Texas-Sized Trouble Read online

  “But my father refused to pay and they started getting desperate,” Faith said.

  “Then we realized Nicholas was missing and started investigating. They got nervous and tried to snatch you,” Ryder added. “But they didn’t want to get into too much trouble because as soon as you dropped my name they let you go.”

  “All signs point to amateurs being involved so far,” Tommy said. “And they would fit the bill. We also know there’s a woman involved.”

  “What about the third person who was found in the SUV?” Faith asked, her bottom lip trembling, and Ryder could see how much effort it was taking for her not to cry.

  “Let’s operate under the assumption that Nicholas is fine until we hear differently,” Tommy said. “It’s a good sign that the sheriff issued an Amber Alert.”

  The silence in the room was deafening.

  “Okay. So tonight’s attack. What does that mean?” Faith asked, rubbing her wrists again.

  “You weren’t hurt in any way and that’s another good sign for Nicholas,” Tommy said.

  “Except that the people who tried to kidnap me are dead,” Faith said.

  “Your father refused to pay and plans are falling apart. People are getting desperate,” Tommy agreed. “Let’s follow the evidence and see where it leads.”

  “If the kidnappers are starting to panic,” Faith said after a thoughtful moment, “that’s not good news for my brother.”

  * * *

  JANIS BROUGHT FOOD from the main house. There was no way Faith could eat until she knew if her brother was alive. Her nerves were on edge and she jumped every time someone’s cell phone buzzed.

  Most everyone made small talk while waiting for word from Tommy, who’d been called away for a different investigation. Ryder insisted that Faith stay seated on the couch if she wasn’t willing to comply with complete bed rest. Under the circumstances, he seemed to understand why that was currently impossible.

  The knock at the door had Faith ready to jump off the sofa. A woman came in with a baby on her arm, and a chocolate Lab followed them both. The mother and child were bundled up like it was Alaska in the dead of winter, and that made Faith smile.

  “Who’s this guy?” Faith asked Ryder as the hundred-pound Lab came toward her, tail wagging.

  “That old boy is Denali,” he said, bending down long enough to scratch behind the ears of the big dog who walked straight over to Faith and sat down at her feet.

  Ryder was called into the kitchen while Faith took over ear-scratching duty.

  After watching the woman peel off layer upon layer of outerwear, Faith recognized her.

  “You must be Kate Williams. Congratulations to both you and Dallas. I hear you make a great couple,” Faith said, extending a hand as the frazzled mom sat next to her on the couch. Dallas took the active baby from her arms, insisting it was his turn to hold the black-haired boy.

  “It’s really nice to meet you, Faith,” Kate said after shaking hands. The woman wasn’t tall but she seemed like the type who could hold her own, and Faith respected that. “I was just thinking how nice it’ll be to have another woman on the ranch.”

  “Oh, we’re not...actually...” Faith was pretty sure her cheeks had turned a dozen shades of red.

  “I’m sorry,” Kate quickly said. “I should know better than to assume. Dallas and I had an unusual courtship to say the least. And it’s just that you and Ryder look good together, so I just assumed.”

  “We’re friends,” Faith said. “And we’re going to have to figure out how to raise a baby together.”

  Kate looked at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. “That’s as good a place to start as any.”

  Faith smiled, thinking it would be nice to have one genuine female friend. Then again, she didn’t plan to stick around once Nicholas turned up, if he turned up. She just prayed that she wasn’t about to have to ID a body. She shook off the thought before the walls crumbled around her.

  “Your son is adorable,” Faith said to Kate, refocusing.

  “Thank you. He’s nine months old now,” Kate said. “I might be able to wrangle him away from Dallas if you’d like to hold him.”

  “Later?” Faith asked, not sure she was ready for that step. What if she upset him? Or he cried? No matter how much she already felt attached to the little bean growing in her stomach, she wasn’t sure she felt prepared to care for a baby. Especially with the parenting examples she’d had.

  Kate smiled and gave an understanding nod. Faith was grateful. She didn’t want to turn off a possible new ally.

  After the meal was set up buffet-style, Faith was surprised again by the O’Briens when everyone took a seat around the table to eat. It had always been her and her mother at the table. There had been plenty of days when a meal for her mother could be found in a cocktail glass.

  She couldn’t help but look at Jackson, especially as he was being held by Dallas. The bond between the two of them so evident. Would Ryder seem as natural with their child?

  Joshua leaned over to Ryder and Faith could hear the conversation since Ryder kept her by his side.

  “Did you hear about Uncle Ezra?” Joshua asked.

  “Being brought in for questioning again,” Ryder said, nodding. “Has Tommy said anything?”

  “Ezra has a solid alibi for the night of our parents’ murders,” Joshua said.

  “He and Aunt Bea were having it out over her chickens again,” Ryder added. “I wonder what Tommy thinks he’s going to find with Uncle Ezra? Are you questioning whether or not he’s a suspect?”

  “Tommy can’t say one way or another and I wouldn’t expect him to. Gets me wondering what he thinks Uncle Ezra might know,” Joshua said.

