Second Chance (17 page)

Eden gave her a warm, friendly “Oh, hello there.”

The man barked, “Ava, get back upstairs.” He turned to Eden. “Get out.”

Widening her eyes in surprised innocence, Eden said, “But I—”

The man grabbed her arm. “Get out of here. Now.”

“But why?”

Before Eden realized his intent, his fist slammed toward her face. Her arm blocked the brunt of his punch, but he still got in a glancing blow to her jaw. On the way to the floor, darkness closing in, she managed to whisper, “Macaroni.”

   Keeley sat up. Her heartbeat tripled in speed.
Hannah!
Opening the Jeep door, she jumped out and began running.

   Cole kicked the back door open and ran through the kitchen. Jordan’s roar of outrage as he slammed through the front door blended with a woman’s shrill scream and the wailing of a child.

Jerking to a halt in the foyer, Cole took in the scene. Eden was pulling herself up from the floor, and Jordan had a heavyset man pinned to the wall. A lank-haired, malnourished-looking woman stood at the bottom of the stairs. In her arms was a crying child—Hannah Fairchild.

The woman’s eyes saucer-wide, she held tight to Hannah as she turned and put her foot on the bottom stair.

Cole grabbed her arm. “Hold it right there. That’s not your child.”

She jerked away and snarled, “You get away from us.”

Hannah’s little face scrunched up with fear and she let out another wail.

Cole snapped, “This child doesn’t belong to you.”

The woman twisted her head and shouted at the man Jordan still held. “Bobby, don’t just stand there. Do something!”

Cole plucked Hannah from the woman’s arms.

Covering her face with her hands, the woman dropped down to the bottom step and sobbed pitifully. Unable to feel any compassion toward anyone who knowingly kept a stolen child, he whispered soothing words to Hannah as he headed to the front door.

“Everything okay here?” Honor Stone appeared at the entrance, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

“Just a couple of folks here with an abducted child,” Cole said.

Her smile one of delight, she said, “You don’t say.”

The woman’s sobs grew louder and her husband shouted at her to shut up. Blended with Hannah’s cries, the cacophony of noise was ear-shattering. Patting Hannah on her back, Cole strode out of the room, onto the porch. There was only one person who could calm her now.

He halted when he saw Keeley sprinting toward the house. The joy on her face was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. She literally glowed as she screamed, “Hannah!”

The little arms that had wrapped around his neck loosened and Hannah twisted around. “Mommy!”

Cole met Keeley at the bottom step. A lump developed in his throat as her arms reached for Hannah. Tears streaming down her face, she gave a soft sob as she wrapped her arms around her daughter and enveloped her in a tight embrace.

And for the first time in a very long time, Cole realized it was good to be alive.

Keeley couldn’t stop touching her daughter. After being checked by the paramedics as well as the child psychologist called in by the FBI, Hannah had been given back to her mother. Though dirty, terrified, and confused, she’d been declared in excellent health.

The man and woman, Bobby and Ava Oates, were now in the custody of the FBI and were being questioned vigorously. With Hannah snugly in her arms, Keeley had stood a distance away and watched them being arrested. Ava had cried; Bobby had cursed.

Cole had taken her to the local sheriff’s office and let her hear some of the questioning. It had done little good to listen. Questioned separately, neither acted as if they had any idea who they’d purchased Hannah from, or where Hailey might be. Finally, Keeley had asked Cole to bring her home. She trusted the FBI to get the information, but she was the only one who could take care of her little girl.

She had sat in the backseat of the SUV and held Hannah all the way home. The poor baby had snuggled into her mother’s arms and fallen asleep immediately. Other than asking if they were comfortable or needed to make a rest stop, Cole had said almost nothing. He seemed to understand her need to just hold her daughter and absorb the joy of having her in her arms.

An hour ago, they’d arrived home, and despite her intense desire to put Hannah in a bathtub and wash all
the filth and vileness from her child’s skin, she’d restricted herself to using a damp cloth and wiping off only the worst. Hannah had slept through that, too.

Now, propped up on a pillow, she lay beside her daughter and hummed a tuneless song. Thankfulness and happiness intermingled with an anguish she knew would never be diminished until she had Hailey back, too.

