Cold Hearted (18 page)

Devon took Jordan’s hand. “There was nothing they could do. You miscarried in the emergency room only minutes after you arrived here.”

“No, no…” Jordan jerked her hand out of Devon’s and turned over, burying her face in the pillow. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

Devon rubbed her back. “I can’t bear to see you like this. Please, Jordan, please…”

“Leave her alone,” Darlene said. “She needs time to grieve.”

“Why did this have to happen?” Devon’s voice trembled. “Why did—?”

“Come on, let’s go get some coffee and leave Jordan alone so she can rest,” Darlene told him, and then touched Jordan’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, we won’t go far. We’ll be back shortly.”

She didn’t reply. She couldn’t. Emotional pain radiated through her, cutting her heart to ribbons. Knowing that her child was gone, lost to her forever, she felt horribly empty and so very alone. If Dan was alive, he would know what to do, what to say. He’d had such a way with words, always saying just the right thing. That was one of the things that had made him such a good politician.

“Oh, Dan, I wish you were here to help us…”

Losing track of time as she mourned the loss of her child, she hadn’t been aware that someone had entered her room, not until he reached out and brushed the damp tendrils of her hair off her cheek. Although his touch was soft and gentle, his fingertips were rough. Not Devon’s hand, not his manicured fingernails.

“Rick?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“I lost my baby.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Without lifting her head from the pillow or turning to look at him, she reached for his hand that lay on her shoulder. He threaded his fingers through hers.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked.

“No, there’s nothing to be done now.” She had lost the child that she had waited a lifetime to have, a child who would have been greatly loved.

“The nurse said you could probably go home tomorrow afternoon.”

“Hmm…”

“The entire bunch has been here,” he told her. “They’ve taken turns looking in on you. I think everyone has gone home except Devon and Darlene.”

“How is Devon?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Would you take them home… please?” She turned over and looked up at Rick. “But first I need to see Devon again.”

“Are you sure you want to be alone tonight? Devon could stay or I—”

“No, there’s no need for anyone to stay. They’ll keep me doped up so I should be able to sleep. I just need to say good night to Devon.”

“I’ll get him.”

A few minutes later, Devon stood in the doorway and waited for her to motion to him. When she did, he came over and sat down on the bed; then he took both of her hands in his and kissed her knuckles. “I’m so sorry. It’s not fair. We lost Dan. We shouldn’t have lost the baby, too.”

Teardrops fell from his big blue eyes and spattered across their clasped hands. When he put his head down on her chest, she forked her fingers through his dark hair and petted him as a mother would comfort a child. “Hush, now. Hush.”

“I had imagined what the baby would look like.” Devon told her. “I thought it was a girl and I knew she’d look just like you, only she’d have my dark hair and blue eyes. Dan would have loved her. He’d have spoiled her. All of us would have spoiled her.”

She soothed him with her touch, hating to see him suffering so. “I thought our baby would be a boy. Dan would have loved having a son, and if he’d looked just like you, nothing would have made Dan happier.”

Rick didn’t make a habit of eavesdropping and the only reason he had overheard Jordan and Devon’s conversation was because Devon had only partially closed the door. In a way, he wished he hadn’t heard a damn thing. But he couldn’t forget what he’d heard — Devon Markham had fathered Jordan’s baby and apparently Daniel Price had known.

Something was screwy about this whole thing. It didn’t make sense. But there had to be some kind of logical explanation. A top secret explanation? Apparently Jane Anne Price had known the secret, and possessing that knowledge had gotten her killed.

While Rick’s mind whirled with unanswered questions and tried to form scenarios that solved the puzzle, Devon came out of Jordan’s room.

“There’s no need to tell her that Darlene is going to stay here tonight, just in case she needs her,” Devon said. “Jordan will probably be asleep before Darlene comes back from the snack bar.”

“Whatever you think is best.”

“If Jordan didn’t insist that I go home, I’d stay.” Devon glanced at Rick. “Even now, after all she’s endured, she’s thinking of me.”

“Yeah, she is.”

As they walked down the corridor toward the elevator, Devon asked, “You don’t like me, do you, Mr. Carson?”

