UNFORESEEN DANGER

Michelle Perry

Triskelion Publishing

Published by Triskelion Publishing www.triskelionpublishing.com

8190 W. Deer Valley Road, Peoria, AZ 85382 U.S.A.

First e-published by Triskelion Publishing

First e-publishing October2004

ISBN 1-932866-43-4

Cover art by Triskelion Publishing

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters places,

and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Chapter 1

Mid-Tennessee State Hospital

November 2

Pain. Pain blossomed, bright and sharp in her brain, unfurling like the petals of a rose. The mere flutter of her eyelids caused a white-hot explosion behind her eyes so brilliant that, for a moment, she saw nothing. She cried out and clutched her head in an attempt to stop the dazzling fireworks inside her skull.

“Nikki!” someone shouted, but she couldn’t answer, couldn’t move, as she fought the blackness that threatened to reclaim her.

Finally, the blinding pain dissipated into a dull, heavy ache.

Where was she?

The scent of pine disinfectant burned her nose. She shivered under the cool blast of air conditioning and slowly opened her eyes. Her head felt too heavy to lift, even if she had been game enough to try, but she wasn’t feeling particularly lucky at the moment. Her vision swam and seconds passed before she could focus on the woman hovering over her.

A nurse?

“There’s our girl!” The woman smiled and pressed a button by the bed. The intercom crackled to life and she said, “Please tell Dr. Carver the patient in 412 is awake.”

“Your handsome husband has been waiting on you, Nikki.” The nurse nodded and reached to take her pulse.

Carefully turning her head, she followed the nod and stared blankly at the dark-haired man in the corner.

There was some mistake.

He wasn’t her husband.

She wasn’t Nikki.

She was—

A tiny flutter of fear grew in the pit of her stomach.

She was—

Abruptly, confusion gave way to terror. It clutched her with icy fingers. Her breath left her in a rush and she began ripping at the wires and tubes attached to her.

“What’s wrong with her?” the man cried.

She clawed at her chest, trying desperately to breathe in an environment that suddenly seemed devoid of oxygen. Iron bands of panic snapped tight around her chest, crushing her under their weight.

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

She commanded herself to calm down, commanded her terrified mind to unlock her lungs. When air finally flooded back in, it made her head spin. Then she heard someone screaming, a high, keening sound of terror. It took her a moment to realize the screams were hers.

***

Doctors and nurses raced into the room. Nikki’s eyes rolled back and she began to convulse. Her small frame jerked in the bed as if an electric current surged through it.

“Get him out of here!” someone yelled. Hands grasped at Jake Hawthorne, who stood rooted to the green tile floor, watching his wife in grim horror. They shoved him out into the hall and slammed the door behind them.

“Nikki,” he whispered, unable to tear his eyes from that closed door. He couldn’t hear her anymore and somehow, the silence terrified him more than her tortured screams.

With as much fervor as he’d cursed her before, he prayed for her now.

As deeply as he had hated her then, he feared for her now.

An eternity passed before Dr. Carver came out to talk to him. Luke Carver was a friend and Jake knew from the look on his face that things were bad.

“Is s-she…?”

“Nikki’s okay,” Luke reassured him. “That was some panic attack, though.”

A wave of relief washed over Jake. “So…a panic attack? That’s all?”

Luke hesitated. “Jake…Nikki sustained some brain injury in the accident. She had a seizure, too.”

Jake hugged himself against the chill those words caused. “What do you mean, brain injury?”

“She has post-traumatic amnesia. She doesn’t remember her name, her address, or…you.” Luke frowned. “Jake, it disturbs me that she doesn’t remember her own name. Amnesia in real life is nothing like it is in the soap operas. It’s unusual for a person to lose such basic information as her own identity.”

“But she’ll remember everything eventually, right?”

“Hard to say. Most people with post-traumatic amnesia regain their memories gradually within six months—”

“But?” Jake prodded.

Luke sighed. “Depending on the person, it could be days or decades. Hopefully, I can tell you more after the CT scan, but right now, I just don’t know.”

His words stunned Jake. Luke continued, laying out the proposed treatment for her condition, but Jake scarcely heard him.

Nikki didn’t know him. It seemed absurd that, just a couple of days ago, she had jerked her wedding ring off and flung it at him, shouting that she wished she’d never met him.

Careful what you wish for, Nikki, he thought, and then felt guilty. No matter what had happened between him and Nikki, he couldn’t stand to see her suffer as she was now.

“Look, Jake. It’s possible that the Nikki in there will act nothing like the Nikki you love. She could experience bouts of forgetfulness, irritability, and confusion. She might need to be put on anti-epileptic medication for awhile, and it’s likely that she’ll have to go to rehab.” He shrugged. “On the other hand, her situation may improve dramatically once the swelling in her brain goes down and healthy brain cells start to take over for the damaged ones.”

Jake was numb, stricken by what he’d just seen and heard. He allowed Luke to guide him back to Nikki’s room, even though his first impulse was to turn and run.

Jake’s heart plummeted as he gazed at the pitiful creature that had once been his beautiful bride. She whimpered when she saw him and breathed deeply from the oxygen mask that she held to her face, but, thankfully, didn’t lapse into another panic attack.

Nothing could prepare him for the physical changes that had taken place in her since he had been forced from that room. Her skin, already pale from the accident, was now bleached as white as milk and her eyes were lined in black, not by mascara, but by anguish. Her hair lay wildly on her pillow, reminding him of the snakes of Medusa. Nikki had always taken great pains with her appearance, and it hurt him to see her this way.

He mustered up all the compassion he could for her and managed what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Nikki?” His smile felt sickly and pasted on as he approached her bed. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion and Jake could almost believe that he was caught in the middle of some horrible, sluggish nightmare. The look on Nikki’s face was something he could never have imagined, however, and Jake felt oddly trapped by the fear in her eyes. She lowered the oxygen mask and her lips moved feverishly, but he couldn’t yet make out what she was saying.

“Don’t you remember me? Jake?”

She shook her head, her lips never ceasing their frantic chant.

“—through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil—”

He managed to catch part of her faint refrain and lurched to a stop. His throat ached with the emotion caught there.

She was praying. His beautiful, haughty Nikki was praying.

She hadn’t attended church regularly since she was a girl, and he began to grasp how alone she felt. Despite himself, Jake’s heart went out to her.

He wanted to take her hand, but he was afraid that would frighten her, so he just talked softly to her.

“My name is Jake Hawthorne. I’m your husband.” He felt like a liar even as he said it. He thought of the divorce papers lying on his dresser, just waiting to be signed and filed.

In his heart, their marriage was over.

“I’ve been trying to reach your parents, Sara and Doug, but they’re in Europe and I haven’t been able to track them down yet,” Jake continued, nearly babbling in his nervousness. Her fear seemed to be ebbing somewhat. At least her lips had stopped moving as she watched him pace.

He wanted to find her parents, to figure out some way to get them to take her in and care for her. He didn’t think he could do it, not after what he found out about her this week. Jake wanted to walk out that door and never look back, but their marriage had once meant enough – to him, at least – that he just couldn’t leave her like this.

He rambled on about anything and everything, hoping to say something that would jar a memory in her. Nikki merely stared at him, as mute as a statue.

“Children?” she rasped.

Her voice startled Jake. He stared at her for a beat before he could reply, “No, we don’t have children.”

Nikki nodded and closed her eyes. She dropped off almost instantly to sleep.

How odd that Nikki had asked about children, Jake thought. He watched her for a moment, and then slipped outside in search of coffee.

The vending machine down the hall spat out a cup and Jake winced as he took the first gulp. As the bitter brew scalded his throat, Jake remembered his promise to call his mother and glanced at his watch. 11:15. She would be in bed. He decided to wait until morning.

He caught the elevator to the lobby and stepped outside. A cool breeze ruffled his hair as he dug out his cell phone and punched in the number to Nikki’s mother’s hotel room. It rang seven times before the desk picked up and he left another message for Sara.

Jake fished fifty cents out of his pocket and bought a newspaper from the machine. Reluctantly, he stepped back inside and took the elevator to Nikki’s floor. Scanning the headlines, Jake didn’t notice the two men standing in front of her door until they spoke.

“Mr. Hawthorne?”

Gold flashed under the lights as they flipped open their badges. Jake shoved the paper under his arm and said, “Yes, I’m Jake Hawthorne.”

The oldest of the pair stepped forward. “I’m Detective Green and this is Detective Janney. We’d like to ask you and your wife a few questions about the accident.”

“Nikki’s asleep,” Jake said. “And she doesn’t seem to remember much right now.”

The officers looked at each other and Green gestured to the waiting room across the hall. “Then we’d like to talk to you for a moment, if you don’t mind.”

Jake cast another glance at Nikki’s door, and then stepped inside the waiting room. He took a seat in one of the mauve chairs and Green sat across from him. Janney stood in the doorway, as if he expected Jake to flee.

“Tell us what you remember about this morning. Where was your wife going?”

Jake rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure. She left early, before I got up. I fell asleep on the couch in my study. The phone rang, then a few minutes later I heard my truck pull out of the driveway.”

“She didn’t mention any plans? Shopping with a friend, something like that?”

Jake shook his head. Nikki had been too mad to speak to him that morning, but he knew she hadn’t been in the mood to go shopping. “Sorry, she didn’t say anything.”

“Who does the Dodge belong to?”

“It’s mine.”

“Does Mrs. Hawthorne drive it often?”

Jake almost laughed. Nikki was a princess with a white BMW. She hated his work truck, could barely stand to see it in the driveway. “Hardly ever. The car had a flat, so I guess she took whatever was available.”

“Mr. Hawthorne, do you know anyone who would want to harm you or Mrs. Hawthorne?”

The question caught Jake off-guard. Surely they didn’t think—

“There were no skid marks or anything. Looks like the brakes failed completely,” Green added, scratching his white beard. “Unusual.”

“No,” Jake said finally. “No, I don’t know why anyone would want to harm either of us.”

The beeper on Janney’s belt sounded and he looked at his partner. “Gotta go,” he said.

Green frowned and stood to his feet. “We’ll be back in the morning, Mr. Hawthorne. We have more questions for you and Mrs. Hawthorne.”

“We’ll be here,” Jake forced a smile and rose to his feet. He watched the policemen leave, and then eased open the door to Nikki’s room.

She was still sleeping. He gulped down his now cool coffee and tossed the cup in the wastebasket. Jake stood over Nikki for a moment before climbing into the bed next to hers. The evening shift nurse had told him to use it and he was grateful. Jake’s eyes felt grainy and raw and he closed them, willing himself to get some sleep.

Where were you going, Nikki? he wondered, but in his heart, he was afraid he already knew.

He was awakened a couple of hours later by the sound of Nikki’s sobs.

***

She hadn’t meant to wake him, but his eyes flew open and he bounded over to her, hovering over her bedrail like a worried mother hen.

“Hey!” he said. “Are you hurting, Nik? Do you want me to call the nurse?”

“No,” she whispered, unable to look at him. “I can’t remember your name!” she blurted out, embarrassed. “I know you’re my husband and I know you told me your name, but I can’t remember it.”

“Is that all?” he asked lightly, but she could tell he was shaken. She wondered if her memory always be like this, filled with holes like a colander, her new information slipping away every time she slept.

“My name is Jake. You’ve been through a lot, so try not to push yourself so hard.” He squeezed her hand. “You’ll remember.”

He spied a magic marker lying on the chart where the nurses monitored her vital signs and said, “Look, I’ll write it on my hand, so if you forget again, you won’t even have to ask me. It’ll be right here.”

Despite her frustration, she smiled as he wrote JAKE in big block letters on the top of his right hand with the marker. He gave her a relieved grin and she was touched by the concern on his face.

How on earth had she forgotten a man like this?

His shocking blue eyes blazed against a backdrop of tan skin and lush black lashes. Jake’s unruly black hair was tousled from sleep and she suspected he would look rugged even without the faint shadows of stubble darkening his jaw. The hand that had squeezed hers was rough and calloused. This was a man who worked with his hands, probably outdoors.

“What do you do, Jake?” she asked.

“I own a construction company.”

“How long have we known each other?”

He smiled. “Three years, two days and—” He paused to glance at his watch. “—about three hours.”

“Wow, I’m impressed.” She smiled. “I bet you’re some kind of husband.”

A flicker of pain crossed his face and he stepped back. Jake sat in the chair beside her bed and his face disappeared into the shadows.

“Where is my family?” she asked, and heard him sigh.

“Your parents are in Germany. Your mom, Sara, is mayor of Dunlap, the next town over. Your father, Doug, is a plastic surgeon. Her family lives in Wisconsin, and I’ve never met any of his. You’re an only child, like me.” He paused and said, “Well, I have a stepbrother and sister, but I was already in college when Mom remarried.”

“How did we meet?”

Jake coughed and said, “Nik, I think we’d better get some sleep. You need to rest. We’ll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she said softly. She heard the scrape of his chair, then the creak of the other bed as he lay down. She could just discern the outline of his broad shoulders in the dark. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she’d been dismissed. She just didn’t know why.

***

Jake lay awake, thinking of her smile. It had been the first smile he’d gotten from Nikki in weeks, fleeting as it was, and he had to force himself to return it. He felt helpless at the rage bubbling in his chest.

This was crazy.

He had to get out of here, had to think of something, but his thoughts were an incoherent jumble as he finally drifted off to sleep.

The chirp of Nikki’s I.V. jarred him awake the next morning. She looked much better, even managing an apologetic smile as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. That smile caused his chest to tighten. Frankly, he wished for a moment that the Nikki he’d grown accustomed to – the snarling, hostile Nikki – was here. At least he knew how to respond to her. This innocent, smiling caricature of her cut him to the core.

“Good morning,” she said.

“Morning, Nik. You feel okay?”

“Sore,” she replied.

The door opened and a couple of nurses in blue scrubs came in. “Good morning, Nikki,” one of them said. “We’re here to take you for an EEG.”

Nikki gave Jake an anxious look and he squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be waiting right here when you get through.”

Nikki nodded and they wheeled her from the room. He followed them out and watched them load her onto the elevator before he went in search of coffee. Jake wolfed down a couple of candy bars and drank two cups of coffee before he started back down the hall to Nikki’s room.

“Jake.”

He turned at the sound of his mother’s voice. She hurried toward him with his stepfather, Zeke, in tow.

“Hey, guys.” Jake gave them a tired smile. His mother took one look at him and wrapped him in her arms. He allowed her to hold him for a moment, comforted by the familiar scent of her.

“Well, how is she today?” Catherine Simms asked, unable to repress the frown that appeared whenever she spoke of her daughter-in-law.

Jake told them about her amnesia, trying to relay everything Luke had said about her condition.

“Are you sure that this isn’t just one of her games, dear? Maybe this is Nikki’s way of postponing the divorce. No judge would grant a divorce in this situation.”

“No, Mom,” Jake replied, recalling her wild panic attack. “I’ve never seen anyone as terrified or lost in my life as Nikki was when she woke up.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.” Catherine crossed her arms over her chest. “As you know, Nikki and I haven’t always been able to see eye-to-eye, but I don’t want to see her hurt.”

Zeke patted her shoulder and asked, “Nicole remembers nothing? Nothing at all?”

Jake shook his head at the kindly judge who had been his stepfather for the last ten years.

“I cannot imagine how frightened she must be,” Catherine murmured, and then exhaled softly as she met Jake’s gaze. “Can we see her?”

“She’s gone for tests.” Before he could get the words out, the elevator doors slid open and they rolled Nikki back into her room.

“Guess she’s through.” Jake forced a smile and waited on the nurses to leave before he opened the door for his mother.

They walked in and Nikki stared at them, a tentative smile on her face. It hurt Jake to see her looking so vulnerable.

“Nikki, this is my mother, Catherine, and my step-dad, Zeke,” Jake said awkwardly, introducing her to the people who had been her in-laws for the past two years.

“Hello,” Nikki said timidly and Jake could tell that they were taken aback by her demeanor. Deliberately, Catherine crossed the room, sat on the edge of Nikki’s bed, and took her hand. Jake knew that she was searching for some sign of deception, some hint of dislike. The pre-Nikki, as Jake had begun to think of her, would’ve shrunk from contact with someone she disliked. This post-Nikki never blinked, gazing innocently at Catherine with her sea-green eyes. She even looked grateful for the contact.

“You poor thing!” Catherine murmured as she stroked a lank lock of Nikki’s dark hair from her forehead. “Are you in much pain?”

“No,” she whispered, and tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m just so…scared.”

Jake could see from his mother’s face that she was genuinely affected by Nikki’s plight.

“Don’t be afraid. Jake, Zeke and I will take care of you,” Catherine said. She shot Jake a guilty glance and he had to turn away. He wanted to help Nikki, but Luke had said it could be anywhere from days to decades. He couldn’t afford to promise her that.

Nikki stunned him by throwing herself in Catherine’s arms and pressing her face to Catherine’s breast like a child. Catherine froze for a moment, and then awkwardly patted Nikki’s head. She was a good mother and Jake could almost hear the wheels grinding as her maternal instinct kicked into high gear.

“Where are Sara and Doug?” Zeke whispered to Jake, as Catherine soothed Nikki.

“On a trip.” Jake rolled his eyes and Zeke nodded. They all knew too well where Sara and Doug’s priorities lay. The two men sat quietly as Catherine mothered Nikki, even coaxing a laugh from her.

“Son, turn on the weather channel,” Zeke quipped in a hushed voice, “I want to see if hell has officially frozen over.”

His comment surprised Jake, who had to bite the inside of his jaw to keep from laughing aloud.

Jake felt more and more like he was trapped in some strange dream. Just last week, he had to drag Nikki, kicking and screaming, from the table before she and Catherine came to blows at dinner. Family gatherings, never pleasant in the first place, had been upgraded to nightmarish in the wake of their marital troubles.

Now Catherine and Nikki were acting like old friends. Jake knew he’d never been prouder of his mother than he was right now. She turned to him and gave him a reassuring smile.

“Honey, Zeke has to get to the office. Would you like me to stay now, so you can go home or would you rather I come back this afternoon?”

Jake was a little caught off-guard by the pleading look Nikki shot him over Catherine’s shoulder. He could read the look in her eyes.

She wanted him to stay.

For whatever reason, he could tell that the thought of his leaving terrified her. The fear on her face tugged at him. “We’re okay right now, Mom,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll call you after while.”

Catherine hugged them both goodbye and promised Nikki that she’d be back later. Jake walked them out, chuckling incredulously as the door closed behind him.

“I keep expecting someone to walk up, and say, ‘Smile—’”

“Or the guy from the Twilight Zone,” Zeke interjected with a smile.

Catherine glared at them. “That child in there needs a mother. Apparently her own is too busy for her. Even knowing some of the things that Nikki has done, I could no more walk away from her now than I could you if you were in that situation.” She shook her head, and then leaned to kiss Jake’s cheek. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Nikki was sitting up in the bed when Jake came back in. She stared wistfully at the door and said, “I like your mother. Were we close?”

“Hardly,” Jake snorted, before he could stop himself.

Nikki frowned. “Why not?”

“Let’s just say that both of you are very strong, very opinionated women and leave it at that,” Jake said. “Sometimes, that equals a hard time for a mother and daughter-in-law.”

“Maybe it’s time to change that.” Nikki’s voice held a hint of her old stubbornness and Jake didn’t know whether to be relieved or dismayed. He cracked his knuckles. There had been a time when he’d have given anything for a truce between Nikki and his mother, but it was more than a little unnerving at the moment. He was just sorry that it had come too late.

Luke Carver stuck his head in the door. Jake’s relief at seeing him turned to concern when he saw Officers Green and Janney behind him.

“Keep it brief,” Luke warned and Green nodded. To Jake and Nikki he said, “I’ll talk to you guys after they’re through.”

“Mrs. Hawthorne,” he began. “We’re with the Whitwell Police Department. I’m Officer Green and this is Officer Janney. We need to ask you a few questions.” He gave Jake a pointed look and said, “Privately, please.”

Jake started to step outside when Nikki called, “Jake, wait!”

She stared at the officers and said, “I want my husband to stay.”

Jake could hear the plea in her voice and returned to her bedside, even though the trust on her face was a little frightening. Janney looked at Green, who merely shrugged.

“Okay,” he said. “Is it true, Mrs. Hawthorne, that you don’t remember anything at all that occurred prior to the accident?”

“Not yet.” She looked small and scared. Jake slipped his hand in hers and she clenched it tight.

“You don’t know where you were going, who you were meeting?”

Nikki shook her head. “No, I don’t remember anything.”

“So you have no idea who the passenger in the pick-up was?”

Chapter 2

Jake sucked in a breath and released her hand. He stared down at her with shocked, accusing blue eyes. Nikki glanced back at Officer Green, who jotted something in his notebook.

“Mr. Hawthorne,” he said. “Do you have any idea who the passenger might be?”

“No.” Jake’s voice was tight. “I take it this person is dead?”

“Yes, burned beyond recognition. The ME’s got the body right now. We hope to have the medical report in a couple of days.”

Tears stung her eyes. Someone was dead. Someone she knew. She wished she could remember.

“Are you sure you don’t know where Mrs. Hawthorne was going that morning?”

“I’m sure.”

“Who does she know in Powell’s Crossroads or Palmer?”

Jake threw up his hands. “I don’t know. Nikki knows lots of people.”

Nikki could feel Jake’s frustration. It rolled off him in waves as he paced. Apparently, Officer Green felt it, too. The heavy-set man scratched his beard and asked, “So what kind of marriage do the two of you have, Mr. Hawthorne? Are you a jealous man?”

Jake whirled. “Excuse me?”

Officer Green turned his gaze back to her, ignoring Jake. “Mrs. Hawthorne, I don’t have the report back on the truck yet, but there is no indication you applied any brakes going down that mountain. I don’t think you had any.”

“Are you implying I did this?” Jake demanded.

“Of course not, Mr. Hawthorne,” Green said smoothly. “You wouldn’t have any reason to harm your wife—” He let the statement trail off so it sounded more like a question.

“I would never hurt Nikki.” Jake cut his gaze to her. “I would never hurt you.”

Staring into those blue eyes, Nikki believed him. She smiled. Jake looked taken aback, then some of his fury seemed to dissipate. He stopped pacing to stand at her bedside.

Officer Green took one more stab. “Do either of you have any life insurance policies? I’ll be able to find out, but I thought we could talk about them first.”

Jake sighed, but did not rise to the bait. When he spoke, his voice was calm. “There’s a $250,000 policy on me, to cover my business line of credit, but I have none on Nikki.”

Officer Green seemed to realize the interview was over. He nodded at Janney, who spoke for the first time. “We’ll be back in touch as soon as we get the forensic report or the report on the Dodge. Call us if you remember anything important. Hope you feel better soon, Mrs. Hawthorne.” He tipped his head at Nikki and they left.

Jake raked a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe—” He trailed off, shaking his head.

“I don’t believe,” Nikki said. Although she remembered nothing about him, her instincts told her he wasn’t capable of something like that.

Jake shot her a grateful look. “Nik, I—”

He fell silent when the door opened and the doctor strolled in. Nikki frowned as she tried to recall his name. He’d been in to see her three or four times, but it just slipped away. She squinted at her hospital I.D. bracelet.

Dr. Carver.

“Good news, guys,” he said. “EKG looks pretty decent. The swelling’s going down and I think your short-term memory will start improving soon. Any strange feelings, Nikki?”

“Something’s wrong with my right arm,” she said. “It feels so much weaker that the other one. My right leg feels funny, too. It feels kind of touchy, like I have a sunburn.”

Dr. Carver sat on the edge of the bed and patted her hand.

“Unfortunately, sometimes a brain injury can trick the body into ‘forgetting’ about one side of itself, making one side suddenly weaker than the other side. Most of the time, it can be corrected with physical therapy. Any other strange feelings? Headaches, nausea?”

“No, but my tongue feels all prickly and rough. Like sandpaper.”

“Just try to drink as much fluid as you can,” he advised. “That should help.”

“What about her amnesia?” Jake asked. “When will she start remembering?”

“That’s still a little touch-and-go. The damage wasn’t as extensive as I first feared, but there may be a block of time that she never gets back.”

“But you think she’ll get back most of it?” Jake persisted.

“Each case is different, as I told you before, but yes, I think Nikki will eventually get most of her memory back.” He smiled at her, and Nikki smiled back.

“Any kind of time frame on this?” Jake asked.

Dr. Carver shook his head. “Sorry. Hard to say, but there are things we can do to help it along. We’re starting memory therapy today.”

“When can I get out of this bed?” Nikki asked.

“That happens today, too.”

A knock sounded on the door and a tall woman with red-framed eyeglasses stepped inside.

“Speak of the devil.” Dr. Carver smiled. “This is Anna. She’s going to do some memory exercises with you.”

He excused himself, and Anna took over.

“I’m going to hold up pictures, and you say anything that comes to mind.”

The first was of a bird in flight. Most of her answers felt rote and unenlightening and she was getting a little frustrated when suddenly a picture of a woman taking a cake out of an oven made her sit up straight.

“I remember standing in a kitchen with a dark-haired woman, making cookies when I was about ten. It must’ve been my mother! Does she have dark hair?” she asked Jake.

Jake nodded, but he had a strange expression on his face. She wondered what that look meant, but didn’t want to ask in front of Anna.

No other memory was retrieved during the session, but Anna assured Nikki that she’d done well for her first session. She then proceeded to ask Nikki a series of rapid-fire questions pertaining to the time since her admission to the hospital.

“What’s your husband’s name?”

“Jake Hawthorne.” She glanced at Jake’s magic marker tattoo and grinned. He smiled back.

“What’s your full name?”

“Martina Nicole Hawthorne.”

“What are your parents’ names?”

“I – I don’t remember,” she said.

“What’s your doctor’s name?”

Nikki stared at the ceiling. She had just talked to him minutes ago and she couldn’t remember without looking at her bracelet. This was driving her crazy. Finally, she admitted she didn’t know.

“That’s okay, Nikki. You did great!” Anna praised her.

After she left, Nikki’s gaze swung to Jake.

“What do I look like?” she asked.

***

Jake looked at her, stupefied. The thought of not even knowing the face in the mirror was too bizarre to contemplate. What a strange condition, where a person could remember how to ride a bike or tie their shoes, but couldn’t remember their own name or face.

“You’re beautiful,” he replied when he found his voice. “Your eyes…your eyes are amazing. Pale green, so pretty that they’re almost spooky, and – wait a minute.” He jumped to his feet. “I’ll be right back.”

Jake hurried down the hall to the nurses’ desk and borrowed a small makeup mirror from one of them. He returned to Nikki’s bed and held it for her. She touched her face wonderingly. Jake thought of how incredible she looked on their wedding day. Her lovely hair had been pinned up with a pearl clasp and her eyes had danced the day she married him, just two months after she predicted she would. He had looked at her in that white silk gown and his heart had ached at her beauty.

“It’s cruel for a woman like you to have a face like that.”

Tired and stressed, Jake didn’t realize that he’d spoken aloud until she said tightly, “And just what kind of woman am I?”

“Nik, I’m so sorry!” he cried, horrified at himself. “I didn’t mean to say—”

“Were we happy, once?” she asked. A tear slipped down her cheek and Jake felt his guts knot at the sight of it. He brushed it away with his thumb.

“Yes, we were…once,” he said hoarsely, unaccustomed to this fragility.

“What happened to us?”

“I think that we just had different expectations of what our marriage should be like. Turns out, neither one of us got what we bargained for.”

He knew he was being vague, but his wounds were too new and too raw for him to discuss right now, especially with the woman who had given them to him.

Nikki must have sensed his reluctance, because she didn’t press the issue.

“Thank you for staying here today,” she said. “Everything feels so strange, but I feel safe when you’re here.”

Jake turned away, embarrassed. If Nikki had her memory back, he would be the last person she’d want to see. It made him somehow feel deceptive that she felt safe with him.

The nurse saved Jake from replying when she brought in Nikki’s lunch tray. He perched on the edge of her bed and awkwardly began to arrange her food.

“Nik, I’m going outside for a minute to try your parents again, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Jake climbed on the elevator, grateful for the excuse to get out of there for a moment. He couldn’t think around her. He could barely breathe.

His thoughts returned to Nikki’s mystery passenger and he felt a vicious stab of satisfaction. It had to be him. Who else would she have been so desperate to meet with that morning?

He knew Sara’s hotel room number by heart now and punched it in as soon as he reached the parking lot. He was surprised to hear her muffled hello.

“Sara?” he said a little loudly, struggling to hear over the static.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Jake. I’m calling about Nikki. She’s had an accident.”

“What? Is Nicole hurt?”

He explained about her amnesia and what Luke Carver had said, and then asked if they could come home.

“Oh, dear! I don’t know how we can possibly get back before Saturday.”

Jake frowned. It was only Monday.

“Tell Nicole that I love her and that Mother will be there as—”

“You’re breaking up, Sara,” Jake lied, and then hung up the phone in disgust.

No wonder Nikki was the way she was.

According to Nikki, her parents had always been too busy to care for her, even when she was an infant. That tedious duty had fallen to a dizzying array of nannies and housekeepers, one of whom was probably the woman Nikki recalled baking cookies with. He would’ve bet his eyeteeth that Sara Davis had never taken the time to bake cookies with her young daughter.

Unless there was a reporter around to record it for posterity.

Nikki’s parents had always tried to make it up to her with money, lavishing her with pricey gifts to compensate for their absence. Frankly, that was why Nikki was a twenty-five-year-old brat. She had always gotten anything she wanted on a whim.

Even him, he realized. Against his will, he thought back to that first day he saw her, standing out from the girls crowded around her like a rose among dandelions. She’d taken his breath away.

Stop it! he commanded himself. Jake wished for a moment that he was like Nikki. He wished that he could access that little internal recorder in his brain and erase that memory and so many others from his head, leaving it empty of the thought of her.

Jake knew that he wasn’t being exactly fair with his assessment of her at the moment, but he was powerless against the pain and anger that surged within him.

It hurt to wonder how many times she had lain in his bed thinking of another man.

Jake tried to shut his thoughts down. He didn’t want to feel sorry for Nikki and he didn’t want to understand her. Not now. Forcing himself to think of her parents, he tried to fuel his anger against them. Nikki had remarked one time that they only had her to balance out their Christmas card photo. She joked that there was something suspicious about politicians with no children, so Sara had been forced to keep up appearances. Jake realized sadly that she might’ve been right. He wished that he’d had the presence of mind to mention Nikki’s mystery passenger to Sara.

That would’ve set all of her alarm bells off. The merest hint of a scandal would’ve brought Sara back to the States as fast as her broom would carry her.

Jake sighed, knowing he couldn’t shuffle Nikki off on them, even if by some slim chance they offered to take her in. As vulnerable as Nikki was right now, it would be heartless of him. He hoped that she’d get her memory back soon, so they could get the divorce and get on with their lives.

Separately.

His stomach rumbled and he realized he hadn’t eaten anything except for a couple of candy bars. As Jake headed back to the elevators, he caught a glimpse of a familiar redhead stepping inside.

“Elaine, hold up!” he called. Immediately she stuck out a manicured hand to stop the door.

He jogged to catch up and slipped inside the elevator. His stepsister was struggling with a huge pot of yellow mums, and Jake took them from her.

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and a worried look. “Hey, guy. How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay,” Jake said. “But I’m starving.”

“Let’s go get something to eat, then.” Elaine reached to push the lobby button, but Jake caught her hand.

“I have to tell Nikki where I’m going.” He nodded at the flowers. “Nice of you, considering…”

“Yeah, well, I’m really here for you.” She gave Jake a skeptical look. “So is it true, she doesn’t remember anything?”

“Nope. Nothing.”

Elaine tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and grinned. “Well, God knows, she hates me enough that seeing my face might bring it all back to her.”

Jake chuckled. “As entertaining as that might be, I don’t think so. Believe it or not, I think I might’ve bumped you from Nikki’s most hated list just before the accident. If seeing me didn’t bring back our last fight—”

“What happened?”

“I told Nikki that I wanted a divorce. We had a big blowout and she admitted she cheated on me.”

“Oh, Jake!” Elaine hugged him. When she leaned back, her brown eyes were hard with anger. “Nikki’s a selfish little witch. I can’t believe she would do that to you. I never thought that she was right for you, but I always thought she loved you, as much as Nikki was capable of loving anyone—”

“Elaine—” Jake interrupted, but she cut him off with a sharp look.

“No, Jake. You’ve always defended her, no matter how much she’s hurt you, but she doesn’t deserve you. I’m sorry that it had to come to this, but now you can divorce her.”

Jake hesitated and she gasped, “Oh, Jake! Please tell me you’re going to divorce her. Don’t let your sympathy get you hurt even worse.”

“I’m all she has right now, Elaine. I can’t just walk away from her.”

“She’s taking advantage of you.”

“You don’t understand how she is now. She’s a different person than she was before the accident. She’s so fragile, so vulnerable—”

“For how long?” Elaine interrupted. “I know you love her, but I love you, and it hurts me to see you like this. I wish she would change, but it’s not going to happen. It’s just like my situation with Brandon—”

“This is nothing like you and Brandon!” Jake said. “He hurt you—”

“And Nikki’s hurt you. Does it matter that it was with her actions and not with her fists? Sometimes, it’s hard to see how bad things are when it’s your own relationship. Please, I’m begging you, just—” The doors slid open to Nikki’s floor. “—be careful,” Elaine finished.

Jake opened the door to Nikki’s room and was surprised to find it empty. He sat Elaine’s mums on the nightstand and hurried to the nurses’ station.

“My wife—”

“More tests.” The nurse smiled. “They’ll bring her back in about half an hour.”

Jake turned back to Elaine. She looked relieved.

“Let’s do lunch,” she said.

***

When they wheeled Nikki back to her room, she wondered where Jake was. She noticed the huge vase of mums and figured that Catherine was back. Maybe she was making him eat something.

A soft rap sounded on her door and she called, “Come in.”

Instead of Catherine or Jake, she was surprised when a handsome blonde man stepped inside.

He scanned the room. “Where’s Jake?”

“I don’t know. He went outside to call my mother, and then they wheeled me out for tests. Haven’t seen him since.”

“Oh.” The man shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted, looking very ill at ease. “So…how are you doing, Nik?”

“Okay,” she said. There was a long, uncomfortable pause and Nikki said, “This is embarrassing, but did anyone tell you about my amnesia? I can’t remember anything yet.”

“Yes,” he said, and then his gray eyes widened. “Oh! Right. I guess that includes me. I’m sorry. This is just so weird.”

“Tell me about it.” Nikki smiled.

“I’m Eliot. Jake’s stepbrother. Best friend. However you want to think about it. We went to school together and were friends for years before Dad and Catherine married.”

“Nice to meet you, Eliot. Again.” Nikki gestured at the chair by her bed and said, “Have a seat. I’m sure Jake will be back in a minute.”

He gave her that nervous look she’d seen on Jake’s face, like he wanted to bolt, but he sat beside her. To make conversation, Nikki said, “So I’ve known you for – what, three years?”

“Actually, I’ve known you a little longer. Our parents ran in the same circles when we were teenagers.” Eliot grinned at her. “Jake used to gripe that I could’ve fixed you two up instead of making him find you on his own. I told him if I’d known you weren’t dating Derek anymore, I’d have asked you out myself.”

“You flirting with my wife again?” Jake asked from the doorway, and they both jumped. Neither had heard him open the door.

A stunning redhead stood beside Jake, her arm linked through his. She shot Nikki a look of pure venom. Nikki blinked, and it was gone. The redhead gave her a cool smile.

“Yeah, you know, I’ve got a clean slate now. Nik doesn’t remember the time I threw her in the lake at the summer cabin—” Eliot winked at Nikki and she laughed.

“Or the time you backed over her car,” Jake added.

“Shhhh!” Eliot said. “Don’t remind her of that. She chewed me up one side and down the other over that. I’ve never been called so many names in the space of five minutes.”

Jake ushered the redhead forward. “Nik, this is Elaine. Sister to this idiot here. She brought those flowers.”

“Thank you,” Nikki said. “They’re lovely.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jake pulled out the other chair for Elaine and then sat on the edge of Nikki’s bed. “So, Eliot, how did Kelly like her birthday present?”

Eliot’s face flushed red. “Shut up, man.”

Elaine shot Jake a puzzled look and Jake said, “Can’t you just see me walking around with this guy in Frederick’s of Hollywood?”

Elaine rolled her eyes.

“Hey, it fit. End of discussion.” Eliot laughed and glanced at his watch. “Hey, guys, I really gotta go. Lunch with a Very Important Client.” He waggled his fingers in emphasis. He stood to his feet and patted Nikki’s hand. “My wife, Kelly, is out of town, but she sends her love. We’re glad you’re okay, Nik. The rest of this will work out.”

“Thanks for coming by,” Nikki said.

Eliot ruffled his sister’s hair as he went by, earning himself a glare. Eliot stuck out his tongue at her, and then asked Jake, “Hey, are you going to see Catherine today?”

“Yeah, she said she was coming back.”

“I’ve got those papers she needed in my car. Do you mind giving them to her?”

“No, I’ll follow you down.” Jake hesitated in the doorway and turned to look back at them.

Elaine smiled prettily at Jake and shooed him off with an impatient wave of her hand. “Oh, go on. We’ll be fine.”

As soon as the door shut behind him, her smile vanished. Elaine leaned back in the chair and stared. “You manipulative bitch,” she said quietly. “You’re crazy if you think I’ll allow you to destroy Jake like you did Derek.”

Stunned, Nikki said, “Elaine, I don’t know what—”

“Save it!” Elaine snapped. She picked an imaginary piece of lint off her skirt and smiled. “You really did it this time. Jake will never forgive you. He’s only here because he feels sorry for you.”

The words stung, but Nikki said nothing, hoping Elaine would supply her with a few more pieces of the puzzle.

“Jake finally sees you for what you are and this little amnesia act won’t postpone things forever.” She stood to her feet. “Watch your back, Nikki. When you slip up, I’ll be there. I’ve waited a long time to see you go down.” Elaine walked to the window and stared outside. She glanced over her shoulder at Nikki and said, “Oh, by the way – don’t try to force Jake to stay away from me. It never worked before and it won’t work now.”

Silently, Nikki watched her, wondering what caused this attack and how to defend herself when she had no idea what Elaine was talking about. What had happened in her marriage?

Jake walked back in. He glanced at her, then at Elaine. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yes.” Nikki pasted on a smile. “But Elaine was just saying she has to go.”

For a moment, Elaine looked undecided, but then she smiled and said, “Yes, I really have to get going, but I’ll be back soon.” She brushed a kiss across Jake’s cheek and waggled her fingers at Nikki. “Later.”

Jake looked troubled. As soon as the door shut behind Elaine he said, “What did you two talk about?”

Nikki hesitated, but she wasn’t sure she should tell him, not until she knew where she stood with Jake. Besides, he looked so tired and tense she hated to burden him with anything else.

“Oh, you know. This and that. Nothing important.”

***

A nurse came in and announced it was time to get Nikki out of bed. She unhooked the monitors and Jake watched Nikki tug at the flimsy hospital gown. He wished he’d thought to tell his mother to bring some of her gowns from home.

“Come here, hon.” The nurse motioned for Jake. “Let her hold on to you for support and she can walk down the hall.”

Jake hesitated for a moment. He didn’t want to be that close to her. This post-Nikki was causing too many protective urges to swell within him, when he wanted to cling to his rage at her. The nurse gave him an impatient look, and he went over to help her.

Her hand on his wrist burned him, but he gritted his teeth and didn’t say anything. Jake placed a hand at the small of her back, shocked by her thinness. She had always been slender, but now he could see her shoulder blades jutting through the thin material of her gown. It seemed that the tension of the last few weeks had stolen her appetite, as well. Her bed had been just down the hall and he wondered if she had lain there, crying the same tears he had as their marriage died.

Nikki walked with the measured steps of an invalid. Pulling her I.V. beside them, Jake frowned as he noticed she was favoring her right side. She showed some of that old pre-Nikki spunk by completing an entire lap around the floor, even though he could tell it was grueling for her. As they neared her room, her knees buckled and Jake had to grab her. He scooped her up in his arms, stunned by how light she was.

It feels like I’m carrying a scarecrow, he thought.

Jake winced as she snuggled closer to him and rested her head on his chest. He gently laid her in her bed, and she smiled at him.

Damned if he wasn’t starting to get used to that smile.

The nurse came back in and reattached some of the monitors. After she left, Jake turned to ask Nikki if she wanted a drink of water and was surprised to find she was asleep. She was so still, and had dropped off so suddenly that it frightened him. Jake walked over to the bed and stood over her, inexplicably unable to trust the monitors hooked to her, needing to see for himself that she was breathing. He reached to brush a stray lock of hair from her forehead. Finally, reassured by the soft rise and fall of her chest, he sank into the chair beside her bed and raked his hand down his stubbled face.

Suddenly, he realized how close he had come to losing her. The thought of not having her in his life filled Jake with a nameless dread. She looked so fragile lying there, so innocent.

When had things between them gone so wrong?

In an effort to change the direction of his thoughts, Jake tried to recall the last time he had his truck serviced. Three, four weeks? Had they changed the brake pads then? He couldn’t remember. He used to do all that stuff himself, before work had gotten so busy.

Jake leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Faces flashed in his mind, faces of friends and acquaintances. Nikki’s lover was someone he knew, she had alluded to as much, but who? Like a thief in the night, someone had slipped in and stolen her from him. Jake had never seen it coming.

***

The trees whizzed by so fast that they were nothing more than green blurs outside the windshield. Nikki watched helplessly from somewhere outside her body as she pumped the brakes and wrestled with the steering wheel.

