“How could you lose her, Brody? How could you?” Tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
“She went to the bathroom, Lou. She went to the bathroom and when she came out, I was moving a table and she didn’t see me. So, she walked outside to see if I was out there. That’s where he grabbed her. I heard her scream. I saw her kicking. I was afraid I couldn’t get there in time. I fought like hell, Lou. I swear to God, I did. I would have let him kill me before I would let him have Sarah.”
“You would?” she asked. “Why?” Tears streamed down her cheeks, falling onto her shirt like raindrops running down a window.
“Because she’s a kid, damn it. I was taking care of her. And I did, Lou. We had a great night.” He smiled slowly, remembering her antics, her smiles, and how happy she was for an evening. He grabbed Lou’s forearms and pulled her close to him, despite her protests. “And because she’s yours. You would never let me speak to you again if something happened to Sarah.”
“What makes you think I’m going to speak to you now?” she asked childishly.
He took her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. “Because you know I did my best and got her back. I would do it again—for you as much as for her.”
Lou confessed, “I was so scared when Elizabeth called. All could think of was that you had let someone steal my baby.” Lou sobbed into his shirt, great heaving sobs that rocked them both.
He held her until the sobs subsided and she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. He held out his towel to her, “Do you want my towel?”
“Oh, God. Your eye.” She reached up and touched the cut above his eye. He flinched.
“What is it with you women who have to touch us while we’re hurting?” he groaned.
“Does it hurt a lot?” She took the damp towel and rubbed his face gently, washing away the blood. “You might need a stitch or two. You definitely need some ice.”
“I’ll settle for a kiss.” He bent slightly, and she stood on tiptoe and kissed his temple softly.
“Are you still mad at me for almost losing Sarah?”
“No. I’m thankful you saved her life.” She snorted indelicately. “You also gave her a fine evening of dancing,” she said sarcastically. “Are you mad at me for acting like a shrew?”
“Nope. I probably would have felt the same way. Hell, I do feel the same way. I wanted to kill the son of a bitch.”
Lou and Brody both turned when they heard Sarah call, “Mommy?”
Lou pulled herself out of Brody’s embrace and turned toward the door. He pulled her close one more time and whispered to her, “Can we finish this conversation later?” He nuzzled her hair, breathing in the scent of her.
“The only person sleeping in my bed tonight will be my daughter, Brody. I’m sure you understand.” She went through the door and closed it tightly in his face. He heard the bolt shoot home as she locked it.
“Guess I’ll go and lick my wounds all by myself,” Brody mumbled as he went back downstairs. Sadie and Jeb were still sitting at the kitchen table. Brody sat down heavily in a chair and groaned, grasping his side, remembering the punch he had taken to the middle.
Sadie rose as quickly as her ample girth would allow, got an ice pack from the freezer, and held it to the bruised skin over his eye. He flinched.
“Geez, Sadie. That’s cold,” he said but he took it and held it over the area that was already swollen and tender. “But thanks.”
“How are you doing, boy?” Jeb asked, his dark eyes full of concern.
Brody sighed heavily. “I’m fine.” He gratefully accepted the cup of coffee Sadie sat before him and smiled gently at her. “He came out of nowhere, Jeb. I’m glad you’re leaving tomorrow with Sarah.”
“I just wish we could talk her mama into going with us, too,” Jeb replied.
“If she went with you, you would all just have to deal with this again when you get back. Those people are not going to go away until they get what they want, whatever that may be.”
“You’ll take care of Lou while we’re gone?” Sadie questioned him.
“To the best of my ability,” Brody said truthfully.
“Guess that’s all we can ask you for,” Sadie added. “Just don’t let her try to tackle this herself.”
“I promise. I’ll be with her as much as she’ll let me,” Brody assured her even though he had no idea what he was up against.
Jeb rose from his chair. “We had better get to bed. We have an early start and a long ride tomorrow.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“As long as it takes,” Jeb responded. He reached over to the kitchen counter and pulled out a thick envelope. “That lawyer of your mother’s came by today and dropped this off. He said he needs to meet with you next week but he wanted you to look this over before then.”
Brody accepted the envelope and placed it before him on the table. Sadie leaned over and kissed his forehead. He winced again.
“It pains me to see you so beaten up.” She whispered to him. “It would have broken my heart if anything happened to either of you tonight.”
“So, you’re glad I’m still alive?” he teased gently. “Just so I can take care of Lou while you’re gone.”
“Mind you, child, taking care of her is all you do to her while we’re gone,” she playfully chastised him.
“I promise not to defile, demoralize or otherwise molest her.” He chuckled at the look on Sadie’s face.
