Caught by the Sheriff--A Clean Romance Page 22

  The door chime rattled and the air in the room went icy cold. Jim. She knew it was him before she even turned around. She had dreaded this moment. Dreamed about it and what she’d do. How scared she’d be. Only it wasn’t fear surging through her right now. It was fury. Raw anger. She’d die before he got his hands on Nim.

  “Faye.”

  He grimaced, likely from the air in the shop.

  “Da da!” Nim’s face scrunched up and she cried even louder. She twisted and flailed, throwing her weight back and nearly causing Faye to lose her hold. Faye was forced to set her down, just long enough to regain her grip, but the girl ran from her grasp and toddled straight for Jim.

  “No!” She could hear his accusations now. How he found his daughter crying in an old place that smelled of sewage and how she ran to him, relieved that her daddy had rescued her.

  “There you are, Mia!” He hugged her and gazed threateningly at Faye, as he kissed Mia on the forehead. “I missed you, my little number one. Daddy’s never going to let you go again.”

  Mia, who had tried wiping her nose with her fist, patted his cheek with her hand. He shifted her to one side of his chest, lifted his shoulder and wiped his cheek dry on it.

  “Nim. Come here,” Faye said, stepping forward, ready to pull the kid from his arms if she had to.

  “Nim, is it? Really? I don’t recall seeing that name on her birth certificate,” Jim said.

  Jordan entered the room.

  “What’s going on here?” He didn’t sound surprised. Faye looked between him and Eve.

  “I’m here to pick up my child. From reading time, is it?” he said, glancing around the place.

  He had the nerve to be snarky? Adrenaline burned through Faye’s veins. She didn’t care if she got hurt. She’d go after him if he tried to leave with the baby.

  “Give her back to me, Jim.”

  “I don’t think so. I’m her father. And I plan to press kidnapping charges.”

  “But she’s her mother,” Eve said. “You can’t do that. Tell Jordan what he’s done to you, Faye. You don’t have a choice at this point. Tell Jordan how he hurt you. You should be the one pressing charges.”

  “I hurt you, did I?” Jim didn’t take his eyes off her. “I’ve never laid a hand on this woman. She’s been lying to you. She’s not Mia’s mother. She’s my wife’s twin. Ever read suspense thrillers about the psychotic jealous twin? Here she is in flesh and blood.”

  Eve flinched. She looked back at Jordan, then at Faye.

  “Faye? What’s going on? What does he mean you’re not Nim’s mother?” Eve asked.

  It was happening. He was going to get away with murder. She could hear a dog barking in the distance. The bark neared, then there were more joining in. Like hounds on the hunt.

  “I’m not her mother. She... Mia...is my niece. But everything else I told you is true. It just applies to my sister and how he treated her. He has her locked away somewhere. She’s missing. I haven’t been able to contact her. She’s the one who begged me to get Mia away from him.”

  “You haven’t had contact, yet she told you to take Mia? Sounds contradictory to me,” Jim said with smug satisfaction.

  Jordan stepped closer to Jim. He seemed relaxed. Like he was on Jim’s side.

  “Can I see your ID? Proof you’re her father?”

  “Don’t you recognize me? The news, maybe?”

  “I do. But you can’t expect us to just hand her over without it,” Jordan said. Eve frowned. Faye noticed that Jordan didn’t mention that he was an off-duty officer. He was in street clothes. Jim wouldn’t know he was a deputy.

  Jim took out his wallet with one hand, pulled out his driver’s license and handed it over, along with a family photo of him, Clara and Nim. All smiling. The perfect family. Faye didn’t have to see it. She knew exactly which one it was.

  “Look at this. Nice photo,” Jordan held it up to Eve and Faye. “Looks just like you, Faye.”

  “But that’s not her. That’s what I’m saying,” Jim said. “Forget this. I thought you’d have come to your senses by now and cooperate, Faye, but you had your chance. I’m calling the police.”

  Faye knew not to blow Jordan’s cover. Jim shifted Nim to one side and reached for his pocket. He cursed under his breath when he didn’t find his cell.

