Chapter 22 #2
“What about a divorce?” I asked, feeling a little lost. “People get divorced all the time. Custody, alimony… People don’t usually disappear.”
“No, he wouldn’t have let her go,” Miss Martha said.
She shook her head sadly. “She didn’t have any money of her own.
Her parents were well-off, but they were older and wanted her settled with Prentice.
They were old-fashioned—husband knows best. She tried to leave—with Griffen—not long after he was born, and they sent her right back.
She had no help, couldn’t afford a lawyer.
I don’t honestly know how she could have divorced Prentice and had a hope of ever seeing the two of you again. ”
“Courts usually give custody to the mother. At least they did back then, right?” Hope asked.
“Back then, yeah,” Griffen said, “but most husbands aren’t Prentice Sawyer.”
“Good point,” Hope agreed. “Poor Sarah…” She looked to Griffen with a guilty expression.
“I know she left you. I don’t understand how she could have done that, but I can’t help but feel sorry for her.
Your father was a nightmare. I picture her so young, not knowing what she was getting into, and then she was stuck.
I want to judge her for leaving you two, but I can’t. ”
“Neither can I,” Ford said slowly. “Especially if she’d already tried to leave before she got pregnant with me.”
I hated the picture forming in my head, hated more knowing that Ford was probably thinking the same thing.
If Sarah had tried to leave Prentice before she got pregnant with Ford, she probably hadn’t wanted to have another child in the first place.
Not with Prentice. And I’d seen enough pictures of past Sawyers to know that Ford was a Sawyer by blood.
Had Prentice forced her? Or had she gone along with what he wanted, knowing she didn’t have a choice?
As if she was reading our minds, Miss Martha reached for Ford’s hand, letting him help her to her feet.
When she stood, she didn’t let go; instead, she clasped his hand in both of hers.
“She loved you so much, Ford. No matter how unhappy she was with your father, she never regretted either of you, not for a second.”
He pulled her into a hug, murmuring something in her ear that made her smile.
“So, what now?” I asked, wanting a clear answer, a path through the messy feelings of anger at our parents for abandoning us and sympathy for Sarah Sawyer, trapped by her love for her sons with a man who everyone seemed to agree had been a monster.
“We wait to hear from Cooper,” Griffen said. “See if he can find your father. And I think we need to talk to Edgar and Harvey.”
“They’re your best bet,” Miss Martha agreed.
“They knew Sarah well—I’d say they cared for her to a degree, and they were certainly around all the time back then, even more than they are now.
I don’t know that much went on in this house that they didn’t know about.
Especially as it pertained to Prentice’s business.
If Paul Williams was working with Prentice, they would have known. ”
“They’ll be here for Sunday dinner,” Hope said. “I’ll ask Uncle Edgar to come early. If I do it, he won’t be suspicious.”
“Surprise attack?” Griffen asked, sliding an arm around his wife’s waist. “I like it when you’re devious.”
She grinned up at him. “If Uncle Edgar knows anything, we’ll find out.”
“I like your optimism,” Griffen said, “but I’m not sure I agree. Edgar knows how to keep secrets. My guess is we’ll have better luck with Harvey.”
“Well, we’ll find out either—” Ford’s words were cut off as the house went silent, lights flicking off. The sun streamed in through the windows on the other side of the room, but the overhead lights were out, the hum of the furnace quiet.
Griffen’s phone sounded an alert. “Power’s been cut at the road,” he said. “Backup security systems operational.”
“What do we do?” Ford asked.
“Nothing,” Griffen said. “We stay put.” He stared at the screen of his phone intently, brows drawn together.
“Scarlett and Stella are in the safe room on the lower level, along with Finn. Hold on.” He tapped his screen and held it out in front of him so the rest of us could see the feed from the security camera, in high resolution and full color. “Hawk says we have eyes.”
“How is that working if the power is out?” I asked, squinting at the small screen.
“Security systems have their own power, independent of the main system,” Griffen said. “Same for the network they run on.”
We watched on the small screen as a figure in blue jeans and a dark brown hoodie used a small blowtorch on the tall fence beside the gates to Heartstone.
