Heart of the Night

Gena shrugged. “You’ve been with us every day this week and today is the last day. Why break tradition?”

Eli gave her an appreciative nod, hoping that would cover his real motives.

Scotty pumped his fist. “Will you be here when I get home? To help me with the snowman, remember?”

Eli swallowed, glanced across at Gena. “I’ll be right here.”

Then he watched as Scotty left the room. “Mon petit garçon,” he said, shaking his head. “My little boy.”

Gena turned away to stare out the big window behind the sink. Eli could see the ocean churning off in the distance beyond her. He felt that same intense churning inside his stomach.

“What are we going to do, Eli? We can’t just stay here in limbo forever.”

He got up and came to her, his hand tentative on her arm. “I won’t do anything…to upset him. I understand that now. I can’t do anything to hurt him. I wouldn’t.”

She turned, her eyes misty and big and searching. “You’ve been great these last few days, but are you sure about that?”

Like ice in the sun, his bitter heart melted just a fraction more. “Very sure. I’m not so cold and uncaring that I’d hurt a child…or his mother either, for that matter.” He looked down at his boots. “And I told you, I’m sorry about…scaring you that first night. I haven’t exactly been trained in the social graces and, funny, there’s nothing in the rule books about how to handle finding out you’re a father.”

“Good, because I can’t let you stay here and get close to him if it means he’ll be hurt or confused in any way. And I can’t—I won’t—let you take him away from me. That would hurt me. That would destroy me.”

“Then we have a big problem,” he said as he backed away. “I have a legal right to him, but you are his true mother and I can’t do that—separate a child from his mother. We’re at an impasse, chère.”

“Yes, we are, but we’ll talk about it later.” She whirled past him. “I have to take him to school and then I have to make sure our young couple got settled in yesterday.”

“You’re not taking him to school without me,” Eli reminded her, grabbing his coat. Even though he and Gena had reached a truce, he wasn’t letting them out of his sight again. Protecting both of them had become his new mission and that meant watching over them for as long as Gena would allow him to do so.

Because he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

FOUR

After watching Gena drop Scotty off at the door and noting a teacher was right there to escort the younger children straight into the building, Eli turned to her. “Is this school secure?”

She kept her gaze on the road. “We’ve had this conversation already. I told you Devon made sure of that. Besides, they have a resource officer on duty during school hours and at all after-school events.”

Eli didn’t know why he felt so uneasy this morning. Probably just his lack of sleep and the memories that kept creeping up on him in the dark of night. “Maybe I need to make sure of that myself, just in case.”

Gena stopped at a traffic light, then glanced over at him. The brilliant white of the morning snow reflected all around them. “Is there something you’re not telling me? You’ve been jumpy and on high alert since you arrived at my door and even though I know that comes with the territory, you’re making me nervous.”

He looked out over the snow-covered cottages. Should he tell her? He’d never been one for sharing a lot of information and he really didn’t trust anyone. Ever.

But this woman had raised his son and after spending time with her, Eli could tell she was honest and hardworking and she took good care of Scotty. Maybe he needed to bend the rules for her. So she’d understand. “I’m worried about his safety,” he admitted. “I had a long stay in New Orleans with Kissie after I was released from the hospital. You know her—the Woman at the Well.”

“Devon speaks highly of her. What did she tell you?”

“We had some information come through. Might be nothing, might be something.”

She hit the steering wheel with her palms. “And you waited almost a week to mention this? You’d better tell me everything, and I mean everything.”

He touched a hand to the dash. “After you get me home. I hate snow and ice.”

Gena’s hands were shaking so hard, she couldn’t unlock the door. “So this is the real reason you came all the way up here. You’re worried about Scotty, right?”