  “My phone’s in my car. You,” he told Jordan, as he pushed Nim’s slobbery hand off his face, “call the police.”

  “I don’t recall ‘You’ being on my birth certificate, but sure. I’d be happy to call the police for you. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s being lied to. And here, this woman has had us thinking that she’s kind, nurturing and even good with animals. Unbelievable.” Jordan moved around the counter and picked up the store’s landline.

  “This woman is anything but. She hates her own sister so much and is so jealous of her that she stole her child and tried to pass her off as her own,” Jim said.

  “I love Clara and you know it,” Faye shot back. “You abusive, manipulative, sick excuse for a man.”

  “I’m afraid it’s not working. There’s no signal. Eve, have you been having phone trouble?” Jordan hung up the line and came back around the counter, standing closer to Jim, as if he was siding with him.

  “Yes. It hasn’t been working all day, actually. I completely forgot with all this going on.” Eve glanced at Faye and she knew her friends were lying.

  There was a loud gurgly noise followed by a putrid smell.

  “What the—” Jim held Mia away from him. His number one’s number two had broken through diaper barriers and leaked all over the side of his cashmere sweater. Jordan reacted in a flash, grabbing Mia from his hands. Faye and Eve ran forward simultaneously, Faye reaching the two men first. She tried to take Mia from Jordan, but Jim, furious, grabbed Faye by the arm, digging his fingernails into her and twisting her shoulder.

  “You’re hurting me,” Faye cried. “Let me go!”

  The barking grew louder, but they couldn’t see out into the darkness.

  “Let her go, you son of—” Eve tried lunging again, but Jordan, holding Mia protectively, stopped her and handed her Mia—who was now crying again. He gave Eve an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

  “I’ll let you go.” Jim sneered at Faye. “At the sheriff’s department. In a holding cell. You’ll never hurt my wife or daughter again.” He tightened his hold on Faye.

  “Let go of her right now or you’ll regret it,” Jordan warned.

  “Shut up. You’re nobody to give me orders. You,” he said to Eve, “hurt Mia and I’ll have you arrested too. I’m taking Faye with me to get my cell phone to call the cops and then I’m coming back in here for my child. She had better be here.”

  Jim twisted Faye’s arm again and held her by the ear with his other hand.

  “Stop it!” Faye yelled, attempting to knee Jim where it counted, but he spun her around and tightened his grip. She stumbled and tried to hold her ear to keep him from pulling so hard. She could see Jordan closing the gap between him and Jim. Jim shoved the shop door open and pulled her outside.

  He stopped in his tracks.

  Faye’s eyes widened, and not from the pain he was inflicting.

  The entire town stood before them. Surrounding them. Including every dog she’d walked and a few others, with Laddie in front of the pack and Pepper at his side. They were snarling and barking and tugging on their leashes. Everyone in town whom she’d ever met, even Mr. Krinks, was there. And Carlos was standing front and center, his gun pointed at the ground for safety, but his eyes shooting bullets at Jim.

  “Let. Her. Go.”

  She’d never heard Carlos’s voice sound so threatening. So welcome.

  “Yeah. No one messes with our Faye,” Mr. Krinks said, folding his thick arms across his chest.

  Jim let her go and strai
ghtened his soiled sweater.

  “She’s a criminal. I was about to call you. I’m turning her in on impersonating and kidnapping charges.”

  Carlos signaled to another officer. The woman approached Faye and led her a safe distance away from Jim, but didn’t handcuff her. Chanda, Darla and Nora all ran to her. Jim looked nervous and glanced behind him. Jordan stood blocking his way back through the store, where Eve was still harboring Mia. He gave Jim a menacing look that conveyed “don’t mess with my friends” in no uncertain terms. A terse nod in Carlos’s direction and Faye knew Jordan had been given a heads-up about the plan to stop Jim. The call he’d taken earlier. She could see Eve inside the shop trying to comfort Mia, while waiting to be told it was safe to bring her out.