“I figured the feeling was mutual,” Rick replied.

“We’re very different types of men, aren’t we?”

Rick punched the elevator’s DOWN button. “I’ve got nothing against your type — fancy dressing pretty boys who get manicures and pedicures and know more about choosing a good wine than they do about sports and cars. I don’t like you because I dislike men who have affairs with other men’s wives and I can’t stand to see a man lean on a woman when he should be taking care of her, not the other way around.”

The elevator doors opened. Rick entered first, then Devon. Rick hit the GROUND LEVEL button.

“I don’t like you because you actually think that Jordan is capable of murder,” Devon said. “You aren’t very perceptive about people, are you? You’ve misjudged Jordan terribly. And as for me…” Devon laughed. “You’re half right about me, the part about my getting manicures and pedicures and knowing more about good wine than sports. And you’re right about my leaning on Jordan. We’ve been friends since we were kids and she’s always taken care of me. Don’t let her looks fool you. Beneath that small, fragile façade, she’s a strong, powerful lioness. She takes care of those she loves.”

The elevator hit the ground level; the doors opened. Devon exited first, then Rick.

As they made their way to the parking lot, Rick asked, “So I’ve misjudged Jordan, but got you pegged, is that right?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that, although Jordan and I love each other and have loved each other since we were seven years old, we didn’t have an affair?”

Rick unlocked the Jeep and waited until they were both seated inside before he responded. “Answer one question for me.”

“All right.”

In the semi-darkness, Rick looked at Devon and asked, “Were you the father of Jordan’s baby?”

Dead silence.

“No.”

“You’re lying,” Rick said.

“There are things you don’t know, things you wouldn’t understand. Jordan and I have never been lovers.”

“Whatever the big secret is, it’s only a matter of time before I find out. Secrets, no matter how well hidden or deeply buried have a way of coming out sooner or later.”

“You’re right, but it’s not my place to… Only Jordan has the right to tell you.”

“Whether you believe me or not, I really am on her side. I don’t want her to be hurt any more than she already has been.” Rick started the engine and backed out of the parking place.

“If you mean that, then believe in her and help her. She’s beginning to trust you. Don’t betray that trust.”

Keeping his gaze fixed on the dark road ahead, Rick didn’t continue their conversation. A strained silence developed between them. But oddly enough, Rick believed what Devon had told him — that he and Jordan had never been lovers.

Their baby’s sweet little soul was in heaven now. Gone to be with the Lord. Perhaps it would also be with Dan and with Robby Joe and others in the family who had gone on before them. She knew for sure that that tiny, innocent spirit would never be alone or feel sorrow the way they did.

Jordan’s heart was broken. Her heart was broken. But in time they would both heal. They would go on, as they had done time and time again. Together. And someday their lives would come full circle, back to the beginning. He was waiting for them, waiting for them to be reunited.

She sat in the darkness, alone and sad, wishing she could rewind time and bring back their baby. Devon had thought it would be a girl, but they had known it was a boy.

How many times had she dreamed of him, had al most been able to feel him in her arms? He would have been the center of their universe. They would have loved him, nurtured him, and protected him at all costs.

God took away the baby to punish you.

She jerked upright.

Who said that?

I did.

Her heartbeat accelerated. “Where are you?” she asked aloud.

I’m inside you. I’m your conscience.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Oh, is that all? Hush up then. Go away and leave me alone.

She plumped the pillow behind her head and pulled the blanket up to her neck.

God took the baby to punish you for killing all those people. You didn’t think you’d get away with all those murders, did you? You had to know that eventually you’d have to pay for your many crimes.

I said hush up. That’s nonsense. The Lord knows that I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve to die.

What about Dan? Did he deserve to die?

No, maybe not, but the Lord had issued him a death sentence. All I did was send him to his Maker a little ahead of time. But the others deserved what they got. They would have hurt us. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

Perhaps you’re right. I didn’t like Jane Anne Price. She wasn’t a nice woman. I’m glad you killed her.

She shouldn’t have tried to blackmail Jordan.

