Keeping Katie (A Mother's Heart #1) (6 page)

“No,
Sheriff,”
she said, and there was steel in her voice once again. “There is no
we.
Not now. Not ever.” She rose from the steps. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d remember that.” Reentering the house, she closed the door firmly behind her.

As he watched her go, Alan wondered what she was running from. More than that, he questioned what he planned to do about it. Too many things about this woman didn’t add up, and he’d had every intention of finding out the truth about her. Now there was this other feeling, this attraction, creeping up on him, and he didn’t quite know how he was going to deal with it, either. For the moment, he would put it aside. But something told him he wouldn’t be able to ignore it for long.

Shaking his head, he turned back to the silence of the night. “You’re wrong, Ms. Maureen Adams,” he said quietly. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Maureen lay awake listening. Through her open window, she could hear all types of sounds: the chatter of insects, the rustle of the breeze through the trees, and Alan Parks. He was still down there, on the back porch where she had left him an hour ago.

What was she going to do?

It was bad enough yesterday, when he seemed curious about her from a policeman’s point of view. It was even worse tonight when he’d exerted his masculine charm to find out all he could about her. But the real killer, the thing making her long to bury her tear-streaked face in her pillow, was that she’d almost succumbed. She’d wanted him to kiss her. Lord, how she’d wanted it. And more.

Rolling onto her back, she gave up trying to keep her eyes closed. She stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows of dancing branches illuminated by the moon.

She never should have stopped in Wyattville. How often had she said that to herself in the last twenty-four hours? She wondered how many times she’d say it again before she found a way to leave.

She and Katie should have gone on to Seattle. That’s what she’d planned to do. But she’d been low on money, and Wyattville was so peaceful, so tempting. She should have resisted. One more short bus ride and they’d have been in a city. A place Maureen understood, a place where they could hide.

Now that was behind them. She’d used almost all of her remaining funds to get them settled here. She’d insisted on paying Rita two months’ rent in advance.
Damn, why had she done that?
Of course, she could ask for it back, and no doubt Rita would comply. But she’d also want to know why.

Maureen had a little money left, but settling in Seattle would be more expensive than it had been in Wyattville. There would be first and last months’ rent. And what kind of place could she afford? She knew her chances of finding another Rita Ember were pretty slim. Then there was day care for Katie. Maureen would have to find a job. Someplace that wasn’t too quick to check references or social security numbers. That, too, would be more difficult to find in a city.

She flipped back over on her side, and Katie murmured something in her sleep. Maureen reached over to her daughter and pulled the covers around her. She brushed her fingers along the child’s cheek.
Oh, Katie,
she thought,
sometimes I just don’t know if I’ve done the right thing.
Katie let out a soft, baby sigh and snuggled closer to her mother. Maureen’s heart constricted and fresh tears fell from her eyes.

For several minutes, she let the tears flow, allowing her mind to shut down. Then she shook herself. Reaching over to the small nightstand next to the bed, she grabbed a handful of tissues. She had no time for self-pity. It wouldn’t help her or Katie.

Think, Maureen,
she said to herself.
What are your options?

First, she and Katie needed to get out of Wyattville. She had no idea how she was going to manage that without money. But there had to be a way, she told herself. There were always alternatives.

She thought of her father.

Would he help her this time? A phone call was all it would take to find out. One call and she’d know. Would he come to her? She knew he would enjoy watching her squirm, making her admit she’d been wrong. Maybe he would help her if she begged. But then again, maybe not. He might do what he’d done the last time she asked for help—he might refuse her.

Closing her eyes, she held back a resurgence of tears. No. She couldn’t ask him for help, and she refused to cry over him again. He was dead to her as surely as David. Besides, the authorities would be waiting for her to contact him.

Or would they?

Gladly, she let her thoughts shift away from her father. She really didn’t know if anyone
was
looking for her. Maybe that was something she needed to find out. If she could get a look at some back issues of the
Miami Herald,
maybe there would be an article or something. It was doubtful that Wyattville’s small public library would carry the
Herald,
but the one in Seattle should. She could take the bus into the city and find out, once and for all.

As for getting out of Wyattville, that would take time and money. Meanwhile, she’d just have to deal with things. It was her only reasonable alternative. She couldn’t let a man she barely knew threaten what she’d come so far to achieve.

She would have to learn how to avoid Alan Parks until she could find a way out of Wyattville—not an easy task, but a necessary one.

Jacob Anderson sat in the dark, needing nothing to illuminate his thoughts. The lack of light fitted his mood, suited the way his guilt settled about him like a shroud.

He’d betrayed her.

