Forever After (41 page)

For a few minutes, Meredith expected Heath to come storming out of the house. When he didn’t, she decided the two men must still be arguing, but at a lower pitch. When a quarter of an hour passed, she sighed with relief and gave herself a congratulatory pat on the back. For the first time in nineteen years, father and son were finally talking instead of yelling.

She didn’t kid herself. Heath and Ian weren’t going to heal all the old wounds with one conversation, nor would
this talk bridge all the chasms that yawned between them. And she sincerely doubted either of them would ever put the heartache of Laney’s tragic death completely behind them.

But this was a start. Where there was communication, there existed hope for some kind of relationship between them, even if it wasn’t a perfect one.

Three hours later, Ian rejoined Meredith and Heath in his study. He tossed a notepad down on his desk. “I placed a few phone calls, talked with people in the know. Glen Calendri and some of his associates are already under investigation.”

“They are?” Meredith pressed a hand to her throat. “That’s good news, right?”

Ian smiled. Since his second talk with Heath, he had not only apologized to Meredith and Sammy for his earlier behavior, but had been a model of cordiality and good manners. He’d also refrained from cursing.

“Well, it means Calendri is operating under a cloud of suspicion. So far, they can’t get anything to hang him with, so it’s unofficial and doesn’t help you out much. However, if the information you gave me checks out satisfactorily, there’s every possibility that you can send your ex-father-in-law and a few of his friends to the pen for a very long time. I’ve also been assured that in exchange for such testimony, the government would be willing to enroll you and the child into the Witness Protection Program.

“With a phone call, I can set the wheels in motion. From this point forward, things should move along nicely. Whether I make that call is entirely up to you, Meredith. If you give me the go-ahead, you’ll have to return here to the ranch in three days to give an official and detailed statement to the proper authorities. They will, of course, check out the information between now and then. Names, times, dates, the crimes that you allege were committed. If they meet you here, the interview will be a mere formality.”

“What then?”

“You’ll be called to testify before a grand jury. If all goes well, that first go-around will result in indictments. If so, Glen and his associates will be arrested and held for trial, with you as the primary witness.” He sighed and looked at her sadly. “Now, for the downside. Once you give your statement in three days, the ensuing investigation will take time, anywhere from several days to possibly months. Meanwhile, you may be in grave danger. That will necessitate your being taken into protective custody immediately. You and Sammy will reside in what they call a ‘safe house’ until you’ve finished testifying, at which time you’ll both enter the witness program. In short, after this initial three days, you’ll live in seclusion, with no contact with anyone from that point forward until the trials are over. The entire process, from beginning to end, may take months, or possibly even years.”

Meredith listened to this news with numb acceptance, keeping her gaze carefully averted from Heath’s.
Three days
. After that, she might never see him again. As a protected witness, she would assume a new identity. God knew where she and Sammy might end up after the trials, the only certainty being that Heath wouldn’t be there. Tears threatened. She blinked them away. This was the answer to her prayers. A way out, an opportunity for her child to have a normal life.

Magic and miracles and fairy tale endings. Only last night, she’d dared to believe that maybe this time she would come out a winner. Now all hope for a future with Heath was being quashed. It hurt. She couldn’t even think of telling him good-bye. But for Sammy’s sake, she would have to.

“It’s tough, I know,” Ian said solemnly. “On a bright note, if your testimony checks out, Heath’s decision to take you into protective custody, and his actions later to protect you, will be justified. If he wishes, I’m sure he can have his job back.”

Meredith nodded. “That
is
a bright note.” She smiled at Heath. “Maybe your whole life won’t be tanked, after all.”

Heath regarded her silently, his mouth pressed into a grim line. Then he said, “Make the call, Dad. We don’t have any choice.”

Three days
. That was all they had, only three very short days, and both Meredith and Heath longed to have a lifetime. Given Oregon’s three-day waiting period, they discussed making a quick trip to Reno so they might be legally married, which would make Heath’s enrollment with her in the Witness Protection Program automatic. But in the end, Heath scotched the idea because the long drive to Nevada would put Meredith’s and Sammy’s lives at risk. Glen Calendri’s men were still out there somewhere, and their bullets were still just as deadly. They had to stay on the mountaintop, where there was at least some margin of safety.

