A Baby Between Them

Author:Winnie Griggs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2012-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Cam was a young boy again and a woman was crying, hunched over so he couldn’t see her face. But he knew the sound of that sobbing and knew it was his mother. He wanted to help her but his feet remained rooted to the floor. Then the figure shimmered and changed and now it was Vera McCauley holding the broken body of her three-year-old son. She looked up at him and her tearstained face twisted into a mask of hatred. Still, he couldn’t move and couldn’t look away.

Cam struggled to wake up, aware that he was having that old nightmare, but unable to escape from it. Then the image changed again. Now it was Nora, sobbing over a too-still Grace.

No! This wasn’t real.

Finally he woke, flailing at the tangled sheet, damp from his sweat, breathless from the effort to push through. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. It had been years since he’d had that nightmare. He’d thought—hoped—it was gone for good. Now it was back, with an additional ugly twist.

He sat there for a moment, waiting for his racing pulse to slow, for his ragged breathing to return to normal.

Then his head came up. What was that noise? Cam forced himself to go very still, straining to hear. A moment later he heard the sound of muffled movements coming from the kitchen. Had the kidnapper returned? Between one heartbeat and the next he was on his feet and moving stealthily into the hallway. The sounds were more evident now and there was soft lamplight spilling out from the kitchen doorway. Whoever was in there was being mighty bold. Or mighty careless.

He reached the end of the hall, his senses on full alert, his body ready to pounce on whoever had dared break into Nora’s home.

The rattle of dishes brought his brow up. Had the intruder decided to steal a meal? “Stop right there,” he ordered as he stepped into the room.

With a tiny squeak of fright, the shadowy figure spun around to face him, a hand to her chest.

It was Nora. He was disappointed not to be facing the kidnapper, but it wouldn’t do to let her see that. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

She took a deep breath. “That’s okay. I hope all my fumbling around in here didn’t wake you.”

“No, I woke on my own.” No need to mention his nightmare.

“I couldn’t sleep either. I thought I’d come down and fix a cup of cocoa. Would you like some?”

“That sounds good.” What sounded even better was that there was no hardness, no hint of accusation in her tone.

She added some extra milk to the pan on the stove, then stirred in some cocoa powder and sugar.

A few minutes later she had poured them each a cup and carried them to the table. But she didn’t take a seat right away. She took a deep breath and then met his gaze.

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