Woodlands (31 page)

“Are you all right?” Collin asked.

Leah looked away. “I don’t know.”

“May I come in?”

Leah didn’t know how to respond. She really wanted to be alone. Before she could think of what to say, Seth called out, “Is this where you got the information, Leah?” He still held Bungee under his arm, but the roses were now strewn on the ground.

“It doesn’t appear that my client is interested in discussing this with you at the moment, Mr. Edwards.” Collin stood between Leah and Seth, pulling his frame to its full height and speaking louder than was necessary in a quiet neighborhood like Leah’s.

“What else did he tell you, Leah?” Seth persisted, his voice-level matching Collin’s. Bungee started to bark. “Don’t you see what’s happening here? He’s trying to turn you against me, Leah. Why are you believing him?”

Bungee kept barking.

Leah peered around Collin’s broad frame and was about to
state that she had seen the evidence herself. But Collin spoke even more firmly than the first time. “I have to ask you to leave the premises, Mr. Edwards, unless you wish for my client to add harassment to the case she already has against you.”

“What case against me?” Seth shouted. Bungee barked louder.

“Good night, Mr. Edwards,” Collin stated, taking Leah by the elbow and ushering her into the house.

Leah didn’t protest. Nor did she try to stop Collin when he firmly closed the door on Seth and Bungee.

“Come sit down,” Collin said, leading Leah to the love seat. “May I get you something to drink?”

Leah sank onto the seat, shaking her head wearily. Something inside her urged her to run to the front door and let Seth back in. Maybe they could straighten everything out if the three of them could talk calmly. But Leah was not calm. She felt overwhelmed with weakness and vulnerability. She couldn’t stand up and walk all the way to the front door if her life depended on it. All this was out of character for her. She knew how to be strong in any situation. She had proved that over the years. Now, she felt only weakness.

Collin lowered his large frame next to hers and put his arm along the back of the sofa. She didn’t like Collin’s taking her under his wing; yet she felt powerless to do anything at the moment.

“I’m sorry you had to find this out, Leah. Although I’m certain it’s better to find out now than later.”

Leah lowered her head into her hands, breathing deeply.

“This is too big for you to handle alone,” Collin continued smoothly. “You need to give yourself some time. Then, when you’re ready, I’m here for you. I can prepare the case to have the inheritance returned to you. You will only have to be involved at a minimal level. I can take care of everything.”

“I don’t care about the money, Collin, or the land, or any of it. I just feel so confused.”

“I know,” Collin said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Unfortunately, I see this all too often in my line of work. You’ll be glad later that it came out in the open so soon.”

Leah wanted to cry, but no tears came.

“Is there any way you can get away for a few days?” Collin asked. “It would be good for you to separate yourself from all this. Let me start handling the case.”

Leah told him about the reservations Franklin had made at the hot springs and how she was planning to go on Friday.

“Would it be possible for you to leave earlier?”

“I don’t think so. Alissa wasn’t able to cancel the reservations.”

“The reservations can’t be cancelled, but are they transferable?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“It’s easy enough to find out.” Collin pulled an incredibly small cell phone from his breast pocket and asked information to connect him with Hamilton Hot Springs.

Leah wasn’t sure why, but she liked the idea of leaving town for a few days. She felt too overwhelmed to stay here. She needed to be alone to think and pray.

“What you’re telling me is that you
can
transfer the reservations?” Collin said into the phone. “Yes, I’d like to transfer the reservation for Leah Hudson to tonight.”

“Tonight!” Leah squeaked out.

Collin put up his hand to silence her. “Right,” he said into the phone. “She will arrive close to eleven tonight.”

“I can’t go tonight,” Leah told Collin as soon as he hung up. “I have to make arrangements at work and … I don’t know. I have to pack.”

“You start to pack. I’ll make a few calls.”

“But work,” Leah protested. “I can’t call in sick.”

“Have you ever?”

“No.”

“Have you ever used all your sick days or vacation days?” Collin asked.

“No.”

Collin reached over and placed his large hand on her forehead. “You feel feverish,” he declared. “As your legal advisor, I’m recommending that you consider the next few days as sick days due to stress and fatigue. You need to take some time to recover. I can make the calls for you. I know several people in hospital administration. Now go. Start to pack.”

Leah numbly obeyed. In some ways, it all made perfect sense. She pulled a battered suitcase from the back of her closet and began to fill it with everything her foggy brain thought she might need at a resort. She had nothing especially nice to pack, but then, what did that matter? She was going to be alone and to soak in the mineral pools. It wasn’t as if this were a cruise to Alaska or anything.

Collin tapped on her closed bedroom door just as she threw in her toothpaste and a bottle of contact lens solution.

“I’m almost ready,” she called out, lugging the ugly old suitcase to the front door. Collin stood there, holding out an envelope to her.

“I forgot, and I do apologize. This is the key to the safe-deposit box. I failed to give it to you this morning at my office. That’s why I came over this evening.”

Leah had nearly forgotten about the safe-deposit box. “It doesn’t matter. The bank is probably closed by now.”

“I made a few calls,” Collin said. “Robert is still there. He said he would wait for us if we came over in the next few minutes. Here, let me carry that for you.”

Leah handed Collin her suitcase and made a quick check
on Hula, giving her more food and water and a calm talking to as she hugged the dog around its neck. Then, locking her front door, Leah headed for her car only to find that Collin was loading her suitcase into his Mercedes’ trunk.

W
hat are you doing?” Leah asked Collin, as he closed the Mercedes’ trunk with her suitcase tucked inside.

“I’m driving you to Hamilton.”

“It’s four hours one way.”

