never came, because deep down inside, Sarah had never believed that Cam was anything like Brian Murphy.

With that reminder of his reality, she felt a pang of shame for the cruelty of her words, but she ruthlessly buried it, saying, “And now you’ve gone and spouted off in front of half the town that Lori has Murphy blood.”

He took a step toward her. “I won’t let you keep her from me anymore.”

“What? Keep her from you! You blew her off. Remember that afternoon when I visited you in juvie jail? When I told you I was pregnant? You replied in no uncertain terms that you wanted nothing to do with … and I quote … 
the mistake
. I haven’t kept her from you. You. Did. Not. Want. Her!”

A muscle worked his jaw. “Well, I want her now. She’s my daughter!”

Sarah put the frost of February in her voice. “No, she’s not. Lori is
my
daughter, Cam Murphy. Mine and mine alone. You can’t have her. It’s too late.”

Cam froze, standing with his fists clenched at his sides, all expression wiped from his face. He could have been carved from the granite on Murphy Mountain.

Sarah held her breath. For years she’d dreamed of this moment, of looking this man in the eyes and telling him that he was a sorry SOB. Well, she’d done it. He’d heard her loud and clear. He hadn’t liked it one bit, either.
Good
.

Sarah lifted her chin, daring him to challenge her. Instead, Cam closed his eyes and slowly lowered his chin to his chest.

Seconds ticked by like hours as she waited for his next move. The fragrance of roses from the memorial rose garden drifted on the air, and in the distance, she heard St. Stephen’s church bells ring the quarter-hour. She couldn’t have moved to save her life.

Finally, Cam lifted his head and looked her straight in the eyes. “Sarah, turning my back on you is the most shameful thing I have ever done. It’s the biggest regret of my life.”

Oh
. Sarah blinked as shock overcame her anger. He’d blindsided her with that. Emotion clogged her throat. She would have thought that the assault on Andrew Cook that put the seventeen-year-old into the hospital and sixteen-year-old Cam Murphy in jail was his biggest regret.

She waited expectantly, but he remained stubbornly silent. Anger returned. Wasn’t he going to offer up an “I’m sorry”? Regrets were well and good, but she deserved an apology. She and her daughter both deserved a great big fat apology for what he’d done and said twenty years ago
and
for what he’d done and said today!

She folded her arms and waited.

Cam raked his fingers through his hair, sighed heavily, then showed that he wasn’t a total idiot by saying, “I’m sorry.”

Then he took a seat on the bench ringing the gazebo’s six sides. In a voice sounding tired and defeated, he said, “Maybe we should start this over. Hello, Sarah.”