Tempestuous Taurus Page 23

  Jared picked up the rifle and faced the door. “I can hear sirens.”

  “And shooting,” Tara added.

  She fell into Jared’s chest and hugged him with all her strength. He kissed her hair, her eyes, and her mouth. “Thank God you’re all right.” They broke apart. “Kaitlyn, honey, come here.” Tara leaned down and held out her arms. Kaitlyn hesitated and then allowed Tara to hug her. Tears ran down her cheeks. “It’s okay now,” Tara said as she rocked her back and forth. “Did I hear you speak? You were the one who warned Jared. Was it really you?”

  Kaitlyn sniffed and said nothing for a few moments and then, “I talked.”

  Tara smiled at her. “You did. You can talk now.”

  “Come out with your hands up!” The loud command made them all jump.

  Jared set the rifle down on the table and took Tara’s hand.

  He glanced at her and saw the steel in her eyes. That’s my girl, he thought. She held on to Kaitlyn’s hand. It’s over. It’s finally over.

  “We’re coming out!” Jared yelled. “We’re not armed.” He turned to Tara. “Make sure they can see your hands.”

  She nodded, and Jared opened the door slowly and stepped out ahead of Tara and Kaitlyn, his hands in the air.

  Several FBI vehicles were parked outside and stern-faced men pointed assault rifles at them. Agents Palmer and Gonzalez pushed their way to the front. Palmer barked an order and the rifles were lowered. “Tara Ericson?” Palmer said.

  “Yes. That’s me.”

  Palmer stared at Jared with a wrinkled brow. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from here?” he growled.

  “I saw Kaitlyn in Mrs. Pocket’s vehicle and followed them here. I have no phone so I couldn’t tell anyone and I didn’t want to lose them. I didn’t know if she would hurt Kaitlyn.”

  “Well, we got him. He had taken your Mrs. Pocket as a hostage, but she’s okay.”

  Jared and Tara exchanged glances. “She wasn’t a hostage. She was on his side.”

  “She said something about blood being thicker than water,” Tara said. She lifted a shoulder. “Whatever that means.”

  “We have her in custody, and we’ll need you to come with us.”

  They were separated. Jared was put in one vehicle, and Tara in another, with Kaitlyn. Two CSI vans arrived as they were leaving the cabin.

  Chapter 66

  Tara was taken to the FBI Command Unit at the Center. TV trucks and reporters milled around and rushed the vehicle when they stopped. Tara was thankful she didn’t have to fend them off.

  She wasn’t permitted to interact with Jared until she had been debriefed, and she didn’t know where they took him. Why had she told him she was going back to Arizona when she loved him beyond anything she could think of? She couldn’t imagine a life without him now.

  Inside the unit, the female agent, who introduced herself as Gonzalez, looked down at Kaitlyn. “Can you come with me for a little while, sweetheart? We need to ask Ms. Ericson—Tara—some questions and you’d get pretty bored if you had to sit and listen.”

  Kaitlyn stared up at her with wide eyes but kept her hand firmly in Tara’s.

  “Kaitlyn doesn’t speak a lot,” Tara said. “Are her foster parents coming to get her?”

  “Her foster mother is on her way. Will you come with me until she gets here, Kaitlyn?”

  Tara crouched down and smiled, and pushed a strand of Kaitlyn’s hair behind her ear. “I know it’s scary, but your mom will be here soon, and then you’ll be able to go home. Okay?”

  The child looked like she was about to cry, but she let go of Tara’s hand and followed Gonzalez.

  Agent Palmer led Tara to a small interrogation room and offered her a drink.

  “Water, please. I’d like to wash up and use the bathroom.” She was still wearing Roderick’s bloody jacket over the thin nightgown.

  “They’re gonna take your clothes, and they’ll give you something else to wear,” he said. “I’ll get water, but I’d like to get the questioning done first while everything is still fresh in your mind.”

  “My own clothes are just out there.” She pointed in the direction of the house.