  A camera flashed from one of the local newspaper reporters. Carlos kept his eyes on Jim. The dogs, ordered to stay back by their owners, kept growling and snapping at him.

  “Here’s the thing,” Carlos said, pulling out his handcuffs. “You’re the one who has had charges pressed against you. Assault and battery.”

  “Impossible.”

  Faye gasped and tears flooded out. Clara was okay. Alive. She’d been found.

  “Why? Because you didn’t think your wife could pick a lock, break out of the room in that cabin you had her in and make it down a mountain through snow on foot to get help? Let me give you a piece of advice. Never underestimate the power of a mother’s love for her kid.”

  “You’re lying,” Jim said. “Faye got to you, didn’t she? Have you been getting cozy with the sheriff?” He looked over at her with disgust. But his face had paled and he kept flexing his hands.

  “Is Clara okay?” Faye called out. She looked past Jordan and through the shop window. She couldn’t see Eve anymore, but she had a feeling that her friend had either wisely taken the child into the back so she wouldn’t hear or witness anything—or to change that diaper and make sure she was alright. Faye wanted to hold Mia. Needed to hold her and comfort her. She wanted to assure her that she’d be with her mommy soon and that everything would be okay, but she didn’t dare move from where the officer had her.

  “She will be,” Carlos said without looking at her. He kept his eyes on Jim. “Clara, your wife and Mia’s real mother, is in safe hands right now. She’s in a hospital getting treated for what you did to her. Injuries so recent that they can’t be blamed on Faye because she has, as you can see, an entire town of alibis. Witnesses to the fact that she’s been here, taking good care of her niece. Keeping her safe. A town that was able to witness your behavior through that shop’s windows. We saw how you manhandled your sister-in-law. I think we have enough cell phone videos and reporter photographs to prove it. Then there’s the DNA evidence that’s being collected right now at the hospital. Jim Beauchampe, your money and contacts aren’t going to help you this time. I’m placing you under arrest.”

  The entire town cheered. Jim was hauled away after Carlos cuffed him. Eve stepped outside with Nim—Mia—when Jordan signaled to her that all was clear. The two embraced, holding Mia between them.

  Faye ran over to them and took Mia in her arms, kissing her wet face repeatedly. “It’s going to be okay, Mia. It’s going to be okay.” She didn’t care about runny noses or piercing screams or sleepless nights. Lives were what mattered. Family was what mattered. Love mattered.

  Carlos was at their side in seconds. Jordan and Eve stepped away to give them space.

  “Are you alright? Did he hurt you? Is she okay?” He stroked Faye’s hair, then her arm, then put his hand gently on Mia’s back, looking over them both for any sign that they needed paramedics or first aid.

  “I’m okay. We both are, thanks to you. And Eve and Jordan. And everyone here,” she said, looking around the crowd, overwhelmed by all the people who had had her back. Nora, who’d been holding on to Pepper’s leash, released her and the dog ran straight up, licking Mia’s shoes and Faye’s hands to confirm for herself that they were fine. Mia stopped crying and reached for the dog. It always amazed Faye how dogs and children could connect without words. How dogs had a way of healing a person’s soul. She kneeled down and let Mia cling to Pepper. The dog, knowingly, settled down on the ground so that Mia could cuddle into her as if she were her pup. Someone came over and left a blanket for Mia. Faye wrapped it around her, adding to the warmth Pepper was enveloping her in.

  “Actually, Mia might need to get checked,” Faye said. “She has an upset stomach. But he didn’t hurt her.” Not physically, at least. Man, it felt good to be able to say that she needed a doctor without fear of discovery.

  “We’ll get her seen ASAP,” Carlos said. “You should get checked too.”

  “No. I’m fine. Really. I just want to see Clara. I want assurance that Jim isn’t going to get off on some technicality.”

  “He won’t. I’ve already contacted everyone I know and trust. They’re ready to intercept any officers or officials who have had shady dealings with him. I’m having the precinct in your hometown investigated too. I promise, it’ll be safe to go back.”

  Her hometown.

  It wasn’t Turtleback Beach.

