Baby Love (39 page)

regret seeing the last of Lonnie Boyle, but because with the heart condition, her mother wasn't supposed to get upset.

"Write down her street address and the name of her doctor for me," Rafe whispered urgently.

Then, to He-Jen, he said, "I'm sure he'll come back, Helen. Just calm down. When did he leave?" A pause. "I see. And he didn't say why in the note?"

Maggie was searching frantically for a pen. She finally found one inside the phone book.

Snatching up a piece of paper, she quickly scribbled out the address of her childhood home.

When she thrust the slip of paper at Rafe, he once again cupped a hand over the mouthpiece.

"She thought Lonnie was sleeping. He's been using your bed since you left, she says, and keeping odd hours, staying up all night, sleeping during the day. She just went in to tell him supper was done, and he wasn't there. She found a note on the pillow, saying he's leaving her."

Maggie pressed a hand to her throat. "Oh, God, Rafe, her heart! She could collapse. There's no one there to call an ambulance."

He pushed the phone at her. "Keep her talking. Try your best to calm her down. I'll get on another line, call her doctor, and arrange for an ambulance to get over there."

Maggie nodded. "Mama? Mama, this is Maggie. Oh, Mama, don't cry. Lonnie will come back.

He probably just got upset about some little thing." Maggie forced out the next words. "You know he loves you."

"He says he doesn't!" her mother wailed. "Oh, Maggie, I can't bear it. What'll I do? Now I'll be all alone."

Her mother sounded like an abandoned, terrified child. Maggie squeezed her eyes closed, wishing with all her heart that she were closer. "You're not going to be alone, Mama. You know I won't leave you there all alone."

"You'll come? I need you, Maggie. I'm scared. It's

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getting dark. You know I can't sleep if I'm here all alone after dark."

Maggie had no idea how long it might take her to reach Prior. Becca's dinner preparations had come to a halt, and she came to slip a plump arm around Maggie's shoulders, offering silent comfort. "Mama, listen to me. Are you listening? Rafe's calling your doctor right now, and someone is coming to be with you. I won't let you stay there all alone. It's going to be all right. And I'll be with you as soon as I can."

"Oh, Maggie. How come did he leave me?"

Maggie could almost see her mother's brown eyes, wide with fright and swimming with confusion. "I'm sure he'll be back very soon. I don't know why he left, but he'll come to his senses." Maggie's gorge rose as she mouthed the lies. Lonnie never did anything that wasn't calculated. He undoubtedly had left her mother because the pickings there had ceased to be appealing. An older, mentally incapacitated woman?

Now that he was into the big money and no longer had a young plaything to keep him entertained, he wanted out.

Keeping odd hours and sleeping in your bed,
Rafe had told her. Maggie's stomach rolled. Lonnie was obsessed with her, and she was glad he'd left.
Glad.
She just prayed the emotional upheaval didn't end up killing her mother. "Please, Mama, stop crying. Your doctor will be there soon, and until he gets there, I'll stay on the phone with you. Rafe and I are a long way from you, but we'll be there as soon as we can."

With half an ear, Maggie listened to her mother babble and sob. The rest of her attention was fixed on the background noise that came over the telephone line. It seemed like forever before she finally heard the muted wail of a siren.

"There's an ambulance here!" Helen cried.

"It's all right, Mama. Rafe called your doctor. Remember I told you that? I'm sure the doctor sent the ambulance."

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"But I'm not sick."

"I know. The doctor is just making sure you don't

get sick. The paramedics will probably give you a shot

to make you feel calmer. Won't that be nice? Get on the

portable and keep talking to me while you go open the

door to let them in."

Maggie listened. In a moment, she heard male voices. The phone clattered in her ear, telling her that Helen had dropped the receiver. Believing her mother might have collapsed, Maggie's legs turned to water.

She was so relieved when she heard Helen talking in the background a second later that she nearly wept.

"Hello?" a male voice said. "Who am I speaking with?"

"Her daughter in Oregon. Are you one of the ambulance attendants?"

The man assured her he was and that her mother was very upset but doing fine.

Rafe returned to the kitchen. Maggie threw him an agonized look. He took the phone, spoke briefly with the medic, and then said, "They're giving her a shot, Maggie. Her vitals look good. So far, so good." He listened for a moment. Then he hung up the phone. "They're taking her to the hospital now. They can watch her there and keep her calm until we arrive."

