Felt. Past tense.

  They’d had something great. And had ravaged it, beat at it, tested it, until it broke.

  And so instead of having kids of their own, being at home in the house they’d built together, arms entwined in the bed they’d chosen, with their offspring dreaming peacefully down the hall, they were sitting upright in a lookout vehicle, with a console and bag of food between them, guarding a baby they’d never even seen.

  “I never spent a dime of the money you deposited for me as part of our divorce settlement.”

  She’d never wanted his money. It didn’t change the present. But if these days together could put the past to rest, they’d both be happier.

  “Growing up with my father, the way he’d trade up women every six months...the one thing that mattered most to me in a relationship, even more than love, was faithfulness.”

  A jolt pierced her heart. Left it oozing sadness. She hadn’t known that about him.

  Should have.

  Maybe if she’d listened better.

  “We were so young,” she mused aloud. “The way I fell for you, it was all so intense. I had no idea how to deal with it all. It wasn’t like my mother was any kind of relationship role model.”

  Just as his father hadn’t been. And then the older misfits had eloped just weeks after meeting at Paul and Haley’s wedding and had filed for divorce just six months later. Definitely not an example to their kids of how to have a happy or healthy relationship.

  She’d loved Paul with all her heart. Maybe he’d loved her that much, too.

  And still...peace was better than the constant tension that had filled their marriage. The unfulfilled expectations and hurt feelings. If she’d known, before they married, that he’d want her to stop tending to her sister, she never would have married him.

  Ironic that there they were, eight years later, tending to Kelsey together.

  Haley never had been one to appreciate life’s ironies.

  Chapter 22

  Two in the morning and Paul was still wide awake. He’d told Haley to take a nap, tried to tell her she’d need her rest, but, though she’d grown quiet, letting silence settle over them for more than an hour, she hadn’t given up on her surveillance of the house in their sights.

  And didn’t seem fazed by the possibility of having her life turned completely upside down by the unexpected advent of a child, becoming a full-time parent, when it meant that her world would never be even remotely the same again.

  He loved that about her. The way she took things on, and stood up to whatever challenges they brought.

  Except their marriage.

  It was the only thing he’d ever heard of that had beaten her.

  He felt responsible for that. Hated that he’d done that to her.

  That they’d done it to each other.

  Trying to figure out a way to tell her so that didn’t lead to more pain, or conversation neither of them would want, while also weighing the advisability of breaking the peaceful silence that had fallen, Paul lost all thought of apologizing for anything when he saw the red glow on Sandra Downy’s driveway.

  Brake lights.

  Someone was backing a car down to the street.

  He’d known it. She was going to run. Probably already had a flight booked out of the country, not that he had any legal means of finding that out.

  “She’s coming.” Haley’s tension was palpable.

  He couldn’t let it affect him. “I know.” Starting the SUV, he put it in Drive, ready to follow the ballsy woman wherever she thought she was going. No way was he going to let her take Haley’s baby, her family, out of the country.

  He watched as she headed in the direction opposite of them, was giving her another half mile before he set out, when suddenly he saw brake lights again, and the expensive sedan backed up. The car swerved, corrected, swerved again as it sped backward more quickly than it had been going forward. It was like she was gunning the thing.

  “She’s going to crash into us,” Haley yelled.

  “No, she’s not.” She wouldn’t risk slowing herself down with a car that couldn’t drive. Or hurting herself, either. He wished he could be certain she wouldn’t injure the baby who was very likely strapped in the car with her.

  It was because of the baby that he remained where he was. He could outdrive the woman. He’d had no doubt about that even before he’d seen her swerving all over the road.

  But he wasn’t going to risk a crash that could hurt Jason.

  Still, he had no idea what Sandra Downy was up to. He knew what she was capable of, though. And when she was almost abreast of them, he knew her plan. He’d seen her window go down.

  “Duck!” He hollered, reaching out to slam Haley’s head to her knees.

  Saw her hair splayed across her thigh, reached for his pistol and heard a shot blast as pain tore into his shoulder.

  * * *

  Two more shots rang from outside the car, landing with thuds. With her nose smashed into her knees, Haley could hardly breathe, had never been more frightened, had no idea if Paul was okay and didn’t know how to help.

  “Get me a shirt or something.” His voice sounded strange, but she didn’t have time to think as the SUV jerked and he pulled out into the street. Falling forward, she hit her shoulder on the dash, but barely cared as she dove over the seat for a bag.

  She wasn’t sure, but she thought she’d seen a dark spot on Paul’s shirt. If he’d been hit...

  “Detective Endives...” The voice came over audio and for a second she thought she was hallucinating. Wondered if she was caught in some bizarre nightmare. Wondered if it was possible for her heart to pound so hard it would just stop.

  “She’s on the move.” Paul gave street names. Directions. “I didn’t see the infant, but there’s a good chance he’s in there. I saw the top of the car seat. Back right.”