“It’s not working!” she screamed and jerked savagely at the emergency brake.

Nothing.

“We have to jump!”

As she reached for the door handle, the wheel wrenched from her hand.

“Jake!” she screamed.

Suddenly, everything exploded into a cacophony of shrieking metal and brilliant white light.

Chapter 3

“Jake!” she screamed. “Jake!”

Trapped in the terror of her dream, Nikki fought against the arms that closed around her.

“Nik, it’s me! Baby, wake up. It’s me, Jake.”

His voice stilled her. Disoriented, she tried to focus on his face.

“Jake?” she whispered.

“Yeah, honey, it’s Jake. I’m right here. It’s okay.”

He was in the hospital bed with her. She sagged against him, her only lifeline in this frightening world she was trapped in.

Nikki couldn’t stop crying and Jake’s arms tightened around her. When someone opened the door, he said, “It’s okay. I’ve got her.”

He gently pulled her back down in the bed and stretched out beside her. As he cradled her against his chest, the horror of the nightmare began to fade.

“I thought I was going to die,” she gasped. “Everything kept going faster and faster and there was nothing we could do. I was going to jump, but I didn’t have time.”

“Nikki, did you see who was riding with you?” Jake’s voice was quiet, but Nikki sensed the tension in his words.

“No. I could see myself, but I never saw anyone else.”

He sighed. Nikki buried her face in his soft flannel shirt, unwilling to let him go. For reasons that she couldn’t understand, much less explain, she knew she was safe with Jake. She’d known it since he wrote his name across the top of hand to sooth her. And as he reached to smooth her hair, something inside her turned. This was a man she’d fallen in love with before and at that moment, she knew it would be easy to do it again. Nikki wasn’t ready to let go of him yet, not when she didn’t even know what was tearing them apart.

***

Jake held her for a long time. He tried to tell himself it was because Nikki needed it, but the truth was he needed it, too. The tension of the past two weeks drained him, and he grew weary of the war they waged. They had stumbled too far into a strange, dangerous place where even a simple word could have irreversible consequences. He had loved her since the first time they met and, even as one part of him wanted to lash out and hurt her, another part wanted to sacrifice his pride – sacrifice anything – just to hold onto her.

A soft rap sounded on the door. Jake released Nikki and sat up in the bed as his mother came in. She looked surprised, but not altogether displeased to see him so close to Nikki.

“Hey,” he said, feeling like a high school boy caught making out in his bedroom.

Catherine shot Jake a worried glance when he had to reintroduce her to Nikki. She pulled him aside as the nurse took Nikki’s vitals to ask him about it.

Jake turned his back toward Nikki’s bed so she couldn’t hear his whisper. “It scares me, too, Mom. Luke said that she might do that for a while. She’s had to be reintroduced to him about five times already.”

“The poor thing,” Catherine murmured. The nurse left and Catherine painted on a bright smile. Jake could tell that Nikki was embarrassed at forgetting Catherine’s name, but, to her credit, Catherine soon put her at ease.

“Jake, go home,” his mother said. “I’m staying with Nikki tonight.”

“That’s okay, Mom. I’ll just go grab a shower and come back.” He glanced at Nikki and she shook her head.

“Listen to your mother. Go home and rest.” Nikki gave him a gentle smile. “You’ve been very kind to stay like you have, but you need a break from this place. We’ll be fine.”

Jake reluctantly agreed. He needed to get away from those sad eyes for just a little while.

But he couldn’t get away, not really. All the way home, thoughts of Nikki plagued him. What was he going to do now? He wanted to hate her, but how could he when he had no idea how to stop loving her first?

Jake was glad to see his house. He had loved this place at first sight, though Nikki had longed for something more modern. It was an eighty-year-old Victorian, not very different from all the other houses in the neighborhood, but it seemed to have a character of its own. He once had big plans for this house, and the family he’d hoped to fill it with. After scooping up the paper on the welcome mat and unlocking the door, Jake walked through the foyer and into the den. He sank into the plush green sofa, wanting to scan the paper before he got in the shower.

The twisted carnage of his Dodge Ram was on the front page. Jake stared at it in shock.

How had Nikki gotten out of that?

The article was suitably vague, just reporting that an unidentified passenger of the vehicle driven by Mrs. Hawthorne had perished in the crash. Nikki hadn’t been wearing her seatbelt, something he often chastised her for. This time, he was glad she hadn’t. She had been thrown from the truck as it made its murderous descent down the mountainside. He wondered about the pickup’s brakes. Was it really possible that someone had sabotaged them? The idea seemed ridiculous. Who would want to kill Nikki?

The thought struck him as he climbed the stairs.

Not Nikki, you.

Jake stopped cold, the hair on the back of his neck prickling.

Maybe someone thought it would be easier if he were out of the way, without the mess of a divorce. His thoughts troubled him as he showered and shaved.

Would someone kill to have Nikki?

Instantly, he knew the answer to that and shuddered.

Jake checked the answering machine and listened to what was mostly a barrage of phone calls from Nikki’s friends, although five calls were from his office. He hoped nothing had gone wrong with the Stephens building.

Finally, with a resigned sigh, he picked up the phone to call Darcy. Darcy Harrison had been Nikki’s best friend since seventh grade, when they sat around mooning over rock star posters and making prank phone calls. Jake liked Darcy. She was the only one of Nikki’s friends who didn’t treat him like the pool boy, even though she probably had more reason to dislike him than any of them. Nikki had broken Darcy’s brother’s heart when she married him.

He and Nikki were from different worlds, and Jake had deluded himself into thinking that it didn’t matter. To put it bluntly, Nikki had married down when she became his wife. Jake made a respectable living, and he had inherited a little money when his father died, but it was a pittance compared to what Nikki had grown up with. She was used to having butlers and maids, and she gave it all up for him. Nikki told him that it didn’t matter, that she loved him, and for a time, he believed her. Still, some part of him couldn’t help but wonder if she would’ve even approached him that day if she’d known the white Porsche he was leaning on had not belonged to him.

Jake clutched the phone a little tighter when he heard Darcy’s ‘hello’. There had been an underlying tension between them lately, and also between her and Nikki. She knew Nikki’s secrets and couldn’t tell him. Now Nikki couldn’t either.

“Darcy?”

“Jake, I just saw it in the paper! Why didn’t you call me?”

“I didn’t think, Darce,” he replied. “It’s all so strange. She doesn’t remember anything.”

“So I hear. As soon as I saw the paper, I called the hospital. I just got off the phone with Catherine. She said she was staying with Nikki tonight.”

Jake could tell by her tone that she found the thought of those two together as unsettling as he first had.

He told Darcy everything he could about Nikki’s condition, then took a deep breath and asked her what he really wanted to know.

“Do you know who her passenger was, Darcy? Was it him?”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“So you know,” she said finally.

“She admitted it the night before the accident, but she wouldn’t tell me who.”

“I swear to you, Jake, I don’t know. I know he’s rich and powerful…and married.”

Great, another marriage ruined.

“She would never say his name, or even hint. She grew furious when she realized that she was probably going to lose you and said that she wasn’t going to let him just sit by while she lost everything. She was going to press him to leave his wife.”

Hot, bitter tears scalded his eyes. Nikki hadn’t cared, not about him, not about their marriage. She was just concerned about losing her precious possessions.

“Jake…for what it’s worth, I told Nikki she was crazy for cheating on you. That big fight we had a couple of weeks ago, that’s what it was over. I told her not to use me as an alibi anymore, that she should tell you the truth.”

“Thanks, Darce,” he said hoarsely and hung up the phone. He held his face in his hands and cried.

Slowly, Jake came to the conclusion that this wasn’t doing him any good. He went back upstairs and opened the door to Nikki’s room. He could still smell her perfume in here and it made his heart ache anew. Jake went to the closet and pulled out a small overnight bag. He filled a cosmetic case and tried to pack a few items that he thought she’d want, like her brush and some hair clasps. He pulled open her closet and picked out an outfit, on the off chance that she might be released from the hospital soon.

Jake felt emotionally drained, like he was more robot than man, until he opened her dresser drawer to find her nightgowns. Nikki loved silky things, favoring their soft sheen over the roughness of lace. As Jake plunged his hand into that drawer, the delicate fabric tormented him, taunting him with its whisper. He pulled out the long red gown that she wore for him the last time they made love. As he rubbed the polished fabric between his fingers, he could recall with painful clarity exactly how she looked in it.

She stood at the foot of the stairs when he came home from work that evening, waiting for him. His heart nearly stopped when he saw her standing there, a seductive smile on her lips. His beautiful, raven-haired enchantress.

Had she worn this same gown for her lover, too?

With a strangled cry, Jake tore at the fabric, feeling a vicious sense of satisfaction as he heard it rip. He felt the same hatred surge in him as it had that night. He had wanted to smash Nikki’s delicate porcelain face when she admitted the affair, right here in this room. Even though he had known it, some part of him had desperately clung to the notion that he was wrong.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Jake berated himself. He picked up the bag and ran from the room, leaving the ruined gown lying on the bed and the dresser drawer hanging open.

Downstairs, Jake picked up the phone and called his general foreman.

“Jake! Thank God,” Hank said.

The tension in Hank’s voice instantly snapped Jake out his fog. “What is it? Is it one of the men?” Visions of a construction accident loomed in his head and Jake closed his eyes. He ran a tight ship and knew all his workers. They weren’t just employees; most of them were friends.

“No, Jake. We’re all fine. Nobody’s hurt,” Hank said, but his voice was funny, tight. “It’s just – well, hell – something’s happened at the office and I think you need to see it. I didn’t want to call you at the hospital.”

“What’s going on?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Hank said, “It’s not something I can talk about on the phone. I locked everything up, so you just come out when you can.” He hung up before Jake could say anything.

Troubled, Jake replaced the phone in the cradle. It must be something major to get Hank Timmons upset. He grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.

The wind picked up, making Jake hunch his shoulders as he headed toward Nikki’s car. Winters in middle Tennessee were usually mild, but Jake wouldn’t be surprised if they saw the season’s first snow soon.

Jake was still shivering when he pulled onto the highway, so he stopped at a Burger Barn drive-thru to get a cup of coffee before he went to the office. He had a feeling he was going to need it. He hadn’t taken the first sip of it when a car pulled out in front of him, cutting him off. Jake hit the brakes hard and sloshed a little of the hot brew down the front of his shirt. Cursing, he reached into the glove box in search of napkins, but came away with something else.

He glanced at the real estate brochures with a mixture of anger and sadness. Nikki had been house hunting. Jake pulled into a convenience store parking lot and looked them over.

Ritzy neighborhoods.

The guy must have been loaded. Someone who could give her all the things that he never could. Suddenly, Jake just felt very tired. He stared at the thin gold band on his hand.

Only a fool would still be wearing this ring. But he had always been a fool when it came to Nikki.

Who was this man?

The thought ran an endless loop in his mind, driving him crazy. Had someone really tried to kill him, and if so, how could he protect himself from a faceless enemy?

Jake thought the only man who wanted to kill him was already dead.

Seeing Hank Timmons did nothing to erase the apprehension he felt. His usually imperturbable foreman refused to meet his eyes.

“C’mon,” Hank said gruffly, as he fumbled with the key ring clutched in his meaty hand. “I hated to call you at the hospital, Jake, but I wasn’t sure what to do. Thought about calling the cops, but I figured you needed to see it first.” He strode toward Jake’s office and Jake trailed behind him. One of the crews was just clocking out and a few of the men called out greetings. Jake could only nod at them, his mouth suddenly dry. Sparing a quick glance over his shoulder, Hank unlocked the door and pushed it open.

The smell assaulted Jake before he could see inside. It was Nikki’s perfume, but it was heavy, overpowering, as if the place had been soaked in it. Jake’s eyes watered as he stepped over the threshold. Hank shut the door behind them and Jake almost called out to him to leave it open before he realized what Hank was being so secretive about.

He stared at the scene before him in shock.

Jake’s eyes were tearing, burning, but he didn’t know if it was from the perfume or fury. Across one wall, over the top of a picture of him and Nikki, someone had spray painted NIKKI BELONGS TO ME. Things were strewn around the office. Her things.

Jake yanked a pair of purple panties dangling from the ceiling fan with so much force that the wooden blade snapped. Everything had been knocked off his desk onto the floor and now the top was littered with hundreds of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

A cartoon screensaver on his computer caught his eye. A little cartoon man waved at him and pointed to the bottom right corner of the screen, where “Click here” flashed at him. Jake did, and a picture of Nikki materialized on the screen. She lay on their bed with a phone cradled to her ear, wearing only Jake’s faded University of Tennessee T-shirt and a pair of white panties. She was sticking her tongue out at the cameraman.

With a growl of fury, Jake picked up the monitor and hurled it across the room.

“Do you want me to call the police?” Hank asked in a hesitant voice. Jake had almost forgotten he was there.

“No, just…just leave me alone a minute, huh?” The cloying scent of the perfume was beginning to make him nauseous, but Jake was already sick with a rage that he didn’t want to take out on Hank. Nodding, Hank closed the door behind him. Pushing open a window to breathe, Jake flung a peach camisole that he hadn’t seen in awhile out of his chair and started shoving the pieces of the puzzle around.

What he saw made him even angrier.

Son of a bitch didn’t even have the guts to leave him all the pieces.

What he had was three-fourths of a photo of a wet, bikini clad Nikki in another man’s arms.

What he didn’t have was any part of the man’s face.

***

It was growing dark outside when Jake emerged from his office. He managed to clean up most of the mess, but someone would have to shampoo the carpet. His head pounded, and he just wanted to go home.

“Jake?”

Turning slowly, Jake shouldn’t have been surprised to see his foreman standing there. Although he was a man of few words, they didn’t come more loyal than Hank.

“Hey,” the big man looked abashed. “I was worried about you. You okay?”

“Yeah.” Jake forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. Been a rough week, you know.”

“You don’t want to call the cops?”

Jake thought of the way the detective at the hospital had talked to him. No doubt he was already the prime suspect. He wasn’t going to give them more ammunition.

“Nah, no cops. I’ll take care of it. But could you get someone to clean the carpet for me tomorrow?”

Hank shifted uncomfortably and muttered, “Okay, Jake. If you need someone to talk to, you know—”

“I know,” Jake interrupted with a smile. Hank nodded and started to walk away when Jake said, “Hey, when was the last time you were in there?” Hank was the only person with access to Jake’s office besides him.

“Nobody’s been in there since you were last, boss. I had to go in there today to get a copy of the Bergman plans.”

“So it could’ve been vandalized last week.” Jake mulled it over. Maybe it had been done before the accident. He thought of the unidentified body in the truck.

Maybe – just maybe – things had already been taken care of.

A cold rain started to fall as Jake watched his foreman drive away. He climbed in the car and just sat there for a while, staring through the rain-streaked windshield. His mind ran a constant loop of all their friends and acquaintances, trying to find a suspect.

It would be interesting to see who turned up missing in the next few days.

Reluctant to go home, Jake remembered that Kelly was out of town. Maybe Eliot could help him put things in perspective. Jake pulled onto the highway, feeling better at the thought of talking to his friend.

Tired of the endless questions in his head, Jake flipped on the radio station and turned it off again when he recognized the first few bars of Nikki’s favorite song. He laughed as the wipers beat against the windshield. How impossible it all was, to think of extracting Nikki from his life. Since the day they met, every thought he had was connected some way or another to her. Even if he left town, if he left the country, for that matter, how could he erase his memories of her? The way she laughed, the way she tilted her head when she smiled. The way they made love as silver moonlight spilled through their bedroom window, and afterward – oh God, especially afterward – when Nikki would become a different woman in his arms. In the cover of darkness, she was someone soft and vulnerable, someone who needed him. She told him her lonely childhood, her dreams and her fears.

Nikki trembled and her tears had burned his chest the first time she told Jake she loved him, even though he’d confessed it first.

“Sometimes I feel so cold inside and wonder if something’s wrong with me because I just don’t give a damn. I used to think my heart was all ugly and black inside, because I didn’t fall in love like other people did. Then I met you. I swear, Jake, the first time I ever felt anything was when I took your hand.”

That was the Nikki he fell in love with and now he had that woman 24/7. The Nikki in that hospital room ripped his heart to shreds.

“Dammit,” Jake said softly.

Eliot wasn’t home. So lost in his thoughts, Jake hadn’t noticed the darkness of the house or the absence of Eliot’s Porsche until he had driven all the way up the elm-lined drive.

Discouraged, he followed the paved circle of the driveway and headed home. He drove on auto-pilot and was a little surprised to find himself pulling up in front of his house a few moments later. Jake lurched up the sidewalk like a drunk, so tired he could barely walk. When he moved to stick his key in the door, it swung open wide.

“What the hell?” he muttered, instantly alert.

Had he forgotten to lock the door?

As Jake stood in the doorway, something crashed upstairs.

***

“Are you okay, dear?” Catherine called from the other side of the shower curtain.

“I’m fine,” Nikki said, too embarrassed to admit that wasn’t really true. While she welcomed the shower, the hot water seemed to drain her energy, leaving her muscles weak and quivering. She hated being so helpless. Clutching at the silver handrail, Nikki washed her body, but couldn’t lift her arms above her head to wash her hair. She rested underneath the hot spray until she felt ready to try again.

A wave of dizziness assaulted her and heat flooded her face as she let go of the bar and raised her arms. Nikki swayed and nearly fell through the blue plastic shower curtain. Reacting quickly, Catherine pushed her back toward the handrail, then reached around the curtain to steady her.

“Let me help,” Catherine said.

“My hair. I can’t wash my hair.”

Catherine adjusted the faucet and gently washed Nikki’s hair. Nikki clutched the rail until Catherine turned off the spray and handed her a towel.

“I really must remind Jake to bring some of your things,” Catherine said as she helped Nikki into a white hospital gown. She wrapped a towel around Nikki’s head and Nikki leaned on her as they made a slow, awkward shuffle back to the bed. A ten minute shower exhausted Nikki. As she sagged against the pillows, she noticed the water spots darkening the front of Catherine’s powder blue sweatshirt.

“Your shirt—” Nikki said. “I’ve ruined your shirt.”

“Nonsense, dear. Just a little water. It’ll be fine.” Catherine toweled Nikki’s hair, and then retrieved a comb from her purse and gently went to work on Nikki’s tangles.

“Jake said we didn’t like each other before,” Nikki said softly. “I find that so hard to believe.”

Catherine’s hand stilled for a moment, then resumed its brisk motion. “Jake shouldn’t tell you things like that.”

“You’ve been so good to me. I don’t know what happened between us before, but I’m sorry.”

Catherine put her comb away and sat on the bed. She gave Nikki a rueful smile and squeezed her hand. “I’ve been thinking about us a lot since your accident. I’m sorry, too. There were times that I acted petty toward you, times that I interfered in your marriage when I should have kept my mouth shut. I wanted to protect Jake, but now I can see that these little battles just hurt him.”

“Why did we argue?”

Catherine sighed. “Mostly, I think we were just jealous of each other. Jake is my only child. He’s been my whole life since his father died. Even though he’s a grown man, I’ve had a hard time letting go.” She smiled and tucked a stray lock of Nikki’s hair behind her ear.

“Girlfriends came and went, but I knew from the first time Jake spoke of you that you were different. A little over a month after you met, he proposed. I admit it scared me to death. He was so crazy about you, and I was terrified that you would break his heart.”

“Did I?” Nikki asked, staring down at her hands. For the first time, she noticed that she wore no wedding band.

“Darling, I think you need to discuss that with Jake.”

“He won’t tell me anything. I can see his hurt, feel his distance, but he won’t talk about our marriage.”

“Jake needs a little time. His father was like that, when he felt threatened, he would just shut down. But I will say this, I believe the love you and Jake share is stronger than the problems you have. You’ve made it through a lot already – the two of you came from different worlds. Your marriage called for a lot of adjustments on both sides.” She winked at Nikki. “Plus, you’ve had to deal with two interfering mothers-in-law.”

“Where is my mother, Catherine? Why isn’t she here?”

Catherine smiled again. “You’re not cutting me any slack with these questions, are you? I’m not really comfortable discussing this, either, but I know Sara loves you in her own way. She’s a complex woman, very involved in her career, and I know you’ve often felt eclipsed by that. There’s been some…difficulty between the two of you since you married Jake. She was dead-set against it, and the two of you didn’t speak for nearly a year, but I believe there has been some progress made as of late.”

“Why was she against it? For the same reason you were?”

Catherine frowned. “Not exactly. Sara felt you should marry someone of your own social status. Your mother is a wealthy woman, Nikki. She expected you to marry a senator or a lawyer, not a man who owns a construction company. Sara is very ambitious and couldn’t understand why you weren’t more like her. I think she was afraid you were ruining your life.”

Nikki sat back, absorbing this new information.

“You and Jake are a lot alike – headstrong, impulsive. I think we were both afraid you were rushing into something you couldn’t handle. Sara tried to force you into leaving Jake by cutting off your inheritance. I must say, even I was impressed when you stood up to her. You told her the money didn’t matter to you. You gave up a lot of material things, just to be with Jake.”

Catherine stood and busied herself by straightening the things on Nikki’s nightstand. “There I go again. I’m afraid I’ve said too much. I really shouldn’t discuss your relationship with your mother.”

“No. I’m just glad someone’s telling me something.” Nikki pushed herself up in the bed by her elbows and smiled. “So, now maybe you can tell me why Elaine hates me?”

Catherine’s blue gaze snapped back to her. “Elaine? What did she say to you?”

“She called me a manipulative bitch and thinks I’m faking this to hold onto Jake.”

Catherine sighed. “That girl is so full of anger. Anyone who knows you should be able to see you aren’t acting. I think Elaine has always been jealous of you. There was a boy that you dated before Jake – I cannot think of his name – but she accused you of stealing him from her. Then, of course, there’s Jake. I think at one time Elaine was a little in love with him, but he treated her like a sister, even before Zeke and I married. You knew how she felt and there was a lot of bad blood between you. Another trait you and Jake share—” Catherine cast a sideways glance at Nikki. “—is jealousy. Each of you is extremely possessive of the other. You would forbid him to see her, she would retaliate by making sure she ran into him and then the battle would be on.”

“She told me not to bother trying to keep him from her.”

“Yes, I bet she did. But please, don’t let her get to you. Jake cares for Elaine. He has been friends with her and Eliot since they were children, but it is you that he loves.”

Nikki frowned as she tried to remember her conversation with Elaine. “Was the boyfriend we shared named Derek? She told me she wasn’t going to let me destroy Jake like I did Derek.”

Catherine frowned. “Yes, that was his name, but you are not responsible for what happened to that boy. Elaine had no right to say that.” She plucked at a piece of lint on the white blanket and gave Nikki a crooked smile. “If it’s any consolation, Elaine hates me, too. She blames me for her mother and father not being together, even though they were divorced for nearly a year before Zeke and I started dating. Elaine is a lonely, bitter young woman. I’ve tried to reach out to her, but she wants no part of it. Eliot and I have a warm relationship and I always hoped Elaine would come around. I don’t think it will happen, though.”

A soft knock on the door announced dinnertime and Nikki let the questions drop as Catherine arranged her tray.

“Nikki, I’m getting a little hungry myself. Do you think you’ll be okay if I run to the cafeteria? I’ll get a sandwich and bring it back with me.”

“Take your time.” Nikki poked at a square of bright, orange gelatin. “I’m fine.”

Nikki forced herself to eat, though she had no appetite. When the telephone rang, she shoved the tray aside and leaned over the rail to grab it.

“Hello?”

“Nikki?” a man’s voice asked. “Is that you?”

“Yes, may—”

“Oh, good!” he said breathlessly. “I was hoping you’d be the one to answer the phone. Are you okay?”

“I – who is this?” Something about this conversation was setting off alarm bells in her head.

“Oh, I get it. You can’t talk right now. I understand. What were you doing in his truck? Never mind. We’ll straighten everything out later. Don’t worry about Jake. I’ll take care of things, just like I promised.”

Before Nikki could say anything, the line went dead in her hand.

Chapter 4

November 4

The morning sun burned across Jake’s face. He rubbed his eyes, rolled over on his stomach and pulled the pillow over his head.

Her pillow.

He caught the faint, floral scent of Nikki’s shampoo in the crisp white pillowcase. It was the first time he’d slept in this bed in days, but somehow he needed to be close to her.

Jake glanced at his watch and groaned. He needed to get moving. Reluctantly, he swung his feet over the edge of the bed and headed down the hall to the bathroom. It wasn’t until he swung open the door that he remembered the mess he hadn’t cleaned up last night.

The sound he’d mistaken for an intruder was a vase of flowers Nikki had sitting in the bathroom window. The wind from the open window had sent them crashing to the floor. Jake cleaned up the glass and the water, remembered to pick up the torn gown, then stumbled to the shower.

The cool water did little to wake him up, but he was feeling better a half a pot of coffee later – at least until Evan Stephens called.

At the sound of the man’s voice, Jake gripped the phone a little tighter. His dislike for his wealthiest client was so intense he had to struggle to keep it hidden.

“Jake, Evan Stephens here. How’s the wife?”

“She’s doing better.”

“The papers say Nikki has amnesia—”

Jake hated to hear the jerk say her name. He damn sure didn’t have any business asking about her. “What can I do for you, Mr. Stephens?” he interrupted. “Hank said the project’s coming along on schedule.”

“Yes, but I have a modification I’d like to speak to you about.”

Jake winced as he listened to Stephens. They were already pushing their luck with the weather. If they got off track now, they might not beat the first snow.

“Let me look over the plans, see if it’s possible, and Hank or I will get back to you,” Jake said when the man was finished.

“Great. And tell Nikki I hope she recovers soon.”

Jake hung up without replying and called Hank. The other man’s voice was instantly wary.

“Jake, you okay? Something else happen?”

“What – oh, no. It’s about Stephens.”

When Jake told him what Stephens wanted, Hank let loose with a string of colorful obscenities.

“Yeah, I know. I can’t stand him either, but he’s the man with the cash right now. We’ll have to figure out something.” Jake rolled his head around, making his neck pop.

“I can’t believe that guy. He showed up at the site yesterday with a girl that couldn’t have been much older than my Gracie. He was all over the poor thing. I wanted to put my fist through his face and send her home to her mama.”

“I know Hank, but we’ve already signed the contracts. Can’t back out now.”

Jake told Hank that he’d talk to Stephens, try to work out a compromise and they hung up. Evan Stephens was a pervert. When they had first signed the contract, Stephens invited Nikki and him to dinner at his house. It had taken all Jake’s restraint to keep from breaking the guy’s neck for the way he ogled Nikki, but Nikki sensed his anger and stilled him with a hand on his thigh. He could read the look in her eyes.

Don’t blow this, Jake.

He didn’t give a damn about the money, but he knew status was important to Nikki. This job could mean big opportunities for his company. Stephens had a lot of influential friends. Still, he nearly lost it again when Stephens draped his arm around Nikki’s shoulders as they went to have a drink on the patio. Sensing his anger and moving quickly, Nikki said, “Please excuse us, Mr. and Mrs. Stephens. I need to go to the ladies’ room. Follow me, Jake, so I don’t get lost in this amazing house.”

She got directions and jerked him down the hall before he had a chance to protest. She shoved him into the bathroom and shut the door behind them, then wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Please, baby, don’t let your temper ruin this for you,” Nikki begged as she pressed against him. “All he can do is look. Who cares? I belong to you. Evan Stephens can never have me.”

She took one of Jake’s hands and placed it on her breast. Instantly, a wave of desire washed away Jake’s anger. Sometimes he wondered if he’d ever felt anything, either, before she came into his life, because everything else paled against the intensity he felt at her touch.

He raked his thumb over her nipple and watched it grow taut under the thin fabric. Nikki sighed as Jake slipped his fingers inside the neckline of her red dress and tugged it down to expose her breast. Her sigh became a moan when he placed his mouth over the pink tip and teased it with his tongue. Nikki whimpered and Jake reached behind her to unzip her dress. She shrugged her arms out of the straps and let it fall to the floor.

Suddenly, her hands were everywhere, fumbling at his trousers, caressing him, tearing at his shirt. Jake stumbled to the edge of the big marble tub and pulled Nikki onto his lap. He cupped her hips in his hands, lifting her up and down, faster and faster until they shared a shattering climax. It was several minutes before they rejoined the Stephens’, and Jake supposed he had an idiotic grin on his face, but he didn’t care. He slapped Nikki on the rear before they opened the patio doors and whispered, “I’ll keep my mouth shut, but if he touches you again, I’m gonna tear his arm off and beat him to death with it.”

Jake smiled as he recalled how her eyes had sparkled that night, the secret smile that played on her red lips. Danger turned Nikki on, and she tormented him with sly caresses when no one else was watching and scandalous whispers when no one else could hear. At the dinner table, she slipped her satin panties into his hand and laughed as he shoved them in his pocket. Jake somehow made it through dinner without touching her, but he didn’t make it all the way home. Before they got to the end of Stephens’ private road, he nearly put the BMW in the ditch before he threw it in park and chased a laughing Nikki into the backseat.

But those were the good days, days before things had inexplicably gone sour. The angry words of their last conversation echoed in the house like a ghost. Jake closed his eyes and remembered what it felt like, sitting in the dark in his study with those divorce papers in his lap, waiting for her to come home.

An eternity passed before her key hit the lock. Nikki tossed a stack of mail on the coffee table and started to take off her leather jacket.

“Where have you been?” he asked, and watched her stiffen. Without turning to look at him, she slipped off her coat and hung it in the hall closet.

“With Darcy.” Her voice was tight, tense, and Jake’s anger surged again.

“Is that right?” he asked, and finally she turned to him.

She looked pale. Tired. There was such pain in her green eyes that Jake found he couldn’t meet her gaze.

“Dammit, Jake. Yes, that’s right. I was with Darcy. Do you want to call her and check?”

She reached to flip on the light and he said, “Don’t.”

Nikki gave him an exasperated look and threw up her hands. “Fine. Sit here in the dark by yourself. I’m going to bed.”

She started toward the stairs and Jake stood.

“I can’t live like this anymore.” The words, hopeless and desperate, burst from him and she froze on the bottom step. “I want a divorce.”

Even as he said the words, he wished he could take them back, especially when he saw the horror on her face. He’d wanted to break her cool composure, to hurt her as he’d been hurt, but when her tears came, there was no satisfaction for him in it.

“You don’t mean that,” she whispered. “You can’t mean that.”

Jake said nothing and she took a faltering step toward him. “Jake, you don’t understand – you don’t know—”

All the pain, all the anger he tried to hold back the past two weeks came rushing to the surface. “That’s right, Nikki!” he shouted. “I don’t understand and I don’t know…why don’t you tell me?”

“What can I say, Jake? What can I say to make it better? That I’m sorry? That I love you? I’ve tried that, but it’s not what you want to hear.”

“Dammit, Nikki, I want you to say it. Saying you’re sorry doesn’t mean anything when you won’t even tell me what you’re sorry for. Stop lying to me and just say it.”

“Alright!” she yelled. “I did it, okay? I cheated on you. I never meant for it to happen. I’m not even sure how it happened. It was a mistake—”

Furious, Jake shook his head and advanced toward her, the divorce papers wadded in his hand. “Who is he, Nikki? What’s his name? I deserve to know.”

“I can’t tell you!” she sobbed and covered her face with her hands. “You’ll kill him.”

“Then it’s over.” He thrust the papers at her.

She made no attempt to catch them, and they fell to the floor like a wounded bird.

“You take the house. You take it all. I don’t give a damn.”

“Jake—” she grabbed his arm and he jerked away from her.

“Don’t touch me!” he growled. “I loved you. I trusted you.”

He started toward the front door, then spun on his heel. He grabbed Nikki by her shoulders and pushed her against the wall, pinning her with his body.

It was a mistake.

He knew it as soon as he stared into those green eyes, as soon as he smelled her perfume and felt the heat from her body. He watched the shallow throb of her pulse in her throat.

God, how was he going to live without her?

“Hit me, Jake.” She jutted out her chin. “Hit me. Hurt me. Just please don’t leave me. I’ll do anything to make this better.”

Jake closed his eyes as Nikki pressed her lips to the hollow of his throat, then he seized her chin in his hand.

“Tell me who he is.”

“I can’t.” Mascara streaked down her cheeks.

“Damn you.” He swung at the wall and Nikki flinched as his fist broke through the sheetrock beside her head.

“Can’t you see? I’m not protecting him. I’m protecting you. Don’t throw us away, Jake.”

“Me?” he asked incredulously. “You’re the one who threw us away. Do you think you’re the only one who had opportunities? Would you care to know how many times I’ve cheated on you?”

“No,” she whispered.

“No,” he repeated. “Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. Not once, Nikki. Not one damn time. I was a fool. I thought our vows meant something. They did to me, anyway. But not anymore.”

He released her so abruptly she almost fell.

“What does that mean?” she yelled. “Where are you going? To see Elaine?” She spat out the name and Jake clenched his fists.

Always the same old thing.

“Maybe,” he said, because he knew it would hurt her.

“Fine!” Nikki yanked off her wedding ring and hurled it at him.

Jake didn’t flinch. It bounced off his chest and skidded across the floor.

“You want a divorce, you’ve got it. But you will never love anyone like you do me, Jake Hawthorne.”

“Good!” he said, and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

The phone rang, bringing him back to the present. Jake ignored it. He grabbed Nikki’s overnight bag and headed out the door. The real estate brochures still lay in the passenger seat of the BMW, and the sight of them was like a slap. Some faceless bastard had stolen everything from them because Nikki had let it happen. On the way to the hospital, Jake’s mood darkened from stormy to fighting mad.

He opened the door to Nikki’s room, feeling as grim as a man opening the door to the death chamber. Catherine perched at the end of Nikki’s bed and they were playing checkers. Both women looked up with a smile when he walked in. Those smiles faded when they saw the anger on his face.

“Jake, what’s wrong?” Catherine looked alarmed.

“Nothing.”

That was what he said, but everything was what he felt.

He tossed the overnight bag on the floor and sank into the chair furthest from the bed.

“Jake, I can see that something—”

“I said nothing’s wrong!” Jake snapped and Catherine fell silent.

He looked up at Nikki for the first time. She was staring at him wide-eyed, not with fear, but with sympathy. That made him even more furious. She was the last person he wanted sympathy from.

“I’m going to get a cup of coffee,” he muttered and jumped to his feet.

Jerking open the door, he strode down the hall and jabbed the elevator button. Catherine caught up with him before the doors could open.

She grabbed his arm and said, “Jake, we need to talk.”

He gave her an exasperated look. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, but Catherine was not to be deterred.

She led him to the waiting room. With a sigh of resignation, Jake sat in one of the chairs and glared up at the ceiling. Catherine shut the door behind her.

“Jake, I want to know what’s wrong.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “I just found out my wife has been cheating on me for God knows how long with God knows who and you ask me what’s wrong?”

“Honey, I know that you’re hurting—”

“It’s crazy,” he interrupted. “I can’t confront her. I can’t divorce her. I can’t even ask her who it was, because she doesn’t know either.”

“Jake, the girl that’s in that room isn’t the same one who hurt you. She doesn’t know what she’s done. Is it fair to punish Nikki for an offense that she doesn’t even remember committing?”

“I remember, Mother. I remember what she did. Is it fair that I have to look at her and pretend nothing is wrong when I remember everything?”

Jake paced around the room, his hands balled up into angry fists. He sat back down and stared at his hands.

A woman like Nikki wasn’t meant to be married to a man with hands like these.

His hands were rough and calloused from the work he loved. Women like Nikki married men with soft hands, lawyers and stockbrokers. Men like his stepbrother, Eliot or her ex-boyfriend, Derek.

“I know that you’re in an impossible situation and I scarcely know what to tell you, but I can’t help but feel sorry for her now. Jake, maybe this accident happened for a reason. Maybe Nikki’s amnesia will allow you to start over. If you didn’t still love her, you wouldn’t hurt as much as you do.”

“I don’t know if I can.” He shook his head. “I can’t breathe. It feels like a cancer, eating away at me. I just sit around, thinking of every guy we know and wondering who he is.” He paused. “Any day now, she could remember everything and go rushing off into the arms of another man. How am I supposed to risk that?”

“Love is always a risk, Jake. The girl who’s waiting for us in that room sees you as her husband. In her heart, she’s never cheated on you, has never hurt you. Try not to punish her. She’s as innocent as a babe right now. If you still love her, try to rebuild your marriage and don’t worry about what will happen when her memory comes back. You can’t let your anger control you.”

When Jake said nothing, she continued, “Remember when we first got here, and you didn’t know whether Nikki was going to live or die? Did the affair matter as much when you thought you were going to lose her forever? You have to decide which is more important, to cling to your anger or hold to your marriage, because I don’t think you can have both.”

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know,” he said finally.

“Nikki’s been asking me questions. Questions I can’t answer. She’s worried about you, Jake, and I am, too. You need to think very carefully about the answers you’re going to give her.”

***

Nikki waited apprehensively for Jake and Catherine to come back. How frustrating it was to see him going through so much pain and no one would tell her what caused it. The phone call had scared her, and she didn’t like to consider the implications. Nikki hadn’t told Catherine and was afraid to tell Jake. It felt like her life was just a movie on a screen and all she could do was sit by helplessly and see how things turned out.

Several minutes later, Catherine opened the door and gave Nikki a reassuring wink. Jake trudged in behind her.

“Hey,” he paused. “How are you feeling?”

His tone was that of a chastised little boy being forced to thank someone for a gift that he didn’t like. Absurdly, Nikki had to resist the urge to laugh.

“Much better, thanks,” she said with forced cheerfulness. “They finally let me take a shower, and Catherine helped me brush this tangled hair.”

Jake glanced up, finally looking directly at her. Nikki sucked in her breath at the feel of those beautiful eyes upon her.

“I’m glad,” he said.

He pulled up a chair beside the bed and they made small talk. She told him about the memory therapy she had that morning, even though there wasn’t much to tell. At least her short-term memory seemed to be improving.

“Your best friend, Darcy, will probably be here today,” he said absently. “She’s been your best friend since junior high and she’s pretty worried about you.”

“Darcy.” She shrugged, feeling a little sad. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Hard to forget that one.” Jake smiled. “She’s crazy. The two of you together are dangerous.”

Nikki was listening to her mother-in-law chit chat about people she didn’t remember when a brief knock sounded at the door.

“Come on in, Darcy,” Jake called out.

“Now, how did you know it was me?” A pretty blonde stepped around the corner and grinned at Nikki.

“I told Nikki that you loved her, and – hey!” Jake spied the sacks of fast food in her hand. “Oh, Darce, did I ever tell you that you’re my hero?”

She laughed and handed them to Jake. “Thought you and my girl here could use a few greasy carbs about now. Always makes me feel better.”

Nikki smiled at the girl as Jake pulled her tray around and began to lay out her food first. Darcy nodded her greetings at Catherine, and then approached Nikki’s bed.

“Hey, kiddo.” Darcy perched on the edge of her bed and stared at her with luminous gray eyes. “Prince Charming here tells me that you have somehow managed to forget all that crazy crap that you’ve gotten me into since we were twelve. Just how have you managed that?”

“I don’t know,” Nikki replied, surprised to find herself close to tears. Darcy squeezed her hand and said lightly, “C’mon, even a couple blows to the head couldn’t erase the memory of when you and I dressed up like punk rockers, with big pink hair and everything, and sang for the entire student body in eighth grade.”

It was Nikki’s turn to wince. “I think I probably would’ve tried to repress that one on my own.”

She caught Jake off-guard. He nearly spit french fries on Darcy as he choked on his laughter.

“Well, we won!” Darcy pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. “Okay, Okay! How about the time your mom scored us backstage passes on your fifteenth birthday and we met Him?”

“Who?” Nikki asked in confusion.

“Him! Jon Bon Jovi! The rock star?” Darcy gasped, rolling her eyes in pretend ecstasy at the thought. She frowned. “C’mon, girl! This was the biggest moment in your life until you met Old Blue Eyes here.” She jerked her head at Jake, who was taking savage enjoyment in a double cheeseburger.

“I see you’ve forced me to sing,” Darcy said sorrowfully, then began to belt out a tune in a voice that was more than a little loud and off-key.

Nikki’s eyes widened, and she sang the next line of the song.

Jake looked at Nikki in amazement and said, “Woman, I cannot believe you remember some big-haired rock star and you can’t remember the man who carried you nearly a mile out of the woods that time when you fell and broke your ankle—”

“Not to mention what you were doing back there with him in the first place,” Darcy interrupted with a grin.

“Too much information!” Catherine exclaimed and stood. They laughed and Catherine said, “Seriously, darling, I need to go.”

She bent to place a kiss on Nikki’s forehead, and Nikki caught the ‘wow’ that Darcy mouthed to Jake. He shrugged back at her. Catherine then went around to Jake and kissed him.

“Do you need me to stay again tonight? If you do, it’s no trouble. I need to run home and do a couple of things, but I could be back in an hour.”

Jake glanced at Nikki and then shook his head. Nikki felt her hopes surge again. Catherine told Darcy goodbye and left.

“I just remembered the song,” Nikki said to Jake, “not meeting him.”

“Him,” Darcy corrected, with added emphasis. She shot Jake a patient look.

“Jake, just about every girl our age spent her nights feverishly dreaming about Jon,” she paused, holding her hand to the side of her mouth with a whispered aside to Nikki, “Some of us still do!” Nikki laughed and she continued gleefully, “in rooms with posters of his face covering the walls. How could some of that not stick?”

Jake sighed. “One of these days, it’ll be the stalking charges that stick.”

“Ha, ha!” Darcy retorted, and then pushed Nikki’s food over to her as Jake dug his second burger out of the sack. “You eat, hon. I can do all the talking,” she assured her, and Jake snorted his agreement.