Eli grabbed the keys from her, then jammed them into the lock. Pushing her in out of the cold, he turned and handed her the keys, then reset the alarm. “That’s part of it, true. After the dust settled on my grandfather’s criminal deeds, Kissie and Devon assured me that everything was all right, but they couldn’t get verification on some of his associates. People who were involved with my grandfather were making inquiries about things they didn’t need to know, and that’s all we could find out—not the who or the why. I need facts and I like details. Not being one to wait around, I wanted to see for myself that Scotty was truly safe.” He shrugged off his coat. “And I’ve been watching all week to make sure. So far, things seem okay, but I just can’t seem to shake this feeling. I don’t like taking other people’s word for things, you understand?”

“I’m beginning to understand a lot,” she retorted, as she stalked up the hall. “You came here to see Scotty and you’ve also been casing my house, haven’t you? I suppose you’ve tested every lock, checked and rechecked the security and memorized every way off this peninsula just to be sure. But you need to tell me the whole story. I have a right to know. You’ve just been twiddling your thumbs, sitting around when—” She froze as she came to her desk tucked into an alcove just off the kitchen.

Eli saw her halt, heard her intake of breath, and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. “What is it?”

“My laptop is on.” She dropped her tote bag and hurried to the tidy desk. “And my papers have been rearranged.”

Eli looked at the efficient little desk. He’d walked by it enough to know something wasn’t quite right. Gena was tidy to the point of being obsessive and she always closed her laptop whenever she wasn’t using it. He’d seen her do that several times.

“Are you sure you didn’t leave it open before we left?”

She stood staring at it, then breathed a sigh of relief. “You know, I think I might have. Remember, I had that couple coming to check in? They’re renting the other cabin through Christmas.”

“But that was last night, right?”

She nodded, touched a hand to the papers on her desk. “But the man called this morning and had some questions about their bill. I pulled up the account, then looked through the papers on my desk to give him a local restaurant number.” She whirled, shaking her head. “Then Scotty couldn’t find one of his school books, so I rushed to help him. I guess I left everything in a mess as we hurried out the door.”

Eli remembered that much at least. She’d called to Scotty that they were going to be late. He tried to let it go at that. But…he’d never been one to accept things on a surface level. Because by his way of thinking, things were never what they seemed.

“What did your guest—Bennett’s the name, right—what did Mr. Bennett ask you?”

“He just asked about an extra charge on their deposit. I explained about the linen service. Then he asked me about where to get a good Maine breakfast. I told him about the café up the road. We made small talk about the weather, then he hung up.”

“Are you sure?”

She gave him a puzzled look. “Yes, pretty sure. You don’t think—?”

“I need to know for certain,” he said, turning at the door. “I’m gonna walk the perimeters of your property. See what’s what.”

Gena halted him with her hand on his arm. “Eli, are you being completely honest with me? You can’t come here and do this. I mean, you can’t just put yourself in charge like some guardian or bodyguard, based on a bad feeling. I don’t mind you wanting to see Scotty, but if you know something…” She inhaled a deep breath. “I couldn’t bear it if something happens to him.”

Eli saw the fear in her eyes and hated it. He’d known that same fear and he lived it over and over in his nightmares. He hadn’t been able to save Leah and he hadn’t been around to help Gena raise Scotty. Maybe he was just imagining things and scaring her unnecessarily because he needed to prove something to himself. Turning back to face her, he said, “Look, I’m just a paranoid kind of guy. I’ve been trained to be that way. So don’t let me worry you. I always take extra precautions. Even more now that—”

Understanding dawned in her eyes. “Now that you’ve lost your wife and never knew your son?”

“Isn’t that reason enough?” he asked, hoping she’d see the sincerity in his eyes. “I’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

He opened the door and felt the arctic blast of winter hitting him in the face and he knew in his heart he’d walk the whole earth if need to be. To protect his son.

And Gena, too.

Gena fidgeted around her desk, searching for any signs of sabotage or espionage. She didn’t like this. Since the day Devon had brought Scotty to her, she’d had to watch her back. Caution had become second nature to her, but only because she always knew that one day he’d show up. Eli Trudeau was not the kind of man to ignore his own flesh and blood, especially when that flesh and blood had been taken from him without his consent.

But that was the least of her worries today. Eli was here now and as much as she feared the worst, she knew he’d do what was best for Scotty. He was that kind of man.