Never Say Never (17 page)

The fear gradually lessened, though her blood still pounded in her throat. Even as she stopped the car and got out, snatching Holly from her car seat to hurry toward the porch steps, Jill was aware of the feeling of security that washed through her mind. She’d made it to the ranch, and Dustin wouldn’t let anything happen to Holly.

Tearing through the front door with the baby clutched in her arms, Jill hurried through the entry, halting when she saw Dustin and his mother in the parlor.

“Jill, honey, what’s wrong?” Eunice asked.

“I…” She glanced down at pretty little Holly in her arms, her headband now askew on the wailing face. With gentle fingers, she pulled it off the baby. “I think I stumbled across Holly’s parents,” she said.

“What?” Dustin was instantly concerned. Eunice walked over and took the baby from Jill, cooing to her as she left the parlor. The sounds of her getting a bottle ready wafted from the kitchen.

“Sit down and tell me what happened.”

It was an order her stiff legs couldn’t obey. “I’m not sure. I went to buy some bread, and I let the girl hold Holly for a minute. Maybe I wasn’t thinking very clearly, but she was so hungry, Dustin, she was so hungry…”

Jill was mortified to feel tears starting to slip down her cheeks, but she couldn’t stop them.

“The baby was hungry so you were going to get her a loaf of bread?” he asked.

She shook her head, realizing she was muddling the story with her rapid-fire speech. Trying to take a deep breath so she could slow down and make sense, Jill felt more tears squeezing from her eyes. The shock of what had happened was sending queasy shivers through her legs.

“Here, it’s all right,” he said, coming to close her into big, strong arms. “Don’t cry, babe. What does this girl have to do with the baby being hungry?”

Against Dustin’s wide, flannel-covered chest, Jill let everything pour out, every detail. “Holly wasn’t hungry. The girl, she had such longing in her eyes that I…well, I don’t suppose I acted wisely, but I could actually feel her yearning to touch the baby. I was so proud of Holly and she is quite adorable…it never occurred to me that the girl might be Holly’s mother. I let her hold the baby.”

She turned tear-soaked eyes on Dustin. He felt the impact clear to his knees. He’d never seen cool, rational Jill, the lady who had brought a sense of calm to the ranch, act like this. Distraught, irrational, emotional were words that came to mind at this moment. But the Jill he knew wasn’t an irrational person. This had upset her greatly. He glanced down and saw her bottom lip tremble slightly, and resisted the urge to make her feel better by kissing her.

“Slow down a little. You haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t see how you could have run into her mother. Are you sure something else didn’t happen that upset you this way?”

Jill’s fingers clenched on his biceps. He felt the tension in her.

“No, Dustin. I think it was her. There was a man outside when we were leaving. I nearly ran into him with the stroller. A second later he was having an argument with the girl in the bakery, but then he came out and ran after my car. Oh, Dustin, I have never been so terrified in my entire life.”

She laid her head against his chest. He gritted his teeth against the trembling he could feel her trying to control. Jill was scared to death.

Eunice came into the room, carrying a tray. “Well, Holly took her bottle and went to sleep, obviously unaware of her predicament. There’s something to be said for you keeping such a cool head, Jill, that you got her and yourself home safely.”

“It was too close.” Jill tensed in Dustin’s arms. “When I saw him running beside my car, I thought my heart would stop.”

Dustin felt a violent trembling go all the way through her.

“Here’s some hot chocolate, Jill, although if you want something stronger, we still have wine left over from lunch. There’s some whiskey in the bar that goes nicely in hot tea. I’m certain we could all use a bit of fortification right now.”

Jill shook her head, detaching herself from Dustin’s arms to take one of the cups and go to sit on the sofa. “Thank you. I think this is just what I need, plus a few minutes in front of the fire.”

“Did you happen to get the girl’s name, Jill?” Eunice asked curiously.

Dustin saw Jill’s brows crease into a frown. “I don’t even think she was wearing a name tag. I’m so sorry, Eunice, I wasn’t being as careful as I should have been.”

