Nora slept, in spite of herself, waking at dawn to the sound of rain pattering on the trailer roof. Mom... The thought stabbed immediately into her consciousness, forcing her out of bed. Was there any possible way she could get out of it? Only by being a coward, she told herself. You have to help Felicia, no matter how difficult it’s going to be. Face washed, hair secured and teeth brushed, she felt no more equipped to greet the day than she had before.
She forgot that Seth was on overnight guard duty until she almost tripped over him doing pushups in the living room. Stopping short, she waited for him to finish. His tall frame took up most of the space, the muscles of his back moving under the T-shirt.
He did a full set of thirty, gasping at the end, his right arm tremoring. When he collapsed on his stomach and then rolled over, he offered a surprised smile. “Oh. Morning. Didn’t see you there.” He sat up.
“Is that part of your therapy? Looks tough.”
“No pain, no progress.” He sighed. “I can get to thirty before the arm gives me trouble. At first I couldn’t even do one, but I’m stubborn when I set about accomplishing something.”
“We have that in common,” Nora said.
“Yes, we do.” Getting to his feet, he gestured to the tiny kitchenette. “Breakfast?”
“No thanks. I’m not hungry. I’ll take care of Bubbles while you eat.”
He washed his hands, grabbed a slice of bread and cheese and folded it together. Then he wrapped it in a napkin and shoved it in his jacket pocket. “I’ll eat later.”
She giggled. “You’re gonna get crumbs in your pocket.”
“Banjo will sniff them out. He takes his canine duties seriously.” He grabbed the rifle and slung it over his shoulder and the figure she’d seen the previous evening lurking in the woods swam in front of her eyes.
The angst about visiting her mother had temporarily driven the other issue to the back burner but not for long. Someone wanted her dead. Fear trickled along her spine in a sickening rush as they left the trailer. Was that person out there now? The officer reported no sign of an intruder after his previous night’s check. No tire tracks indicated anyone had driven onto the property. Then again, they could have snuck in on foot.
Or had it merely been her nerves twisting reality?
“Hey, Doc,” Seth called.
At the sound of his voice, Nora shook herself away from the frightening thoughts. Doc was at the corral, his motorcycle parked nearby, his shoulders hunched against the rain.
“Morning.” Doc’s eyes were puffy, as if he had a cold or suffered through a long, sleepless night. “I was close, figured I’d check on the jenny. I want to give her another vitamin infusion.”
“I’d offer you breakfast,” Seth said as he withdrew the bread and cheese from his pocket, “but I think it might have picked up some lint from my pocket.”
Doc waved Seth’s offer away. Seth’s eyes roamed the distance, the darkening clouds that promised more winter rain to come, but there was no sign of any strangers.
Banjo galloped up, skidding to a stop to bark.
“Awww, no need for that,” Doc said, scrubbing Banjo’s ears. “Remember I treated your burns after that porch fire. You and me are buddies now, right?” Doc offered him a treat, which he snapped up without even chewing, then set off to scour the tree line. Nora relaxed. If there was someone lurking, Banjo would sniff them out.
The vet tended the donkey while they looked on. Nora was pleased that Bubbles allowed the doctor to get close enough to administer the shot without darting away. The turnip he offered her won out over her distrust. Lips extended, she snagged it and backed into a corner to munch undisturbed.
“She’ll be foaling soon,” Doc said. “Good to see she’s got an appetite, and the infection looks better. Maybe we’re turning the corner here after all.”
Nora relaxed a notch. Soon Bubbles would have her baby and be well enough to return to Colorado. But what about Felicia? How could Nora leave with her friend still in the hospital? With a potential killer still stalking them both?
Seth helped Doc close the corral gate. “Doc, you’ve been around town a long time. Did you know Kai Freeman, Zane’s brother?”
“Not well,” Doc said. He repacked his stethoscope into his motorcycle bag. “Rabble-rouser, I gather. Zane was supposedly the good guy of the two.” Doc’s lip curled.
