Sister Dear (42 page)

“But you were with him.” Allie turned to Emma. “Isn't that right? Isn't that what you said, Emma?”

Caroline squinted. Emma wasn't moving. Her expression was vacant, like she wasn't even hearing the conversation.

Exasperated, Allie turned back to Gaines. “You were there when my sister was there. She said you were arguing—”

Gaines cut her off. “If I had been, I never would have let my . . .” His voice broke. “My
son
die.”

As his voice echoed through the trees, Emma let out a sudden gasp. Allie was shaking her head. And Caroline wasn't even sure she'd heard the sheriff right.
The coach was Sheriff Gaines's son? How?

“But . . . Boyd . . . Thomas.” Allie murmured the words and looked up at the sheriff. She covered her mouth, eyes blinking widely.

“Boyd was what his mama wanted to call him,” the sheriff replied through gritted teeth. “It's my given name. Boyd Lee Gaines.”

There was a cry. Caroline whirled to see her aunt's face crumple.

Allie began to shake visibly. “All of this time.” She raised her voice and turned to face her sister. “All of this time, Emma. You knew what happened that night. You were there, you ran away, and you never once tried to help me.”

As if brought back to life, Emma began to back away.

“How could you?” Allie demanded.

From the corner of her eye, Caroline caught a flash of silver. Emma was holding a knife, pointing it right at Allie.

Gaines leapt forward and grabbed Emma's hand, forcing the knife from her grasp. Wrapping an arm around Emma's neck, he refocused the barrel on Allie.

“Don't you move,” the sheriff said, backing toward the cabin and up the stairs, dragging a kicking and thrashing Emma with him.

In the doorway, Gaines looked like he was gritting his teeth and tightening his grasp on Emma. She scratched at his arms and began to scream.

“Stop it,” the sheriff yelled, driving the butt of his gun into Emma's skull.

“No!” Allie cried out as her sister slumped like a rag doll, a trickle of blood running down her face.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Caroline tried to jump up and run to her aunt, but Russell held her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “Shh-shh. You can't,” Russell hissed into her ears. “The police are coming. I promise.”

Gaines waved his gun at Allie. “Enough of this. Put your back to me. Right now. And get on your knees.”

Still shaking, Allie wobbled on her feet. “Don't. Please. Let us go.”

“Not a chance,” he grunted. “I said, put your back to me. Get down now.”

As Allie turned and sank to her knees, Caroline got to her feet.

The movement caught Allie's attention. When she looked up and saw her daughter, Allie's eyes widened. She pressed a finger to her lips, sending Caroline a warning not to move or breathe.

Caroline watched, legs trembling, as the sheriff, with one arm still around Emma's neck, took out his lighter, flicked his thumb to spark a flame, and tossed it onto the porch steps. The dried wood crackled and caught fire immediately.

Satisfied, Gaines watched the fire dance and grow around
the shack. Caroline held her breath, praying for the wail of police sirens.
Nothing.

As flames licked at the sides of the building, Allie trained her gaze on Caroline, saying a silent
I love you
as Gaines clicked off the gun's safety.

“No!” Caroline screamed.

Emma jerked and stirred at the noise, her eyes flickering open as the sheriff zeroed in on his target.

Caroline began to run, full-speed, for the cabin ahead, not caring if she lived or died. Seeing the teenager caused Gaines to hesitate for a half second—just enough time for Emma to knock his hand away as the bullet discharged from the chamber.

With a sharp crack of thunder, everything in Caroline's world went dark.

EPILOGUE

ALLIE

Almost twelve months after leaving Arrendale, Allie woke without a single nightmare. With a stretch and a yawn, she swung her legs out from under the sheets and stood up. It was early morning, the time of day when the sun first hits the dew-laden grass, making everything look fresh, bright, and new.

It was a time for new beginnings, Allie reminded herself, pulling the curtains open wide and letting the warm rays bathe her face and arms. The house was still. No gurgle of a coffeemaker or hum of the microwave.

