“I know, Lizzie. I’m so sorry. Dad tried to help. He did. But one-hour sessions twice a week weren’t enough. Not when Luke still had to go home each night to your dad. Sometimes kids need safe harbors, a sort of time-out for both the troubled teen and their families until they can get help and start to heal. That’s what I want Luke’s House to be.”
“I loved Luke so much…and when I found him… lying across his bed…his eyes open…sightless.”
“It’s okay. Let it out. You’ve been holding it inside for way too long.” Adam tilted her chin and looked into her eyes. “Bundle that pain up and give it to the Lord. Let Him carry it for you, Lizzie. He’s been waiting for you to turn to Him for a very long time. Now just might be that time.”
“I’ve always believed in the Lord, Adam.”
“I know. You believed in Him long before I found my way to Him. But you’ve kept Him at a distance—at arm’s length while you tried to find your own way through the storm.” He smiled at her and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “From everything I’ve read in the Bible, God’s pretty good when it comes to handling storms.”
She smiled tentatively at him and it melted his heart. He pressed his lips against her forehead. He smoothed her hair off her face. “Lizzie…” He lowered his mouth and captured her lips as tenderly and lovingly as he could and he tasted the saltiness of her tears.
There was so much more to say. So many unanswered questions still hanging in the air between them but he didn’t want to overwhelm her. She’d suffered enough tonight. With a gentle smile he released her.
“I’m going to turn in. I’ve prepared one of the spare bedrooms at the top of the stairs. Charlie’s room is on the right. I’ve put you on the left of the staircase. Good night, Liz. See you in the morning.”
He had crossed the room before she found her voice and called his name. He paused in the doorway.
“Why, Adam? Why did you leave me when I needed you most?”
He faced her with as much honesty as he could muster. “Because I was young…and stupid…and maybe a little afraid.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Afraid? Of what?”
He searched her eyes to see if she was strong enough to take the blow he knew his answer would deliver. The steady, direct gaze she returned convinced him that Lizzie had grown in a thousand ways over the years. This wasn’t a fragile teenage girl waiting for answers. It was a strong, independent, breathtakingly beautiful woman—and there could be no more secrets between them.
* * *
Liz’s eyes never left Adam’s face as he took a step back into the room. She could tell from his body language that he didn’t want to answer her question but he would.
“After Luke’s death, your father sent for me. He set up a meeting in the sheriff’s office. Pretty intimidating for a teenage boy to be staring at a prison cell while your dad leaned back in his car, rested his hand on his gun and delivered news that changed my life.”
Her father had sent for Adam. Why?
Her world had just been knocked off its axis. “What did he say?”
“He said you asked him to talk to me. You wanted me to stay away from you, that none of your family wanted anything to do with me or any of my family ever again.”
“You believed him?” Her pulse beat an angry rhythm against the soft sensitive spots beside her eyes. How could her father have done that to Adam? To her?
“I was two days shy of my eighteenth birthday, Lizzie. I was a stupid kid. I didn’t know what to believe. I told him I wanted to hear it from you. He said if I cared about you, then I wouldn’t make things harder on you and I’d just go. He said that you had suffered enough after Luke died and the sight of me, or any of my family, would only cause you pain. He said you hated me.”
Adam shook his head and his voice was heavy with sadness.
“I remember it all, Lizzie. The telephone calls I made to your house that were either intercepted or not answered. The pain I felt because I believed that you didn’t want to be with me. The fear of your father and what he could do to me and to my family. When he told me he was seriously thinking of bringing my dad up on malpractice charges, I was scared. He promised to drop them if I’d leave town and never contact you again—that cinched the deal.
“I left for college and I never looked back. I never told my dad what happened, though he asked repeatedly why we broke up and why I was so insistent on leaving town so quickly.” He locked his gaze with hers. “I honestly believed I was doing it for you. It took a long time for me to be honest with myself. After I found my faith, I was finally able to face the truth about myself. The Lord helped me see my mistakes…my sins…my flaws. And He loved me through them. I became a better man.” He looked at her and raw, painful emotion was written on his face. “I left because I was afraid. I should have stayed and fought for you. Maybe I should have tried to take you with me. But I didn’t. I ran.”
