He chased her through the woods, sprinting after Cassie with so much speed, so much energy, she knew she’d never outrun him. Up ahead, an old house stood stark and lonely against the steel-gray sky. She ran toward it, footsteps pounding behind her.
Almost there!
She reached the rickety porch steps, tried to run up them, but the steps were quicksand, and all she could do was fall forward, catch herself with her arm.
Pain shot through her, and she screamed. Or tried to. Nothing emerged but a quiet moan.
And he was still coming.
She didn’t want to look back, didn’t want to see him bounding toward her, his eyes dead, his expression blank. She didn’t want to see the gun or the knife or whatever it was that he planned to use to finish what he’d started.
She grabbed the stair railing, tried to pull herself up, but her fingers refused to grip the old wood, and she moaned again, tried again.
“Cassie!” the man whispered, his voice sending shivers up her spine.
She had to get up. Had to keep going.
“Cassie,” he said again, his hand on her cheek.
She screamed, jerked upright so fast, she nearly smacked into the man who was standing over her.
Not the icy-eyed killer who’d died.
Harland.
In her bedroom.
She glanced around. Realized she wasn’t at All Our Kids. Wasn’t at the safe house. She was in a hospital room, the television muted, the bluish light from the screen flickering.
“Everyone okay in here?” A uniformed police officer walked in, his gaze jumping from Harland to Cassie. “Are you okay, ma’am?”
“I’m in the hospital.” She glanced at her arm, at the IV line that snaked out of it. She remembered waking up, remembered Gavin being with her. Remembered a kiss, a conversation, remembered him leaving. She’d fallen asleep after that. She didn’t know how long she’d been out, but it must have been a while. “With an IV line stuck in my arm. I don’t think that counts as okay.”
Someone chuckled.
Not someone.
Gavin. She’d know his laughter anywhere. Recognize his voice, his scent, his smile. She turned her head, saw him sitting in a chair, a laptop on a small table in front of him.
“You’re back.”
“I just had to file a report. I checked on the kids while I was at it. They’re all fine.”
“Is Virginia?”
He hesitated. “She will be. Once the sedative wears off.”
“They had to sedate her?” Poor Virginia. She really did need to learn how to handle emergencies and drama better.
“It was a mild sedative,” Gavin responded. As if that made it better.
“Enough about Virginia. How are you, my dear?” Harland asked, his face haggard, his eyes deeply shadowed. “That’s what we’re all wondering.”
“I’m alive, so I’d say I’m excellent. And, that I’m ready to go home.” She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
“You really don’t think you’re going to get up, do you?” Gavin asked.
“Do you really think I’m not? I’ve got eight kids waiting for me. I can’t be lying around in a hospital bed.”
“You were shot,” Harland said. “I think that is more than reason to be away from the kids.”
“To you, maybe, but not to the kids. Where are my clothes?”
“Soaked with blood,” Gavin responded.
“I guess I’ll have to go in this.” She plucked at the cotton hospital gown.
“Cassie.” Harland put a hand on her arm. “Be reasonable.”
“I am being reasonable. The kids have been through a lot. The last thing they need is to have me suddenly disappear.”
“You didn’t disappear. You needed medical treatment. Every one of those kids can understand that.” Harland ran a hand over his hair, shook his head. “I had no idea you were this stubborn when I hired you.”
“Sure you did. You liked my spunk, remember? You thought that my determination would give me an upper hand with the kids.”
“And now you’re throwing my words back in my face.” He glanced at his watch, frowned. “Margaret and I arranged to have Rose’s sister come here to speak with you. I know you’re as anxious to make Juan’s transition smooth as everyone else. You really should stay so that the two of you can talk.”
“I’ll stick around to talk to her, but I’m not going to stay the night.”
“You’re being unreasonable.” He scowled.
“I’m being a mother. Isn’t that what you hired me to do? And a mother’s heart is always for her kids. They need me. Now more than ever.” She stood on shaky legs and tried to tell her body that she was as fine as she wanted to be. Too bad her head was swimming. Too bad she felt a little sick. She wanted to march out the door, march down the hall, get in Gavin’s SUV and return to the kids, but she wasn’t sure she could take one step, let alone a few hundred.
“Right. Okay. You do what you think is best, but don’t expect me to be happy about it. I’m going to see if Lana has arrived yet.” He walked out of the room, muttering something about stubborn females as he went.
