Never Say Never (25 page)

Eunice shook her head. “I’ll be down soon. Thank you, Jill.”

Jill nodded, hurrying down the stairs. The baby was throwing every fiber of her little body into her wailing, and tense as Jill had already been, the crying was tearing at her nerves. Swiftly, she fixed the bottle and sat down on the plank seat, popping the bottle into Holly’s mouth.

“Ah. Much better.” Looking up with a sigh, Jill straightened when she realized Joey was no longer sitting at the table.

“Joey? Joey?” she called. She stood with the baby in her arms when she didn’t receive an answer. Telling herself she was worrying too much, she went to the parlor, thinking he might have gone to see the Christmas tree since he knew they were going to string popcorn tonight.

He wasn’t in there either. Jill hurried to the staircase. “Dustin, is Joey up there?”

Instantly, the rancher poked his head out into the hall. “No. You mean he’s not down there?”

“I can’t find him.” Even though she didn’t think Joey was at risk, the bizarre note and easygoing Marsh’s sudden warning to stay in the house had made her jumpy. “I thought maybe he slipped into Eunice’s room.”

Dustin crossed the hall and pushed Joey’s bedroom door open. “Son, what are you doing?” Jill heard him say.

Her knees felt weak with relief. Clutching Holly tight, she went into the parlor and sat down. She heard boots on the stairs but didn’t look up, assuming father and son would go into the kitchen.

Instead they entered the parlor. “Joey thought Holly might like to hold his favorite bear since she was crying so hard,” Dustin said. Joey held out the stuffed animal, which Jill took with a shaky smile.

“Thank you, Joey. See, Holly? You have a bear to keep you company now, too.”

“She…she need him,” Joey said, pointing to the bear. “He be her friend.”

“That’s very sweet of you, Joey.”

“Come on, son. Let’s go finish dinner.” Dustin took his son by the arm, gently, and steered him into the kitchen. Jill followed, settling in her original place.

Dustin sat, pulling open a roll to butter it.

“Did you tell her about the note?”

Dustin shook his head. “She’s so worn out and worried that I hate to say anything that will make her feel worse. I think Maxine’s accusation is really leveling her. Now that she’s given us a peek at the kind of cards she intends to play, Mother is trying not to get too worked up about it.”

“And probably worrying about it more, instead.”

“I think so.” Dustin sighed. “What a Christmas.”

“Well, we’ll manage somehow.” Jill got to her feet. “I’m going to get Holly’s basket so I can keep her down here while I clean up the dinner dishes.”

She headed up the stairs. Peeking into Eunice’s room, she saw her resting comfortably again. Slipping in, she moved Holly to her shoulder and snagged the basket with her free hand. Quietly, she closed the door and went back down the stairs and into the parlor, wanting to light the fire so the room would get warm in time for popcorn stringing.

Gently, she snuggled Holly and Joey’s bear into the basket, then knelt in front of the fireplace to light the fire. Easing back to watch the wood slowly kindling to life, Jill reveled in the quiet beauty of the room and the sense of peace the decorated tree and sparkling lights brought her. Eunice had placed Santas with flat, weighted bottoms on the mantel so that their feet hung merrily above her head. The tiny tree on the table adorned by the skirt Joey had helped make brought a smile to her face. There were a lot of good things in this Christmas season, too, though Dustin had too many worries on his mind to appreciate them.

A sudden sound outside the big-paned window drew Jill’s startled gaze. When there was no other noise, she commanded herself to relax. “Just the wind in the pecan trees,” she told herself. Humming a Christmas tune to herself, she went to the window, forcing herself to look out and face her fear.

Down on the road passing in front of the ranch, she could just make out a police cruiser going by. Marsh had promised extra vigilance by his people, and obviously they intended to make sure the ranch was secure. Jill sighed with relief and went to move some of the ornaments on the tiny tree, giving herself time to calm down before she went back to the kitchen.

“Oh, a diaper change,” she told Holly. “We need a diaper after that nice nap and bottle you had. Why didn’t you say something?”

