Best-Kept Secrets

Actually, it was Amy who was more likely to collapse. Her palms were sweating and her heart was beating much too fast. Surely in nine years she’d gotten over any infatuation she might have had for the man. He’d dumped her! He hadn’t even responded when she’d written and told him about their baby.

No, she wasn’t infatuated with Jake any longer. She just wanted him to see the beautiful, brilliant child he hadn’t wanted to claim all those years ago. And anyhow, it probably wasn’t the same man, she told herself for the umpteenth time.

“What’s going on, Mommy?”

Amy stared at the beautifully landscaped grounds for the first time. She realized a work crew was gathered around a deep pit only a few feet away. Even as she watched, more people left the restaurant and hurried over.

“I have no idea.”

“Can I go see?”

“Definitely not.”

“Well, I want to see what’s going on,” Susan announced, and headed in that direction.

Amy should have known. In Fools Point everyone minded everyone else’s business. She trailed behind her mother and her daughter. A police car appeared on the scene and a white-haired man stepped from the vehicle. Her mother came to a halt.

“That’s Chief Hepplewhite,” she said sotto voce. “This must be something big.”

“It’s true,” someone in the growing crowd was saying to his companion. “They found a bunch of bodies down there.”

Bodies?

“I want to see! Come on, Mommy!”

“No! Kelsey…”

They’d reached the edge of the crowd. Chief Hepplewhite and another police officer were descending a wooden ladder into the yawning pit. Amy’s mother and daughter paused several feet behind a dump truck to get an unobstructed view.

One of the construction workers stepped forward to correct the speaker. “There’s only two bodies down there and one of ’em’s a real tiny baby.”

Amy saw her mother go white. She began to sway unsteadily. “Mom?”

There was a sudden grinding noise and the dump truck suddenly began to roll backward.

“Get back!”

Amy reached for her daughter and her mother. Her mother stumbled. Before she could pull them to safety, someone roughly shoved all of them to the asphalt, out of the path of the runaway truck. A man’s large body, lying across her back, partly covered her.

“Stay still,” a masculine voice rumbled in her ear.

Voices shouted. Someone screamed. And the truck bounced past, scant inches from where the man had flung them. Amy gripped her daughter’s hand, fighting the adrenaline rush of fear.

There was a horrific sound as the truck’s rear wheel hit the lip of the hole. The truck canted to one side, off balance. The heavy load groaned and shifted. There was a tortured cry of metal as something gave way and gravel began spewing everywhere.

A haze of dust swept over them. The sudden silence that followed was almost painful. The person on top of her pulled away. Amy rolled over and came eye-to-eye with the only man she had ever loved.

“Are you okay?” he asked. An incredulous expression suddenly swept his harsh features as recognition hit him. “Amy?”

“Hello, Jake.”

“My God! What are you doing here?”

“Mommy?”

Amy sat up and tugged her daughter to her side. “I was taking my mother and my daughter to lunch.”

Feeling sucker-punched, Jake rose to his feet and stared down at the face that had haunted his dreams for nine years. Amy hadn’t changed a bit—and yet she had. She was older, of course, but more beautiful than ever. Her sea-green eyes still glowed with that vibrancy he remembered, only now there was a maturity that hadn’t been there before. Her hair was gloriously long. It was silky, and lighter in color than he remembered, but one thing hadn’t changed. Her mouth had always been made for kissing.

“Is anybody hurt?”

Jake tore his gaze from her face at the sound of the police chief’s question. Hepplewhite and Officer Garvey had apparently made it out of the pit before the truck had half filled it full of gravel.

“I’ll be damned. I think my leg’s broke,” Zeke announced, sounding stunned.

Jake turned back to Amy, assessing her for injuries. Other than smudges of dirt, she was fine. Amazingly, Zeke was the only one in the crowd who’d been struck by the truck. Several people had been hit by flying gravel, but no one was seriously hurt.

“What happened?” Hepplewhite demanded of the foreman.

“I don’t know. Look out!”

Near the edge of the pit, the ground gave way beneath the weight of the truck. More of the gravel spilled into the hole.

“Get everybody back! Lee, secure the scene until I can get Osher and Jackstone over here,” Hepplewhite ordered the other officer with him. “Now we’ve really got a mess.”

“Do you want help?” Jake offered.

The police chief sized him up. “See if you can get these people inside the restaurant and keep them there until I can ask a few questions.”

Jake nodded. He kept his gaze impersonal as he looked at the crowd, refusing to stare at the one person he wanted most to look at. “Everyone inside where it’s safe,” he said firmly in a tone that started people moving. “You and you—” he picked two of the construction workers “—carry Zeke inside and set him down in the bar until the ambulance arrives.”

Zeke managed a smile. “I could use a beer,” he announced. “For the pain.”

“We should go home. My mother isn’t well,” Amy protested.

“Grandma?”

Jake squatted beside the frail woman he recognized as the mailman’s wife. “Are you hurt?” he asked gently.

“It’s her heart,” Amy said quickly.

Jake glanced around and spotted one of his dishwashers lingering at the scene. “Billy, get inside and call for an ambulance.”

Instantly, Amy’s mother struggled to sit up. “I don’t need an ambulance! I’m fine. I’m not an invalid.”

“One of the workmen was injured,” Jake said reassuringly. “We’ll need the ambulance for him.”

“Oh. Oh, of course.”