“Actually, I have to admit, this is kind of a relief,” Darcy said with twinkling eyes. “You have been witness to roughly eighty percent of my most embarrassing moments, so now I won’t have to kill ya to keep my secrets safe!”

“Hmm.” Jake stared at her blankly. “You mean like the one where you got plastered at Susan’s St. Paddy’s Day party and made out with Tommy Miller in the coat closet?”

Darcy gasped. She threw a pack of ketchup at Jake’s head, and then turned accusing eyes to Nikki. “I cannot believe you told him that. I can’t let Jake have that kind of power over me!”

Nikki laughed and shrugged at her best friend helplessly.

“Refresh my memory, Darce. Was that when he was going through his biker stage?”

Darcy put her head in her hands and moaned. “I swear, Nik, when you get your memory back and remember just how dorky Tommy Miller is, I am going to kill you for this!”

Nikki felt an instant bond with this girl and was profoundly glad that she was here. It was so nice to see Jake laughing and teasing. She knew instinctively that this was the Jake she’d fallen in love with, the way he’d been before…

Before what?

Her intuition told her that Darcy knew her secrets. Maybe if she knew what she’d done to Jake, she could figure out a way to fix it. She had to get Darcy alone to ask her about it.

She managed to eat half her hamburger and most of her fries and though it made her stomach churn, she managed to feign a craving for chocolate.

“I’ll go down to the vending machines,” Jake offered. Nikki thanked him and waited until the door shut behind him to grasp Darcy’s hand.

“Darcy, do you know what’s going on between me and Jake?” She could tell from the other girl’s expression that she did.

“Nik, I think you need to ask Jake—” Darcy began.

“He won’t tell me!” Nikki said. “He just looks at me, so hurt and confused and angry, and I don’t know why. He just gives me vague answers that we had different expectations, but I know that I’ve hurt him somehow. I don’t want to lose my marriage and not even know why.”

The other girl sighed. “I’m not sure you want to hear the truth from me, Nik, because I can’t defend what you did,” she said finally.

“It doesn’t matter to me if I was the one who was wrong. I just want to know what happened so I can try to make things right. If I was wrong, I need to find some way to make Jake forgive me.”

Both women quieted as the door creaked open. Dr. Carver came in, smiling at them.

“Well, Nikki, how would you like to get out of this cracker box tomorrow?”

Nikki was speechless.

“Your last batch of tests looked good and you’ve started retaining a little information now. Other than your amnesia, you made it through the wreck with remarkably few injuries and I think you can complete your recovery at home. It might speed your memory to be among familiar surroundings. We’ll send a therapist to your house daily to do your memory exercises and you’ll have another also coming daily for awhile to help with your physical therapy.”

“That would be great!” Nikki said, hoping that being among her own things would get her closer to remembering what her life had been like before the accident. Just then, Jake came back in, and Dr. Carver told him the news. Nikki saw a shadow of apprehension cross his face, and knew that the thought of taking her home wasn’t an altogether pleasant one for him. Dr. Carver clapped Jake on the back and went off to finish his rounds.

***

A cold wave of dread seeped into Jake’s bones, drowning his light mood. The thought of being alone with Nikki, truly alone, filled him with uncertainty. He handed Nikki her candy bar and sat down, half-listening to Darcy’s chatter. He looked into Nikki’s pale eyes and wished that he were the only lover she’d ever known. With a start, he realized that – for now, anyway – he was.

Jake felt sorry for Darcy as she attempted to regain the same light mood, but now there was a strange undercurrent in the room that her banter couldn’t disguise. Eventually, she looked at her watch and announced that she had to go. She leaned to hug Nikki goodbye, and Nikki squeezed her hand.

“Hey, Blue Eyes.” She punched Jake’s arm affectionately, “Walk me to the parking garage? It’s probably dark outside now, and there could be some creepy guy hanging around down there, just waiting to ravish a stunner like myself.”

“Couldn’t be any creepier than Tommy Miller,” he teased, and was rewarded with a cuff to the back of his head.

“Ow! Okay, okay, I’ll go!” He glanced at his wife. “Be right back, Nikki.”

They got in the elevator and Jake pushed the basement level, where the garage was situated.

“How are you doing, Jake? Really?”

Jake sighed and leaned back against the elevator wall. “I have no idea. One minute I’m mad, the next I’m hopeful. I don’t know what to do, other than wish that I was the one with amnesia. It’s so hard to hang on, when every time I close my eyes, I picture her in the arms of some guy.”

“What made her finally tell you?”

“I told her I wanted a divorce. I served her with papers the day before the accident. That made her so furious that she finally confessed, but she said she couldn’t tell me who he was.”

Darcy gasped.

“I didn’t feel that I had a choice,” Jake said defensively. “First, Nikki kept lying to me about it. Then, she wouldn’t say anything at all. I thought that serving papers on her would make her realize that I wasn’t going to just let this go.”

“Jake, don’t take this the wrong way—” Darcy hesitated. “It’s really hard for me to say this, because Nikki’s like a sister to me, but please think twice before you rush back into things with her. I know her better than anyone does, even you. Nikki looks out for number one. I don’t know what she’s told you about her relationship with Derek, but she did him the same way. I begged him to stay away from her, but he couldn’t. Nikki knows how to get what she wants, and she doesn’t realize the people she hurts to get it. That’s just the way she is, and it’s not really her fault. She learned from the best.”

Jake nodded, thinking about the selfish, callous woman who was his mother-in-law.

“She knew how Derek felt about her and she used it to her advantage. Frankly, I was relieved when she stopped dating him and met you, but then you and I became friends. You’re a good guy, Jake, and I hate to see you hurt. I told Nikki a few weeks ago that you didn’t deserve to be treated so shabbily.”

“So it hadn’t been going on for too long?” Jake asked, wondering why it mattered.

Because it’s one thing to know that she slept with this guy. It’s another to think she loved him.

“Maybe a couple of months.”

“You don’t have a guess as to who he might’ve been?” Jake asked, then realized he was thinking of the guy in the past tense.

“No, but…” she hesitated again and he could see her cringe. “It’s somebody that you know, Jake. She was mad when he first started coming on to her, but he kind of wore her down with his attention and gifts. You know how Nikki always needed to be the center of attention.”

Jake nodded. He glanced at Darcy again and noticed how pale she was.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked. “You look a little under the weather.”

A tear glinted in the corner of Darcy’s eye, and she impatiently brushed it away. “Ah, it’s just all this.” She gestured with her hands. “And I’ve been thinking about Derek today. It’s been two months now.” Her voice cracked and Jake wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Darcy pulled back, looking a little embarrassed. Jake knew she wasn’t the type to cry easily.

“You know, you’re a real keeper, Jake.” She brushed a kiss on his cheek and said lightly, “Nik used to always steal my best boyfriends, but if I’d met you first, I would’ve fought her for you.”

Jake took the keys from her hand and unlocked the car door.

She grabbed his hands and said, “Hey, Blue Eyes, I just want you to be careful. I don’t know if Nikki really meant all that stuff about wanting to leave, but – just take it slow, okay?”

Jake’s heart nearly stopped in his chest, and he could only nod at her.

Even before he forced her hand, Nikki had been planning to leave him.

The thought hit him like a punch in the gut, but he struggled to keep his face impassive for Darcy’s sake. It was obvious that she thought he already knew. She was still talking, and Jake had to force himself to concentrate on what she was saying. She squeezed his hands again.

“Oh, Jake!” she said. “I know this sounds awful, but I’m glad you finally know. I’ve felt so guilty these last few weeks, knowing what was going on and even that she used me as an excuse sometimes so she could get out of the house. We haven’t even spoken in the last couple of weeks because of it. I never wanted to hurt you…”

“I know.” Jake gave her a pained smile. He hugged her again, and then watched her get into her car. She started it up and Jake was walking off when she rolled down her window.

“Hey, this may be crazy of me, but…if the body from the car isn’t him, please be careful. I don’t know if Nikki realized it, but he was obsessed with her.”

Jake watched her drive off, wondering if the guy had been obsessed enough to try to kill him.

***

Nikki was thinking about the phone call when Jake appeared in the doorway. He stared at her in that intense way of his, and Nikki could barely breathe. She was having a hard time trying to catalogue all the things she felt when she looked at him.

“Nikki, you’re shaking. Are you okay?”

She started to lie, to say that she was fine, but the concern on his face crumbled her defenses.

“Jake, I’m so scared. This is awful! What if I never remember? I can’t stand this—” She knew she sounded hysterical, but she couldn’t keep the panic from her voice.

“Hey.” He lowered the bedrail and climbed in beside her. Nikki found herself wrapped in those strong arms again. She buried her face in his soft flannel shirt and clung to him like a drowning woman. One of Jake’s hands wound in her hair, while the other stroked her back.

“You’re going to be okay, Nik, I swear it. We’ll make it through this. I’m here for you, for as long as you need me.”

What an odd thing for a husband to say, she thought. Everything in her life was crazy and skewed, but the man who held her was the biggest enigma of all.

Jake pulled back a little and cupped her face in his hands. Another teardrop escaped, trailing down her cheek, and time seemed to slow as Jake leaned to kiss it away.

Nikki’s heart thumped in her chest, her tears all but forgotten. The look in his eyes paralyzed her as he brushed his lips across hers. She could taste the saltiness of her tear as the kiss deepened. Nikki wound her hands in his black hair, urging him closer, deeper, and he pressed her backward in the bed. His tongue teased hers, set her on fire as it probed her mouth, gently at first, then more insistently.

There was such need in his kiss, such hunger, that suddenly their roles were reversed; he was the one seeking assurance and she was the one desperately trying to give it to him.

She felt him pull away emotionally before he did physically. When he finally looked at her, she saw a myriad of emotions playing across his handsome face, confusion, desire…and even fear.

“I’m sorry, Nik.” He averted his eyes. “That isn’t what either of us needs at the moment.”

You’re wrong, Jake, she thought, but she knew better than to push him. Already she had a sense of how fragile the bond between them was. One wrong move and she could lose him forever.

Nikki expected him to get up, but he surprised her by lying back in the bed beside her. She laid her head against his shoulder, feeling somehow content even in the uncertainty that swirled around her, and wished she could remember what it had been like to be his lover.

She shut her eyes and Jake moved his arm behind her head, pulling her to him. Nikki snuggled up against him and pressed her face into his hard chest, breathing in the warm, masculine scent of him. He cradled her in his arms and she wondered how many times that they had lain in bed, just like this. Jake stroked her hair and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. The tenderness he showed her touched Nikki, even though it plainly scared him to death to be close to her. She dared to think that they might save their marriage.

***

November 5

“Wow,” Nikki said. “We live here?”

She turned a slow circle in the foyer, taking in her surroundings. Jake thought she was lovely, even with her bruised face and choppy hair, and she seemed so excited to be home. He couldn’t help but be pleased with her newfound admiration for the place. He gave her the grand tour, enjoying her childlike wonder over the things that she had once dismissed so casually.

“You’re so young and I don’t work, so I figured that we lived in some cozy little newlywed cottage. I never imagined it would be this big!”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Everything’s so beautiful.” She trailed her fingers on the ornately carved stair rail.

“Well, it was put together by a beautiful decorator,” Jake said with a wink.

“I did this?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned. “You picked out every piece of furniture, every picture.”

By now they had made it upstairs. Jake pushed open a door and announced that this was her bedroom.

“Mine?” Her smile faded. “Not ours?”

“Mine is down here.” Jake guided her down the hall to the small guest room he had taken over. “We haven’t shared a bed in weeks,” he admitted.

“Why?” she asked bleakly.

Jake grimaced. He saw no reason to keep it from her any longer.

“Because I found out you had a lover.”

***

A pair of socks.

Jake never dreamed that his marriage would be destroyed by a pair of socks, but it had. He and Nikki had been arguing some, but he never would’ve believed there was someone else until he found the socks.

They had been on their way to one of Sara’s political dinners, and Jake had dropped a cufflink. It bounced under the bed and, as he peered under there to locate it, he spied something dark in the corner. He reached to see what it was and found a crumpled pair of men’s navy dress socks. He had none like them, but still might not have thought anything if Nikki hadn’t come into the bedroom at that moment.

Jokingly, he held them up while still feeling for the cufflink.

“Hey, babe. Looks like some guy had to leave in a hurry.”

He didn’t look up, expecting some smart little retort, but she was silent. He glanced at her, and was shocked by what he saw written on her face.

Nikki had gone dead white.

In his worst dreams and in his most desperate moments, Jake Hawthorne had never been so profoundly frightened. Suddenly, he wished more than anything that he could rewind the last few moments and never look under that bed. Looking at her guilt-ridden face, he had known that the life he knew, the life he loved, was over. Nikki had betrayed him, and the proof wasn’t in his hand, but in her eyes.

***

“Oh, Jake!” the post-Nikki cupped her hand to her mouth in misery. “I’m so sorry.”

She reached for him, but, caught up in the searing memory of that moment, Jake couldn’t bear for her to touch him. He jerked away from her and backed down the hall.

“Don’t!” he said, sharper than he intended. “Please…just don’t.”

He retreated into his room and slammed the door behind him, leaving her standing there, convicted and condemned for a crime she couldn’t remember committing.

Chapter 5

Jake found her a little while later in the kitchen and had no idea what to say. Her eyes were red, but she managed a smile as she said, “So, what do you have to eat in this joint?”

He admired her spirit and decided that he’d make an effort, too.

“Well, you always said that I make a mean chili dog. How does that sound?”

“It sounds great.”

Nikki winked at Jake as she attacked her second chili dog. He had thrown everything on it, like she used to like, and she devoured it in sheer delight, even pausing once to lick the messy sauce off her finger.

Jake cleared his throat and said, “Look, Nikki, I’m sorry about before. All this is so new and it kills me to talk about it. It’s so hard, trying to talk to you about you. I know you want to get your memory back, and I want to help you, but—”

“It’s okay,” she interrupted. “I understand a lot now. I think you’re a wonderful man for standing by me like you have. I know it may not mean anything to you right now, but I’m sorry I ever hurt you.”

“Thank you.”

Neither of them spoke for a while. Nikki absently played with the salt shaker as Jake stared out the window, watching the curling brown leaves race through the yard in the gusting wind. When Nikki took his hand, he didn’t pull away. He pressed his face to her palm and then kissed the inside of her wrist. Nikki closed her eyes.

Nikki cleared her throat. “Do you think there’s a chance we can save our marriage?”

Her quiet question stunned him.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Do you want that?”

She squeezed his fingers. “I want that more than anything.”

Jake leaned back in the chair and exhaled softly. “I need to know who he was, Nikki. I don’t think I could stand being around my friends and acquaintances every day and wondering if it was one of them. I need to know where you were going that morning when you roared off in my truck, and I need to know who was with you that day, if it wasn’t him. Can you understand that?”

“I understand, because I need to know, too.”

Jake nodded. “Come on. Let’s see if there’s any news yet.”

He helped her with her coat and they headed to the Whitwell police station.

“None of this looks familiar?” he glanced at Nikki, who sat staring out the passenger window at the gray mountains on either side of them. Rolling white mists of fog enshrouded the valley, giving the illusion that clouds had drifted from the rosy pink and yellow sky and settled like cotton on the ground.

“No,” she replied, “but it’s so beautiful! Which mountains are these?”

“That’s the Cumberland Plateau. I wish you could remember the fall, Nik. The mountains burst with all shades of red, orange and yellow and the moon looks like a big orange ball. It’s gorgeous.”

As Jake pulled into the Whitwell police department, he searched the parking lot for the sheriff’s white Chevy Blazer. Luck was with them. It was parked haphazardly by the double glass doors.

Matt Garrettson raised his coffee cup in greeting when they walked in. Other than his thin, wiry frame, he was the perfect caricature of a laid-back, small town sheriff. No doubt Matt liked to give that impression. Many people were fooled by his slow, lazy drawl and underestimated the intelligence flashing in his dark eyes.

“Coffee?” Matt called, and both of them shook their heads. He ran a hand through rumpled hair, which was now more salt than pepper, and jammed a faded Atlanta Braves cap on his head. He strolled over to them and clapped Jake on the back.

“Tell me son, how’s your mother doing?” he asked. “Although I haven’t seen her in a few months, I’ve still thought about her.”

“She’s doing great, sir.” Jake was instantly at ease around his late father’s best friend. Matt would be straight with him.

“Tell her when she decides to get rid of Zeke I’m still single,” he said with a wink and Nikki laughed.

“Still don’t remember anything, young lady?” He turned his attention to her.

She shook her head. “Just bits and pieces of nothing that really matters, mostly from my childhood.”

“Well, that’s a start,” he said. “Come on in, grab yourself a seat.”

Easier said than done. The only available chairs were piled high with what looked like files and old copies of Field and Stream. Jake helped Matt move them to a little metal table that looked as if it might collapse under their weight.

“Sorry for the mess.” Matt frowned beneath his bushy moustache. “What can I do for you?”

“We were wondering if you’ve found out anything about the passenger or about the truck yet, sir.” Jake leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

“Let me get the file and we’ll see,” the sheriff replied. He hit the intercom button on his phone and barked, “Joan, get me the file on the Hawthorne case.”

Silence.

“Aw, hell,” he muttered, then flashed them an embarrassed grin. “My secretary ran off to Vegas with one of my deputies last week. Keep forgetting she’s not out there. I hollered at her all day yesterday.”

His cowboy boots made a soft scraping sound as he crossed back to the door. “Janney!” he bellowed. “Bring me the Hawthorne file.”

The younger officer appeared a few minutes later with the file in hand. He looked displeased about surrendering it.

“Sir, Les and I were going over to discuss the findings with Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne this evening.”

“Well, they want to know now.” Matt leaned back in the chair and stared at his officer. Janney stood there with his hands on his hips until the sheriff said mildly, “That’ll be all, Janney.”

The man frowned and then strode out, shutting the door a little too hard.

“Young Janney is a little gung ho.” Matt chuckled. “Always wanting to throw somebody in the slammer.”

Nikki and Jake shared a look.

They must think someone tampered with the Dodge.

The sheriff was quiet for a moment as he pored over the reports. Nikki tucked her hand inside Jake’s and he gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“ME says the passenger was a white female, 5'5-5'7, age approximately 20-40 years old, approximately 100-120 pounds. Sound like anyone you know?” he asked Jake.

A woman.

Jake was so surprised that it took him a moment to process what Matt was asking. He had been sure that Nikki was with her lover that day. His mind went blank as he tried to fit this new information into the puzzle.

“I have no idea,” he said finally. “Nikki has a lot of friends. So many of them left messages on the machine, but I don’t remember which ones did or didn’t right now.”

“My people are going through piles of missing persons reports as we speak, because I figured it had to be a friend she was shopping with or something.”

“Nikki’s best friend knows practically all the same people Nikki does. I’ll get her to check around.”

Jake couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Nikki had been in no mood to go shopping that morning.

“If anyone turns up missing, we managed to collect some tissue and dental samples to do a DNA test on, but other than that…” He shrugged.

“Now, about the truck—” He handed them a stack of photos of the twisted wreckage of the Dodge. “The fire was so hot that it destroyed much of the undercarriage. There’s nothing conclusive, but I’d bet my paycheck that someone tampered with that brake line. For sure, the emergency brake was inoperable,” he paused, then added, “Don’t let Janney try to intimidate you. He’s got nothing that he could prove in court, but he thinks you might’ve tampered with Nikki’s brakes because she was seeing someone else.”

“It was my truck!” Jake exclaimed. “Why would I have sabotaged my own truck?”

“Easy, boy.” Matt winked. “I know you. I know better than that, plus I meet you in that truck about every morning on the way to work. I have a wicked case of Dodge envy, so believe me, I noticed. Always wanted one of those king cabs.” He stretched back in his chair and stared at them. “Let me explain something to you about a cut brake line. If it had been completely severed when Nikki left that morning, there’s no way she could’ve driven the forty-nine miles to Palmer. We know that she drove at least that far from home because she was on her way back down the mountain. Now, say the line had been cut just a little. It would’ve eventually burst, but it could be hours, days or weeks before it did. If you were a patient enough guy, you could do your damage and not be anywhere around when the accident happened.”

He regarded them with kind, brown eyes. “I need you two to be straight with me. Was Nikki seeing some other guy? If she was, I need to know because I believe that someone might’ve tried to kill you, Jake.”

“Oh, God,” Nikki whispered, and covered her face with her hands.

Jake sighed. “Yes, Nikki was seeing someone, but we don’t know who it was. She admitted it to me before the accident, but she refused to say who.”

Matt twisted the end of his moustache. “Kids, it looks like we’ve got ourselves one crackerjack of a situation here. I assume that both of you want to find out who he is. I don’t know if this is how you want to proceed, but if it were me, I’d go through all Nikki’s things and see if I can figure out who this guy is. Maybe there’s letters, credit card receipts, stuff like that. I’ll get a copy of your phone records. We need to find this guy, because, if I’m right, he’s already killed once and no doubt he’ll try again. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll approach Nikki.”

Jake shuddered at the thought and took Nikki’s hand. It was icy in his.

Outside in the parking lot, in the light of day, Jake found the idea of someone trying to kill him preposterous. He was thinking that surely Matt’s intuition was wrong, but then he recalled Darcy’s words.

He was obsessed with her.

Now they knew that he was still out there.

Nikki grabbed his arm before they got into her car, and Jake turned to face her. Her beautiful face looked tight and anxious as she said, “Oh, Jake! What have I gotten you into?”

He hugged her close against his chest and she clung to him. Jake had to close his eyes at the sweet sensation of her slender frame in his arms. As he stroked her hair, he said, “Whatever it is, I promised you that we’d get through it together. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Jake dawdled a little on the way home. He drove around Whitwell, pointing out places to Nikki: the church where they were married, her beauty salon and the old drive-in theater they went to before it closed down last winter. She laughed and professed a desire to go to the church and a need to go to the beauty salon.

Jake pulled up the driveway and announced, “The welcoming committee has arrived.”

Catherine and Zeke waited in the driveway, along with Darcy. Darcy bailed out of her car first.

“Where have you guys been? Do you not know that it’s November? We’ve been waiting on you for the last fifteen minutes!” She shivered as a cool wind whipped her blonde hair in her face.

“Well, it’s your own fault.” Jake glanced at each of them before he reached to unlock the door. “You all know where we hide the spare key.”

Three pairs of eyes went to the little green frog nestled in the flowerbed and they laughed. He held open the door and ushered them inside. His mother carried a casserole dish, Zeke brought a big bouquet of wildflowers, and Darcy was lugging flowers and a photo album. Jake was feeling guilty that he hadn’t gotten Nikki anything for her homecoming when he heard Catherine exclaim, “Oh, what lovely roses!”

Catherine disappeared inside the dining room and Nikki stopped in the doorway behind her. Since Zeke and Darcy were still in the foyer with him, Jake was confused as to what Catherine meant until Nikki shot him an alarmed look over her shoulder. Jake shoved past Zeke and Darcy to stand beside her.

A huge vase of roses sat in the center of the mahogany table.

Pink roses, Nikki’s favorite flower.

They weren’t there when they left for the police station. He had wiped the table himself after they finished lunch.

The bastard had been in his house.

Jake stalked to the table and ripped open the card.

I MISS YOU

Scrawled like a child’s handwriting, those three little words mocked him. The card fluttered to his feet. With a heart that pumped as much cold fury as blood, Jake snatched the vase off the table and hurled it against the wall.

One of the women cried out as it crashed against the paneled wall.

***

Jake stormed out of the house through the backdoor. Nikki started after him, but Zeke caught her arm.

“Let him alone for a minute, Nicole. Let me check on him.”

Nikki gazed at the doorway, torn, but then nodded at Zeke. He hurried after Jake and she knelt to pick up the card lying on the floor. Catherine and Darcy immediately huddled around her.

Nikki shivered as she read those words, words that somehow sounded not like a sentiment, but a threat. She silently cursed herself again for the mess that she had gotten them into. Nikki’s hand jerked and she dropped the card.

Darcy retrieved a wastebasket from the kitchen and gingerly started picking up the pieces of broken glass.

Zeke stuck his head back inside the door and yelled to her. “No! Maybe the police can salvage a print from that glass.”

“Where’s Jake?” Nikki asked.

“He’s checking the windows and doors for signs of forced entry. He’ll be back in a moment.” He gave her a reassuring wink before he went back outside, but Nikki felt cold inside.

Nikki’s thoughts snapped back to the phone call she’d gotten in the hospital.

Could she have plotted to kill her husband?

The recollection of that call had hit her like a slap in the face when Sheriff Garrettson mentioned checking phone records. Nausea gripped her as they sat in his office, but she was too terrified to tell them. Her marriage teetered on the edge of destruction right now. Jake was a good man, but how much could she expect him to forgive?

She was trying so hard, and he was, too. She wished they could just leave the ugliness of the past behind and start over, but someone was determined to keep that from happening. It seemed cruel that this faceless man was trying to knock down their fragile new beginning as if it were a house of cards.

Nikki brought Catherine and Darcy up to speed on what the sheriff had told them about the wreck and could see the worry in their faces.

“I’ve got to remember who it was before he tries to hurt Jake again.” Nikki leaned against the table. “Did either of you see me with anyone, or hear me say anything you thought was suspicious?”

Catherine shook her head, then Darcy cleared her throat.

“It’s someone both you and Jake know, because you were mad when he first came on to you. Even then, you wouldn’t say his name, but you were livid that someone who knew Jake would make a pass at you like that. You went from being mad to being a little amused at his persistence. All I know is that he has a lot of cash,” she paused. “In fact, he gave you those diamond earrings that you’re wearing now. You told Jake that they were from Sara.”

Horrified, Nikki yanked them out of her ears. She pushed them across the table to Darcy and said, “Get rid of them! I don’t care what you do with them, but I don’t want them.”

Nikki stumbled to the sink and twisted the faucet. She washed her hands over and over in the steaming water, as if the earrings had imprinted her betrayal on her palms.

“Nikki,” Catherine said softly. “Nikki!”

Catherine reached around her and cut off the faucet. She wrapped her arms around Nikki and hugged her like a child.

Darcy initiated a light conversation about the first time she heard Nikki mention Jake. “You said he had the bluest eyes this side of heaven. You rattled on about him for an hour and you’d only talked to him for a minute. I never heard you moon so much over a guy. It was so funny, because you didn’t even know his name.”

“Jake was the same way.” Catherine smiled at Nikki. “You both knew from the start that you had something special.”

Nikki managed a smile, but inside she wondered how much more their relationship could withstand.

***

Had Nikki given him a key?

The thought incensed Jake as he rechecked the windows. Finally, he had to face the fact that she had, or this man had figured out where he hid the spare key. He prayed that it was the latter. A blue Mazda swung up in the drive and Jake was relieved to see Matt Garrettson climb out.

He told Matt what happened and they walked back into the house. Jake regretted smashing the vase now. His temper had probably cost them a chance to recover a print off it.

Matt nodded at Catherine and said, “Hey, Cat, you think you could find me a couple of freezer bags?”

She vanished into the kitchen and returned with a handful. Matt took an ink pen out of his front pocket and gently nudged the card and envelope into the baggie. He then took a garbage bag and began picking up some of the larger chunks of glass.

Jake glanced at Nikki. She was staring off into space, her arms hugged tightly to her chest. Her face was pinched and pale, and Jake was sorry he’d reacted so violently. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. With a sigh, she relaxed against him.

“I’m sorry, babe,” he whispered in her ear.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Jake was the only one who touched the vase?” Matt asked.

“I touched some of the pieces,” Darcy said.

“What about the card?”

Nikki told him that she had touched it also, and Matt sighed.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll get any prints off this, but we’ll give it shot. Our best bet is to find the florist that fixed these for him. Hopefully, we can get a description. I’m going to check around and make sure Jake didn’t miss anything, but he said that he didn’t see any sign of forced entry. Now, who all has a key to this place?”

“Just Nikki and I.” Jake shot the sheriff a glance. Matt nodded in acknowledgement of Jake’s unspoken statement.

Unless Nikki had given him a key.

“To be on the safe side, call a locksmith and get your locks changed. Don’t give out keys to anyone.” Matt winked at Jake. “And for Pete’s sake, son, get yourself a burglar alarm. I know you big-shot contractors can afford them. I can’t believe you don’t already have one.”

They lived in a good neighborhood. It never occurred to Jake to worry about their safety here until now.

“Do you keep a spare outside?” Matt walked around to the front and they all trailed behind him. He frowned when Jake nodded.

He sighed. “Bet I can find it in five minutes.”

It took less than that before he picked up the frog and tossed the key to Jake. “These guys know where to look for this stuff,” he chided gently. “I advise you not to keep a spare lying around here, but if you must, you’ve got to take greater pains to hide it.”

Jake nodded, feeling like an idiot. Matt scanned the area, then strode over to the huge oak in the front yard and bent down to take a closer look. A natural recess dented it at the base. It was scarcely noticeable and the perfect size for a key.

“Bingo!” Matt said. “I don’t think your average bear would think to look in there. Jake, call Sonny at SM Alarm. He’ll fix you up with a system. I’m going to talk to some florists.”

They watched him leave, and then Jake gave Nikki a quick peck on the cheek and went in to make his calls.

***

“That’s some guy you’ve got there,” Darcy said. “Jake’s a doll, inside and out.”

“Takes after his mother,” Catherine said and they laughed. She gave Nikki a reproachful look. “You don’t even have a coat on! What am I going to do with you and Jake?”

She shook her head and Nikki impulsively kissed her mother-in-law’s cheek. Catherine gave her a pleased smile.

“I’ve always wanted a daughter of my own,” she said.

Darcy turned her head, mouthing another ‘wow’ to no one at all.

After Catherine and Zeke left, Nikki and Darcy went in the kitchen to make hot chocolate. They carried cups to Jake and the locksmith and went back into the kitchen to talk.

“Why do you think I did it? Why did I have an affair?” Nikki asked.

Darcy sipped her chocolate before answering. “You and Jake were arguing over a few little things. You hated Catherine and thought she interfered too much, he was ready to start a family and you didn’t want kids. You guys fought over money a lot. I think this guy knew about some or all of these things and helped stoke your resentment about them.” She looked at Nikki for a long moment, as if choosing her words, before she said, “You told me you were leaving Jake, that this guy was going to get a divorce and marry you. When Jake confronted you about the socks, you panicked. You denied it, but it freaked you out so much that he knew you were lying. Jealousy has always been an issue between you and Jake, and frankly, I’m surprised the two of you are doing as well as you are.”

“I can’t imagine cheating on Jake with anyone. If Jake will just give me one more chance, I swear I’ll never hurt him again.” Nikki caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and sucked in her breath when she saw Jake standing in the doorway, watching her. He gave her a tremulous smile and walked away.

After Darcy left to go to work, Nikki decided to do what the sheriff suggested. The first step would be to go through her things. She started up the stairs when Jake’s voice stopped her.

“Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner. I could cook, but you’d be taking your chances. Chili dogs are pretty much all I know how to do.”

“Okay – oh, but remember, your mom brought that casserole.”

Jake startled her with a look of pure merriment. “Ah, I hate to say it, but Mom’s a rotten cook. I hate to take my chances, with you just getting out of the hospital and all—”

“Jake!” Nikki laughed. “That’s so mean.”

“It’s true. But if you wanted to stay in…we could order in a pizza.”

“I’d love that,” she said.

Jake smiled and went to call in their order. They ate in the living room floor, laughing and talking and Nikki felt at peace for the first time since the accident. She couldn’t stop staring at Jake.

When he carried their plates into the kitchen, she took another sip of her soda and noticed the globes. Nikki wiped her hands on a napkin and walked over to the pine mantel. It was bare except for the rose globes. Their placement seemed odd. They were aligned all the way to the left, side by side, as if there had once been more of them. Nikki carefully lifted the first one and stared at the blue-violet rose that floated inside.

She heard Jake’s footsteps behind her and exclaimed, “Oh, this is beautiful!”

Jake leaned over her shoulder. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as his warm breath tickled her ear. He chuckled, a warm, husky sound that made her stomach tingle.

“I can’t believe you still like this thing, even with amnesia.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. The warm, woodsy scent of his cologne enveloped her.

“I gave the first one to you on our wedding day. I bought it the day before, on my way back home from a business trip to South Carolina.” Jake’s hand covered hers, tilting the globe. “First of all, I wish you could’ve met my old man. He was a real tough guy, except when it came to Mom. He melted around her and was always bringing her roses and little gifts. He eventually built a greenhouse for her and somewhere down the line, I learned more about flowers than I guess any man should know.”

Nikki smiled and turned to face him.

“A lavender rose means love at first sight. My plane had been delayed, so I was wandering around the gift shop at the airport when I spotted it. I gave it to you after we settled into our hotel room that night, along with a jade necklace that cost a small fortune. You practically ignored the necklace and fawned over this little thing like I’d given you the Hope diamond or something. You freaked me out. It was the first time I’d ever seen you cry, and it was over some little trinket that hadn’t cost twenty bucks. Since you liked it so much, I decided I’d get you one every year on our anniversary.”

Nikki was touched by this romantic side of Jake. “What does the red one mean? And why do they all look different?”

He glanced at the other globes and smiled. “They’re real roses. I thought, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right. I found a guy in Lexington who makes these for me. I can take him any rose and he dips it in wax to preserve it. Red roses mean true love and desire.” He pointed at the second one. “But an Austrian red rose also means ‘You are all that is lovely’.”

“Oh, Jake,” she said softly. “That’s beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful,” he replied, and handed the third one to her. Its bright orange color reflected against the glass, creating the illusion of a ball of fire. “This is a rare rose, a Marechal Niel. See how many layers it has, like those toilet paper roses kids make at camp. It means ‘I’m yours, heart and soul’. The color means fascinated. Captivated. I’ve been both of those since the day I met you.”

Jake inclined his head as if to kiss her, but the shrill ring of the telephone jolted them apart.

He stroked her jaw. “I’d better get that. Maybe Matt’s found something.”

She nodded and Jake disappeared into the other room. His conversation was muffled, but as Nikki replaced the globe on the mantel, she heard Jake’s voice raised in anger. Hesitantly, she stepped inside the doorway.

“How many people are in there?” Jake demanded. “Where’s Hank?”

Her movement caught his attention and he turned to face her. Nikki was startled by his sudden pallor.

“I’m on my way.” Jake slammed down the phone and wiped his face with his hand. He was shaking.

“Jake, are you alright?”

He pushed past her and jerked open the hall closet. Jake thrust a coat at her and said, “We have to go.”

“What’s wrong?” Nikki caught his arm and made him face her.

The fear in his blue eyes paralyzed her.

“One of my buildings is on fire. A crew is trapped inside.”

Chapter 6

An emergency services worker in a reflective vest stood off the side of the highway. His truck was parked crookedly to block half the secondary road behind him. The pulsing red light on its dash illuminated Jake’s grim face as they pulled beside him.

He motioned for them to turn around and Jake rolled down the window.

“You have to find an alternate route, sir. We’ve got a fire right down the road, and this road is closed to everyone except rescue personnel.”

“Those are my men trapped in that building. You have to let us through,” Jake said.

“I can’t do that. Please give the rescue workers space to work. Your vehicle would just be in their way.”

“Then we’ll walk. Come on, Nikki.” Jake backed the BMW off the road and bailed out of the car before the man could protest. He opened Nikki’s door and together they hurried down the narrow road on foot.

Nikki wasn’t used to the fast pace. “Go on, Jake,” she gasped, out of breath. “I’ll catch up in a minute.”

“No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you.”

She could see the anxiety in his eyes. “Go. I’ll be fine.” The fire cast an orange glow in the skyline ahead. “It’s just ahead. I’ll be right behind you.”

Jake gave her a hesitant look, then sprinted off ahead. Feeling suddenly weak, Nikki bent over to catch her breath.

“Nik?”

The man’s voice startled her and she jerked upright so fast her head swam. She staggered drunkenly and a strong pair of hands caught her.

“Eliot, what are you doing here?”

“My office is nearby. As I was leaving, I saw the fire trucks go by, and then I saw your car and turned around. Where’s Jake?”

“I couldn’t keep up. Told him to go ahead.”

“Are you okay?”

Nikki realized she still clutched Eliot’s arm. She released him and said, “I’m fine. Just got a little winded there.”

“Would you like me to carry you back to the car?”

“No, I need to check on Jake. He’s frantic. Some of his men are trapped in there.”

Eliot swore under his breath and they started walking. Nikki stumbled in a pothole and would’ve fallen if Eliot hadn’t caught her yet again.

“Hold onto my arm.”

“I’m okay.”

Nikki couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but she sensed his smile as Eliot said, “Hold onto my arm, or I’ll throw you over my shoulder.”

“You wouldn’t,” she said with a laugh.

“Try me. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve carried you out of someplace.”

“Oh, really?”

“Your 22^nd birthday. You had a fight with Derek and were drinking tequila shots with Darcy. At the end of the night, you were facedown on the table. I carried you out and drove you home.”

Nikki covered her face with her hand. “That’s so embarrassing, and I don’t even remember it.”

“Then I won’t tell you about the throwing up in my backseat part.”

“Please don’t,” she said. “But you can tell me about Derek. How long did we date?”

“A couple of years, I guess, though that was off and on.”

She started to ask him more, but they turned the curve and saw the burning building. Jake stood beside a sooty-faced man on a stretcher. The ambulance attendant fixed an oxygen mask on the man’s face and loaded him inside. Nikki saw the EMTs attending to three other men and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe everyone had made it out.

She released Eliot’s arm and hurried over to Jake. He hugged her.

“They’re okay,” he said. “The firefighters got them all out.”

“What happened?” Eliot asked.

Jake wiped a hand down his face. He looked tired and strained under the amber glow of the streetlights.

“Arson. Somebody doused the ground floor with gasoline. Can’t you smell it?”

Nikki hadn’t noticed it until Jake said it, but there it was, underneath the thick, acrid smell of the smoke, the sharp smell of gasoline.

“Who would do this?” Eliot asked. “The building owner bite off more than he could chew?”

Jake shook his head. “Not likely. Mike Bergman is one of the wealthiest men in town. I think this was personal, directed at me.”

Nikki sucked in a breath and Eliot’s mouth dropped open.

“You can’t be serious!” Eliot said. “Who would do this to you?”

Haltingly, Jake told him about the roses, and stunned Nikki when he admitted that his office had been vandalized, too.

“Why didn’t you tell Matt?” she demanded.

“I was so upset, I just didn’t think. And before that, I thought maybe my office had been vandalized before the accident. I really thought the body in the truck was his.”

Matt arrived at the scene along with the fire inspector. He motioned Jake over and the fire inspector took notes as the three of them talked.

Quietly, Nikki and Eliot watched the firefighters subdue the last of the flames. She shivered and Eliot, mistaking the reason behind it, removed his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

“Tell me more about Derek,” Nikki said. “Where is he now and could he be the one doing this?”

Eliot looked surprised. “No one’s told you?” he asked.

Nikki shook her head

“Derek’s dead. He committed suicide a couple of months ago.”

***

“Nik.” As he pulled into their driveway, Jake reached to shake her shoulder, then withdrew his hand. He hated to disturb her.

A glance at the dashboard clock told him it was nearly 2:00 a.m. He turned off the ignition and walked around to the passenger side. Nikki stirred as he unfastened her seatbelt and scooped her up in his arms, but didn’t waken. Carefully, Jake made his way up the walkway and unlocked the door.

Stepping inside, he glanced at the new alarm pad by the door and winced.

Dammit, even after what happened today, he forgot to set the alarm.

Jake had been so worried about Hank and the others that he just rushed out the door without sparing it a second thought. It was a wonder he remembered to lock it.

After easing the door shut and locking it, Jake started upstairs with Nikki. He found himself listening for noises and jumping at shadows and hated the fact that this man had made him so uptight in his own home.

He laid Nikki in her bed and tugged off her shoes. Then, Jake brushed a kiss across her forehead as he pulled the soft white comforter up to her chin. Although he felt a little annoyed with himself for his nervousness, Jake checked under her bed and inside the closet before moving on to inspect the rest of the house.

Finding nothing amiss, he set the alarm and wandered back into his den. The message indicator on the answering machine flashed a brilliant red.

Wonderful. Only 12 messages.

Jake pressed the button and flopped into his chair. He stretched backwards and yawned, covering his face with his hands.

Seven of the twelve were from Evan Stephens. Jake groaned. He’d completely forgotten about the modifications. Realizing he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, he retrieved a copy of the building plans from his safe and started to work.

As he sketched out the modification on a piece of graph paper, Jake thought of Hank and the others. Some good men had nearly died tonight because of their connection to him.

His sketching became more violent and Jake didn’t realize it until the point snapped off his pencil. Ripping the piece of drafting paper from his tablet, Jake wadded it up and tossed it in the wastebasket.

Work was the one thing in his life he could control right now, and he had to force himself to concentrate on it. Tomorrow he would meet with Bergman and Jake wondered how the businessman would react to the news that the arson might not be simple teenage vandalism.

Jake realized that maybe he couldn’t even control his work anymore. Who would hire him when some psycho was running around, burning his projects and trying to kill his crews?

He and Nikki had to figure out who this guy was before he wrecked both their personal and professional lives.

***

November 6

The chime of the doorbell jarred Jake awake. Jerking upright, he stared down at the blueprints on his desk before he realized where he was. He stumbled out of his chair to get the door before the noise woke Nikki.

He glanced at his watch. It was barely 7:00 a.m. Jake’s irritation at such early visitors turned to dismay when he glanced out the window and saw the news van. A look through the peephole confirmed his fears.

Sara.