“I reserved a room for myself,” Collin said. “I’ll drive back in the morning. When you’re ready to come home in a few days, you can call me, and I’ll come pick you up. It’s not a problem, Leah.”

Without protesting, Leah got in his car, and the two of them drove to the bank. The truth was, Leah didn’t know what to think of anything anymore. Her life had become a frantically twirling carousel, and all she could do was hold on tight as the ride went up and down and round and round faster and faster.

Robert, the bank president, and two tellers who were still doing paperwork were the bank’s only occupants. Robert led Leah and Collin to the vault where Collin handed Leah the key
and indicated he would wait for her in the bank’s lobby so she could open the box in private.

Leah thought of how she would rather have waited until after her retreat at the hot springs to retrieve whatever was in the safe-deposit box. She wasn’t ready for any more surprises. For all she knew, a check for a million dollars drawn on a secret Swiss bank account could be waiting for her. Or two tickets to the movies.

However, Collin was steering her life at the moment, and so she entered the bank vault holding in her hand the sum total of what she had inherited from Franklin Madison—a key.

Robert took Leah’s key and used one of his own to open the door of the safe-deposit box. Inside was a long, metal box with a handle. Robert pulled out the box and handed it to her. “You can open it in this room here,” he said, pointing to a small private room she hadn’t noticed before. He then quietly left.

As she opened the box’s lid, inside she saw a plain, eight-by-ten manila envelope, folded in half and wedged into the flat, narrow box. Leah lifted the envelope. It was fairly light. And thin. She pinched the metal tabs on the back and was about to open the envelope when something stopped her.

She stood for a silent moment in the privacy of the room.
I don’t want to know. Not yet. I want to give my heart a chance to settle
.

She folded the envelope and tucked it in her purse. As she walked back into the vault, Robert appeared and put the box into its slot, using his key and hers to lock it in place.

“Everything okay?” Collin asked when she joined him in the bank lobby.

Leah interpreted his question to mean, “What was in the box, and is there anything I should know about, now that I’m your attorney?”

“Everything is fine. Thank you.”

Collin and Leah thanked the bank president and walked to Collin’s Mercedes in silence.

“Any surprises?” Collin asked, as he opened Leah’s car door for her.

She slid in without answering.

Collin got in and started the engine. “Not that you have to tell me. It is private, of course. You do know that I’m available if you need consultation on anything you found in the safe-deposit box. Franklin has turned out to be a man of surprises, and I want to make sure he didn’t overwhelm you with another one.”

Leah smiled to herself. Collin’s voice carried the same tone of the little boy she had once left on the boulders at Heather Creek with his feet propped up.

“Collin, I don’t know what was in the box.” Leah decided that honesty was the best way to handle his questions. Especially considering this web she found herself caught in.

“It was empty?” Collin surmised.

“No, there was an envelope. But I didn’t open it. I want to wait until after I’ve had time to clear my thoughts. I want to be prepared for whatever I find.”

Collin nodded slowly, as he pulled the car onto the main highway. “Sounds wise.”

For almost a mile neither of them spoke. Then Collin said, in the same tone as the freckled face boy Leah once had a crush on, “I suppose you’re one of those people who actually can wait until Christmas morning to open her presents.”

“Of course,” Leah said. “Why? Can’t you?”

“Nope. Never have been able to.” With a chuckle Collin added, “The first Christmas we were married, my wife put three presents under the tree a week before Christmas. First
chance I had, I unwrapped all three, saw what they were, and taped them back up.”

“Did you get caught?”

Collin nodded and grinned. “And was she ever mad! Every year after that she hid my presents at her friend’s house and refused to bring the gifts home until Christmas morning. Christmas was
her
holiday, and she wasn’t going to let me spoil her fun.”

Leah smiled and felt herself beginning to relax. “You must miss her a lot. Especially at Christmas.”

Collin shot her a quick, startled look as if Leah had overstepped a boundary. “Yes,” he said. Then, with a lopsided tone to his voice, he added, “When do you miss your parents the most?”

Leah had to think about that for a moment. “I’m not sure. For so many years my life revolved around being available to meet their needs. It might sound heartless, but I don’t miss that part. I miss funny little things like reading the Sunday comics together and the way my mom used to hum to herself when she was cooking dinner.”

“The loss of special people in our lives changes us, doesn’t it?” Collin’s voice had switched back to the wise-advisor tone.

Leah felt a tight lump in her throat. “Yes, it does.” She was thinking of Seth.
Ever since he stepped into my life I was changing for the better. Was it all a hoax? How will I change now that he’s gone?

They reached the freeway, and Collin headed north. “Would you mind, Leah, if I put on some music?”

“No, please do.” She would be glad for the focus to be off their conversation. It felt as if she might lose her emotional equilibrium at any moment.

Collin pressed a few buttons, and suddenly they were surrounded by the magnificent voice of an Italian tenor. Leah
leaned back in the plush leather seat and closed her eyes. What filled her ears was the most romantic, heart-stirring music she had ever heard.

And once again, the image of the gondola in Venice came to mind. Leah imagined she was settled in the soft cushions while the rich voice of this passionate Italian tenor sang over her. She didn’t have to steer or direct or decide which canal to go down. All she had to do was nestle in this pocket of grace.

Casually opening one eye slightly, Leah glanced at Collin’s profile as he drove.
Is he the gondolier I’ve been waiting for and dreaming of?
Leah snapped her eyes shut.
Where did that thought come from?

A wave of confusion washed over her stronger than ever. She suddenly wasn’t sure why she was going anywhere with Collin Radcliffe. Leah wanted to rest in this pocket of grace, but somehow it wasn’t right.

Collin shouldn’t be directing and controlling which way I go, should he?