Chapter Three
“Good morning, ladies.” Gracie smiled at the women who’d entered her shop moments earlier. One or more of them usually showed up to pick up their standard to-go order, but this morning four of the Boudreau crew, as she liked to call them, had shown up, their laughter and smiles infectious.
“Hi, Gracie. It’s a bit chilly this morning. How about getting me a hot chocolate,” Tessa paused a moment, then grinned. “Extra whipped cream.”
“You’ve got it. What about the rest of you?”
“I’ll have the same,” Beth responded, looking down at her new son. Swaddled and wrapped up against the morning chill, all Gracie could see was his little nose and big blue eyes, which twinkled brightly beneath the shop’s lights. Subtle movements beneath the wraps covering the lower part of his face outlined the pacifier in his mouth. Aw, he was definitely a cutie, and looked just like his dad, Brody.
“Caramel frappuccino, heavy on the caramel. I need the caffeine and sugar boost. Another night of no sleep. Sometimes I hate deadlines.” Camilla’s mouth opened in a huge yawn almost before she finished the words.
“I’m sure your readers appreciate your sleepless nights every time they read one of your books, sugar. I know I do.” Gracie had become a fan of Camilla’s books after the writer moved to Shiloh Springs. She loved the mix of romance woven into her suspenseful stories. It didn’t hurt that the spicy and steamy love scenes were smoking hot, either.
“Thanks. I love what I do, honestly. I am having fits with this scene I’m working on. The characters aren’t cooperating at all. You’d think they’d do what I want, since I created them, but no, they want to do the opposite of what I intended.” Camilla leaned forward and brushed her fingertip against the baby’s cheek. “Not like you, right, Patrick?”
Gracie felt a teeny bit of envy, looking at Patrick, held lovingly in his mother’s arms. Felt an emptiness inside she couldn’t explain. Lately, her biological clock had been ticking louder and louder, and she did her best to ignore it. After all, it was kind of hard to think about having a child when she didn’t even have a man in her life. Oh, she dated occasionally, but she hadn’t found anybody who made her heartbeat speed up at the sight of him. Hadn’t found anybody who made her think about settling.
Not that she’d ever stay in one place too long. She couldn’t. Too many ghosts. Too many demons in her past. She had this place that she’d built from scratch, but one day she’d need to move on, and she’d leave it behind. No matter how much she loved her shop, loved interacting with the town folk of Shiloh Springs, she wasn’t the type to stay in one place too long. Thankfully, she hadn’t had the itch to move along to the next place. Not yet, anyway.
“Okay, that’s two hot chocolates extra whipped cream, and one caramel frap, add extra caramel. What about you, Serena? What’ll you have?”
Serena looked up from her phone, where she’d been typing like mad. “Large coffee, black, two sugars. And make it to go, please. Looks like I’m going to have to calm down a client who’s getting cold feet about closing on her new house. She’s a first-time buyer and terrified that she’s making a mistake. Gotta convince her everything’s going to be fine.”
Gracie turned to the counter and gave the order to the barista, knowing she’d get it processed ASAP. She walked with the ladies as they commandeered the four-top by the big window fronting her shop. She loved that she’d been able to find a space for her shop right on Main Street with a large front window, where people walking by could not only smell the wonderful scent of freshly brewed coffee, but glance inside and see the cozy ambience Gracie had worked hard to instill in the place. She knew it was a temporary stopgap, but she wanted to bring small moments of happiness to others, even if it was only with a cup of coffee.
“I wasn’t expecting you to come in today. I’d planned on running the drinks across to Jill’s place, like usual. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always glad to see you ladies. Just wondering about the personal drop in.”
“We’re being nosy.” Tessa grinned at Gracie, the cheeky smile lighting up her face. “Rafe mentioned Nick Vincent was dropping by today, and we wanted to be front and center to get the scoop as soon as they’re finished.”
“Well, I can confirm Nick, Rafe, and Chance were here just a few minutes ago. I can’t tell you what they were talking about, but they got their orders to go and headed toward Rafe’s office.”
“Dang, I hoped I’d get a chance to see Nick, since I’m worried he’s feeling guilty. Last time he was here, at the hospital, it was obvious he felt like Antonio’s getting shot was his fault.” Tessa shook her head. “Rafe said Nick thinks the bullet that hit Antonio was meant for him.”