Picking the basket up, she walked into the hall. A quick glance into the kitchen showed her that Dustin and his son were putting away the dinner dishes for her. “Forks there, spoons there,” Dustin guided Joey as the silverware was placed into the dishwasher.

Jill hurried upstairs, wanting to get Holly changed and be back down before the kitchen was all cleaned up without her help. There was no point in Dustin thinking he had to coddle her just because they’d had a small difficulty between them this morning. He appeared eager to let matters smooth out between them; she wanted the same thing.

Deftly, she changed Holly and hurried back to the kitchen. Unfortunately, the work was finished.

“You men work fast.”

Dustin threw a dishtowel over his shoulder. “It was only a couple of dishes. Not too hard for us.”

“Well, then. Let me get the popcorn popping and see how good you are at that.” She laid the baby’s basket on the table, noticing that Dustin didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to leave the kitchen. Joey flipped on the television and settled down in front of a Charlie Brown Christmas show.

Small snowflakes crackled as they hit the window. “Look, Joey,” she said, walking closer, “we’re going to have all kinds of snow tonight.”

“We…we can make snow angels to…tomorrow.”

He looked all ready for that. “Yes, we can,” she said with a smile.

A sudden red burst outside the window grabbed her attention. Her heart rate picked up as she peered hard through the darkness. There was little she could make out except that the red light was on top of a car parked at the end of the lane.

“Dustin,” she said quietly, “something other than the storm may have just become a problem.”

Chapter Fifteen

“What is it?” Dustin leaped to his feet, feeling his heart hammer against his chest as he looked out the window. The whirling red light drew a blazing warning signal in the frosty night. “I’ll go check it out.”

“Be careful.” Jill met Dustin’s gaze. A high-voltage current jumped between them, stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. She couldn’t bear to think of him getting hurt. Or worse.

“I’ll be fine.” He turned and went into the entry hall to shrug into his jacket. Her heart clenched when he picked up his shotgun. Pulling open the door, he disappeared into the frigid darkness. Cold draughts hit her in the face, making her gasp, so when his truck roared to life, she closed the door and hurried back into the kitchen.

“Joey, why don’t we go upstairs?” For some reason, she felt like she needed to be up there with Holly. With all of them forming a protective shield of sorts, they’d have the best chance of keeping her safe.

“Are we…we going to make popcorn?”

“Oh.” She was so rattled she’d forgotten. “That’s a great idea. We can carry it upstairs and let your grandmother help us string it if she wants to. It will be like a party.” She smiled reassuringly at the child. “As a matter of fact, let me go ask Eunice if she’d like a dinner tray.”

“Daddy going to…to come to the party?”

Joey’s hopeful eyes turned to her. Automatically, Jill glanced out the window. The flashing red light had been turned off. No movement of any kind cut through the darkness. Her heart beat a little more normally. “I’ll bet that just as soon as the popcorn is ready, your dad will be able to join our party.”

“Okay.”

“You wait here, Joey. I’ll be right back.” Jill smiled, hugging Joey before she took Holly and went up the stairs. As she pushed Eunice’s door open a crack Eunice snored lightly, her breathing deep and regular. Obviously she was worn out.

She walked downstairs, tucking the blanket closer around the baby. “Goodness, it’s gotten a little drafty down here,” she said. “But I’ll fix that in no time. And you’ll like hearing popcorn pop, Holly.” She stopped in the kitchen, glancing around for Joey.

“Joey?” She walked back into the hall to check the parlor. “Oh, no,” she breathed.

The front door was slightly ajar, about three inches, but that was enough to let her know where Joey had gone. She rushed outside to stand on the porch. “Joey!” she cried. “Honey, come to Jill! It’s too cold out here!”

No answer. Her heart pounded crazily in her chest. Joey had been determined for his dad to join their “party”. Dreadful intuition told her that the natural anxiety of a child had led him to seek out his father and make certain of his presence.

