The Counterfeit Cowgirl (21 page)

It took her almost ten minutes to make her way through the crowd. Becky launched into a song with a haunting melody and an opening verse that began, “Look at what loving you has given me.” As much as Felicity would have liked to stay and listen, she knew she might wind up in tears. She made it a habit to always listen to Becky’s new songs for the first time alone in her bedroom.

The grounds were largely deserted now that Becky Lozano’s performance was underway. Felicity found Aaron at last, dickering with an old farmer over the proper cost of a new double-cab pickup truck. He looked up and smiled when he spotted her slim red jeans and lace-trimmed white western blouse. She had deliberately toned down her outfit, but she liked knowing that to Aaron, she was as eye-catching as ever.

“Hi, honey,” Aaron said. “Are you hiding out from your mom’s show?”

“She’s singing her old songs for the first time,” Felicity said, with a grimace. “I’d like to avoid going to jail for disorderly conduct tonight, so I cleared out. The first person who says anything to me about the consequences of Mama’s love, or anything else … ” She trailed off with a growl that made him laugh.

“I’ll remember that,” he said, still chuckling. “You might as well go look at the exhibits. I’m going to be tied up here for a while longer.”

If there was one thing she understood, it was the business of selling. She gave the old farmer her prettiest closed-mouth smile and obligingly walked toward the exhibit pavilion, where quilts, canned goods, and many other home crafts were on display.

Scanning the crowds around the stage, she caught sight of Joey being carried away by a man she didn’t recognize. Worse, that same man held Pete’s hand and was clearly sneaking them both away from the crowd. She looked around frantically. Deborah probably hadn’t yet noticed the boys’ absence. Felicity followed the man, wondering what she should do. She shoved people aside, apologizing as she went, and raced up the booth-lined street toward the parking area. Someone was kidnapping Pete and Joey in broad daylight. She had to stop him.

The crowd was so thick that she couldn’t make much headway. Felicity fought her way forward, watching helplessly as the distance between her and the children lengthened. She thought about yelling for help and decided against it. Something about the suit-clad kidnapper told her there was more to this scenario, and that she’d be wise to check into it first.

The man led the children to a silver SUV that was double parked in the road and helped them in. Felicity called out the boys’ names, but before she could reach them, the car doors slammed shut and the SUV headed off down the narrow, crowded road toward the highway.

She ran across the field that doubled as a parking lot in search of her truck. Thanks to traffic in and out of the Festival grounds, the SUV couldn’t get much of a head start on her. While she drove, she dug out her cell phone and called Aaron. Naturally, his phone was off while he spoke with potential customers. Next she tried Deborah, even though she knew Deborah kept her phone in her bedroom, turned off lest her husband phone her. Finally she called Aaron’s home, but even Polly had deserted the house for festival activities.

She almost passed the silver SUV when it unexpectedly turned in at a motel and restaurant just outside the town. She parked beside the SUV and leaped out, wondering what to do or say next, while the kidnapper calmly stepped out of his vehicle and opened the door to help Joey out.

Felicity was outraged. “Just where do you think you’re taking these children?”

The man turned and assessed her calmly. He was a handsome, dark-headed man, dressed in a suit and tie, and not much taller than she was.

“Who are you?” he asked. Even his voice was pleasant and non-threatening.

“That’s Felicity, Daddy,” Pete said. “We told you about her. She chased off the mean old ghost that was trying to get us. Daddy is taking us to the beach, Felicity. Can you come with us?”

Felicity stared, even though she had suspected as much. So much for the idea that Tony had been a football player. “
You’re
Tony Sachitano?”

“I am.” He looked sharply at her. “I suppose you’ve been listening to Deb.”

Everything inside her went limp with something akin to relief — or laughter. “It’s nice to meet you at last. Why are you sneaking off with your sons?”

“Why did my wife sneak off with them two months ago?” Tony shrugged and smiled at his two boys. “She still hasn’t told me what made her run home to her big brother. So I thought I’d see to it that she has to talk to me.”

Felicity tried to look severe. Tony Sachitano didn’t look like a man who’d terrorize a woman. The trustful way Pete and Joey leaned against him backed up that observation.