“I’ll find another way, Merry,” he told her shortly after making love to her in the moonlight. “Somehow, some way, I’ll be waiting for you when you’ve finished testifying. We’ll have a whole new life, and we’ll be together until we die. I swear it.”

Meredith knew Heath meant that, from the bottom of his heart. But she also knew he was only one man and that some things were beyond his control. This was probably going to be it for them, just three short days to last them a lifetime, and by unspoken agreement, they were determined to live each second as if it were their last.

It hurt. In all her life, Meredith had never felt such pain. In so short a while, this man had become her world. So many times, she caught herself watching him through a blur of tears as he interacted with Sammy.
Merry, will I ever make it?
he’d asked her. In Meredith’s opinion, he had already surpassed excellence and was the most fantastic father in the world. She committed the moments to memory, promising herself she’d recall every little thing so she might share it with Sammy in stories after he could no longer be with them. When Sammy remembered her father, Meredith wanted her to think of Heath Masters. He was love and
honor and strength and courage, all rolled into a wonderful package, the perfect gift to her child. And she wanted Sammy to have that gift forever.

The incident that particularly touched Meredith and stuck in her mind was when she found Heath and Sammy in the bathroom. Heath was stooped over the vanity, his elbows braced on the edges of the sink. He was gagging. Sammy sat cross-legged beside him on the counter, waiting with the bar of soap until he recovered enough to open his mouth again.

“I’m sorry, Heef. I told you, soap makes you urp.”

Heath shuddered, filled his mouth with water, and made a shrill, sputtering sound. “It’s not your fault, sweetcakes,” he managed to say. “Nobody controls my mouth but me.” He lifted his head, stuck out his tongue, and made inarticulate noises. “
Wah id ahin
.”

Making a horrible face, Sammy rubbed the bar of soap back and forth over his tongue. With one stroke, she went farther back than she intended. Heath’s eyes bugged, and he jackknifed forward, shoving his head into the sink to wretch. When he drew breath, he croaked, “Jesus, Sammy! Not down my
throat!
”

“I’m sorry!” she cried. Then she made a gasping sound. “Uh-oh, Heef. You done it again!”

“What?” He gagged and sputtered. Sammy leaned over to whisper the word he’d said in his ear. He groaned, gagged, raked his teeth over his tongue, spat, and then said, “Oh, Christ…I’m not—going to survive this.”

Two scrubs later, he said, “Sammy, are you
sure
you counted
ten
bad words?”

At this point, Sammy was starting to gag just watching him. “I think so,” she said faintly. “Maybe I made a ’stake, though. We can stop now, Heef. I know you’re sorry.”

Meredith figured Heath should be grateful the child only had ten fingers. Past that, Sammy hadn’t yet learned to count. He hauled in a bracing breath, squared his shoulders, and stared into the sink for a moment. “No,” he finally
said. “If I cussed twelve times, it’s not right to skip washes. What will that teach me?”

“Ten times,” Sammy corrected.

“And then the two just now,” he reminded her.

Sammy sighed. “I’m all the way teached.” She shook her head. “I ain’t never gonna cuss again. I don’t like to urp.”

Seconds later, she got sick watching Heath and did just that. He swore—Meredith was becoming convinced he would never break himself of the habit—and held Sammy’s head, wiping her little face with a wet cloth. When Sammy recovered, she asked in a squeaky little voice, “Heef? Can’t you just sit in the corner?” Heath gratefully agreed.

Over the next few days, he spent quite a bit of their remaining time together with his nose pressed to the wall, and every second made Meredith love him just a little more. On one occasion while he was outside playing with Sammy and Goliath, she heard him yell, “Oh, God!” He quickly followed it up with, “Love me!” Then, in a voice he undoubtedly pitched low so Meredith wouldn’t hear him, he told Sammy if was all right to say “God” if he was praying, and asking God to love him was definitely praying. Meredith figured the request was entirely unnecessary. If God didn’t already love Heath Masters, then He hadn’t been keeping tabs on the folks in Oregon.

