Colleen Coble (25 page)

Mindy swung her legs off the table and hopped down. “I’m so glad you’re here, Amy. Can you give me a list of the things I need to have ready for a home delivery?”

Amy handed her a list of the items to purchase. “If you’d like to order a kit online, some companies I work with will send everything together. They have a fair price on it too.”

She walked Mindy to the door and waved her off. She loved this part of her chosen career—the excitement of preparing for new life, the visualizing of the new family unit. Women on the island had heard she was staying. Her week already had a few appointments, and she made a mental note to call her supervising physician and give him a list of the new patients. Though he would not see them, he needed to affirm the fact that she wasn’t taking on too much.

And she’d finally made an appointment to get her blood drawn again. Now she would be on tenterhooks every time the phone rang.

Her parents had left this morning, thank goodness. Now she could get back to figuring out what had happened to Ben. There were no more patients today, and she intended to track down Curtis. Saturday night’s interlude still made her breath catch in her throat. She was going to have to tell him, though she dreaded it. If he wasn’t busy today, she’d spill the truth. Her parents had attended church with her yesterday, and Curtis hadn’t been there. Amy had heard he was working, but she had to wonder if the kiss they’d shared had kept him up half the night like it had her.

She changed from her skirt to a pair of shorts, then grabbed her keys and headed for the door. A Harley rumbled to a stop in her drive, and Curtis dismounted. A scowl darkened his expression, and he clutched a piece of paper in his hand. With a sinking feeling, she suspected she knew what was on it. The warm feeling she’d started the day with evaporated.

She waited for him on the porch. “Hi, I was just coming to see you.”

He waved the paper in the air as he bounded up the steps. “Your parents didn’t waste any time. This is an order to have a paternity test done on Raine.”

“You can’t blame them for wanting to be sure.” She sat on a white rocker and pointed to the other one. “Have a seat.”

He paced the floor in front of her. “I called my attorney on his vacation, and he said it’s standard procedure to establish paternity before suing for custody. So that’s clearly their plan.”

“I’m sorry, Curtis. Truly. It’s what I feared would happen, but I tried to talk them out of it.” She softened her tone in hopes that it would help him calm down.

He dropped into the other rocker. “It’s about Gina’s past, isn’t it?” His gaze cut away, then came back to her. “I know there was a revolving door of men in her life. One-night stands, relationships that lasted two weeks, and everything in between. But that all
changed when she became a Christian. It really did, Amy. Then she had Raine and she was so happy. She wasn’t seeing anyone but Ben and hadn’t since she got pregnant.” He held up the papers. “But this makes me wonder if your parents heard of her past.”

Amy didn’t want to tell him, but she had to be honest. “I told them about Gina’s past, Curtis. I thought it would be better coming from me than for their attorney to dig it up. It’s not like it was a secret.”

He stared at her. “
You
told them?”

“This is a small island. They would have heard it sooner or later.”

“And you judged her. You haven’t believed a word I’ve told you about how she changed.”

She ducked her head. She had been judge and jury to Gina. But didn’t she have the right to question everything? The entire tapestry of Raine’s heritage was woven with deceit. “I’m sorry, but can you blame me? You never even told us of her existence. We’ve all been shut out of the relationship. I wondered if this was why Ben didn’t marry her,” she said. “Ben had political aspirations. He’d been considering a run for the North Carolina House of Representatives. Reporters would have been quick to dig up any dirt on Gina.”

His mouth opened, then he clamped it shut and looked away.

She didn’t care for his expression—as if he’d bitten into something rotten. “What?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t much like Ben, Amy. I’m sorry if that hurts you, but a real man would have stepped up to his responsibilities. Regardless of her past, the fact was that he brought Raine into the world. He needed to be there for her. To love her and care for her needs.”

Her chest tightened. “Maybe he wasn’t sure Raine was his.”

He stared at her. “I had no idea you’d judged Gina so harshly. Haven’t you ever made a mistake? Or do you keep it all covered up?”

“Like you’re a paragon of truth!” she shot back, panicked that
he would see the truth in her face. “Raine is a year old, and you didn’t bother to tell us.” When he flinched, she knew her barb had struck home. His words had hurt her too. There was much about her past that she hadn’t told him. Her own cover-ups were much worse than Gina’s. Why hadn’t she been honest the minute she stepped foot on this island? After this argument, she doubted she ever would.

She rose and walked toward the front door. “I think we need some refreshments.”

He leaped up and caught her arm, then turned her to face him. “Don’t walk out on this discussion.”

She tugged her arm from his grip. “You didn’t really know my brother!” The way her voice rose and then wobbled horrified her.

“Maybe not. But are you sure you did?”

“Are you sure you knew Gina? What about the drugs in the field and the man in the dark suit?” His eyes flickered, and she wished she could take back the words.

He swallowed and nodded. “She might have made mistakes, but she wasn’t afraid to own up to them. And she was never a hypocrite, saying one thing and thinking another.”

Amy rushed for the screen door and gave it a satisfying slam behind her. She was no hypocrite. It wasn’t a sin to hold her tongue.

All evening Curtis had regretted calling Amy a hypocrite. He’d been angry when he got that court order, and he lost his cool. Everyone kept their feelings secret, just a little. How many times had he heard his mother say she was fine when someone asked her how she was at church? And he knew perfectly well she was suffering with her arthritis. Or how about the family who was
about to lose their house but didn’t tell a soul? And he had judged Gina when she was at her wildest himself. It was only later that he began to understand why she acted out.

