“Your parents seem nice.”
“They’re great. Best grandparents in the world. If they knew they had another grandbaby . . .”
The thought made Holly look away. She stared out into the night. “Creed, you talk like it’s over for you, but it doesn’t have to be. Turn yourself in.”
“You don’t get the drug trade, Holly. It’s a tangled mess, and it reaches everywhere. Even some of the cops are tied up in this.”
She sighed. “If you let me go, my sisters and I can try to help you.”
She didn’t know if she could keep that promise, but she would worry about that later.
He raked his hand through his hair. “I don’t know,” he said. “I have no idea what to do. I need to sleep.”
“Go ahead,” she said.
He breathed a mirthless laugh. “I’m not stupid. You’d get away. I have to tie you up.”
“Tie me up? No! Come on, Creed. I’ve cooperated with you.”
“Just so I can sleep. Just until daylight.”
When he raised the gun back to her head, she understood she had no choice. Was it true that he couldn’t pull the trigger and “blow her skull off,” as he said? She couldn’t count on it. He walked her to the bunk bed, made her lie down on the bottom bunk, and used plastic zip ties to secure her right hand to one end and her right foot to the other end. He made sure there was nothing around that she could reach, then he climbed onto the top bunk. In minutes, she heard his rhythmic breathing.
Holly tried to wriggle her hand and foot free, but he’d bound them too tightly. The ties were already cutting off her circulation. Her foot was going to sleep.
She thought of Lily crying for her mother. Was she distressed? Was Juliet able to calm her? She knew for sure her sister wouldn’t let Lily be upset for long.
But the thought that her sisters would assume she was shirking her maternal responsibilities killed her. Why hadn’t she just come clean with them and told them about Creed? She could have used their help, and they wouldn’t have had to rely on their imaginations to figure out what had happened to her.
She lay on her back, looking at the bunk above her, and said a silent prayer for help. Only God could get her out of this now. She hoped he was paying attention.
CHAPTER 21
Lying in the dark, Holly looked around the motor home. She wondered whose it was. If it belonged to Creed’s family, the police would have located it by now. There were a few personal touches—homemade curtains in the windows, a yellowed almanac in the pocket behind the driver’s seat, a coffeepot on the small counter. But no pictures, nothing personal.
She dozed lightly off and on during the night, going rigid when she heard the sound of wind moving a branch against the motor home. Assuming Creed’s story was true—what if the drug dealers found them? Would they kill her along with Creed? What story would her family believe about why she was here with him? What would they ultimately tell Lily?
When daylight finally came, she heard Creed stirring. He hung his legs over the side of the bunk above her and sat there for a moment, with only his feet in view. Then he slipped down to the floor.
“Can I please go home now?” she asked.
He didn’t answer. His hair was sleep-tousled, and his face looked paler than last night. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes. I need to nurse, Creed. My daughter needs me.”
“Our daughter needs you.”
She opened her mouth to protest but decided it wasn’t wise. “Then let me go to her.”
He busied himself in the kitchen, pouring cereal. There was a small refrigerator under the counter, and he pulled out a carton of milk. Then he started the coffeepot.
She watched as he searched through a drawer, found some scissors, then picked up the gun again. Holding the Glock in his left hand, he cut her ties with his right. She sat up, rubbing her wrist. “Thank you.”
“Come eat.”
If it weren’t for the gun he kept within reach, and the fact that she was painfully engorged and needing to nurse, it would have seemed like a normal breakfast. She ate the bowl of cereal.
“Want more?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Aren’t you gonna eat?”
“Not hungry,” he said, sipping his coffee.
After a moment, he said, “Well, I guess we should move the motor home in case contractors show up to work out here.”
“Creed, please . . . the baby.”
Creed bent over and peered out the window. “I was thinking. Maybe we should go get her.”
Holly caught her breath. “Really?”
“We could let them think what they’re already thinking. That you just spent the night with me last night, that I’m your latest boyfriend.”