The elegant brunette posed on his doorstep, talking to the reporter. Jake could just imagine what his mother-in-law was saying. Doug stood silently beside her, glancing at the front door. Sara didn’t like to share the spotlight.

Reluctantly, Jake turned off the alarm and opened the door, just in time to catch the last part of Sara’s concerned mother performance. He had to admit, she would certainly look distraught on the six o’clock news. Sara caught his eye and smiled. Jake didn’t smile back.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m most anxious to see my daughter,” Sara told the news crew with a tremulous smile. “I’ve been so worried ever since I found out about the accident this morning.”

Jake rolled his eyes and stepped back inside, leaving the door ajar. Sara and Doug entered a moment later.

“Jake, how are you?” Sara asked in that charming campaign voice of hers, but he could see the dislike shimmering beneath the surface of her brown eyes.

“Just dandy, Sara,” he remarked. “Thanks for caring.”

If she heard the sarcasm in his voice, she chose to ignore it. Doug shook his head apologetically at Jake, but Jake refused to acknowledge him. He was beyond angry at them, not just for not coming home for Nikki, but for not even bothering to call the hospital to check on her in the meantime.

“Where is Nicole and what has she gotten herself into this time?” Sara asked with a frown.

Jake was about to give her a few choice words when Nikki appeared in the doorway. She looked so innocent and vulnerable that Jake just wanted to shove Sara back out into the yard, before her sharp tongue could cut Nikki.

“Nikki, these are your parents, Sara and Doug,” he said instead, feeling his heart break at the way her face lit up.

“Of course she knows who we are,” Sara told Jake as she shouldered him aside to go to Nikki. “We’re her parents, for goodness sake.” She stood in front of Nikki with her arms crossed over her chest.

“I’m sorry…Mother,” Nikki told Sara with a timid smile. “Most everything’s still blank right now.”

Sara’s eyes narrowed. Jake had never heard Nikki refer to Sara by anything other than her given name.

Doug broke the tense silence. “How many stitches did you end up with, pumpkin?” he asked, moving toward her.

“I-I’m not sure.” Nikki lifted up her hair to show him.

Doug winced and carefully pushed back her bangs to get a better look at the violet-hued bruise on her forehead, and then he hugged her. Nikki clung to him.

“My poor baby,” he murmured. “You could’ve been killed.”

“I’m parched from our trip,” Sara complained. “Why don’t the two of you fix us something to drink and Nicole and I will wait in the den.”

When both men just stood there, she snapped, “Nikki and I will be just fine.” She took Nikki’s arm and steered her toward the den. Against his better judgment, Jake turned and went to the kitchen with Doug trailing along behind.

***

Sara waited until Nikki shut the door behind them to say, “Nicole, I want to know what’s going on. If you’ve gotten yourself into some kind of trouble, just tell me and I’ll do everything I can to help you. If this amnesia thing is an act, please say so.”

“You think I’d fake this?” Nikki asked.

“You tell me. Are you really telling me that you don’t know who you are?”

My name is MP.

The thought flashed through Nikki’s mind, startling her.

What in the world did that mean? she wondered.

“I have contacts at the police department,” Sara continued, “and one of them told me what was going on. Who is this man who broke in here and left you roses?”

“You have no idea how much I’d like to know.”

“Nicole,” Sara said again, this time almost pleadingly, “I understand if you’re pretending amnesia in an effort to save your marriage, but you need to tell me if you are, so I can try to help you. I won’t tell Jake.”

“I would never lie to him about something like that.”

“Honey, I know you love him and would do anything to keep him. So you had an affair and got caught. I understand that desperate times call for desperate measures, but you’re playing a dangerous game and I don’t want you to be hurt. If this man tried to kill Jake—”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Nikki asked, pained. “I’m not playing any games. I don’t know who he is! I wish I did. You have no idea how scared I am for Jake.”

Sara frowned. “If you don’t remember him, why do you care?”

“Because he’s my husband. Because he’s been here with me through this whole thing. If it weren’t for Jake, I would’ve lain in that hospital alone.”

“Ah, so that’s what this is about.” Sara gave her a knowing look. “You’re mad because I didn’t come home right away. Nicole, I tried. I got here as soon as I could. A woman in my position has certain responsibilities. My work is very important.”

“Obviously more important than me,” Nikki said.

“Honey, please quit pouting. You’ve always been so jealous of my work, but I’m here now and I want to help you. Isn’t that what matters?” When Nikki was silent, Sara said, “I’ve had someone look over your medical files.”

She must’ve seen Nikki’s disbelief, because she remarked, “Really, dear! There’s nothing that can’t be bought for the right amount of cash. That’s what I want to do, to talk to this man and find out what his price is. Then you can put this whole matter behind you.”

“Was there ever a time in my life when you believed a word I said?”

“Even your own doctor wrote that it was unusual for you to lose your whole identity,” Sara said, ignoring her question.

“Unusual, but not impossible.” Nikki rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know how else to say it, Mother. I don’t remember any of it!”

“Nicole, I will not tolerate you shouting at me. I knew when you married Jake that it was a mistake, some sort of rebellion. He’s just not our kind. Now you’ve got yourself in this situation – I came here to help you!”

Nikki fought back angry tears. “Help me or help yourself, Mother? Are you afraid this will reflect badly on you in the newspapers?”

How could this woman be her mother?

“Fine, Nicole!” Sara threw up her hands in exasperation. “Have it your way. Just remember, I tried. You’ve never appreciated anything I ever did for you. Even when you were just a girl, you never respected—”

Nikki clamped her hands over her ears. “Get out,” she said.

***

As Jake reached to get some glasses from the cabinet, Doug said, “I’m sorry.”

Jake refused to look at him, instead reaching into the refrigerator to get the pitcher of iced tea. “I’m not the one that you owe an apology to, Doug.”

“I know,” Nikki’s father said. “You have to believe me. I didn’t know how serious the accident was until we got back home. That hag in there made me believe that it was just a minor accident and didn’t even mention the amnesia until we landed in Lexington. Then someone showed me the picture of that truck…how did she get out of that?”

“I don’t know. For once, I’m glad she didn’t wear her seatbelt.”

“The other woman wasn’t either, was she?”

“How do you know that? None of that was in the papers.” Jake turned to face his father-in-law.

“Do you have to wonder?” Doug muttered. “Sara was scared to death that Nikki was riding around with some man and that it would cause some kind of tabloid frenzy.”

“Why would she think that?” Jake’s mind was whirling. It seemed inconceivable that Nikki would confide any details of their marital problems with Sara.

Doug stared down at the floor. “Nikki called Sara the morning of the accident. She said you’d asked for a divorce.”

“She called Sara?” Jake demanded. “Why didn’t either of you say something? Do you know who the passenger was?”

“No, no.” Doug shook his head. “Nikki called from the truck. She was furious about something and demanded we come home immediately. Sara told her we couldn’t.”

Leaving the glasses on the counter, Jake pushed past Doug and started toward the den. Sara knew something.

It was then he heard Nikki’s voice, raised in a shout. Jake ran to the den with Doug on his heels. Jake threw open the door and saw the tears shining in Nikki’s eyes. He took one look at the volatile expression on Sara’s face and felt his blood begin to boil.

“What did you say to her?” he demanded.

“Oh, Jake!” Sara rolled her eyes. “I was just telling her what a dangerous game this is, but she won’t listen. She’s just trying to punish me.”

“For what? Why did she call you that morning?”

Sara glared at Doug and responded, “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out. She wouldn’t say on the telephone. She threw a tantrum and demanded to see me immediately. I told her that was impossible, that she’d just have to wait until the conference was over. She hung up on me, and now she’s pouting. That’s all this is.”

“Everything is always about you,” Doug said. “Can’t you look at your own child and see that she’s not faking this? Can you not see the difference in her?” He took a trembling Nikki in his arms.

“She’s not mine.” Sara smiled thinly. “She never really was. She’s all yours, Doug. You help her out of this mess she’s gotten herself into. As usual, Nicole doesn’t want my help.”

Jake clenched his jaw. “Get the hell out of my house.”

Sara shot him a contemptuous look. “I knew it was a mistake when she married you. I knew it wouldn’t work, that something like this would happen.” She turned back to face Nikki. “When he divorces you, maybe you won’t be so quick to throw my offer to help in my face. You’ll realize your family is all you have.”

Jake moved to stand beside Nikki and reached for her hand. “I love Nikki, and I am her family. She doesn’t need your help. She doesn’t need anything from you.”

“We’ll see about that. Come on, let’s get out of here.” Sara glanced at Doug and snapped her fingers as if calling a little dog.

“I’m staying with my daughter for awhile,” Doug said. “Then I’m calling a cab to take me to a hotel. Would you please instruct Alexander not to unpack my bags? It’ll be easier to collect my things.”

“Oh, really?” Sara said with amusement. “You’re leaving me?”

“You got it, sweetheart. I’ve dreamed about it for years and was waiting until we got back to tell you.”

“You can’t imagine how sorry I will make you.”

“No sorrier than you’ve made me in the last thirty years, I’m sure,” Doug replied.

Sara’s smile evaporated. She turned on her heel and stomped out of the house without so much as a backwards glance at her daughter.

“I apologize to the both of you, for having to hear all that,” Doug said. “I’m sorry she hurt you, Nikki. I’m sorry for all the times I’ve hurt you.” He hugged her and whispered, “I want us to start over. I love you and I want to try to make up for so much, if you’ll let me.”

“I’d like that,” Nikki said.

Jake left them alone to talk. He wondered why Nikki called Sara that morning. Did Sara have something to do with Nikki’s lover? Jake wouldn’t put it past her to hire someone to break them up. Hell, he wouldn’t put it past her to hire someone to have him killed.

“Jake.” Doug’s voice startled him from his thoughts. “Thanks for not throwing me out, too.”

“I just don’t want to see her hurt anymore, Doug.”

“I know and I’m glad she has you. No matter what Sara says, you’ve always been a good influence on Nikki.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Unlike me. But maybe I can change that. I think Nikki and I are on the right track now.”

“I’m glad,” Jake said and meant it. Nikki needed to know that at least one of her parents was there for her.

“I’ve got to go,” he said, “but I’d like to come back to see her, if that’s okay with you.”

“I think that would be great,” Jake said.

He showed Doug out and walked back to the den. Nikki looked up and burst into tears. Jake crossed the floor quickly and sat beside her.

“Please don’t cry,” he pleaded. “I can’t stand to see you cry.”

“It’s so awful not to remember anything about yourself, then to find out that even your own mother thinks you’re a liar. I must’ve been such a horrible, horrible person.”

“No!” Jake took her in his arms. He felt her tremble and hated Sara for it. “I should’ve warned you about her, but I didn’t want to hurt you. Believe me, Nikki, nothing about your relationship with Sara is your fault. She’s never treated you the way a mother should treat her daughter.”

“It’s not just her,” Nikki sobbed. “Look what I did to you. I made my own husband hate me.”

“I could never hate you, Nikki. I was angry and hurt, but when I got that phone call…I’ve never been so scared in my life. I don’t even remember the drive to the hospital. I just begged God to let you be alright.”

“You’ve been so good to me, despite everything. It kills me to know that I hurt you…and that I destroyed our marriage.”

“Honey, I won’t let you take all the blame for us, either,” he said. “I was working a lot of long hours. Maybe I was neglecting you—”

“That’s no excuse.”

Jake cleared his throat. “Did you really mean it when you said you wanted to save our marriage?”

“When I said that I wanted that more than anything, I meant it.” Nikki clutched his hands. “I want that even more than I want my memory back. I – I think I’m falling in love with you, all over again.”

Jake stared out the window, and then turned to stare at her lovely, pale face. “Mom told me at the hospital that I was going to have to figure out what I wanted, to save my marriage or to end it.” He paused. “I want you. I love you.”

***

Nikki’s heart nearly stopped when he inclined his dark head and kissed her. His warm mouth electrified her, intoxicated her. This kiss was different from the hesitant one at the hospital. This was a kiss of forgiveness. Jake Hawthorne’s arms felt like a haven to her, the only place she’d found where she felt she belonged.

Jake pulled back and she could see that the kiss had affected him, too. He cradled her face in his hands.

“I love you and I want to make this work,” he said. “I just need a little time, can you understand? I need to take it slow.”

She nodded. He’d given her the one thing she wanted: a chance.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, and strode out of the room.

When Jake came back a moment later, he sat beside her and took her left hand in his.

“I believe these are yours,” he said, the corner of his mouth curving into a crooked smile as he slid her engagement ring and wedding band on her finger.

Nikki’s eyes burned. “I – I wondered why I wasn’t wearing a wedding ring,” she admitted.

Jake gave her a rueful chuckle. “You got mad and threw them at me. You used to like to throw things.”

He tried to make light of it, but Nikki could tell the memory of it still hurt him. At a loss for what to say, Nikki kissed him again.

I won’t let you down again, Jake, she thought.

“I’d better go shave.” Jake smiled and rubbed her palm across his stubbled chin. “Probably half the county will be by to see you today when word gets out that you’re home. You’ve got a lot of friends.”

“I do?” Nikki arched an eyebrow and Jake laughed.

“Don’t let Sara get you down, babe. This will work out. I’m going to call the hospital to check on the guys and then grab a shower. Don’t open the door for anyone you don’t know.”

Which is pretty much everybody, Nikki thought.

Jake called the hospital and Nikki watched his face as he talked to the switchboard operator.

“Hank Timmons’ room, please.”

He tried three other names and broke into a smile. Cupping his hand over the receiver, he said, “They’ve all been released.”

Nikki squeezed his knee as he punched in another number and had an animated conversation with Hank. Finally, he hung up and rubbed his face.

“They’re all okay. I was so scared, but they’re all fine. Hank says he’s going into work today. I told him he’d better not, or I’d fire him, but I don’t think he’ll listen. He’s a stubborn old goat.” Jake stood and kissed the top of her head. “Going for that shower now.”

No sooner had Jake disappeared upstairs than the doorbell rang. Nikki checked her hair in the hall mirror and pressed her face to the door to see who it was. Jake’s stepbrother stood on the porch with a pretty blonde. Nikki smiled and opened the door.

“Hey, Nik!” The blonde woman waggled a paper sack. “We brought breakfast.”

Nikki grinned and held the door open wide. “Then, by all means, come in. Jake’s in the shower, but he’ll be down in a minute.”

“How are Hank and the guys?” the blonde man asked.

Nikki was embarrassed that she couldn’t remember his name. “They’ve all been released from the hospital.”

“That’s great.” He glanced her over and said, “Hey, we didn’t get you out of bed, did we?”

Nikki sighed. “No, my mother did that.”

He reached into one of the sacks and pulled out a donut. “So how is the Wicked Witch of the West these days?”

“Eliot!” the woman exclaimed, and elbowed him.

He choked on the donut and blushed under her glare.

“Sorry!” He held up his hands in surrender, but his gray eyes danced. He winked at Nikki. “It’s your fault. You always call her that, and it rubbed off. Let me rephrase…” He cleared his throat and said, “Tell me, Nikki. How is your lovely mother, the honorable Mayor Davis?”

“The wicked witch thinks I’m faking,” Nikki said wryly. “Jake kicked her out of the house.”

Eliot stared at the ceiling with an awed expression. “Damn! And we missed it.”

The blonde stared at her with sympathy. “Oh, Nikki! I’m so sorry. And by the way, my name is Kelly. I’m the only woman in town crazy enough to marry this guy.”

Nikki led them to the kitchen and they were sitting there, drinking coffee when Jake came downstairs.

“Hey guys,” he said. “Hope you saved something for me.”

“Sorry,” Eliot said, with his mouth full of biscuit. “Out of luck. Nikki and Kelly ate it all.”

Kelly rolled her eyes and shoved another bag across the table to Jake.

“How was your trip, Kel?” Jake asked. “Eliot said you were working on a new project. I bet you actually got something done without the stooge there.”

“We’ll see,” Kelly said enigmatically and sipped her coffee. Eliot just smiled.

Nikki liked these two. It was relaxing to sit with them and talk like normal people. Eliot was so funny. She felt a twinge of sadness when they announced they had to go to work.

The doorbell rang as they rose from the table.

“I have a feeling today’s going to be a busy day,” Jake said as he helped Kelly with her coat.

“Ah yes.” Eliot gave a low bow and kissed Nikki’s hand. “All of Princess Nikki’s royal subjects will be by to pay court.”

“We’ll be back soon, guys. Call if you need anything,” Kelly said.

Darcy waited on the front steps. Jake ushered her in and Nikki caught Kelly’s frown. She wondered what that was about. After giving Darcy a perfunctory greeting, they left.

Jake’s prediction was right. By lunchtime, a steady stream of visitors had invaded their house. Nikki lost track of all the people Darcy introduced her to.

When a client arrived, Jake excused himself to his home office and left Nikki under Darcy’s watchful eye. Nikki watched the closed door and wondered if this was the client whose building had burned. They emerged nearly half an hour later, laughing. Jake caught Nikki staring and gave her a thumbs up behind the man’s back.

They disappeared through the doorway. Nikki turned her attention back to the group of women surrounding her. When she felt eyes upon her a moment later, Nikki lifted her gaze and smiled, assuming it was Jake. Elaine smirked back at her.

Jake entered his office and Elaine trailed behind him. She blew Nikki a kiss as she shut the door behind her.

Ten minutes later, she stormed out of the office with Jake on her heels. Nikki stood as Elaine approached. From the fury on the other girl’s face, she wondered if she was about to be attacked.

“Don’t you think you’ve carried this Pollyanna act far enough?” Elaine demanded.

“Elaine!” Jake said.

Elaine ignored him. “Quit being so selfish, Nikki. Jake is in danger. Don’t you even care? Tell him who’s after him.”

“Elaine, shut up,” Jake said. His voice was low, but there was no mistaking the warning in it.

Tears sprang into Elaine’s brown eyes. “What is wrong with you people?” She raked a hand through her auburn hair. “You know who she is, you know what she is.”

She glared at the girl beside Nikki. “Kara. Was it even two weeks ago that you told me how miserable it was to work with Nikki on that charity board? And Darcy! You of all people…Nikki killed your brother. You know it, I know it. How can you just sit here and pretend nothing’s wrong? I was there when you had her thrown out of his funeral service—”

“Elaine!” Jake roared.

He seized her arm and said quietly, “You and I are friends. Family. I know you’re upset and I know you’re worried about me, but I won’t allow anyone to talk to Nikki like this in her own home. Please leave before one of us says or does something we can’t back down from.”

“Fine.” Elaine jerked her arm from his grasp and swiped at her eyes. “I’ll leave, but I promise you one thing, Nikki. If anything happens to Jake because of you, you’re dead.”

Chapter 7

A tearful Elaine pushed past Jake and ran for the doorway. She collided with Catherine.

“What’s going on?” Catherine reached to steady her, but Elaine wrenched her arm away.

“Don’t touch me!” she hissed, and fled from the room.

Jake stood in the middle of the living room, looking torn. Nikki could see the anxiety on his face as he looked at the doorway Elaine had disappeared through. No matter how Elaine felt about her, Nikki knew she cared for Jake, and vise versa. She thought of her conversations with Jake about their marriage and determined that one thing, at least, would be different this time.

She would trust him.

“Go after her,” Nikki said. “She’s too upset to drive.”

Jake shot her a grateful look and ran out the door.

Nikki glanced at Darcy and saw the tears streaking down her face. When their eyes met, Darcy jumped to her feet and ran upstairs.

The woman on her left, Kara, began talking in a rush. “I’m sorry, Nikki. Elaine misunderstood. I didn’t mean it like that—”

Nikki rubbed her forehead and laid a hand on the woman’s arm to try to halt her frantic apology. “It’s okay.”

“I was just frustrated that you were holding up things—”

“It’s okay, no hard feelings,” Nikki repeated. “Excuse me, I have to check on Darcy.”

Nikki found Darcy sitting on her bed with her face in her hands. She sat beside her.

“I’m sorry,” Nikki said quietly. “People have mentioned Derek to me, but I didn’t know he was your brother.”

“It’s been so hard,” Darcy sniffed. “I miss him so much.”

“Elaine’s told me twice it was my fault he died. Is that true?”

Darcy’s head jerked up. Her gray eyes brimmed with tears. “What she said, about the funeral service. I was upset – I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. We got past that.”

Nikki reached to grab a tissue box off the dresser and handed it to Darcy.

“Derek was—” Darcy swiped at her nose. “He was a kid in a man’s body. We had rotten childhoods, like you did, and Derek started using cocaine when he was sixteen. I tried to get him off it, but it was you who finally did, at least for a while. From the moment he met you, Derek was crazy about you, but you told him there was no way as long he was on coke. He went to rehab. I’d begged for years, but he finally went for you.”

Darcy blinked at the ceiling through her tears. “He looked so good when he came home. He’d been through one of the intensive programs, not these little weeklong deals. And he stayed clean for about two years.”

She raked a hand through her thick wave of blonde hair and stood. Nikki watched her as she drifted over to the window. “Then I don’t know what happened. Maybe it was that week he spent a week with Mother in New York – but he got hooked again. You found out and dumped him. He went back to rehab, but by then, you’d met Jake.” Darcy trailed off as she parted the blinds with her fingers and said, “Looks like he caught Elaine.”

Nikki walked over to her and stared down at the couple below. Jake had his arms around Elaine, who was sobbing against his shirt. Nikki forced away a pang of uneasiness and turned from the window.

“Watch out for that one, Nikki. She’ll do anything she can to break the two of you up.”

“Derek dated her, too, didn’t he?” Nikki asked, remembering what Catherine had said.

Darcy turned from the window. “Yes. He broke up with her to date you, and they got back together after you and Jake married, but Elaine never had any control over him. His drug problem got worse and his feelings for you never changed. They didn’t last a year the second time around.” She cleared her throat. “In a way, I feel sorry for Elaine. The only men she’s ever loved were both in love with you.”

***

“Still friends?” Elaine asked.

“Always.” Jake kissed the top of her head.

“I’ve got to go. And you’d better get back in there. I bet Nikki’s fuming.”

“Actually, she told me to go after you.” Jake noted Elaine’s surprised look and said. “Nikki’s not faking this. She’s really changed.”

“I know you want to believe that—”

“It’s true.”

“For your sake, I hope so, but promise you’ll be careful. It scares me to death that some psycho is after you.”

“I shouldn’t have told you all that stuff.”

“No, I’m glad you did. I want to know if anything else happens, too.”

Jake watched her drive away. A little blue Subaru pulled into her parking spot and the physical therapist from the hospital climbed out. He’d forgotten all about therapy and bet that Nikki had, too. He gave the woman a cheerful wave and walked her inside.

Nikki’s company cleared out when the therapist arrived. Jake caught Darcy and Catherine as they were leaving and asked if he could speak to them in the kitchen.

“Guys, I hate to ask, but I’ve got some problems at work. My foreman will probably be out another day or so, and I have to get some things done. Could one of you stay with Nikki tomorrow?”

“I’m free tomorrow,” Catherine said. “I’ll stay with her.”

“I don’t have to work tomorrow. I could—” Darcy said, but Catherine shook her head. “I was going to offer anyway.” She looked at Jake. “I know you have to work and we’ll arrange a schedule where I can come over here, or you can drop Nikki at the house. I don’t think she should be alone for awhile.”

Jake frowned. “I don’t either.”

“I can help on my days off,” Darcy volunteered.

“And Kelly probably will, too. We’ll work it out.” Catherine opened the kitchen cabinet. “Right now, I’m going to the grocery store for you, unless you plan to live on peanut butter sandwiches?”

Jake laughed and Darcy said, “That reminds me. Kara and some of the others brought casseroles. I set them in the fridge.”

“Good.” Jake glanced at his watch. “I’m sure Nik’s starving. I know I am.”

“Let me heat a plate for you,” Darcy said. “Nikki will probably be in with the therapist for awhile.”

She stuck her head in the refrigerator. “Okay, looks like we have fried chicken, chili, green bean casserole,” Darcy paused and peered doubtfully inside another dish. “Don’t know what the hell this is—”

“I believe that’s my chicken casserole,” Catherine remarked and glared at Jake when he snickered.

“Oops!” Darcy grinned. “I was thrown off by the…uh – is that cornflakes? And pecans?”

“It’s an old family recipe. Very good, I assure you.”

Jake clutched his throat behind Catherine’s back and Darcy’s lips twitched. She quickly ducked behind the refrigerator door. Catherine whirled, but he dropped his hands in time and gave her an innocent look.

“Ah, heat me up some of Mom’s casserole,” Jake said. “I feel lucky.”

Two minutes later, Darcy set the plate in front of him. Jake took a bite and smiled at his mother.

“Not too bad,” he lied. “Crunchy.”

Something was different about it. Was it the nuts? An unusual taste—

The telephone rang and Catherine went to answer it.

“Whew.” He made a face as he crunched through another bite. “Worse than I remembered.”

“My sympathies.” Darcy smiled.

“Jake, it’s for you,” his mother called from the other room.

“Thank God.” He winked at Darcy and pushed away from the table.

It wasn’t much of a reprieve. Evan Stephens waited on the line.

Jake explained that he’d been working on the plans and arranged to meet with him the next morning to discuss the changes. As he hung up the phone, Jake felt a little flushed and hoped he wasn’t coming down with something. He didn’t have time to be sick right now.

“Are you okay? You look pale,” his mother said as he sat back down and forced himself to eat another bite of casserole.

But he didn’t. He didn’t feel okay at all. Jake’s pulse thudded in his ears and the room swam. His throat felt funny, constricted. Suddenly, he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs.

Panicked, Jake clawed at his throat.

“Jake Hawthorne!” His mother frowned. “That isn’t funny.”

“Mom,” he gasped, and fell out onto the floor.

***

Catherine’s scream scared Nikki so badly that she nearly screamed herself. She and her therapist, Theresa, looked at each other, and then ran to the kitchen. Jake lay in the floor beside the kitchen table with a frantic Catherine hovering over him.

“I’m calling 911!” Darcy shouted.

“What happened?” Theresa asked. She was already on her knees beside Jake.

“He was eating, and then he grabbed his throat, like he couldn’t breathe, and fell onto the floor,” Catherine cried.

Theresa opened his airway and peered into his mouth, then peered at the angry red welts on his neck. “It looks like an allergic reaction. His tongue is swelling.” She jumped up and ran out the door.

Nikki fell down beside Jake and pressed her hand to his throat. His skin felt cool and clammy. His pulse was shallow.

“Jake.” Panicked, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Jake!”

Theresa ran back in, clutching something that looked like a fat, yellow ink pen. She pulled off the cap with her mouth and stabbed Jake’s thigh.

“EpiPen,” she said. “I’m allergic to bee stings. This will put epinephrine in his system, help counteract the swelling.”

Within seconds, Jake’s pulse beat stronger, faster, beneath Nikki’s palm and he began to stir.

“What’s he allergic to?” Theresa asked.

“Penicillin. But he knows that. He wouldn’t take—” Catherine said.

“What was he doing in the last few minutes?” Theresa glanced at the plate on the table. “Was he eating that?”

“Yes, but it’s just chicken casserole—”

“Wrap it up and take it to the hospital with you.”

Catherine hurried to do as she said.

“Nikki, what…happened?” Jake gasped, and tried to sit up.

Nikki heard the faint scream of sirens. “Lie back down, honey,” she soothed. “It’s okay.” She stared up at her therapist. “Thank you, Theresa. Thank God you were here.”

“I think I’m all right now,” Jake said.

“The epinephrine will last 15-20 minutes. Let them take you to the hospital to check you out. You might need another dose.”

Theresa let the ambulance workers in and told them what she’d done and what time she gave him the shot. Nikki rode in the back of the ambulance with Jake. Catherine and Darcy followed behind in Catherine’s car.

Sheriff Garrettson met them in the emergency room.

“I heard Jake’s address on the dispatch,” he asked. “What happened?”

“Oh, Matt,” Catherine said. “I’m not sure. He had some sort of allergic reaction after eating this.”

She handed the foil-wrapped plate to Matt, and he peered underneath it.

“What is that?” He made a face as he sniffed it.

Catherine gritted her teeth. “It’s chicken casserole.”

“If you say so,” Matt said doubtfully. “Yep, I’d imagine this dish could definitely land you in the emergency room—”

“Pardon me?” Catherine’s face flushed.

Darcy turned on her heel and walked away. Nikki quickly glanced at the floor. Matt continued, oblivious. “Poor kid had to be pretty hungry. Is that cornflakes?” He muttered something unintelligible, then said, “First, we need to find out who made this, if they’ll confess to it—”

“I did.” Catherine crossed her arms over her chest.

“You did what?” Matt repeated. He kept his face expressionless, but Nikki saw the twinkle in his eyes. Catherine must’ve seen it, too. She punched his arm.

“Would you be serious here?” she demanded.

Matt held up his free hand in surrender. “Okay, okay. So what is Jake allergic to?”

“Penicillin.”

Matt sniffed the dish again. “Could be that, or maybe some sort of poison. I’m taking it to the lab.”

His words stole Nikki’s breath as it sank in. A wave of ice washed away the strange calmness she felt on the way to the hospital.

“Matt!” she yelled. Glancing at Catherine and Darcy, she said, “I’ll be right back.”

Matt waited by the corner and Nikki jogged toward him.

Tears burned her eyes as she gasped, “Can I talk to you…in private?”

“Sure.” Matt frowned. “Just let me…” He held up the container and Nikki nodded. She stood outside the lab door, hugging herself, as Matt talked to a technician.

He stepped back outside and took her arm. “Nikki, are you okay?”

“No,” she whispered.

She shook so hard her teeth chattered as Matt led her to a waiting room. A group of people looked up as he opened the door and Matt gently shut it. He steered her outside to the small, enclosed courtyard and motioned to a wooden bench. A cold November wind gusted around them, but at least they were alone.

“There’s something I have to tell you. Something I should’ve told you yesterday when we found out this man was alive—”

Matt shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “What is it, Nikki?”

“I was afraid. Afraid Jake would hate me. It’s been so hard for him, and I can’t remember any of it.” She took a deep gulp of air and said, “My lover called me at the hospital. I think – I think I might’ve known he was trying to kill Jake.”

She burst into tears and Matt waited patiently as she struggled to relay the conversation through her sobs.

He studied her with kind, brown eyes. “You listen to me, girl. That conversation isn’t enough to incriminate you. The fact that you drove Jake’s truck that morning tells me that you didn’t know about the brakes. When he told you he was ‘taking care of things’, that could’ve meant a number of things, not just killing Jake.”

“Do you really believe that?” Nikki covered her face with her hands, and then dropped them. She jerked her head toward the glass doors. “What about this? If it was an allergic reaction like Theresa thought, how would this man have known if I didn’t tell him?”

“Hospital records. Or maybe a lot of people know. I haven’t asked Cat when Jake found out he’s allergic. It might be common knowledge in his circle.” He stared at his hands. “But I’m glad you told me about the phone call. Maybe we can trace something through the hospital switchboard.”

“I want to set a trap for him. Maybe if my lover believes I’m getting my memory back, he’ll contact me.”

Matt sighed. “Jake will never go for that.”

“He will if he doesn’t know.”

Matt held up his hands. “Just hold off for me until we get the lab results, okay? This could be some freak thing, a new allergy or something. It could be an accident.”

“The fire at Jake’s building wasn’t an accident.”

“This guy’s moving too fast, Nikki. We don’t have to smoke him out, he’s going to make contact regardless and it would be dangerous to toy with him.”

“He’s not going to hurt me. He’s trying to kill Jake, and I have to stop him.”

“Please, just give me time to figure out a plan. We need to be careful, okay? If you do something rash, it could put Jake in even more danger, okay?”

“Okay.”

He stood and held out his hand. “Now come on, I need to ask Cat some questions.”

They stepped back inside the corridor and Nikki nodded at the bathroom. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

She locked the door behind her and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Swollen, red eyes. Flushed cheeks on a pale face.

The face of a murderer?

Nikki splashed her face over the porcelain basin and then patted it dry with paper towels. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the stall and wondered any of them would still be standing when this mess was over.

She gave them a wan smile as she rejoined them in front of the emergency room doors.

“Are you all right?” Darcy asked.

“Just a little shaken.”

Matt turned to Catherine. “Next question, who’s been in the house today?”

The women stared at each other and Catherine sighed. “Nikki had a houseful of visitors today. I couldn’t begin to tell you who was there.”

Matt’s sharp gaze traveled to each of their faces. “All of you, start making a list. When did you first realize Jake was allergic?”

“When he was five.”

“Who knew he was allergic?”

Catherine pressed a hand to her forehead. “I’m not sure. Not many people. Family, I guess.”

Jake stepped out of the emergency room, fumbling with the buttons on his shirt. Nikki hurried over to him. Red welts marred the skin on his throat and chest.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

He exhaled and gave her a rueful smile. “Not so hot. Jittery.”

“And they’re releasing you?” Nikki finished buttoning his shirt.

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

Matt asked him a series of questions and then cautioned, “Don’t eat or drink anything unsealed until I get the results from the lab. Could be some freak thing, but I don’t believe in taking chances – so don’t eat any more of your mom’s cooking.”

Catherine’s elbow caught him squarely in the midsection.

“Justin always told me you were a rotten cook, but I figured he was trying to console me for stealing you away like he did.”

“Stealing me away!” Catherine rolled her eyes. “Please.”

Matt gave her a woebegone look from underneath his bushy eyebrows. “Bet you don’t snore either, do you?”

“I most certainly do not!”

“I had it all worked out,” Matt told Jake. “I told everyone Cat was secretly dating Barry Roberts big brother—”

“—who was a boxer in the navy,” Catherine interrupted. “I’ve never forgiven you for that.”

“Cat, darlin’, we were fourteen!” Matt protested. “I had to scare off all the competition.”

“Yes, well, it worked,” she remarked. “I didn’t have a boyfriend for nearly two years and couldn’t figure out why the boys avoided me.”

Matt cackled and rubbed his hands together gleefully. “I paid Barry Roberts five dollars to back me up on it, and it worked, too, until Justin Hawthorne blew the whistle on me and began dating you himself.” He looked at Jake and said, “I never did pay that son of a gun back for telling on me, but your daddy nearly cost me a kneecap. I invited myself to sit with Cat at lunch that day, and the next thing I knew, she kicked me under the table so hard it brought tears to my eyes. She said ‘Denny Roberts sends his regards’. I limped for a week.”

“Served you right,” she said.

“Then you go and marry that old dog, Zeke, before I had a chance to ask you out.”

“You had three years. I don’t recall even one invitation to dinner.”

“Would you have said yes?” he asked quickly, and she laughed. “Never mind, don’t answer that. I need to talk to Jake’s doctor. I’ll call or drop by when I find out anything.”

Nikki and Jake sat in the backseat of Catherine’s car on the way home.

She pressed her face against his chest and murmured, “Your heart’s beating so fast.”

“They gave me another shot in the emergency room. That one really juiced me up.”

On the way home, Darcy compiled a list of people who’d been at the house. When they pulled into the driveway, she handed it to Jake and asked, “Are you still going to work tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Catherine and Nikki protested, but he said, “Have to. I still have that meeting.”

Catherine glanced at them in the rearview mirror. “I’ll be here in the morning. Eight o’clock okay?”

“You don’t have to come that early,” Nikki said. “I hate that you have to come at all. I know you have better things to do than baby-sit me.”

“Don’t be silly, dear. I don’t mind. What time do you leave for work, Jake?”

“About a quarter till eight.”

“But I have memory therapy from nine to ten and physical therapy right after. Someone will be here with me until 11:30, and then I’ll have to get a shower. There’s no sense in you having to just sit there all that time.”

“Noon, then?”

“That’ll be fine.”

“I’m going to the grocery store right now. Zeke’s probably wondering where I am by now, so I’ll stop by the house and make him go, too.”

Nikki waved goodbye as Jake rearmed the security system. She followed him into the living room.

“Whew, what a day.” He flopped onto the couch and smiled at her. Patting the couch beside him, he said, “Come here.”

Nikki sat beside him and Jake pulled her into his arms. As she listened to the steady thump of his heart beneath his soft, flannel shirt, it hit Nikki how close she’d come to losing him today. How this whole mess was her fault. Tears stung her eyes as she said, “Tell me how we met. When we met, when we first fell in love. I want to know everything about us.”

***

Jake grinned, pleased that she wanted to know. “We met on a Friday night, nearly three years ago. A couple friends and I were going to the late show at the theater. We were standing outside, waiting for the first show to clear out when I saw you coming out. You were the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but stare at you. You caught me staring and elbowed one of the girls that was with you. Then you walked right up to me.”

It had been so cold that night, but Jake scarcely noticed.

She was headed right toward him, like something out of a dream in her clingy, tangerine-colored sweater and tight black jeans.

Feline.

The word jumped into his mind as he watched her walk, lithe and feline, moving as gracefully as a panther. Her beautiful face flushed pink from the cold, but she didn’t wear a coat. Jake’s chest felt painfully tight and it took him a moment to realize he was holding his breath.

Then, suddenly, there she was, close enough to touch, close enough to perfume the cold air around him. She was flawless, exquisite, and Jake knew he was lost when she reached out and took his hand.

“Are you married?” she asked, and he shook his head, unable to speak. His friends whispered to each other and Jake felt their envious stares.

“Good, because I’ve decided that I’m going to marry you one day.” She smiled then, a brilliant smile that made her eyes sparkle like pale green gems. Still holding his hand, she whipped a pen out of the little purse slung across her shoulder and uncapped it with her teeth. She stretched out his palm and scrawled

Nikki

555-4238

“You’ll be needing that.” She wrinkled up her pert little nose and grinned at him again. Jake was dumbfounded, stricken by her beauty and boldness. She strolled back to her giggling friends, leaving him struck mute in her wake.

***

“I did that? I walked up to you and told you that I was going to marry you?” Nikki asked in astonishment.

Jake laughed. “Yes, ma’am, you did.”

“What did you think?”

“What did I think? I thought I was in love. If you’d have just asked, I would’ve married you right then, right there. That was the most miserable movie I ever sat through, and I didn’t watch any of it. I sat there with my hand stretched out in front of me so I wouldn’t smear the numbers, but I already had it memorized. I couldn’t wait to get out of there and call you.”

She smiled and glanced over his shoulder toward the mantel. Jake saw her gaze snap back and her smile disappear. He was already turning to look when she said, “The lavender rose. It’s gone.”

Chapter 8

November 7

Nikki locked the door behind her therapist and punched in the alarm code, proud that she didn’t have to look at the numbers Jake had taped on the back of a photo frame. She clutched the rail and climbed the stairs on rubbery legs. The session on Jake’s treadmill had left her weak.

Upon entering her bedroom, she crossed over to the bed and flopped down. A couple glances at the clock later, Nikki forced herself to get up and head to the shower. Catherine would be here soon and Nikki had things to do. After she cleaned up, she planned on tearing the place apart to try to find some clue to the stalker’s identity. That was how she thought of him. The stalker. Not her lover, not anymore. The only man she wanted was her husband.

It took Nikki longer than she thought it would to shower. She felt so drained. She’d just finished buttoning her top when she heard Catherine call out below.

“I’m in my bedroom!” she yelled back down. Nikki stood with her hand on the folding door and stared in dismay at the crammed closet.

What did one person do with so many clothes?

Silk shirts, leather jackets, designer gowns…it seemed hard to believe all this stuff was hers. Deciding to start at the top, Nikki began tugging a box down from the top of her closet.

Catherine rushed over to help. “Nikki, dear, what are you doing?”

“Sheriff Garrettson told us that we should look for clues to find out who this man is, so we can stop him. I hope I kept something that might give us a clue to his identity.”

“I see,” Catherine said. She sighed and then patted Nikki’s hand. “I wish that neither of you would ever have to know, that you could just put this thing behind you.”

“Me, too,” Nikki replied. “I wish we could just move on with our lives, but I don’t feel like this man is going to let us. I can’t let him hurt Jake. I couldn’t stand to see him hurt any more because of me.”

“Nikki, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so happy you and Jake are working things out.”

Nikki sat on the carpet and began poking through the contents of the box. It contained old photo albums. She opened the cover of one and stared down at a picture of Jake wearing a Santa hat. He had his arm slung around her, and they looked so happy. “I can’t imagine why I would’ve done this. He’s been so wonderful and I couldn’t ask for more. I wouldn’t even believe I had an affair if he hadn’t told me I confessed it.”

“You’re young. We all make mistakes,” Catherine replied. “Stop beating yourself up for it and just enjoy the time you have together, because it goes by so quickly.”

Her mother-in-law got a dreamy look in her eyes and said, “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Jake’s father. We were married almost nineteen years when he died and it nearly killed me. I kept thinking it was so unfair, that nineteen years wasn’t nearly long enough. I’d loved Justin Hawthorne ever since I could remember. Jake reminds me so much of him.”

Nikki shifted and Catherine glanced at her, looking startled, as if she’d forgotten Nikki was there.

She gave Nikki a melancholy smile. “Sorry, dear. I’m rambling.”

“I don’t mind.” Nikki patted her hand. “Sometimes it’s good to talk about things.”

“I guess I’m thinking about Justin a lot this morning. Today would’ve been our thirty-second anniversary if he’d lived.”

“I’m sorry,” Nikki said, and hugged her mother-in-law.

“It’s so hard to give up on a love like that. I know I’ll never feel like that again. Zeke and I have been married for ten years now, but it’s not the same. Zeke and I had always been friends and he was so persistent, but I think the main reason I agreed to marry him was that I hated to be alone. I know that sounds silly and petty—”

“No, it doesn’t,” Nikki interrupted. “It sounds human.”

They continued to talk as they searched the closet and the rest of the room. To Nikki’s disappointment, they found nothing.

Catherine frowned at her watch. “I bet you haven’t eaten any lunch, have you?”