  Haley lunged for the zipper of her bag, swore when she couldn’t get it unzipped. Scraped her finger along the edge. Started to cry, and jerked harder, shoving her hand inside the bag as she got it open. Her fingers met material, she grabbed, pulled and turned around in her seat, T-shirt in hand, and pressed it to the spot on Paul’s shoulder, just beneath the collarbone. Shivering when she felt the wetness there.

  She wanted to tell him he’d been hit, but he was talking. Giving more directions. And she realized he was the one who’d asked for the shirt. He knew he’d been hit.

  Endives patched someone local into the call.

  Paul drove like a bat out of hell. Swerving. Squealing tires. Turning corners. Giving directions.

  Blood oozed.

  “We’ve got her,” a voice said just as a police car pulled up behind the expensive sedan, another one quickly moving in beside it. They weren’t going to force Sandra to crash. Not with the baby inside. But they weren’t going to let her get away, either.

  “She’s armed,” Haley screamed.

  Paul had already told them so. He’d told them he’d been hit. The police finally had cause to make an arrest.

  Five minutes down the road, Sandra’s car slowed. Pulled to a stop.

  And Endives told Paul to get to the hospital.

  * * *

  Light in his face. Paul hated light in his face. Which was why he slept with the curtains closed. Maybe if he just kept his eyes closed instead...

  The light didn’t go away, and though he wasn’t ready to come up out of the restful place he’d been, Paul opened one eye.

  Saw his computer set up on the desk.

  And all vestiges of sleep evaporated.

  Where was Haley?

  He was ready to move, but aware of the soreness in his shoulder and upper body—bruising from the bullet that had grazed him, not pain from the wound itself. He hadn’t even needed stitches.

  He’d lost a lot of blood, though. Had been a bit sluggish. Hadn’t argued a bit when he’d been told that they’d be heading to the hotel via police car as the department was impounding his SUV as evidence until they could get the bullets out of the leather.

  He’d made it upstairs on his own power. With Haley watching his every move, as though he was suddenly going to tumble over at her feet.

  As though she’d have been able to hold him up if he’d started to go down.

  More likely he’d have taken her down with him.

  Haley.

  Moving only his head, and only slightly, he saw her. Sitting in the corner of the couch, her knees drawn up to her chest, with tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

  Haley, who never cried when people could see her.

  God, he loved her.

  The thought brought full consciousness and a sudden welcome to the pain inherent in his movement as he bolted out of bed. “What’s up?” he asked, standing there in the shorts he’d changed into before bed the night before.

  Hours before, really. The clock read ten. He’d been asleep five hours.

  Hoped to God she’d slept, too.

  She’d showered. The hair slicked back into a ponytail was wet. And her black shorts and black-and-white tank were new ones he’d seen her buy.

  Wiping her eyes, as though she could pretend her tears hadn’t fallen, Haley stood, too. “Nothing’s wrong,” she said. And then amended, “A lot, if you look at the last few days. I’m just...missing Kelsey, worried about Jason—is he okay? Is he Kelsey’s?” She shook her head. “How are you? Does it hurt?”

  She came toward him, as though she was planning to check his wound herself. Probably wasn’t a good idea to have her touching him.

  She was a nurse. It would be odd if he refused to have her check under his bandage. He could kind of remember agreeing with the doctor to accept her follow-up attention before he’d been released the night before.

  “I’m assuming no one has called,” he said, steeling himself while the soft, gentle fingers pulled at the tape securing his gauze in place.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Not much.”

  Knowing that his time with Haley was coming to an end that day...that hurt more.

  But not as much as staying with her would do.

  “You must be going over the edge sitting here waiting to hear if Jason is Kelsey’s...”

  She nodded. “I imagine he’s with child services...” She’d asked about a possible baby in the Downy car when a Pahrump detective met them at the hospital the night before. She had been told that there was indeed a baby boy with Sandra, and that he would most likely be put with child services at least until morning.

  “This looks good,” she said, quickly applied salve and rebandaged his shoulder. “You’ll probably only need this another day or so.”

  And then they were standing there, her chest to his shoulder, looking at each other. Saying so much, and nothing at all.

  “It’s going to be okay.” It wasn’t enough. And all he had.

  “I know.” She gave him a sad smile. And jumped half a foot back when his phone rang.

  Dorian. Watching Haley’s worried expression, holding her gaze, he picked up. Listened. And hung up.

  “It’s a match,” he said.

  “We’re biological family?” Her eyes wide, mouth hanging open, she stood there staring.

  “Yep.” He smiled. Expected her to do so.

  Instead, she burst into tears.

  He had no choice but to hold her through them.

  * * *

  As it turned out, an officer who’d been on duty the night before had kept the infant with her at the station, rather than calling in social services at four in the morning. By the time Paul had rented a vehicle and they made it down to the station, a judge had already been contacted regarding his temporary placement. He’d been told that there was an aunt, a pediatric nurse, who wanted the baby.

  So they sat at the station, in a cozy little room, with cups of coffee, and waited some more.

  Paul got on the phone and bought a new car to take them back to California, but she was going to tell him to go on without her. She wanted to stay in Vegas for a day or two. To see if she could get any of Maya’s things out of the house that had been vacant since Kelsey’s death.