The child psychologist would be by tomorrow to see if anything could be gleaned from Hannah. She didn’t want to put her child through any more pain, but she had to find out if Hannah knew anything about her sister. And she needed to know if there was any psychological damage to Hannah. She seemed happy and content, and the psychologist had deemed her well enough to go home. That didn’t mean there weren’t some issues they needed to work through. Only God knew what she had been through since she’d been taken.

“How is she?”

Keeley looked up at the tall, dark man in the doorway. This man was still a stranger in so many ways, but in other ways, she felt she’d known him all her life. Her chest tightened with emotion. What would she have done without him, Eden, and Jordan?

Swallowing past what felt like a permanent lump in her throat, she kept her voice low. “Still sleeping. She’s exhausted.”

“She probably feels safe for the first time.”

Lifting a strand of her daughter’s silky black hair, Keeley rubbed it between her fingers. “I can’t believe she’s actually here. I have nightmares like this every night … that I have them back and then I lose them, then I wake up and realize the nightmares are my reality. I’m almost afraid to go to sleep.”

Though his face was expressionless, something flickered in his eyes.

“You know all about nightmares, don’t you, Cole?”

“It gets easier … eventually.”

“Does it?” She looked down at her sleeping daughter. “Only half of my nightmare is over.”

“We’ll get Hailey back, too, Keeley. I promise.”

He said it with such conviction, she got the feeling that finding Hailey was almost as important to him as it was to her.

“Why do you care so much? Is it because of what happened to your daughter?”

Another small flicker, then he lifted a broad shoulder. “Children should never know this kind of fear.” He stared at her for several more seconds, as if there was something more he wanted to say. Finally he said, “Why don’t you try to get some sleep? I’m going to check in with Honor and see if they were able to extract any information.”

“Will you wake me if there is anything?”

“Absolutely.”

Laying her head on the pillow, Keeley gathered Hannah closer to her and closed her eyes.

Cole shut the door to the Keeley’s bedroom and leaned against the wall. Seeing Keeley with Hannah brought back memories of his own daughter, ones he’d thought were lost for good.

Cassidy had been the joy of his and Jill’s life. He remembered the delight they’d shared when she’d first started crawling. Remembered the first time she laughed. And the time Jill called him at work … got him out of class to tell him Cassidy had said her first word. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember what that word was.

He rubbed at the dampness of his eyes as he headed downstairs for their meeting. Despite Jordan’s insistence that Eden lie down once they returned home, she’d insisted on attending.

Cole entered the living room and was glad to see that Jordan had at least gotten her to lie on the sofa. A small bruise was already forming on her jaw, and he knew from experience that she must have a headache. If the harsh, hard look in Jordan’s eyes was any indication, Eden was probably feeling better than her husband. He’d been furious when she’d been knocked unconscious.

Eden lifted her head when Cole entered. “How’s Keeley?”

An image of her haunted, beautiful face appeared in his mind. “Better, but still hurting.”

“And Hannah?” Jordan asked.

“Sleeping. Poor kid’s exhausted.” Cole checked his watch. “We ready?”

Both Eden and Jordan nodded. Cole pressed the speed dial on the phone beside the couch.

Honor answered immediately, her tone filled with frustrated fury. “They don’t know shit.”

He’d been afraid of that. Transactions like these were often done anonymously, with as little information given as possible between the seller and the buyer. Cole rubbed his temple where a drum serenade had set up for an all-nighter. “Where’d they get Hannah?”

“Friend of a friend hooked them up.” Honor snorted and added, “Husband thought a kid would keep his wife happy. He cashed in his 401(k). Bought her a kid and him a plasma television.”

“You’re tracking down this friend of a friend?” Jordan asked.

“Yeah. Hopefully we’ll have something in a few days. How’s the kid doing?”

“Better than anybody else. She’s asleep in her mother’s arms,” Cole said.

Honor’s voice softened. “Poor baby. How’s Keeley?”

“Ecstatic and terrified,” Cole answered.

“Yeah, don’t blame her. The child psychologist will be by around noon tomorrow.”

“We’ll be ready,” Eden said.

“Okay. By the way, good work. Though I should have your ass for waiting so long to call me. Don’t do it again.” Her voice softened once more. “Sorry you got bruised up a bit, Eden.”