Rafe stepped over to hug her. Feeling his hard strength and warmth calmed her and imbued her with strength. She leaned against him, letting him support her weight. "Oh, Rafe, how could he do something so cruel?"

"Think past it, sweetheart. By leaving, he's opened the door for us to bring her here. She'll be with you and Heidi and Jaimie. And she'll have me and Dad and Rye to make her feel secure. As rough as this is right now, she'll be much better off in the long run."

Maggie glanced up at him. "How long will it take for us to get there?"

"I'll have to call Ryan. He'll need to arrange for a

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preflight to be done on the Cessna." He glanced at his watch. "We'll probably get there sometime during the night and be there to see her at the hospital first thing in the morning."

Maggie leaned against him and closed her eyes. He held her for a moment, and then he whispered, "Don't get upset with me. All right? But I can't help but worry that there's something rotten in Denmark. It doesn't make sense that Lonnie took off like this. When the lawyer spoke to him the night before Thanksgiving, he seemed eager to work things out so we can get permanent custody of Heidi. He was quibbling over the money and trying to drive the price up. Why would he suddenly decide to take off without first getting his hands on the cash?"

"I don't know," Maggie said hollowly. "Oh, Rafe, I'm so worried about my mother."

"I know you are, and you're not going to like what I'm about to suggest."

Maggie looked up at him. "You don't think I should go, do you?"

He sighed. "No, I really don't. You'd be going back across the Idaho state line. I have a bad feeling. You know? What if this is all a ploy on Lonnie's part to lure you back there? He may have the groundwork laid to have you arrested for kidnapping or some damned thing. Or to meet us at the plane with those damned adoption papers and take Jaimie."

"I need to go be with my mom, though."

He gave her a comforting squeeze. "Let me call Mark and see what he thinks. If it isn't safe for you to go, Maggie, it isn't safe. I can handle your mom. We've met once and talked a lot on the phone. It's not as if I'm a complete stranger to her. If her health allows, we'll be back here sometime tomorrow. I guess it depends on whether or not the doctor thinks she should fly. If not, I'll have to rent a car to bring her back.

Either way, it'll

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be all right. She's in good hands right now. They've sedated her. She'll come through this."

Maggie prayed he was right as he dialed Mark's home. She listened intently to Rafe's side of the conversation as he discussed the situation with his friend and attorney. Before Rafe said goodbye, Maggie already knew the outcome of the phone call.

"He doesn't think it's wise for me to go. Does he?"

"No. Here in Oregon, you've got a measure of protection. Interstate red tape. They have to extradite you to prosecute. But if you return to Idaho..." He shrugged. "Lonnie supposedly reimbursed the adoptive parents and they've given up on getting Jaimie. But until we see documented verification of that, which Mark is working on getting, you could be wide open to criminal charges. Lonnie can't make them stick.

I've been named on his birth certificate as the father, and we're married. But it could be a hell of a mess until we got it all straightened out."

Maggie nodded and clasped her waist with her arms. "It's only a day. I'll just have to wait for you to get back." She tried to smile. "Mama already loves you. I'm sure she'll be fine once she's got a big, strong fellow to lean on. I think that's her main attraction to Lonnie, that she misses Daddy so much."

"That's like cozying up to a rattlesnake."

Maggie agreed.

"I've got to call Ryan," Rafe told her. "I haven't renewed my pilot's license yet, so he'll have to fly me there." He gazed down at the phone, frowning thoughtfully. "I think I'll call Mom and Dad and have them come stay with you."

"I'm sure that's not necessary. It'll spoil Heidi's sleepover, and I'll be fine here with Becca."

"I'll feel better if Dad's here, nonetheless. There's no point in taking any chances, and something about this just doesn't feel right." He smiled slightly. "If Boyle comes around with Dad guarding the fort, he'll rue the

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day he was born. My father may be sixty, but he's in damned good shape. He'd chew Lonnie up and pick his teeth with the bastard's bones."

"I'll feel better with him here, for sure," Becca inserted. "Better safe than sorry, I always say. Tell Miz Kendrick I'll fix extra and to plan on eating dinner here."