“He’s not happy,” Gavin pointed out.
“That’s pretty obvious.” She took a step, thought she might be able to take another. She didn’t know where she was going. Gavin was her ride back to the kids, and he was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.
“I’m not happy, either.”
“But you’re going to take me to the safe house, anyway, right?”
“If I don’t, will I still get to walk Destiny down the aisle one day?”
She blushed, remembering her words, his kiss, the way she’d felt when she’d woken and seen him beside her bed. “I was under the influence when I said that.”
“So you didn’t mean it?”
“I—” She couldn’t lie. Not to Gavin. Not ever. “I did. And, you can still walk her down the aisle. If she ever gets married. She might not. The girl is very prickly.”
“We’ll work on that. After I get you back to the safe house.”
“You’re going to take me?”
“Cassie, I couldn’t deny you anything.” He pushed the call button to summon the nurse.
Ten minutes later, she was in a wheelchair being pushed through the corridor, Gavin to her left, Adam to her right, all of them heading to a small meeting room where Lana and Harland were waiting. Cassie had told Gavin she was up to the meeting, but she wasn’t so sure she was. She felt a little dizzy and a little sick, but she wanted to see the woman who was going to be Juan’s mother. She wanted to tell her that he liked Cheerios and animal crackers and that he loved being sung to while he fell asleep.
She’d only had Juan for a few days, but she felt as though she’d known him his entire life. Thinking about saying goodbye to the little boy made her throat hot and her eyes burn. She wouldn’t cry. She never cried when one of her foster kids left. She wanted them to know she was happy for them, that she believed that wherever they were going was going to be the best place for them.
She rubbed at a smudge of dirt on her thigh, refused to let herself think about goodbyes. She’d rather think about hellos and how wonderful it would be for Lana to meet her nephew.
“You doing okay?” Gavin asked, his fingers brushing her arm.
“Sure,” she managed to say past the tightness in her throat.
She’d managed to pull on her dirty jeans, but her shirt hadn’t been salvageable. Gavin had wrapped his jacket around her shoulder, pulling it into place over the hospital gown. She snuggled into it, refusing to glance in his direction. She didn’t want him to see moisture in her eyes and think she was actually crying.
They reached the end of the corridor, and Adam opened the door. Gavin thanked the nurse and pushed the wheelchair into the room. Harland was there, standing beside a young woman who had the same dark hair and eyes as Rose.
“You must be Lana,” Cassie said, offering her hand.
“And you’re Cassie. Thank you for taking care of my nephew while the police were looking for me.”
“It was my pleasure. He’s a very sweet boy. I know you’re going to love him. I only wish that...”
“My sister hadn’t had to die for me to meet Juan?” Lana asked.
“Yes.”
“I feel the same.” She walked to a chair, took a seat, pulled a small pad of paper and a pen from her purse. “The congressman said that you could tell me about Juan. What he likes to eat. What time he goes to bed.”
“I’d be happy to.” She filled Lana in on every detail she could think of, watching as the other woman scribbled notes. Lana cared. It was obvious she wanted Juan to feel comfortable and happy.
And that made Cassie happy.
When she finished speaking, Lana stood. “Thank you. This is going to be very helpful. I’m not sure I’ll see you again. I’ll be contacting a lawyer to start the process of petitioning for custody. If I have any questions, will it be possible to reach you?”
“Of course. I’m—”
“Harland can contact her for you, or you can contact CPS,” Gavin cut in.
“Great,” Lana said, hurrying to the door. “Thanks, again. I’d better go.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Harland said. “You go get some rest, Cassie.” He threw the words over his shoulder as he walked into the corridor with Lana.
* * *
“What did you think?” Adam asked as soon as Harland and Lana left the room.
“About?” Gavin asked as he pushed Cassie’s wheelchair out of the room. They could wait for the nurse to come back, but he didn’t want to. The sooner he got Cassie back to the safe house, the better he’d feel.
“The sister.”
“Seems like she’s going to take good care of her nephew. Why do you ask?”
“She seemed a little anxious to me.”
“I’d be anxious if I were going to take custody of a two-year-old I’ve never met,” Cassie said quietly. “Especially if that child was grieving the loss of his mother.”
“I guess you’ve got a point,” Adam responded, punching the button of the elevator. “We going out the service door?”
“My SUV is parked in the service lot. I figure the more careful we are, the less likely it is anyone will find the safe house.”
