Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania (35 page)

Before, when the winters had turned nasty, she’d relied on Jasper to see her to the restaurant. She forced the thought from her mind.

“One thing at a time, Sadie girl,” she encouraged herself.

As she marched along the maple-lined drive toward Dmitri’s, she became aware of a creeping feeling. It started in her shoulder blades and wiggled its way up her neck. She couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched or followed. Finally, unable to ignore it, she paused and pretended to study the sole of her shoe for some obstruction while she slid a glance behind her.

What she saw made her give up all pretense. The two men from the restaurant—dark glasses and Italian suits still in place—stood watching her from several yards away.

Oh, this was just what she needed. Stalkers times two. Double the pleasure, double the fun. After all she’d been through—in the past five years and even the past few months—she wasn’t about to put up with one thing more.

Gathering her courage and being grateful for the well-lit street, she turned and marched right up to them. She couldn’t quite judge their reactions behind those sunglasses, but she sensed that they were surprised.

“I’ve noticed you gentlemen watching me for the past couple of weeks. Since you don’t seem to know how to approach me on your own, I thought I’d make it easy for you. Is there something I can help you with?”

The two men exchanged glances, and before she knew it, Sadie was flanked on both sides as they lifted her up between them and dragged her behind a nearby shed. Once she realized what they were doing, she began to pull away, attempting to kick them in the shins and run.

She tried to shout, but the one on her right clapped a large, beefy hand over her mouth. She whimpered.

Not good, Sadie, not good.

What had she been
thinking
?

They pressed her up against the shed’s walls. The one who hadn’t covered her mouth now pressed a hand against her throat, severely diminishing the supply of air to her lungs. She choked and wheezed, but he did not release the pressure. When he spoke, his voice was thick with a Russian accent.

“You will not scream or make noise, do I make myself clear?”

She attempted to nod but had little success with the hand at her throat. Instead, she bobbed her eyes up and down, hoping that was sufficient.

It was. He released his hand from her throat, and the other man took his hand from her mouth.

The one who had already spoken removed his glasses, revealing one brown eye. The other was a film of white, and the skin around it showed where a knife had long ago marked the eyelid. Sadie suppressed a shudder of revulsion, but her stomach churned madly.

“We know you are in competition with Dmitri Velichko,” the white-eyed one said, his words precise enough that she could understand him through his accent. “You must stop.”

She was incredulous, despite her fear. “Stop? What do you mean—
stop
?”

The second one spoke. With his glasses still in place, he was almost more intimidating than the first man. “You will allow Dmitri’s restaurant to outdo yours. Are we clear on this point?”

Her anger got the better of her fright. She drew herself up so she was eye-level with them. “Excuse me?
Excuse me!
Do you have
any
idea what I’ve been through in the last few months? My restaurant was there
first
—before your buddy Dmitri came along! I worked
hard
to get that place up and running, and I refuse to be told—”

She didn’t refuse very well when a large hand clamped over her throat once more.

“You have daughter, yes?” the white-eyed one said.

She swallowed with a whole new kind of fear now. She forced a nod until he got the idea.

“She is, how you say…cute kid. Kylie. Likes to play with Barbie dolls.”

Sadie’s eyes were wide and fully alert. How had they learned so much about her daughter? When had all this happened? Sadie knew she had been rather oblivious of late, but this was beyond ridiculous.

The second one spoke now, drawing her eyes to him. “Would be shame if something happened to precious little girl. Accident.”

“Hit and run.”

“Or accidental drowning.”

“Maybe even kidnapped.”

Sadie felt bile rising up in her throat, burning its way to the surface. Not Kylie. Anything but that. She couldn’t bear it if something happened to her daughter.

They watched her for a long time, watched the fear worming in her eyes and the way she had to fight the vomit down. She choked and sputtered against their grip on her until tears of desperation rose in her eyes. When she tried to talk, it came out in rasps, but she kept trying, wanting them to know that she would do whatever they asked so long as they stayed away from her child.

After an indefinite amount of time, they released her. The pressure disappearing was so unexpected after so many long moments of agony that Sadie slid to the ground in a heap, sobbing.

The one with the glasses glanced around, making certain no one had seen them.

“What do you say, Sadie?” White-Eye asked. “Will you leave Dmitri Velichko alone?”

She nodded emphatically, gasping and struggling to regain her breath and keep herself from being sick.

“Yes, yes, yes—whatever you want. But please leave my daughter alone. I swear, Dmitri can do whatever he wants—I don’t care. Just please, please…” She grabbed at their coats, begging shamelessly. “Please don’t do anything to her.”

Her sincerity convinced them. After what had to have been hours, at least in Sadie’s mind, they nodded.

“Very well. We will hold you to it.”

They left her in a heap on the ground, weeping uncontrollably. She wasn’t sure how long she lay trembling in the dirt, but the light slowly dimmed and eventually dusk fell. She was relieved that Kylie was with Belva and felt mildly reassured by the fact. But as the minutes dragged by and the terror of the ordeal lessened, she became aware of one overwhelming need.

She wanted Jasper. More than anything, she wanted him to be here now, holding her, telling her she was all right—that Kylie would be all right.

What had she gotten herself into? What had she done?

But Jasper wasn’t here. She was on her own. She shook herself. No, not on her own. She had God. Wasn’t it high time she started relying on Him? After all, when somebody had a terrific support system, they used it. They didn’t let it languish in the background when they needed it.

She drew herself up to a sitting position, brushing away the dirt and mud layered in her hair.