Allie smiled and walked toward the kitchen. It was tiny, but airy and white, freshly painted last weekend. She lifted a mug from inside a cabinet and busied herself making breakfast.

She had a full day ahead at the clinic. Natalie was a talented veterinarian and a great boss. They maintained an excellent relationship. Every single day, Allie felt lucky to have been welcomed into her veterinary practice under the strangest of circumstances.

Circumstances that had led her back to Caroline. She was meeting her daughter this morning at Glynn Overlook Park before work. Caroline's change of heart, a decade in the making, had been
wonderful and amazing. A miracle that truly began to take shape the night Emma had saved her life.

After being knocked unconscious by the butt of Gaines's gun, her sister had woken to the sound of Caroline's scream. The first thing she saw—the sheriff aiming the barrel in her niece's direction—caused Emma to react in the only way she could, like a parent protecting her child, a mother who would make the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter.

For that, Allie would be eternally grateful.

When the Coffee County police and paramedics arrived at the coach's cabin that summer evening, Emma was taken to the hospital for treatment of a concussion and second-degree burns. Upon her recovery and subsequent arrest, a psychiatric evaluation was performed, deeming Emma fit to be held in police custody. She would eventually stand trial for the death of Coach Boyd Thomas and the murder of Dr. June Gaines.

For months to follow, the town remained in an uproar, the media zeroing in on every new detail revealed about the case.

The law enforcement investigators confirmed that Boyd was indeed the baby Lee Gaines had fathered out of wedlock. The sheriff had met the boy's mother in Atlanta after a high school bowl game victory, expecting never to see her again. The child was barely a toddler when his mother died from cancer. He'd been Boyd Scott then.

After bouncing through foster care, the little towheaded boy had been adopted, and the parents changed his surname to match theirs.

Over the years, Gaines had kept track of the boy, following his high school career, then college, reaching out to him as he began coaching, citing a fondness for a former colleague who'd worked at his first school in Alabama. The men eventually become close friends.

Years later, Sheriff Boyd Lee Gaines made sure that his son returned home.

The night at the cabin, stricken by panic and grief, rather than allowing the authorities to take him alive, the sheriff had allowed the fire he'd set with his own hands to claim his life. Perhaps, Allie thought, it was his way of reuniting with his wife and son.

The scrutiny and stress caused Allie and her parents to transfer Caroline immediately to a new school for a fresh start. Under advisement from her physician, Caroline also met weekly with a child psychologist to try to make sense of all of the trauma from the past year.

After all, Caroline and Allie had loved Emma deeply. Believed in her, trusted her. And Emma had betrayed both mother and daughter in the worst possible way.

Perhaps the cruelest blow came when the investigators handling Emma's case explained to Allie that had her sister only come forward after her trip to the hospital, she could have claimed self-defense, making it unlikely either woman would ever have to serve prison time.

The shock was almost too much to bear. Allie took a brief leave of absence from Natalie's office, spending her days between home, the therapist's office, and the solitude of St. Simons Island before dawn. On her worst days, she ran for miles along the beachfront roads when the pressure of it all seemed too much.

But that December, after settling into her new school, Caroline accepted the idea of meeting Allie for coffee on Wednesdays. Over the next few months, mother and daughter reconnected at a cautious pace, like drops of rain filling a one-hundred-gallon drum.

In May, Caroline surprised everyone by asking Allie if she could come and live with her on a trial basis. When her own parents endorsed the idea wholeheartedly, Allie could barely contain her enthusiasm. The following week, Caroline buzzed with plans
for her new bedroom, describing a funky paint scheme and gauze curtains she'd seen in a magazine. They'd been shopping and had picked out bookshelves, a small desk and chair for schoolwork. She was moving in the next day.

The transition to being mother and daughter again hadn't been easy or perfect, but Allie savored the moments, her unbridled joy tempered only occasionally with a touch of regret. Caroline would leave in a few years, off to college and a career path. Allie knew she would let her go, though it would break her apart inside.

After so much wishing that the years would fly by inside Arrendale, it was a conscious effort, a life shift, for Allie to live in the present, the here and now, counting her blessings after many hard lessons.

