Married by Monday (Weekday Brides) (30 page)

He brushed the back of her hair with his hand. God, he hoped so. “We did.”

Yet, as she slipped into slumber and he lay awake, he wasn’t so sure.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Eliza languished around the house for two full days following the Hollywood dinner. The news of her past didn’t stop with the local broadcasts. It went national. Eliza’s cell phone rang continuously with offers for exclusive interviews—all of which she ignored.

The magnitude of what she’d done, by telling the world, drove home when Jay arrived early Tuesday morning with an armful of mail. “This is for you,” he said as he dropped dozens of letters on the kitchen counter.

“
For me?” She eyed the mail with a frown.

Jay’s magnetic smile lit his face. “The sympathetic public has a big soft spot for you and your plight. The mail started arriving at the local campaign office, and I’m told there is more at the headquarters in Sacramento and San Francisco.”

Eliza picked an envelope at random and tore it open. Inside was a handwritten letter from a woman who lived in the desert community of Lancaster. She applauded Eliza’s courage to come forward and then went on to ask if there was a way she could get in touch with her son who also entered the witness protection program years ago. Not knowing if he was dead or alive killed a small piece of her spirit. Anything Eliza could do to help would be appreciated.

“
What does it say?” Carter scooted closer and read the mail over her shoulder. “Oh, wow.”

“
Yeah.”

She opened another, this one from a father who’d lost his wife to a drive-by shooting. He told her how he wished more people would report crimes so criminals could be taken off the streets. Apparently, the authorities never caught his wife’s murderer.

“
I took the liberty of opening up an e-mail address under your name. Carter’s box filled up overnight,” Jay told them.

“
What am I supposed to do with these?”

Carter shrugged his shoulders. “Ignore them, write them back. What do you want to do with them?”

She didn’t know.

“
While you figure that out, I have other news to share.” Jay took the liberty of pouring himself a cup of coffee. He’d obviously spent a lot of time in Carter’s home and knew where everything was. “Your standings in the polls shot up over the weekend. Not only did your marriage add to the percentage of voters checking your name, but Eliza’s compassion swayed the swing votes too. If there was ever a political power couple, it’s the two of you.”

“
Political power couple? I didn’t see that coming,” Eliza said.

Carter patted her on the back. “If I’m going to be a political anything, I’m going to have to get back to work.”

Apparently, the honeymoon was over. “You’re such a slacker,” she teased.

“
Are you going to be okay here?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I have bodyguards and Zod. I was thinking of going in to Alliance, but I might put that off for a few days. See what I can do with these letters.”

“
Alliance? Doesn’t Gwen have that covered?”

“
Gwen still has a lot to learn.”

Carter frowned.

“
What?”

He glanced over to Jay and said, “Can you excuse us for a minute?”

Jay took the hint and walked out of the room with his coffee.

“
What’s on your mind, Hollywood?”

“
It’s Alliance. Sam would understand if you needed to step back from that for awhile.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Step back…take some time off.”

“
I’ve already taken almost two weeks.” What was he getting at? Did he want her to be a housewife? That was so not going to happen.

He ran a hand through his sandy blond hair and struggled with his next words. “Every time you leave the house is risky. We don’t know what Sanchez is going to do.”

“
So, I’m supposed to do what exactly? Stay here as a prisoner?”

“
Don’t be ridiculous.”

“
It’s you who’s cornered ‘ridiculous.’ If secluding myself from the world was the only option, I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble to begin with.” Her skin started to heat and her temper flared. “I’m not hiding, Carter.”

“
Not hide. Just move with caution.”

“
That’s not what you’re suggesting. What you said was to take some time off and stay in the house.”

She stood and started to pace.

“
I didn’t say stay in the house.”

“
You alluded to it.”

Carter stepped behind her and caught her shoulders. She twisted out of his reach. “You’re a smart woman. I know you can see my logic.”

She turned to glare at him with her hands perched on her hips in defiance. “I see your logic, I simply don’t agree with it. I’m going to live my life. And for the record, being condescending isn’t going to go far with me.”

“
Dammit, Eliza. I can’t let anything happen to you,” he barked.

His outburst shocked her silent. His request stemmed from fear. The panic sitting behind his eyes wasn’t something she’d seen before, and she wasn’t sure if it made her feel better knowing he cared, or frightened because he looked so scared.

He stepped into her personal space and grasped her face with the palms of his hands. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” His voice dropped into a rough whisper.

“
One week. I’ll have Gwen meet me here for now, but I can’t be held prisoner, Carter.”

“
I know. We’ll work something out.” He kissed her then as if sealing his words with a promise.

****

As it turned out, staying in Carter’s home wasn’t a chore. Gwen spent nearly as much time in Eliza’s new home as she did in Tarzana. It helped that Eliza’s attention shifted to the nonstop flow of letters that arrived daily from all over the states. There were a slew of people searching for loved ones who had testified against someone and then disappeared. The lack of closure for these families was heart breaking. Some didn’t know if their loved ones were alive and safe, or had met with foul play.

Each story tugged at Eliza’s heart and demanded an answer.

“
There is a serious flaw in the system,” Eliza told Gwen one afternoon. “My parents were on their own, my grandparents were gone shortly after I was born. But these people… They left mothers and fathers, aunts, uncles. I can’t imagine not knowing.”

