Finding Pride (Pride Series) (26 page)

Later, they sat on the front porch giggling about Boomer who was swatting fire flies. He’d gained so much weight, they were thinking of putting him on a diet.

Megan leaned back putting her head on his shoulder and let out a sigh. Summer was in full swing, she loved how the evenings cooled off. Fall was just around the corner and soon, next year, they would have a baby.

Todd sat with Megan’s head resting on his shoulder. He felt her entire body relax and knew she was tired. He rubbed her shoulder and when he felt she was asleep, he gently carried her upstairs to bed. Removing her clothing then his and crawled in beside her to sleep.

The next morning, Megan rushed to the bathroom. She made sure to take the pill when her stomach would allow her to swallow some water. Half an hour later, she was feeling much better.

Todd had stood outside the locked bathroom door, not knowing what to do. He paced back and forth begging Megan to let him in so he could help. But, he knew there really wasn’t anything he could have done, except give comfort.

Once she emerged, he engulfed her in a long hug, murmuring sweet words in her hair.

“
I’m moving my things over here today. I don’t want to be apart from you,” he said as they headed downstairs.

“That would be nice.” Megan said giving him a quick kiss and smile.

She knew that either Lacey or Iian would be in the kitchen setting up breakfast for her guests. She couldn’t wait to pass the news on.

She could hear the family, who had rented the cabin, eating in the formal dinning room. The sounds drifted through the house making it feel even more comfortable with the chatter of children. When had she gotten used to people coming and going in her home? When had she started thinking of this as her home?

“Good morning.” Megan said to the family. “How did you sleep?”

“Oh, wonderful. It’s so quiet here. I think for the first time in my life, I woke to the birds singing.” The woman, Stephanie, said smiling at Todd over her coffee.

“This is Todd Jordan.” Megan said, “Todd, this is Mr. and Mrs. Buckner, our guests, and their children, Brian and Bobby.”

“How do you do? I hope you’re enjoying your stay.”

“Are you related to Lacey? She made the most wonderful breakfast.” Mr. Buckner said, pointing to the pile of food on the table that their boys were inhaling.

“Yes, she’s my sister. I’ll just go find her. Good day.” He walked back to the kitchen, leaving Megan to chat with the family.

When she walked into the kitchen, Lacey had a fresh cup of coffee ready for her. Todd was leaning against the counter with a smile on his face, his legs crossed at the ankle. He looked so comfortable in her kitchen; she knew he had always belonged here.

Megan looked at the cup Lacey had handed her. Setting it down on the counter she said. “I had better drink some juice instead this morning.”

At Lacey’s questionable look, Megan looked to Todd for some help.

Todd walked over and pulled Megan to his side.

“We’re pregnant.” He smiled at his sister.

“Whoohoo!” Lacey rushed over and hugged both of them, tears coming easily to her eyes. “I knew something was up. No, no coffee for the mother to be. I am so happy. Wow! A baby!” she said wiping the tears away.

This was the first time she’d seen Lacey at a loss for words, and for that matter surprised. Lacey seemed to know what would happen before it always did.

After breakfast, the family went on their way to go sight seeing. Lacey stayed and ate breakfast with them, then headed on her way to work.

Megan and Todd spent some time sitting on the front porch talking. The cabins were booked almost through the end of summer, and she was getting internet reservations for the fall and as late as Christmas.

“It appears you have yourself a successful business. I just hope you haven’t taken on too many responsibilities, with the baby coming.”

Megan hadn’t thought of it that way. “I talked to a young girl at the store the other day, Nancy something. She said she’d been looking for some part time work. Maybe I can pull her in part time.” Megan said chewing her lip.

“Nancy Webber, she’s Iian’s age. She has a couple of kids I think. She would be perfect.”

“
I guess I’ll call her today, and see about setting up a schedule.”

With that settled, Todd headed into his office. Since he had been out of town for the last week; he needed to catch up on some paperwork. Megan herself, had things that needed to be done before lunch time, when her new guests were due to arrive.