Making love all night…Taking snoozes along the creek bank in the warm sunshine while Sammy and Goliath played…Picnics under the fir trees…Feeding the squirrels…And making love again. In the next three days, they made a thousand memories, reality intruding only when Meredith noticed Heath’s shotgun and rifle, which he carried everywhere. Being with him. The four of them, a family. Lying in his arms at night. It was all Meredith’s sweetest dreams come true.

Sadly, like all wonderful dreams, it ended far too soon.

On their last night together, Heath took her for a walk in the moonlight after Sammy fell asleep. They couldn’t wander far from the house, so they circled it, keeping to
the same path through the trees. In a small, moonlit clearing Heath drew to a stop and dropped to one knee in front of her to ask her to marry him. Meredith tearfully said yes, clinging to the hope that his proposal might come to fruition and that one day, she would be joined with him forever in the eyes of God and the law.

As Heath pushed back to his feet, he whispered, “Let’s do it, right now.”

Meredith felt a tearing pain in her chest, for she knew he would only ask that if he believed they might never get a chance to say the words for real. He braided her a wedding ring with blades of grass, its setting a tiny white wild flower. Then he took her hand, and together, they made their marriage vows, God in heaven their only witness. When Heath slipped the woven grass ring onto her finger, Meredith clung to him and started to weep. She expected him to chide her and reassure her, saying that they were only going to be parted temporarily, that one day soon, they’d be together again.

Instead, he held her locked in his strong arms, his body shaking with the intensity of his emotions. Shortly before he finally released her, Meredith believed she felt a single tear slip from his lean cheek to trail down her neck. She knew then…beyond a shadow of a doubt…that he feared they might never see each other again.

The next morning, all of them were quiet during the ride back to town. There were a thousand things Meredith wanted to tell Heath, yet she couldn’t seem to put any of them into words. How could she tell a man that he had been her salvation, that by loving her, he’d healed her? She no longer felt fearful. The shame and constant guilt that had dogged her for so long had disappeared. She was whole again. More importantly, he had taught her to respect herself again. The thought of facing the rest of her life without him tore her apart, yet deep inside, in a secret place, she knew she would survive, not because she didn’t need him, but because his love had made her strong enough to stand
on her own and face whatever came her way.

When they reached Ian’s place, Meredith was whisked away to the study by two strange men in suits. She was closeted with them for hours while she gave her statement. When she was finally finished, they allowed her only a few minutes in private with Heath to tell him good-bye.

He was waiting for her in his dad’s den, his folded arm braced on the fireplace mantel, his head bent to gaze into the firebox. When he heard the door lock click, he spun around. Meredith ran to him, and he caught her up in his arms. Neither of them spoke. What was there to say that hadn’t already been said? Instead, they communicated with only their bodies, she clinging to him and wishing she never had to leave, he holding her as if he wished he never had to let her go.

There were no words. How could they talk when their hearts were shattering?

Finally, at the very last, Heath whispered, “I’m already checking into ways that I can go into the program with you, Merry. There are stumbling blocks, big ones. I won’t lie to you about that. But there must be a way to work around them. There
has
to be.”

Somewhere along the way, Meredith had tucked her hope for that away, and it had died a final death last night when they had shared wedding vows in the clearing. She leaned back in his arms, struggling not to cry and make this harder for him, her gaze fixed on his dark face. Dear God, how she loved him. He was like the hero in one of Sammy’s fairy tales, everything about him somehow finer and on a larger scale than anyone in real life. She truly didn’t know how she would be able to bear being apart from him, or how she was going to find true meaning in her life without having him beside her.

When Sammy and Goliath entered the den, the child grew frantic when Heath gently told her good-bye. She clung to Heath, then to Goliath, sobbing her heart out.

“Hey, sweetcakes?” Heath pried her loose from the dog and cradled her in his arms as he paced back and forth
across the room. “Why all these tears? You’re acting like you’re never going to see us again.”