“Mind you she doesn’t get hurt. That means the heart…and the body.” She patted his shoulder. “I’m counting on you.”
“I know you are,” he squeezed her hand as she walked by.
After he heard their bedroom door shut, Brody opened the brown paper envelope. A letter from the attorney topped the stack of papers and Brody skimmed it quickly. It listed the contents of the envelope and requested a meeting the following week to discuss his mother’s will. It also contained a list of valuables that were inside the home at the time of her death—antiques, paintings, collectibles and jewelry were all listed. The note explained his mother had a safe over the mantle in her sitting room, hidden behind a painting. Any jewelry that wasn’t in the safety deposit box at the bank would be in the safe along with titles, deeds and any other paperwork he might need in the future.
The lawyer’s letter continued.
As you may have guessed, your mother left all of her worldly possessions to you. She was a little more creative with the business and other assets and has prepared a will to let you know her wishes in this regard.
Prior to our meeting, I would encourage you to go through the contents of the safe and familiarize yourself with these items so you will know what is and is not rightfully yours.
Brody rubbed his forehead as it was really beginning to throb.
So, she was creative with some of her assets. I hope she made provisions for Jeb, Sadie, John, and Lou.
Brody pulled the list of jewelry from the file and saw that each piece and its appraised value were listed. Brody could remember his mother dressing for social events when he was a child and donning herself with the most fabulous diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. He smiled slowly at the thought. He searched through the envelope until he located the combination to the safe. He gathered up the lists and carried them with him to his mother’s suite of rooms.
He stopped when he walked into the room and breathed deeply, his mother’s scent still lingering in the air. The hospital bed and equipment had long since been removed so it was nearly back to normal. He lovingly touched her lap quilt that was still flung over the back of her favorite chair. Her reading glasses rested on the end table.
Brody lifted the painting from the wall over the mantle and gently set it on the floor. The hard, gray steel of the safe seemed almost foreboding as he turned the knob, counting out the numbers along with left and right turns. When the last number was dialed in, the tumblers inside the lock rolled into place and he pulled the door open.
The safe
was neatly stacked with papers and documents, titles to cars and lineage for the horses they raised. At the bottom of the safe lay a long, wooden jewelry box. Brody gently removed it and laid it on the coffee table, sitting on the couch so he could open it easily.
Dozens of jeweled pieces winked up at him from inside the velvet lined box when he removed the lid. Brody immediately noticed an emerald necklace and touched it reverently. Every piece had a story. This particular one had been passed down from his paternal grandmother to his mother as a wedding gift. Brody checked the list and noted that it was included, even going so far as to have a photo of the item and its last appraised value. All of the other pieces of jewelry were accounted for in a similar fashion.
Brody placed the top back on the wooden box and slid it back in the safe. He searched through papers absently, noting his mother was as efficient about keeping records as she had been about everything else. His eyes filled with tears when he searched through one stack of papers and found they included awards he had won at school from kindergarten all the way through graduation. Never had any idea you saved all these things, Mom.
On the middle shelf in the back of the safe, his fingers brushed against a black canvas bag he had never seen before. He pulled it from the back of the shelf and unrolled it. He unzipped the long, metal zipper and was surprised to find cash inside. His mother had never been one for keeping cash in the home. He thumbed through the stacks of green dollars, absently counting in his head. $50,000 dollars? That was an awful lot to keep at home in a safe.
Beneath the cash, lay a flat brown jewelry box, about seven inches square. Brody removed it from the bag and gave it a quick shake. He opened the box and saw the biggest clear stone he had ever seen before, nestled in a bed of black silk fabric. He whistled softly to himself, “I didn’t know they made diamonds that big.”
He checked the list of jewelry and couldn’t find any documentation for this piece. He ran through it again. Still nothing. His eyebrows drew together. Someone must have forgotten to put this on the list. He closed the jewelry box and put it back into the bag. Monday, he would have to get an appraisal and find out why it hadn’t been accounted for. Must have been an oversight. But it certainly needed to be added to the estate.
He reached into the safe and pulled out one last thick envelope. Across the front, written in his mother’s handwriting, was just “Lou.” He took the envelope back to the end table and dumped the contents. He unfolded several newspaper clippings, all from a nearby paper and gasped as he saw the headlines.
Woman Dies in Fire—Identity Unknown
Charred Remains Found—Police Suspect Foul Play
Information Sought on Inhabitants of Mobile Home
He read through each article, touching the photos reverently on each page.
He searched through more paperwork, including background checks for one Miss Mary Louise Smith. His mother had thoroughly investigated her. She had nothing that stood out except student records from high school and employment records from a few part-time jobs.