Looking back, though Emma's betrayal was horrifying and surreal, Allie realized that she, too, had lost her way. She had been so focused on fighting a fight she couldn't win, on proving the impossible to a community who loved its football coach, that she'd lost sight of what was truly important—her family, her child, and her future.

The painful truth, that sharp realization, allowed Allie the first steps toward hope and healing. Toward true forgiveness.

Without it, the past would chain Allie to a dark place, a prison of her own making, with cell walls built of guilt, remorse, and regret. Without forgiveness—for Emma and herself—Allie would never be happy or whole. She could never be the mother she needed to be for Caroline.

Every day, Allie chose forgiveness.

Every day, she chose freedom.

Allie and Caroline made their way near the edge of the saltmarsh, watching for egrets and herons perching near the edges of the tall
grass. The air, scented with morning dew and warm earth, tickled Allie's nose. Palm tree fronds rustled in the breeze as the sky glowed first silver, then pink and lavender as the sun rose, waking Brunswick from slumber.

“So I need to tell you something,” said Caroline. Her daughter was giving off a serious vibe, which made the back of Allie's neck prickle with worry.

“Sure, anything,” Allie replied, flashing a grin. She reminded herself that whatever happened in the future, it would be all right. She could handle it.

“So, Ben came to Grandma Lily's house a couple of months ago.” Caroline tilted her head to one side. “He said if there was anything I needed, to just ask. And he wanted to know if you were okay.”

“Oh?” Allie smiled, gulping back a twinge of nerves.

“I told him, yes, you were doing great.” Caroline smiled up at her.

Allie couldn't reply. To do so would unleash a lifetime of tears. Instead, she smothered a sob and folded her daughter into her arms. At that moment, her life was complete. She had everything she needed. Her life. Hope. A future. And a daughter who believed in her again.

After a beat, Caroline untangled herself and took a step back, causing nearby birds to take flight into the bright blue sky. Through the flutter of wings, Allie thought she heard the scuff of footsteps behind her. Her skin prickled.

“Oh, there's one more thing,” Caroline said. She held up both palms and gave Allie a stern look. “Stay there. Don't move.”

Allie wrinkled her forehead. “Caroline?” Her daughter inched farther away.

“Shh.” Caroline put a finger to her lips. She turned, began walking away, and waved good-bye over her shoulder. “I'll see you at home.”

What in the world?

Nothing but the sounds of nature filled her ears. She
concentrated on bees buzzing, the wind rushing through the tall grasses, and leaves rustling overhead.

“Allie.”

At the sound of her name being called, Allie jumped and whirled, letting out a gasp.

Ben stood there, watching her, smiling. “So much for the big date,” he said.

Allie's eyes filled with tears, flooding her vision. It seemed like they'd had that conversation a million years ago.

“You don't remember? What today is?” With a wink, Ben crossed his arms.

She nodded, wiping her cheeks.

“It was the day after Caroline's first birthday party. She was down for a nap—” Ben moved closer and tilted his head. He gazed down at her.

“And I was crying.” Allie shivered, finishing his sentence.

“When I found you, do you remember what I said?” Ben asked, taking a step forward.

They were inches apart. Allie couldn't move. Or breathe.

“Do you remember?” he repeated.

Allie's mind rushed back to the exact moment.
I could tell you the exact day and time. I remember how the air smelled like fresh-cut grass and that the blue afternoon sky was streaked with silver-white clouds.

Her legs trembled. “Y-you said th-that I didn't have to worry. You would take care of me. And Caroline,” Allie managed to reply, her eyes welling up with tears.

Ben reached for her hand. “And that I would spend every day, every waking moment, making you happy. I didn't care about the past. I love you, and that's for always.”

With tentative fingers, Allie touched Ben's palm. His fingers
closed around hers and squeezed. With a soft touch, Ben wiped at her eyes. “I'm sorry. I know you had this crazy need to prove you could do everything on your own, and you didn't want me to sacrifice my dreams and career, but I never should have let you push me away.”