  The questioning seemed to go on and on, and Tara wondered what Jared was doing, and if Lou had come for Kaitlyn. They had told her Cassie was somewhere nearby and she would be able to see her soon. She had butterflies in her stomach and she wasn’t sure if it was because she hadn’t eaten or she was excited to see Cassie. Her stomach rumbled so much that Agent Gonzalez, who came into the room a few minutes late, went and found a couple of donuts for her.

  When the questioning was done, Gonzalez took her to a bathroom and gave her some coveralls to replace the clothes she had on. She had told them everything she could think of about her kidnapping and the kidnapper.

  “Ta-da!” she said as she exited the bathroom, wearing the strange clothing.

  Gonzalez almost cracked a smile. “If you can get through the reporters, you can leave now.”

  “What happened to the—to Roderick Passmore?”

  “You don’t need to worry about that. We have him secured, and his mother. They’re on their way to a bigger jail than the one in Groover.”

  “What about Jared and Kaitlyn? Are you done with them?”

  “Almost,” was all she said.

  Tara opened the door of the command unit and reporters rushed to her. “Miss Ericson, is it true you were rescued by Jared White? Ms. Ericson, why were you kidnapped?”

  She called the dogs. “Here RJ, come Sox. Here.” They ran up to her, wagging their tails. The reporters stepped back when RJ barked at them. Tara ran for the house.

  Someone who must have been watching opened the door. It swung open and she ducked inside.

  “Cassie!”

  Tara fell into her arms and they hugged for a very long time, both crying. Cory stepped toward them. Tara hadn’t seen him cry for a very long time, but tears streamed down his face as he wrapped his arms around both his sisters.

  A few minutes later, Jared stepped inside. Tara broke free and threw her arms around him. “Thank you so much.” She started sobbing again and buried her head in his shoulder.

  “It’s okay, Tara. It’s finished. Thank God.”

  ~ ~ ~

  There was one more thing to be done.

  The following morning, Cory drove, Cassie sat in the back seat of his rental car, and Tara in the front passenger side beside him. They had risen early. The Feds were packing up their command unit and would be gone by the time the three siblings got back. After Palmer gave a briefing last evening, Cory had ordered the reporters off the property, and a few stragglers were parked on the main road outside the entrance to the Center.

  The sky was painted yellow, and the cool morning air blew in through Cory’s open window.

  They’d talked long into the night, and Cassie had told them everything that had happened to her. She’d had to write it all down for the Feds. They had asked her how Roderick had found her, but she had no answer.

  “It was no secret in Hardship that you went to California in the hopes of making a career in the movies. We went to look for you once a year,” Tara had said. “If only we’d had more time, maybe we could have found you before him.”

  “He never told me how he found me, but he said he spent many nights on the streets of Hollywood, driving around and around.”

  Cory nodded. “What a twisted mind that dude has. How does anyone get that crazy and that dedicated to revenge?”

  “These days, it seems that more and more people are becoming unhinged—and they think nothing of gunning down a bunch of strangers because they have a beef with someone.” Tara grimaced. “Roderick Passmore chose to take out his problem with me on my family and Jared. I hate what he did—and all
because of his childish rejection phobia.”

  “Here we are,” Cory said as he parked the vehicle. He opened the back door for Cassie, who was holding three vases. Tara slid out of the front, clutching two bouquets of white lilies, jasmine and gardenias that she had picked from the garden and had filled the car with their sweet perfume.

  Cassie and Tara followed Cory as he navigated through a maze of graves, some in the shade cast by spreading oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss. He stopped and pointed.

  He said in a quiet voice, “Mom and Dad are here and Aunt Lacey is there beside them.”

  Cassie clung to Tara’s arm and a sob escaped. She couldn’t help it. She crouched down to read the gravestones, her mother’s first, and her sobs morphed into loud wails. Tara’s face crumpled and she turned to Cory for support. She saw tears sparkle in his eyes, but he held it together.

