Going to the Chapel (15 page)

The dreaded chapel. Was she going
to have to watch every single woman in town get married before she
left? Caroline scolded herself for thinking such a selfish thought.
It wasn’t Sherry’s fault that Caroline’s experience with men had
been so screwed up.

“
You get as much bed rest as
possible,” Caroline suggested. “We don’t want you getting too
excited or over tired and going into labor.”

“
Don’t worry,” Sherry told her.
“I’m making calls from the couch and my mother is taking care of
all the arrangements. All I have to do is show up at the chapel
with the dress on. Nina Jenkins made me a beautiful maternity gown.
And it’s white, too, baby.”

“
I know you’re going to be
beautiful.” With Sherry’s dark skin and petite, though rounded,
figure, she would be gorgeous in a white lacy gown.

“
See you at four!”

Caroline disconnected, feeling
oddly sad. She wasn’t dumb or immature. How did she always choose
the wrong man? The image of Chase and the feeling of rightness
immediately zoomed into focus. She shook her head. He’d already
proven that he wasn’t the right man for her. And even if he had
changed...even if he begged her to stay, things would never be the
way they were. She held out no hope that either of them could
overcome that monumental obstacle.

~*~

“Surely someone somewhere has seen
her,” Rob insisted. He stood before Chase’s desk, his hands braced
on the edge. “How can she have simply disappeared into thin
air?”

Chase shook his head and threw up
his hands. “I can’t answer that question. Julie is an adult. If she
doesn’t want to be found, chances are she won’t.”

Rob blew out a disgusted breath and
dropped into a chair. “This is insane. The whole town is looking at
me as if I’m the most pathetic creature on earth. How could she do
this to me?”

Chase wanted to shake him. They’d
had this same conversation every day this week. Each time, Chase
had told Rob the same thing. He’d done all he could. Legally, there
was nothing else to be done. Julie would show up when she chose to.
There was absolutely no reason to suspect foul play, and no one had
seen her.

“
Well.” Rob stood, as he always
did, after only a few moments in the chair. “I’ll get back to the
bank. Let me know if you hear anything at all.”

“
You know I will.”

Chase watched Rob trudge away. The
man was devastated. Chase had to wonder, though, how much of it was
heartache and how much was pride. He hated to think badly of Rob,
but somehow his concern seemed entirely too superficial. Chase
considered the conversation they’d shared the night before the
wedding fiasco. Rob hadn’t been as sure of himself as usual. That,
combined with Julie’s abrupt departure, made Chase uncertain of
what the future held for the two.

Not that Chase had any answers. God
knew his own circumstances were certainly crazy enough. He still
couldn’t believe that he and Caroline had made love. Not that he
regretted it, mind you, because he definitely didn’t. He had wanted
Caroline more than he’d wanted to take his next breath. But it
would only make it that much harder for him when she
left.

And she would leave. Staying was
the farthest thing from her mind. And even if for some reason she
did stay, the whole town sure wanted her to, there was no future
for the two of them. Caroline had walked out on him. And he had
married another woman. Even if he forgave her for leaving, she
would never forgive him for what he’d done. And then there was
Shane. Chase had to consider what was best for his son in all this
as well. No matter what he felt for Caroline...he had to think of
Shane.

“
Brought you some
lunch.”

Chase looked up to find Henri
barging into his office, covered basket in hand. He dredged up a
smile. “Thanks, Henri. How did you know I was sitting here
contemplating dropping by the pool hall for a burger?”

Henri perched her load on the edge
of his desk. “Forget that place. Full of cholesterol. You need good
food that’ll stick to your ribs without clogging your
arteries.”

Chase grinned. “Where’s
Shane?”

She angled her head back toward the
door. “He’s in there showing your secretary how to properly hold a
frog.”

The image of Mary Lou screaming and
running out the door flitted through Chase’s mind. “That should
prove interesting.”

“
Well, I don’t know how interesting
it’ll be, but I’ll bet we’ll all hear about it.”

Chase reached for the sandwich she
offered. “I give it three minutes tops.”

Henri settled into a chair and
unwrapped a sandwich. “She’s on the phone with Hattie Lockhart, so
I’ll give her five. But if she goes much longer than that, Shane’ll
plop the thing in her lap.”

Four minutes and one and a half
sandwiches later, Mary Lou let out a blood-curdling
scream.

“
You owe me five bucks,” Henri said
as both she and Chase shot to their feet and hurried to the outer
office.

“
I don’t remember betting five
bucks,” Chase argued, his gaze going immediately to the chunky
woman climbing atop her desk.

“
Just make it ten then.”

Chase ignored Henri’s attempts at
fleecing him and reached to steady his swaying
secretary.

“
Come on down, Mary Lou. It’s just
a frog,” Chase offered reassuringly.

The woman’s pale face and wide eyes
never left the floor behind her desk. She shook her head. “That’s
no frog,” she shrieked.

Chase skirted her desk and peered
down at the floor next to her chair. A small garter snake lay
coiled up and hissing. He swore. Mary Lou screamed. Henri just
shook her head.

Before his secretary fell and broke
something, Chase snatched up the little nonpoisonous snake and
hurried to the door with it. He pitched it outside and dusted his
hands off. When he turned back to the ladies, Henri was helping
Mary Lou down from her desk.

“
Sorry about that,” Chase said
contritely. He was going to have to have a long talk with
Shane.

“
I thought he had a frog in that
shoe box.” Henri nodded toward the box with the holes punched in
the top that lay on the floor.

Chase scanned the office then for
his son. Maybe that long talk would be accompanied by a good old
fashioned spanking. He frowned when Shane was nowhere to be found.
“Where he’d go?”

Still wide-eyed, Mary Lou shook her
head. “I was on the phone. I just looked down and saw the snake,
nothing else registered after that.”