Lord,
she prayed,
I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I’m asking You to keep Kylie safe for me. I admit it’s kind of hard for me to believe, but the Bible says that no matter how much I think I love her, You love her even more than that. If that’s the case, let me be reassured. And please send Your angels to guard my little girl.

She paused, feeling a bit better. She thought of something else and felt a little foolish but couldn’t help adding it anyway.

And please be with Jasper, God. I totally botched that one—not surprisingly. I treated him like one of my desserts, trying to make him into something he’s not. He’s a better man than I thought he was. If I had just thought it through and taken off my blinders, I would have seen that he’d never just leave me. He loved me. He really did. If you can make something right out of the mess I made, I’d sure appreciate it.

She swallowed.

Thanks. Really.

Something about sitting there on the muddy ground, admitting her mistakes and asking for help, made her feel better. She felt some strength returning.

Finally she dragged herself to her feet. A bit of reasoning came to her. She didn’t know who those men were, but she knew without a doubt that Dmitri wasn’t aware of their presence. She may not always have been the best judge of character, but she knew enough of Dmitri to know that he’d never send people after her like that.

She’d had enough of playing games. She wanted to clear the air and find out exactly what was going on.

Straightening her clothes and hair as best she could, she headed for the street and picked up her pace once more.

She was going to Dmitri’s, and this time, they were going to set a few things straight.

There was no better description for Dmitri’s reaction than
stunned
when he opened the door and found Sadie on his porch. But his confusion went even further when he surveyed her appearance. Her legs were smeared with mud, and a mix of leaves, grass, and dirt was tangled in her hair.

“Sadie,” he murmured in surprise, “what happened?”

She looked over her shoulder rather nervously.

“Can I come in?”

Embarrassed at his lack of manners, he instantly stepped aside. “Of course, of course.”

She entered the doorway and headed straight for the kitchen, absently patting Mikhail’s cage in greeting as she passed. The ferret only blinked at her in wonder, much as Dmitri was doing. Running water in the kitchen sink, she grabbed a handful of paper towels and spent a few minutes attempting to make herself presentable.

Finally, she turned to face him with a certain determination off-setting the weariness in her eyes.

“First things first,” she announced.

Dmitri had a feeling he should be sitting down for this. He pulled a chair away from the kitchen table and slid into it, his eyes wide. He had never known anyone like Sadie Spencer. And he had certainly never had someone like her appear on his doorstep out of the blue, make her way into his home and his kitchen and then start speaking to him as though they were about to lay out a battle plan.

Truth be told, he was a little in awe of her.

“I owe you an apology,” she continued, oblivious to his trepidation. “Several, in fact.”

He licked his lips but said nothing, at a total loss as to what might come next.

“I don’t know if you realize this, but ever since you moved here— or at least ever since I heard the rumor you were opening up your own restaurant—”

He opened his mouth to say something, but she swung her hand down in a chopping motion to halt him.

“You have no idea how hard this is for me, so please let me get it all out at once.”

He closed his mouth.

“Thank you. The truth is, Dmitri, for a long time I’ve seen you as competition. And I’ve despised you in accordance with that view. For whatever reason—maybe because I could never quite figure out why my television show failed or because I couldn’t hold my dad’s interest long enough to keep him around permanently when I was a kid…for a very long time, I’ve had this obsession with being the best at everything. And when I meet people who threaten my abilities, I get very…uncharitable.

“I’m a control freak,” she admitted. “And I don’t like not being able to control who challenges me or what they’re good at. The fact that you definitely take the cake—pardon the pun—when it comes to desserts…well, maybe it wasn’t even so much that you were better than me. It was just the one thing I couldn’t win at. I guess I’ve got a problem with pride on top of everything else.”

She sighed. “But don’t worry. I’ve learned my lesson. There are some things in this life I’ll never have, and one of them is an award for the best dessert.” She held up her hand even though Dmitri hadn’t moved. “It’s okay. I’m over it now. I’ve come to realize that while I was chasing rainbows, I was running
away
from the pot of gold behind me. And I have to live with the consequences of that.

“So, all that to say…I’m really, really sorry. And I wish you the best of luck with your restaurant. If only one of us manages to stay in business in a year’s time…well…may the best restaurant win.”

She stopped there, seeming to deflate following this speech. She rubbed a palm over the back of her neck but dropped her hand when Dmitri spoke.

“I don’t suppose it will be too much of a problem,” he remarked, the traces of his accent lilting against the words.

Sadie looked up. “What? What do you mean?”

“I’m not opening up a
restaurant
,” Dmitri corrected her. “If anything, it’s more of a…how would you call it? A dessert parlor? That was how the newspaper referred to it.”

Sadie’s eyebrows drew together. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. Back up. What did you just say?”

Dmitri stood to his feet. “Haven’t you been reading the papers since the Cocoa Cook-Off, Sadie?”

She scoffed. “Yeah, right. Like I want
that
humiliation rubbed in my face.”

He stared at her sympathetically, and her eyes narrowed.

“What are you saying, Dmitri?”

He sighed. “If you had read the papers, you’d understand. I never planned to open a restaurant. My passion lies in
desserts
. So I’m opening up a café selling only desserts, pastries, and the like. I chose that location because it is near the art gallery and bookstore. I thought it an ideal location to lure in customers. It was just a fluke that it happened to be across from Suncatchers. Although,” he admitted, “I must say I so admired everything you did with your own restaurant, I sort of took you as the ultimate example and incorporated a few of your better business ideas.”