She busied herself with inside house chores; cleaning the cabin and making sure everything in the other cabin was ready for the new guests.

The young couple arrived just before Iian, who had brought some Turkey and Roast Beef sandwiches for the guests.

They set the lunches out on the porch table for guests to help themselves.

Everyone enjoyed eating out on the large porch, chatting about places they wanted to visit. The young couple was heading into town for some shopping. Megan made a point to mention Allison’s store. The couple seemed eager to stop there for some pictures and nick-knacks.

After Iian and the guests left to go about their afternoon, Megan decided to spend some time outside; it was too nice of a day to go back inside. She enjoyed the time she spent in her small garden area out back, where she had planted some vegetables.

Boomer liked to roll around in the fresh dirt. He would swat at flies that buzzed by or glare at birds as they drifted overhead.

She was digging up some fresh carrots when Boomer let out a loud hiss and ran off towards the garage. Megan looked up and watched his tail disappear inside the doors. Then a shadow fell over her and without looking around she knew who it was. In that moment, her new happy world disappeared.

T
odd was drowning in paperwork. He enjoyed a good stack of healthy work now and then, but this was ridiculous. His desk looked like he’d been out of town for a month instead of just one week.

Iian had stopped by earlier and brought him a sandwich for lunch. He’d heard the happy news from Lacey and had come over to congratulate him.

He told him of the new couple that had checked in before lunch. He’d given Todd an update on Megan, saying she looked tired, but ate a good lunch before he left her.

After Iian’s visit, Todd started back on the stack of papers. He wanted to finish up early so he could get back home. He liked the picture his mind drew when he thought of that word.

Megan sitting on the front porch waiting for him, Boomer lying on her lap. He could just imagine kids running around the front yard, a boy and a girl who had Megan’s eyes. His day dream was broken by the sound of his phone ringing.

“Jordan Shipping.”

“Todd Jordan?” Came a deep voice the connection was bad and he could barely hear.

“This is Todd, may I help you?”

“Todd, this is Mark. I have some news about Megan Kimble’s ex-husband.”

When Todd slammed down the phone, less than a minute later, he quickly picked it up again and called the house. After the fifth ring, he slammed it down again. Calling the police on his cell phone he rushed out the door.

Derek, Megan’s ex, had escaped yesterday morning. Apparently, they were moving him to a minimum security prison, when he overpowered a guard. Taking his credentials and gun, he shot and killed the man.

He’d been missing since then. The worst news came from Mark Walton; Todd had hired the man to keep an eye on Derek.

He knew Megan didn’t like that he was watching out for her, but she was his now. It appeared that Derek used the guards ID to jump a small plane in Denver and had landed in Portland this morning. Then using the man’s credit card had rented a white sedan. Relaying this information to the Police over the phone, he prayed that he wasn’t too late. Megan could just be in the yard, or visiting with the new boarders.

When he arrived at the house not five minutes later, the sheriff was already there. Sheriff Robert Brogan had been a High School friend of his, he had his hand on his gun, and was walking back around from the side yard.

When he saw that it was Todd, he moved his hand away from his gun.

Todd jumped from the car before it fully came to a stop beside the Jeep.

“Megan. Megan.” He screamed running up the front stairs. He was across the large porch, and threw open the front door.

Robert walked up to him, “She’s not here, I arrived about two minutes ago. No sign of struggle in the house. I just checked out back in the garage. I found a cat out there; it wouldn’t let me get near it. The front door was left wide opened. Could she have walked up to one of the cabins?”

“
You take the farthest ones; I’ll check the closer ones.” As they sprinted off, his mind was running through the conversations they had about her ex and what he had done to her. He was searching his memory for any information that might help him locate her.

He remembered the story that she’d told him of Derek locking her away in a Motel for weeks at a time. He prayed the bastard didn’t have his hands on her.

He prayed that she was alive, just let her be alive.