“And the mitten-dropping kid? Wish whoever it was would open his mouth and admit it,” Adam said as they walked onto the elevator. “If he saw the killer, if we can get a description, that’ll make our job easier.”
“Our job is going to be difficult any way you cut it, Adam,” Gavin responded. They had to find out who’d dropped the mitten, had to find Erin. Either of those things could break the case wide-open. Neither was going to be easy.
Cassie didn’t say a word.
Her eyes were glassy, her face pale. She probably needed to go back to her hospital bed. She wanted to go home, though.
Or, at least, back to where her kids were.
He wasn’t sure how much rest she’d get there, but she probably would be safer. Much as he’d like her to stay in the hospital, he had to admit, having her at the safe house was going to make protecting her easier.
She remained silent as he pushed her out of the service door and into cool March air. His SUV was a few feet away, parked close to the building. Adam went first, Ace loping along beside him. If there’d been any danger, he’d have alerted.
They were safe.
For now.
He pushed Cassie to the SUV, was leaning over to lift her from the chair when she opened her eyes. “I think I can manage,” she said.
“Sure you can. But why should you?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond, just lifted her and set her into the passenger seat.
“You want me to follow you back?” Adam asked.
“It’s probably a good idea.”
Gavin got in the SUV, turned on the engine, waited until Adam pulled up behind him, the drove out of the parking lot.
Cassie had closed her eyes. She opened them as they started moving. “Do you think we’ll be followed?” she asked.
“Not by anyone but Adam.”
“Are you sure? Because if I’m going to be shot again, I’d like to be prepared for it.”
“I’m not sure that’s something you can prepare for,” he said, glancing in the review mirror. No one behind him but Adam. That was exactly how he wanted things.
“I’d at least like to try.”
“How about you try to rest instead? We’ve got a long drive ahead of us, and you need to rest.”
“I rested in the hospital.”
“You should have stayed longer. You’re going home to a house filled with kids.”
“And a hysterical assistant,” she added. “Trust me. I know. But they’re family, and I miss them.”
“They miss you, too. Destiny asked to come to the hospital with me. She’s angry that I wouldn’t let her.”
“Did you tell her she was in danger?”
“I tried. She wouldn’t listen to reason.” The teen had argued for twenty minutes, and she’d still been arguing when Gavin walked out the door.
She’d tried to run after his SUV, and Brooke had had to force her back into the house.
Gavin felt bad about it. Worse than he’d expected to. The kid was growing on him. Which was good, because he planned to be a part of her life for as long as she was part of Cassie’s.
“I’ll talk to her when we get home.”
Home?
It was a safe house, but he had to admit, it felt more like home than his apartment did. Felt more like it than anyplace he’d ever been. Even All Our Kids had never been home. Not while he’d been there. It had been a place to stay, a place where he was cared for and cared about. Home, though. That was something different. That was something that happened when a place was filled with family.
By the time he made it back to the safe house, the sun was going down, the sky pink with fading daylight. Cassie slept soundly, her head against the window, her wounded arm held in her lap.
She shifted as he parked the SUV, groaning as he turned off the ignition.
“Cassie?” He touched her cheek, and she opened her eyes, looked into his face.
“Are we home?” she asked as the safe house door flew open, and kids came streaming out.
His heart jumped as he saw them—the abandoned, the neglected, the abused.
The loved, because Cassie had come into their lives.
The accepted, because she cared for them just the way they were.
“Yes,” he said, and she glanced out the window, saw the kids, smiled the kind of smile that showed true joy and love and happiness.
He leaned in to taste it on her lips, to feel the joy that curved her mouth.
“Wow!” she said as he pulled away. “Wait until I tell Virginia about this.”
“On her wedding day?”
“No.” She laughed, opening her door and preparing to greet her family. “As soon as that sedative wears off. Because I’ve got to tell you, Gavin, a kiss like that isn’t something a woman can keep to herself.”
He would have responded, but the kids were there, shouting and shrieking and filling Cassie in on everything she’d missed.
He watched as Destiny helped her out of the car, putting an arm around her waist.
The teen met his eyes, scowled, her eyes filled with worry and with relief.
“Well...don’t just sit there smiling like a fool,” she barked. “Come on around and help me.”
She had a mouth on her, that kid.
He’d have to work on that.
First, though, he’d do what she asked.