  “Let me have the flowers,” Cassie cried. She took them from Tara and split the bouquets and fussed with the flowers until she was satisfied, and then placed one on each grave. “I’m so sorry, Mom and Dad, that I left. I should have stayed and helped Aunt Lacey,” she sobbed.

  Tara stood over Aunt Lacey’s grave, tears streaming down her face, and silently apologized to her for running away when her aunt needed her the most. “I’ll make you proud now. I’ll do everything in my power to make the Center as good, or better than it’s ever been, and I’ll never run away again,” she said out loud.

  Cory wrapped his arms around both of his sisters, and said, “We should say a prayer for them.”

  Chapter 67

  Tara hugged herself and wondered where Jared was, and why he hadn’t contacted her again. Cory left earlier that afternoon and drove himself to the airport in Groover in the rental car after a tearful farewell.

  Tara and Cassie were sitting on the swing seat out on the patio when her phone buzzed. “Hey, I was wondering what happened to you,” she said, her heart fluttering.

  “I thought it would be important for you three to catch up,” Jared said. “Cory called a little while ago and said he was on his way home.”

  “When can I see you?” Tara asked.

  “That’s why I’m calling. I have an idea. How would you like to go for a ride with me tomorrow, to the Old Mill? Assuming you have a horse for me, that is.”

  Tara smiled and the excitement mounted, making her breaths come a little faster. “Our special place. Oh, that would be amazing.”

  “I’ll bring a picnic lunch, and it’ll be like it was before.”

  Warmth crept into Tara’s face. Their favorite pastime was skinny dipping in the creek and making love on a blanket on the warm sand. Could they really go back and capture that unbelievable feeling of being filled with everything your heart could desire?

  “I would love that. I’ll bring a blanket and Copper will be available for you.”

  Cassie, who had been listening, said, “Jared and you are still together, aren’t you? After everything, you still love each other.”

  Tara gave her a quick hug. “I went for so long with no joy in my heart, and when I think about the last ten years—the horror of what happened to Mom and Dad was stuck inside me and I couldn’t shake it off.

  “I thought I was angry with Jared for screwing up our lives, but now I know it wasn’t the anger that controlled me. The fear and awfulness of his death sentence hung over me like a black cloud, and it followed me around wherever I went. I couldn’t bear the thought of him dying.”

  Her voice broke and Cassie kissed her on the cheek. “Thoughts of you and Jared kept me alive for those bad years. I pretended Mom and Dad were fine and it had all been a nightmare, even though I saw the headlines in the newspapers when Jared was sentenced. I couldn’t think about it. I just pretended it wasn’t real.”

  “I can’t imagine your pain,” Tara said.

  ~ ~ ~

  We couldn’t have wished for a more beautiful day, Tara thought as she tightened Brown Sugar’s cinch, threw the blanket over the front of the saddle, and mounted. Jared grinned at her as they made their way out through the gate, the horses’ hooves clopping on the concrete. An early morning rain shower had freshened the air, and the raindrops sparkled on the grass in the bright sunlight. The drone of Jules’s voice faded as they moved away.

  Tara was thrilled Cassie had decided to undergo therapy from Jules. What inheritance from Mom and Aunt Lacey could be more fitting than that? Her knee bumped against Jared’s, sending a shiver of anticipation rippling through her.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” he said.

  “Not telling. Come on, let’s go.” She felt herself go red as she urged Brown Sugar into a trot, and then an easy canter. They turned onto the sandy trail and followed it for a while until they slowed to a walk to climb a low hill. As they crested it, they could see the creek far below, and the old millstone.

  “Have you ever been here since the last time we were together?” Tara asked.

  “No. Christy tried to get me to take her, but I couldn’t. This is our place.”

  Tara knew he must be picturing the times they had spent there, swimming in the nude and exploring one another’s bodies with the innocence of youth.

