A cold stone formed in her belly. He had Caitlin. An unnatural calm descended on her. She wasn’t the same weak woman Reece once knew. He would find a bitter adversary. And she would protect Caitlin with her life.
“Where should we meet?” she asked in a soft and low voice that was sure to attract Reece.
“I’ll pick you up at the coffee shop. Have your Angien friend drop you off and leave us alone. No tricks,” Reece said as though he suddenly thought she was setting a trap.
Hannah didn’t intend to tell anyone what she planned. The safest thing for Caitlin would be for her to go in alone, then slip out with the child the minute Reece went out to the store or to work. The problem would be that Reece might expect a lot from her until that time. A real marriage. He’d always had a strong sex drive. The thought of him touching her made bile rise in her throat, but she forced it back. She could do this. She had to do it.
“That sounds wonderful.”
“What’s brought about this sudden change of heart?” Suspicion vibrated in his voice.
“Being with my family, being back where we met. It brought all the love back.” The words nearly gagged her, but she put tenderness into them.
“I should have made sure you stayed in touch, then.” He chuckled then, a self-satisfied sound.
“I’ve missed you. I can’t wait to see you. When can you come get me?”
“I—I’ve got something to take care of. Your surprise. Give me two hours. Don’t be late,” he said.
“I’ll be early,” she said. She put her phone away. Somehow she had to slip away without raising suspicion. Get her things from the house, get to the coffee shop. In a fog, she went inside and listened as Matt barked out orders. Every time he looked at her, she glanced away.
In the end, it was surprisingly easy to arrange. When Angie arrived, Hannah told her she needed migraine medication and needed to run home for it. The detectives were out slogging in the mud and searching the woods behind the house for Caitlin. Hannah simply told Angie she’d be right back, then drove to the house, packed her things, and went to wait at the coffee shop with her suitcase. She bound her hair up in a bun on the back of her head, then sat at a table by the door to wait.
“Hannah?”
She looked up at the sound of a woman’s voice. Ellen Long stood in the doorway. The old anger surged at the sight of the woman’s face. Hannah had always believed Ellen knew more than she would admit to. “Ellen.”
“Mind if I sit down a minute?” Without waiting for an answer, Ellen slid into the chair across from Hannah. “I’d heard you were back in town.”
Hannah laced her fingers together in her lap. The woman had lost the bloom of beauty she’d had the last time Hannah had seen her. She was dressed in too-tight jeans and a top that revealed ample cleavage, and her features had a hard cast. “I’ve been back a couple of weeks.”
“I was hoping to run into you, see how you’re doing. I never got a chance to tell you how sorry I was.” Ellen’s words spilled out but held not an ounce of emotion. It was as if she’d memorized them and waited for the chance to spew them out.
Hannah held her tongue as her resentment grew. She had enough to worry about without listening to Ellen cry alligator tears.
Ellen fidgeted when Hannah didn’t reply. “Reece stopped to see me the other day. He says you’ve left him. That’s too bad.”
Why had Reece stopped to see Ellen? For the first time, Hannah wondered if Ellen and Reece were connected in some way. The thought hadn’t crossed her mind.
“How well do you know Reece?” Hannah asked. A secret smile flitted across Ellen’s face so fast that Hannah wasn’t sure it had come at all—until she saw the self-satisfied expression in the woman’s eyes.
“His mother introduced us.”
“His mother?” Reece had been a foster child of Trudy’s.
Ellen nodded. “I was taking quilting lessons from Irene Beitler. I met him there.”
Irene was Reece’s mother? Hannah wanted time to process the news. He’d never told her, yet he’d told his mistress? Even Matt hadn’t seemed to know. Even though Hannah longed to be free of Reece, the thought scalded her. “And had an affair?” Hannah could see it was true by the way Ellen looked away. “So why are you telling me this?” Her rage nearly choked her.
Ellen shrugged. “I just wanted to clear the air. Let you know Reece and me go back a long way. Make sure you’re not longing to reconcile. I don’t want to play second fiddle again.”
“I think Reece might have a say in that. What makes you think he wants you back?” Hannah heard the roar of a truck. Glancing out the window, she saw Reece behind the steering wheel. “I’ll ask him about it now.” She rose and walked past Ellen’s shocked face toward the truck.
Everything she thought she knew wasn’t true, and she couldn’t see through the deep water to the bottom. She reached the truck. When he grinned, she nearly fled, but she forced herself to return his smile and climb into the truck he was driving—one she’d never seen before. He took her cell phone and tossed it out the window. She was alone with him, and she didn’t know if she’d live to see tomorrow.
RAIN DRIPPED FROM the brim of his hat, and Matt lifted a mud-coated boot from the muck. No one had located any sign of his daughter. Even Ajax hadn’t found a scent. That had to mean she’d been taken somewhere in a vehicle, and the realization made his mouth dry up.
He glanced at his watch. Nearly noon. His baby girl had been gone an eternity. He’d prayed all morning for God to keep her safe, to keep her from being frightened. He motioned to Blake. “I don’t think she’s out here. Any word on Reece?”
“No one has seen him. He might have ditched the truck and gotten another vehicle.”
“Let’s call off the search out here. I’m sure he’s got her.”
“You’re probably right.”
Matt and Blake tramped through the mud back to the farm. Buggies and cars lined the road as far as he could see. The Amish community had poured out to help him. He’d never look at them the same again. Matt saw them as friends now, friends who cared.
Everyone was coming back to the yard now that the search had been called off. He found himself searching for Hannah’s bright head. He knew the news had rocked her hard. And it had probably ended any future they might have had. Instead, they would engage only in a long, bitter battle over Caitlin’s future.
His fear and deceit had ruined everything. He didn’t like the person he’d become. He’d always told himself he feared nothing, but instead of trusting God to work things out, he’d run scared, told countless lies, and put his daughter in harm’s way. And he’d been stupid to boot.
He didn’t see Angie’s familiar red car. Angie stood talking to Sarah and Gina under the shelter of a giant tulip tree, but rain still dripped onto their heads.
Gina rushed to him, and he embraced her. “Oh, Matt, I’m so sorry!” She was sobbing so hard she could barely talk. “A friend from church called me.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “We’ve got to find her, Matt.”
“I will. I’m calling off the search in the woods, though. I think Reece has her.” A foggy disorientation muffled his thoughts, but he focused on his sister’s face. “You went to confront Vanessa?”
“Yeah, but Blake was there, Matt. And I saw a bunch of stuff in her garage. I think she and Blake are behind the robberies in town. I just turned around and left. I’m leaving him.”
Matt found no joy in discovering that his suspicions about Blake were true. “I’ll tell the captain.”
She put her face against his chest. “If only I hadn’t brought Caitlin here!”
“It’s not your fault, Sis. If Reece has her, he could have taken her from your house just as easily.” It was his job to keep his daughter safe, and he’d blown it. He glanced around the yard again. “Where’s Hannah?”