Forgotten Son Read online

  She smiled at her sister. “Yes. I’m a little shaken still, but I’ll be fine.” She glanced at the door. “Where’s Colin? I thought he’d be here waiting for me. I’m anxious to see him.”

  Grace looked away.

  “Grace, where’s Colin?”

  “He should be here soon.”

  Grace was trying not to tell her something.

  “Why isn’t he here now?”

  “You know he had that new store opening in Houston.”

  “Yes.”

  “The opening was today.”

  “And he went!” Caroline knew the answer before Grace spoke.

  “Yes. We’d been waiting for days, and like I said, we were so worried. I think he just needed to do something. The wait was getting to all of us. Mom called him and he’s on his way back.”

  “Oh. I guess that makes it all right then.” She couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice.

  “Caro, please don’t—”

  “I’m so tired.” Caroline cut her off. “I want to go to sleep, but I’m afraid to close my eyes. They kept me in a cellar with nothing but bread and water. There was no light.” She had to take a deep breath as the suffocating memory filled her. “I think I went insane for a while. I sang hymns and I want to start singing again. That way I can stay awake. I feel as if I’m losing it. I can’t…”

  “Shh,” Grace murmured, stretching out beside her. “Remember when we were kids and I was afraid of the dark and I’d sneak past the nanny to sleep with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now I will protect you from the dark.” She snuggled against her. “Just close your eyes and go to sleep. I’ll be right here and I’ll leave all the lights on.”

  “I don’t think I can sleep. I can still feel the terror of that room—of him.”

  “Caroline, try to put it out of your mind.”

  “I can’t. He picked me to be his seventh wife—to bear his seventh son. If he had touched me in that way, I would have died. I couldn’t have lived through that.”

  “It’s over. Try to think of something pleasant.”

  Eli was pleasant and nice and…

  “Shut your eyes,” Grace coaxed. “I’ll be right here.”

  “Sisters first,” Caroline mumbled, remembering a pact they’d made when they were nine and eight years old. Her eyes closed.

  “Sisters first—always,” Grace echoed, as Caroline let go and drifted into a restless sleep.

  She didn’t know how long she’d slept, but she woke up screaming. Grace quickly calmed her. “It’s all right. You’re in a hospital. It’s all right.”

  “Oh, God,” Caroline whimpered, feeling the remnants of the nightmare about Amos Buford. “I could see him so clearly, as if he was in this room with me.”

  “He’s not. I’m the only one here.”

  Caroline scooted up in bed. “I can’t sleep. I just can’t.”

  “Okay.” Grace pushed up beside her. “Then we’ll talk. There’s a new chick flick out—the mushy, happily ever after stuff that you love. We can go see it as soon as you feel up to it.”

  “Okay,” Caroline mumbled.

  “And, oh, there’s a new suit at that little dress shop we love. It’s a light mint-green with a lacy camisole. Absolutely fetching. I love it, but its kind of bright and I wanted to get your opinion. Tell you what, I’ll buy the suit and you pick out something equally charming and we’ll dress up and go out to a movie and dinner.”

  Caroline rested her head on Grace’s shoulder, relaxing at her easy, nonsensical chatter. “Keep talking.”

  “I was thinking about joining one of the fitness places for women. I don’t get much exercise and at my age I should start thinking about that. I hate getting all sweaty, though, and I haven’t figured out a way around that. Maybe you could join me and we…”

  The thought of Grace exercising was hilarious—Caroline couldn’t even picture it. She’d join just to get a glimpse of her sister working out. Grace’s voice drummed on and Caroline smiled, letting go of the fear and easing into sleep once more.

  CAROLINE AWOKE TO VOICES, familiar voices, and saw that her mother and father were in the room. Joanna was sitting in a chair talking on a cell phone and Stephen was pacing back and forth, talking on his own cell phone. Grace sat by Caroline’s bedside, holding her bandaged hand.

  “You’re awake,” Grace said. “Feeling better?”

  Caroline didn’t get a chance to answer as her mother jumped up and ran to her. “My baby, my baby,” she cooed, brushing back Caroline’s hair. “Don’t worry about a thing. You’re going to be fine. I’m making arrangements to fly you to Washington to a private clinic, where you’ll get special attention and a qualified therapist to help you deal with this.”

  What was her mother talking about? She wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Caroline.” Her father came to the bed. “You look much better. Agent Caufield is outside waiting to speak with you. You can handle it, right?”

  He didn’t ask how she was, or if she was up to facing anyone. He wanted her to do it because he expected her to. Stephen Whitten’s daughters always did what was expected of them.

  She pushed herself into a sitting position and winced.

  “Stephen, I don’t think she can do this right now.” Her mother spoke up.

  “Yes, I can. I want to tell them what happened.”

  “See?” Stephen said. “She’s made of strong stuff.”

  Her father opened the door and two men came in. Her father introduced them as Agents Tom Mercer and Bill Caufield. She remembered them from the road where the ambulance had picked her up. Tom sat and began to ask her questions. He took down her answers, recording everything she said about what had happened after the men took her from her apartment.

  “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.

  “Doesn’t matter. I’ll buy you another one.”

  She didn’t have any strength left to deal with Colin and everything she was feeling about their relationship. She turned away. “I need to rest.”

  “Sure. I’ll come back later.” He kissed her cheek, but she didn’t respond.

