In The Arms of a Stranger (19 page)

Another of Camille's lies. Another lie he'd bought at his father's expense.

His father's eyes grew distant. “Camille started getting phone calls at all hours of the night and would refuse to say who'd called. I knew something was wrong…”

“Why didn't you tell me?” The words slipped out before Luke could control the accusation in his voice.

“Would you have believed me?” His father looked up, his eyes imploring. “It just didn't seem…it just didn't seem possible, son. I thought she was hallucinating, remembering, maybe. I guess I just didn't want to see what was right in front of me.”

Luke wiped the tear from his father's face, marveling at how long it had been since he'd touched him. “It's okay, Dad.”

His father shook his head, his eyes haunted by memories
of the past. “Betrayal runs deep in a woman's soul, maybe deeper than love.”

The paramedic stepped forward, concern etched on his face. “I'm sorry, Chief, but we need to get your father to the hospital.”

Luke nodded and gripped his father's hand. “I'll see you in a little while.”

He stepped out of the way as they readied his father on the gurney. When the doors of the ambulance slammed shut, his father's words echoed in his brain.

Betrayal runs deep in a woman's soul, maybe deeper than love.

Fear shot through Luke.

He'd betrayed Dana. What he'd suspected was an innocent act had been bravery instead. She'd forced her way through knee-deep snow, carrying Daniel beneath her jacket and toting a gun she loathed, just to return Luke to safety after he'd hit his head. She'd thought Gonzalez was stalking her yet she'd taken the risk anyway.

Luke had thanked her by accusing her of murder.

And then there was Daniel…. She'd been willing to die for a child she didn't even know. Luke recalled the accident scene with horror. He had no doubt that, had Shelly still been alive, Dana wouldn't have given up until
she'd
been out of the car, as well. The car could have easily pitched the rest of the way over the cliff, taking Dana and his son with it.

He'd thanked her by offering her the ultimate gift, Daniel, and then snatched him away by calling DCFS.

An angry wind slapped at Luke, reminding him that the storm still lingered.

He watched his father's ambulance disappear from sight, the prophetic words still ringing in his ears. Everything he'd
taken for granted, his future with Dana and Daniel, flashed before his eyes.

Luke looked over his shoulder to where the paramedics were tending to Dana and Daniel. Vivian Metcalf now stood by her side, and he was relieved to see that the older woman was okay. They had draped a heavy blanket over Dana's shoulders and had taken Daniel from her arms to examine him. Her face was drawn with fatigue when she looked up and met Luke's gaze.

He saw an emptiness in her eyes that chilled him to the bone.

V
ivian stood beside the ambulance, leaning against the back entrance with one foot raised. “They want to X-ray my ankle.” She frowned at an EMT as he walked by. “I told them it was okay, but they insist.”

“Hey, I'm the one with the cape, Superwoman.” Dana tugged the blanket a little tighter around her shoulders. Her eyes burned in an effort not to cry, and the joke sounded pathetic, even to her own ears.

“Are you okay, Dana?”

“I am. I will be.” She touched Vivian's hand. “I'm sorry for everything. Would you like me to go to the hospital with you?”

Vivian's eyes darted to the road where Luke stood. “No, no need. Honestly, I'm fine. It should only take a couple of hours to get the X-ray results.”

“If you're sure…”

“I'm sure. I'll have one of Chief Sutherlin's men take me back to his place. I still have lots of questions and even
more phone calls to make before I can even begin to think about leaving the baby in his custody.”

Dana winced, despite her resolve to be tough. She'd filled Vivian in on the details, explained that Daniel would be remaining with Luke. No case was open-and-shut when it came to child custody, including this one, but with Luke's testimony and the tape recording, there was little doubt about Daniel's parentage.

One thing was certain. Daniel wouldn't be going home to Atlanta with Dana.

The realization shot through her like a knife. She tried to rationalize the pain away, console herself with the fact that she'd been important in Daniel's life, if only for a short time. But the truth was, she was weary of living life in snatches of wonderful, in flashes of magic. She wanted wonderful to come and stay, to wake up to magic every day.

She wanted to wake up to Luke and Daniel.

“I'm sorry, sweetie. Sometimes I just say what I'm thinking and—”

“I'm okay.” Dana waved away the apology and tried to look nonchalant. “I should have access to my car soon. We can ride back to Atlanta together if you'd like.”

“Are you sure you're not staying?” Vivian's brown eyes were filled with kindness and stubborn hope.

Dana shook her head. “I'll probably be at the Sweetwater Police Station when you're finished at—” She bit her bottom lip and forced down tears. “Check at the station when you're finished with the paperwork. If I'm not there, they'll know where to find me.”

“Okay. Good luck, then,” she whispered as an EMT arrived and escorted her toward the waiting ambulance.

As Dana looked up, she saw Luke heading toward her. If she thought her legs would support her, she would have bolted from the spot. But, as always, her adrenaline was a
fickle friend. It had sustained her through the emergency but evaporated in the aftermath. She doubted that she could walk right now, much less run.

Besides, the paramedics hadn't finished examining the baby…

She realized immediately the futility of the thought. Her role in his life had been temporary at best, fantasy if she admitted the truth. When the examination was complete, it would not be her that the paramedics returned him to.

