Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
TEAGAN
The color drained out of Mary’s face, and she gripped the corner of the counter for support. With her free hand, she crossed herself. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” she murmured. “It cannot be.”
Teagan smiled patiently. Mary was taking it better than she’d expected.
“Tom! Tom!” she yelled back to the kitchen, refusing to take her eyes off Teagan, as if she were afraid she’d disappear. “Come out here now!”
Other patrons turned curiously at Mary’s desperate plea. The place was packed, every booth filled, every spinnable stool at the counter occupied.
A harried waitress turned to see what Mary was gaping at and promptly dropped her tray, sending ceramic plates and glasses shattering against the floor. “Sweet Mary, Mother of God,” she said.
Tom, the owner, pushed through the swinging doors. The bustling diner was now quiet enough to hear a pin drop. When he saw who stood before Mary, his eyes grew wide, his lips parted.
“Teagan McKenna.”
Customers whispered excitedly back and forth, several of them pulling out their cell phones. Saughannock was an old town. And still a relatively small one. There were plenty here who recognized that name, knew her face, even if they had never met her personally. Teagan McKenna had been big news.
“Somebody, call the sheriff,” someone mumbled.
Teagan fought the urge to squirm under the attention. This was what she had come for. The more people who knew of her return, the faster this would be over.
Not that she had any clue what she would do when it was.
She hadn’t allowed herself to think that far ahead.
Half of her didn’t expect to see the sun rise tomorrow; the other half knew that if she did, it wouldn’t matter anyway.
She could think of absolutely nothing to look forward to, except not being a harbinger of danger to those around her.
“Never thought we’d see you again,” Tom said, his eyes holding a telltale sheen of moisture.
He’d been so kind to her once. He’d given her a job and paid her in cash under the table. Ensured she had at least one hot meal every shift. “Forgot” to lock the door to the back room in case she needed a place to stay.
Tom opened his mouth to say something, but Teagan stopped him. She knew that he had known—or strongly suspected—what had been going on back then. Knew by the look in his eyes that he harbored guilt for not doing more. For not speaking up. She could have told him that it wouldn’t have done any good.
Her fingers rested lightly on his forearm. “It’s okay, Tom.”
“A news crew is on their way,” someone said from over by the window.
Teagan looked at Tom. “Do you want me to leave?”
It was going to be a media circus, and everyone knew it.
Tom captured her hands in his. “You stay for as long as you want.”
She smiled gratefully and thanked him. He led her over to a table reserved for staff. It was toward the back corner, out of the way, and afforded more privacy than any other spot in the place.
Teagan sat down with her coffee and sipped it appreciatively.
“Janice, bring some of those rolls over here,” he commanded.
“Honey-glazed?” Teagan asked hopefully.
Tom chuckled. He’d remembered.
“Fresh out of the oven, darlin’.” He smiled. “You need anything—anything—just say the word.”
“Thank you.”
For a moment, she thought about asking him to sit down with her, to form a human barrier against the barrage of curiosity seekers trying to get a glimpse, but she kept silent. It was too late to back out now.
She sipped her coffee, nibbled at the rolls, and did her best to ignore the stares and whispers.
Across the street was the Saughannock town square.
She gazed through the window at the tree that had filled so many of her dreams when she was younger.
Even though the massive spruce was bigger and grander, it couldn’t hold a candle to the one in Noah’s cabin, not in her eyes.
She felt his presence before she saw him. The hair on the back of her neck rose, a prickling of awareness ghosting over her skin. It was a familiar sensation, the kind you could only recognize after years of being close to someone.
“Teagan.” He whispered her name like a prayer.
The sound of his voice rippled through her, bringing forth the conflicting feelings she’d come to expect around him.
For so many years, she had loved him like a brother.
A tiny part of her still remembered him as her protector, the one she had sometimes protected in turn.
However, another part—a bigger part—remembered what he had done to her.
How badly he had hurt her and tried to harm those around her.
She turned away from the window to the man from her nightmares. Dark, smoldering eyes glared back at her with an intensity that made it hard to breathe. What she’d once thought of as mad brilliance was now simply madness simmering just below the surface.
“Josh.”
He slid into the booth across from her, taking her hands in his.
She wasn’t sure who was shaking more, her or him.