  Tara sat on Brown Sugar for a few moments when they arrived at the creek and breathed in the surroundings. The water rippled down a small waterfall where the millwheel, stationary now, had turned, making that wonderful musical sound, and then the water filled the deep, tranquil pond with sandy beaches on one side and a rock cliff on the other before it continued on its way. A wren made its strident call from the pine and oak trees, which cast their shade on the water and provided the seclusion and privacy to anyone swimming there. A few frogs chirped, and leaves floated in the current.

  The mill buildings had crumbled and fallen apart years ago, but a part of the walls still stood there, now overgrown with bushes and weeds. Jared dismounted and secured a rope across the gap between two trees, where they tied the horses after unsaddling them. He laid his backpack carefully in the shade and pulled off his shirt.

  Tara felt the heat rising. His chest was muscled and tanned. She blew out a deep breath as she lifted her T-shirt over her head, knowing he was watching her. He pulled her into him and kissed her, exploring her mouth and tongue and lips. The warmth from his naked skin pressed against her breasts and she broke away and unfastened her bra, needing him to touch and caress, and to feel the heat of his skin again.

  She dragged her jeans and panties off and tossed them aside and watched in anticipation as he took off his shorts and underwear. Desire spiked in her and they sank onto the blanket, urgency driving them.

  “Now, I want it now,” she moaned.

  After, Jared dove into the water and Tara followed. They held on to one another and made love again and then, temporarily sated, they climbed out and dried themselves. “I could eat a horse,” Jared said as he extracted their lunch from the backpack.

  “Oh wow, those sandwiches smell so good.” Tara grabbed one and bit into it as he popped open a bottle of champagne and poured them each a glassful.

  He held the glass up and said, “May we never be separated again.”

  “I love you, Jared,” Tara said, tears of joy in her eyes.

  “And I love you.”

  Chapter 68

  Six months later.

  Tara stood beside Jared on the porch and watched Kaitlyn and Cassie play fetch with the dogs on the lawn. Mel was running around with them, laughing, like she was also a teenager. Tara had never seen her look so radiant, and she was happy for Cory, who stood beside them with the twin boys in his arms.

  Tara leaned across to Jared and kissed him on the nose. He feigned surprise. “What was that for?”

  “Just because I love you so much.”

  He smiled and pulled her into his arms.

  �
��Hey guys, not now,” Shawn called from the parking space under the big tree, clutching an armful of goods. Tara followed him into the house. “There’s more in the truck,” he said.

  He dumped the goods onto the kitchen counter. “Steaks,” he said. “And beer and even some wine for you.”

  Tara hugged him and thought how amazing his transformation had been from the shy man she first met, whom Jules said was suffering terribly from PTSD. Merrick, too.

  Jules came into the kitchen staggering under the weight of an enormous bag of carrots. “We can’t have a party without including the horses.”

  She and Shawn went to the porch.

  “Just in time to help me start the fire. Hope you got charcoal,” Jared said as he made his way to the barbecue grill. Cory set the toddlers down and they ran to join Mel.

  Christy wandered into the house with Merrick, both of them carrying bags of food and drinks.

  “Eldred and Sonya are here,” Cassie yelled. El Junior ran to her and Kaitlyn on the lawn. Close behind them was Lou with her husband, who was helping her with the three children. Detective Moore stood beside his girlfriend and chatted with Deputy Tim, who had come with his wife, Delilah Jane and their daughter. Doc Grainger and his wife followed, and then several of the children who had been riding at the Taurus Center ran or hobbled to join the kids on the lawn, leaving their parents to find their own way. Christy took the stroller with Andrew Kellerman, who had cerebral palsy, and pushed him to where the other kids were playing.

  Nate had arrived, all cleaned up and in his best clothes, and he chatted with Cassie, a beer in his hand.

  The smell of charcoal and meat grilling and a constant buzz of conversation created a festive atmosphere.

  Tara stood at the glass door, watching the activity outside and on the porch, and swiped at the tears that had unexpectedly welled up. She was so pleased Cassie had started therapy with Jules and Jules had done amazing things for her.