“
Surely there is something in place to aid these families.”

“
If there is I don’t know about it.” Eliza stacked the letters into categories—one pile, parents searching for their children who knew they were placed in a witness program, another for friends who didn’t know why or where a friend had disappeared. There was even a pile of letters from family members of criminals suggesting that the witness in their particular case no longer needed to hide because the criminal had died or was otherwise no longer a threat.

“
What about the peace officer friend of yours. Can he help?”

“
You mean Dean?”

“
Yes.”

“
I don’t know. He was always there for me, but I don’t remember him talking about extended family of witnesses.”

“
It can’t hurt to ask what he knows or to see if he can assist you in some way.”

Eliza sat back in her chair. “Assist me, how? I don’t know what to do with all this. These stories might make for a great novel, but I don’t know how I can help.”

“
Oh, I’m certain you’ll think of something. It’s what those of us with money do when we don’t need to work to earn it.” Gwen tossed a lock of hair behind her back with a smile.

“
I’m not that girl. I still need to earn a living.”

Gwen laughed and then covered her smiling lips with a hand. “I’m sorry.”

“
What’s so funny?”

“
Eliza, dear, you are that woman. You’re married to arguably the most influential man in this province…er, state, and you no longer need to concern yourself with making a buck.”

Eliza didn’t want to admit Gwen was right. “You understand more than most that Carter and I married for reasons beyond love and forever. There’s no guarantee we’ll last.”

“
You worry too much.”

“
I have to be able to take care of myself. No one knows better than I that guarantees in life are nonexistent.”

“
Poppycock. Carter cares for you deeply, and you’ve nothing to worry about.”

“
Poppycock? Did you just say poppycock?”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Don’t make fun of my expressions. You know what I say is true.”

No, she didn’t. Eliza had no idea where Carter’s head was when it came to tomorrow. Sure, their immediate future was stable, but who knew what next month or next year would bring?

****

“
Why the secrecy?” Carter sat opposite Blake in Blake’s office and crossed his ankle over his knee.

Blake lifted up a finger and picked up his phone. “I need you to hold my calls,” he told his secretary. He returned the receiver and focused his attention on Carter. “I think this office is the only place another set of eyes aren’t watching you.”

“
Okay.” Obviously, what Blake was going to say was private.

“
I met Sam’s dad last week…before the dinner.”

Carter held his breath. Although he and Blake had never discussed Harris Elliot, Carter knew of the man, of his past crimes. He also knew that Harris and Sanchez were housed in the same prison. Carter would never have asked Blake to contact the man on his behalf. It appeared he didn’t have to.

“
Does Sam know?”

Blake nodded once. “I told her after I returned.”

“
How did that go?”

“
She was resolved with it. She’d do anything for Eliza.”

“
Even connecting with her dad who screwed up her life?”

Blake sat back in his chair and laced his fingers together. “It’s strange how when things brighten in your life, it’s hard to blame others for theirs. It helped that Harris appeared truly sorry for the pain he’d put his daughters through.”

“
I assume you want to tell me something more than a recap of a family meet and greet.”

“
Right. I asked him to destroy all photos of Sam…of anything that could lead Sanchez to Eliza.”

Carter wanted to think that was all they would need. “Thank you.”

“
It might not make a difference,” Blake voiced what Carter thought.

“
Then again, it might.”

They sat in silence for a moment, neither voicing their concerns.

“
What else can I do, Carter?”

“
My father is checking on Sanchez. Trying to determine if he is still working his criminal ring from the inside. According to Dean, he did when he first went to prison, but it’s been a few years since any direct criminal activity pointed his way. My guess is there is nothing new to report or Dean would have said something. No news isn’t always a good thing.”

“
I have a two-year-old. I understand that.”

Carter laughed and some of the tension eased from his shoulders.

“
Didn’t you say Sanchez had contacts in Mexico?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I can have someone look into his old activities there—see if anything new is worth mentioning.”

Blake had shipping hubs all over the globe and these equated to connections. Sure, Carter had connections, too, but exercising them while running for office could mean political suicide.

“
Gathering information can’t hurt,” Carter said.

“
Consider it done. How is everything else going? Samantha told me that Eliza received mail everyday asking for her help.”

“
Every day? More like every hour. She’s on a mission to reunite families and fix issues within the witness relocation program.”

“
If there is anyone who can, it would be someone who has lived it.”

Carter agreed. “The letters have taken her mind off the fact that she’s somewhat secluded.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I asked her to avoid going out—to stay home where she’s safe.”

Blake rubbed his jaw and frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Eliza.”

“
It isn’t. Hopefully, we’ll know more about Sanchez soon and be able to neutralize his threat.”

“
If that was possible don’t you think the police would have done that early on and avoided placing Eliza in the program?”

Carter felt his jaw tighten and his shoulders tense. “I have to believe there is something more I can do, Blake. Otherwise I’ve put my wife in harm’s way instead of saving her.”

The muscles on Blake’s face softened and he attempted a grin. The attempt was lame, however, and Carter didn’t want to see the sympathy. He stood abruptly and said, “I’m needed across town.”

Blake walked him to the door. “I’ll be in touch.”

Carter punched his steering wheel once he was alone. What the hell was he going to do?