Gracie let Tessa’s words sink in. If it was true, it might explain the haunted look she’d noted in Nick’s eyes that morning. There was something weighing heavily on the man, that much was obvious. She remembered him slipping from the hospital waiting room several weeks ago, where they’d been gathered, awaiting word on Antonio, hoping the surgeon would bring good news. The last time she’d seen him, he’d simply left without saying goodbye to anyone.
“I don’t know much about him. Of course, I saw him at the vow renewal, and again at the hospital, but that’s about it. Oh, and that he’s one of Ms. Patti’s Lost Boys.”
Beth chuckled and turned to Camilla, who suddenly had a gleam in her eye that hadn’t been there before. “You’re the born storyteller. You want to fill Gracie in on Nick?”
Camilla chuckled. “You guys know all this stuff better than me, but I can share what I know.” She blinked up at Gracie, who stood beside their table. “You got a few minutes?”
Gracie chuckled as she pulled up a chair. “For good gossip? Girlfriend, I am always free.”
Tessa and Beth leaned forward, ready to share all they knew about the mysterious Nick. Normally, Gracie loved finding out about everything going on in Shiloh Springs, but she’d been a bit reluctant to ask about the reclusive Nicholas Vincent. She knew his full name because she’d heard Douglas mention it while they’d been in the waiting room at the hospital. And if she was being totally honest with herself, she’d googled him, hoping to find out anything about the tall blond stranger. Too bad she’d come up almost empty.
Emma brought their order over, distributing their drinks quickly and efficiently, and most importantly, she gave everybody their correct order. Gracie thanked her, asking her to man the register for a few minutes.
Serena picked up her coffee and her bag, slinging the large purse over her shoulder as she stood. “Wish I could stay, because I really want to know more about Nick, too. Y’all will have to catch me up later, because Antonio isn’t telling me anything. I’m sure he knows a whole lot more about what’s going on than he’s saying, but for some reason he’s keeping his lips sealed.” She stopped long enough to drop a quick kiss on Patrick’s forehead before heading out the door.
“None of the guys are saying much, to be honest,” Camilla paused, and Tessa and Beth nodded.
“Rafe’s been pretty close-mouthed too.”
“But I was able to get Ms. Patti talking the other day.” She looked at Gracie. “You know he’s one of her Lost Boys, right?”
Gracie nodded.
“You might not remember, back when Joshua and Lauren were being targeted by Winston Brashear. He sent his hitman, right hand guy, whatever you want to call it, after Lauren.” Camilla paused before adding, “That was Nick.”
Gracie’s eyes widened. “What? Wait, wasn’t that some dark-haired, middle-Eastern guy? I seem to recall a big commotion, with Rafe arresting somebody and hauling them into the station in handcuffs.”
Tessa nodded eagerly. “Turned out that was Nick, undercover.”
“Wow.”
“Yep. Nick worked undercover for the Australian Secret Service or whatever they call it down under. Changed his name, his appearance, everything, so he could get the goods on Brashear. Things kind of fell apart for him when Ms. Patti recognized him. That woman,” Camilla glanced around the table at each woman, “she’s unbelievable. She hadn’t seen Nick since he was a kid, when he’d lived at the Big House for only a couple months and was taken back by Social Services. Yet fifteen years later she takes one look at this man, this stranger, and recognizes him.”
Gracie tried to wrap her head around what Camilla had revealed. She couldn’t imagine finding somebody after all that time, although she knew some of the boys who’d come to live on the Boudreau ranch when they were young. Kids out of the CPS system who were given a second chance and ended up not being able to stay had made their way back to Shiloh Springs. Back to Ms. Patti and Douglas.
“Rafe and Antonio didn’t recognize him. Neither did any of the others there, but Ms. Patti knew. Somehow she knew. Even with the dyed hair and the contact lens, her heart knew this was one of her boys. Which, in turn, blew his cover sky high. Turns out he’d been sent by Brashear to kidnap Lauren and baby Daniel, but Nick wasn’t going to do that. He was going to warn them about what Brashear was up to, and figure out a way to keep Brashear from finding out he was working to take him down.”
“And Ms. Patti screwed up all his plans by figuring out who he was.” Gracie shook her head, trying to imagine what Ms. Patti must have felt when she saw one of her boys standing in front of her all those years later. If it had been her, would she have been able to discern the grown adult man from the young, troubled boy? Somehow she doubted it.