When Nikki confessed that she hadn’t, Catherine went downstairs to make sandwiches. Frustrated, Nikki scanned the room, looking for anything they might have missed. Her gaze fell on the small notepad by the phone and she thought about a detective program she’d watched from her hospital bed.

Feeling a little silly, Nikki picked up the notepad and the stubby pencil beside it and started shading. To her amazement, letters began to appear on the pad.

Mountain Spring Motel

Rm. 212

Some of Nikki’s excitement at finding it dissipated when she realized what it probably meant.

“I’m so sorry, Jake,” she said softly, and went downstairs to join her mother-in-law.

The day seemed so long without Jake, even though Nikki truly enjoyed Catherine’s company.

They kept themselves busy by searching the house, but Nikki found herself continuously glancing at her watch, anxious for four o’clock to arrive. Even a visit from her father didn’t distract her long.

Catherine left at 3:50 p.m. to stop by the bank and Nikki paced in front of the window until she saw the white BMW turn into the drive. Feeling an almost childish excitement at Jake’s return, Nikki slung open the front door and hurled herself at Jake as soon as he stepped up onto the porch.

He grabbed her and took a step backward to regain his balance.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Nikki grinned up at him. “I’m just happy to see you.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, well, in that case—”

Nikki giggled as he swept her in his arms and carried her to the den. Still holding her, he flopped down on the couch.

Nikki twisted around to sit in his lap with her knees on either side of him. Jake placed his hands on her hips and drew her closer. His thumbs stroked the inch of bare flesh between the waistband of her blue jeans and her white T-shirt.

“So you missed me?” he murmured.

“Uh huh.” Nikki leaned down to brush a feathery kiss across his lips. His mouth, warm and soft, parted slightly and Nikki deepened the kiss.

The shriek of the alarm startled Nikki and she would’ve tumbled onto the floor if Jake hadn’t caught her.

Jake laughed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Forgot about that damn thing.”

He gently set her aside and got up to shut the door and punch in the code before it notified the police department.

“Where were we?” he asked, and Nikki climbed back into his lap. A long tendril of hair had escaped from her ponytail and he tucked it behind her ear. “So, how did your day go? How was therapy?”

Nikki made a face. “Physical therapy went great, but I hate having my memory tested. I feel like I’m on the verge of remembering something and it’s like a door slamming in my face. It’s so frustrating.”

“It’ll get better,” Jake promised as he traced his fingers across her cheekbone. “Where’s Mom, anyway?”

Nikki had to restrain a grin at the sudden wariness of his tone. He still acted like he expected her and his mother to tear into each other at any moment. She quickly averted her gaze.

“She left early. I…I slugged her, Jake. I couldn’t help it. She mouthed off to me and I lost it,” she said contritely. “I’m so sorry.”

Jake’s jaw dropped and Nikki did lose it then. He looked so serious, so horrified.

She snickered helplessly until his incredulous look turned to a scowl.

“Geez, Jake, were we that bad?” she asked.

“You have no idea.” He shook his head. “The two of you put me through hell.”

“I’m sorry for my part in that.” Nikki placed a hand on the back of his neck and smiled. “She’s wonderful, Jake. Today has been good for us.”

“Yeah? What did the two of you do today?”

Nikki’s smile vanished as she replied, “We looked for clues.”

“Oh.” Jake was quiet for a long moment, and then he asked, “Did you find anything?”

“Just this.” Nikki pulled the page from the notepad from her back pocket and handed it to Jake. His laugh surprised her.

“I must say, Nancy Drew, that I’m impressed.”

“I hated to give it to you.”

“It’s okay.” He exhaled softly. “I already knew about the motel.”

Nikki looked at him sharply and he explained, “Matt called me at work this afternoon. He’d pulled that number and the number of a payphone in Whitwell from that morning.”

Jake reached around her to flip open his briefcase. He pulled a sheaf of paper from it and handed it to her. The pages were colored with different highlighters.

“This is our personal line and the other list is your cell. I recognized most of the numbers immediately: friends, family, and the office, and I called the ones I didn’t. Nothing or nobody that I suspect.” He cleared his throat. “Apparently, you were very careful, or you had another way of contacting him.”

They were silent for a moment, and then Nikki asked, “So, when are we going to the motel?”

“You want to go?”

“Yes, I want to find out who this guy is so we can get on with our lives.”

Jake looked at her for a long moment and sighed. “Well, how about right now?”

***

Jake regretted the trip already.

One of the side effects of Nikki’s head injury was that she was sometimes as sensitive to sunlight as a vampire. Her eyes reddened and streamed in the unrelenting brightness of the afternoon sun. Jake flipped her visor down and she rummaged through the console until she found a pair of sunglasses.

A light snow began to fall, dusting the mountaintops like powdered sugar. The fine, tiny flakes caught in the beams of the winter sunlight and sparkled like diamonds as they fell lazily to the ground. Nikki commented on the beauty of the frosty landscape, but Jake was struck by a feeling of uneasiness so profound that he had to fight the urge to turn the car around and head back home.

Suddenly, more than anything, he just wanted to get the hell out of here.

He saw no beauty in the bare, hulking trees. They were skeletons, reaching long, bony fingers to take what they wanted. A chill started in the nape of his neck and raced down his spine.

A goose walked over my grave.

The thought ran through Jake’s mind. It had been Mam-Ma Hawthorne’s explanation for any inexplicable chill, a saying that had always struck Jake as funny. He might’ve laughed if he’d been anywhere else. Anywhere but here. He saw a sign that said US-56 and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.

“Jake, what is it?” Nikki asked.

Jake wondered if his face had gone as white as the knuckles on his hand.

“This is the road,” he said as they started up the mountain. “This is the road you wrecked on.”

Jake’s heart began to pound a little faster as he realized how harrowing Nikki’s ride down this steep, winding mountain road must have been.

“I want to see where,” she said and he saw her shiver, too.

He reached to turn up the heater, even though it was warm inside the car. Even though he knew it couldn’t help a chill that started from within.

“Nikki, I—”

“Please?” she asked.

Jake drove until he saw where a wooden mile marker still lay splintered and pulled over to the shoulder of the road. He walked around, opened Nikki’s door and took her hand. They crossed the road together and stood by the ruined guardrail to stare down at the blackened spot below where someone had lost her life. Jake felt cold inside as he thought of how close he’d come to losing Nikki that day.

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. It was several moments before he could bear to let her go.

“Where was I thrown out?” She stepped over the guardrail.

Jake frowned and stepped over behind her. “I don’t know. I know that you hit a rock, because they couldn’t believe that you hadn’t broken anything.” He walked around and finally spied a large rock several yards away. His heart lurched at the brownish stain on it and he wondered if it was Nikki’s blood. Nikki walked up beside him and tucked her arm in his. He felt her shudder.

Together, they made their way down the steep incline to the spot where the Dodge had burned.

Nikki lost her footing in the snow-slick leaves and started to slide. Jake grabbed the back of her coat and wouldn’t let go of her after that. They reached the charred spot and Nikki began to kick around in the ashes. There was still a considerable amount of rubble, even though they’d towed the truck. Jake stared up at the main highway and imagined again what it must’ve been like for her, how many times the truck must’ve flipped to get so far from the top.

Jake helped Nikki back up the incline. Although it was getting dark, Nikki wanted to talk to someone at the motel.

They stopped at a gas station to ask for directions and were told that the Mountain Spring was the only motel in the small county. In a matter of minutes, Jake pulled in front of the aging building. It loomed high in the southern sky, a relic from the Civil War. Jake studied the huge white columns with an architect’s appreciative eye.

They walked across an expanse of lush red carpet where a friendly looking young man greeted them in the foyer.

“Oh, hey!” He smiled at Nikki. “Nice to see you again.”

Nikki and Jake looked at each other. They never dared to hope that it might be this easy.

“You remember her?” Jake asked.

The young man’s smile never faltered, but he looked a little embarrassed as he said, “No offense, sir, but it’s hard to forget a beautiful lady like this.”

Nikki smiled. “We were hoping someone would remember,” she said. “I was involved in an automobile accident after I left here—”

“Oh, no!” the boy exclaimed, seeming to notice her bruised forehead for the first time.

“I don’t remember what I was doing here or who I was with. I hope you can help with part of that.”

Jake could tell the old Nikki charm was working its magic, but the boy’s smile faltered as he glanced back at Jake.

Casually, Jake lifted his palms. “It’s okay, man. I’m just chauffeuring her.”

“Please, can you help me?” Nikki pleaded and the boy nearly melted in his shoes. Jake had to turn his head to keep from laughing.

“I think I was in room 212.” She subtly steered him toward the desk. “I found a note—”

“Yes, that’s right,” the boy confirmed. “You had a room that overlooked the garden, because you commented on the statue.”

“Did you see me with anyone?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Matter of fact, you were headed out the door then, right after you checked in. I didn’t see you or anyone after that. Not until you checked out Sunday morning.”

Jake frowned and turned to look at her quizzically, just as she asked, “When did I check in?”

He thumbed through the book for a moment. “Saturday morning.”

“What name did I sign in under?” she asked, and the boy grinned.

“Smith,” he joked. “Everyone checks in as Smith.” He ran his finger down the page and said, “There it is. You checked in under S. Parker.”

Nikki thanked the boy and they left.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Nikki said as she climbed back in the car. “Why would I check in on Saturday morning if I knew that you were going to be home on Saturday night?”

“It makes perfect sense.” Jake rubbed the bridge of his nose and said, “I was supposed to go out of town Saturday night and not come back until Thursday, but I canceled it after our big fight Saturday afternoon. You drove here to check in and then came back home, waiting for me to leave, but that never happened. I was at the office for a few hours that morning. You had time.”

“But why go so far?” she persisted. “Why not stay at home, if you were leaving, or go to a motel closer to home?”

“Nikki, honey, everyone in town knows you,” he said. “And maybe this guy, too. You were playing it safe. No nosy neighbors or town gossips to catch you.”

“I’m sorry, Jake,” she said.

He squeezed her hand. “It’s in the past. I just wish we’d learned more.”

“But we got a name. Do you know anyone named Parker?”

Jake gave her a patient smile. “Hon, the name Parker might has well been Smith. Even if you were away from home, do you think either of you would use your real name? The guy in there said you paid in cash and I have to believe Parker was an assumed name. Besides, you were afraid to tell me because it was someone I knew. The only Parker I know is old man Pete Parker who runs the furniture store in town. He’s seventy if he’s a day.”

Nikki looked a little defeated at that, and Jake leaned over to kiss her before he put the keys in the ignition.

“I’ll run it by Matt, just in case.”

Nikki rubbed her forehead and slipped her glasses back on. As she stared out the window, Jake could feel her disappointment.

“Hey.” He reached over to touch her knee. “How about I take you to your favorite restaurant for dinner?”

***

Nikki forced a smile and tried to project an enthusiasm she didn’t feel. “Sounds great!”

The headache that began when they stood on the side of the mountain had progressed to a full-fledged throb. She fished a bottle of pain reliever out of her purse and swallowed two of them dry.

Jake was wrong.

The name S. Parker meant something; she knew it did. If only she could open the stubborn door in her mind, maybe they would be safe.

Jake played tour guide again as he drove through town and Nikki tried to pay attention, but her mind kept drifting back to that hotel. Something was forcing itself at the edge of her thoughts, but she couldn’t connect.

Pulling into the parking lot of a weathered gray restaurant, Jake mistook the reason for her frown.

“Really, it’s not as bad as it looks. Patty’s is the best seafood place in the state. They just don’t spend a lot on appearance. You used to love the shrimp scampi here.”

Nikki tread carefully over the snow-slick pea gravel that lined the walkway. The cold wind slapped at her face and made her hands clench into tight fists in her pockets.

A blast of warm air greeted Nikki as Jake pulled open the door for her. She inhaled the scent of fresh bread and garlic and felt slightly queasy.

As they waited for the waitress to show them to their table, Jake leaned to whisper in her ear.

“Be right back,” he said, and headed toward the men’s room.

“Hi. How many?” the smiling hostess asked.

“Two.”

“Smoking or non?”

“Non.”

“Right this way.”

Nikki followed the woman toward the back, glancing casually at the lighthouse paintings on the wall as they walked past. She was nearly on top of the couple in the back booth before she saw them. Nikki froze, and prayed the man wouldn’t look up. She needn’t have worried. He was too entranced by the young redhead playing with his tie.

For a moment, she couldn’t think, couldn’t move.

“Miss?” the hostess said and Nikki shook her head, the paralysis broken.

She had to get Jake out of here now.

Spinning on her heel, she hurried back toward the entrance. She intercepted Jake coming out of the bathroom.

“You know what? I think I want Chinese.”

“Since when do you like Chinese?” he asked as she practically shoved him out the door.

“Since now.”

She would eat anything to get him out of there before he saw his stepfather in another woman’s arms.

Chapter 9

By the time they got to the Chinese restaurant, Nikki was a nervous wreck. Jake kept giving her quizzical glances that she wouldn’t meet.

How could Zeke do that to Catherine?

Obviously sensing her anxiety, Jake suggested they get their order to go.

“There’s a place on the lake I want to show you.”

“I’d like that,” Nikki said, eager to put as much distance between them and Zeke as possible. Jake would’ve killed him.

The house on the lake was breathtaking.

Jake juggled the sacks of take-out and hit the car locks as they stepped out of the BMW. “We’re almost finished. Just waiting for the painters to finish up so we can add the trim.”

“It’s gorgeous,” Nikki said as the wind whipped her hair into her face.

The wooden exterior glowed a deep red-gold in the streetlights. The color reminded Nikki of a burning sunset against the backdrop of a navy blue sky.

Jake unlocked the front door and leaned against it to let Nikki in first. Nikki breathed in the smell of fresh paint and cedar as she stepped onto the gleaming hardwood floor of the cavernous living room.

“I hope they have a lot of furniture.” She looked around the empty room. “It’ll take a lot to fill this place up.”

Jake set the food on the floor and took her hand. “Come on, you have to see this.”

He led her to a pair of ceiling-to-floor glass doors and unlocked them. Hand in hand, they stepped out onto the deck. The winter sky formed a perfect backdrop to the silvery water and the shimmering grays made the blue of Jake’s eyes stand out in stark relief.

“How would you like a place like this, Nik? I’ll build you one, if you want.”

She saw something vulnerable in those blue eyes and wrapped her arms around him. “I like our house. And I don’t care where we live, as long as we’re together.”

Jake smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. Nikki shivered, as much from his nearness as from the icy air gusting around them and he said, “Come on, we’d better eat before the food gets cold.”

“Sorry for the lack of furniture,” Jake said as Nikki sat cross-legged on the floor.

“This is fine.” She reached for an egg roll. “I don’t feel comfortable in crowds right now.”

Now that they were away from the restaurant, Nikki wondered if she’d misinterpreted the scene before her. Surely a man like Zeke – a judge – wouldn’t carry on like that in public, even if it were at a secluded little restaurant like Patty’s. Shame burned her face as she thought about her own marriage. Had she flaunted her own lover so carelessly?

The egg roll, appetizing the moment before, suddenly seemed rubbery in her mouth as she wondered what to do. Should she tell Catherine, confront Zeke or what?

Jake’s voice startled her. “I told you that you didn’t like Chinese.”

“It’s okay.” She smiled and laid her half-eaten egg roll down on the napkin. “I’m just not very hungry.”

“I worry about you.”

She smiled and stretched out on the floor to watch him eat. “Don’t worry about me. I’m tough.”

Jake cajoled her into eating a few more bites, and then lay on his stomach, resting his head in her lap. “This is nice. Peace and quiet, just the two of us.”

“It is nice.” Nikki stroked his dark hair and began to gently knead the back of his neck. Jake sighed and closed his eyes. His breath warmed her thigh through the cotton fabric of her pants.

“You’d better watch it,” he murmured. “I could get used to this.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Her fingers slipped inside the collar of his shirt to massage the tense muscles on top of his shoulders. She moved from underneath him.

“Hey, where are you going?” he protested.

“Not far. Take off your shirt.”

Jake twisted around to grin at her. “Why, Mrs. Hawthorne, are you propositioning me?”

“Maybe,” she said coyly as she got on her knees to unbutton his shirt. The desire in his blue eyes made her hands shake as she slid it off his broad shoulders. “Lie back down.”

Sitting lightly on his buttocks, Nikki massaged Jake’s lower back to his shoulders in deep, sweeping strokes. His muscles, hard and smooth, twitched beneath her palms as she worked at undoing the tension in them.

After a few minutes, Nikki’s foot went to sleep and she shifted. Jake rolled out from underneath her and sat up.

“My turn,” he murmured, his blue gaze locked on hers.

Nikki held her breath as he tugged at the hem of her sweater, and then pulled it over her head. He motioned for her to turn around and she presented him with her back. Jake unhooked her bra strap and slid his hands up her spine. She closed her eyes at the feel of his warm hands on her bare skin.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered, and lifted her hair to expose her nape. The kisses he brushed on her neck caused gooseflesh to race down her arms.

Skimming her side, he reached around to cup her breasts.

The world seemed to slow. The only sound Nikki heard was the ragged sound of her own breathing. She no longer noticed the coolness of the empty house. Her body flushed with heat from Jake’s touch, his kisses.

The shriek of a siren split the night.

Nikki cried out and fell back against Jake. He steadied her and scrambled to his feet. Running to the window, he jerked open the blinds. The BMW’s headlights flashed off and on in a frantic rhythm.

“Jake, what is it?” she shouted, but he was already running toward the door, his shirt hanging open.

Grabbing up her sweater, Nikki hurriedly pulled it over her head and ran outside. She stood frozen on the porch, staring at the BMW.

The windshield was smashed, the words ‘Leave her alone’ spray-painted in bright red across the hood.

She didn’t see Jake anywhere.

“Nikki, get back in the house and lock the door!” Jake shouted.

Nikki stepped back inside and turned the deadbolt. Hurrying toward the window, she tried to discern any movement in the darkness beyond the amber glow of the streetlight. Nothing.

Her hands balled into nervous fists as she thought about Jake running around unarmed in the dark. Jake’s cell phone was lying on the BMW’s console. She needed to call the police.

Cautiously, Nikki unlocked the door and opened it a crack. Her ears strained to hear any noise, but it was impossible over the blare of the car alarm. She hurried down the steps and threw open the car door. Grabbing the phone, she turned to run back to the house and crashed directly into a hard chest. She struggled against the arms that caught her until she realized it was Jake.

“I told you to stay inside,” he said.

“I was worried about you. We need to call the police.”

“Whoever did this is gone. I didn’t see anything.” Jake took the phone from her and sat on the front steps to call Matt.

Five minutes later, a white blazer with Whitwell Police emblazoned on the side pulled up beside the BMW, and Matt bailed out.

He and a deputy roped off the scene and took their statements. Nearly two hours later, he drove them home.

Another hit and run. They still had nothing to go on. Nikki stared at the grim line of Jake’s mouth and was terrified of what would happen next.

Nikki drifted into a fitful sleep that night, tossing and turning, moving from one hazy nightmare to the next. As far as she knew, Jake didn’t sleep at all.

***

November 8

Nikki greeted Darcy at the door the next morning with a scrub brush in one hand, a bottle of lemon-scented disinfectant in the other. She led her friend to kitchen and collapsed in a chair.

“Wow!” Darcy said. She sipped coffee from the Styrofoam cup she’d carried in with her and surveyed the sparkling kitchen. “Have you been possessed by Mr. Clean?”

“Did I never clean before the accident?” Nikki asked with a shaky laugh.

She didn’t tell Darcy that she’d been up cleaning since five. Jake had left earlier than usual this morning, having arranged for his foreman to pick him up in a work truck. Although he kissed her when he left and cautioned her three times not to open the door for anyone but Darcy or his mother, he seemed distant, distracted. Nikki tried not to take it personally.

“No offense, Nik,” Darcy said, before taking another gulp of coffee, “—but you were a bigger slob than me. You have some woman from town come every Friday to clean.”

“Really?” Nikki looked at the brush in her hand. “But I like this. It’s very stress relieving.”

“Stop it, Nik. You’re scaring me,” Darcy admonished. She glanced at Nikki with thoughtful gray eyes. “You said stress relieving. Are you and Blue Eyes having problems?”

With a sigh, Nikki told her about the latest attack. Darcy asked her a flurry of questions and Nikki nearly forgot to ask her the most important one. “Hey, do I know anybody named Parker?”

“Um, there’s Parker Sloan, the tennis instructor at the club. That’s the only Parker I know.”

Nikki started to tell her that she meant Parker as a last name, when the thought struck her:

S Parker

Parker S

Could it really be that simple?

“Tell me about him! Could he be the one that I had an affair with?”

To her consternation, Darcy nearly choked on her coffee. She laughed and gasped for breath.

“Oh, Nik! I don’t think so,” she chortled. “We always made fun of this guy, because he swaggered around like he thought he was God’s gift. He always wears his shirt a little too unbuttoned, to better show off his hairy chest, and he flirts with all the ladies.” She gave Nikki a mirthful wink, and said, “Let me put it this way: Parker Sloan makes Tommy Miller look good. Why did you think he might be the one?”

Nikki filled her in on yesterday’s excursion to Grundy County and what they learned at the motel.

“I have no idea. That name means nothing to me.”

“I’m sure it does to me,” Nikki said. “But what?”

“Well, come on. I’ll help you clean your room, and maybe we’ll find something.”

“Nope, already did. There was nothing there. But I am going to clean house today, so you can watch TV or read or whatever.”

“Nah, use me as free labor. Maybe you’ll inspire me to clean up my own place. I can work upstairs while you work down here.”

***

Nikki found the stack of letters in the pull-out drawer by the computer. Nestled between the stapler and a tape dispenser, she might not have paid them any attention if they hadn’t been tied with a baby pink ribbon. They were all addressed to her from Derek LeBain. Nikki plopped down in the leather swivel chair and untied the ribbon, curious about this link to her past.

Angel eyes.

He called her angel eyes.

The first of the letters was nearly four years old, written before she had ever met Jake, and the last was dated a little over two months ago.

Tears burned her eyes as she read the words of a lover she couldn’t remember. Derek sounded so lost and lonely, and so in love with her. His heartbreak was something palpable. It jumped off the page as she read letter after letter begging her to come back, to love him again. The only letter that even mentioned Jake by name was dated on their wedding day.

It sounded so fatalistic, almost like a suicide note, but it hadn’t been. The letters continued long after her marriage. How had she felt about him? Nikki wished she knew.

The next letter contained a photograph of the two of them, and Nikki stared at his face for a long time, hoping for some spark of recollection. Derek was a gorgeous man, his face as perfectly formed as any leading man’s. He had a strong chin, full lips and pale eyes that were either gray or blue. Blonde and tan, he looked like he had everything going for him, but, after reading his letters, Nikki knew his handsome exterior masked a haunted soul. After studying his face, she looked at her own in the picture. Although she flashed a smile at the camera, it looked forced.

“Nikki.”

Darcy’s voice startled her. Nikki jumped, sending the letters in her lap sailing across the floor.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. I—” Darcy fell silent as she reached to pick up the picture on the floor.

“He was beautiful,” Nikki said softly.

“You have no idea,” Darcy snapped, then squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry. I just can’t talk about him. Not yet.”

She turned away, but not before Nikki saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

The phone rang and Darcy snatched it up. Her eyes widened and she said, “What did you say? Who is this? Hello—” She stared at the phone, then slowly replaced it in the cradle.

“Darcy, who was it?” Nikki demanded.

“It was your lover. He thought I was you.” Darcy gave her a hard look. “He said for you not to give up on him, that he would take care of Jake soon.”

***

Whistling, Jake caught the freight elevator and went back up to where Hank was waiting – impatiently, Jake guessed. He was in a remarkably good mood for having spent his lunch hour with Evan Stephens. Stephens was still here, getting in the way as he walked around the construction site.

Hank munched on a sandwich, and barely looked up as Jake walked the beam toward him. Jake hummed to himself as he sat beside Hank, knowing that he was wearing on his foreman’s nerves. Maybe he was a little punchy from lack of sleep, but it was hard to keep from grinning.

“Well?” Hank demanded.

“Stephens agreed to plan B. We don’t have to do all the changes on the west wing. I persuaded him that it would create a structural weakness.”

“I would like to persuade him about a few things,” Hank grumbled, but Jake could tell that his foreman was relieved. The sooner they were finished with Stephens, the better.

After Hank finished his sandwich, they went back down to the ground level. Jake’s cell phone rang. He handed a material checklist to Hank and sat on a wooden slat to answer it.

“Jake, it’s Matt.”

Jake’s pulse quickened. “What do you have for me, Matt? Any leads?”

“I got the results from the lab test. Someone sprinkled a little Augmentin in your mom’s casserole.”

“Augmentin. What’s that?”

“A drug very similar to penicillin. Definitely not naturally occurring, even in Cat’s casserole. Someone was trying to do you in, Jake.”

Jake wiped a hand down his face. “Yeah, I figured—”

The phone crackled as he lost the signal, then the connection. Jake was punching in Matt’s number when he heard Hank Timmons scream his name.

Moving instinctively, Jake threw himself off the slat just seconds before it exploded in a shower of wood fragments. He lay on the ground in stunned silence as Hank scrambled over the mess to get to him.

Hank’s face was as white as greasepaint and his mouth opened and closed like a fish’s as he stood over Jake. Jake stared at his mouth in fascination for a moment before he realized that Hank was talking. It was another moment before he was able to comprehend what Hank was saying.

“Jake, say something! Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jake managed, when air finally rushed back into his lungs. “What happened?”

“The cable snapped. The beam was coming right at you – Oh, Lord, Jake, look at that, will ya?”

The beam had landed vertically. If it had landed horizontally, it would’ve driven Jake into the ground like a nail. Jake stood, but when he realized just how narrowly he had escaped death, he sank back on his knees. Hank was babbling now and Jake thought the big man was going to cry.

“Geez, Jake! How did you know to move? I saw it coming, but I didn’t have time to do anything.”

Jake reached down to pick up a little piece the black cell phone he had dropped and grinned crazily at his general foreman.

“When I heard Hank Timmons scream like a little girl, I knew to run for cover.”

***

The headache made her nauseous. When Tylenol wouldn’t knock it, Nikki asked Darcy to run to the pharmacy to fill the prescription Dr. Carver had given her. Rubbing her forehead, Nikki watched Darcy back out of the drive and then lay on the couch. The house sparkled; she and Darcy had even washed the walls and stopped only to have a sandwich with her father when he dropped by.

Since the accident, Nikki had an almost compulsive desire for neatness. While the house hadn’t really been dirty, she felt more relaxed now that she knew it was spotless. Nikki wondered if that was inspired by her desire to ‘clean up’ her marriage, erasing the ugly stain that her unfaithfulness had left behind. She enjoyed the fresh lemon scent that permeated the air, although the scent of the roast that she and Darcy had prepared for Jake’s dinner muted it somewhat.

Nikki stood up, and nearly fell as a blinding pain stabbed through her head and the mother of all headaches took control. Multi-colored spots danced before her eyes as she headed up the stairs to her bedroom. Jake wouldn’t be home for a while, and she just wanted to lie down.

Minutes later, Nikki was in agony. She blindly staggered around her bedroom, trying to find her purse as the pain ripped through her head.

What was taking Darcy so long?

Nikki thought about calling Jake, but she had no idea what the number to his office was. She tried to find it in the phone book, but the numbers danced before her in such a frenzied blur that she couldn’t distinguish them. Clutching at her head, Nikki felt crazy when she couldn’t think of the word for that thing, that thing lying there in the floor with all the numbers that she wanted to call Jake with. It was simple and on the tip of her tongue, but it wouldn’t come to her.

Hot tears of pain and frustration rolled down her face as she wondered if she’d ever be normal again. Why would Jake want her when she was so crazy—

Hey, MP!

The voice in her mind was so clear. She could almost remember who called her that, could almost put a face to his voice. She sank to her knees in the floor, willing her mind to open the door just a little further.

Hey, MP! Where’d you put my keys? I’m late already.

She could almost say his name, could see herself as she tossed the keys to him, but his face was hidden from her. He was someone that she loved; she was sure of it.

Abruptly, the door in her mind slammed shut, hiding her secrets from her and leaving her with the knowledge of only one thing:

It hadn’t been Jake’s voice.

The voice that seemed so heartbreakingly familiar, that voice she’d known she loved, had not belonged to her husband.

***

Had Darcy left already?

Jake was alarmed when he couldn’t find Nikki downstairs and she didn’t respond when he called out to her. Although he was still a little weak in the knees from the accident, he raced up the stairs and found her lying in the floor in her room. She was so still, a cold ball of fear knotted in the pit of Jake’s stomach as he rushed to her. He seized her in his arms and a cool wave of relief washed over him when he felt her stir.

She was asleep.

His fear evaporated, and he nearly laughed until he saw her face. Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she’d been crying.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he whispered.

She mumbled his name and then wrapped her arms around his neck. He cradled her as if she were a child, struggling to his feet and laying her on the bed.

“Oh, Jake!” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “My head. It hurt so bad and I couldn’t find my purse—” she broke off and began to sob in earnest.

“It’s okay, honey,” Jake soothed, shaken by her tears. He tried to joke, wanting her to feel safe now that he was here. “You always lose your purse, and your keys…”

“I wanted to call you, but I couldn’t find the number, and then I couldn’t think of what you even call that stupid thing.”

“What – the phone?” Jake asked, taken aback. This, too, was one of the effects of her head injury. Sometimes, she had to struggle to find everyday words, though she hadn’t done it often since those first days in the hospital. It never failed to chill Jake.

“How’s your head now?” he asked, stroking her hair.

“It’s not hurting, but it feels sore.”

Immediately, Jake stilled the hand in her hair and Nikki laid her head on his lap.

“I should go call Luke.”

“No, I’m okay now,” she protested. “Besides, I told him last visit about my headaches, and he seemed to think it was strange that I hadn’t been having very many. He gave me a prescription—”

“I‘d still like to call him.”

“Really, I’m okay.” She managed a faint smile as she squinted up at him. “I probably just overdid myself today.”

“So I noticed,” Jake teased, deciding not to mention his close call at work. “Thought I’d walked into the wrong house for a minute.”

“It wasn’t that bad before.” She wrinkled up her nose in a way that he found adorable.

“No, but I don’t think our floors were that shiny when they were brand new. And did I smell a roast? Where did you and Darcy order it from? I know she’s a worse cook than you are.”

“Hey! I cooked it, thank you very much. I can follow a recipe.”

“Where is Darcy, anyway?”

Nikki blinked at the clock. “She went to the pharmacy for me, but she should’ve been back by now.”

Jake frowned. “I’ll call the pharmacy and see if she’s left there yet.”

He dug the phonebook out of the bedside drawer and was reaching for the phone when it rang.

“That’s probably her now.” He reached to answer it, cradling it with his shoulder as he flipped through the yellow pages.

“Hello.”

Nothing.

He was about to hang up when he heard the whir of a tape recorder, then Nikki’s voice filled his ear; the pre-Nikki, with her sultry voice preserved on tape.

Chapter 10

“Sure I’m sure!” the voice said impatiently, and Jake knew without a doubt it was Nikki. “Do you think you can get away? Jake’s had to go to Bridgeport today and he won’t be back until tomorrow. I’m all by myself, and I wish that you’d come over and keep me company. I hate being alone.”

Jake stood frozen. Squeezing his eyes shut, he could almost imagine her pretty pout as she invited her lover over to his house, to his bed.

He listened for more, but the line suddenly went dead. Still he stood there, hurt by this new evidence of her betrayal. She hadn’t sounded nervous or unsure of her decision. In fact, it was her casualness that hurt him so deeply. She sounded comfortable with this guy, as much as if she’d been speaking to him. He felt her eyes on him now, watching as he clutched the phone and said nothing.

“Who is it?” she asked.

Your boyfriend, he almost snapped, before he got his raging emotions under control. He felt an irrational anger that wasn’t so much directed at her, but at the woman she was a few weeks ago.

Before he met Nikki, he never considered himself the jealous type, but it had come, every time he saw another man staring at her, every time she noticed and enjoyed another man’s attention. Now it threatened to destroy him.

All he could think of was another man in this room, touching her, kissing her, the woman he had loved more than his own life. A man who had seduced his wife in his own bed, while Jake himself had been in blissful ignorance of what his marriage had become.

“Jake, are you okay?” she asked softly.

Jake forced himself to look at her, and then felt sorry for his burst of temper. She looked so pale and tired that all his anger melted away. Staring into her anxious green eyes, he made a decision.

No matter what this guy did or what kind of mind games he played, Jake wasn’t going to let him destroy them, which was exactly what he was trying to do. So many things had changed between him and Nikki since the accident, and all the change was for the better. He could see her love for him shining in her eyes, could feel it in her touch. They were growing closer than they’d ever been before, and he couldn’t let her slip away from him again.

“That was him,” Jake admitted and watched Nikki’s eyes widen.

“What did he say?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

“He didn’t say anything. He played a tape recording of you inviting him over.”

“What a horrible man he must be!” she cried. “Why does he keep trying to hurt us? He’s crazy!”

Jake feared she might be right.

He replaced the phone in the cradle, a little surprised to see that he was still holding it, and crossed quickly back to her.

She flung herself in his arms, and sobbed, “Please don’t let him tear us apart. I love you and I can’t lose you!”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jake said. “I love you, too, and as long as we hold on to that, this bastard can’t touch us.”

“Nikki, I’m back!” Darcy called from downstairs. “Where’d you go?”

“Up here,” Jake yelled.

Jake heard her footsteps on the stairs and then walked through the door.

She handed Nikki the bag and said, “Whew! Sorry it took so long. I had to wait in line forever, and then they had some problem with the prescription. They had to call Dr. Carver to straighten it out.”

Opening the bottle, Jake shook out two of the pills into his palm.

“I’m fine now, really,” Nikki protested. “I’m just tired. I think I’ll try to take a nap.”

Jake kissed her forehead and put the pills back in the bottle. “Okay, but you take them if you need them.”

Darcy accompanied him downstairs.

“I guess I’d better call Matt,” he said. “I feel like I’m running him to death, just saw him at dinner time, but he told me to call whenever something happened.”

“What? Has something else happened?” Darcy demanded.

Jake told her about the phone call and her eyebrows lifted.

“Wow, he’s getting pretty bold, huh? Calling twice in the same day.”

His head snapped around. “He’s called here before?”

Darcy dropped her eyes. “Nikki didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Jake demanded.

Darcy recoiled from the anger in his voice, and he made an attempt to keep his voice calm. “She was sick when I came in. What happened today?”

He watched Darcy swallow. “We have to talk, and you’re not going to like what I have to say. I feel like I’m betraying Nikki, but I won’t stand by and watch you get hurt. I answered the phone. He thought I was Nikki and begged her not to give up on him, that he was going to take care of you soon. And Nikki told me he called her at the hospital, too.”

“He did what?” Jake asked, stunned.

“Both times he implied that she knew he was planning to kill you. Both times, he acted like she would know what he was talking about, even though everyone knows she has amnesia. I hate to say this, but what if Nikki was trying to kill you?” She paused. “What if she still is?”

“Now wait a minute—”

Darcy held up her hands in surrender. “Just hear me out. I don’t want to believe it either, but what if Elaine is right? Nikki’s so different now. Too different.”

“I don’t believe it,” Jake said stiffly, though he thought about the penicillin. Who besides Nikki and his family knew he was allergic?

“Then why didn’t she tell you? If she’s so innocent, why wouldn’t she tell you, or the sheriff? Say they’d planned to kill you and Nikki got cold feet, or maybe she wanted to end the relationship with the other man and was afraid. This amnesia thing would be the perfect cover. It’s a win-win situation. She gets to keep you and Nikki doesn’t have to confess anything she doesn’t want to confess.”

Jake flinched. “Do you, her best friend, someone who’s known her most of her life, really think she’s capable of that?”

Darcy looked at him squarely. “I guess it depends on what she stood to lose.”

Jake turned his back on her and stared out the window. He sensed Darcy stand, then she touched his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. Don’t hate me, but something is wrong here. This whole thing has me spooked and I don’t want you to end up dead.”

“I don’t believe Nikki is faking this, nor do I believe she is or was plotting to murder me.”

“You didn’t believe she’d have an affair, either,” Darcy said quietly, and then turned to leave.

Jake heard the door shut a moment later and went to program in the alarm. As he punched in the code, the doorbell rang. Thinking it was Darcy, he swung the door open wide and was surprised to find his mother-in-law standing there.

“Now is not a good time, Sara,” he said, and started to shut the door.

“Wait!” Sara said, and held up a hand to stop the door. “I’m not here to fight.”

She removed her sunglasses and her haggard appearance startled Jake. Her face, devoid of make-up, was pale and drawn. Shadowy half moons darkened the skin underneath her eyes.

“Can I see my daughter? I’m worried about her.” Sara’s eyes glittered with tears and she said, “Please, Jake, I’m begging you.”

“Nikki’s asleep.”

“Then can we talk?”

Surprised, Jake opened the door. In all the time he’d known Sara, this was a first. He followed her into the den.

Sara sat on the sofa, her hands folded primly in her lap. “I’ll get right to the point. I want to help. I’m offering my money, my resources, whatever you need.”

“The police are taking care of it.”

“Oh please. The police are chasing their tails. I’m very concerned about the reports I’ve been hearing. This man is perpetrating an almost—” She waved her hands. “—blitz attack. I’m afraid he’s going to kill you, Jake.”

Jake snorted. “Why, Sara, I didn’t know you cared.”

To Jake’s surprise, Sara smiled. “Well, I admit, you aren’t my favorite person, as I know I’m not yours, but you’ve earned a certain degree of my respect. Undeniably, you love my daughter. Undoubtedly, she loves you, too. That will have to be good enough for me.”

“Jake, are you hungry? I—”

They both started at the sound of Nikki’s voice. She froze inside the doorway when she saw Sara, and then started to turn away.

“Nicole, don’t go!” Sara jumped up from the couch. “I’m sorry. I’ve come to call a truce.”

“I’m not faking this.”

“I know. I’m sorry I accused you of that. Can we start over? I want to help you and Jake. Whatever you need, you tell me.”

The doorbell rang and Jake looked at Nikki questioningly.

“Go answer it,” she said.

He walked past her and Nikki shut the door behind him.

***

“You look tired, honey. Are you okay?”

Tears stung Nikki’s eyes as she stared at the stranger who was her mother. “No, I’m not okay! My life is falling apart and I can’t stop it.”

She turned her back to Sara, mortified by her tears. To her surprise, Sara walked up and wrapped her arms around her. “It’ll be all right, darling. I swear it will. We’ll find this man and make him pay for what he’s done. I think I’ve read most of it in the police reports, but let’s go over it and see if I’ve missed anything. I’m going to hire a private detective.”

“I don’t know what a detective could find that we haven’t already. There’s nothing in this house. My friends know nothing. Darcy says he’s older, rich and married, but that’s all she knows—”

“Darcy.” Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, I saw her leaving when I came in. I wasn’t aware you two were speaking again.”

“What do you mean?”

Sara lifted her brows. “Well, the way she acted after Derek died, and then the argument you had a few weeks ago—”

“What argument? What over?”

“I don’t know. You weren’t in the habit of sharing details of your social life with me, but I know something happened. You were in a foul temper the last time you visited the house, and told me to save it when I made some comment about Jake. You told me you’d already chewed out Eliot and Darcy both that day and said you weren’t in the mood to listen to me…bitch.”

“Eliot? Jake’s step-brother Eliot?”

“That’s the only Eliot I know, but I don’t think that was anything serious. I called the night before the trip and he and his wife were over here for dinner. But Darcy, that’s a different story. You told me you were through with her.”

Nikki tried to think. Had Jake mentioned some argument she had with Darcy? That sounded familiar, but she couldn’t recall.

Pulling a pen and pad out of her purse, Sara took notes as Nikki told her about all the latest events.

Nikki heard Catherine’s laughter outside the door and the low rumble of Zeke’s voice.

“I’ll let you go to your company,” Sara said, glancing at the door. “I’m going to meet with the detective tomorrow and see what he can do.”

“Thank you,” Nikki said and Sara reached to pat her cheek.

“I do love you, Nicole. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, or trust you to make your own choices. I want to be here for you.”

Sara ducked her head, looking embarrassed at this show of emotion.

It may not be much, Nikki thought, but it’s a start.

Her mother waved at Catherine and let herself out the front door.

“You okay?” Jake asked.

“Yeah. She was nice this time.” Nikki folded her arms across her chest. “So what are you guys up to?”

“Just running the roads,” Zeke said.

Nikki found she couldn’t look at him. She glanced at Catherine and wondered if she suspected Zeke was unfaithful.

“Are you two going to the Marshall’s Winter Ball this year?” Catherine asked. “I thought Nikki and I might do a little shopping together tomorrow.”

“Ah, I don’t know—” Jake began.

“Come on, you and Nikki need a night out,” Catherine said. “It’s the biggest social event of the season.”

“Some people have more serious things to worry about than their social calendars, Catherine,” Zeke said.

Catherine shot him a hurt look and Nikki felt Jake tense beside her.

“It sounds like fun,” Nikki said brightly. “Is it fancy fancy? I have some beautiful gowns hanging in my closet.”

Jake shook his head. “You’ll need a new one.”

“Why? The ones I have are gorgeous.” With a grin, she said. “After all, they’re all new to me.”

“Nikki, honey,” Jake said with a patient smile, “You would kill me if you got your memory back and realized I’d let you go to the biggest party of the year in last season’s gown.”

She suddenly felt a little defeated. “Am I really that shallow?”

Jake kissed her forehead and said, “As the most beautiful woman in the neighborhood, you have a certain obligation as a trendsetter.”