Rafe made the two phone calls, the first to his folks, the second to Ryan. After hanging up, he said, "I'm going to go throw some clothes in a duffel bag." He glanced at his watch. "Ryan's coming right over to pick me up. He says the plane was checked out after the last trip. He'll file a flight plan, give the plane a quick going-over, gas it up, and we'll be ready to lift off. Mom and Dad are packing to stay for a few days, just in case it takes me longer than I hope to get back. They'll be here in about an hour."

Maggie forced a smile. "I'm sure Becca and I will be fine here by ourselves for a little bit."

Rafe bent to kiss her. "I'm sure you will be, too, or I wouldn't leave until they got here."

Watching Rafe drive away was the hardest thing Maggie had ever done. She wanted so badly to go with him to Idaho. Her mother needed her. Staying behind was the wisest thing to do, but her heart.urged her to throw caution to the wind.

Right before leaving, he had pressed a kiss on her palm and closed her fingers around it. Now Maggie made a tight fist over the place where his lips had touched, clinging to it as she watched taillights fade from sight for the second time in less than an hour.

"Your parents-in-law will be here shortly," Becca assured her. "And Rafael will be back tomorrow. Don't look so glum."

Maggie heard the concern in the housekeeper's voice and was able to laugh at herself. "I know. I'm being silly. I think my mother's childish? Now Rafe's leaving me overnight, and I'm acting the same way."

"Well, now, it's a bit more than just that, I know you're very worried about your mama, and well you should be. Rafael's got a good heart, though. He'll hug her up and have her set to rights in no time,"

"Yes." Maggie remembered how he had hugged her up when she first met him. Her ragtag cowboy. In a twinkling, he had become her staunch defender, picking up the pieces of her shattered world and rearranging them into a magical dream. She sighed. "You're abso-381

382 CATHERINE ANDERSON

lutely right, Becca. With Rafe there to handle it, everything will be all right."

"I need to go change the bed linen in the guest room," Becca said. "Can you take some steak out of the freezer and toss it in the microwave on defrost?''

Maggie turned from the window. She refused to be like her mother, helpless and falling apart just because her man had left her. Rafe was taking care of her family. While she waited here for him to return, she would be the wife he deserved, keeping her perspective and taking care of business, which at the moment happened to be helping with dinner preparations.

As Maggie set the dial on the microwave a few minutes later, she smiled sadly, recalling that Rafe's favorite meal was steak and a baked potato. It was a shame he wasn't going to be there to enjoy it.

"Scream, and I'll blow your head off."

Maggie froze with her finger on the start button.
Lonnie.
Something cold pressed against her ear. She realized it was a gun, and her legs nearly buckled. "Lonnie?"

"Lonnie?" he mimicked in a singsong voice. "You faithless little bitch. You think you've got it made, here with your rich cowboy? That I'd just kiss off if he offered me more money?" He bumped the barrel of the gun against her head, making her ear throb. "Think again. You're mine, sweetness, and your cowboy's one stupid son of a bitch. He already gave me money. Lots of it. And that's gonna be our ticket out of here.

We'll go where he can never find us. Oh, I like the sound of that. Way off alone, just you and me and the little brat. You don't do what I tell you, and the kid's brains will decorate a wall."

He shoved at her with the gun again, knocking Maggie slightly off balance. She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek as she struggled to keep her footing.
Becca.
She was just down the hall in the guest room. Maybe she would hear Lonnie's voice and telephone for help.

"Let's go get Junior. We have to get out of here be-

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fore your daddy-in-law gets here." He laughed evilly. "Didn't think I knew about that, did you?"

Maggie realized he'd been in the house, listening to everything they said. For how long? Before Rafe even left? Oh, God.
Think.
She couldn't leave here with him. She had to stall, hold him up. Once Rafe's dad got here, everything would be all right. Lonnie was a coward, according to Rafe. She could remember him telling her that so clearly.
He gets off on fear,
he'd said.
He won't pick on someone his own size or bigger.

Only those who are weaker, or people who won't or can't fight back.
Maggie's head reeled.
He gets off on
fear. Power is the ultimate turn-on.

Maggie was plenty terrified now. As she walked ahead of Lonnie down the hall to the bedroom she shared with Rafe, her legs felt watery.
Jaimie.
Oh, God. His brains decorating a wall. The picture those words formed in her mind made Maggie shake. Her baby. Her sweet, precious baby. Would Lonnie go so far as to actually kill him? Jaimie was his own flesh and blood.

Maggie's arms felt numb when she entered the bedroom and went to the cradle to collect her son.