“Nonsense. If anything, perhaps Dustin and I shouldn’t have let you go into town alone. I certainly never dreamed you’d run into anyone connected to Holly, but still you shouldn’t be a prisoner in this house.”

“Mother’s right,” Dustin agreed. “We’ll just have to think of another way to get Holly out and about. Right now, I’m going to call Marsh, though.”

Dustin left Jill in his mother’s capable hands, satisfied that his housekeeper was starting to calm down. Dialing the sheriff’s car phone, he spoke only one sentence. “Jill found herself some trouble in town, Marsh.”

“I’ll be right over.”

Dustin hung up. He left the kitchen, confident that Marsh would be on the case. With Jill’s quick action, she had avoided a situation that could have jeopardized Holly—if the man had managed to wrest the baby away from her. The woman was truly impressive. Her job should not require her to endanger herself or perform heroic acts, and he felt guilty about that. Maybe he
would
slip a little combat pay in her stocking, just as she’d once teased. Turning out the light in the kitchen, Dustin went back to the parlor, seating himself less than one foot away from Jill on the divan. Until he was certain she was fine, he was going to be her shadow.

At the bottom of the drive, a black-jacketed motorcycle rider watched the kitchen light go off. The porch light was still on, as if the Reeds were expecting company. Well, they weren’t expecting him, but the warm beam of light would give out enough illumination for a check of the dilapidated car parked next to the house. Creeping forward on silent feet, the stranger confirmed the car was the blonde-haired beauty’s.

When he spied the infant car seat in the back, he laughed, a low, evil sound of triumph.

“It was horrible, Mama! He ran after her car, and I thought he was going to catch her! I thought I would die watching! I wanted to call the police, but I didn’t know if I should, and…”

“Here, now. Calm down, gal. That lady knew what she was doing,” Vera Benchley told her daughter as she patted her on the back in soothing circles. “They’re home safe now, and I assure you, Eunice and Dustin aren’t going to let anything happen to our sweet baby.”

Sadie sat on her bed, trying to control her shaking. The tremors went through her like swift electrical currents. “How do I know, Mama? How do
you
know? I can’t bear this anymore! Holly felt like a misty angel in my arms, so fat and sweet. She smelled like powder and love and I can’t stand knowing that Curtis might get her, Mama! I’d never see her again.”

Vera shook her daughter, once, and pushed her down into a chair. “Pull yourself together, gal. We’ll figure out what to do.”

Sadie twisted her fingers in her lap. She couldn’t stop thinking about Curtis running after her baby. “How do you know, Mama, that Miss Eunice will still want to help after what happened tonight? She may not like her housekeeper being frightened like that.”

Vera sat next to her daughter and pulled her daughter close. “Miss Eunice doesn’t lack for courage, Sadie. She’s a strong lady.”

“How do you know her so well? Have you even spoken to her recently?”

Her mother shook her head. “No. But with some friends, the connection is always there. It isn’t a matter of how often you talk, or where either of you live. It’s something in the heart, that you just know the friendship will always be there. And it will be there until we die, honey, between me and Eunice.”

Sadie didn’t understand how one of the town’s richest girls and her poor mother could have much in common, least of all a deep, lasting friendship. “How? How could you have ever known her? Or become a friend?”

Her mother smiled softly as she pulled a gentle hand through Sadie’s hair. “I might not have, we might never have been more than classmates, if she hadn’t borrowed my shoes one night.”

Sadie glanced down at the worn low-heeled shoes her mother was wearing, suitable for walking into town since they didn’t own a car. It was impossible to imagine tall, elegant Mrs. Reed wearing a pair of Vera Benchley’s working shoes. Vera and Eunice might be approximately the same height and possibly near the same shoe size, but they were nowhere near the same station in life.

“Why would she need to borrow your shoes?” Sadie asked, trying not to sound as incredulous as she was. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her mother’s feelings.

Vera chuckled, the sound low and amused. “Because on Homecoming night, the night beautiful Eunice Sinclair was going to be crowned Queen—everyone knew it—somebody cut the heels off Eunice’s shoes and then sprayed them orange. They were ruined beyond hope, and needless to say, didn’t match Eunice’s stunning navy-and-white satin gown at all.”