Seth flicked a look at Nora. So he’d caught the odd response too?
“How well do you know Zane?” Seth asked. “You tend his animals, right?”
“He’s doing that himself now, or maybe he’s got an out-of-town doc. Doesn’t need me anymore.”
Perhaps Zane and Doc had parted ways and left some ill will behind? She thought of the motorcycle tracks she’d seen on Zane’s property the night of the ATV attack. She noted the mud on the underside of Doc’s motorcycle. But he was a country vet, so that went with the occupation. Likely she was dreaming up connections where there weren’t any.
Doc continued. “Zane’s got a fine setup. Date farm’s lucrative. Everything’s gone his way and not Kai’s, so maybe there’s some resentment there between the brothers.” He turned to Nora. “Possibly you and Felicia got caught in the middle of that.”
Seth frowned. “No, they were deliberate targets. What would either brother gain from hurting them?”
He shrugged. “Perhaps there’s more to the situation than meets the eye. Zane was Mr. Dudley Do-Right in high school and he stuck up for his brother. Could be he isn’t such a Do-Right anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Nora said.
Doc shrugged. “People change. Animals don’t. That’s why I’m a vet, I guess.”
“What people? Zane?” Seth edged forward a step, trying to get an answer, but Doc straddled his bike.
“Look,” he said. “All I’m saying is Zane might have different motives than the young guy Nora and Felicia knew in high school.”
Seth drilled into him with a hard look. “Doc, do you think Zane might have set off that explosion?”
He stared back. “I don’t think he has the guts.”
“But Kai does?” Nora said.
Doc shrugged. “Like I said, not my business.”
“If it’s Kai, he could be hiding out somewhere.” Seth snapped his fingers. “Zane said his dog was missing. Kai might have taken it to terrorize Zane. Or maybe the dog went after him when he trespassed on Zane’s property and Kai killed the dog.”
Doc started the engine, not meeting Seth’s eye. “Anything’s possible,” he said. “Bottom line is Zane and his brother are cut from the same cloth, so maybe they’re both rotten. It’s like they say in the dog breeding business...blood tells.” He drove away without another word.
Blood tells.
The phrase roiled and bubbled in Nora’s stomach as she and Seth got into the Bronco for the ride to her mother’s house. Was Zane involved? Was Kai? And what was going on between Zane and Doc? A ton of questions, zero answers.
“The doc doesn’t have any love lost for the Freeman brothers,” Seth said as the truck sped along the smooth road toward Furnace Falls.
“No, he doesn’t. Almost feels like they’re enemies.”
They lapsed into silence.
Nora got more tense with every mile they covered.
When they took the last turn off the main boulevard in Furnace Falls to a quiet road with a few houses, she drew in a slow, deep breath. Her childhood home hadn’t changed much, except it was now painted a soft eggshell color with a burgundy trim. Maintaining a lawn was a losing battle in Death Valley. The front yard was the same rock garden that Nora had loved to prowl as a child. The twisted Joshua tree offered a small pool of shade, which in turn supported the growth of several scraggly shrubs. Amazing how life found a way to flourish even here.
Her hand quaked as she knocked on the front door. Seth applied a comforting palm to her lower back and gratitude filled her soul. She didn’t deserve a friend like Seth. In fact, she’d visited problem after problem on him and still he was standing there in quiet support. Seth Castillo was a quality man, she thought. Attractive and sweet too.
Her stomach somersaulted as she heard shuffling from inside.
Kitty Duke opened the door, her generous mouth opening in surprise. A clip swept the fine hair away from her brow. She clutched at her baggy sweater with one unmatched button. Her mom would never think to buy a new sweater when she could mend the one she’d owned for decades. Nora wanted to stare at the button and will away the rampaging emotion, but she forced her gaze to her mother’s face.
“Hi, Mom,” she managed to say.