Jordan growled and Eden laughed softly. “No worries, Honor, I’m fine. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

The second Cole pressed the keypad to end the call, Jordan stood. “Okay, my love, you stayed and you listened. Now you’re going to bed.”

“In a minute, Jordan. We need to talk about our next move. Hannah’s home, but how do we know that Keeley and she are safe? This person might be ready at a moment’s notice to grab them again.”

“I’ll keep them safe,” Cole said.

“For how long?” Eden asked.

Cole shrugged; his priorities were set. “As long as it takes.”

“We’ve got to find the bastard,” Jordan said. “If someone hates Keeley enough to have arranged three kidnappings, they won’t stop until they get what they want.”

Cole nodded. “Yeah, whatever the hell that is. If I didn’t think it’d hurt Hannah more than she’s already been hurt, I’d recommend we take her away until we find him. Problem is, with the trauma she’s had over the last couple of months, doing that might cause irreparable damage.”

“No, we’re staying here. I’ll make sure Hannah stays safe. I won’t be careless again.”

They all jerked around. Keeley stood at the door. Looking both fragile and brave, she held a sleeping Hannah in her arms.

“Don’t blame yourself for what happened, Keeley,” Eden said. “No one could have predicted this.”

Cole clenched his jaw. Predicted? Maybe not. But if he’d been where he was supposed to be, doing what he’d vowed to do, he could have prevented it.

She pressed a kiss to her daughter’s head lying on her shoulder. “Perhaps. But now that I know there’s someone out there who hates me that much, I’ll be ready for them.”

Both Jordan and Eden shot him a look, as if he was supposed to argue with her. Cole wouldn’t. Keeley being on guard was a good thing. He planned to teach her some self-defense moves so she could gain more confidence. However, she didn’t have to know that he’d die before she’d ever be put in that position again.

“And you still have no suspicions about who it could be?” Keeley asked.

“Not really. We can talk about it tomorrow.” Cole glanced at his watch. “It’s late. We all need to get some sleep.”

Jordan stood and held out his hand for Eden. “Cole’s right. Let’s catch a few hours and meet again around nine, before the psychologist gets here for Hannah.”

Holding hands, Eden and Jordan said good night and headed upstairs.

“So no news? Those people still aren’t talking?”

As Cole stood he drew in a deep, controlled breath. The beginnings of a migraine were coming on strong. “Not yet. If they have any knowledge of where Hailey is, we’ll get it from them.”

“Do you need something for your headache?”

“How’d you know I have one?”

“My mother suffered with migraines. I recognized the signs.”

“Thanks. Sleep will work better than anything.”

They began walking up the stairs together.

“Would you like …” She swallowed, adjusted Hannah on her shoulder, and started again. “I used to
massage my mother’s neck and shoulders. That seemed to help her. I could do that for you.”

A surge of lust hit him hard.
Great—a blinding headache and a throbbing hard-on
. She’d only asked if she could massage his neck, and suddenly the hot, sweet memories of their night together flooded through him, along with images of all the things he hadn’t done that he’d dreamed about doing. Dammit. He did not need this.

“Thanks. I just need to get some sleep.” Cole ignored her wide-eyed astonishment as he stomped off. Yeah, he’d been rude, but if she’d seen his arousal at such an innocent offer, she’d be a hell of a lot more than just astonished. She would know that he wanted a repeat performance, only longer, more drawn out, and a hell of a lot more times. That couldn’t happen … and his body damn well needed to get the message.

   Keeley felt as though she’d just gotten into bed when the doorbell clanged. Pulling herself from one of the deepest sleeps she’d had in months, she opened her eyes and gazed down at her still-slumbering child. Hannah always slept so deeply. Hailey was the light sleeper. A pang of grief hit her hard and tears sprang to her eyes. She had to get her baby back.

The doorbell clanged again and then again. Whoever it was appeared to be very anxious. Could it be someone with information about Hailey?

Keeley slid her arms out from under her daughter and slipped her shoes on. She was still wearing her jeans and shirt from yesterday. Combing her hands through her hair, she took one last look at Hannah and ran from the room.

At the top of the stairs, she stopped when saw Elizabeth Fairchild standing just inside the foyer. Damned if she
wanted to see the woman this morning … or any other morning for that matter.