Her heart crashed. “No, I don’t want to do that.”
“It’s believable. We go in there, and I keep the gun in my pocket in case you decide to go rogue. We get the baby—Lily—and thank them for keeping her. No explanations. Just get the baby. Then you can take care of her.”
Holly didn’t want to lie to Juliet again, but maybe she could give her a signal that would raise a red flag. Then again, if Juliet didn’t get it and questioned her, Creed could realize what she was doing.
“I don’t want them to think that of me,” Holly said.
“They already think it of you. Let them. You can feed her then. I just want to see my baby before I can’t anymore.”
Holly dreaded the thought of bringing Lily into the motor home with a man who had kidnapped her mother at gunpoint. “Just let me go feed her and leave. I don’t want to bring her into danger.”
“Holly, I’m not going to hurt her.”
Had he really said that with a straight face? “You’ve got a gun on me! Besides, if someone is after you, then she could get caught in the crossfire. Or if the police come, even then, she could get hurt. Why can’t you just let me go? I thought about it all night, and I believe you. I’m not going to call the police. Just please, let me go back.”
“I can’t chance that. No, this is what we’re going to do. We drive the motor home back to the campground where I was yesterday, then we park it somewhere and get your cab. We go get the baby—and if you try to signal your sister, I’ll know it.”
“And what? You’ll kill me? You really want me to bring my baby to you when you’ve just threatened to kill me?”
“I don’t have a choice!” he shouted, startling her. “What else am I gonna do? I know I’m in trouble, one way or another. I know my days are numbered. I just want to see my baby and have some time to think before my life is taken from me. We’re going to do it this way, like it or not.”
Holly could hear in his voice that she would never talk him out of it. “At least eat first so you’re thinking clearly,” she whispered. “I don’t want you shooting me because of low blood sugar.”
As if to appease her, he poured himself some cereal.
CHAPTER 22
Juliet woke to Lily’s crying. For such a little thing, she had a big voice, a voice that created panic and urgency. When Juliet lifted the baby out of her vibrating seat, Lily screamed louder, wriggling and squirming as Juliet carried her into the kitchen and opened the container of powdered formula. “I know you’re hungry, sweetie, but I don’t know where your mommy is. Aunt Juliet’s going to feed you, but you’ll have to wait just a minute.”
She heard Robbie crying from his bedroom. That was all she needed. She scooped formula into the only clean bottle she had and mixed it with bottled water.
Fatigue made her feel like she was moving through water, but her heart raced like she was sprinting. Today was Sunday. Should she even try to get Zach and Abe to church?
Cathy came up the hall with Robbie on her hip. “Look who’s up.”
Thankful Cathy had rescued him, Juliet smiled at her son, kissed his forehead. He was still feverish. Lily kept screaming.
“Anything I can do?” Cathy asked.
Juliet knew if Cathy set Robbie do
wn and took Lily, he would get upset. She didn’t want both babies to cry. She managed to get the nipple and top on the bottle, shake it up, and set it in the warmer. Lily continued to scream as the minutes crawled by. Relieved when the steamer finally beeped, Juliet tested the temperature before putting the nipple in Lily’s mouth. The baby suckled greedily.
Silence. Beautiful silence.
“Okay,” Juliet said to Cathy. “You come feed Lily, and I’ll take Robbie.”
Cathy took the baby and sat down on the couch. “So Holly never came home.”
“And she never called me back or answered her phone. I left a dozen messages.” Juliet met Cathy’s eyes. “You don’t think she’s hurt or something, do you? Maybe she had a wreck or got mugged again.”
“I can’t imagine her just not calling. I’m getting worried.”
Juliet took Robbie to his room and changed his diaper, then took him back to the kitchen and put him in his high chair. She gave him some Cheerios to satisfy him until she could get his bottle ready. Thankfully, he cooperated.
Suddenly the doorbell rang, followed by a loud knock. Juliet’s stomach flipped. “Oh no. It’s news about Holly.”