He then found birth certificates, first Lou’s own and then one for Sarah. Sarah’s birth certificate listed Lou as the child’s mother. He had already proven that theory to be false. Then he found copies of letters from his mother to her own personal physician, asking for a birth certificate for an indigent girl and her child whom she had taken in. Then the pieces started to fall together.
“I’ll be damned,” he muttered to himself. “My mother obtained falsified birth records for Sarah and took care of Lou after she checked her out.” He shook his head with wonder, finally understanding all that had taken place. He placed the documents back together in their envelope and returned them to the safe.
He closed the safe and spun the tumbler. He replaced the painting on the wall and sat down on his mother’s chaise lounge. He wearily pulled her lap quilt over himself and breathed in the scent of her perfume, missing her more than he had since the day she died. He closed his eyes and quickly fell to sleep, comforted by thoughts of his mother and her personal things that surrounded him.
Chapter Seventeen
Brody woke the next morning to the feeling of small breaths rushing against his face. He slowly opened his eyes and jumped as he found Sarah just inches from his nose, her finger poised in the air, about to touch his eye. He pulled back slightly, still half-asleep and unsure of where he was.
“Sarah?” he asked groggily, stretching slowly. “What are you doing in here?”
“What are you doing in here?” she threw back at him saucily, placing her hands on her hips, her brown eyes dancing with a smile.
“What are you talking about?” he asked as he sat up and looked around, surprised to find he had spent the whole night in his mother’s room in her chaise lounge, surrounded by blankets that smelled of her. “Oh,” he replied, running his hand through his hair. “I must have fallen asleep. Where is everyone?”
“In the kitchen,” Sarah replied, still looking at his eye. She reached a small finger out and touched it, quickly drawing it back when he winced. “Does that hurt a lot?”
“Only when you do that,” he warned.
“Oh. Sorry.” She giggled quietly.
“You sure sound like you’re sorry,” his sober expression turned to glee as he grabbed her and pulled her into his lap, tickling her sides.
She laughed out loud and squealed, “Stop it!”
“Stop what?” he asked dramatically, tickling her more. “Do you mean stop this?” he continued his assault.
Then he heard footsteps running down the hall. Lou ran through the doorway, a look of panic on her face. He and Sarah froze as she snapped at them both.
“You almost scared the life out of me.” She breathed rapidly, her hand over her chest. Jeb and Sadie ran into the room right behind her, looking equally as worried. Jeb was quite the sight, carrying a fire poker.
Brody tapped Sarah. She looked him in the eye. “Looks like you’re going to get me beaten up again.” He shoved her playfully from his knee and she hit the floor. She came up rubbing her bottom.
“That wasn’t very nice,” she pouted.
“Keep that in mind the next time you wake me up and then get me in trouble with your squealing, young lady.” He grinned at her. She grinned back and went to stand beside Lou. Lou touched her gently on the top of her head, rubbing her hair back from her face.
She spoke to Brody. “I’m sorry she woke you. She was in the kitchen just a minute ago.” Lou ground out the last few words at her child, Sarah looking like the kid who stole a cookie from the cookie jar.
“She came to check out my shiner.” Brody pointed to his face, turning so she could see it.
“Oh!” she gasped, walking closer to him. “That looks terrible!”
“Don’t touch it. It hurts. Just ask Sarah.” Brody nodded in her direction.
Jeb and Sadie ushered Sarah from the room.
Despite the warning, Lou reached a hand toward his eye. He caught her hand in his and said, “See! I warned you. I’m going to have to punish you just like I did her.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she challenged.
“Want to bet,” he said quickly, grabbing her and pulling her into his lap.
She struggled against his arms but he held her firmly. He tickled her side lightly and she squirmed in his lap, kicking his shin. He grunted in pain and spun her around, laying her back in the chaise lounge, his body covering hers. He pulled her hands above her head, clasping them in one of his own. “I still think I can take you.”
“Take me?” she asked.
He pondered that for a moment. “Well, I want to do that, too.” He laughed and ground his hips into hers. She gasped as he pressed himself against her belly. “But I’ll settle for winning right this second.” He kissed her lips lightly. “I want to kiss you better, but I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.” He looked at her with his boyish grin and she couldn’t help but smile back.
They heard a cough from the doorway and they b
oth looked over. Lou was still beneath Brody on the lounge with her hands clasped in his, above her head. John stood in the entry of the sitting room, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “Would you guys knock it off? Jeb and Sadie are ready to go.” He turned and walked out of the room.
Brody released her wrists and her hands came up to push against his chest. “Let me up,” she said impatiently.
He kissed her on the cheek and moved off of her, sitting up and heading for the bathroom, adjusting his pants as he went. Lou straightened her clothes and looked at herself in the mirror before walking out of the room.