"Get everything you need. We ain't comin' back."

Maggie quickly stuffed things into the diaper bag Rafe had gotten her.

"Get your driver's license. You're gonna be my chauffeur while I keep the gun trained on Junior. One wrong move, and he's history."

She still had her driver's license in her jeans pocket. "I have it right here," she said in a voice that trembled. "Lonnie, why are you doing this? I love Rafe. Do you really want a woman who doesn't want you?"

He laughed, the sound ringing with insanity. "Oh, you'll want me. You'll get on your knees and beg me for it, girl. We ain't gonna have your mama around no more so we gotta sneak. You know? I'll have you whenever I want you. And you'll want me back. Got it? If you don't, I'll kill your brat."

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He swung the gun toward the door.
"Move.
Don't think you can stall me until your daddy-in-law comes to the rescue. I'll shoot the son of a bitch and anyone else who gets in our way."

Maggie remembered reading once that even maniacs had limits. How she prayed that was true. Surely Lonnie wasn't so crazy that he'd kill someone in cold blood.

But, oh, God, she couldn't count on that. The diaper bag bumped against her leg, reminding her with every step of the night she had fled from this man. She exited the bedroom and started to retrace her path up the hallway to the kitchen. Halfway there, Becca emerged from the guest room, her stout form blocking Maggie from going farther.

"There," she said, straightening her apron. "That's all done."

Becca's eyes widened when she saw Lonnie behind Maggie. The next instant, Maggie saw the gun in her side vision. "Lonnie, no!"

The blast of the weapon deafened Maggie. Becca grabbed for her chest, her gaze bewildered and disbelieving as she reeled backward and hit the wall. She fell with a thud to the carpeted floor, crimson spreading across the upper right side of her chest.
Blood. Everywhere.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Lonnie! Oh, dear God."

Maggie started toward Becca. Her stepfather jerked her back by the hair. "He's next," he said, shoving the gun against the baby she cradled in her arms. "Walk or he's dead."

Maggie staggered over Becca's body, horror blanking out all rational thought. This wasn't happening. It was a terrible nightmare. Rafe wasn't gone. Becca wasn't dead. Lonnie wasn't really here. It was simply her worst fear come to life in a terrible dream. Any moment now, she'd wake up and be safe in Rafe's strong arms.

Everything seemed to happen in a blur. Hurrying through the kitchen. Spilling out into the atrium. Step-BABY LOVE 385

ping outside without a coat, to feel the blast of the chill winter night slicing through her clothes.

Lonnie had hidden a rental car in the woods. He'd come onto the ranch on a back road—a logging road that had been excavated after the forest fire when Rafe and Ryan had tried to salvage what they could of the charred timber. It seemed to Maggie that they walked forever. No strong hand held her elbow now to keep her from slipping on the ice. She was all alone.

With a monster.

The luminescent glow of the instrument panel bathed the otherwise dark cockpit in ghostly green. Rafe stared straight ahead, unable to shake the feeling that he shouldn't have left Maggie. For some reason, Rafe kept remembering the nightmare he'd once had of Lonnie in the station wagon, laughing maniacally just before the vehicle plunged off the cliff. The image made his blood run cold, and he prayed to God it hadn't been some kind of premonition.

"Penny for them," Ryan said as he put the plane on autopilot.

"I'm just worried about Maggie and the kids. I've got this bad feeling I shouldn't have left them."

Ryan sighed. "That's why you called the folks. Right? Dad's there by now. He can handle anything that comes up, Rafe. And you know what else?"

"No. But I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"Yeah, I am. I think Maggie's got a hell of a lot more grit than you give her credit for. Not saying I think anything's going to go wrong while you're gone." Ryan leaned forward to adjust the controls. "But if it did, I think she'd surprise everyone in how well she handled it."

"Trust me, no one on earth gives Maggie more credit for gutsiness than I do. She's a strong-minded woman, and just because I'm worried about her doesn't mean I think she lacks courage. It's just that she's been through

386 CATHERINE ANDERSON

enough. You know? My natural inclination is to protect her from any more heartache, and I sure as hell don't want her having to face Boyle alone again. She felt so helpless, with no way out. The memories of that will affect her for the rest of her life as it is."

"She wasn't helpless. She Could've left and gone to a shelter."

"And abandoned Heidi? Give me a break."