Keeping the bottle in Lily’s mouth, Cathy followed Juliet to the door. Juliet turned on the porch light and looked out through the peephole. “Thank God, it’s her.” She threw the door open.
There stood Holly with some guy Juliet had never seen before. Just the sight of him made all the hours of stress explode in Juliet’s chest. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you all night. Your daughter needs you!”
Holly reached for her baby as she stepped inside, and Cathy surrendered her. “That’s why I’m here,” Holly said in a flat voice.
Juliet studied her, looking for clues of intoxication or a hangover. She looked disheveled, but not necessarily impaired.
“Who are you?” Cathy asked the man.
“This is my friend Deuce,” Holly said before he could answer.
Deuce didn’t bother to shake their hands. “Hi. How’re you doing?”
“Been better,” Juliet said.
Holly pushed past her toward the living room, Deuce following close behind. He wore a windbreaker, even though it was warm outside, and he was unshaven. He looked just like the kind of guy Holly would fall for. Dark and handsome, with that bad-boy look. Juliet wanted to throttle her sister.
Tears welled in Holly’s eyes as she pulled her nursing cover out of her diaper bag. Juliet gaped at her. Holly was usually modest and didn’t like nursing in front of people. “Hey, sweetheart,” Holly whispered to Lily. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.” She looked up at Juliet. “Is she okay?”
“She’s hungry,” Juliet clipped. “I’ve been giving her formula.”
“Formula upsets her stomach,” Holly said. Juliet crossed her arms, livid, and shot Cathy a look.
“I came over to help because Robbie was sick and Lily was crying, and it was chaos,” Cathy said.
“I’m really sorry,” Holly whispered. As she fed Lily under the nursing cover, Deuce seemed transfixed by Lily’s little feet.
“Can you do that in the car?” he asked.
Holly gave him a tense look. “She has to be in her seat while the car’s moving. I can’t nurse her there.”
“You can give her the bottle.”
“She needs to nurse,” Holly said with irritation. “Can we just sit here for a few minutes?”
Juliet’s mouth fell open. Was Holly honestly asking his permission?
Deuce kept one hand in his jacket pocket, but with his other he stroked Lily’s foot. His knee bounced as if he were nervous.
Juliet stood over Holly, her arms crossed. “So . . . no explanation for last night? You said you’d be home at eleven, and you wind up coming back at five a.m.? No apology? No nothing?”
“I didn’t plan that,” Holly said weakly.
“No, I didn’t think you did. It was spontaneous, right? You met a guy . . .”
Holly winced, tears beginning to rim her eyes. “I already knew him. I ran into him last night.”
“So you decided, hey, why don’t I go shack up with him for the night? Forget my baby and my sister who wasn’t prepared for an overnight visit!”
More tears glistened in Holly’s eyes as she looked at Deuce. When she brought her eyes back to Juliet, she said, “Can we talk about this later? She’s calm now. Let her nurse in peace.”
Juliet forced herself to calm down. Turning her back on her sister, she decided to get on with her day. “I have to feed Robbie.”
As Juliet fed Robbie in his high chair, Holly nursed quietly, clearly brooding, and the guy—Deuce whatever—didn’t say a word. Finally, after twenty minutes, Holly put herself back together and burped her baby.
Deuce watched with a look that Juliet couldn’t place. It was more than simple interest. Almost a longing.
Suddenly it hit her. Was he the father?
Even if he was, that still didn’t explain Holly’s irresponsibility.
Finally, Holly got the diaper bag and swaddled Lily in a blanket. “Well, okay, we’ll go now. Thank you for keeping her last night. I’ll try to call you later.”
Juliet couldn’t think of a thing to say. As she fed Robbie bananas, she watched Holly head for the door, with Deuce right behind her.
Something wasn’t right. She listened for the closing door, then went and locked it behind them. She looked through the curtains as Holly strapped Lily’s seat in the backseat of her taxi. Then Deuce sat in the back with the baby, and Holly got behind the wheel.