He closed the distance between them.“You were right about me.” Gently he pulled her into his embrace. “I was a coward…and I’ve regretted it a million times since.…” He kissed her lips so softly it felt like the brush of butterfly wings. “But I’m here now, Lizzie. And I’m not a scared boy anymore. I’m a man…wanting to try to make amends…hoping for forgiveness…and maybe a second chance.” When he lowered his head this time, there was nothing chaste or gentle about his kiss. It was an adult kiss filled with passion and longing and promises of a future that neither one of them had dreamt could ever be.
And she kissed him back…just as passionately…clinging to his waist…stepping into his embrace.
When he released her, he smiled into her eyes. “I love you, Lizzie. I always have.”
Without another word, he turned and went upstairs.
Liz’s world was reeling. Her father had threatened Adam? She knew what that looked like. She had seen him turn that ugly side of himself on Luke too many times. Bile rose in her throat and almost choked her.
Why hadn’t she told someone what was happening in her house? Why hadn’t she tried to help Luke? When she’d seen her father go after him, why had she run and hid? Why hadn’t she intervened?
Guilt washed over her like a burning acid.
She’d always tried to please her father…always searching for his love…even followed in his footsteps as sheriff, trying to be the son Luke couldn’t be. But nothing she had ever done had been good enough and she had never known a father’s love.
A voice inside her mind spoke to her. It wasn’t true. She was precious and cherished in her heavenly Father’s eyes. Adam was right. The Lord had been calling to her and waiting for her to turn over her life and heart and pain to Him for a very long time.
Liz fell to her knees and began to pray.
* * *
The next morning, Liz reached the bottom stair just in time to hear Charlie’s voice outside.
“Rerun, no! Rerun, stop!”
Liz stepped onto the porch, shielded her eyes against the sun’s glare and watched as Charlie sprinted across the lawn and grabbed the dog by the collar. “Let go.”
The dog dropped the teddy bear that he had been trying to shred.
Charlie handed the bear back to Jeremy. “Sorry, Jeremy. He must have wanted to play with it, too.” She turned to the dog and signaled. “Lie down.”
Rerun did as she commanded and put his head on his paws but never took his eyes off the bear.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” Charlie joined her on the porch. “That’s the second time in the past twenty-four hours that I’ve had to rescue that bear from Rerun’s jaws. The dog wants to tear the thing to shreds. I don’t get it. He didn’t act that way before and it’s not like his other toys that squeak when he bites them.”
“Don’t know what to tell you, Charlie. I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks to be the dog whisperer and not me.” Liz chuckled and patted Charlie on the shoulder in a reassuring gesture.
“Have you seen Adam this morning?” Liz held her breath while she waited for the answer. How was she going to face him after what he’d told her last night? She’d blamed Adam and his family for every terrible, horrible thing that had happened to her family. She’d believed it was his father’s lack of professional skills that caused her brother’s suicide. She’d blamed living in the house where Luke had committed suicide as the eventual reason for her parents’ divorce. She’d blamed Adam for leaving when she needed him most.
But none of it was true.
It was her father.
Her father had bullied Luke until he took his own life. Her father had bullied her mother until she was broken and so afraid that when she ran, she ran alone, leaving her behind. It was her father who had hated the Morgans so much that he’d lied to Adam and sent him away. The father she loved…and hated.
Her father.
How would she ever be able to face Adam again? Would he be able to forgive her? Would she be able to gather the courage to ask for that forgiveness?
“I haven’t seen him yet.” Charlie tossed a ball onto the lawn and both Rerun and Jeremy ran after it. “When I passed by his bedroom door, I thought I heard his shower running. I’m sure he’ll be down in a little bit.” She glanced over her shoulder and caught Liz’s gaze. “So, how did it go last night?”
“How did what go?”
“Don’t play coy.” Charlie’s perpetual grin was plastered on her face. “I left you alone so the two of you could talk.”
“About what?”
Charlie placed her hands on her hips and for the first time since she’d met her, the woman frowned.
“I don’t know what happened between the two of you years ago. But I do know this. Both of you still have feelings for each other. Whenever the two of you are in the same room together, the air zings with energy and awareness.”