“You couldn’t just knock on Aaron’s door?” she asked.

“Deb would probably flee out the back door.” A charming, ironical smile played across his mouth. “She won’t even talk to me on the phone. In fact, I seem to have scared her so badly, she needs a little help in facing me.”

Felicity admitted to herself that she found Tony Sachitano an extremely attractive, non-threatening man, but how could she possibly know what he was like as a husband? And if he really had been seeing another woman, he deserved trouble from his wife.

“Are you telling me you’re kidnapping your own children to give Deborah a reason to face you?” she asked carefully.

“I’m now a desperate man.” Tony laid a gentle hand on each boy’s shoulder. “My wife refuses to talk to me about what went wrong between us, so I’m forced to take desperate measures.”

Felicity comprehended suddenly. “I see. You’re going to let her track you down so she can face you in the heat of anger and demand her children back.”

“That’s right. I’ve left a message with Polly to make sure she won’t have any trouble finding me. You aren’t thinking about interfering, are you?” Tony’s face took on a steely, determined look. “Because, if so — ”

“Who, me?” Felicity shook her head, realizing she was looking at a man desperate to get his family back. “I think I’ll just have a cup of coffee before heading on back to the festival.”

“In that case,” Tony said, “please join us for a snack. Afterward, the boys and I are spending the night here. Deb should have no trouble finding us.”

Felicity gathered Tony had already rented a motel room and had the entire situation well-planned. She just hoped Deborah followed the script Tony had written and faced her husband once and for all.

And she hoped Aaron had enough sense to invent a good reason why he couldn’t accompany Deborah on her trip to rescue her children.

• • •

Aaron stole a glance at his watch and scanned the fairway. Becky Lozano’s performance had ended and the area around the food booths filled up with people once more. Aaron exchanged greetings with various friends and acquaintances and searched the crowds for Felicity.

“Aaron,” Deborah shrieked over a small throng of people between them on the fairway. “The boys are gone. They’ve vanished — I can’t find them anywhere.”

“Calm down, Deb.” He waited until she reached his side and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. “There’s no need to get hysterical. They probably went off to look at the exhibits with Felicity.”

“But I can’t find Felicity anywhere, either,” Deborah said, trembling. “And no one has seen them.”

Aaron studied the passing crowds from the vantage point of his greater height. “They might be visiting Ms. Lozano’s travel bus. The boys would find that interesting, I’m sure.”

He wondered why Felicity had taken the boys without telling anyone. Surely she knew how anxious Deborah became when she lost sight of her children.

“Let’s go check Ms. Lozano’s bus,” he said soothingly. “The musicians are probably loading their gear, so someone will be able to tell us if Felicity and the boys are there.”

He knew he shouldn’t leave his display, what with potential customers on the move again, but he was heartily fed up with babysitting five new Chevrolet trucks, not to mention that leaving Deborah unsupported went against all his instincts.

“Can’t you call her cell phone?” Deborah asked hopefully. “She usually has it in her pocket.”

Aaron reached for the phone attached to his belt. “Sure, honey.”

He had turned his phone off while talking to prospective customers. He switched it back on and noted the message indicating several missed calls, including one from Felicity. He highlighted it to call, and she answered immediately.

“Are the boys with you?” he asked, watching Deborah scan the crowds anxiously. “Where are you?”

“I’m at the Foxe Highway Motel, in the restaurant,” she said. “Why don’t you send Deborah over to join me?”

“The Foxe Highway Motel?” Aaron understood immediately and turned away, even though Deborah was questioning passersby. “I gather Tony has come for his family at last.”

“That’s right. You cowboys are always so quick on the uptake,” she added sassily.

“All right. I’ll see to it that Deb appears.” He glanced in the direction of the stage, where an enormous clot of people moved slowly in his direction. “Your mother’s show is over, in case you’re interested.”

“Good. I’ll be leaving here shortly, just as soon as Deborah arrives, in fact. Mama still has to sign about a million autographs, and do a few interviews, so she won’t be done there for another couple of hours, at least.”

“I’ve got news for you.” Aaron peered down the fairway. “It may be even longer than that. The stage is still swamped.”

“In that case, I’ll just linger over my coffee. As soon as Deb arrives, I’ll leave.”