  Ryder’s aunt and uncle were notorious for not getting along in a family as tight-knit as the O’Briens. But then, that closeness seemed to have come about because of Ryder’s parents, both of whom had reputations for being good, honest people in Bluff. Faith could admit that she held the same high regard for the family. And they’d proved it once again now that everyone they’d broken the news to about the unplanned pregnancy seemed to accept it. The O’Brien brothers may have been shocked at first but they’d adjusted and genuinely seemed concerned about her safety.

  The sentiment was almost unrecognizable to Faith. For a split second she wondered if they wanted something from her. It was silly, really, but she’d never seen that kind of acceptance in her own family.

  A part of her was relieved that her child would be loved unconditionally by one side of the family. Except that also complicated everything...

  No one in her family knew about the baby and she needed to keep it that way. Or be long gone by the time they found out.

  Nothing was going according to plan. She’d been holding back from leaving so that she could spend as much time with Nicholas as possible before she disappeared.

  Thinking about family had her wondering about her own mother. Did she wake up wondering where Faith was? What would her father say to her? Anything?

  Faith tugged on Ryder’s hand and then flashed her eyes at him when he looked at her.

  “You’re worried about your mother, aren’t you?” Ryder asked in a low voice.

  “Yes,” she admitted, thinking the strong connection she had with Ryder was odd to say the least. He knew her better than her own family even though they’d really only known each other for a short time. Really known each other and not just preconceived notions they’d had growing up in the same town because she was a McCabe and he was an O’Brien.

  Ryder’s cell phone rang. The room went dead quiet.

  “It’s Tommy,” he said and then put the call on speaker after informing the sheriff.

  “The Hattie family moved outside of San Antonio after losing their land to the McCabes. Once they left Bluff, the family de
clined. Their two sons, Douglas and Shaw, have criminal records for petty crimes in the past year. Turns out, they got involved in stealing cars and home invasions,” Tommy said. “They’re racking up quite a record. Shaw has a girlfriend who fits Hannah’s description.” There was a pause and voices could be heard in the background. “Hold on,” Tommy said. “I have a positive ID on the bodies found in Braxton County this morning.”

  Faith held her breath, fearing this would be the news that she’d been dreading ever since Nicholas had gone missing. Even Ryder’s comforting hand couldn’t stop her body from shaking.

  “Douglas and Shaw Hattie have been confirmed,” Tommy said. “The third victim fits the description of Hannah.”

  Faith’s breath came out in a sharp gasp.

  She didn’t have a chance to digest the news before Celeste walked through the door with Gideon, the head of O’Brien security. She faintly heard the call with Tommy being ended in the background.

  “Why am I here?” Her eyes were wild, and fear was stamped all over the worry lines of her face.

  “It’s for your safety,” Ryder said. “We have reason to believe you might be in danger.”

  “Oh.” She thought about that for a moment. Her gaze intensified. “I’m taking it that you still haven’t found my boy.”

  “No. But the men we believe were involved in his kidnapping have been found dead,” Ryder said. “And so has the girl who lured him away.”

  Celeste gasped and her hand flew to her chest above her heart.

  “We’re doing everything we can to find your son,” Ryder reassured. “So is our sheriff as well as Braxton’s.”

  She gave a nod as she struggled against the tears welling in her eyes. Faith understood the mixed emotions that seemed to be running through Celeste, because she was feeling all of those and more. Relief that Nicholas wasn’t dead. Scared that the people who’d abducted him had locked him up somewhere and he’d die of starvation or dehydration now that they were gone. Frightened that whoever killed them now had her brother. Faith absolutely knew that he would make contact with her if he was able.

  “Can we talk outside?” Faith asked Celeste, knowing that walking into a room full of O’Briens was most likely overwhelming enough for her even before she heard the news.

  Celeste didn’t immediately respond. Her gaze bounced from Ryder to Faith before she nodded.

  Faith ignored the look from Ryder, the one that worried she wouldn’t be delicate with Celeste. After seeing the panic in the woman’s eyes, Faith was starting to accept how much Celeste loved Nicholas. She could work with that and try to put the past behind them, if Celeste could. Besides, seeing Jackson had brought up all of Faith’s fears that she wouldn’t know what to do with a child, and for the first time, she could sympathize with a woman who had no financial backing and no emotional support. Nicholas could’ve done a lot worse.

  The chilly air goose-bumped her arms as Faith led Nicholas’s mother onto the back patio. She welcomed the cold but picked up a quilt for Celeste on the way out. The sky was cloudless and stars shone bright against the canopy of cobalt blue.

  “You want to sit?” Faith motioned toward the rocking chair. A matching chair nestled on the other side of a small table. As crazy as the evening had been, Ryder’s place felt like home, and she figured it was the small touches like the quilt that made it feel like she belonged there.

  Celeste nodded and shivered.

  Faith placed the quilt around Nicholas’s mother’s shoulders. “I’m worried about him, too.”

  “I didn’t want to admit it at first but I can tell that you care for Nicholas,” Celeste said after a thoughtful pause.

  “He’s the only good thing that ever came from McCabe blood,” Faith said, and then added. “And I think that’s because he has you.”