His own daughter. The only person he’d ever truly loved, ever needed, and he’d turned his back on her. Now she was out there somewhere, alone with her child, running from the law.

It was ironic that she was fleeing from the very force he knew and understood so well. The very thing he’d put above everything in his life, including Maura and her desires. The force he could bend to his will so easily.

If she’d only come to him.

But he was being honest with himself, and he knew why she hadn’t called on him. She had come to him once before, and he had refused her. She meant the world to him. Yet in his arrogance, in his confidence that he knew what was best for her, he had let her down. How could he expect her to come to him this time? There was too much of himself in the girl.

Now he waited.

Cooper wouldn’t fail him. He would find Maura and her bright-eyed child. Jacob had no doubts about that. But would it do any good? Would she accept his help? Would she even speak to him after the way he’d treated her? He didn’t know.

The phone rang, shattering the silence. Jacob hesitated a second, his heart suddenly pounding, his hands trembling as he reached for the receiver.

“Yes.”

The voice on the other end started without preamble. “She left Miami on a Greyhound bus around 1:00 a.m., January fifth. The night clerk ID’d both her and the kid from pictures the cops had shown him in January.”

“What about the authorities?”

“She’d been gone four days before anyone realized it. The cops put out a state-wide bulletin, even though they figured she was already out of the state by that time. It seems they have better things to do than look for your daughter.”

Jacob thought he’d reached the limits of his pain. But Cooper’s words sliced through his soul. “Anderson?”

The question in the other man’s voice forced Jacob to pull himself together. “Where did they go from there?”

“I was able to trace them to Georgia. A waitress at one of the truck stops thought she remembered the two of them.”

“And from there?”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Find them.”

“They could have gone in any direction. It’s going to cost a lot …”

“Money’s not a problem.” Jacob felt his strength returning. He wouldn’t let this thing beat him. He would have his daughter back. “Find her,” he said again, this time with more force.

“Sure. I’ll find them.” He heard Cooper’s hesitation on the other end.

“What else?”

“You were right about the hair. She dyed it and cut it short. The cops found evidence in her house, and the night clerk at the bus station in Miami recognized a computer mock-up of her altered appearance.”

Anderson closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Find her,” he repeated. “I don’t care how you do it, or what it takes. Just find her.” He returned the receiver to its cradle, calling on all his strength to keep from slamming it down. Then he was alone again in the dark with his memories. And his guilt.

A
lan sat behind his desk, feet propped up on an open drawer. He was supposed to be doing paperwork, filling out any one of the endless forms that crossed his desk. Instead, he stared out the wide windows overlooking Main Street.

One of the first things he’d done when he took this job was have those windows installed in his office. He wanted to feel the sunlight and be able to look out and see what was going on in his town. One thing he’d never envisioned, however, was sitting here, idly watching for a particular woman and her three-year-old daughter to walk by.

Alan dropped his feet to the floor, rose, and crossed the room to the coffee machine. The pot was almost empty and its remaining contents looked strong enough to walk, but he poured some into his cup anyway. Then he added a substantial helping of sugar and headed back to his desk.

Since Sunday, he’d been unable to get Maureen off his mind. Something kept drawing his thoughts back to her. It didn’t seem to matter where he was or what he was doing—he couldn’t shake his ever-present awareness of her. He didn’t understand it, and that in itself preyed on him.

He glanced at his watch and turned back to the paper littering his desk. She’d be getting off work at the diner about now, and then she’d pick up Katie and head this way. It would be another fifteen or twenty minutes before they passed his office on their way to the playground. He knew, because he’d timed it every day this week.

He took another stab at going through the reports for the previous month. There were a dozen or so speeding tickets, a few arrests for disorderly conduct, an attempted robbery at one of the gas stations, and a couple of warnings to local teens for shoplifting and the like. Nothing very serious. Nothing like what he would be dealing with if he’d taken a job with the force in Seattle. But he had no complaints. He liked Wyattville and the peace it offered him.

That is, until recently, when Maureen Adams had arrived in town and shattered his serenity. Now, he would give anything for some all-absorbing case to take his mind off her.

She’d looked pretty good Sunday night, with those tight-fitting jeans hugging her slender body. Not to mention her eyes. They were something else again—enough to snag any man’s attention. But he knew lots of pretty women. He even knew a few he’d classify as beautiful. Hell, Lynn was a knockout. But it wasn’t those other women who hovered in his mind.

He reconsidered her comment about being a new face, someone he hadn’t known all his life.
That must be it
, he thought. She was just someone different. And, of course, there was the mystery surrounding her, so thick he could feel it. Maybe it was because she was a challenge. Wasn’t there a saying that you always want what you can’t have?