Best-Kept Secrets. Dani Sinclair
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barely registering her mother’s words. “Why don’t we get cleaned up and go over there for lunch?”
Excitement sparkled in her mother’s faded blue eyes. “Oh, that would be fun, but I made egg salad for lunch.”
“We’ll have it for dinner instead. If we eat a big lunch we won’t want a heavy dinner anyhow. You can give Dad a steak or something. Come on, what do you say? We’ll be back home before Dad finishes delivering the mail. My treat.”
It was probably a different Jake Collins, Amy mused, but she wouldn’t be able to sit still until she knew one way or another. For nine years she’d dreamed of meeting Jake once again. A dozen scenarios had helped her pass many a sleepless night, especially when their daughter was a tiny infant. Being a single parent had seemed overwhelming at times.
“I’d like to go, of course,” her mother said.
That was enough for Amy. “Come on, Kelsey, let’s change. We’re going out for lunch.”
“Do I have to change?”
Oh, yes, for this lunch she definitely had to change. Amy wanted Jake to see just what he’d given up nine years ago. “How about wearing your new sundress?”
“The blue-green one that matches yours?”
“Why not? We’ll dress like twins.”
She saw her mother pale and reached out a hand toward the older woman. But Susan Thomas smiled quickly. “I have a blue sundress, as well,” her mother announced. “We shall be the best-dressed ladies at the Perrywrinkle.”
“Cool, Grandma.”
More than cool, Amy decided while trying to calm the butterflies attempting to launch their way free from her stomach. If it was the Jake Collins she’d known nine years ago, he was in for a real surprise.
Amy dressed quickly, brushing out her long brown hair until it snapped with energy. When Jake had last seen her she’d worn it pixie-short and the color had been a much deeper brown, but a few weeks at the beach with Kelsey had lightened her hair color and darkened her skin. Otherwise, she didn’t look all that different now from the woman he’d known.
As she started to put the opal studs in her ears, Amy hesitated. She turned and began hunting through the boxes she’d been storing here at the house. She found her old jewelry box after a few false starts. Almost defiantly, she picked out the crystal earrings Jake had given her so long ago and put them in her ears instead.
Staring at her image, she had second thoughts. Would Jake see the earrings as a sign that she’d been pining for him all these years? Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Jake had taught her a valuable lesson. One she’d never forget.
Falling in love was easy. Making someone else feel the same way was impossible. Jake had wanted a summer fling and she’d obliged, foolishly picturing forever. But his only commitment had been to the navy and the secretive work he did for them. The moment they told him it was time to move on, he did. Alone.
She took heart from the way the earrings sparkled in the sunlight sweeping in through her window. Hopefully, Jake would get the message she intended. He’d meant so little she’d practically forgotten him.
The Perrywrinkle was in easy walking distance. Mindful of her mother’s bad heart, however, Amy wanted to drive.
“Nonsense, darling. It’s much too beautiful a day to ride in a stuffy car when the restaurant is at the top of the hill.”
“Exactly. At the top of the hill.”
“So we’ll take our time,” Susan Thomas told her.
They did, even pausing beneath the bright September sun to watch a caterpillar make its way across the sidewalk. Though they had taken a popular shortcut up the hill behind the restaurant, her mother was huffing by the time they got to the top.
“I knew we should have taken the car,” Amy said worriedly.
“Don’t be silly, dear. I may not be young like you, but I can still walk a block without collapsing.”
Actually, it was Amy who was more likely to collapse. Her palms were sweating and her heart was beating much too fast. Surely in nine years she’d gotten over any infatuation she might have had for the man. He’d dumped her! He hadn’t even responded when she’d written and told him about their baby.
No, she wasn’t infatuated with Jake any longer. She just wanted him to see the beautiful, brilliant child he hadn’t wanted to claim all those years ago. And anyhow, it probably wasn’t the same man, she told herself for the umpteenth time.
“What’s going on, Mommy?”
Amy stared at the beautifully landscaped grounds for the first time. She realized a work crew was gathered around a deep pit only a few feet away. Even as she watched, more people left the restaurant and hurried over.
“I have no idea.”
“Can I go see?”
“Definitely not.”
“Well, I want to see what’s going on,” Susan announced, and headed in that direction.
Amy should have known. In Fools Point everyone minded everyone else’s business. She trailed behind her mother and her daughter. A police car appeared on the scene and a white-haired man stepped from the vehicle. Her mother came to a halt.
“That’s Chief Hepplewhite,” she said sotto voce. “This must be something big.”
“It’s true,” someone in the growing crowd was saying to his companion. “They found a bunch of bodies down there.”
Bodies?
“I want to see! Come on, Mommy!”
“No! Kelsey…”
They’d reached the edge of the crowd. Chief Hepplewhite and another police officer were descending a wooden ladder into the yawning pit. Amy’s mother and daughter paused several feet behind a dump truck to get an unobstructed view.
One of the construction workers stepped forward to correct the speaker. “There’s only two bodies down there and one of ’em’s a real tiny baby.”
Amy saw her mother go white. She began to sway unsteadily. “Mom?”
There was a sudden grinding noise and the dump truck suddenly began to roll backward.
“Get back!”
Amy reached for her daughter and her mother. Her mother stumbled. Before she could pull them to safety, someone roughly shoved all of them to the asphalt, out of the path of the runaway truck. A man’s large body, lying across her back, partly covered her.
“Stay still,” a masculine voice rumbled in her ear.
Voices shouted. Someone screamed. And the truck bounced past, scant inches from where the man had flung them. Amy gripped her daughter’s hand, fighting the adrenaline rush of fear.
There was a horrific sound as the truck’s rear wheel hit the lip of the hole. The truck canted to one side, off balance. The heavy load groaned and shifted. There was a tortured cry of metal as something gave way and gravel began spewing everywhere.
A haze of dust swept over them. The sudden silence that followed was almost painful. The person on top of her pulled away. Amy rolled over and came eye-to-eye with the only man she had ever loved.
“Are you okay?” he asked. An incredulous expression suddenly swept his harsh features as recognition hit him. “Amy?”
“Hello, Jake.”
“My God! What are you doing here?”
“Mommy?”
Amy sat up and tugged her daughter to her side. “I was taking my mother and my daughter to lunch.”
Feeling sucker-punched,