Forgotten Son

“That’s good, Ms. Whitten,” Tom said.

“Have they arrested him?”

“Yes. Amos Buford and his men are in jail. The women and children are in another location, and several agencies have been called in to help gather information. We’re hoping to place the children with relatives—we just have to locate them.”

“I hope Amos Buford won’t be able to do this to another woman.”

“Amos will not be on the outside for a while,” Bill promised.

“You make damn sure they put him away forever,” her father ordered.

“We’ll do our best, Congressman Whitten.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed. “Sometimes your best isn’t good enough.”

“How is Eli?” Caroline asked, before her father could demean the agent more than he already had.

“He’s in surgery,” Tom answered, as Bill turned away.

“Surgery?” She sat up straight. “Oh, no.”

“The dog did some damage to his arm and a surgeon’s repairing it.”

“Will he be okay?”

“Now, Caroline,” Stephen interjected. “Don’t upset yourself. I’m sure the man will be fine.”

“Will Eli be okay?” She spoke to Tom, ignoring her father.

“The doctor is very confident, but Eli will be out of commission for a while, at least until his arm heals. I’m not sure who’s going to be brave enough to tell him that, though.”

Caroline smiled a tremulous smile. “No. He’s not going to take that well.” She could see his stubborn face, and it was so uncanny that she could do that. She felt she was never going to forget that face. They were two strangers, yet…

“I will be taking my daughter back to Washington,” her father was saying.

Tom’s lips tightened. “I know you want to do that, sir, but it would be best if Ms. Whitten stayed here awhile longer. The prosecutor will need her testimony to get an indictment.”

“That can be done from Washington. I’ll speak with the U.S. Attorney’s office.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Dad,” she said, not able to let this go on any longer. “I’m staying here.”

“You need medical attention and—”

“I know what I need. I’m not a child.”

The room filled with a thick tension.

“We’ll check in later, Ms. Whitten,” Tom said. He and the other agent quickly left, but Caroline barely noticed. She was concentrating on her father’s anger, which she could feel sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

“This is just like you, isn’t it, Caroline,” Stephen charged. “Always needing to defy me. Do you even realize how worried your mother, Grace and I have been? We thought you were dead, killed by this insane cult leader. And now that you’re back we want to take care of you, but you’re throwing it all in our faces.”

“But you will not be taking care of me,” she pointed out, with as much calm as she could manage. “You’ll hire someone to do that, and I’d rather recuperate here close to Grace.”

“Maybe she’s right, Stephen,” Joanna said. “The girls have always been close.”

“Do you know what this is going to look like in the papers?” Stephen turned on Joanna.

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Well, you’d better. We have an election coming up.”

Caroline lay back on the pillows. It always came down to that—the next election, the votes. Nothing else mattered, not even their daughters’ health or happiness. She wished they’d go away and leave her alone. Loneliness was preferable to this.

The door opened and Colin rushed in. He went directly to Caroline. “You’re okay? I was so worried.” He kissed her cheek and she tried not to pull away.

“It’s awful big of you to show up, Colin,” her father said.

Her mother picked up her purse. “I think we need to leave the two of you alone. I’ll make arrangements for you to stay here if that’s what you wish. Your father and I will delay our plans until tomorrow. That will give you time to think about it.”

“Thank you, Mom.”

“I’ll be outside,” Grace said.

Joanna and Grace kissed her and walked out. Stephen glanced at her briefly, then followed.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Colin said.

She took a deep breath, knowing she couldn’t take much more that day. “I’m really tired and I just want to rest.”

“Sure. I understand. I’ll stay until you wake up.”

“No. I’d rather that you left.”

“Caroline…”

“How did the opening go?”

“Great. But I couldn’t concentrate on what had to be done for worrying about you.”

“Then why did you go?” Try as she might she was unable to keep the hurt out of her voice.

He touched her face. “Please don’t be angry. I just couldn’t sit around one more minute.” He kissed her forehead. “I love you.”

Did he? She didn’t think so. He didn’t love her the way she wanted to be loved—completely and passionately, like Eli loved his Ginny. When he’d talked about her, Caroline had heard the love in his voice even after all the years she’d been dead. Colin and she didn’t have anything close to that.

She wanted to be the most important person in his life and she wasn’t. That’s what had bothered her about them getting married so soon. She wanted more than what she and Colin had. The ordeal she’d just been through proved that they didn’t have that special magic to make a marriage last forever. And she wanted that—one man, one marriage, forever.

“I left my ring in that room they kept me in,” she said, trying to think of something else.