Henri rushed into Chase’s office,
returning just as swiftly. “He’s not here,” she said, her face
going as pale as Mary Lou’s.

“
He couldn’t have gotten far,” Mary
Lou wailed. “He was just here.”

Chase raced out the door, calling
his son’s name. A dozen horrifying scenarios involving everything
from cars to the nearby creek the town was named after whizzed
through his mind. He stood in the middle of the street and looked
first one way and then the other. Where could he be?

~*~

“Isn’t the detail of the trim work
just lovely?” Felix asked of the young couple following him through
Caroline’s house.

They’d already been through the
house, inside and out, once. They’d wanted to take another look
before they made a decision. Caroline had gone over the items she
intended to let go with the house, then she’d stepped back and let
Felix do his job.

“
It’s beautiful,” the young woman
breathed, obviously already enamored.

“
A fine old house with a big yard
for raising children,” Felix suggested.

The man grunted and nodded, clearly
restraining his own enthusiasm in hopes of cutting a better
deal.

Caroline had already made up her
mind. She wouldn’t budge on the asking price. It was more than
fair. They could take it or leave it as far as she was
concerned.

The tour stalled in the parlor.
Caroline watched the young man rub his chin as if in deep thought.
She could see the underlying tension in his posture. She was quite
sure Felix knew he had himself a deal already.

“
I want it,” the wife shouted
abruptly.

“
Honey,” her husband warned, his
face flushed.

“
I mean it,” she insisted. “I want
this house. We’ll take it.”

Felix looked to the
husband.

The guy shrugged. “Well, I guess if
she wants it that much...”

“
Excellent decision!” Felix pumped
the younger man’s hand and smiled from ear to ear. “You won’t
regret it.”

But would she? Caroline thought
morosely.

After the appropriate closing
remarks, Felix ushered the couple back to his office to sign
papers. Caroline dropped onto the porch steps and stared at nothing
at all. It was done. She’d sold her childhood home.

That’s what she wanted, wasn’t
it?

Caroline propped her chin in her
hand and exhaled heavily. Yes, it was what she wanted. The house
was sold, all she had to do was get Tristan’s car back and she was
out of here.

“
Why you look so sad, Doc
Caroline?”

Startled, Caroline looked up to
find Shane Garrett strolling up her sidewalk. She looked beyond him
for Henri or Chase, but the kid appeared to be alone.

“
Shane? What are you doing
here?”

He shrugged, his little thumbs
hitched in his belt. “I wanted to visit you.” He kicked a pebble.
“And I left a prize for Mis’ Mary Lou. I figur’d I better let her
find it all by herself.”

Mary Lou. Caroline wracked her
brain to place the name. Oh yeah, Chase’s secretary. Caroline
frowned. “You walked here from the sheriff’s office?”

Shane nodded. “It ain’t
far.”

Caroline knew it wasn’t far, but
that was beside the point. She patted the step, an invitation for
the boy to sit beside her. He obeyed. “Shane, did your father give
you permission to come to my house?”

The kid shrugged again. “Not
‘xakly.”

“
What about Henri? Did she say you
could come?” Caroline knew that wasn’t likely, but she would ask
before she jumped to conclusions. Folks in Lucy’s Branch hadn’t
been touched by the evil that befell children on the streets in
larger cities.

“
Nope.” He grinned up at Caroline.
“I ‘cided on my own.”

Caroline swore silently. Henri and
Chase were probably frantic. “Come on, buddy, let’s go call your
daddy and tell him you’re okay.”

Shane took her hand as she stood. A
protective feeling welled so hard and swift inside her that it took
Caroline’s breath. She blinked back the sudden burn of tears and
offered the boy a smile. God, he wasn’t supposed to have this kind
of effect on her. Then again, he was a Garrett. And Garrett men
were born with far too much charm.

The telephone line was busy at the
Sheriff’s office. Rather than keep trying to get through, Caroline
opted to drive to the office. It was only five minutes away. She
didn’t want to prolong Chase’s worry.

She loaded Shane into the truck and
fastened his seat belt. He smiled and her heart skipped another
beat. Shaking off the odd connection she felt to the child, she
quickly hurried around the hood and climbed behind the wheel. She
made the trip to the sheriff’s office in record time.

Mary Lou was on the telephone,
relaying the story of the missing child to someone. She gasped when
she saw him at Caroline’s side and immediately hung up the
receiver—without even saying goodbye.

“
Good heavens, young man, where on
earth have you been?” Mary Lou raced around her desk and grasped
the boy by the shoulders as if reassuring herself that he was real.
“You scared us all to death.”

“
Where’s Henri and Chase?” Caroline
inquired.

Mary Lou straightened, her hand
pressed to her ample bosom. “Henri’s going door to door and Chase
drove back to his house to see if the boy attempted to walk
home.”

Caroline could imagine what both
were going through. “You find Henri and I’ll drive out to the
Garrett place.”

“
I wanna find Aunt Henri,” Shane
demanded from his position on his hands and knees.

Mary Lou scowled. “If you’re
looking for your little friend, your daddy took him
outside.”

Caroline didn’t bother to ask.
“Don’t let him out of your sight.”

“
Don’t worry.” Mary Lou arched one
eyebrow a tad higher than the other. “I won’t. Come on, young man,
let’s find your Aunt Henri.”

Shane accepted her hand and grinned
up at Caroline. “Bye.”

Caroline followed them outside then
climbed into the truck. She watched in the rearview mirror for just
a minute to make sure Shane wasn’t going to give Mary Lou any
trouble. Caroline shook her head as she started the engine. Kids.
They sure could be a handful. The sense of longing that swamped her
made her want to weep. Would she ever know those
feelings?