  And he had a vacation to get to.

  They’d been there less than ten minutes when Detective Olson, the man they’d met at the hospital the night before, joined them. Fortyish, he had a nice smile.

  But he wasn’t smiling as he joined them, taking a seat at the table. “I just thought you’d want to know what Sandra’s been telling us,” he said, hands folding on the scarred Formica. “She admits that she lost her baby, had a hard time with it and went away to be helped, and that while she was gone her husband had an affair. She claims that Maya had agreed to give them the baby, but that when she gave birth, she changed her mind. So Sandra thought she’d lost Jason. And then when she’d lost Charles...she says she fell apart completely. Said it was a complete shock to her when authorities showed up at her door with the baby, saying that Maya had been killed in a car accident after dropping the baby at the sitters...”

  Haley shook her head. “She doesn’t know Maya is Kelsey,” she said. “If Kels had really been giving up her baby, she’d have had no reason to use the assumed name. They’d been hiding their affair and the baby from Sandra. Then she found the picture on her husband’s computer, hired Blue Colonial to follow her husband to Maya, and then hired someone else to take care of all of them.”

  Olson shrugged. “More than likely. We still have a lot of questions and will get to the truth. She told us that the baby was delivered at home, in the house on Calypso. Named a midwife. And said the birth certificate names her and Charles as the parents. We’ve yet to find evidence of any birth certificate for him, something that the judge will work out when he places the child, but we did confirm with the midwife that the baby was born, in the bathtub, some new birthing plan, at the house as stated by Sandra. Midwife says that Kelsey and Charles were both there, and when she left, mother and baby were doing fine. She was shocked to hear, just two days later, when she called to check on them, that Maya had been killed.”

  Two days later? Jason was less than six weeks old? Haley’s lips trembled again, as she held back what seemed to be years’ worth of suppressed emotion.

  “Who answered the phone?” Paul asked. On task.

  “She said a woman.”

  Paul nodded. “Sandra.”

  “Most likely. Phone records should show us that.”

  Olsen had a few more details to share. A conversation with Jason’s nanny who confirmed pretty much what Sandra had told Haley the day before, that she’d been caring for him, that she took him to the clubhouse in the afternoon and while he napped visited with other nannies. That he was a good baby. And that Sandra had been good to him.

  Haley was thankful for that. Eternally grateful that Sandra had slowed her car the night before when she’d been surrounded, rather than try to run and risk an almost certain accident with Jason in the car.

  But she would never be okay with the woman having masterminded her sister’s and Charles’s deaths. And poor Noah’s.

  Never. Not ever.

  Another knock on the door brought a female officer to the room. Haley never saw her face. All she could see was the blue wrapped bundle in her arms. The puffy little cheeks, and eyes peacefully shut. He had pursed lips. And a wide little nose.

  “Oh my God...” Her smile so wide it hurt her face, she blinked back another surge of tears. “I can’t believe it...” There should be panic. Maybe it would ascend.

  In that moment, all she knew was pure joy.

  “The judge ruled that the aunt gets the baby...”

  She heard the words. Knew there’d be legalities. Probably more time in Vegas while they got sorted out.

  None of it mattered.

  She reached for the sleeping infant. Moving him gently from the officer’s arms to her own. Moved him with an ease of having held hundreds of babies over the years.

  But for the first time, she held one of her own.

  And she was never going to be the same.

  With the body snuggled up against her, she absorbed his warmth, knew a homecoming she’d never imagined and tore her gaze away to find Paul. To share the moment with him.

  He’d left the room.

  Without a goodbye.

  * * *

  He’d left the room when the representative from the car dealership stood in the doorway, waving paperwork for him to sign and a key. He’d gone to finish his car transaction.

  And when it was done, when he had the keys to his new white SUV, he just kept on leaving. His bag was there; he picked it up, thought to put it in the vehicle rather than leave it in the hall for someone to trip over—and then he’d just gotten in and driven away.

  Haley had already declined his invitation for a ride back to California. She’d made it very clear that she wanted some time in Vegas at the Calypso house, and she hadn’t asked him to share that time with her.

  He made it to the border, across the border. Through one town, and then another. Figured Haley would take the rental back to Vegas, or get another one. Maybe drive it back to California. With Jason being hers, that meant that everything the baby inherited would be at her disposal. Could be a car in the deal, for all he knew.

  The house was probably Sandra’s. She was going to need every asset she had to pay for lawyers. Haley wouldn’t want anything in it, anyway. There was no reason for any part of Sandra Downy’s life to touch Jason ever again.

  Paul wasn’t quite done, though.

  He not only wanted Olson’s final answers, confirming that Sandra had hired someone else to kill Kelsey, Charles and Noah, to confirm that she’d been behind grabbing Haley on the street and warning her to leave, but also to find out why Maya Ambrose had been created. And whether or not Kelsey had ever worked at Sister’s Ranch. Exiting the highway, he re-entered on the other side.