  When he left, she began to cry. Tears ran down her cheeks to her neck and gown and she didn’t try to stop them. She cried for everything that had happened, for all the changes in her life and the changes that were to come.

  And she cried for Eli.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ELI WOKE UP FEELING strange. His right arm was on fire and it took a moment for everything to come rushing back. He was in a room, attached to machines. Good God, was he dying? Turning his head, he glanced at his arm. It was bandaged and looked as big as a log. How bad was it? he wondered.

  Tuck was sitting in a chair with his long legs stretched out in front of him, his hands folded across his chest, his head against the back of the chair. He was asleep. Tuck could fall asleep anywhere. Eli had teased him about that for years. He was never so glad to see anyone in his life.

  Eli moved his legs and Tuck was instantly on his feet. Another thing about Tuck—he was a light sleeper.

  “How are you?” Tuck ran both hands through his hair in a nervous gesture.

  “Did they arrest him?” he asked instead of answering. He was surprised his voice sounded so hoarse, but then he remembered the anesthesiologist saying something about putting a tube down his throat.

  “Yeah. They arrested Buford and his followers.”

  “Good,” Eli murmured, and drifted back to sleep.

  When he woke up again, he wasn’t feeling so strange. Tuck was still there and got to his feet when Eli opened his eyes.

  “You’re awake,” he said, coming to the bed.

  “Yes,” Eli replied, his throat still dry. “You said they arrested Buford?”

  “Sure did. They were sitting around a campfire praying when we arrived. The FBI called for a bus and they went peacefully. One of the dogs got out of control and attacked an agent and the dog was shot. The other dogs are at the pound and they’ve been checked out. They’re clean, so you don’t have to worry about that. But they’ll probably be put down because they’ve been trained to kill.”

  “What about the dark-haired woman called Jezebel?”

  “She can’t remember anything before Buford’s followers picked her up on the street. Child Protective Services is helping with the children, and several other agencies have been called in to help. The FBI is making sure Jezebel gets help, too.”

  “Good. Did forensics get all the evidence they needed from that secret room?”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “There wasn’t a room when we got there.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Eli moved in agitation but quickly calmed himself when pain shot through his arm.

  “The vegetable cellar was caved in and the ground leveled. All the jars of vegetables were stacked against one of the huts. They scattered chicken feed and goat feed over the area and the animals were busy scratching and eating. I’m not sure how they did that so fast, but obviously it was built that way—to cave in easily.”

  “Buford’s a smart son of a bitch.”

  “Not smart enough this time,” Tuck said. “Caroline Whitten is alive and the feds are hoping to make a case on her testimony and yours.”

  Eli shifted uneasily, needing to move, but his body wasn’t cooperating. “How is Caroline?”

  “She’s fine. Tom and Bill have been getting her account of the events and they said she’s doing very well.”

  Eli listened to the humming of the machines in the room as the things Tuck had told him ran through his mind.

  “You know, Tuck, that’s what Buford did when he held Ginny captive. She said she was kept in a secret room, but the police could never find it. He caved it and the evidence in, and the police couldn’t prove she wasn’t making it up.”

  “I thought about that, too, but I don’t think anyone’s going to doubt Ms. Whitten.”

  “He chose the wrong woman to kidnap for his next wife,” Eli said, then grew silent.

  Tuck watched him. “You got him, Eli. He’s not getting off this time.”

  “That doesn’t bring Ginny back.”

  “But it makes me feel a hell of a lot better, and I know you do, too.”

  “I’d feel better if Ginny was here,” he said quietly.

  “Eli�
�”

  “I’ve been obsessed with this for a decade. Ten years I’ve been waiting to get him, and my life has slowly slipped by. I’ll be forty-two years old and I should have a wife and a family. A man should have a family.”

  “You have a family.”

  “I’m not talking about you,” Eli snapped.

  “I wasn’t, either,” Tuck retorted. “I was talking about the McCains.”

  “Well, you can forget that. I’m talking about my own family—a wife and kids. I’ve been holding on to Ginny’s memory and I haven’t even looked at other women or even wanted to, but it’s time to let her go, to let her rest in peace. I think I can do that now.”

  “Because Buford is behind bars?”

  “Partly. But when I was waiting for them to take me into the operating room, I felt alone—really alone. It would have been damn good to have someone special with me. And before you say anything, I’m not talking about you or the McCains. I’m talking about a woman, someone I can touch instead of someone in my head.”

  “I think I’ll go see if I can find out what they did to the Eli I know, because you’re not talking like the one I grew up with—the man who never needed anyone or anything.”

  “They say trauma changes people. Maybe I’m changing.” He glanced at Tuck. “Don’t you want to get married? Have kids?”

  Tuck’s face tightened. “I’m never getting married.”

  Eli had heard this many times. “Because you don’t know who your parents are isn’t going to matter to someone who loves you. Ma and Pa were your parents in every way that matters.”

  Tuck scratched his head, watching Eli. “We’re getting in a little deep here. Is that medicine they gave you triggering some deep thinking, or is it Caroline Whitten?”

  Eli frowned. “Why would you say that?”

  “She was holding on to you on the road, and I could see it affected you.”

  “I saw what Buford did to her. That’s all.”

  “If you say so.”

  They were silent.

  “Aren’t you going to ask about your arm?” Tuck queried in a cautious voice.

  “Why? Is there something I should know?”

  Tuck smiled. “Okay. Now the old Eli is back. For a minute there I was worried.”