  He was making that clear. Telling her she could leave now. Not even asking her to stay. Could she blame him? She knew this would happen. She had kept the truth from him. She had expected him to react even worse—as in arresting her. She should be thankful it hadn’t come to that, but hearing him say those words in a to-the-point professional manner...so void of emotion or regret...it’ll be safe to go back...felt like a different sort of jail. Like he was standing on one side of a wall of iron bars and making sure she stayed on the other. Maybe it was for the best. He was making parting that much easier for both of them. But what really hurt was that he wasn’t giving her a choice. He wasn’t giving her a chance. And that could mean only that he hadn’t fallen in love with her the way she had with him.

  * * *

  CARLOS TOOK HALF a step back from Faye, needing to put distance between them but unable to pull himself any farther. He wanted to hold her and kiss her. He wanted to beg her to stay. To make Turtleback Beach her home, but he couldn’t. He knew how it would turn out. He’d tried that with Natalie and she had left anyway, leaving him drained, broken and depleted. He couldn’t do that again. He had protected Faye and Mia from Jim, but he had a right to protect himself too.

  He was relieved that she was safe, but that only gave him the space to feel the pain. To feel the anger and frustration—not the kind an immoral man like Jim acted on but the kind that sat in his chest and tore at his heart and made him question everything. The kind that made him want to take his dog, go home and be alone. It’s what he’d done years ago to quiet those emotions, only this time, he couldn’t. Because something stronger and deeper had woven itself through every strand of his being. Something that was choking the anger and keeping it from letting him step any farther away from Faye or Mia. He loved her. God help him. He loved Faye. But she didn’t trust him. And the fact was, she was free to go home now. Free to reunite with her sister who, he was told, was in a fragile emotional state...desperate to see her child and Faye. She was free to return to her business too. Her passion. None of that was here for her in Turtleback.

  “I lied to you, Carlos. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to. I was scared.”

  He thought about every lie she’d given him. Every moment they’d shared. Every kiss.

  “I know you were. But I told you I’d protect you no matter what. I asked you to trust me. Said that you could count on me. And that included your sister and niece.”

  “You did. And I should have. I wanted to. But Carlos, if you were me, what would you have done?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He wanted to say that he’d have trusted someone trying to help him, but would he have? He couldn’t judge her when he hadn’t gone through what she and Clara had endured. He had been in some pretty hair-raising ordeals durin
g his service in the Air Force, and he’d seen his father shot and watched someone he loved slowly wither away from a ruthless disease, so on some level, he knew decisions when it came to love could be more complicated than a human mind—or heart—could handle. But he hadn’t experienced exactly what Faye had gone through. So, he really didn’t know what he’d have done, other than try to protect his family just as she had.

  “I do trust you, Carlos. I did before this.” She motioned around them, to the dissipating crowd, the spinning lights on the emergency vehicles. The sirens were silenced, and Jim was being lowered into the back seat of a police car. “I know it doesn’t seem that way, but I had to be careful. I had to. And I didn’t want to put you in a position where you would have had to make the call to break a law in order to help me. If my sister hadn’t escaped, how long would it have been before you had enough evidence against Jim? Were you planning to ignore the law and the fact that I wasn’t Mia’s mother? Wouldn’t you have had to call child protective services or hand this innocent child to her father?”

  “You didn’t give me a choice in the matter, did you? You made that decision for me, instead of trusting me. When I said that I’d protect you, it included anyone you care about, Faye, because that’s what makes them family. That’s... That’s what you are to me. That’s what I want you to be...for us to be for each other. Family, Faye. Because I care. Because... Because I’m so madly in love with you it hurts. The thought of you running away again and leaving Turtleback made me feel like I’d been sucked out in a riptide and pulled under. And the thought of you leaving now kills me too, but I can’t make you stay. You have a life to get back to. Your sister is waiting for you. Needs you. Your job, your home, your life...your freedom... It’s all waiting.”

  Tears pooled in her eyes and she shook her head at him.

  “You’re not giving me a choice in the matter either.”