Nikki laughed, pleased as much by his closeness as his words. “You’re full of bull, Jake Hawthorne, but you’re awfully sweet.”

“So we’re on for tomorrow?” Catherine asked.

“You bet.”

“I’ll pick you up around nine then. Maybe Darcy would like to come along.”

Jake opened his mouth, and then shut it again. The troubled look on his face puzzled Nikki. She meant to ask him about it, but she forgot it by the time Catherine and Zeke left.

She and Jake sat down to eat the roast. He was unusually quiet, and she couldn’t eat for thinking about the phone call.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” she blurted.

Jake never glanced up from his plate, but she saw him tense. His fork stilled and he said, “Yeah?”

“I got a phone call today—” She hesitated. “Or really, Darcy did. It was him, Jake. He thought it was me.”

It all came out in a rush and finally Jake stared up at her. She couldn’t read the look in his eyes.

“Please don’t hate me. I was afraid to tell you. I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t want to lose you. Matt said it didn’t necessarily mean—”

“You told Matt?” Jake interrupted.

“Of course I did. I didn’t want to keep anything from him that might help us catch this guy. I also got a strange at the hospital. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but Matt said he’d check the switchboard records.”

The tense lines in Jake’s face relaxed. “It’s okay. I agree with Matt. I don’t think you had anything to do with it.”

“You’re not mad?”

“I’m not mad. I’m glad you told me.”

***

November 9

Catherine picked them up the next morning and they headed to Chattanooga. Darcy seemed subdued, but Catherine took up the slack, her cool humor often catching Nikki off-guard. She insisted they get the full treatment: manicures to makeovers.

“Nikki, dear, I had no idea that your hair had gotten this long,” Catherine said, fingering her dark tresses as they waited their turn in the salon.

“Be right with you, Ms. Nikki,” the stylist called over her shoulder as she placed an elderly lady under the dryer.

Nikki looked at her warily, taken aback by the deep maroon color of the woman’s hair. Catherine caught her gaze and laughed.

“Don’t worry, Nikki. Selma is a little…eccentric, but she’s a magician on other people’s hair. Trust me.”

Nikki smiled. She did trust her mother-in-law.

“Eccentric, hell. Selma’s weird,” Darcy whispered, “but she can cut hair. Leslie’s better with color, though.”

“Darcy, you’re up,” the assistant called and soon the woman was brushing highlights in Darcy’s dark blonde hair.

“Goodness gracious, Ms. Nikki, but your hair has grown since last month. Did those doctors put Miracle Gro in your I.V.?” Selma exclaimed.

“It’s not grown enough,” Nikki said with a rueful smile. “It looks like it’s been cut by a four-year-old.”

“Don’t you worry, baby. Selma will fix you right up. Besides, you’re so pretty, you could go bald and still look good.”

“No thanks.” Nikki laughed, then added, “But other than bald, do what you want to it.”

Selma’s maroon hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes reminded her suspiciously of Bozo the clown and Nikki wondered if she’d regret her words.

Selma worked like a whirlwind. She whisked through Nikki’s hair so quickly Nikki was afraid of what the end result would look like, especially after Selma admonished, “You know, you’ve always worn your hair too long. It’s so thick that all that weight just pulls it flat.”

Nikki closed her eyes as long strands of hair kept falling around her. She was afraid of what she’d look like when Selma was through.

She kept them closed until Selma crowed, “Okay, take a look!”

The transformation astounded her. Selma had managed to camouflage the little shaven spot on Nikki’s scalp with strategically placed layers. The layers formed a soft frame around her face, emphasizing her delicate features. Her hair, which had fallen almost past her shoulders, now barely brushed the tops of them. She had to admit; Selma had been right about the length. The shorter cut made her hair look more sophisticated and bouncy.

“I love it,” she managed, as Selma grinned.

“Nikki, you look beautiful!” Catherine said. “Jake’s going to be knocked off his feet.”

“I hope so,” Nikki said with a smile.

Catherine found the gown she wanted almost immediately. The icy blue gown brought out the incredible blue of her eyes, but both girls teased her for its modesty. It was long-sleeved and fell all the way to her ankles. Thousands of tiny pearls decorated the bodice.

“Come on, Catherine,” Darcy protested, “You need to show a little leg, a little cleavage, or something. That looks like a grandma dress!”

“Dear,” Catherine said with a patient smile. “I’m over twice your age. My days of a little leg and a little cleavage are behind me, thank God. I’m too old to worry about whether I’m flashing someone every time I lean over the punch bowl. Besides,” she added with a grin, “Maybe one of these days, Nikki and Jake will make me a grandmother. The thought is quite appealing, actually.”

Nikki gave her an amused smile. The thought was somewhat appealing to her, too.

Darcy found her dress next, a short, fire engine red number guaranteed to stop traffic.

“You look great,” Nikki said, as Darcy strutted around, pretending to be on a runway.

She winked at Catherine. “Now if I can find some handsome guy to flash over the punch bowl.”

Nikki had yet to see anything that caught her eye. She was beginning to think she would rather wear one of the gowns in her closet when a girl came bursting out of the door of the shop they were about to enter and grabbed her hand.

“Mrs. Hawthorne, I was going to call you,” she said. “I heard about your accident and I’m so glad to see you up and about.”

“Thank you…”

“Joleigh,” she said apologetically. “So it’s true about the amnesia?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Your gown’s ready and it is lovely!” Joleigh clapped her hands together.

“My gown?” Nikki asked.

“Oh, sorry. I guess you don’t remember ordering it.”

Nikki shook her head, and Joleigh continued, “You brought in a color swatch three months ago, and a design that you’d sketched out, and asked if Ramon could make it for you. He was thrilled with it and asked me to thank you again for choosing him to fix it. He thinks it will get him a lot of orders after the party.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see it,” Nikki said, and shrugged at Catherine and Darcy. Joleigh took her hand and practically dragged her into the backroom of the shop while Darcy and Catherine waited outside.

The gown took Nikki’s breath away.

“Can I try it on?” she gasped.

“Mrs. Hawthorne, it’s yours. You can do whatever you like with it,” Joleigh grinned, looking pleased by Nikki’s reaction. She pointed to a door in the back. “Dressing room.”

Nikki felt like Cinderella as she slipped the bronze silk top on. The color was perfect against her skin, and it made her green eyes seemed to glow in the mirror. The ballroom skirt was the same color, but overlain with a nearly transparent layer of shimmering fabric that caught the light. She giggled and spun once just to watch the skirt swirl around her ankles. She felt like a princess and wondered what Jake’s reaction would be.

Catherine and Darcy were chatting with Joleigh when Nikki came out of the backroom. Whatever Catherine was saying died on her lips as Nikki entered the room.

“Oh, Nikki! You look stunning,” Catherine gasped.

“I told you,” Joleigh said. “That dress is perfect for her.”

“You like?” Nikki smiled and turned a slow circle.

“I love!” Darcy exclaimed. “That color is gorgeous on you.”

Nikki just hoped her husband would think so. Sometimes it was even hard to breathe when Jake was around. Even though she knew that he needed time, she wanted him. She yearned for him to make love to her, for them to truly live as husband and wife again.

“Give me your keys, Catherine,” Darcy said. “I’ll go put our gowns in the car so we won’t have to lug them to the makeup counter.”

“Today has been fun.” Catherine patted Nikki’s hand as they waited on Darcy. “Who would’ve ever thought that you and I would be shopping together?”

Nikki laughed. “Certainly not Jake. I think he’s still a little nervous about us.”

Catherine laughed. “I’ll bet.” She touched Nikki’s arm. “Look. There’s Elaine.”

Nikki glanced up and Elaine glared back at her from the escalators.

Without a word, she turned and started walking up the escalator she’d been riding down.

“How rude,” Catherine murmured. “I don’t know what to do about that girl. She believes Zeke and I had an affair when he was still married to her mother, and nothing I say or do will convince her otherwise.”

Nikki frowned. Maybe Elaine had half the equation right.

They chatted for a few minutes and Catherine glanced at her watch. “I should’ve helped Darcy with those bags. She had quite a load.”

“There she is.” Nikki pointed toward the entrance. Darcy reappeared through the throng of people.

“Whew,” she said. “This place is getting packed. It took me forever to even find the damn car. After the makeup counter, let’s get some lunch. I’m starving.”

After her visit to the makeup counter, Nikki felt like a new creature. She hadn’t worn any makeup since the accident and the glamorous reflection in the saleslady’s mirror startled her. She couldn’t wait to see what Jake thought of her new look.

They stopped for lunch at Hannigan’s Garden.

“Is Carlos working today?” Darcy asked the greeter.

“Nope.” He grinned. “But he’ll wish he was when I tell him a beautiful woman was asking about him.”

Winking at him, Darcy asked, “Trying to get a fat tip?”

“I’d settle for a date.”

“We’ll see,” she teased and Nikki rolled her eyes.

Darcy smiled as he walked off, then said, “Damn! From now on, this red lipstick is like my credit card. Won’t leave home without it.”

“Who’s Carlos?” Nikki asked.

Darcy sighed. “Hot Latin guy who lives in my building. He taught me how to salsa—” she sipped her water. “—among other things.”

Nikki laughed. “You’re terrible.”

Sipping her water, Darcy winked. “Not what Carlos says.”

Snapping her fingers, Nikki said, “Oh, I meant to ask you. Have you ever heard anyone call me ‘MP’? When my mother came over, I had this flash, I guess.”

They both shook their heads and Nikki sighed. “Jake didn’t know, either.”

“I don’t remember anyone calling you that.” Darcy speared a tomato and grinned. “But if it was a nickname Sara gave you, I’m not sure you want to know.”

Nikki lifted an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’re right.”

After they ate, Catherine excused herself to call Zeke.

“Want to split a hot fudge cake with me?” Nikki asked Darcy.

Darcy leaned back and patted her stomach. “No, thanks. I want to actually be able to zip my dress at the ball.”

“Well,” Catherine said as she slipped her phone back in her purse. “I wonder where Zeke is. He doesn’t have court today.”

“I’ve got to run to the little girl’s room,” Darcy said. “When the waiter comes back around, get him to refill my iced tea.”

Nikki nodded and looked at Catherine. She was torn between telling Catherine what she’d seen at Patty’s and protecting her.

What if you’re wrong? she kept asking herself.

The waiter took her order and Nikki excused herself to the restroom. She wouldn’t talk to Catherine about it until she had a chance to talk to Zeke.

Darcy was checking her hair in the mirror when Nikki came in.

“Something wrong, Nik?” she asked. “You look worried.”

“I’m okay,” she said. “Just a little tired.”

She started to ask Darcy what she knew about Zeke, but decided against it. It seemed disloyal to Catherine to question other people about her marriage.

Catherine insisted on picking up the tab. As they stepped out into the sunlight, Nikki shielded her eyes from the glare as Catherine dug for her keys.

She reached for the door as Catherine pressed the remote to unlock the Cadillac.

Nikki opened the passenger door and gave a startled cry. Covering her mouth with her hand, she lurched backward into Darcy.

“What’s wrong?” Darcy asked as Catherine hurried around the side of the car to her.

Nikki didn’t answer. She stared down at the passenger seat at what was left of her wedding photo.

Jake’s picture had been neatly cut away from hers, and then shredded into a thousand tiny pieces. It was scattered across the leather upholstery like confetti. A note lay beside her smiling photo.

The ring on your finger means nothing.

You belong to me.

Catherine gasped behind her. “That picture—”

Nikki nodded, her mouth suddenly gone dry. “It’s the picture that sat on my bedroom dresser.”

Chapter 11

Matt met them in the parking lot and carefully collected the evidence as Janney dusted the car for prints. Catherine was nearly in tears as she answered Matt’s questions. Nikki watched them in numb detachment.

“How does this keep happening, Matt?” Catherine demanded. She dangled her keys in front of his face. “It was a locked car. My car.”

“One more time, Cat. Are you absolutely sure the door was locked?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I always lock my car doors. Are you going to tell me he’s been in my house, too? Maybe gotten to my spare set of keys? I have an alarm system.”

Catherine sounded slightly hysterical and Matt wrapped his arms around her.

“Professional thieves have electronic picks. He could’ve used one of those.” Matt released her and looked at Nikki. “I talked to your mother today. She asked me who I’d recommend as a security guard. I gave her the name of a guy I know in Dunlap. He’s top of the line, but he’s out of town this week. I told her I’d have my men make regular patrols until he gets back. I apologize to you, and to Jake. I’m doing everything I can, but this guy isn’t leaving me much to go on. The security guard is a good idea.”

Matt frowned and jerked his head upward. “Security cameras!” he barked. “Janney, did you ask the manager for the security tapes of the parking lot?”

Janney’s eyes lit up. “No, sir! I’ll do it right now.”

He emerged a few minutes later with a dejected look on his face. “Security cameras are down. Some kids shot them out on Halloween and they’re still waiting for the insurance company to replace them.”

Matt cursed under his breath and Nikki hugged herself.

When was this nightmare going to end?

***

Jake was just finishing up his surprise when he heard Catherine’s car pull up in the drive. He hurried out to help Nikki with her bags and was brought up short when she stepped out of the car. She was so beautiful that, for a moment, all he could do was stare.

“I love the hair,” he said.

She smiled, but as he got closer, he noticed how pale she was. Before he could ask what was wrong, she kissed him. Jake wrapped his arms around her.

“Umm, you smell good, too,” he murmured, nearly forgetting that they weren’t alone. It was getting harder and harder for him to hold to his decision to take things slow.

When she pulled back, he was shocked to see tears in her eyes.

“Jake, he’s been in our house again.”

Matt Garrettson’s Blazer swung into the driveway behind them.

***

The tense look on Nikki’s face clenched Jake’s gut. He had no idea how to keep his own wife safe in his own house. Who was this man who traveled in and out of their lives like a ghost? For a moment, Jake thought of Derek, and then impatiently pushed the idea from his mind. This man was alive, flesh and blood, and Jake was going to find him.

“We’re going to get him, Jake.”

“When, Matt? After he kills me or Nikki?” Jake asked.

He regretted his words when he glanced at Nikki’s pale face. Darcy perched on the chair arm beside her, also looking shaken. He saw Matt gesture surreptitiously at Catherine and she nodded.

“Come on, girls. Help me unload our things.”

Jake was a little surprised when Nikki allowed them to lead her from the room, but maybe she didn’t want to hear any more.

“Matt, he’s following her. Whoever this psycho is, he’s following my wife.”

“I know.” Matt frowned at the empty doorway and started pacing. He stared at the ceiling and mumbled, “Something’s wrong, with all of this. I feel like we’re being force-fed all this stalker crap. The MO’s not right. All the notes, the trinkets, and the poison – that’s what the penicillin was to you – it doesn’t fit.”

“What are you trying to say, Matt?” Jake asked. “Because I’m not understanding any of this.”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know, but I swear to you, I’m going to find out.”

***

After everyone left, Nikki turned to Jake, who surprised her with a crooked smile and an announcement that he had a surprise for her.

“Don’t worry, nothing traumatic,” he joked. “Just an early anniversary present.”

He retrieved a videotape from the bookshelf and popped it in the VCR. “Eliot’s pretty good with all this camera stuff and he helped me splice together some moments from our past.”

Jake pushed the tape in and sat beside her on the sofa. Nikki felt his gaze on her as the first scene began.

It was a group of people at a roller skating rink. Nikki scanned the crowd, picking out herself and then Jake.

“This was our first date,” Jake commented as he sank onto the couch beside her. “We met the day before. “One of your friend’s was having a birthday party and you invited me along. In a minute, you’ll see our first kiss. Someone actually caught it on tape.”

The on-screen Jake took Nikki in his arms and kissed her in the middle of the floor as the skaters whizzed around them. She wished with all her heart that she could remember that moment, not just watch it like a spectator. She felt an eerie sense of disassociation, watching herself on the screen and remembering none of it. It was hard to believe that she had ever been that confident, bold girl and even harder to believe the girl on that tape had even noticed another man.

There were several clips: she and Jake dancing, talking about each other, even parasailing together. They seemed so passionate, so in love. She watched her happy tears as she presented the engagement ring to her friends and saw the adoration in Jake’s eyes.

The next scenes were from their wedding: Jake, so handsome in his tuxedo, and a beaming Doug walking her down the aisle. Nikki’s eyes misted as the couple on the screen exchanged their vows. Jake held her a little tighter and she could tell he was affected, too.

The tape flickered as Jake repeated his vows and Nikki frowned.

Something had been cut away.

The camera zoomed in to her face, which was now tear-streaked where it hadn’t been moments before. She smiled at Jake, but her eyes were puffy and red.

“What happened, Jake? What did Eliot cut out?”

Jake gave her a wan smile. “He cut out our surprise guest. Derek crashed the party. He was messed up on something, crying and pleading with you to leave with him. We paused the service and you tried to calm him down, to talk to him, but he ran out. Elaine and Darcy chased after him.”

Nikki shook her head. “Why did you ever love me, Jake? When all I’ve done is cause you trouble?”

She wished she could edit their pasts as carefully as Eliot had edited the videotape.

Jake stroked her arm. “None of that with Derek was your fault.”

“Did he really kill himself over me?” She thought of the man in the photo. So handsome, apparently wealthy. And so alone.

“No. He had a problem with drugs before you ever met him. He let them take control. You tried to help him, but he couldn’t help himself. I remember several times after we were married, he’d call in the middle of the night and you’d try to talk to him, to convince him to get help, but he didn’t realize he had a problem. In some ways, I think he and Darcy had a worse childhood than you did. They had different fathers and their mother had a drug problem of her own.” He smiled and said, “Hey, what are we doing talking about the bad stuff? I didn’t make this to depress you.”

“Jake, I’m sorry!” Nikki said, horrified.

He’d gone out of his way to show her something special about their past and here she was, questioning him about her ex-lover.

The tape closed with a few moments of Jake and Nikki dancing at last year’s Winter Ball.

Nikki laid her hand on top of his. “That was wonderful.”

“But it didn’t bring back any memories?”

She shook her head.

“Well, we’ll just have to make new ones, then.”

***

So many emotions swirled inside Jake. The tape brought back other memories, the first time they’d made love, the look on her face when he slipped the engagement ring on her hand. He wanted to touch her, taste her, reclaim the passion they once shared. At night, he’d lie awake in the bed down the hall and think about her. Her kisses were so sweet now, so tender. Kisses that promised forever. All of it was still surreal to Jake. And scary.

He already knew this new Nikki posed even more of a threat to his heart than the old one did.

Things were so different now. Lines of communications were open now. They could say the things they always needed to say. Slowly, his fear of what Nikki would do when she got her memory back was dissipating. He had come to the place where his faith in her was stronger than his fear. They were building something here – something good, something solid. Maybe his mother had been right. This accident might have been the only thing that could’ve saved them. It had taken almost losing her for him to realize what he had.

He couldn’t lose her again.

“Come on.” Jake stood and reached out his hand. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Nikki took his hand and they climbed the stairs. She stopped as they reached her bedroom door and turned to him.

“Someday, somehow, I’m going to make things right with you,” she said and reached to rub a cool hand across the back of his neck.

Jake bent to kiss her, but it wasn’t the chaste goodnight kiss he knew she was expecting. He pressed her against the door with his body and she melded into him, taking as much as he gave. She gasped when one of his hands slipped underneath her sweater to cup the fullness of her breast.

“What do you want, Nikki?” he whispered in her ear, then kissed the throbbing pulse in her throat.

“I want you.”

He lifted his eyes to meet her green ones and saw a desire that mirrored his own.

“I want my husband back. Make love to me, Jake. Give me back the life I’ve lost.”

Jake carried her to the bed and gently removed her clothes. His heart beat a crazy rhythm in his chest as he yanked his shirt over his head. The sight of her lying beneath him—naked and glorious and looking at him with such anticipation—was almost more than he could bear.

He made love to her as if it were the first and last time he’d ever know her. It was an experience so powerful he knew somehow he would never be the same, that his relationship with Nikki would never be the same.

The first time they made love, they had been so young and idealistic that they thought nothing could ever hurt them. This time they knew differently, but they also knew their love was strong enough to survive in spite of the fact. That first time, Nikki had claimed his heart.

This time she claimed his soul.

***

November 10

Sunlight peeked through the blinds, waking Nikki the next morning. She propped up on her elbow and squinted at the clock. Jake was still sleeping. With a contented sigh, she settled back on her side to face him. Lightly, she rubbed her palm down his stubbled jaw, then brushed a soft kiss across those perfect lips. He looked so dangerous, so exotic, lying against the stark white sheets. She couldn’t resist a little exploring in full daylight.

Tugging the sheet lower, she ran her hands across his chest, then his abdomen, tracing her finger down the thin line of dark hair leading to his navel. Jake groaned and shifted in his sleep. Nikki smiled.

She reached around him to rake her nails down his back and felt his arousal stir against her bare hip. Grinning up at him, she was startled to find those blue eyes staring at her in amusement.

“Good morning to you, too.” Reaching to grab her waist, he pulled her astride him. “How long before your therapist gets here?”

Nikki shivered as he trailed his fingers along the tops of her bare thighs. “We’ve got an hour.”

“How about that?” Jake smiled. “A whole hour.”

They were just getting dressed by the time Theresa arrived.

***

Today wrapped up her therapy. They even finished a few minutes early and Nikki was baking a batch of cookies. She had the oven door open, checking on them when the telephone rang. Shutting it carefully, she went to answer it.

“Hey, Nik. This is Eliot. Did you see a spare set of keys lying around anywhere? I can’t find my house keys anywhere and thought I might’ve left them there yesterday.”

“Hang on and I’ll check.”

She was back in a moment. “Yep, here they are. They were lying on the bookcase.”

“Great,” he said. “Mind if I come get them?”

“No, come on over. I’ll be here.”

He arrived a few minutes later and Nikki invited him in.

“I love the tape, Eliot. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” He cast her a shy glance and said, “So how’s it going?”

“Better, I think.” She handed him his keys. “Good days and bad days, you know?”

He nodded and then said, “I gotta ask. What is that smell?”

“Chocolate chip cookies. Fresh baked.”

Eliot lifted an eyebrow and pretended to look over her shoulder. “Oh, yeah? Who baked them?”

“Ha, ha,” she replied. “A comedian. Come on.”

She walked into the kitchen. Just when she thought he wasn’t coming, he appeared in the doorway. Eliot made a show of looking at his watch as Nikki held out the cookie plate.

“Ah, Nik. Maybe I shouldn’t. Lunch is only – what, four hours away? I hate to spoil my appetite.”

“Shut up,” she said, and shoved a cookie in his mouth.

“Hey, this isn’t bad.” He looked so surprised that Nikki folded her arms over her chest and glared at him.

He glanced at her and laughed. “Sorry. It’s just that I don’t believe I’ve ever known you to cook before.”

“Never? No wonder the roast freaked Jake out. Do you want some milk?” she offered.

Eliot nodded and swiped another cookie as she retrieved the jug from the refrigerator and poured.

“Hey, Nik, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about—”

Nikki didn’t know what made her look through the doorway as she passed, but something in the den caught her eye. The glass she held slipped from her hand. It crashed to the floor and cold milk splashed over the top of her bare foot.

“Nikki?” she heard Eliot say, but she ignored him as she stepped over the broken glass and entered the den.

One of the rose globes was back on the mantel, but it was different.

Instead of a colorful blossom, a perfect black bloom floated inside the glass bubble.

“Nik, you’re bleeding,” Eliot said.

Numbly, she looked over her shoulder to see the bloody streak she left behind on the kitchen tile.

Eliot scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the kitchen. He deposited her in a kitchen chair and held up her foot for inspection.

Nikki winced as he dug a piece of glass from her heel and pressed a paper towel to it to the stop the bleeding.

“Nik?” He waved a hand in front of her face.

“He’s been here again.”

Eliot looked at her, and then stepped inside the den.

“Are you sure?” He reappeared in the doorway with a poker in his hand. “Why do you think he’s been here?”

“The globe,” she said. “He brought back the globe.

Eliot shot her a confused look and said, “Call the sheriff. I’m going to search the house.”

“No!” she said and limped toward the hall closet. “Just take me to Jake. I’ll call Catherine and tell her not to come over.”

More than anything, she just wanted to be out of the house. She wanted to be with Jake.

They could call Matt later. Nikki already knew it was pointless. He’d find no prints on the glass.

The morning had been unseasonably warm and she and the therapist had walked around the neighborhood. She wondered if that was when the intruder had gotten in.

Maybe he was still here.

Eliot insisted on searching the house, then bandaging her foot. He put a pair of Jake’s thick socks over that and Nikki barely squeezed her foot into her boot.

Eliot called Catherine and then they were on their way.

“What are you and Jake into, Nikki?” Eliot asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied and stared out the window at the pale winter sun.

***

Jake didn’t look up when the office door opened. Nikki limped over to him, and placed her cool hands over his eyes.

“Guess who?” She tried to keep her voice light, but immediately Jake grabbed her hands.

“Nikki, what’s wrong?”

“Can I hang out with you awhile? I promise not to get in the way.”

“Of course you can.” He stared at her with questioning eyes. Nikki hobbled to the door and waved at Eliot, who returned her wave and backed out of the driveway.

“What happened to your foot?” Jake demanded.

“I stepped on a piece of glass.” She sank into one of the chairs in front of his desk. She told him about the globe, hating the look of frustration on his face.

“How does he keep getting in our house? I was home all day yesterday.”

“Maybe he did it this morning,” she suggested.

Jake’s mouth set in a hard line. “You can’t stay there by yourself anymore, Nik, not even for a few minutes.”

Glancing at his cluttered desk, she said, “Give me a job. Looks like you could use a good secretary.”

Jake laughed and bent to kiss her. Nikki’s hand stole up to wind in his dark hair, pulling him closer.

“Um, I’m not sure I’ll get anything done with you around,” he murmured. “But that’s not such a bad idea. Sure you wouldn’t get sick of me?”

“I think I can handle it.”

Nikki finally figured out Jake’s recordkeeping system, which was a little haphazard and by noon, the top of his desk was clear. Finally, she found a way to make herself useful and Jake’s compliments pleased her.

Jake glanced at his watch. “Want to go to lunch with the boss?”

“Love to.”

“Let me get this order to Hank and we’ll head out,” he promised.

As he pulled the office door shut behind him, Nikki eased out from behind the desk. Her heel ached when she put pressure on it, so she did a little hopping to get to the coat rack.

She heard the office door open behind her.

“I’m ready,” she said and turned, expecting to see Jake.

Elaine sagged against the doorway. Her face was covered with blood.

Chapter 12

“Elaine!” Nikki shouted, then hobbled over to her.

“What are you doing here?” Elaine demanded. “Where’s Jake?”

“He’ll be right back. What happened to you?”

“Wha—” Elaine asked, looking dazed. She touched her nose with a faltering hand and her fingertips came away with blood.

She cursed, and stumbled toward the small bathroom.

Nikki grabbed her when she almost fell.

A small cut slashed its way through Elaine’s left eyebrow. The eye below it was nearly swollen shut. Nikki wet a paper towel and reached for her.

Elaine batted her hand away. “Leave me alone. I can do this.”

“Just shut up,” Nikki said and, surprisingly, Elaine did.

“Nik, you ready yet?” Jake called.

“In here!” Nikki yelled. “Hurry!”

Jake stepped inside the bathroom, and then recoiled when he saw Elaine’s face.

“What happened?” he demanded. “Brandon?”

“Yes,” Elaine said and Nikki watched Jake’s hands ball into fists. “No! It’s not what you think. I did this to myself, trying to get away from there.”

With a shaky voice, she told them about coming home from work for lunch. Her ex-boyfriend, Brandon, had been sitting at her kitchen table.

“I ran,” she said. “I couldn’t wait on the elevator, so I took off down the stairs. I tripped and fell down a flight. That’s how I hurt my face. I didn’t know what to do, so I just came here.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” Jake muttered.

“Call Matt,” Nikki said, and taped up the cut by Elaine’s eye. Tossing the soiled paper towel in the garbage, she pressed a clean washcloth to Elaine’s nose and tilted her head back.

“She’s right, Jake.” Elaine’s voice was muffled through the cloth. “Call the police.”

“Tell him to meet us at the hospital,” Nikki added.

“I’m not going to the hospital. Nothing’s broken,” Elaine said stubbornly.

“Well, tell him to meet us at the house, then. Elaine can stay with us until they pick him up and she can get her locks changed,” Nikki said.

Both Elaine and Jake gaped at her, but Jake did as she said.

“Why are you doing this?” Elaine hissed.

“Because you are Jake’s stepsister.” Nikki looked at her. “His friend. And he cares about you.”

Nikki climbed in the backseat of the loaner car from the insurance company and watched Jake help Elaine into the passenger seat.

They rode home in silence.

After she got Elaine settled on the sofa, Nikki filled an ice pack in the kitchen and carried it back to her. Elaine accepted it with a grumbled ‘thanks’ and pressed it to her eye. They both watched Jake as he stepped back into the room, his new cell phone pressed to his ear.

He covered the mouthpiece with his hand and said, “Matt’s at your apartment now. Brandon’s gone. He’s sending a car by his house to see if he’s there.”

“Be right there,” he said into the phone and clicked it shut. “I’m going to get a few of your things. If you don’t want to stay here, you can stay with Mom or Eliot, but I don’t want you to be alone until they pick him up.”

“Thanks, Jake,” she said.

He kissed the top of her head, and then kissed Nikki before he left.

Nikki set the alarm behind him and went back in with Elaine. Neither spoke. Then Nikki noticed that blood saturated the shirt Elaine wore. Wordlessly, she turned and went upstairs, gritting her teeth as her heel throbbed. Her foot made a horrible squishing sound when she walked.

She retrieved a fresh pack of gauze from the bathroom medicine cabinet and a clean T-shirt and pair of jogging pants from her closet.

Downstairs, Nikki tossed the clothes to Elaine and then sat down in a chair to pry off her boot.

“Thought you might want to change. It might be awhile before Jake gets back.”

“Why are you doing this?” Elaine asked again, but she sat up and began unbuttoning her shirt.

“I told you.”

Finally, Nikki got the boot off. She grimaced at the coppery smell of blood seeping through the sock.

Elaine pulled the clean shirt over her head and stared at Nikki’s foot. “What happened to you?”

Nikki briefly outlined the events of the morning and they both stared at the black rose on the mantel.

Frowning, Elaine said, “I’m sorry. I know what those meant to you.”

Nikki raised an eyebrow and Elaine actually smiled. “We were having one of our…‘discussions’ one day and I reached for one. You told me Jake had given you those for your anniversary, and you’d claw my eyes out if I touched them.”

Amused, Nikki said, “These discussions…we had them often?”

“Every time we got together.” Elaine pushed a lock of auburn hair behind her ear. “But Jake tried to make sure we didn’t get together often.”

Nikki finished wrapping her heel and hopped to the kitchen. She returned in a moment with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. Handing the glass to Elaine, she said, “Want some?”

Elaine nodded. Nikki shook a couple out in her palm and handed the bottle to Elaine. Nikki chewed hers dry as the other woman watched.

Making a face, Elaine asked, “Why didn’t you get some water? How do you do that?”

“You get used to the taste. As many headaches as I have…And I could only carry one glass at a time. Didn’t think you’d want to share.”

Elaine snorted. “Wouldn’t be the first thing we’ve shared.” She glanced up at Nikki. “I didn’t mean Jake,” she said quickly. “I was thinking of Derek. Jake and I are just friends.”

“I know.”

Folding her arms across her chest, Elaine gave her a skeptical look. “So now you just magically trust me?”

“Wouldn’t say that,” Nikki said mildly. “But I trust him.”

Elaine laughed. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. It’s about time. Jake is a good guy.”

Something vulnerable passed over Elaine’s face. “Jake loves you. He always has.” Her brown eyes filled with tears. “They all love you.”

She quickly looked away. Nikki thought about comforting her, but decided against it. Elaine wasn’t ready for sympathy from her.

“This Brandon,” Nikki said. “Do you think he was there to harm you?”

Shaking her head, Elaine said, “I doubt it. He was just sitting there at the table. Probably wanted to tell me one of his, ‘I’ve changed’ stories. He always said that, but he never really did.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks and Elaine made no move to stop them. “It’s like you always said, I’m a loser. I attract losers. The only men I ever really wanted were in love with you.”

Nikki limped over to the couch. Even if Elaine slapped her, she couldn’t ignore her pain. She took Elaine’s hand. Elaine stiffened, but didn’t pull away.

“I’m sorry I said that. It’s not true. I don’t remember all the things that happened between us, but I can see why I was jealous of you. You’re beautiful, and smart—”

Elaine did pull her hand away then. “This is too weird.”

“The right guy will come along, I promise.”

“Easy for you to say. You married the king of the nice guys.”

Nikki cleared her throat as an idea occurred to her. “You know, maybe I’ve been asking the wrong people. I’m trying to figure out who I was seeing—”

“If I knew, I would’ve told Jake a long time ago.”

Her bluntness made Nikki smile. “I don’t doubt that, but is there someone you suspect? Anybody you saw me with?”

“The only guys I ever saw you with were Jake and Eliot. To be honest, I was shocked when Jake told me about the affair. I didn’t like the way you treated Jake, but I never thought you were unfaithful.”

Elaine studied her. “When you and Jake got together, we all had it pegged for a fling. The whole town was shocked when you got engaged. Then Sara cut you off, I thought, ‘well, that’s it’ but you fooled me again. You married him anyway. I’ve known you a long time, Nikki, and you changed when you met Jake. I think, in the beginning, anyway, you really loved him. I don’t know who this man could be, but he doesn’t seem to mind taking advantage of your amnesia.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Nikki asked, “So now you believe me?”

“Wouldn’t say that.” Elaine grinned. “But something’s happened to you. Amnesia, exorcism…”

She laughed when Nikki stuck out her tongue. “See, even your eloquent gestures have changed. Before, a remark like that would’ve earned me—”

“Never mind.” Nikki held up a hand. “I can guess.”

They were still laughing when Jake walked in. His eyebrows shot up and he laid a duffel bag on the sofa beside Elaine. He pressed the back of his hand to Nikki’s forehead, and then walked over to Elaine and did the same thing.

“Okay, you look like Nikki and Elaine,” he said.

“If you’d rather we fight…” Nikki winked at Elaine.

Jake lifted his palms. “No, no. That’s okay. I’m going to get a shower, try to absorb this.” He walked toward the stairs, and then paused in the doorway to grin at Elaine. “Now if we can get you and Mom speaking, maybe Jerry Springer will stop asking for an invite to our family reunions.”

Elaine threw a pillow at him.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Elaine muttered, as Jake disappeared up the stairwell.

“Catherine’s been great to me,” Nikki said hesitantly. “Maybe the two of you could work things out.”

Flopping back on the couch, Elaine said, “Ah, Nikki, it pains me to hear you say that. If we ever could agree on anything, it was our dislike of Catherine the Horrible.”

“What has she done that’s so bad?”

“What has she done?” The sharpness reappeared in Elaine’s voice. “For starters, she began sleeping with my dad when he was still married to my mother.”

“Catherine told me that wasn’t true.”

“Nikki,” Elaine warned. “Let’s not spoil our warm, fuzzy moment.”

“Even if she was,” Nikki persisted. “They’re married now. Shouldn’t you let bygones be bygones? If my accident has taught me anything—”

“My mother was dying of cancer at the time. I’m not forgiving anything,” Elaine said abruptly. She fished her cell phone from her purse and said, “I’m hungry, and I’m buying. What are you in the mood for?”

The rest of the evening passed in relative peace. A couple of times, Nikki withdrew from Elaine’s caustic humor, but she relaxed when she realized the comments were made offhandedly, without intent to harm.

They went to bed early, with Elaine deciding to bunk down on the couch. Jake and Nikki climbed the stairs together and he took her in his arms as they stepped inside the bedroom.

“Thank you,” he said. “Thanks for trying to make peace with Elaine. I know it can’t be very comfortable for you.”

Nikki laughed. “Actually, Jake, I was more comfortable around Elaine this evening than I am most of the people I’ve talked to lately. I can count on her to tell me what she really thinks.”

“Yeah, she’s never been one to hold back,” Jake agreed.

Slipping her arms around his neck, Nikki said, “And I don’t want to fight anymore. I can’t stand all the conflict. I just want to settle in to ‘happily ever after’ with you.”

After he made love to her that night, Nikki lay awake, listening to Jake breathe beside her and prayed that a fairytale ending was in the cards for them.

November 14

“Well, Cinderella, are you ready for the ball?” Catherine asked with a smile as she pulled the bedroom door shut behind her.

“I can’t wait!” Nikki wrapped her hair in a towel and laid her makeup out on the dresser.

The stalker had been quiet for the past three days, and Nikki dared to take his lack of activity as a good sign.

“I brought you something for your hair,” Catherine dug in her purse. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I just saw it and thought it would match.”

She pulled out the bronze clasp and handed it to Nikki.

“Oh, it’s perfect.” Nikki hugged her mother-in-law. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, dear,” Catherine said. “Now, let’s see if we can fix it in your hair.”

***

Jake gave Zeke an amused grin when he saw his stepfather glance at his watch for the third time.

“You know how those two are lately,” Jake remarked. “No doubt Mom’s up there filling her in on all the pre-party gossip.”

He stood to freshen up Zeke’s drink and heard Nikki’s laughter on the stairs. Jake looked up at her, and his breath caught in his throat.

Never, not even on their wedding day, had he seen her look more beautiful. The bronze gown brought out the tawny tone of her skin, and she was radiant, as if lit by the glow of a thousand candles. That smile – her smile – beckoned him, and Jake felt an almost painful stab of longing.

“You look incredible,” he said, and reached to take her hand. She winked at him, the sparkle in her eyes mesmerizing him.

“You’re not so bad, yourself, Mr. Hawthorne,” she said

“Do I look incredible, too, Jake?” Catherine teased. “Over here, your dear old mom.”

Jake finally tore his gaze from Nikki to acknowledge her. He bent to place a kiss on her cheek. “You always do, Mom.”

“Well, what about me?” Zeke asked, and turned in a slow circle.

They all laughed, and the men helped the ladies with their wraps. As they headed out to the limo Zeke had rented, Jake whispered, “I love you” as he placed a hand at the small of her back and helped her inside the car.

***

Jake could tell the Marshall estate left Nikki awestruck, and it made him a little sad. This was the kind of place he wished he could give her, the kind of place she deserved. He tried to tell himself the money didn’t mean anything, that it was the love that mattered, but the thought felt hollow. He always felt out of place in her circle, although his mother had fallen easily into it when she married Zeke. Then, there was the very real possibility that her lover would be here. Would the stalker find security in the sea of faces, maybe even talk to Nikki…maybe even talk to him?

The thought nagged at Jake. He hated feeling so helpless.

Nikki rolled down the window as they approached the mansion. The huge fountain in the front lawn looked almost magical in the moonlight, sparkling with the reflection of the Christmas lights of the two large trees on either side of it. Jake wondered what kind of staff it took to service a place like this.

A butler took their invitation and announced their names. As they moved to the ballroom, a throng of people immediately surrounded Nikki, inquiring about her health and commenting on her dress.

Jake was having a hard time taking his eyes off her, struggling to remain attentive when someone else was speaking to him. He couldn’t help but feel proud, and more than a little amazed, that this lovely creature was his wife and that she was here with him.

What would his life have been like by now if it weren’t for that accident? Would he be standing here, miserable, watching her on the arm of another man? The thought of losing her now was unbearable. Jake hadn’t thought it possible, but he was more in love with her now than he’d ever been before.

He glanced over to where a circle of her friends swept her away and didn’t even feel jealous to see an old boyfriend talking to her. She met his eyes and smiled, and he smiled back. Jake realized he trusted her now, in a way he never really had before.

The pre-Nikki had known he was jealous and had sometimes used his jealousy to punish him. How he had hated that throaty, sexy laugh that she reserved for other men when she was angry at him.

But now, she didn’t seem interested in playing games. Her smile, her touch, and especially the way she looked at him, promised him he was the only one she wanted. Jake had, in his heart, arrived at the point where the why and who of her affair didn’t really matter that much to him.

If it had only been an affair, and this man hadn’t hurt her, and wasn’t still trying to hurt them, Jake could let the past die, even though there was still the nagging fear in the back of his mind about what she’d feel when she got her memory back. Now his reasons for finding out the identity of her lover weren’t because of how she had hurt him, but because of how this man had hurt her.

“Hey, J-man, how’s it going?” Eliot punched his arm.

“Better than ever.” Jake nodded a greeting at Eliot’s wife. “Hey, Kelly. You look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you, sir.” She bowed in a mock curtsey to him.

It was true. Her brown eyes danced, and she held tight to Eliot’s arm. Jake was glad to see things seemed better between them, too. For a while, he had sensed a strange tension between them and could tell something was wrong with Eliot, but his friend hadn’t been able to talk about it. Now, the couple seemed almost like newlyweds again.

“I’m going to go say hello to Nikki.” Kelly kissed Eliot’s cheek and they watched her join the circle around Nikki.

“Nothing new from the stalker?” Eliot asked quietly.

Jake shook his head.

“You still have no suspicion as to who it might be?”

“Not a clue.”

Jake felt an arm lace through his and turned, expecting to see Nikki, but it was Elaine. The swelling had gone down on her face and she looked much better.

“Hey, guys! Some shindig, huh? I do believe this thing gets bigger every year.”

Elaine, too, had chosen a silk gown, except hers was aquamarine.

“Hi, gorgeous.” Jake brushed a kiss across her cheek.

“Hey, sis. Who are you here with tonight?” Eliot asked.

She rolled her eyes a little, and said, “No one. Your spinster sister is traveling solo.”