“Oh, Mama!” Sadie couldn’t imagine anyone doing such a thing. “Who would have done that to her?”

The smile completely erased from her mother’s face. “Maxine Copeland, of course. Any day of her life, any breath she’s ever breathed, Maxine Copeland would have given her soul to trade with Eunice Sinclair Reed.”

“So, what did you do?”

Vera shrugged. “I happened to pass by the room that Eunice was dressing in. She’d just discovered the shoes and was telling her mother in a loud, strong voice that she’d walk barefoot onto the field. Peeking in, I saw Eunice patting her tiny mother’s shoulder, assuring her that everything was going to be fine.”

Vera paused, and when she spoke again, her voice was quiet and dreamy. “Listening to Eunice comfort her mother in her own moment of misfortune, I thought she was the most amazing person I’d ever seen. Completely unselfish. And, oh, Sadie, she looked like a queen standing there, with her hair swept up into an elegant chignon and a smile for her mother’s sake. It was as if a hand pushed into my back and forced me into their private moment.”

Vera shook her head. “I walked into the room, uncertain as to what to say. Eunice looked at me with that gentle smile of hers, which I never saw on any of the other rich girls’ faces. Somehow I stuttered out that she could borrow my shoes.”

“Were they pretty, Mama?” Sadie whispered.

Her mother laughed softly. “No, child. They weren’t pretty at all. But they were shoes, and they were the right size. Eunice slipped them on and declared them perfect. She said she wouldn’t lift the skirt of her gown too much as she walked and no one would ever know. Fortunately, my shoes were dark navy, and low-heeled enough to stay hidden.”

“What did you do, Mama?”

“Mrs. Sinclair walked me to her car, knowing that I would never dare to go back without shoes to the stadium. The car was parked on enough of a hill though that I could see the girls standing on the football field. I could see the sparkle of the crown in the stadium lights. There I sat until Homecoming was over, and Eunice came to the car wearing the crown only she deserved. Then they drove me home. But before I got out of the car, Eunice pulled me close and told me I had saved her special night.”

Vera snorted. “The only thing I saved for her was her nylons she would have torn going onto the field barefoot.”

Sadie could see the admiration for Eunice in her mother’s eyes even after all these years. “Were you friends after that?”

“Did we see each other socially? No, gal. We did move in different circles, and I would have been dreadfully uncomfortable had she tried to fit me in. Eunice was graceful enough to understand that. But that night she told me she would never forget what I had done, and if there was ever, ever any way she could help me, I was to ask. I need help now, and I’ve asked.”

“So many years later, will she remember her promise?” Sadie worried that still they were asking too much. A pair of shoes was one thing; her child’s wellbeing was another.

“I know two things, Sadie. One, is that Eunice is the only person I would trust with Holly. Second, is that she is the kind of person who never forgets what she says, and never goes back on her word.”

Vera paused for another moment. “I would even trust Eunice with knowing that Holly is your baby, except that when we realized she was in danger, I acted quickly and didn’t think through the details. I sent her enough of a clue, I think, that she’ll know that the baby is my flesh and blood. But in case Curtis comes back, honey, it’s best if we aren’t seen around the Reed Ranch. We don’t want to make him suspicious.”

“He already is, although I denied that the child was mine. Maybe we should tell the police what’s happening.”

“We could tell the police, but they might not believe the threat is real. They might make us take her back. How could I ever protect her? Both of you?”

Sadie winced at the sadness in her mother’s voice. Desperation was a curse they’d had to deal with. There hadn’t seemed to be another way, outside of moving away permanently. Though they’d never spoken it aloud, Sadie knew her mother and she shared the same hope: that one day Curtis would go away, or get put in jail, so they could live in peace. It didn’t seem fair to give up their home, shack that it was, and be forced away from what little livelihood they had, just because she’d had the misfortune to fall for the wrong man. “I know we’ve done the right—”