Chapter 19 #2
They continued on their way, but she kept scanning the people near her. At one time she thought she saw Poppy, but the person turned her head and she saw that she was mistaken. She really needed to get a grip on herself. There was no one watching her or Finn.
“Here we are,” Finn announced and she blew out a breath. Looking at the table where an array of various models were laid out, she placed her hand on Finn’s shoulder, not wanting anything to happen to him.
“Wow, these look great. What do you like the look of?” she asked her charge.
“Hmm . . . I don’t know.” He picked up a car and looked at it, turning it one way and then the next before putting it down.
Someone came up beside her, reaching across the table to pick up a tractor before putting it down again.
Not only had the person invaded her personal space, and practically brushed their arm against hers, but their body odor had also joined the party.
She crossed her fingers Finn didn’t say anything to draw attention to them.
Shifting a little and nudging Finn along the table a tiny bit, she hoped the person got the message that he was too close.
“I think I like this one, Cerise.” He held up an airplane. To her amateur eye it looked really complicated, but she didn’t think Brodie would have any issues with it.
“Are you sure this is the one you want?”
“Well, I couldn’t decide between this one or the fire engine. You know, seeing as Brodie’s a firefighter.”
Her heart clenched at how Finn wanted to get something that was associated with Brodie.
Having spent so much time together recently, it was clear that both Brodie and Finn had forged a close bond together.
And she couldn’t be happier. As much as she didn’t want Poppy hurt, she prayed the other woman would be open to her adopting Finn. “How about we get both then?”
He turned to her, his face bright and excited. The man next to her moved away and for that she was grateful. “Can I really get both, Cerise?”
“Yep.” She pulled her credit card out of her cross body purse and handed it to the man behind the table. “Tell the man which ones you’d like, Finn.”
The bearded man laughed. “I know what he wants.” With careful movements he pulled the two boxes out of the pile behind him and popped them in a plastic bag. “Here you go, young man. I hope you have lots of fun with them.”
Finn grabbed them and gripped the bag tightly, as if he’d never received something so awesome in his life. Which she doubted; she didn’t think his parents wouldn’t have gotten him things he wanted, but maybe over the past two years, he hadn’t.
God, she needed to stop thinking badly about Poppy. The woman was doing the best she could. She just seemed to make the wrong choices when it came to her life.
“Okay, where to now?” She zipped her bag after putting her credit card back in.
“How long until we meet Brodie?”
Cerise looked at her watch. “Another hour, buddy.”
“Oh, darn, okay. I suppose we could go look at some of the flowers.”
“Sounds like a plan. Now hook that bag over your arm so you don’t lose it if someone accidentally bumps into you.”
“Okay.” He did as instructed, and then took her hand without asking. Her heart melted at the gesture and the fact he wasn’t embarrassed to be seen holding her hand.
They strolled through the crowd, stopping at a couple of other tents, looking at their wares, and again the sensation she was being watch rippled through her.
Maybe it was Brodie. Maybe he’d finished early and was coming up to them.
But the feeling was different to what she’d experienced when Brodie was close.
Then she’d never felt like she wanted to take a shower and wash the sensation off.
With Brodie she wanted to jump his bones and get close to him.
The crowd seemed to get a little thicker, the closer they got to where the main field of bluebonnets was. “Stick close to me, Finn. I don’t want to lose you.” Even though they were holding hands, anything could happen.
The next instant she felt something jammed into her side. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll come with me. And you won’t make a fuss.”
Everything inside of her shut down. Thought wasn’t possible.
Walking wasn’t possible. Her body seemed to be made up of jelly, all wobbly with no substance.
But a split second later, everything fired back to life and her first thought was to push Finn into the crowd.
If he was free, he could go get Brodie. But then, he wouldn’t know why she’d pushed him.
“What do you want?” she asked as the man dug the gun deeper into her side, encouraging her to keep walking.
“I really want the kid, but you’re a bonus.” He hooked a hand around her arm and steered her away from the crowd.
“Hey, Cerise, where are we going?”
“Umm . . .” Shit, she had to think quick to keep calm.
“Ed? What are you doing here? Where’s Aunt Poppy?”
“Hey, kid, your aunt missed you. She wants to see you and, when I saw you here at the festival, I thought it would be nice for you to go visit her.”
Finn looked like he was about to argue, and he had no idea that she had a gun pointed at her. Whatever she did, she had to keep Finn safe. “Oh, that’s really cool. Come on, Finn. I bet you want to see your aunt too.”
“Well done,” Ed spoke low in her ear. “Maybe I won’t get rid of you straightaway. Maybe we’ll have some fun together. And I’m sure the boyfriend will be happy to pay a nice sum for your freedom, when I’m ready.”
A shudder of revulsion washed over her. She didn’t think she would like the type of fun he was talking about. And how did he know about Brodie’s money situation?
What did it matter what he knew and how he knew it? If she and Finn were going to get out of this, she would have to keep a cool head. She hadn’t survived a tornado to die at the hands of a madman.
If . . . no . . . when she got herself and Finn out of this, no way was she going to let Poppy have Finn again. Not if the type of men she hooked up with were happy kidnapping a nine-year-old.
Looking at the sky, she sent a mental message: Brodie, somehow, someway, please find us.