No, she shouldn’t have. But I took care of her. She won’t ever bother us again.

Ryan phoned Rick at eight the next morning and asked him to come to his house. “Steve’s on his way here. He needs to question Jordan about Jane Anne’s murder, but he’s willing to speak to you now and wait to talk to Jordan after she gets out of the hospital.”

Claire met Rick at the front door and took him straight to Ryan’s home office. She knocked on the closed door.

“Yes, come in,” Ryan said.

Claire offered Rick a token smile. “Go on in. He didn’t sleep more than a couple of hours last night after we left the hospital. We’re both very concerned about Jordan.”

“It’ll take time for her to get over losing her baby,” Rick said.

“That child meant so much to her… to all of us really.”

When Rick entered the office, Ryan rose from the brown leather chair-and-a-half near the double windows. He placed his nearly empty coffee mug on the side table and held out his hand to Rick. The two exchanged a cordial shake.

“Come on in and sit down. I expect Steve in the next fifteen or twenty minutes.”

Rick took the brown-and-green plaid wing chair opposite Ryan’s chair. “We need to persuade the sheriff to post-pone talking to Jordan as long as possible. She’s nowhere near ready for an interrogation.”

“I agree, but he’s doing me a personal favor not questioning her while she’s still in the hospital.”

“There’s nothing Jordan can tell him that I can’t. We were together when—”

“Can you tell him why Jordan gave Jane Anne a check for a hundred thousand dollars?”

Shit! He shouldn’t be surprised that they’d found Jordan’s check in Jane Anne’s purse. “Jane Anne was blackmailing her.”

“Damn that woman! I figured as much when Steve told me about the check.”

“You know why she was blackmailing Jordan, don’t you?”

Ryan’s gaze darted about nervously before settling on Rick. “She knew things about Dan, about his marriage to Jordan, that could have ruined Dan’s reputation.”

“Did she know that Dan didn’t father Jordan’s baby and that Devon Markham did?”

Ryan’s facial muscles tightened. “How did you find out? Did Jordan tell you?”

“Then it’s true?”

Ryan nodded. “It’s true. My brother was sterile, something he found out during his marriage to Jane Anne. But he very much wanted a child and so did Jordan. Naturally, Devon was the obvious choice for the biological father.”

“Jordan was artificially inseminated?” Rick asked, a few of the puzzle pieces falling into place.

“Yes, of course.”

“And Devon was the obvious choice because he and Jordan had been best friends since they were children.”

“Yes, there was that, but also because of Dan and Devon’s relationship.”

Click, click, click. The rest of the puzzle pieces fell into place.

“Your brother was gay,” Rick said, astonished that it had taken him this long to figure out the obvious. “He and Devon were…”

“Secret lovers, secret partners. That’s why he ended his marriage to Jane Anne. He gave her a generous divorce settlement to buy her silence.”

“And who else knows the truth about your brother and Devon?”

“Only immediate family.”

“Who knew Jordan’s child wasn’t Dan’s?”

“Claire and I, Jordan, Devon, Dan, and Jordan’s doctor.”

“No one else?”

“Not that I know of. Those who knew about Devon and Dan were told that Dan was the biological father, that it was his sperm that was used to impregnate Jordan.”

“Son of a bitch! Why the hell did Jordan marry a man she knew was gay?”

“I think that’s a question only Jordan should answer,” Ryan said.

“Why didn’t y’all tell me the truth to start with?”

“We should have, I know. But we’ve guarded Dan’s secret for such a long time that it became second nature to do so. And we had hoped that it wouldn’t be necessary to share the information with you or anyone else. The more people who know, the more likely it is to become public knowledge.”

“The senator’s dead. What difference would it make now?”

“Dan’s reputation meant more to him than anything. More even than his love for Devon. He could have gone public and lived openly with Devon, but he was afraid of what might happen. He doubted the good people of Georgia would re-elect him to the senate if the truth came out and he’d have had no chance of running for the presidency. After Dan died, we all wanted to protect what he held dear. And with Jordan pregnant… Think what the truth about Jordan’s baby’s paternity might have done to the child.”