Why would Holly trust that man with her child? It didn’t make sense, even if he did turn out to be the father. With a sinking feeling and smothering discouragement, Juliet went back to the kitchen.
“So she’s at it again,” Cathy muttered.
“We can’t control her,” Juliet said. “We never could.”
CHAPTER 23
Holly watched Creed in the rearview mirror as they drove back to the motor home. He couldn’t keep his eyes off Lily. Though he kept the gun pointed at Holly’s back with his right hand, he had given his left hand to Lily. She had his calloused finger clutched in her tiny fist.
Holly seethed. The last thing she needed was this man getting into her daughter’s heart.
When they were almost back to the campground, she glanced back. “Creed, what do you want me to do now?”
“Leave your car here, and we’ll walk the rest of the way to the camper. Then we’ll move it. Maybe out of town.”
“Out of town? No! I can’t go out of town.”
“Not that far. Just somewhere they won’t look for me.”
Holly was sick of this. “Why can’t you go alone? What do you need us for?”
“I can’t let you go and talk to the police.”
“But I won’t know where you are. I can’t even lead them to you.”
“You’ll know I’m in a motor home.”
“But so did Brittany. You didn’t kidnap her.”
“Brittany won’t tell.”
Holly pulled her car to a stop and shoved the gearshift into park. “How do you know?”
“Because she knows I couldn’t kill anybody.”
Holly turned and looked at him over the seat. “Is she your girlfriend?”
“No.”
He got out of the car and unhooked the car seat. He’d clearly done it before, probably when his nephew was small.
He kept his gun in his pocket and carried Lily in her seat back to the motor home.
When they got inside, Holly bent to get the baby out of her seat, but he prodded her with the barrel of the gun again. “Drive first,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
She had no choice, so she strapped Lily’s seat onto one of the back bench seats, then climbed into the driver’s seat. Lily slept as they rode north out of Southport.
“So we’re almost to Pensacola,” she said. “Isn’t this far enough?”
“Probably.” Creed stared
down at his phone’s GPS. “Take a left, go two miles, then a right into the Baymont RV park.”
If she did as he said, would Creed let her walk away with Lily? How had she gotten into this?
She shouldn’t have kept any of this from her sisters. If she hadn’t, if she’d told them she was looking for Creed—the father of her child who was wanted for murder—then they would have known last night that something had happened to her.
In fact, why hadn’t she told Creed last night that her sisters knew where she was and what she was doing? Even though it wasn’t true, it might have frightened him into letting her go.
At the RV park, Creed made her go into the office and use her ID and cash to pay and sign in. She thought of telling the desk clerk that she and her baby were being held against their will, but what if that resulted in police surrounding them? Creed was out there with Lily. She couldn’t risk putting her in even more danger.
Without alerting anyone, she went back to the motor home.
“Everything all right?” Creed asked her.
“Yeah,” she said. “We’re in space twenty-seven.” She checked on Lily, slipped back into the driver’s seat, and pulled into the space assigned to them.
Creed unlatched Lily’s safety strap.
“Please don’t get her out,” Holly said. “She’s sleeping.”
He didn’t listen—just put the gun in his pocket and lifted the sleeping child. Lily woke and stretched, arching her back, her little hands over her head. He smiled and brought her to his chest. “She’s beautiful. She looks like you. My nose, maybe. She looks a lot like my nephew when he was a baby.”
Holly couldn’t breathe. Her maternal senses were on full alert. “I really wish you’d put her back down.”
He shot her a sharp look. “She’s my baby too, Holly.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Because you picked up a girl in a bar? That doesn’t make you a father, Creed.”
“It made you a mother.”
“I carried her for nine months. She came out of my body. I’m the one who loves her and takes care of her.” She watched as he swayed back and forth, rocking her. His fatherly gentleness made her angry. “What do you want from me, Creed?”