Cradle Of Secrets (17 page)

T
he pastor lifted his hand. “Please, don't let me interrupt.”

They returned to their position on the bench as the pastor slowly walked over to them.

“I don't often see people in prayer inside the church during auction week. It's nice to see some friendly faces.”

“You must be Pastor Robbins,” Dylan said.

“That I am,” he answered with a smile.

The pastor looked at Tammie, took in her red-rimmed eyes. “What's troubling you, Serena? Has your father taken a turn for the worse?”

His face was sympathetic, and Tammie could feel tears surging to the surface again at his kindness. She was infinitely glad Dylan spoke.

“Pastor, this isn't Serena. Her name is Tammie. She's not from Eastmeadow.”

His eyes widened. “I didn't realize Serena had any other relatives.”

“We believe Tammie is Serena's sister.”

He nodded. “The resemblance is uncanny. You could almost be twins.”

Tammie flipped a lock of hair behind her ear. “Did you know the pastor that was here prior to you?”

“Just briefly. I was only here a short time before the Gardners left.”

“Then you know about the scandal regarding the church funds?” Tammie blurted out.

He looked thoughtful. “Why all these questions about the prior pastor?”

“They were my parents,” Tammie said quietly. “They raised me.”

Pastor Robbins sat down in the pew in front of them. “Oh, I see.”

“I don't think you do,” Dylan said. “The Gardners left Eastmeadow the night of the Davco mansion fire, right?”

“These are probably questions better asked of them, not me. It was a very long time ago.”

“Twenty-seven years,” Tammie said. “But I can't ask them. They died nearly two years ago.”

He drew in a deep breath and sighed. “I'm sorry to hear that. I knew them as good people. I always wondered if it was the money scandal that made them leave.”

“Then you do remember it?”

“Yes, I was part of it.”

Tammie sat up straighter, her attention fully on the pastor now. “You were?”

“Of course. Many of the townspeople were involved, as well. We'd been trying to raise money for a new youth program for poor children. Eleanor Davco and the pastor's wife—Connie, I believe her name was—were very active in it. From what I understand, they'd been very close friends since childhood. We'd managed to raise quite a sum of money. It surprised us all how generous people had been. But then it mysteriously disappeared.”

“No one knows what happened to it?” Tammie asked.

“No. It never turned up. But you know how these things work. This is a small town. People were very upset.”

“What happened?” Dylan asked.

“It did what all scandals do. It blew way out of proportion. Suddenly we weren't just talking about a few thousand dollars. The church books were suspect. The pastor was accused of stealing money from the church. Many of the church members called for an investigation.”

“Hence, the scandal,” Dylan said.

Pastor Robbins shrugged. “Right. Of course, the books were audited, and in the end they were found to be in perfect order. There was no money missing, except for the money that was raised for the youth group. The final investigation listed the charity money as probably being lost in the Davco mansion fire that night.”

Tammie rubbed her eyes, which were stinging from her tears. “The papers never said anything about that.”

“Unfortunately, scandalous news gets better headlines. And the fire was front-page news for weeks. It was awful. Of course, you must know about all that.”

Dylan nodded. “Do you remember what happened that night?”

The pastor rubbed his chin. “I don't recall the cause of the fire. Because Pastor Gardner had already left, I gave the services for Mrs. Davco and the unborn baby.”

Tammie's head shot up. “You gave services for the baby?”

“Yes, at Mr. Davco's request. He was quite devastated by their deaths, as you can imagine.”

Dylan placed his hand over Tammie's. “Yes, I'm sure he was.”

“Pastor, I believe that baby was me.”

The pastor's eyes widened with shock, and he looked at both of them. He cleared his throat. “Well, that
is
a surprise.”

Tammie had no doubt her biological father mourned both the loss of his wife and baby, but she couldn't help but wonder if he'd known she'd survived the fire. Someone had to have known.

“Are you folks staying in town?” the pastor asked.

“I'm staying with my sister.”

He nodded knowingly and smiled. “I'm happy to hear that. Serena could use some family around her right now.”

“Why do you say that?” Dylan asked.

“She's been very troubled this last year. She didn't begin coming to church services until about two or three years ago. I didn't really know her while she was growing up. Byron Davco had a lot of anger after his wife's death and separated from his faith. Eleanor Davco was a good Christian woman, very active in the church and I remember her bringing Serena here as a little girl.”

He looked around the empty church and then added, “I always thought Byron would one day bring Serena back. Eleanor would have liked that. But God seemed to have reached her through that young man she'd met.”

Dylan leaned forward and asked, “What young man?”

“I don't know his name. But they seemed quite in love. I never saw them around town, but they would come to services together on occasion. Not very often. I don't think he lived here in town. And I don't think I'd ever seen her as happy as she was when she was with him.” The pastor laughed and added, “I'm not foolish enough to think it was just my sermons that made her smile.”

Tammie smiled, as well. Serena had been in love with Cash. Somehow it made her feel good to know that all the sadness and pain Serena had experienced in her life was at least balanced by love.

If nothing else, Tammie had been gifted with love from her parents, had known the love of a mother for at least twenty-five years. Even if Connie Gardner hadn't been her biological mother, she'd shared that bond. Serena had been robbed of that.