  Celeste’s smile didn’t reach her eyes and Faith knew why. The woman was worried about her son. Even so, the acknowledgment meant a lot to her.

  “It’s not a good sign that his kidnappers are dead and they haven’t found him yet, is it?” Celeste asked, looking out at the vast sky.

  “I’m keeping my hopes up, thinking positive,” Faith admitted.

  “I’ve never been so scared before,” Celeste said.

  “Me, either.” There was no reason to hold back. Maybe if Celeste knew how much Faith loved Nicholas she’d agree to let him move to Michigan with her.

  “You think something’s happened to him?” Celeste asked.

  Faith shrugged. “I don’t want to allow myself to think like that.”

  “You got a good man in there,” Celeste said, thoughtfully.

  “I’m pregnant,” Faith admitted, and it felt good to be able to tell someone else. “It’s the only reason he agreed to help in the first place. And I blackmailed him into doing it. He didn’t know he was a father before I dropped that bomb on him.”

  Faith was a little baffled as to why she felt the need to confide in Celeste. She’d say that it felt good to talk to someone, anyone, but the truth was that she was beginning to actually like and respect Nicholas’s mother—a woman who was bringing up a good young man on a shoestring budget with no support.

  Celeste reached out and took Faith’s hand in hers and the two sat quietly for a long time. It was a peaceful silence, a camaraderie that Faith had never felt before with another woman. A few moments ago with Kate on the couch was the closest she’d ever come.

  “I’ve been in that situation before. With my Nicholas. A good man won’t walk away,” Celeste said.

  “Ryder would do the right thing if I let him,” she said. “Trapping him is unfair to everyone.”

  “Then you don’t see what I do,” Celeste said after another thoughtful pause.

  “Yeah? What’s that?” Faith asked.

  “That man has real feelings for you. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be here. He might do the right thing by his own child but he wouldn’t be looking for Nicholas, pregnant or not.”

  “He’s a good man. I basically blackmailed him into helping me find Nicholas. What kind of trust is that to build on?” Faith asked, listening for any trace of judgment in the woman’s voice. She couldn’t find any. There was sympathy and kindness. No judgment. And she felt like a jerk for being so hard on Celeste’s parenting. Faith’s child hadn’t even been born yet and she could already see that none of this was going to be easy. And trying to make ends meet as a single mother who’d had no opportunity had to have been the worst feeling. Was Celeste perfect? No. Neither was Faith. It was time to jump off her high horse and keep her feet on the ground. See the truth.

  “I can see why you’d think that,” Celeste said. “And no one wants to feel like a man married them because he was forced to. There’s nothing in that man’s eyes that makes me think he wouldn’t have helped you if you’d asked, baby or not.”

  Faith let that thought simmer. Could it be true? Or was she tempted to believe what she heard because she was pregnant and wanted to give her baby a family? Her hormones were so far out of whack she couldn’t decide one way or the other.

  “You’ve been a good mom to him,” Faith said after a few minutes.

  “I have not been anything of the sort,” Celeste snorted. “I’ve done my best, don’t get me wrong, but—”

  “Nicholas is a great kid,” Faith countered. “That didn’t come from my side of the family.”

  Celeste looked up at the stars, seeming to contemplate what Faith had said. “You turned out all right.”

  Faith’s cell phone buzzed before she could thank Celeste. She squeezed her hand and Celeste seemed to understand what that meant before Faith let go and fished her cell phone out of her pocket.

  There was a text from her mother. Faith’s heart skidded as she read:

  I know what’s going on with your father. I can help.


  Meet me at Farmer’s Mill Road. You know where.

  At the end of Farmer’s Mill Road was a cornfield where her mother had taken Faith and her brothers the first of every October to kick off the Halloween season when she was a kid. There were hayrides and a pumpkin patch at the mouth of the corn maze. Her brothers had always immediately broken off, running into the maze and jumping out to scare her, except for Jesse. He was the closest thing to a decent McCabe boy, and he seemed the most sympathetic to their mother. She hoped that he would take care of their mother once Faith disappeared.

  “I need to show this to Ryder,” Faith said. “You coming inside?”

  “In a minute,” Celeste said. “I like it out here.”

  Faith put her hand on Celeste’s. “Thank you for what you said before.”

  “It’s true. I meant every word.”

  “That means a lot to me,” Faith said, wiping away a stray tear. “When we get Nicholas back, I’d like to be there for both of you.” Faith’s hand went to her belly. “I have a feeling that we’re going to need all the family around we can get.”

  Celeste practically beamed. It was her first real smile since this whole ordeal had begun.

  “We’re going to find him and bring him home. I promise,” Faith said.

  “I hope so. He’s my world.”

  “I know that, too.” Faith made a beeline for Ryder the second she spotted him in the kitchen. He was holding baby Jackson, and her heart galloped at the sight.

  He looked up and his face morphed as soon as he picked up on Faith’s heightened emotions. He handed the boy over to one of his brothers and met her halfway across the room.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  She showed him her cell phone. “I have to go.”

  “We’ll see what she knows,” he said after reading the text. Ryder let everyone know what was happening before he and Faith left in his truck.