Jake grinned. “That’s good news for Rick Montebelle, I guess. He asked me earlier if you were dating anyone.”

“Oooh!” Elaine shivered with mock delight. “Rick Montebelle. Sounds promising. Who is he?”

“You remember,” Jake prodded. “I introduced you to him one day at the office.”

Elaine gasped. “You mean the beautiful man with the gorgeous amber eyes?”

“Yeah, that’s how I usually describe him,” Jake said and Eliot laughed.

She scanned the room. “Which way did he go?”

“Last I saw, he was being led around by the widow Cheever,” Jake said.

“Well, I suppose the only charitable thing to do would be to go rescue him.” Elaine winked and gave them a little wave as she strolled away.

“Glad she seems to be getting out of this funk she’s been in,” Eliot said. “I went to the jail and talked to Brandon.” He cast a sideways glance at Jake. “He won’t be bothering her again.”

Jake nodded. He, too, had put in a visit.

Darcy arrived. She caught Jake’s eye and waved, then made her way toward them.

“You look ravishing, my dear.” Eliot kissed her hand and bowed extravagantly.

“Yeah, Darce. You look great,” Jake added.

“Thank you, thank you.” She patted her hair. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“But we only mean it with you.” Eliot smiled.

“Keep it up, you charmer, and we’ll put Kelly on the road,” Darcy teased.

She was at her element at a party, Jake thought with a grin.

“So, are you traveling solo tonight?” he asked.

“Sure!” Darcy exclaimed with a coy wink. “I want to dance with all the boys. Including the two of you, so be sure to save me one.”

“It’s a promise.” Eliot grinned.

Darcy blew them a kiss and was off, a flash of bright red in the crowd.

Eliot shook his head. “That girl’s a mess. This party’s not a safe place for men tonight, between her and Elaine.”

At that moment, Jake had an eerie premonition of something to come tonight, and wondered if it was a safe place for him and Nikki, either.

A few minutes later, Eliot excused himself to dance with Kelly, and Jake realized he’d lost sight of Nikki. He strode through the throng of people, searching for a glimpse of her gown. Finally, he found her with Catherine.

They were speaking with the hostess, Eva Marshall. Jake slipped up behind Nikki and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Good evening, Mrs. Marshall,” he said. “It looks like you’ve outdone yourself this year. Thanks for inviting us.”

“You’re always welcome here, Jake,” she said. “And do call me Eva. Mrs. Marshall is my mother-in-law, and Lord knows, I don’t wish to be confused with her.”

Jake laughed and said, “No chance of that, Eva. I want to steal my beautiful wife away for a moment, if you don’t mind.” He winked at Eva and said, “I hope you’ll save me a dance later.”

“Certainly. I wouldn’t miss the chance to dance with such a handsome young man.”

She and Catherine resumed their conversation and Jake led Nikki to the dance floor.

“Alone at last.” He sighed and twirled Nikki around, making her giggle. “Mrs. Hawthorne, you are breathtaking. I thought I was going to have to beat my way through all your admirers, just to have a dance with you.”

“So I clean up good?” She batted her eyelashes.

“Mmmm hmm,” he murmured, the desire in his blue eyes making her tingle. “I don’t know how the angels in heaven could be any more beautiful.”

Nikki reached to caress his jaw. “How could I possibly have forgotten you?”

Jake kissed her, and for that moment, nothing else existed for him. This was his wife and nothing was going to tear them apart.

Nothing.

***

Nikki was having a wonderful time. She and Jake danced and danced, spinning around the ballroom like Cinderella and her prince, but the look in Jake’s eyes told her this evening wouldn’t end as the clock struck midnight. She wished they hadn’t ridden to the party with Catherine and Zeke, so they could steal away together. She didn’t care if it was selfish; she wanted him all to herself.

Kelly grabbed Jake’s arm.

“Have either of you seen Eliot?” Kelly said loudly, struggling to be heard over the music.

Nikki shook her head. Truthfully, she wouldn’t have noticed if Santa Claus had waltzed by with the Easter bunny. She had eyes for no one but Jake.

“Too many people,” Jake shouted. “Do you want us to help you find him?”

“Would you?” she yelled.

They split up, after agreeing to meet back in the main ballroom if they found him.

Nikki walked down a long corridor and wondered if they’d have to come looking for her next.

It would be quite easy to get lost in this house, she suspected. She found herself in a large library.

“No Eliot here,” she said and turned to go back.

Nikki bumped into someone and gave a strangled cry of surprise. She hadn’t heard the man follow her in here.

She gasped and pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, you scared me!”

“Sorry, Nikki.” The man grinned wolfishly at her.

Something about that grin frightened her.

“Excuse me,” she whispered, and tried to dart by him but he grabbed her arm.

“Hey, don’t you remember me?” he demanded.

***

“Hey, man. Kelly’s looking for you,” Jake said, as Eliot opened the patio door and stepped inside. “What are you doing out there, anyway?”

“Just getting some air,” Eliot replied, his handsome face flushed. “Which way did she go?”

He helped Eliot find Kelly, and then went off in search of Nikki. He tried to remember which way she’d gone. He caught sight of one of her friends, and asked if she’d seen Nikki.

“I think I saw her heading toward the library.” She pointed behind Jake. “Just a few minutes ago.”

“Thanks,” he said, and began making his way across the crowded dance floor.

***

“No, I don’t remember you,” Nikki said stiffly.

She could smell the alcohol on the man’s breath and said, “If you’ll please let go of my arm, I need to find my husband.”

“Jake’s doing some work for me. I’m Evan Stephens,” he slurred, his eyes raking across her chest. “I heard you were having some problems with your memory.”

“Yes, Mr. Stephens.” she said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m sure that Jake is looking for me.”

Instead, he pulled her closer. “I’m sure he is. You’re such a pretty little thing.”

“Let me go,” she said. She turned away from his hot, boozy breath on her face. “Let me go or I’ll scream,” she repeated, and winced as he squeezed her arm a little tighter.

“No one will hear you back here,” he said conversationally. “Music’s too loud.”

He glared at her for a moment, his lips pursed in disapproval. “You’re no fun anymore, Nikki. You used to be a lot friendlier.”

He wagged his eyebrows and leaned toward her. Nikki realized he was going to try to kiss her. In her panic, she jerked backward and nearly fell before he grabbed her by the waist.

“Get your hands off my wife.”

Jake’s voice startled Evan Stephens, who nearly dropped her.

Nikki’s relief at seeing Jake standing in that doorway vanished when she saw the fury on his face. He took a menacing step forward, and she had no doubt he meant to tear Evan Stephens limb from limb.

“Jake, thank goodness!” Stephens sounded abruptly sober. “Nikki isn’t feeling well. In fact, she nearly passed out before I grabbed her.”

Jake looked at him suspiciously, then he glanced at Nikki’s ashen face.

“Honey, are you okay?”

Nikki broke away from Stephens and flung herself into Jake’s arms.

“I am now.” She sagged against him.

“Hey!” he said, alarmed. “Are you sick?”

“Yes,” she whispered, and it was true. She was thinking of what Stephens had said, and it made her stomach churn.

Had she ever allowed that man to touch her?

The thought of his hands on her made her nauseous.

Could this man be her lover? Could he be one of many? He had implied as much.

What kind of woman was I? she wondered helplessly.

Jake gave Stephens a hard look. His dislike of Stephens was tangible; Nikki could feel it rolling off Jake in waves. She got the sense that Jake would like any excuse to tear into the man and she held his arm a little tighter.

“I know what it must’ve looked like. No hard feelings.” Evan Stephens gave Jake a nervous smile and made a hasty retreat.

“I’m sorry, Nikki. I thought for a moment…maybe he was the one,” Jake said as he cradled her in his arms.

Anxiety tightened Nikki’s chest, stealing her breath. “And if he had been, would it matter so much, now?”

Jake was silent for a moment, then he replied, “Now more than ever.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Not because of the affair. I want to rip his heart out for ever hurting you.”

His words shook her. There was not a doubt in her mind that, if she had revealed Evan Stephens’ true intentions, Jake would have killed him.

“I’ll call a cab, and we can go home,” he said.

“No, I’ll be okay,” she reassured him. “Let’s just get a breath of fresh air, okay? I’m feeling better already. I just got a little dizzy in there.”

“Too much excitement.” Jake frowned. “I was afraid you weren’t ready for this.”

“Up until a minute ago, I was having a wonderful time.” Nikki mustered a weak smile. “Let’s not let this spoil the evening.”

Jake led her outside to the garden, which was beautiful, even in the winter time. Pale marble statues shone in the moonlight. Jake took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. He sat on a marble bench and pulled Nikki into his lap. She laid her head against his chest and breathed in the comfortable, familiar scent of his cologne.

She loved him fiercely, and she wanted to keep him safe. Nikki had wanted to find out who her lover was, to protect them, but now she wondered if finding out might be the most dangerous thing of all.

“I love you, Jake,” she said quietly. He held her a little tighter.

“I know.”

Although she tried to maintain a happy front for Jake’s sake, Nikki was relieved when it was time to leave the Marshall’s. In the darkness of the limo, she felt shame burn her face at the thought of the episode in the library. Although she hadn’t seen Evan Stephens for the rest of the night, she tortured herself by replaying his words over and over in her head.

You’re no fun anymore, Nikki. You used to be a lot friendlier.

Her relief at being home vanished as they pulled into the drive. The blue lights from the police cruisers played against the white exterior of the house.

“Dear God,” Catherine said. “What now?”

The limo slowed to a stop and Jake bounded out of it.

***

Jake grabbed the arm of a passing police officer. “What’s happened here?”

“Jake.”

He turned at the sound of his name to see a grim-faced Matt Garrettson jump off the porch and head toward him.

“What’s going on, Matt?” Jake asked, as a breathless Nikki caught up with him.

“You’ve had an intruder.” Matt’s eyes flashed with anger. “Something set the alarm off over an hour ago, and one of my men responded to it. He checked around all the entryways and nothing seemed to be tampered with, so he figured an animal set off the motion detector by the garage or something. Said he saw a cat near there. He talked to the alarm people and they got it shut off. I was out on a call and headed out here to check it out myself when the alarm went off again. I found the front door standing wide open.”

Jake rushed up the steps with Nikki and Matt on his heels and stared blankly at the destruction of his living room.

White stuffing spilled from the slashed sofa. Pictures had been yanked off the wall and crushed. Jake picked up an 8 x 10 photo of him and Nikki that had been destroyed and threw it against the wall. As he stepped in the kitchen, his shoes crunched over the broken china Nikki had received at her bridal shower.

Upstairs, Nikki’s room was the only one that had been touched, due to lack of time, most likely. Most of her clothes were strewn around the room, shredded beyond repair in a madman’s rage.

“Jake, I’m so sorry,” Matt said. “The guy was probably in the house when my man was here, but damned if I know how he got in. There’s no sign of forced entry.”

“Why her things, Matt?” Jake asked in frustration. “Why has he destroyed her things?”

Matt hesitated a long moment before answering. “You’re not going to like what I’ve got to say.”

“Just say it,” Jake snapped.

“Maybe this guy’s been watching you and Nikki and doesn’t like what he sees. Maybe he’s mad at her because she’s forgotten all about him and is still with you. I hate to say it, Jake, but she could be his target now.”

Jake turned to see Nikki standing in the doorway, her face bleached as white as snow. He swore under his breath and strode over to her, taking her in his arms.

“I won’t let him hurt you again,” he promised, feeling a helpless rage bubble inside him as she sobbed against his chest. “I’m going to find him, and when I do, I’m going to kill him.”

Finally, the last of the policemen left, collecting what scant evidence there was to find, and Catherine tried to make Jake and Nikki come home with her. Jake politely refused.

When she persisted, he snapped, “Mom, I’m not going to let him run me out of my own damn house.”

He looked at Nikki, whose face was ringed with exhaustion and said gently, “You go home with Mom, hon, and I’ll come get you in the morning.”

“I’m not leaving you.” She set her jaw in that stubborn way of hers Jake had seen on many occasions.

He sighed.

“I guess we’re both staying.”

Frustrated and unable to sleep, Jake and Nikki changed clothes and worked together to clean up the mess. The sun peeked over the kitchen window when they finally finished and made their way upstairs.

Jake flipped the slashed mattress over and retrieved a new set of sheets and blankets from the guestroom. Together, they made the bed and Nikki crawled in. Jake stripped off his shirt and slipped in beside her. He hugged her tightly to him and prayed he would always be able to protect her.

***

November 15

They slept until noon. Nikki woke before Jake, but lay still, enjoying the feel of his arms around her. One of his legs was thrown protectively over hers. When he finally began to stir, she rolled over and kissed him good morning.

“Mmmm!” he yawned, then stretched and rubbed his eyes. He propped up on one elbow and said with a sigh, “Well, Nik, looks like we’ve got a day of shopping ahead of us.”

She looked at him glumly.

“I think shopping is overrated,” she said.

“Now that’s a statement I never thought I’d hear coming from your lovely mouth,” Jake teased.

The streets were packed with shoppers, despite the cold, gray sheets of rain that fell outside. After stopping at a Waffle House to grab something to eat, they went to the furniture store first. Laughing, they ran hand-in-hand across the street, ducking their faces from the driving rain. Nikki was thankful her raincoat had been spared. She found it hanging untouched in the hall closet.

After a short deliberation, Jake insisted on buying her a new china cabinet and they selected a new living room suite.

“I always hated that couch anyway.”

He left her briefly to go pay for the things and arrange for delivery. Nikki wandered around, checking out the bedroom suites. As she shoved her hands in her pockets, her fingers closed on a folded piece of paper.

Curious, she pulled it out and sat on one of the mattresses to read it. It looked computer generated.

Hey,

Just wanted to say thanks for coming over last night. I know it must’ve been hard for you to get away from you-know-who and I know you hate to lie about where you’re going. You’ll never know how much you mean to me. I promise to do better. I’m going to make a clean break, just like you told me to. Thanks to you, I’ve finally realized what a loveless mess I’ve been stuck in.

Love,

E.S.

The words filled Nikki with revulsion, tangible evidence of her betrayal. She had lied to Jake and had convinced this man to leave his wife, the man who was now stalking them.

The initials weren’t lost on her either.

Chapter 13

E.S.

It had to be Evan Stephens. That’s why he acted so proprietary.

He had plenty of time to leave the party and break into their house, since they only lived ten minutes away.

Nikki shoved the note back into her pocket when she saw Jake emerging from the manager’s office. She’d already decided not to tell him about it yet, too afraid of how he’d react, and she wasn’t going to tell Matt about it, either. Not until she had a chance to confront Evan Stephens herself.

***

They gathered at Catherine’s the next day to celebrate Zeke’s birthday and discuss plans for a Thanksgiving dinner.

“There’s only one thing that could make this Thanksgiving better.” Catherine smiled at Nikki . “If we could only hear the pitter-patter of little feet running around…”

Nikki happened to be looking at Eliot as Catherine spoke and she saw him blanch. He excused himself from the table to get a drink.

“Real subtle, Mom.” Jake shook his head and grinned, oblivious to Eliot’s reaction, but Nikki wondered.

November 17

Jake waited until Catherine arrived before he left for work. As he kissed Nikki goodbye, he said, “Oh, by the way, if you need me, dial my cell phone. I’ve got to go onsite today, so I won’t be in the office after nine.”

Nikki set the alarm, a plan forming in her mind. Jake wouldn’t be around today, so this might be the perfect opportunity to confront Evan Stephens.

Her plan dismayed Catherine. Nikki didn’t tell her about the note, only relayed what Stephens had said the night of the party.

“Nikki, dear, call Matt and let him handle it.”

“Catherine, I don’t know for sure that Stephens is the one,” Nikki protested. “What if I’m wrong, and he’s just a jerk? It could cost Jake a job if I bring the police into this.”

Her mother-in-law still didn’t look convinced, so Nikki tried another tactic. “What if Jake finds out what I think, and goes after Stephens? You should’ve seen his face that night in the library. He was ready to kill him.”

Her lips pursed, Catherine acknowledged the truth in her statement, but added, “Nikki, I’m just not comfortable with it. Even if you meet him in a public place, he could have a gun in his pocket and force you to leave with him.”

“I think you’re being a little melodramatic, Catherine,” Nikki said with a gentle smile.

“If he’s crazy enough to do all these other things, you can’t predict what he’ll do if cornered,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “The only way I’ll go along with this is if you let me bring Matt along. We’ll stay out of the way, but be close enough to help if you need us. Matt won’t say anything if I ask him not to.”

“Yeah, he’s kinda got the hots for you, doesn’t he?” Nikki teased.

“Nicole!”

Nikki managed to get through to Evan Stephens without giving her name, and he seemed pleasantly surprised by her lunch invitation.

“Jake’s meeting a new client today, and I hate to eat alone,” she said. “Meet me at the Fiesta Cantina at 11:30.”

“I don’t really like Mex—”

“Don’t be late,” Nikki commanded and hung up in his ear.

Matt managed to commandeer a back booth that gave him an open view to Nikki without revealing himself to Stephens. Nikki guessed he chose this restaurant because it was so dark. Catherine sat with him, wearing a large brimmed hat he could duck behind.

“Remember, Nikki,” he told her for the third time, “if you need me, all you have to do is reach up and push your hair behind your ear. You do that, and I’ll be right beside you.”

Nikki nodded and smoothed her hands over the red tablecloth. Matt had also equipped her with a mini-recorder, to have proof if Stephens admitted anything.

“Jake would kill us if he knew this was going down,” Matt grumbled.

Stephens arrived promptly at 11:30. His chubby face was flushed, and he preened like a peacock, patting his brown hair as he spoke.

“Nikki, I must say, I was a little surprised when you called. I was afraid I upset you at the
party—”

“Sit down,” Nikki said in a cool voice she barely recognized.

He hurriedly plopped down across from her. The waiter brought their water and chips. Nikki thanked him, but her eyes never left Stephens’ face.

“Evan—” she paused. “I can call you Evan, right?” He nodded, looking eager to please. “You know I’ve been having trouble with my memory?”

“Jake told me,” he said.

She leaned forward. Although much of this was rehearsed to throw him off-balance, the ice in her voice was real. “I don’t like games. I want to know what you meant by mauling me, and acting like you had the right.”

“About that…” Evan shifted. “I had a little too much to drink, and you are a truly beautiful—”

“You said I was no fun anymore, that I used to be a lot friendlier,” she interrupted, and could tell he was thrown by her demeanor. “What did you mean?”

“Nothing, Nikki, honest!” he said.

She merely stared at him, watching him squirm until he said, “Okay. I knew you couldn’t remember things, so I thought I’d insinuate that maybe we had something going, just to see if you were open to the idea.”

“Do you make a habit of trying to take advantage of women young enough to be your daughter?” Nikki snapped, and then took a sip of her water.

“No, I – wait a minute!” he exclaimed. “I know what this is about! I heard you’re having problems with some guy. Surely you don’t think it’s me?”

He stared at her incredulously, and she shrugged. “I swear, Nikki, it wasn’t me. I don’t know what’s been going on with you two, but I just got back in town the day of the party. My wife and I flew to Paris for her niece’s wedding on the ninth. If anything happened during that time, I have an alibi. I’ll show you the stamps on my passport if you’ll follow me back to the office.”

“Maybe I should just ask your wife,” she suggested.

Evan Stephens grew pale.

“That’s not necessary, is it? The only thing I’m guilty of is hitting on a pretty woman at a party. I’m no stalker.” His beady eyes darted frantically around the room, seeking escape.

Regretfully, Nikki believed him.

How she had hoped to wrap this up today!

If Stephens was telling the truth, which could be easily verified, he couldn’t have broken into Catherine’s car and he couldn’t have returned the globe. Somehow she couldn’t picture this fat, balding man breaking into anything easily.

“You could’ve hired someone to do it,” she said, but she didn’t really believe it as the words left her mouth. He was too nervous, too scared. The man who was stalking them was cold and calculating.

Nikki looked at Stephens with unbridled contempt. He was pathetic. She would’ve imagined it would take more to intimidate such a high profile businessman, but he was quaking in his five hundred dollar shoes.

“If you leave now, I won’t tell Jake, or your wife, what happened at the party,” she said.

Evan nodded and threw a twenty on the table before making a hasty retreat.

“He’s not the one,” Nikki announced glumly, as Catherine and Matt joined her. She played the tape for them. Matt leaned back with a sigh, lacing his hands behind his head.

“I think you’re right, but I’ll check out the Paris thing anyhow.” He gave them a conspiratorial wink and said, “The chimichanga’s great here. What do you ladies say to lunch, especially since Mr. Stephens has so generously contributed to the bill?” He waved the twenty like a flag.

Jake came home that evening with bad news.

“I have to go out of town in the morning. It’ll just be an overnight thing, so I’ll be back sometime Wednesday afternoon. The guy I met with today wants me to fly to Kentucky with him to meet with his partners.”

“It’s okay,” Nikki said. “I’m sure Catherine and Zeke will let me stay with them until you get back.”

“I don’t like leaving you. I’d take you with me, but I’m afraid I’ll be too busy to be much company.”

***

Even though Jake called her twice after he arrived at his hotel, Nikki missed him terribly. She lay awake in Catherine’s guestroom that night, unable to sleep with Jake so far away. As she stared at the ceiling, puzzling over the letter she’d found in her pocket, she had a horrible thought.

What if it was Eliot?

Eliot Simms, with his blonde good looks and old money, certainly seemed a more likely suspect than Evan Stephens. He was married and somewhat older than Jake. He was someone Jake considered a friend, and someone who could’ve easily gained access to their home. Nikki prayed it wasn’t true, because she knew Jake loved Eliot like a brother.

He reacted so strangely when Catherine talked about babies at Sunday dinner. Was it because he hated the thought of her and Jake having a family together?

She knew it was vain to think that Eliot was so recklessly, helplessly obsessed with her, but she couldn’t think of another man with those initials. The more she thought about it, the more it tormented her. He was at the house when she found the globe, could’ve slipped it in under her nose. And the fire…he arrived right behind them.

Eliot made perfect sense.

Although the thought, and all its implications, terrified her, Nikki knew she had to find out.

Tuesday afternoon presented her with the perfect opportunity.

Nikki sat on the couch, listlessly channel surfing, when the doorbell rang. She jumped up and went to the front door. Her pulse tripped when she saw Eliot standing on the front steps, but she quickly opened the door and invited him in.

“Is Dad here?” he asked. “I called his office, but they said he already left for the day.”

“He told Catherine he was going to the club to play bridge after work,” she said.

Eliot glanced around. “Where is Catherine?”

“Gone to the store.”

“What? She left you here alone?”

Nikki swallowed.

I’m so stupid, she thought. I am alone, and I just let in a man I suspect of murder.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. Catherine would be back soon. And she really did need to talk to Eliot alone.

Nikki made a show of looking at her watch. “She should be back anytime now. Meanwhile, could we talk?”

She wasn’t sure if it was her overactive imagination or not, but she thought she saw a shadow of apprehension cross his face.

“Sure,” he said. “What do you want to talk about?”

Nikki motioned him into the living room. He sat on the couch, but she remained standing, placing herself between him and the doorway. She decided to use the same strategy she used on Stephens. If Eliot was her mystery lover, he had played it very cool and she could only hope to catch him off-guard.

“I want to know if you and I were lovers,” she said bluntly.

His eyes widened and he stared at her, looking dumbfounded. “Is this some kind of joke, Nikki?” he sputtered. “I love my wife. I love Jake. I would never hurt them.”

She didn’t say anything, just stood there, gauging his reaction.

“I can’t believe you think – you haven’t told Jake you think it’s me, have you?” he asked.

“Not yet.”

He jumped to his feet, startling her and Nikki took a step backwards. He ignored her as he paced around the living room with his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

“Sara told me we fought a couple of weeks before my accident. What did we fight about?”

“All right,” he said finally. “I’m sick of this hanging over my head, and worrying whether you’re going to remember and turn me in, so I’ll just tell you. There is something between us, Nikki, but it’s not what you think.”

He raked his hand through his hair and sat back down.

“The fight we had…you and I were both on the board of a charity that collected money to buy computers for area public schools,” he paused, his face reddening. “You found out I’d borrowed $50,000 from the fund without anyone’s knowledge.”

“You mean embezzled,” she said, shocked.

Whatever she’d expected to hear, it wasn’t this.

“I mean borrowed,” he said defensively. “I’ve since made restitution for the full amount, plus interest, and I feel horrible about what I did.”

“Eliot, why? You have money. Your family has money.”

“Most of my capital was tied up in my new advertising business, and I didn’t want to ask my family for a loan,” he said. “I didn’t want to have to explain what it was for. You went nuts when you found out and threatened to turn me in, even though I’d already paid half of it back. Nikki, I’d be ruined if you did that.” His eyes begged her for understanding.

“What was the money for, Eliot?” she asked.

“A baby.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Kelly is obsessed with having a baby, to the point that it’s put a strain on our marriage. She’s dragged me to fertility clinics all over the country, running up bills our insurance doesn’t cover. She finally found a doctor who promised he’d keep working with us until she was pregnant, but he requested 50K up front. I knew I had the money coming in, but it wouldn’t be soon enough. I never intended to keep it, just borrow it for two or three weeks, tops. I swear to you, I’m not a thief.”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “This means so much to Kelly. I’d do anything to make her happy, but I truly regret breaking your trust. You and I were friends, once.”

Nikki blinked. “We still are.”

“I’ll show you the books, and you can decide then what you want to do about it.”

“It will stay between us.”

Impulsively, she crossed over and hugged him. “But the next time you need a loan, come to Jake and me first.”

He gave her a relieved grin, looking like a man delivered from a heavy burden. “That’s what you said the first time.”

“See, that just goes to show you I really meant it.”

“Thank you, Nikki.” Eliot’s voice was quiet, grateful.

“So, how’s the baby plan coming?”

“We’re going to Atlanta this weekend, and they’re going to do the in vitro then. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Are you and Kelly doing okay?”

“Better now,” he admitted. “I swear, Nik, I love making love to my wife, but it started to be more like a chore. For awhile there, I felt more like a lab rat than a man.” He looked at his watch, and said in a singsong voice, “Eliot, I checked my temp and we need to do it right now!”

“I’m so sorry.” Nikki shook her head in amusement.

He rolled his eyes and grinned. “Well, how about you and Jake? How’s it going with you guys?”

“We’re getting along great. I really love him, and he loves me, but there’s this thing hanging over us. I don’t know how we can move forward until we find out who this man is.”

“Well, Nik, I have to tell you, I think you really have moved ahead. I’ve never seen Jake so happy, even with all this other crap that’s going on. You hang in there. Everything will work out.”

She sighed. “I hope you’re right. It’s driving me crazy, though. Every time a man speaks to me, I’m looking for signs he’s the one. Evan Stephens hit on me at the Marshall’s Ball, and I accused him, too.”

“Eeewww!” Eliot made a face. “There goes my feeling of honor that you thought you might’ve actually slept with me.” He looked at her with twinkling blue eyes. “Trust me, Nik. You would NEVER have let that man touch you, not for any amount of money. I have to admit, you were a pretty classy lady then, too.”

Nikki laughed. “That’s reassuring, but who would I have let touch me?”

“That’s the thing,” Eliot said. “I still have a hard time imagining there was someone else. You used to be a lot different, a lot more hot-headed, but I never saw anything to make me think you’d even look at anyone else. Even before the accident, you and Jake were really intense. Yeah, you’d try to make him jealous sometimes, but that was mostly when you wanted to yank his chain about something. It’s just Jake’s weak spot.”

“Tell me about it,” she exhaled, and related the whole story of her encounter with Evan Stephens.

“Oh, man!” Eliot said, wide-eyed. “They would’ve had to scrape what was left of him off the walls if Jake had known what went down. I don’t blame you for not telling him.”

They abruptly ended their conversation when they heard Catherine’s key turning in the lock. Eliot rushed to help her with the groceries, giving Nikki a quick peck on the cheek as he went by.

Ah, well. Back to the drawing board, Nikki thought, although she was glad it wasn’t Eliot.

She followed him outside to see if they needed any help and was pleasantly surprised to see it was snowing.

Hurry home, Jake, she thought wistfully.

***

November 19

Whaap

The snowball landed perfectly, striking Jake in the back of the head.

“Aaah!” he yelled, as a sliver of ice slid down his shirt collar. He jerked around, looking for the Jenkins brat from next door. Instead, he spied a flash of dark hair, heard her laughter as she ducked behind the house.

Nikki!

Grinning, he walked around the side of the house.

Right into an ambush.

Nikki was ready for him. She bombarded him mercilessly and with deadly precision, forcing Jake to retreat. He ran around to the front and hid behind the deck, trying to build an arsenal before Nikki found him.

Whaap

Both shots landed squarely. Sputtering, Jake got off one lob, but it missed her by a foot. He sprinted after her, but she was as fleet-footed as a deer. Panting, and knowing he could never catch her in a foot race, he ducked behind the propane tank.

Hardly daring to breathe, he listened for her. Finally, he heard her feet crunching in the snow. He peeked over the tank and saw her standing a few feet away. To his delight, she had her back turned to him.

With a war cry, Jake charged. He tackled her, twisting as he did, so that she’d end up on top. They went down in a flurry of arms and legs, laughing and gasping for air.

“Woman, is that any way to greet your hardworking husband?” he demanded, enjoying the feel of her in his arms again.

She was so lovely, so breathtaking, with her cheeks flushed by the cold. She looked so much like she had on the day they met.

“Well, how about this?”

She pressed her lips to his. The kiss was long and sweet and Jake would’ve scarcely been surprised if it had melted the snow bank he was lying in.

“That’s more like it,” he said huskily.

Desire lit her eyes and something unspoken passed between them. Jake shivered, not from the cold, but from anticipation.

“Nikki, Jake, where are you?” Catherine called.

Guiltily, they scrambled to their feet, grinning at each other like teenagers.

“Coming, Mom!” Jake yelled.

“What were you doing?” Catherine laughed as she reached to brush the snow from his hair.

“She started it,” Jake said, and pulled back Nikki’s collar to dump a fistful of snow down her back before he ran inside the house, laughing as she screeched.

“Hey, Zeke!” Jake said as he reached to tug off his boots.

Zeke lifted his coffee cup in acknowledgement. “Was it a good trip?”

“Got a new client, but I’m glad to be home.”

“I made a pot of chili,” Zeke commented.

“Good, I’m starving.”

They ate and then moved to the den. To Jake’s dismay, Catherine was in a conversational mood. Jake was feeling a little impatient, anxious to be alone with Nikki. He glanced at her and she gave him a knowing smile. As he carried his coffee cup to the kitchen, she slipped up behind him and whispered in his ear, “It’s okay. They can have you for a little while, but I’m not sharing you with anyone tonight.” She nipped his earlobe with her teeth, and then went back to her in-laws, leaving Jake breathless by the promise in her voice.

***

“Aahchoo!”

Jake sneezed, then glowered at Nikki, who stood at the front door, watching Zeke’s car back out of the driveway.

“I feel bad.” She turned to him and grinned at his expression.

“You should,” he retorted, the corner of his mouth curving into a slow grin. He sneezed again.

“Really, really bad,” she said, giggling.

“Good,” he growled.

He wasn’t about to tell her that he probably caught his cold from his client. The poor guy had sneezed and hacked the whole trip.

He was lying on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, where he had been ever since they had finished eating Zeke’s chili and he felt the symptoms of his cold coming on.

Jake had overplayed his illness a little, coughing and sniffling until Catherine told Zeke they’d better go so he could get some rest. Nikki had rolled her eyes at him, knowing exactly what was on his mind.

Nikki walked over to the couch, and clucked sympathetically as she pressed her hand to his slightly warm forehead. She leaned down and whispered in his ear. “You poor baby! I think I can make you feel better, if you come with me.”

Jake’s heart stuttered in his chest when she tossed him a seductive glance and crooked her finger at him. He couldn’t have resisted her if he wanted to. They bounded up the stairs together.

Nikki turned up the gas wall heater, although Jake would’ve told her there was no need if he could’ve gotten the words out. Just the thought of making love to Nikki again was making his blood run hot.

“Wait here,” she commanded, as she tied her hair back in a ponytail. “I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into the connecting bathroom, leaving Jake staring after her, wondering what she was up to. He heard the sound of running water as Nikki filled the tub.

She emerged a moment later wearing one of his old cotton T-shirts and Jake thought with wry amusement that he couldn’t have more turned on if she was wearing the slinkiest negligee from Frederick’s of Hollywood.

Jake caught a glimpse of black panties as she reached for a bottle on her dresser. Jake hadn’t gotten such a thrill over one quick little flash of underwear since he was an adolescent. She disappeared into the bathroom again, and then reappeared suddenly in the doorway, motioning for him.

“Come here,” she said.

He walked over to her and she began unbuttoning his shirt, her eyes never leaving his. Jake shivered as her cool palms pressed against his chest.

“Tonight, I’m going to take care of you, just like you’ve been taking care of me,” she murmured, and pressed her lips to his throat.

Jake groaned, caught in the sweetest anticipation of his life. She undressed him, and then led him into the bathroom. Steam rose from the round marble tub and the scent of jasmine perfumed the air.

“Get in,” she said.

Jake shut off the water and winced as he climbed in the tub.

At first he thought he wouldn’t be able to stand the temperature of the water, but then he began to relax as the heat seeped into his muscles, into his bones. Nikki sat on the edge of the tub, dangling her legs in the water. Gently, she guided him with her hands until he faced away from her and began soaping and kneading his back. Jake groaned as she massaged him, her small hands magically pushing all the tension of the last several weeks from his body. The heat acted like a drug, leaving him lethargic and completely at her mercy. He closed his eyes and almost felt like he was floating out of his body.

He drifted into some sort of mindless haze and didn’t even notice that Nikki had stripped and climbed into the tub with him until he felt her bare skin press against his back as she massaged his scalp.

The hands that had relaxed him moments before now snapped him into awareness as they stroked him. She teased him until Jake could no longer stand it. He twisted around in the tub and suddenly they were face-to-face. He seized Nikki’s waist and pulled her to him, claiming her mouth with his own. His hands glided greedily over her wet skin slick from the bath oil. They made love, then played until the water around them grew cool. With some reluctance, they climbed from the tub and toweled each other dry.

“I missed you,” Jake murmured, as he reached to stroke her damp, dark hair out of her face. “And I have something for you. I was going to wait for the perfect time, but I think maybe this is it.”

***

Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, Nikki slid beneath the crisp white sheets of their bed and admired the powerful lines of Jake’s body as he dug through his suitcase, clad only in the towel swathed around his hips.

He laid another rose globe on the comforter beside her. Its vivid red and white stripes reminded her of a candy cane.

“It’s a floribunda. The red and white stripes mean unity,” he said, staring at her with those intense blue eyes. “That’s what we have now, more than we ever did before.”

So intent on the rose, Nikki didn’t notice the black box he held in his hand until she heard it creak open.

Stunned, she stared at the platinum diamond eternity band nestled against black velvet.

“I know you don’t remember our wedding, so I’d like to give it back to you. Our anniversary’s coming up in a couple of weeks and I was thinking maybe…” Jake cleared his throat. “Will you marry me, again?”

“Oh, Jake!” Nikki threw her arms around his neck. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you.”

She held her right hand out, not sure which hand he was supposed to place it on. He slid the ring on her finger and crawled into bed beside her.

They spent a lazy afternoon in bed, making plans for the wedding and the rest of their lives together.

***

November 20

Nikki went to work with Jake the next morning. Although they talked about announcing their ‘engagement’ at Thanksgiving, she couldn’t wait. She and Jake invited their families and Darcy to an impromptu dinner at a local restaurant.

Nikki called Sara last. After two different secretaries put her on hold, she was finally patched through to the mayor’s office.

“Nicole, is something wrong?” Sara asked. “Has something else happened?”

“No, nothing like that. We have some good news—”

“Don’t tell me you’re pregnant,” Sara interrupted.

Nikki recoiled from the exasperated tone of her mother’s voice, but forced herself to keep her voice neutral. She felt Jake look up at her when she said, “No. I’m not pregnant.” Dropping her voice, she said, “But would that be so horrible?”

Sara sighed into the phone. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant now would be a bad time, until we can find out who’s stalking you—”

“Let’s not talk about it right now.” Nikki leaned back in the chair and pressed her fingertips to her eyelids. She was getting a headache.

“Ignoring him won’t make him go away.”

“Nothing’s happened in almost a week. Maybe he’s getting tired of playing games.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of, Nicole. What if he is tired of playing games? I’m really concerned about you.”

“And I appreciate it, but we can’t put our lives on hold for this psycho. I can’t live like that. We’re inviting everyone to dinner tonight at Toretto’s. Can you make it?”

“Is your father going to be there?”

Nikki felt a flash of impatience. “This isn’t about him. It’s about me. I have an announcement and I want my mother there. Are you coming?”

“What time?”

“Six.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Thanks, Mother,” Nikki said. She hung up the phone and laid her head on the desk. Jake came up behind her and started massaging her neck.

“Umm, that’s nice.” She peeked up at him and said, “Tell me this isn’t going to be a disaster.”

“It’ll be okay,” he said, and she almost thought he meant it. She lifted her head and giving him a skeptical look.

Jake laughed. “I’m serious here. You don’t remember the really good ones. There were so many different arguments going on it was hard to keep up. This should be positively dull.”

“Let’s just make sure my father and mother don’t sit together.”

“Or my mother and Elaine,” Jake said.

Nikki groaned and laid her head back in her hands.

***

Darcy was the last to arrive. She shut the door to the private banquet room and Eliot pulled a chair out for her. Jake waited until she sat down to stand and say, “Can I have your attention, please?”

He took Nikki’s hand and tugged her up beside him. “The reason we’ve called you here tonight…you want to tell them, honey?”

Nikki held up her right hand, flashing the diamond eternity band. “We’re getting married…again!”

“We thought we’d renew our vows on December 16^th, our anniversary,” Jake said.

Glancing around, he didn’t think anyone looked all that amazed, but at least half of them were frowning. Not surprisingly, Nikki’s mother was the first one to speak up.

“Are you sure you should do this right now?” Sara asked. “What if it just…provokes this man?”

“It’s going to be a private ceremony. The only people invited are in this room.” Jake glanced at Nikki, who looked radiant in her black leather pants and white cashmere sweater. “This is just something we want to do for us.”

Eliot stood and walked up to Jake, holding out his arms. Jake embraced him and he said, “Congratulations, man.”

He repeated his congratulations to Nikki and kissed her cheek. Almost grudgingly, the others stood and gathered around them, offering hugs and congratulations.

“Ah, well. I guess Jake’s in for it when we go camping this weekend,” Zeke said as he resumed his place at the table. “I can only imagine what Matt Garrettson and those other hooligans will do to him. Our hunting trip will turn into a bachelor party, right, Eliot?”

Eliot and Jake looked at each other blankly. They had both forgotten about the trip.

Once a year, the three of them, along with Matt Garrettson and four or five other men, went to spend the weekend at Zeke’s hunting cabin. Although it was technically a hunting trip, very little hunting actually went on. They usually stayed up all night, eating Matt’s cooking, playing poker and telling tall tales. Jake had been every year since his teens, first with his father and then with Zeke.

“Uh, Dad, I’m not going to be able to make it this year,” Eliot said. “I have to go out of town.”

“Aw, come on, son,” Zeke said. “Can’t you reschedule your trip?”

“Afraid not, Dad.” Eliot shook his head and glanced at Kelly. “It’s important.”

“I’ll have to sit this one out, too,” Jake said. “I don’t want to leave Nikki right now.”

Nikki squeezed his arm. “I’m sure Catherine will let me stay with her again if you want to go. You need a break from all this. We said we weren’t going to let this govern our lives. I want you to go.”

“Come on, Jake,” Zeke pleaded. “You can’t back out on me, too. Saturday is the last day of quail season. The ladies will be fine, won’t you?” he asked Catherine.

“It could be fun!” Catherine exclaimed. “We can have a ladies’ night, too. Kelly, are you going with Eliot?”

She nodded, and Catherine said, “Oh. That’s too bad.” She turned her gaze on Sara and Jake could almost see his mother-in-law shrink back, even though she didn’t actually move. “Sara, what about you?”

“I have plans for this weekend,” she said quickly. “Sorry.”

“Elaine, Darcy?”

“Count me in,” Darcy said with a sigh. “No hot dates. I don’t have any plans this weekend.”

Elaine stared down at her napkin. “I have to work.”

Nikki sat beside Elaine, and Jake smiled when he saw her nudge his stepsister. “Come after work then.”

Elaine looked a little trapped. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t be a party pooper. Come on,” Nikki cajoled. “It will be fun.”

To Jake’s surprise, Elaine said, “I might come by, but I don’t think I can spend the night.”

“Somebody run the camcorder for me when you throw Jake in the lake,” Eliot told his father.

Jake groaned, remembering the way they treated Eliot when he made the unfortunate mistake of announcing his engagement just before their trip seven years ago. Matt had the others had decided to “initiate” him.

“I’ve been married for nearly three years, already. I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Zeke snorted and glanced at Eliot. “I agree. Without you there to help, it’ll probably be all of us old geezers that end up in the lake, not Jake.”

“You’d better not let them throw my baby in that lake, Zeke,” Catherine threatened. “Or both you and Matt Garrettson will answer to me.”

***

November 22

Nikki reluctantly kissed Jake goodbye Friday afternoon.

“I’d better not come home hearing some wild story about you and my mother and a couple of male strippers,” he teased, but she was unable to joke, now that he was leaving. He took her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to his. “Do you want me to stay here? It’s not too late—”

She forced a smile and waved him off. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

“Be thinking about where you want to honeymoon.”

Feigning surprise, she said, “Ooh, I get one of those, too?”