Griffen rolled his eyes. “Good move on cutting the power where they did, but this is just sloppy. Hawk’s people have the house secured,” he said, reading a message that popped up at the bottom of the screen. “West is on the way. Ryder, Wren, and Eli are closing in on the gates.”
The figure with the blowtorch—it was hard to tell if it was a man or a woman, given the angle of the camera and the way the hoodie was pulled up—wasn’t making much progress. The gates weren’t just for show. They were solid.
“They would have done better to go around and try to cut through deeper in the woods,” Griffen murmured. It was almost funny the way the intruder’s head snapped up as the gate swung open silently.
West’s SUV came into view, cutting off the intruder’s retreat.
There wasn’t any sound on the video, but I watched as he exited his vehicle, gun drawn, shouting at the intruder to put down the torch and get their hands in the air.
The intruder turned, holding up the torch menacingly.
West didn’t flinch at the flare of flame.
He held his weapon steady on the intruder and repeated his order.
Griffen’s phone screen was small, but I could see West’s expression.
He didn’t look scared; he looked confident, almost smug.
I saw why a second later as Ryder, Eli, and Wren appeared—Ryder and Wren rounding the gate, weapons drawn.
The sudden show of force sent the intruder stumbling back in surprise until their shoulders hit the bars of the fence.
Eli’s hands shot through and closed around the intruder’s throat.
It was all over after that. The intruder dropped the blowtorch. West got his cuffs out and arrested them.
“That happened faster than I expected,” Griffen said.
“The newest assassin trying to get the bounty by killing me?” Ford asked. “Or West and Ryder and his team taking him down?”
“The first,” Griffen said. “West getting here so fast was lucky, but Ryder, Wren, and Eli could have handled it without him if they had to. Cleaner to have West arrest him, though. I thought we’d have another day or two before the next attempt on you.”
“I’m going to go get Stella,” Hope said, turning for the door. I imagined she’d feel better once she had her baby girl in her arms.
No one had gotten close to breaching Heartstone’s security, but the attempt on the gate was enough. It was a stark reminder that this was an active threat and would continue to be one.
I paused before following her and turned to Ford. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, but his eyebrows were pulled together. In frustration, anger, or fear, I couldn’t tell. Maybe all three. “Yeah, I guess. I’m going to follow Griffen. I want to know what’s going on, even if I don’t understand half the shit they say.”
I rose up on my toes to kiss his cheek. “I’m going to go with Hope.” Stella wasn’t my baby, but I had an itch to lay eyes on her. Being separated from her when scary things were happening left me feeling restless.
I followed Hope out of the room, thinking about the volume of poetry and the pendant in Sarah’s box and wishing we’d found more.
Later that night, I lay in bed, curled into Ford, dozing as his fingers combed through my hair.
“I feel like a sitting duck,” he said, his voice low. “What if the guy this morning got through the fence and reached the house? He could have come across you and the kids, out there playing soccer. Or Hope, walking with Stella.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I said, shifting to prop myself up on my elbow, craning my neck to meet his dark, worried eyes. “They didn’t even get close.”
“This time,” he said darkly. “I’ve brought too much pain to my family. I can’t stand the idea of anyone getting hurt because of me. Cole is doing this because he blames me for Caro’s death. No one else should be a target.”
“That’s ridiculous.” I sat up, pulling the sheet with me and holding it against my breasts. “Cole Haywood was coming after your family, even when you were in prison. And no one is going to get hurt. Hawk and the new team Sinclair Security sent are too good for that.”
“I wish I had your confidence,” he said, pulling me back down to lie across his chest.
I caught his hand in mine and pressed a kiss to his fingertips. “Everything is going to be okay,” I promised. It had to be.
Ford went back to combing his fingers through my hair. As sleep pulled him under, I heard him say, “I wish we could stay just like this, forever.”
“Me too,” I whispered, not sure he was awake enough to hear me.
Despite the danger we were in, I’d never felt more at peace. Though neither of us had said the words, I’d never felt so loved. Ford was too wrapped in guilt and worry to be at peace. I’d have to believe in happy endings enough for the both of us.