“Hello,” she said. “This is a surprise.” The words were tentative, as if she was trying to avoid spooking a wild animal that might dart away at any moment.
“I’m sorry to drop by.”
A half smile etched the crow’s feet deeper around Kitty’s eyes. “You know I never mind anyone dropping by.”
“Yes, I do.” In her years of living there, Nora had never seen a single soul turned away. She’d witnessed her mother turn off a pan of frying chicken in mid sizzle in order to sit down and give her undivided attention to a surprise visitor. Then they’d finished cooking together and joined in the family meal. She was wired for hospitality.
I must have missed out on the genes for that, Nora thought. Her shared Colorado apartment had seen very few visitors except for friends Felicia brought over. Yet the Duke family had invited her right into their Christmas events, the tree lighting and dinner, and Seth had flung wide the door of his lovely trailer for her. They were hospitable people, in a welcoming town, so why were her legs shaking?
“Hello, Seth,” Kitty said, finally pulling her gaze from Nora’s face. “You’re looking hearty and hale, sweetie.”
Seth beamed. “Thank you, Aunt Kitty. God’s been good to me.”
She nodded. “We prayed so hard while you were in the hospital.”
He took her hand and kissed it. “Much appreciated, as were all those meals and calls for my family. I believe all those prayers are why I’m standing here right now.”
The peace and certainty that passed between them tickled something inside Nora. Imagine feeling so sure that God loved you. She’d maintained steadfastly for the past decade that God allowed her heart to break and so He wasn’t on her side. Yet Seth’s life had been tumultuous, and it seemed to only have cemented his faith.
And your mom had her life wrecked too.
Once by Dad, and the second time by Nora.
Just get in and out, she thought, struggling to hold her thoughts in check. You’re here to help Felicia. That’s all.
“Please come in,” Kitty said, her fingers gripping the door for support as she backed up. Her legs seemed to be paining her, Nora surmised. How had her mother aged so quickly?
Not quickly, Nora realized. They’d been apart for a decade. The ten years had taken their toll. A strange mixture of sadness and longing washed over Nora at what she’d missed. Get this over with.
“I wondered if I could grab my yearbook,” Nora said as they walked past Kitty into the house. The scent of fresh pine hung in the air. It wafted from the garland twined with red berries that her mother insisted decorate the mantel every year. The actual tree was artificial, since Kitty said it hurt her heart to cut down a tree that had managed to grow in the desert in spite of all odds, even though Jude insisted that the pines were trucked in from more temperate areas. Their mom was cheerfully stubborn about some topics.
Nora saw her own knitted stocking hanging next to Jude’s. The sight of that raggedy red fabric made a stone lodge in her throat. Why would her mother still hang it after all these years?
“Will you have some coffee?” Kitty asked.
Seth darted a look at Nora, who declined. “Well, yes, ma’am,” he said. “If it won’t put you out.”
“Happy to brew some up. It will only take a moment.”
It occurred to Nora that Seth had realized her mother needed something to do, someone to serve, and he’d made that happen by asking for coffee. Seth was way more perceptive than Nora would ever be. She tried to breathe away the chaotic feelings that swamped her.
Kitty looked uncertainly to Nora. “I’m sure you can find your yearbook in a flash. Your room hasn’t been changed.”
Hasn’t changed because her mother hadn’t wanted it to. Why did that cleave Nora’s heart? Unable to answer, she walked down the hallway.
Seth trailed her as she scurried to her tiny room where she was awed to find the twin bed neatly made, her “museum” still occupying a shelf. It was a collection of rocks squirreled away over her younger years, along with a pile of feathers. She fingered the journal where she’d sketched pictures from her pupfish adventures with Jude. Then there were the teenage touches: the headphones and flyers from the high school dances, a prom dress hanging in the closet. All frozen in time, a snapshot of happier moments when she’d been too naïve and selfish to appreciate what she’d had.
Oh, Lord... The prayer died away.
