Authors: B. J. Daniels
Hard Rain (27 page)
As the cold droplets dimpled her skin with goose bumps, she thought of the last big rainstorm and what it had wrought.
With a wave of relief, she spotted the lights of a vehicle coming up the road. Buck hadn’t listened to her. He’d decided to come get her anyway. She turned to pick up her suitcase and take one last look at the house where she’d been living.
Sarah started at the knock on her door. Buck wouldn’t have knocked. Not unless she’d forgotten and locked the door. She rushed to it and threw it open only to rear back in shock.
The man standing in the doorway was elderly, his face weatherworn, his expression somber.
“Hello, Sarah.”
She took a step back as she recognized him from the photograph she’d been shown of Dr. Ralph Venable, the man she’d allegedly spent her missing twenty-two years with.
A thought struck her. Harper had mentioned that someone was delivering a package from Buck. That she’d given the carrier Sarah’s address. This package was not from Buck, she realized.
The man stepped into the house on a gust of wind, closing the door behind him. “There is no reason to be afraid,” he said quietly. “I’m here to help you.”
She shook her head as she recalled what Russell had told her about Dr. Venable. He specialized in brain wiping. Was this the man who’d stolen her memories? Worse, planted new ones?
“You made me forget my life,” she said, moving quickly to the kitchen, where she grabbed a carving knife and brandished it as he followed her. “You stole twenty-two years from me.” Her voice broke with emotion. “I missed seeing my babies grow up. Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you.”
“Because you need me.”
“Who hired you to do that to me?” she asked, terrified he would say it had been Buck—just as Russell had always said.
He shook his head almost sadly. “I saved your life, Sarah. That winter night you drove into the Yellowstone River, your car breaking through the ice, the water washing you downstream? I’m the person you called. You begged me to help you. I sent someone to pick you up and bring you to my clinic.”
She had no memory of any of this, but all along, Russell had surmised this was exactly what had happened. Russell. If only he was here. She patted her pocket for her cell phone and realized she’d left it on top of her suitcase in the living room.
“You have no reason to fear me,” the doctor said. “You and I are friends. You might not remember everything—”
“I don’t remember any of it!” she cried. “You stole my memories.”
“Only because you begged me to. You couldn’t live with them. That’s why you tried to kill yourself.”
Sarah shook her head as she backed toward the living room, holding the knife out in front of her. He didn’t seem afraid or even worried as she spotted her cell phone and snatched it up.
“Who are you going to call, Sarah? The sheriff? Your former husband? One of your daughters?”
She looked down at the cell screen, her fingers momentarily frozen over the keyboard. Russell. He’d said to call her. He’d known Dr. Venable would come for her again.
“They can’t help you like I can. I can clear it all up for you. You want answers? I can provide them. I am the only one who can give them to you. Put down the phone, Sarah. I’ve come back to help you just as we planned.”
She looked from the phone to his face. She knew this man. Even as she tried to deny what he was saying, she also knew it was true. She had called him that night. She had trusted him. Even if she didn’t now, he had all the answers she desperately needed.
“You know why I tried to kill myself?” she asked, the knife wavering in her hand, the cell phone in the other forgotten for the moment.
He nodded. “I know everything from the first time you and I met all those years ago.”
To her surprise, she began to cry. He stepped to her, taking the knife, then the cell phone, and putting them aside before he took her in his arms.
“It’s all right, Sarah. You’re going to be all right now. I’m here. I’m going to help you. It’s time.”
EPILOGUE
“M
Y
DAUGHTER
TELLS
me she is in love with you,” Buckmaster said to Brody as the family gathered in the living room.
Brody glanced past the man to where Harper was standing and felt his heart lift at the sight of her as it always did. “Is that right?”
“In fact, she tells me that the two of you are engaged. I’d like to know how you feel about my baby daughter?” the senator asked.
“I’m in love with her, as well.”
“I see. And your family?”
“They’ll come around in time once they see how happy I am with Harper,” Brody said with more assurance than he felt.
“You know Sarah and I had a hard time because my mother never accepted her.”
“And yet, here you are,” Brody said. “You’ve been through a lot and yet you’re together.”
Buckmaster chuckled. “You have a point.” He looked at Sarah and smiled, but Harper had told Brody that her mother had changed her mind about moving back in until they were married—after the primaries.
“Don’t break my daughter’s heart,” Buckmaster said, and extended his hand. “You’re always welcome here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“And it’s Buck.”
“Soon to be Mr. President,” Sarah said, taking Buck’s arm.
“Let’s not count our chickens just yet.”
“Don’t be so modest,” she said. “The media recently printed—”
“Damn the media, no offense, Max.”
“None taken, Senator.”
Buckmaster raised his glass. “We’re a family and by damned we’re going to start living like one.” His gaze lit on Sarah. “I will be marrying the love of my life as soon as the primaries are over. I expect you all to be there.”
“Hear, hear!” everyone said.
Brody noticed that Sarah looked skeptical as Buckmaster pulled her to him for a hug. “We’ll weather this, just as we have everything else that’s been thrown at this family,” the senator said.
His words met with approval from his daughters. All except Kat. She looked worried, but Max put an arm around her.
Brody saw Harper frown and step to her sister, taking her hand and looking at what was glittering on her ring finger. “Is that what I think it is?” she cried. “Kat?”
“We weren’t going to announce our engagement until after the primaries, because we weren’t sure this was the appropriate time,” Max said.
Buckmaster laughed. “It’s the perfect time.”
Brody smiled as the other sisters huddled around Kat and Harper to look at their rings and talk weddings. He felt the warmth of this huge family and was relieved that he’d been welcomed into it. He thought of his father and uncle. Maybe someday they would come around. He hoped so, but he wasn’t going to let them spoil what he and Harper had. They were going to make their own history.
He noticed that when no one was looking, Sarah looked worried. He saw her glancing out the window several times as if she was expecting someone.
The gathering had an air of excitement to it, and underlying tension. He hoped Harper didn’t sense it. He wanted her to be happy today. As for the future, they would have to take it as it came.
“You can still change your mind,” Brody whispered next to Harper as he cornered her later in the kitchen.
She turned to wrap her arms around his neck. “Not a chance, cowboy.”
Outside thunder rumbled. A sudden streak of lightning lit the sky behind the windows. Brody pulled her close as they watched the storm come out of the Crazies, headed right for them.
* * * * *
Read on for an excerpt from
the next installment in the
APPALOOSA PASS RANCH
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by
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Delores Fossen
A shoot-out on the banks of Appaloosa Creek is the last place Marshal Chase Crockett expects to find his ex-lover, former criminal informant April Landis...
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