Dylan pulled a picture of Cash out of his pocket and showed it to the pastor.

Pastor Robbins's eyes lit up with recognition. “Yes, that's the young man.”

“Have you seen him recently?”

“Not in quite a few months. Nor have I seen Serena. But maybe now that you're staying with her, you can persuade her to come out to Sunday services. With the two of you, of course.”

“Thank you, Pastor. I'd like that,” Dylan said. “We'll see what we can do about getting Serena here. She's not feeling very well right now.”

The pastor nodded.

“Maybe you could take a trip out to the Davco home for a visit,” Tammie added. “I'm sure Serena would like that.”

“Thank you for the invitation. I'll do that. I have some work to do in the office now. If you need anything else, even some counsel,” he said, speaking directly to Tammie, “be sure to stop in. I always make time.”

“Thank you. I'll remember that.”

As Pastor Robbins walked away, Tammie turned to Dylan and gently placed her hand on his arm. Words were jumbled up in her brain, and she couldn't think of any that could adequately express what she was feeling. He seemed to understand, and told her so with a quick smile and the light brush of his hand across her back.

Then, wordlessly, he led her out of the church.

The warm early summer air felt good on her face as she stepped into the sunshine. It seemed her parents hadn't been criminals. The relief she felt was overwhelming.

And her mother had been Eleanor's best friend. Maybe there was a good reason why she'd ended up with her parents instead of Byron Davco. She just needed to find out what it was.

As they walked down the steps of the church, Tammie asked, “Do you think it was coincidence?”

“That they left the same night as the fire? The same night you were born? No,” Dylan said resolutely. “And you don't, either. But just like the rumor of the church funds being stolen, there is an explanation to this, Tammie. You just have to have faith.”

She stopped midway on the steps.

“What is it?” he asked, a look of concern marring his face.

Her smile was wider than it had been in weeks. She could feel it. “It's just…. You always do that.”

His brow furrowed. “What?”

“Make me feel like everything is going to turn out right. It's been so long since I felt like I had…”

What could she say? She wasn't completely sure what she was feeling, except that the more time she spent with Dylan, the more she wanted to be with him.

Reaching out, he took her hand and tangled her fingers with his. “Just say it,” he urged, coming up to the same step she was standing on. He towered over her, and yet she never felt overwhelmed by him.

“For the first time since my parents died, I feel like I'm not alone. I have you to thank for that.”

Then he looked deeply into her eyes. Bending his head, he came closer to her. She knew he intended to kiss her, and that was just fine. She met him halfway.

His lips brushed against hers, gentle at first, but then with more meaning. Tammie reached her arms up to his shoulders, pulling him closer to her.

Her hands trembling on his shoulders, she pulled away from him and looked into his face. He appeared just as shaken as she felt by their kiss.

He didn't let her go. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, gave her a warm embrace that felt like a promise, and didn't let her go.

She felt his warm breath on her head as he spoke. “Are you sure you want to go here, Tammie?”

“Does it scare you?”

“No,” he said quickly. “I can't deny that my feelings for you have taken me by surprise. But I'm not sorry about them. I just want you to be sure about what you're feeling. There's so much going on right now, I don't want to get into something with you only to find out I've misread what's been going on between us.”

Tammie pulled away and looked right into his eyes. “I'm not sure about a lot of things, Dylan. But one thing I'm absolutely sure of is the way I feel about you. I haven't felt more sure about anything in a long time.”

 

He'd kissed her.

Again.

After the kiss they shared that night in the foyer, Dylan had convinced himself that it'd been a fluke. It was just two people running on anxiety and fear.

He'd felt like a heel the next morning when he woke up. The first thing he'd thought about was the way she seemed to fit so nicely in his embrace, like it was meant to be that way.

And then he'd kissed her again at the church. The way she looked at him, the way she felt in his arms, had let him know he wasn't alone in his feelings. Since then, the connection between the two of them had grown too strong to ignore.

Great timing, Dylan.
The absolute last thing either of them needed right now was to get involved in a relation ship, and yet…

He parked his Jeep against the curb in front of the Davco mansion, behind a flatbed truck.

“I wonder who this is,” Tammie said, climbing out of the Jeep and staring at the truck.

Dylan recognized it as Trudie Burdett's. The flatbed was empty. All the furniture Dylan had seen Trudie with that day when he helped her by the side of the road would be down at the auction grounds now.

“We'll find out soon enough,” Dylan said.

 

“Leave me alone!”

Dylan heard the screaming coming from the kitchen as soon as they walked through the door. It sounded as if pots and pans were being thrown and dishes were breaking. He and Tammie ran to the back of the house, where the sound of chaos grew louder.

Dylan put a protective hand in front of Tammie and pushed through the swinging kitchen door first.

“What's going on here?” he asked.

Serena was in her nightgown, running in circles around the workspace island in the center of the kitchen, Susan close behind her. Her face filled with relief when she saw Tammie.

“Tammie, don't let them do it! I don't want to sleep anymore! Don't let them do it!” she cried.

Tammie still stood behind him in the doorway. She started to advance into the kitchen fully, but he held her back with his hand.

“There's glass all over the place,” he said. “Serena, stay still.”

Along with the glass and broken dishes on the floor was spilled food and drink, as well as a rattan tray turned over and pushed aside.