Kitty appeared in the doorway and handed Seth a mug of coffee. “I wasn’t sure how you take it. There’s cream and sugar.”
“Just cream, thank you.” He eyed Nora. “I’ll pop into the kitchen and add a splash. Be right back.”
Don’t leave, Nora silently begged but Seth was already gone, and Nora was alone with her mother.
“Seth’s a good man,” Kitty said.
“Yes, he is.”
She smoothed her palms on her sweater. “Did you find your yearbook?”
Nora couldn’t answer.
“Here it is,” Kitty said, pointing to a shelf with a couple of books. “I come in here and dust often,” she said by way of explanation. “Why do you need it? Is it related to the attacks?”
“Honestly, I don’t know, but I’m willing to look anywhere to figure out who did this to me and Felicia.”
She nodded. “Your brother is worried. And so am I.”
Nora didn’t know what to say to that. She grabbed the volume from her senior year, gesturing around the room. “I thought you’d have made it into a study by now or something.”
“No,” Kitty said. “I guess I was hoping you’d come home someday.”
An ache settled under her ribs. “Mom...” She trailed off.
Her mother stared at her with an expression caught between hurt and pain. “Do you know what I’ve always wondered? Why the eighteen years didn’t matter.”
“What do you mean?”
Her fingers trailed over the painted white shelf. “I loved you and cared for you and we had a happy life until you found out about your father your freshman year. Even then I tried my best to be a good mother to you. When you finally left at eighteen, it was like you hated me, like none of those years of love mattered anymore.”
Nora fought down the lump of guilt in her throat. “I was angry and hurt and I lashed out.”
“I know that.” She sighed. “And maybe I should have found a way to tell you before everything blew up, but I didn’t want you to know what your father had done with...with the other women and your college money. I didn’t want you to lose respect for him.”
Nora looked at the floor. “It probably wouldn’t have mattered if you’d told me because I wouldn’t have wanted to hear it. I didn’t believe Jude either. I couldn’t.”
“No, but then Jude isn’t Mr. Sensitive.”
They both chuckled.
Emotion swelled inside her, unlocked by their shared laughter. She felt the strong urge she could not identify; a push to loosen her grasp and let go of something painful so she could accept something better, kinder, gentler. She sucked in a shaky breath and turned to face her mother full-on. “Mom, all those years mattered. They still do.”
A smile transformed her careworn face into the mother Nora remembered, the woman who had struggled with her own grief and betrayal. Tears glistened in her eyes. She reached out a trembling hand and Nora took it, her own fingers quivering.
“God’s answered a prayer for me today,” Kitty whispered, her voice breaking. “Just hearing you say that.”
And Nora realized with a start that He’d answered one for her, too, one she hadn’t had the courage to put into words. This was her mother, her precious mother, holding her hand. Kitty pulled Nora close and wrapped her in a tight embrace.
“I love you, Mom, and I’m sorry,” Nora whispered into her mother’s ear.
Kitty began to cry. Nora did too. With her mother’s arms around her, it was as if the world wobbled on its axis and suddenly began spinning more smoothly, in the fluid motion for which it had been designed.
Seth popped his head in, mug in hand, took one look at their embrace and quietly withdrew. In that moment, she realized the reunion would never have taken place without him.
Thank you, Seth.
But not only Seth. She couldn’t ignore the truth, that God had indeed made room for a reconciliation.
Thank You, Lord.
Seth drank two cups of coffee while he waited. He would have consumed a gallon if it meant Nora and her mother would have the time needed to work things out. He kept up a steady stream of sips and prayers until he was jittery from the caffeine.
Kitty arrived in the kitchen, nose red. “Well, she’s found the yearbook.”
Nora entered and took a seat. She didn’t look at him, exactly, but he could tell she’d been changed by what had happened with her mother. He tried to keep his face from telegraphing his joy.