"I'm not saying she was wrong to stay. But there's a difference between being helpless and deciding to sacrifice yourself to save someone else."

"True." Rafe passed a hand over his face. "I guess I shouldn't worry so much. If anything happens, she can probably handle it just fine without me. I just have this bad feeling. You know? Boyle can't be trusted.

My first thought when I decided to come get Helen was that he might have planned it this way. What if he did this, hoping to lure me away so he could get to Maggie and the kids?"

Ryan scowled. "Damn. Do you really think he's that crazy?"

"He's pretty damned crazy."

Ryan fell quiet for a long moment. Then he said, "No matter how you circle it, Rafe, someone's got to go get Maggie's mom. I'd go do it for you, but the woman's never even met me."

"I know. Thanks for offering, all the same."

"Maggie'll be fine. If anything happens, Dad's there, and what he can't handle, Mom will."

Rafe chuckled. "You're right about that." He peered through the gloom at his brother. "Talk about steel in the backbone. I think she gets a little ornerier with each passing day. I swear, she needles Dad for the fun of it."

In the eerie green illumination of the cockpit, Ryan's teeth looked phosphorescent when he grinned. "She's a little lippy, but Dad seems to love it. You know what he told me right before they left for Florida? That the

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sex was so good, he was afraid he'd croak in bed. 'Hell of a way to go,' he said."

Rafe barked with laughter. "God, he's bad. He's not supposed to tell his sons stuff like that. He'll warp us emotionally. Somehow, you just don't picture your folks—well, you know."

"Especially not Mom. It's sort of—hell, I don't know, sacrilegious or something—"

A static blast from the radio interrupted them. Ryan keyed his mike to signal a go-ahead. A second later, their father's voice came over the air. "You boys need to get your asses back here," he said. "We've got trouble."

Rafe's stomach dropped and felt as if it bounced on the floor of the aircraft.

Maggie's hands felt as if they were frozen on the steering wheel. She had taken the on-ramp onto the interstate approximately five minutes ago. The rental car's head-fights illuminated the white divider lines, making them seem to come at her in a dizzying rush. She tried frantically to think, but the fear that held her in its grip blanked out rational thought.

Lonnie sat sideways on the passenger seat, the gun aimed at Jaimie, who lay in back.
Damn
him. He knew her weak spot. By threatening the life of her child, he had absolute power over her.

He gets off on fear. It turns him on.
Rafe's voice kept zigzagging through her head. Sweat beaded on her face.
Boyle's a bully. He picks on those who are weaker. To men like him, power is exciting. They thrive
on it and on being in control.

Well, he had to be turned on now, Maggie thought frantically. She was plenty scared. Pictures flashed through her mind of Becca, lying dead in the hall, her blood smeared over the wall. Call his bluff? Oh, God, how did she dare? The man was insane. Absolutely insane. If she bucked him, he'd kill Jaimie.

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In that moment, Maggie would have given anything to have her son safely away from there. Then she'd have nothing to lose by calling Lonnie's bluff. The slimy worm. He grabbed for power in any way he could, even if it meant using a tiny baby as leverage. He wouldn't be so smug if it were only the two of them.

The bottom line was, Maggie wasn't as afraid of dying as she was of staying alive and under his thumb. If it weren't for his having Jaimie to use as a bargaining chip, she'd give Lonnie more trouble than he could handle.

The thought stuck in Maggie's brain.
Without Jaimie as a bargaining chip.
A rush of adrenaline moved through her. Lonnie was maniacal, but he wasn't stupid. He kept threatening to kill Jaimie, but if he did that, he'd compromise his position of power.

Boyle's a bully.

He gets off on power.

Rafe's voice bounced around in Maggie's head. She struggled to calm down.
Think. Shove the fear away,
clear your mind. Think.
There had to be a way out of this. She needed to get help before he took her someplace isolated. And, God help her, she needed to think of some way to get her son safely away from him.

She remembered reading somewhere about a woman who had been abducted and forced to drive the getaway car. She had kept her cool and unobtrusively tapped her brake pedal to flash her rear lights, sending out an SOS. Maggie didn't know the signal, which ruled out her doing that. But if she kept her head, maybe she could think of something else.

She saw a blue road sign: REST AREA, 1/2 MILE. Up ahead, she could see the lights off to her right. Several passenger cars were in the parking area as well as three semi trucks. A lump of raw terror rose into her throat. She backed off the gas.