“Charlie, has anyone ever told you that you have an overactive imagination?”
“Stop fighting it! In case you haven’t noticed, neither of you are kids anymore. It’s time to settle the past and put it where it belongs—in the past. Think of all the wonderful possibilities for the future. So, did you talk last night or did I confine myself to my room for nothing?”
Heat rushed up Liz’s throat and colored her cheeks.
“We talked.”
“And?” Charlie’s singsong enunciation of the word made Liz laugh.
“And nothing. We talked. Adam went to bed. I stayed up and did a couple of perimeter checks of the house and then I sacked out on the sofa.”
The crestfallen expression on Charlie’s face made Liz laugh.
“I don’t get it,” Charlie said. “You guys are perfect for each other. I thought if you had some time to talk privately, you know, catch up on what’s been happening over the years, that maybe you guys… Well, you know.”
Liz gave Charlie a quick hug. “That’s why you’re a dog whisperer and not a matchmaker. Stick to what you do best, kiddo.”
“Where are you going?”
Liz crossed the lawn and slid behind the wheel of the old pickup truck.
“Where are you going? What do you want me to tell Adam?”
Liz rolled down the window. “Tell him I had to return this truck and then I went to work. I’ll see both of you later.”
Liz pushed the accelerator of the old pickup as if she were driving a Ferrari instead of a tin can with wheels. She couldn’t get away fast enough. Chasing bad guys and fighting crime was a thousand percent easier and more appealing this morning than facing Adam.
* * *
Liz entered the observation room where Paul and Sal were conversing. “Fill me in.” She gestured to the woman sitting alone behind the large glass window in Interrogation.
“That’s Stephanie Murdock, Ms. Willowby’s infamous teller who supposedly is having an affair with the bank manager, Joe Grimes.” Sal tilted his head. “Paul just told me that Joe Grimes is unable to accept our invitation to join us this morning because he is out of the country on business.”
“I checked his travel itinerary, Sheriff. He gets back from Switzerland tomorrow. Darlene and I plan on being his welcome committee.”
“Good. Bring him directly to the station, Paul. I want him to have as little heads-up about this as possible.” Liz looked through the glass. “Any chance we can keep Miss Hot Pants from tipping him off? I’d like to catch him unaware, if possible.”
“We could always arrest her.”
“On what charge?”
“Resisting arrest? Failure to yield in a school zone? I’ll think of something.”
“We’re not arresting her, Sal.”
“Okay. Okay.” He raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll come up with something else. I have personal family knowledge on ways to encourage people not to talk. I don’t have a good Italian name like Sal Rizzo for nothing.”
Liz shook her head and laughed out loud. “Stop clowning around and get in there.”
“Yes, boss.” He gave her a mock salute and left with Paul.
Liz stood, arms folded, behind the two-way glass and watched as Sal worked his magic.
“Let’s go over this again, Ms. Murdock. Are you going to try to deny that you and Grimes are having an affair?”
“We’re not. I swear.”
“It’s not a good thing to swear in front of my face, Stephanie. And don’t forget that God’s watching.”
Liz smiled. She knew the God reference had been for her benefit. Sal had been trying to cajole her out of her pensive mood all morning.
Sal leaned across the table. “Talk to me. Do you really want me to think that someone as pretty as you wouldn’t have caught the boss’s eye?”
Liz’s smile widened. Here it comes. Sal’s charm-school 101 followed by his she’ll-never-know-what-hit-her trap.
Stephanie preened a little beneath the unexpected compliment. “He might have noticed me.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about. Of course he noticed a sweet-looking gal like you.” Sal smiled wide, showing off those even white teeth of his. “And I’m sure you were flattered when an important man like Joe Grimes, bank manager, bigwig in high society, took notice of you.”
Stephanie stared at Sal for a minute as though weighing her reply.
“Maybe. A little.”
“Oh, come on, Stephanie. You’re killing me here. Do you really think I’m stupid enough to think that you were nothing more to Joey boy than one of his tellers?”
Stephanie dropped her eyes. “I was one of his tellers. I worked for Mr. Grimes at the Third National Bank. But you know that already.”