Nora laid the yearbook out on the kitchen table and was about to open it when a knock on the front door announced the arrival of Corinne and Willow with balls of yarn and knitting needles.
“Hi, Nora. We’re here to knit Christmas stockings,” Laney said. “Sure, it’s last minute since Christmas is Friday, but better late than never. Aunt Kitty is going to advise, since Corinne is the only one of us who actually knows how to knit and she learned last week on YouTube. I’m providing moral support.”
“Truthfully I’m here for the cookies Aunt Kitty promised,” Corinne said with a smile. “Sugar cookies and ginger crinkles. I skipped breakfast.”
Seth laughed and caught Nora’s eye. “We were just leaving anyway.”
Kitty walked them to the door and clutched Nora’s wrist. “You come any time, okay?”
Nora nodded shyly and kissed her mom on the cheek, which unloosed a new flow of tears from both of them.
Kitty looked from Nora to Seth and back to Nora. “This person out there, the one who blew up the car and tried to run you over. Until he’s captured, you’re not safe. Do you know what worries me the most, Nora? That I’ll lose you again.”
“You won’t lose her, Aunt Kitty,” Seth said. “I promise.”
He guided Nora to the truck. He wanted to talk about what had happened, but Nora opened the yearbook as soon as she slid into the passenger seat. By the time they’d returned to the ranch, she’d thumbed through nearly all the pages.
“There’s only one picture of Kai. He’s working on a car in shop class. Then there’s the one of Zane painting the sets that Felicia showed me earlier.” She extracted a ragged manila envelope crammed in the back cover of the book and slid out a handful of Polaroids.
“This one’s a silly shot of Felicia and Zane at a mini golf place. I don’t see how any of these could hold a clue to what’s happening now.” She was still flipping through the Polaroids when they pulled up to the trailer on the ranch, drizzle streaking the windshield.
Levi rode a horse around the side of the corral to meet them, his face grave.
“Something’s wrong,” Seth said, cranking down the window.
“Donkey’s gone,” Levi said.
Nora gasped and shoved the photo under the sun visor. “How?”
“Dunno. Was the gate left open?”
She shook her head. “It was latched.”
“Not anymore.” Levi scowled. “No tracks that I can see. We’ll go look for her. East or west?” he asked Seth.
Seth parked and leapt out. “I’ll take the west, go as far as the wash. Nora, lock yourself in the trailer.” Seth waited for her to get out.
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You need someone to watch your back and help manage the jenny if she’s there. She doesn’t trust you.”
“I can do it, or I’ll call Levi.”
“It’ll take him time to get to you.”
“I—”
“I won’t argue this, Seth. I’m coming. I’ll phone Jude as we go.” She strode ahead and he took her by the elbow. She whirled to face him. They were so close he could see the tiny specks of rain collecting on her lashes.
“This isn’t safe,” Seth said. “And...” And what? He’d been about to say that he would crumble if she was harmed. Dazed, he regrouped. “I promised your mom I’d see to your safety.”
A raindrop trailed down her temple, but she didn’t wipe it away, highlighting her glowing resolve. He expected a retort, or that she’d give him her back and hurry off. Instead, she took his cheeks between her palms and he almost stopped breathing.
“Seth, we’re in this together. You’re not taking risks in my place. You’ve been through enough.” He was still absorbing the words when she placed a kiss, light as a down feather, on his lips.
Then she dashed into the trailer and a second later returned, zipping her jacket and running, hunched against the pelting rain. It wasn’t until she’d grabbed a rope from the corral that he fought off the strange paralysis her kiss had caused. What had it meant? She was feeling the same attraction he was? Her words rolled through his memory. You’ve been through enough. She felt sorry for him, the damage from the shooting.
As quickly as the euphoria had grown in him, it ebbed away, leaving a hollow emptiness in its wake. Well, what did you expect? he told himself as he took up the rifle and ran after her. You’re merely a helper. Need, remember? Not want.
Why did his dull brain refuse to learn that lesson?