“You betcha. And maybe when we get back, we can start planning for one of those other little things you talked about last night.”

Nikki gasped. “You mean—”

“You took one of those three month birth control shots back in October, so we’ll have a little time to honeymoon before we set about trying to make Mom a grandmother.” He kissed her again, and Nikki closed her eyes, imagining what his children would look like.

“Hurry back to me,” she whispered, and gave him another lingering kiss. Catherine and Zeke joined them on the porch. She and Catherine watched them leave, waving until they got out of sight.

“Well, it looks like it’s just us girls.” Catherine ushered Nikki inside and closed the front door behind them. “Darcy called. She’ll be over as soon as she packs her overnight bag and do you believe it—” Catherine smiled. “—Elaine called, too. She told me to tell you she’s coming by after work.”

“So what’s the plan, mother-in-law?” Nikki asked, reaching to give her a hug.

“Pretty much like the men, I imagine. Eat junk food, play cards.” She smiled. “But we have the new Mel Gibson movie.”

“Oooh,” Nikki said.

Catherine glanced at her watch. “Well, do you think you’ll be okay until I go get our munchies? I hate for both of us to leave, knowing that Darcy’s on her way.”

“I’ll be fine,” Nikki assured her. “She should be here any time.”

“Okay, dear.” Catherine grabbed her keys. “Oh, and by the way…you should be able to find those pictures you need of Jake in one of those albums over there.” She gestured toward the bookshelf. “Help yourself.”

Elaine had told Nikki about a display she’d seen at a friend’s wedding recently. Pictures of the bride and groom from infancy to adulthood were assembled in the reception area. Although their wedding was going to be small, Nikki thought she might incorporate the idea anyway.

She heard Catherine’s car start up outside as she reset the alarm. Walking over to the bookcase, she pulled out a heavy blue album. It was more of a scrapbook than a photo album and Nikki started to replace it when a clipping of a very young, very determined looking Jake caught her eye. He couldn’t have been more than five, and the photographer had caught the perfect angle to capture the shot. The ball was suspended about a foot in the air above his glove. Seeing the grim set of his jaw, she hoped he’d made the catch, but she’d never know for sure. The caption read, “Jake Hawthorne scrambles for a pop-up.”

He looked so sweet and innocent. Amused, she flipped through the pages. There was Jake at his high school homecoming. He stood beside a beaming Elaine as she was crowned homecoming queen. Nikki flipped the page, and what she saw nearly stopped her heart. It was a picture of Catherine and Zeke dancing. The caption underneath read:

Ezekiel Simms III and wife Catherine celebrating his appointment as Circuit Court judge. Simms was appointed to a 4 year term Saturday.

Dear God.

Could Zeke have been her mysterious E.S. all along?

Nikki felt her stomach lurch at the implication of this thought.

Jake!

He was with Zeke right now. How easy it would be to stage some kind of hunting accident, to get rid of Jake and none of them would be the wiser.

Fighting the wave of nausea that assaulted her, Nikki yanked on her coat and searched desperately for her cell phone. Finally, she spied it lying on the coffee table. She yanked it up and furiously began punching in Jake’s number.

An automated voice informed her that the cellular customer she had just dialed was currently unavailable.

“Not now!” Nikki cried, and was about to punch in 911 when the doorbell rang. Nikki shoved the cell phone into her pocket and ran let Darcy in.

When she threw open the door, Darcy stared at her in surprise. “Hey, Nik – what’s wrong?”

“I think it’s Zeke, Darcy! We have to get to Jake. I have to tell him.”

“Calm down, calm down,” Darcy said, stepping inside the doorway. “What are you talking about?”

“I found this letter in one of my pockets after the ball. It was a letter from my lover and he signed it with the initials E.S. First I thought it was Evan Stephens, then I thought it might be Eliot, but I just saw a clipping – I may be wrong, but I have to get to Jake. What if Zeke tries to kill him?”

“Amazing!” Darcy said.

She shook her head and laughed. Impatiently, Nikki pushed past her and jerked open the hall closet to retrieve her boots.

“Darcy, I’m serious. We have to get to that cabin.”

“You have to be the luckiest person alive, Nik. I can’t believe you guessed the right answer over such a totally irrelevant piece of evidence.”

“What are you talking about?” Nikki demanded as she bent over to tug on her boots. She looked up and found herself staring into the barrel of the little snub-nosed pistol held in Darcy’s hand.

Chapter 14

Nikki stared at Darcy, stunned.

“Come on, Nik.” Darcy gestured upward with the gun. “We’re taking a little trip.”

“Why?” Nikki managed, as Darcy pushed her out the door.

“You’ve put me in a bad position,” Darcy complained. “This is your own fault.”

Using the remote to pop her trunk, Darcy said, “Get in. I can’t watch you and drive, too.”

Nikki just stared at her, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Anger flashed in Darcy’s eyes. “Get in, or I’ll shoot you right here.”

Wordlessly, Nikki climbed in the trunk and Darcy slammed it shut. Tears stung her eyes, and she could make no sense of what was happening to her.

It was cold in the trunk, and she shoved her hands in her pockets as the car lurched backwards out of the driveway. Her numb fingers raked something hard in her pocket and she realized it was the cell phone. Nikki’s hopes surged as she wondered if it would work back here.

Nikki flipped open the lid, and the glowing green numbers comforted her. She punched in Jake’s cell number and prayed. She almost sobbed with relief when she heard his voice.

“Jake, it’s Darcy!” she cried.

“What’s happened to Darcy?”

“No, it’s Darcy! It’s been Darcy all along,” she said frantically.

“Where are you?” he demanded.

“Darcy pulled a gun on me and made me get in the trunk of her car. I don’t know where she’s taking me.”

***

Astonished, Jake repeated, “Darcy pulled a gun on you and made you get in the trunk?”

Matt crouched nearby, unpacking his bedroll. He snatched the phone from Jake’s hand.

“Nikki, do you have any idea where you’re at?” he asked.

“We just left Catherine’s house. She turned right from Catherine’s drive, and we’ve made at least one sharp left since then.”

“Stay on this line and tell Jake whenever you notice anything different, or you hear any strange sounds. We’re coming, Nikki.”

He thrust the phone back to Jake and said, “Keep the signal open. We’re going to track her down.”

Matt whipped his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and Jake dimly heard him barking instructions to his dispatcher.

“What kind of car does Darcy drive?” he asked Jake.

“Just a second, Nik,” he said, then turned to Matt. “It’s a red BMW. She has a personalized tag, Darcy 1.”

“Fantastic,” Matt said, “What’s Nikki’s cell number?”

“555-2316 .

“Get me Carl Tompkins on the phone ASAP,” Matt said into his phone. “Tell him I need a trace to 555-2316. I need to know what tower it’s getting its signal from.”

“Jake, in case I don’t make it, I love you,” Nikki whispered.

“You’re going to make it, Nikki,” he said, feeling more frightened than he ever had in his life. “You have to.”

Matt jerked his head and he and Jake ran for the door. The other men were still unloading the car and Jake heard Zeke yell something at him, but he didn’t have time to answer him. He bailed into the passenger seat of Matt’s Blazer just as Matt threw it in drive. They tore down the narrow gravel road. A white-knuckled Matt drove like a madman, and Jake held on the best he could as he talked to Nikki.

Matt’s phone rang and he snatched it up.

“What do you have for me, Carl? Moving south on highway 50 near Altamont. Towards Viola?”

“Matt, she says they’re stopping,” Jake interrupted.

“Tell her to quit talking, but leave the phone turned on,” Matt said, before turning back to his conversation. Jake heard him command someone to send a chopper and all available units to the wireless tower on highway 50. “Fan them out, in a three mile radius moving south. We’ve got to find that car.”

Nikki’s sudden silence terrified Jake, even though he knew it was necessary. He wished he could hear what was being said, could figure out what was going on. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to pray.

***

The trunk popped open and Nikki squinted in the sudden burst of sunlight. It reflected dazzlingly off the snow-covered ground.

“Get out,” Darcy said tonelessly.

Nikki climbed out of the trunk onto a narrow gravel back road. Other than the winding slip of road, there was nothing to see in any direction but trees. A sense of desolation settled in Nikki’s bones and wondered if she was about to die. She thought of the cell phone in her pocket and wished she could hear Jake’s voice just one more time.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “You at least owe me an explanation.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” Darcy snapped. “That’s your problem, Nikki. You think the world revolves around you.”

Darcy looked wild and disheveled, pacing in the wind as if she didn’t know how to proceed.

“What did you mean about Zeke? Was he my lover?” Nikki persisted, not so much to buy time, but because she wanted to solve this maddening puzzle before she died.

Darcy laughed, a crazy laughter that sent shivers down Nikki’s spine.

“I can’t believe you figured it out, but you really forced my hand this time. All because of your stupid guess!” She shook her head in exasperation. “That letter wasn’t written to you. It was written to Jake, from Elaine. I dropped by his office one day with to pick up your keys – you’d locked your car up at the mall again – and I saw it on his desk. I made a copy of it, but he caught me putting the original back on his desk. He made me promise not to say anything to you. We both knew how you flipped out if he even mentioned Elaine. If you confront Zeke, you implicate me. I really have no choice.”

“Are you saying Jake was seeing Elaine?” Nikki asked, unable to make sense out of what Darcy was telling her.

“Don’t be stupid,” Darcy retorted. “Since the day he met you, Jake forgot any other woman existed. Just like Derek. What is it about you, Nikki, that causes men to make such fools of themselves over you?”

“Why did you try to kill Jake?” Nikki asked.

“You took the one thing I loved from me and I was going to return the favor.” She pointed the gun at Nikki with a shaking hand. “Derek loved you and you didn’t care!” Shoving Nikki off the road, Darcy said, “Walk.”

“I’m sorry about Derek—”

“Shut up. It’s too late for apologies now. When he first came to town, I begged you to leave him alone. Derek was so vulnerable and naïve. He wasn’t ready for the likes of you.” Nikki stumbled over a log and Darcy seized a handful of her coat to jerk her upright.

“The first time he tried to kill himself was December 16^th, two years ago. Ring a bell? He crashed your wedding, and I chased him down. I finally found him at some fleabag motel with an empty bottle of valium in his hand. They pumped his stomach and you know what the first thing he asked me was? Why didn’t I let him die. I told him to hang on, that your marriage to Jake would never last. I never dreamed you’d be happy with him, that you really loved him. I’d tell Derek when the two of you were fighting and at first, he was hopeful, but I could see him sinking deeper into his depression as time went by and I couldn’t do a thing about it.”

“What about Zeke?” Nikki asked. “I don’t understand.”

“Derek was all I had and you were all he wanted, so I decided to do something about it. I thought maybe if I could split up you and Jake, you’d go back to Derek. I decided to work on the one weakness that you and Jake shared…your jealousy.”

Nikki watched the ground in front of her, debating on faking another fall. If she timed it right, maybe she could take Darcy down with her.

“Everything fell into place so perfectly that day…You should’ve seen your face when I showed you the letter that morning. I had to beg you not to confront Jake. As you know, it was pretty vague, and I told you we needed more proof. That same evening, I was driving by Elaine’s apartment, and I saw Jake’s car outside. How perfect was that?”

She chuckled and said, “Of course, good friend that I am, I called you right away and told you to meet me at the Conoco station across from Elaine’s apartment building right away. He’d called at lunch to tell you he’d be working late. When you saw Jake’s truck parked outside of her apartment, you wanted to knock down the door and drag them both out of there, but Jake came out before you had a chance. He hugged Elaine and kissed her cheek before he left. I swear, you were nearly purple with rage! Looked just like a lover’s tryst.”

Darcy chuckled and said, “You wanted to drive to Jake’s office to confront him, but I talked you into stopping at O’Malley’s Bar first, to have a drink and calm down. When you went to the bathroom, I put a roofie in your drink.”

“A what?”

“It’s this neat little white pill that reduces your inhibitions and increases your alcohol absorption. I mean, even a heavy drinker can get drunk on one drink. Best of all, it kind of KO’s your memory, too. The date rape drug, they call it. Well, it just seemed like destiny when Zeke walked in. I could tell the drug was hitting you. You motioned him over, and told me to go on, that you were sure Zeke wouldn’t mind taking you home. He got the hint, and the old pervert nearly broke his neck rushing back to his table to make an excuse to his cronies. I left there thinking, this is it. I didn’t have to do anything else to destroy your marriage. You were going to do it all by yourself.”

“Zeke,” Nikki repeated weakly.

“Don’t act so surprised,” Darcy said offhandedly. “Zeke is a lech. You knew it. I knew it. He was in the right place at the right time. You looked at him and saw the perfect opportunity to get back at both Jake and Elaine, and Catherine to boot.”

They had stumbled into a clearing. A cement block foundation was all that remained of some long forgotten structure.

Darcy grinned. “Look like a good place to die, Nik? I think I know how to work this. I’ll tell them your lover caught me going into Catherine’s, then forced us both to leave at gunpoint. He drove us out here in the country and forced us out of the car. Unfortunately, while he was busy murdering you, I made my escape. Jake thinks I have no sense of direction, so he’ll believe me when I tell him I’m not sure where we were. It’ll be weeks before they find you. My only regret is that this will completely clear old Zeke. On your knees, Nikki. Now.”

Nikki knelt in the snow and rotting leaves.

“You’re going to feel what Derek felt when he shot himself that night.”

Tears streaked down Darcy’s cheeks. “I went back home after you left with Zeke, and Derek was waiting there for me. I told him what I’d done and you would’ve thought he’d have been happy, but no…he was furious. He just had to run off and rescue you. Apparently, he scared old Zeke to death. He left in quite a hurry, didn’t he, Nik? Didn’t even have time to collect his socks.”

She laughed and said, “Just so you appreciate the whole irony of this, I want you to know that nothing happened between you and Zeke, thanks to Derek. But even before the accident, you didn’t remember that. Derek left you a note at his apartment, but I got it first. You didn’t deserve to read it. In it he told how he busted in there and ran Zeke off before anything happened. How you were doped out of your head, but you still cried for Jake. That was when he realized you’d never be his. After he made sure you were okay, Derek went home and shot himself.”

“And Zeke?”

“Of course, you didn’t believe Zeke when he told you nothing happened. You didn’t remember Derek being there at all, just Zeke taking you home and you waking up naked and hung over in your bed. You accused him of doping your drink, and you couldn’t go to Jake, now could you? Especially after he confessed about Elaine. It was all totally innocent, of course. Her boyfriend had beaten her up and Jake had taken her to the hospital to get her head stitched up. He felt guilty because he’d been talking to her, trying to get her to break away from Brandon, without your knowledge. You, of course, felt like a dog because you thought you’d slept with his stepfather. The sock thing was pretty funny. I would’ve tried to kill Jake sooner, but I wanted to see how that played out.”

Darcy pushed her hair out of her face and said, “To be honest, I like Jake. I just wanted him to hate you. I didn’t really want to kill him, but one way or another, I wanted you to know what it felt like to lose him. I didn’t know he would ask you for a divorce, and after a couple of weeks, I was getting pretty antsy, so I sabotaged his truck.”

“The phone calls …” Nikki asked, dazed. “What about the man who called me?”

Darcy shrugged. “Carlos, my waiter friend. He thought it was just a prank.”

Nikki’s thoughts flew by in a dizzying blur. There was no lover. There never had been. Darcy had spoon fed them the whole thing.

***

The chopper pilot spotted the car first, but by that time, Matt and Jake were only minutes away. They roared down a narrow twist of road and screeched to a stop behind Darcy’s red BMW.

The abandoned car filled Jake with a sense of dread.

He held his breath as Matt pried open the trunk, and exhaled sharply when he saw it was empty.

“Come on!” Matt yelled, pointing at the tracks left in the snow. Jake ran, with Matt on his heels.

They ran until they saw a flash of purple up ahead.

Darcy’s coat, he realized, and plunged on, ignoring the stitch in his side, ignoring Matt’s hissed command for him to stop, to stop right there, dammit!

As he approached the edge of the clearing, what he saw stopped him in his tracks. Nikki on her knees on the frozen ground, a pistol pressed to her forehead.

“The passenger. Who was in the truck with me that day?” Nikki asked.

Darcy shook her head. “I have no idea. You and I weren’t really speaking by the time of the accident, so I don’t know who you were hanging out with.”

“Why all these games? Why not just kill me or Jake outright?”

“The amnesia thing was unexpected, but interesting. I figured I could hurt you and not have to kill Jake to do it. I used your amnesia to plant the seeds of doubt even deeper in Jake’s mind. After all, I was the only one who knew the whole story. My only mistake was that I should’ve played it harder, but I wasn’t sure how much you said to Jake that morning. I wanted to rip him away from you the way you’d ripped my brother from me, but Jake proved yet again how gullible he is where you’re concerned.”

Jake slowly circled behind Darcy, into Nikki’s line of sight. Her eyes widened and he saw the almost imperceptible shake of her head. She wanted him to back off, but he couldn’t. If he could draw Darcy’s fire, Matt could take her down and save Nikki. Nearly numb with fear for her, he stepped into the clearing.

A branch underneath his boot snapped and Darcy whirled to face him. A gunshot cracked through the air. Jake felt a curious sense of weightlessness as he fell backwards in the snow.

***

“No!” Nikki screamed.

Darcy turned on her and Nikki heard another boom of gunfire. She watched as some invisible force lifted Darcy off her feet like a rag doll and slammed her against the ground. It took her a moment to comprehend that Darcy had been shot, too. Matt ran out of the clearing toward them.

In slow motion, she saw Darcy struggle to rise. With a trembling hand, she lifted her gun and pointed it at Jake.

Nikki charged her.

They tumbled over and over in the snow, scuffling for control over the weapon. The muzzle of the pistol jammed painfully in Nikki’s ribs and she fought to turn the gun away from her. Gunfire exploded between them. And although she felt no pain, Nikki felt a sudden burst of heat and wondered if she’d been shot. Darcy’s gray eyes stared into hers for a moment before she collapsed on top of her.

“Nikki! Nikki!” she heard Jake shout, and she tried to wiggle out from underneath Darcy.

He ran toward her, clutching his shoulder, but he looked like he was going to be all right. Nikki was so relieved she nearly sobbed. Scooting out from underneath her, Nikki rolled Darcy onto her back. She yanked off her coat and pressed it to Darcy’s midsection, trying desperately to stop the blood gushing from her wound.

“Somebody help her!” she cried.

After the paramedics rushed Darcy from the scene, Nikki fell on her knees and scooped up a handful of snow. She furiously scrubbed her hands with it, trying to clean the blood from her red, swollen fingers as hot tears streamed down her face.

Jake called her name, but she couldn’t stop. He knelt in front of her and seized both of her wrists.

“Nikki, stop,” he said gently.

She stared into his eyes, and then collapsed against him, sobbing into his chest. It wasn’t until he helped her to her feet and wrapped his coat around her that she realized how wet and cold she was. Her coat lay abandoned on the ground, soaked in Darcy’s blood.

“It’s over,” he whispered. “It’s finally over.”

Chapter 15

Nikki sat in the waiting room with Matt as the doctor patched Jake’s shoulder. He kept asking Nikki questions, but she was too disoriented to answer most of them. He called a doctor over, and she let them lead her to one of the curtained off cubicles. Even though they stood beside her, they sounded distant.

She heard Jake’s voice and tried to force herself to concentrate.

“Shock,” the doctor was saying, and Nikki heard a commotion as Jake pushed aside the curtain. Another doctor followed him, arguing with him about something, but Jake turned to him and said, “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound and I’m not staying here.”

She met his gaze and he said, “Nikki, are you okay?”

Nodding, she held out her arms to him and he held her.

“Take me to Catherine’s.” Glancing at Matt, she said, “I’ll tell you everything.”

Her fury built with every mile. All the agonizing, all the torment. The pain Jake had suffered. Because of lies. They pulled up in the drive and she jumped out.

Nikki stalked into the house, still covered in Darcy’s blood. Zeke and Elaine hovered around a frantic Catherine, and they all looked confused.

Zeke made the mistake of approaching her.

“Are you all right, dear—”

Chaos broke out when Nikki slugged him, a perfect right hook that caught him off-guard and nearly knocked him off his feet.

Matt, with his deep voice, boomed, “Enough!”

If he hadn’t been standing in middle Catherine’s living room, Nikki had the feeling he might’ve fired his gun in the air, like some cowboy from a Wild West show.

Nikki told her story, exactly as Darcy had related it. The others sat in stunned silence, a silence broken only by Zeke’s unconvincing protestations of innocence and Matt’s occasional curse.

Of course, Zeke denied the whole thing, but no one believed him. Even his daughter refused to meet his eyes. Jake never moved and his silence was more terrifying to Nikki than anything.

When there was nothing left to say, Nikki got up and walked outside, needing a moment alone. She was afraid Jake would hate her now. Even though it hadn’t actually happened, she’d intended to sleep with Zeke, just to hurt him, and had destroyed his mother’s marriage in the process.

All because she hadn’t trusted him.

The front door creaked open, and she knew it was Jake, but she didn’t turn around, afraid of what she might read in his eyes.

“Do you want to go for a drive?” he said quietly.

Nikki didn’t, because she didn’t know if she wanted to hear what he had to say, but she nodded.

They got in Catherine’s car and backed down the driveway. Neither of them said anything for a long while, until Jake finally pulled over in a little park area. When he turned to face her, Nikki realized she was holding her breath.

He took her hand. “Do you think you could ever forgive me, for all I’ve done? All this time, I was punishing you, but it was all my fault. If I had told you about Elaine—”

“You don’t hate me?” she blurted, amazed. “For Zeke?”

Jake looked at her like she was crazy. “Of course not! You were drugged. He tried to take advantage of you. You didn’t do anything.”

Nikki threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

***

November 29

Nikki opened the front door and grabbed a freezing Matt by the shirtsleeve. “Get in here,” she said. “Where’s your coat?”

“Real men don’t need coats,” he said through chattering teeth.

“Real men don’t remember their coats, is more like it,” Catherine said behind her and Jake laughed.

“That too,” Matt admitted.

“Want coffee?” Jake asked.

“That’d be great.”

They gathered around the kitchen table and watched Matt gulp his coffee. Finally, he quit shivering and said, “I came to tell you about Darcy. They reached a decision and found her competent to stand trial. It’ll probably happen sometime in the middle of January.”

“About the same time I’ll be in divorce court,” Catherine remarked wryly.

“She’s still saying she doesn’t know anything about the passenger?” Jake asked.

Matt sighed. “Yep. Says she doesn’t know, and I don’t have anything either. Thought I had a hit with a missing girl from Ohio the other day, but the DNA didn’t pan out.”

Jake slipped his hand inside Nikki’s and she squeezed his fingers. They fell silent as they thought about the unidentified victim.

Catherine broke the silence. She smiled at them and said, “Well, guess who came by to see me last night?”

Nikki smiled. She already knew, had talked to her on the phone just before Catherine arrived, but hadn’t had a chance to tell Jake.

“Elaine. We had a long heart-to-heart. I told her that even though I’m divorcing her father, I want to be there for her and Eliot. After ten years, they’re like my children, too, and I don’t want to lose them. I think we made a lot of progress, cleared up some misunderstandings. I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Jake said.

Matt cleared his throat. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, too.” He glanced at Catherine and Nikki watched a red blush creep up his neck. “You remember that remark you made about me never asking you to dinner?”

Catherine smiled. “I remember.”

“Well, I’m asking now. Don’t want the chance to slip by me again. When your divorce is finalized, you think you might wanna go to dinner with an old dog like me?”

“I think we can arrange that,” she said with a wink. “Better yet, you can come over and I’ll fix my famous chicken casserole.”

Jake groaned, and Matt’s face lit up. “Jake lived through it. I probably can, too. So it’s a date?”

“It’s a date,” she agreed.

***

The next morning, Jake was eating breakfast as Nikki read the Sunday paper. When the doorbell rang, she jumped up to get it.

A handsome blonde boy of about eighteen stood on the doorstep.

He glanced at her in surprise.

“Hey, MP! Why haven’t you called? Mom’s been going nuts.”

Nikki frowned and turned to glance at Jake. Pursing her lips, she turned back to the boy. When she didn’t speak, the boy’s perplexed look turned to one of unease. Suddenly, the room seemed to tilt.

“C’mon, sis,” he joked half-heartedly. “It hasn’t been that long.”

Nikki stared at him in confusion.

Images flashed through her mind in a crazy blur and she lurched backward.

“Chase?” she whispered, just before everything went black.

***

Jake lunged for her, but the boy grabbed her first, barely catching her before she hit the floor.

Reaching to take her from him, an inexplicable feeling of dread suddenly overcame Jake, much like he had the day he found the socks.

“Who are you and how do you know Nikki?” he demanded as he carried her into the living room and gently laid her on the couch.

“I was fixing to ask you the same thing, Mister,” he said, his young face stricken. “My name’s Chase Parker and I don’t know any ‘Nikki’. That’s my sister, Selena, and I want to know what’s going on.”

Nikki moaned, startling them both. Chase knelt beside her and took her hand.

“Hey, Selena. What’s happening here?”

Selena.

Jake stared at him uncomprehendingly, watching as she threw her arms around him.

“Chase!” she cried and buried her face in his neck.

“What’s going on? What’s happened to her?” the boy demanded, but Jake was too stunned to speak.

The wheels in his mind were spinning furiously and coming up with lemons. Dazed, he sank into the sofa and stared at Chase. This all felt like a strange dream.

“Look, mister. You need to say something—” Chase sounded very young and very frightened. “Okay, how about this…I’ll tell you what I know, then you can fill in the rest.” He took a deep breath before continuing, still holding Nikki protectively.

“My sister Selena left Alabama back in November to search for her sister. She and I are both adopted. She has a friend who’s a computer whiz, and he did a little hacking. She’s always wanted to find her birth parents and find out whether or not she had any other brothers or sisters. This guy told her she had a sister and somehow he came up with this address. We let her have her time, but Mom started getting worried when she hadn’t heard from Selena. That’s not like her, not to call or anything. So I decided to drive up here, to see if she was okay…” He paused, and said tersely, “Your turn.”

She stared at him over Chase’s shoulder, and Jake’s heart pounded in his ears as realization struck.

She wasn’t Nicole Hawthorne.

***

She felt dizzy, drunk, and the only thing she could ask him was, “Why did you call me MP?”

Chase actually grinned. “That’s my nickname for you, Miss Perfect, MP for short. You’re always running around, cleaning up after me, throwing away my stuff.” His smile faded a little as he said, “Are you saying you don’t remember, Selena?”

“I remember,” she whispered.

She glanced at Jake, who stared back at her in mute horror. The look on his face was more telling than a scream.

Nikki.

Nikki had died in that wreck.

With a strangled cry, Jake propelled himself from the room. She froze, wanting to chase after him, but…

What was there to say?

In a halting voice she barely recognized, she told Chase about the accident, about her amnesia, and all the craziness that had taken place since then. Soon, Chase’s face mirrored the horrified look on Jake’s.

“Oh, God…” he breathed, staring at the doorway Jake had fled through.

“I kept hearing this little voice in my head that said ‘my name is MP’, and I could almost hear your voice.”

“All this time, you both thought you were his wife,” Chase said and Selena nodded tearfully.

She wasn’t Jake’s wife.

All her dreams for the future were gone.

She had no claim on him whatsoever.

***

Jake’s world reeled around him.

Nikki was dead.

The woman that he’d been in there with, the woman he’d planned to marry, was a stranger named Selena. He thought of Sara’s admission that Nikki had called her that morning, angry and demanding to talk to her. Nikki must’ve just found out she was adopted. She had driven to that motel, and had met her identical twin.

Nikki was dead, her charred remains sitting in the county coroner’s office, waiting to be claimed.

His beautiful Nikki was dead, had died thinking he hated her and wanted a divorce.

It was too much for Jake to bear.

He didn’t know where to go, or what to do, so he just ran. He ran and ran until he was exhausted. The cold air stabbing at his lungs was nothing compared to the coldness stabbing at his heart.

***

The next few days passed in a blur for Jake. Identical twins share the same DNA, but have different fingerprints. Selena’s DNA positively identified the remains as Nikki’s, and then an old fingerprint file of Nikki’s proved Selena wasn’t her.

People tried to talk to him, to comfort him, but he was numb. He and Selena largely avoided each other. Neither knew what to say.

Jake would sometimes catch her staring at him with a mixture of compassion and sadness.

He found that it hurt to look at her.

One morning, as he mentally prepared himself for another trip to the funeral home to make sure everything was in place for the service tomorrow, he passed her in the hall and was startled when she grabbed his arm.

When he stopped, she released him abruptly, as if the physical contact between them had burned her. Her gaze met his briefly before she turned away, her eyes filling with tears.

“Jake, we need to talk.”

He nodded, unable to speak for the lump that had risen in his throat at the anguish on her face. Part of him wanted to reach out and hold her, but another part found it impossible to do so.

He pushed open the door to the nearest room, which happened to be the bedroom he had shared first with Nikki, then with Selena. He realized his mistake as soon as he opened the door, when a barrage of memories that threatened to defeat him assaulted him, but it was too late to run. Selena shut the door behind her.

Jake steeled himself for what she had to say, knowing he had no answers to give her right now. She surprised him by pulling off the rings on her left hand and holding them out to him.

“These belonged to her. They should be buried with her.”

Jake turned his back to her as he struggled to contain the sob that rose in his chest. This was too much, too much to bear.

He was blinking back tears when he turned back to her, only to see that she was also removing the eternity band he had given her. She laid them all on top of the dresser.

“That’s yours,” he managed to say.

“No.” Her bottom lip quivered. “It never really was.”

Then she fled the room, leaving him shattered in her wake.

***

The day of the funeral was the worst day of Jake’s life. It was surreal to be standing there burying his wife, when Selena stood beside him, so much like her, staring at him with those haunted green eyes.

He kept berating himself that he should’ve known, a husband should’ve known. She was so very different from Nikki, but he had never considered the possibility that she wasn’t Nikki.

Sara and Doug were heartbroken. They loved the girl they had claimed for their own daughter when she was three days old, even though they hadn’t always been good at showing it. They admitted everything about the adoption, saying they never told Nikki the truth because Sara believed Nikki wouldn’t be able to truly accept them as her parents if she knew the truth. Doug saw no reason to go against her wishes, reasoning that, as long as Nikki had a good home, it wasn’t necessary to upset her life. He hadn’t wanted her to always wonder about her biological parents and why they had given her up for adoption.

The day they laid Nikki to rest was cold and blustery. Eliot tried to persuade Jake to come home after the service, but Jake told him he needed time alone with her. When the last mourner left, Jake watched the men pile the dirt on the shiny silver casket.

He stayed well after they were gone, sinking to his knees near the freshly piled mound, hating the thought of leaving her in this cold, lonely place.

***

The moment he stepped inside the house, he sensed Selena was gone and he ached from the loss of her. Catherine sat alone in his living room. Her eyes were red and swollen.

“Where is she?” Jake asked.

“She’s gone,” Catherine answered softly. An envelope lay in her lap and she handed it to him. “She asked me to give you this.”

Wordlessly, Jake took it and sank into the chair opposite from her. His shoulders slumped in defeat, he began to read.

My dearest Jake,

The decision to go back to Alabama with Chase is the hardest choice that I’ve ever had to make. Please don’t think I wanted to leave you while you’re hurting like this, but I know I’m only making it worse. If I listened to my heart, I would take you in my arms and never let you go. I realize you need time to think, and I don’t want to pressure you. I pray that you’ll find yourself on solid ground soon. I’m ashamed to say it, but I’m jealous of my sister, because I know that, even in death, she possesses the one thing I want most of all, your love. Search your heart, and if you find even a little of me there, hurry back to me.

Love,

Selena

Jake could scarcely see the words on the paper for the tears that stung his eyes.

He was so confused.

She loved him; he was certain of that, but he needed time to sort through his feelings for her. It wouldn’t be fair to her, to use her as a substitute Nikki, if he didn’t love her. He didn’t know what to think, much less what to do.

In the following days, Jake visited the cemetery every day after work, mourning the bold, lovely girl who had told him she was going to marry him before she had even known his name. It became a place of refuge for him.

He received no word from Selena, except for a polite note returning the money he sent for her continuing rehabilitation, saying that her insurance was taking care of it. It turned out she was a kindergarten teacher, a fact that hardly surprised Jake, although truthfully nothing surprised him much at all anymore.

The next Tuesday was bitterly cold and Jake skipped work. His breath hung around his face in little white clouds and brittle, frozen grass crunched underneath his shoes as he made his way through the cemetery, clutching his gift in his hands.

The world had turned gray. The sky, the clouds, the lumbering trees that stood guard around the gray stones.

Jake reached Nikki’s grave and was brought up short. They had delivered her tombstone.

Seeing her name etched in granite took his breath away.

He sat on the ground beside it, heedless of the cold that bit through the fabric of his jeans, and traced his fingers over the letters of her name.

“Happy Anniversary, Nikki,” he whispered, his eyes burning.

He squeezed his eyes shut and said, “I hope you can hear me. I’m so sorry I hurt you. We were too much alike, you and I. Too hot-headed, too quick to jump to conclusions. I’m sorry my temper made it impossible for you to turn to me. Even Derek was there for you, and I feel like such a bastard for treating you like I did.”

He shifted and stared down at the object in his hand. “I brought you something.”

Carefully, he sat the rose globe near the base of her tombstone. It was expressly made not to freeze.

The hot pink rose provided a shocking splash of color against the gray granite background.

“The color means ‘I will remember you always’, but I cheated with the flower. I didn’t think you’d mind. It’s supposed to be a carnation, but that seemed too plain.” Swiping at his eyes, Jake smiled. “You will always be a rose to me.”

As he stood to leave, he felt her.

The sensation staggered him. The warmth of her presence fell over him like a glass, abruptly shutting out the cold, howling wind. He could almost smell her perfume. The impression was so strong it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

“Nikki!” he gasped, and closed his eyes.

The vision was so vivid, so striking, it almost brought him to his knees.

In his mind, Nikki stood before him, smiling like the night they met. Her laughter rang in his ears as she reached for his hand.

Jake could swear he felt the warmth from her fingers as they entwined in his, then the sweet rush of her breath and the softness of her mouth as she brushed a kiss across his frozen lips. His skin, so cold moments before, began to tingle.

He sensed her start to fade and whispered, “No…please…”

A mixture of emotions played in her sparkling green eyes and a tear streaked down one cheek as she pressed her fingertips to her mouth and gave him a tremulous smile.

Then she was gone.

He jolted back to himself like a man awaking from a deep sleep.

Although the logical part of him knew the whole thing had been nothing more than some weird manifestation of his grief, for a moment Jake could only stand there, dazed.

He closed his eyes again, but there was nothing, no sense of her.

Nikki had told him goodbye.

As Jake walked to his car, it felt like a burden had lifted from his soul.

***

Jake wasn’t able to go to Selena, however, even though he thought of her night and day. It came as a shock to realize thoughts of her replaced most of his thoughts of Nikki. It was her smiles and her laughter that he heard in his head, and her touch that he dreamed of. Guilt threatened to rip him apart.

Two months passed. His mother begged him to go to Selena, even Elaine did, but Eliot was the one who finally got through to him.

They were at the rec center, playing a little one-on-one basketball in the bitter cold, but Eliot might have well been playing alone. Jake knew he was moving like a dead man, missing easy shots and playing nonexistent defense. He was barely paying attention when Eliot shoved the ball hard at his chest.

“What did you do that for?” Jake asked, startled.

“I think it’s time you got over yourself, man,” Eliot said. “She loves you. Do you understand that?”

“I lost my wife,” Jake snapped. “Am I not even supposed to acknowledge that Nikki’s dead?”

“I didn’t say that,” Eliot said. “But if Nikki’s death taught you anything, it should be that not even one day is promised to us, and you should appreciate love when you find it.”

“Thank you, Mr. Hallmark.”

Jake shot at the basket and missed.

“Look, Jake.” Eliot poked him in the chest with his finger. “You’ve got to realize, this didn’t just happen to you. This happened to her, too. Selena didn’t ask for this, either. We told her she was Nikki. She had to put up with all that crap from you, and she fell in love with you anyway. Now she’s sitting in Alabama, brokenhearted, while you stand here feeling sorry for yourself. I keep telling her that surely you’re going to come to your senses—”

“You’ve talked to her?” Jake asked, surprised.

He knew Catherine did, but he didn’t let her tell him about it.

“Sure, I’ve talked to her,” Eliot said casually. “I like her. We became friends, and I’m not pretending she doesn’t exist, just because I found out she wasn’t Nikki.”

He shot Jake an accusing look, and Jake glared back.

“Tell me you weren’t happier with her than you ever were with Nikki,” Eliot challenged.

“Eliot, you’re overstepping here,” Jake warned, as he retrieved the ball.

“Tell me she didn’t give 110 percent, even when you’d given up on your marriage. You think Nikki would’ve done that? Selena fought for you, and she didn’t even know you. Do you really think Nikki would’ve put up with all your crap, even if she had felt guilty? Selena did, because she fell in love with you. You loved her, too, and you’re lying to yourself if you think you didn’t.”

Jake tossed the ball over his shoulder and started to walk away.

Eliot grabbed his arm. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved Nikki. She was a good friend of mine, but I think you’re making her memory into something it wasn’t. If she hadn’t died in that crash, you’d be divorced today. You were both so spoiled and stubborn that you would’ve never gotten over this. When you’re through feeling sorry for yourself, remember that Selena was the only truly innocent person in this mess, and she is the only person who would’ve worked so hard to win the love of a dumb jackass like you.”

“Finished?” Jake asked, arching an eyebrow at Eliot.

“For now.” He grinned.

Jake pulled free from his grasp and started toward his car.

“Hey, where are you going?” Eliot called out.

“To Alabama,” he replied. “That is, if a dumb jackass like me can find the way.”

As Jake got behind the wheel, he watched a grinning Eliot sink a beautiful three pointer.

Even though he mocked Eliot for his sentimentality, his words hit him like a slap in the face.

He hadn’t been given a second chance to fix his relationship with Nikki, but maybe it wasn’t too late to make things right with Selena. He saw how stupid it had been, to deny love just because of the circumstances. And he had loved her. He loved her still.

By his own admission, he’d led an easy life, at least until recently. He’d been spoiled into thinking all things came with second chances, or maybe even thirds. Fate had delivered the harsh lesson that some things only came with one and Jake prayed he hadn’t let his only chance with Selena disappear. She had loved him unconditionally, and in spite of incredible odds. He felt connected to her after everything they’d been through.

Eliot was right when he said their marriage would have never survived if Nikki had lived. They had been too much alike, too spoiled and too stubborn, to have survived the fallout. Nobody wins a war of pride. Selena had taught him love wasn’t about right or wrong. It was about trust, and hope, and forgiveness. He only hoped she still believed that. After a quick stop in town, Jake was on his way.

Jake made the nearly 370 mile trip to Selena’s town in five hours flat, trying to make up for lost time. With every mile that clicked off the odometer, he felt more certain of his feelings for her. He missed her terribly, and he hoped she wasn’t tired of waiting on him.

He nearly drove straight through Dothan before he caught the name on a flower shop sign. Jake turned around at a little convenience market and went back.

A bell chimed as he entered the flower shop and he smiled at the women behind the counter. “Hi. Do you think one of you could tell me where this is?”

He handed one of them the scrap of paper with Selena’s address on it.

“I’ll do you one better,” the younger one said with a wink. “I’m just heading out to make a delivery to her next door neighbor. You can follow me if you like.”

“That’d be great.” Jake glanced around and said, “Oh, hey, if you’ve got time to wait on me for a sec, I’ll take an arrangement.”

“No problem. Do you know what want?”

He thought about it for a moment and smiled. “Yeah, I do. Do you mind if I step back there and see what you’ve got?”

After he paid for his purchase, Jake climbed in his car and followed the van back the way he came. He noted with amusement that none of the roads seemed to be marked. They had to stop at one place to let a couple of escapee goats get out of the road. He was beginning to think that Dothan was bigger than he first thought. It was full of hidden little back roads that twisted through the countryside like snakes.

Finally, the flower woman blew her horn and stuck her arm out the window to point at a neat looking brick house as she turned into the driveway of the house across the road. Jake tooted his thanks, and pulled in the drive.

Chase was out in the front yard, his head stuck under the hood of an old pickup truck. He grinned when he saw Jake get out of the car with his bouquet of wildflowers.

“It’s about time,” he said. “I’m getting sick of hearing about you.”

Jake laughed. “Is she here?”

“I don’t think she went with Mom and Dad. Check around back.” He gestured vaguely to the backyard and resumed work on his truck.

Feeling a little unsure of himself now that he was here, Jake wandered around the side of the house. Selena sat on a porch swing on the far end of the porch, looking lovely in a red sweater and long white skirt. She was staring at the field behind the house and Jake coughed to get her attention. Her gaze snapped to him.

Her mouth flew open in a stunned O.

“Jake!” she gasped.

When he saw the joy on her face, Jake wished he’d come sooner.

***

He appeared so suddenly she was almost afraid he wasn’t real. Selena stood and walked on wobbly legs to meet him as he climbed the step. She saw the flowers in his hand and tried not to get her hopes up.

They’re not roses, she realized. Does that mean something?

“I was afraid that you’d forgotten all about me.” She forced a smile, but felt dangerously near tears.

Jake gave her a sad smile and she wished she could read the look in his eyes. He held out his arms and she folded herself around him.

“How could I have possibly forgotten you?” he whispered, as he stroked her hair. A tear slipped down her face as she remembered the night she asked him the same question.

“I’ve missed you,” she said, and felt his arm tighten around her.

What had he come to say? Would he come all this way to tell her there was no chance for them?