“Ms. Patti said it took her a minute because of the disguise, but in her heart, she knew. Knew it was the same Nick she and Douglas spent years searching for, once they realized he went missing shortly after he was taken from their home. That’s not the sad part of this story.” Camilla stopped long enough to take a sip of her drink, and Gracie wanted to shake her, make her keep going. The fascination she felt for the man, who was basically a stranger was something she couldn’t explain, but she wanted to know everything about him.
“Sad part?”
“Uh-huh. We,” she motioned to the other ladies seated around the table, “don’t know a whole lot, which is odd, because we know pretty much everybody’s stories when it comes to their relationships with Douglas and Ms. Patti. But, Nick seems to be a bit of an enigma. What we do know is sketchy at best, but the Boudreaus were told that Nick was being sent back to live with his mother. She’d gone through rehab and supposedly got clean, and the state felt that it was safe to place Nick back in her home.” Camilla made a scoffing noise in the back of her throat. “From what I heard—secondhand of course—Nick wasn’t there more than a couple of weeks before he went missing.”
The bottom fell out of Gracie’s stomach with Camilla’s statement. This sounded all too familiar. She’d know so many kids who’d gone back to live with their parents, after being in CPS custody, only to either end up back in the system or living on the streets. She couldn’t imagine going from a loving home like Douglas and Ms. Patti provided, and ending up back in an untenable situation. It was heartbreaking to even think about.
“The police investigated, though everybody who has seen the file claims calling it any kind of an investigation is a farce. They barely looked, determined he was a runaway and that he’d come home eventually. What home did he have to come back to? One where his father had never been in the picture? Where his mother was a recovering alcoholic and drug addict? I can’t even…”
Gracie drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. How horrible it must’ve been for Nick, especially since he’d gotten a taste of what a real, loving family was like. She thought about the poor little kid he must have been back then, being pulled in every direction, having no control of what he wanted, where he lived. Because she knew if she’d been in the same situation what she’d have chosen, and it wasn’t to go back to her biological parents. Her life hadn’t been a bed of roses, but it sounded like Nick’s life had been a living nightmare.
“What happened to him? I mean, if the police thought he was a runaway, I doubt they kept looking very hard.”
Camilla looked across at Tessa and Beth before finally meeting Gracie’s gaze. “He hasn’t told Ms. Patti or Douglas much, but we do know that he was—sold. He disappeared because his drug addicted mother, who hadn’t stayed clean more than a couple of days after she got him back, sold him for her next fix.”
Gracie couldn’t stop the string of curses that sprang from her lips. Fortunately, they were in Spanish, so she kind of hoped the ladies wouldn’t understand them. A hot, fiery rage boiled deep inside, the heat like a living, breathing beast rising, seeking a target to burn to cinders. Too bad his mother wasn’t standing in front of her, because she’d be nothing but a pile of ashes for treating an innocent child, her own flesh and blood, like he was nothing.
“Rafe and Antonio had a hacker cough Destiny cough digging to see what they could find, searching for any kind of a trail. Rafe looked years ago, wanting to try and give some kind of closure to his parents, and everything he found, all the records, showed that Nicholas Vincent had died.”
“Died? Okay, that’s strange. I understand the cops letting the case go cold, but wouldn’t they have needed some kind of paperwork, documentation of Nick’s death to file with the county or the state? Sounds fishy.”
“Gracie, that’s exactly why they’ve had…somebody…looking into the paperwork. Heath thinks whoever bought Nick back then had the fake documents done so there wouldn’t be a search for the kid. After all, runaways and teens living on the street die all the time. It’s sad but true. Nick would have just been a statistic, and if they produced a body to go with the paperwork, it was probably a done deal with nobody the wiser.” Anger colored Camilla’s expression, so fierce Gracie wondered if the other woman was going to explode.
Beth rocked Patrick gently against her chest. “I cannot fathom how any mother could do that to their child. If anything happened to Patrick, I’d scour the earth until I found him again, no matter what it took.”
Gracie needed to move, to get up and walk away before she said something she’d regret. Something that might reveal far too much of her past, what she’d hidden away deep in her soul, where nobody could find out she wasn’t who she said.
“Thanks for sharing, ladies. Looks like traffic’s picking up, so I need to get back behind the counter. Can I get you refills on anything?”
When they shook their heads, Gracie paused long enough to look down at Patrick, sleeping so innocently in his mother’s arms, knowing nothing of the evil the world around him could perpetrate. She prayed he never found out.