“Sir?” One of the paramedics called to Luke, interrupting his stride. “May I have a word with you?”

Dana felt a tremor of alarm as Luke nodded and quickly walked toward the waiting ambulance. Her eyes followed their every move as she waited for some sign that Daniel was okay.

“We're almost ready to release the baby,” the EMT finally said. “Are you his father?”

She held her breath as she watched the play of emotion on Luke's face. He nodded. “Yes, I am.”

A sob caught in her throat, and Dana felt the depths of despair open beneath her feet, offering its embrace and its snare. God help her, she wanted to jump.

“If you would hold him for a minute while I complete some paperwork…”

Dana wanted to look away but couldn't. She watched as the EMT placed Daniel in Luke's arms, saw the expression of recognition and delight in Daniel's eyes. He touched Luke's face, his cherub's cheeks puckering in a smile as he examined the stubble of his father's beard.

Her chest tightened as her heart swelled with love and then shattered into a million pieces.

The paramedic eventually set his clipboard aside and took the baby from Luke. “As soon as we get his body temperature regulated, you can take him home.”

Luke leaned over and kissed Daniel's forehead. “Did you hear that? We can go home soon.”

The comment cut the heart out of her, and the pit of despair yawned beneath her feet, beckoning for her to let go and fall. She closed her eyes, grasping for balance even as she heard the sound of Luke's footsteps growing nearer.

“Dana?”

She opened her eyes. Luke's shoulders cast a wide shadow over her but his voice was soft and deep, her name whispered as if she were fragile. She looked up, steeling herself for what would come next. For goodbye.

Luke's eyes were narrowed, intensifying the blue of their color, and his jaw was darkened with the beginnings of a beard. Had she not known the tender man that lay beneath the rough exterior, she would have found another reason to run.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Dana's heart warmed at his words but she held her breath until the longing stopped. Why, she wondered, would her heart long for more cruel fantasy when real life was tough enough?

“Yes—no. I need you to do me a favor, Luke.” She swallowed back tears and looked away. “Take Daniel and go. Don't make small talk, don't say goodbye. Just go.” Before I snatch him from you and run, before I begin to imagine what could have been. “It will be easier that way.”

“Go?” Surprise laced his voice. “Is that what you want?”

Didn't he see? She was waist deep in broken dreams, mired in what she wanted and what she'd been denied. “Since when does what I want have anything to do with what actually happens in my life?” The words slipped out, angry and fueled by a lifetime of denial.

Luke's hand closed over her shoulder, forcing her to look
up. “I thought we would be together.” Something kin to anger flashed in his eyes. “I thought you wanted that, too.”

The emotion etched on Luke's face tempted her to stand, to slip into his arms and accept whatever he offered her. But she was through pasting together pieces of happiness. It wouldn't work. It never did. Tears trailed a hot path down her cheek and dropped against the blanket.

When she spoke, her voice was surprisingly steady. “Something terrible happened and something wonderful came out of it. But neither thing has anything to do with me. Not really. I don't belong here.”

“No, you're wrong. I would be lost without you.” Luke dropped to his knees before her and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “
We
would be lost without you.”

She smiled, a weak attempt to ease the ache in her chest. “You can hire a nanny.”

He tilted her chin until she met his eyes. “Yes, but I can't hire a mother.”

She shook her head. “Don't be cruel, Luke.”

“Don't leave me, then.”

Dana pulled away and stood, barely resisting the urge to run. “I can't do it anymore, Luke. I can't just accept what I'm given only to have it snatched away again.”

Warm, strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, pinning her back against the front of Luke's body when she would have run. “Nothing will be taken away from you this time. Give me the chance to prove that to you. Give me the rest our lives.”

She shook her head, swallowing back a sob. There was nothing she wanted more than to say yes. But if she did and if this dream failed her, it would be the end. She'd shredded every emotional safety net on her last fall. There was nothing left to catch her if she fell again.

“You don't understand. I can't…”

“Fall, Dana,” Nick whispered against her neck. “I'll catch you.”

Dana's breath caught in her throat. How could he…? How could he possibly know what she was thinking? She closed her eyes and felt the connection, felt it vibrating through the contact of their bodies. He was practically a stranger and yet he knew her thoughts, her fears, her longings…

“We were meant to be together. All three of us,” he whispered.

“It can't be that simple.”

“You've always accepted what fate denied you. Now you need to accept what fate is giving you.”

“Sir?” the EMT's voice interrupted. “The baby's body temperature is steady. You can take him home now.”

Luke cleared his throat. “Dana?”

She turned and met Luke's eyes. What she saw there was desperate hope, and knew that it was mirrored in her own eyes. Slowly, as if in a dream, she held her hands out for Daniel. The paramedic laid him in her arms, and she stared down at his sweet face, a miniature version of Luke's, and realized it was right. In that instant she embraced the entirety of all that had happened—the tragedy that had brought her to the mountain, the magic between her and Luke, the gift that was Daniel.

Luke leaned forward, kissing her lightly. “Are you ready to go home now?”

Dana shrugged the blanket from her shoulders, and in her mind's eye saw it fall into the pit, forever extinguishing the despair.

She cupped Luke's face with one hand and Daniel's with the other.

“I'm already home,” she whispered.