His hands were calloused and rough, making her feel fragile and small.
His hair was longer than she remembered, framing a face that was now all man, with no trace of the scrappy, mischievous boy he had once been.
Her stomach clenched as she recalled the countless nights they’d spent together in the woods. Sometimes in a makeshift treehouse. Sometimes in a fort they’d cobbled together out of branches and boughs. Her, hiding from her stepfather. Him, because no one else cared.
They’d looked out for each other then. Before loyalty and devotion changed into something twisted and dark. She hadn’t recognized the shift until it was too late. Or maybe she’d just ignored the signs, not wanting to believe.
“I knew you’d come home,” he said, never taking his eyes from hers. Tenderly, he lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them, closing his eyes briefly.
Teagan was vaguely aware of the crowd of curious onlookers and shifted uneasily. Josh opened his eyes and noticed.
“A little privacy, please,” he said, raising his voice to those around them. As they backed away, he flashed Teagan a chastising half smile. “I was hoping your homecoming would be more private.”
His eyes flared with a familiar heat as he studied her face, allowing his gaze to travel down her loose curls, shorter now than they once had been.
Teagan tried to pull her hands away, but he held on tight.
“You have to let me go, Josh.”
He smiled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Why? It’s always been just the two of us against the world. You know that.” His voice was low and soothing, like the way he would speak to her when he was trying to calm her down.
“That was a long time ago,” she said, her voice low but urgent. “You have to stop, Josh. Stop hunting me. Stop hurting people.”
“I missed you,” he said, as if she hadn’t spoken, and brought her fingers to his lips again.
The sheriff’s car pulled up across the street, followed moments later by a local news van.
Teagan glanced out the window and bit her lip. “I’m giving you this one chance. Stop this, or I’ll tell the sheriff everything.”
Josh raised an eyebrow. “Will you?” he said, his breath warm and moist on her fingertips.
“Yes.”
A manic gleam came into his eyes. “Marry me.”
Teagan’s eyes grew wide with shock. “Did you even hear what I said?”
“Marry me, Teagan. I’ll go down on bended knee right now if it will make you happy.”
“You’re insane.”
His eyes flashed with dark lightning. “Agree to be my wife, here in front of everyone, and I’ll give you my word that nothing will happen to the Zieglers.”
Teagan froze, her blood instantly going cold. “What?”
He shrugged. “They seem like good people. I’m just saying it would be a shame if something happened to them.”
“How did you …” Teagan asked.
“I’ve always been with you. Watching over you. Protecting you.” Josh glanced across the street.
Teagan nearly choked when she saw Noah’s sisters walking around the square, children in tow.
“Such beautiful children too. Family is so important, don’t you think?” he said with a smile that chilled the marrow in her bones.
Terror like she had never known washed over her. He wasn’t kidding. Somehow, he knew that they had helped her. He knew who they were, where they lived. She had doomed them all by coming here with Noah.
The sheriff paused outside the diner as a reporter shoved a microphone in his face. He tried to wave them away, but they were persistent.
Josh shifted slightly, giving her a glimpse of the weapons beneath his coat. Any fight left in her drained away as the horrible truth sank in. Josh didn’t issue idle threats, and he didn’t care who he had to hurt to get what he wanted. If she called out for help, people would die.
She closed her eyes. She had to get him away from here.
Teagan blinked the tears away and glanced out of the window again. The Zieglers were crossing the street, getting closer. “Swear it,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “Swear that if I go with you, you’ll stay away from them.”
The back of his hand caressed her cheek. “All I want is you, Teagan. When I have that, I’ll have no reason to concern myself with anyone else.”
Josh slid out of the booth just as the sheriff made his way through the door, the news crew struggling to push in behind him. With practiced showmanship, Josh got down on one knee and pulled a small box from his black leather jacket.
A hush fell across the diner.
“I have carried this with me every day for the past ten years, believing in my heart that, one day, you would come back to me. I don’t want to spend another day without you. Marry me, Teagan. Be my wife.”
A chorus of gasps and sighs rippled across the diner as everyone held their breath. Tears spilled over Teagan’s lashes. Not of joy, but despair. They didn’t know she’d just signed her own death warrant.
This was the end. Josh had won.
“Yes,” she said, bile rising in her throat as her insides went cold.