After tossing and turning all night, he strapped Raine in her car seat and drove to Amy’s house. She’d mentioned that she would do office appointments on Mondays and Fridays and do home visits as needed on the other days. Her car was in the drive, so he laid on the horn until she came to the door.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to get Raine out of the car seat,” he called through the open window. “Want to come with me today? I have to get her DNA testing done at the court, and I thought we’d check on the investigation into the car bombing. Unless you’re working.”

She didn’t smile. “I don’t have any home visits today, but why aren’t you at work?”

“I took the day off.”

She looked cute today with her dark curls caught back in a red headband that had a flower on it. She was barefoot and wore denim shorts that showed off her fabulous tanned legs. He could look at her all day and never grow tired of it.

“Want to come, then?” When she hesitated, he added, “I’m sorry about last night. I was out of line.”

Her nod was grudging. “Let me grab my sandals.”

When she disappeared back inside the cottage, he let out the breath he was holding. Inhaling, he prayed that he could let go of the anger he’d been carrying around. It wouldn’t do any of them any good. They were supposed to be working together. And if he was honest with himself, he wanted more than friendship to develop between them.

That kiss Saturday night had changed something between them. He handed Raine some cheese crackers and waited.

When Amy came back out, she had changed her top to a blue ruffled one, and she wore some kind of woven shoes on her feet.
When she buckled the seat belt, he caught a whiff of a flowery scent that wasn’t artificial.

“I smell flowers. Been working in the garden?”

She nodded. “I planted a lot of herbs today, medicinal and kitchen. That dratted Fabio keeps tearing up my patch, so I hired someone to fence it in. It’s safe from the pony now. He seems to like me, even though he about had a heart attack when I got on his back.”

He slanted a grin her way. “Who wouldn’t like you? And can I help with the gardening?”

“I can do it. I like gardening.” Her tone was still stiff. She turned around and smiled at Raine. “Hello, sweetheart.”

Raine held up a book. “Read.”

“In a little while.”

“Now.” The baby threw the book to the floor.

Amy glanced at him without smiling. “She’s quite the general.” She released her belt and leaned over to grab the book. Raine grabbed it and began to flip through the pages. Amy snapped herself back into the seat belt, then kicked off her shoes.

He rolled his eyes and nodded. “I have to start curbing that, but it’s so darn cute.” He started the Jeep and put it in drive. “I said I was sorry, Amy. I think you’re still mad at me.”

She stared straight ahead. “Maybe I am. I don’t know that it’s wise for us to be friends, Curtis. This is going to end badly, no matter what happens.”

What did she mean? Or was it his imagination that she put special emphasis on the word
wise
? And how could she know it would end badly? There were worse things to overcome than prickly parents.

He said nothing at first as he concentrated on steering the Jeep around some tourists heading to the water with boogie boards and beach bags. “It’s not going to be easy, but when I got home last
night, I realized that I’m not willing to give up our friendship just because we might have a spat or two. If we keep things out in the open between us, we can navigate through this.”

He glanced at her when she didn’t answer. What was she thinking? His words should have reassured her, not caused her face to go pale. She looked out the window at first too, and not at him.

The leather seat squeaked when she finally turned a bit to face him. “And what if my parents get custody? I don’t think that’s a hurdle we can get past.”

He pressed his lips together. “They won’t get custody.”

Sadness and resignation hovered in the depths of her eyes and in the twist of her mouth. “And how will I deal with being caught between you and them? Because I know my father, Curtis. If he loses, he won’t forget it. And he’ll consider you an enemy as long as he lives.”

He knew what she was saying. The things that drew them together were tenuous, and the feelings were beginning to be deeper than mere friendship. So what if their relationship progressed to something more—like marriage? How could it survive open hostility from her parents?

He parked in front of the courthouse. “Let’s worry about that if it comes.”

None of the businesses were open yet, but the town offices opened at eight. The ice-cream store across the street wouldn’t hang their sign out until eleven. The no-parking zone in front of the town office had been freshly painted a gleaming yellow, and he pulled into the small parking lot instead. The nurse’s office was in the basement of the big stone building with a green door. She dispensed immunizations, and Tom had told Curtis that she could collect a court-approved saliva sample.

He got out and unbuckled Raine. “Why don’t you go talk to Tom while I have the nurse collect the sample?”

Amy hopped out and looked doubtfully at Raine. “Will it hurt her?”

“It’s just a cotton swab. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

Curtis was glad to escape into the cool confines of the basement. Amy’s warning still reverberated in his heart. Maybe they needed to go their separate ways. Someone was going to get hurt.

T
WENTY
-E
IGHT

T
om leaned back in the chair with his feet on his desk. He had a cup of coffee in his hand when Amy stepped into the sheriff’s office. There was one bulb out in the overhead fixture. The dimness of the lighting made her think of an old-time movie where the heroine was in a private detective’s dingy office building. The only part of this scene that didn’t match was the female deputy filing paperwork in a shiny gray cabinet.

Amy had forgotten Mindy worked here. “Mindy, your ankles look a little swollen. Can you do some of that work at your desk with your feet up?”

Mindy turned with a smile. “I’m nearly done here, and then I’ll rest. I haven’t been working too hard.”

Tom’s feet hit the floor. “Amy. I was going to call you today.” He perched his cup precariously on a stack of papers and reached for a manila folder on his right. “Got an interesting report back from the shark expert. Coffee?”

The coffee smelled stale from here, and the concoction in the pot behind him looked as thick as tar. “No coffee for me, thanks.” She took the folder he extended. “Interesting in what way?” Without waiting for his answer, she flipped open the folder and
glanced at the paper. “‘Not consistent with any known species of shark.’ What does that mean?”