“See you soon, honey.”

But the minute Aaron clicked off his phone, he noted that the people-swamped stage area roiled in a peculiar way, with a column of people following behind one charging figure that plowed through the crowd like a bullet. He watched a moment, curious, then turned aside to answer Deborah’s anxious question.

“Felicity is at the Foxe Highway Motel with the boys,” he said as calmly as possible. “She says you might want to join her there.”

“The Foxe Highway Motel,” Deborah exclaimed. “Why on earth — ? Tony.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me in the least,” Aaron said. “Tony is probably taking a few steps of his own to find out why you left him. You’d better get on over there and talk to him.”

“How dare Felicity help him kidnap my boys?” Deborah clenched her fists, trembling. “I would never have thought it of her.”

“I don’t think she did any such thing,” Aaron soothed. He watched the stream of people flowing toward him with interest. “Most likely, she saw what was happening and followed him.”

“Then why didn’t she make him give them back?” Deborah demanded with a sob.

“I think you’re going to have to be the one to do that,” he said.

Aaron narrowed his eyes and saw Becky Lozano forcing her way frantically through the crowd.

“Aaron,” she yelled, when she spotted him. “That weasel has kidnapped my baby. I need to borrow your truck.”

Aaron wondered why Becky would call Tony Sachitano a weasel when she didn’t even know him. “Sure, Becky. I’ll come with you, and you can tell me what’s going on.”

“Aaron, you can’t leave me alone to face Tony.” Deborah clutched his arm. “I just can’t face him by myself.”

“You’re going to have to, Deb.” He regretted leaving Deborah to find her way to Tony on her own, but Felicity was right. This was one battle he would be wrong to help Deborah fight. “Besides, this is between you and Tony, and frankly, you owe him an explanation.”

“Aaron,” Deborah wailed and clung to his arm.

He hardened his heart and turned to Becky. “What happened? How do you know Felicity has been kidnapped?”

“My band leader went to the bus and found a ransom note.” Becky clutched his other arm and waved the note at him. “It says to meet the kidnapper in back of the Foxe Highway Motel and he’ll tell me what he wants. It’s that belly-crawling slime, Gary Carlisle. I know it is.”

Aaron took the note and studied it a moment. “You think this is from Gary Carlisle?”

“I’d know that yellow-striped skunk’s writing anywhere,” Becky said, breathing fire. “And he’d better be there when I get there, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

“All right,” Aaron said. “I’d better drive you. Deb, if you want to get your children back, you’d better plan on either taking your own car or coming with us. It looks as if we’re all going to the same place.”

“I’ll skin him alive,” Becky raged. “I’ll make him wish he’d never heard of me or my baby. And if he’s so much as laid a hand on her, I’ll — ”

“Better let me do it for you,” Aaron advised. “You’ll need to get Felicity to safety while I deal with Carlisle.”

Becky turned to face the phalanx of people who had followed her. “Folks, I have to go see about my baby. Hopefully, I’ll be back a little later on this evening to finish signing autographs and visiting with my fans. And thanks for coming out to see my show.” She whirled and grabbed Aaron’s arm.

He started toward his truck, hurrying both women along. Becky raged about what she was going to do to Carlisle when she saw him, while Deborah gasped and held on to his arm for dear life.

Beneath Becky’s fury, he detected her fear and anguish. Remembering the tale Deborah had told him about Felicity’s kidnapping as a child, he could understand. He wasn’t feeling overly sanguine himself, although common sense told him that if Felicity was with Tony, she wasn’t with Gary Carlisle. Still, who knew what the man might do, especially considering the mess he had made of Felicity’s home not too many days ago.

When he reached his truck, he boosted both women up and told them to buckle in. Then he leaped behind the wheel and sped out of the parking lot as fast as possible, considering the crowded conditions on the narrow road.

Sprinting into the restaurant at the Foxe Highway Motel, he saw Felicity sitting at a table with Tony Sachitano and the boys. Gary Carlisle was nowhere in sight. Strangely, that did not comfort him. He scanned the grounds, wondering when the fellow would turn up.

Watching Becky shove open the passenger door, he considered alerting the sheriff, just in case.