“Joey!” she called out again. There was no help for it. She stepped off the porch, the Moses basket clutched tightly in her hands. Moving quickly through the darkness, an awful feeling clawed at Jill’s stomach. Dustin was going to be furious with her for not keeping a closer watch on Joey. If anything happened to Dustin’s son, he would never forgive her.

“Joey!” she cried desperately. Suddenly, in a channel of bitter night air, she could hear sobbing. The lane seemed like it would never end before she made it to Joey. Draining relief almost knocked her to her knees when she saw the forlorn child standing in the middle of the driveway, tears gleaming on his face.

“Oh, honey.” She set Holly’s basket on the ground and hugged Joey tightly to her. “Why did you leave without telling me?”

“I want…want my Daddy. He…he said he help me.”

“Oh, Lord. Sweetheart, he’ll be back soon.” She said it confidently and hoped she was right. Joey was shivering with cold. Jill pressed him against her leg as she stood. Placing the basket over one arm, she kept Joey as close to her as possible to keep him warm and walked back to the house.

From his camouflaged hiding place among the pecan trees, Curtis Lynch watched the touching moment with a grin. People could be so stupid. Anybody could see this group was dumber than most. The woman wasn’t wearing a coat in the freezing weather and she’d brought the thing he wanted out into the cold with her. The cops were still busy with the speeder they’d stopped—now all that stood between him and success was one lone, coatless woman, hampered by an additional child.

He could snatch the baby and zoom away on his motorcycle before anyone ever heard her scream.

Striding from the darkness, his gaze never wavering from the woman with the basket, Curtis flexed his hands for the easiest theft luck could have provided him.

Jill heard the crackling of leaves, perceiving in that split second that she might be in danger. Gasping, she started to run, but a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her arm, yanking her to a stop. Reflexively an ear-piercing scream left her throat, but as she twisted to get away from her attacker, she turned and saw the terrible determination in his eyes.

“Dustin!” she screamed. Struggling to keep the basket handle in her grasp, she and the man whose face she’d never been able to forget engaged in a tug of war. Joey was crying and beating the hood with his fists. Holly’s wail mixed in with Jill’s scream. “Marsh! Dustin!”

The man reached out, slapping her hard against the face. Jill reeled, but her hands stayed tight around the handle. The straw made tearing noises and for an awful moment, she feared it would simply pull apart, dumping Holly to the ground.

“Help!” she screamed, placing a decisive kick to the attacker’s leg. He cursed and slapped her again, harder. Jill’s ears rang and tears burst into her eyes. Automatically, she reached out and jabbed him in the eye.

Red fury exploded inside Curtis at the sudden pain in his eye. The bitch! He was going to kill her before he made his getaway. She was stronger than he’d counted on and putting up a helluva fight—she was going to get him caught if he didn’t put her down now.

Drawing back with his fist, he slammed it into her face, hard enough to take a man to the ground. She slipped on the slightly frozen gravel, going to her knees. The child was still beating on him with his fists, like irritating rainwater falling on his back. Curtis dealt him a small slap and watched the child fly like a rag in the opposite direction. Now, fortune was within his grasp. He’d be over the border before tomorrow’s light.

The woman had risen to her feet, blood running from her nose as she hurried to the little boy. The sudden sound of tires grinding and horn blaring told him it was time to retreat. Carrying the basket under an arm like a package, he hurried to his hiding place, vaulted his motorcycle and jammed it to life. The baby was thrashing, not liking being crunched up as he held the basket between his knees for balance. Tough. He didn’t have time to make the princess more comfortable.

Motorcycle roaring, he sped through the stand of pecan trees on a path that went at an angle to the main road.

Dustin’s heart nearly stopped at the sight of Joey lying on the ground. Jill bent over his son, but when she raised her head, he saw the cost of his family’s need to her.

“Oh, Jill.” He crouched to take his son in his arms, nearly crying at the helpless feeling of his own child weeping against him. Joey had needed him and he hadn’t been there for him. The look on Jill’s face was more than enough to tell him that Holly was gone.