“Oh,” Eden said flatly. “That was Brad. I was hoping—”
“That I’d rescue everyone and be a hero?” Stuart asked sarcastically. “Wouldn’t that foil your plans of getting my wife and child to leave me and live with you?”
“I don’t want them to live with me,” Eden said as she took his arm and pulled him upright.
“That’s what you’ve always wanted. You’ve done everything you can to make Missy think that I’m incompetent and that I can’t support my own family. You’ve—”
“Stuart, do you think it’s possible that you could tell me what’s wrong with me after everyone’s life is safe? What happened to Brad? Where is Melissa?”
“I don’t know. I flew from New York to Raleigh, then drove a rental car to Arundel. My intention was to pick up my wife and take her home. You can imagine my surprise when I saw my mother-in-law inside a car beside some strange man at eleven o’clock at night. I did the natural thing and followed her—you. When I saw you turn into a dirt road, I parked just off the highway and walked in. I saw the light and got here just in time to see…”
“See what?” she asked gently.
“See that man get shot in the head. Who was he?”
“Drake Haughton. He worked for Brad, the man who was shot in the leg,” Eden said. “Stuart, I think we should go. I have a feeling that everyone has gone back to my house and they’re waiting for me.”
“For you?” Stuart asked, and Eden couldn’t help grimacing. Stuart made it sound as though he couldn’t believe anyone would want her.
“Stuart,” she said, her teeth together and her hands made into fists. “Yes, my daughter does want to leave you, and, yes, she wants her and the baby to live with me. As you know, I have a lot of influence over my daughter, so it’s up to me what she does with her future. If you don’t cut out your snide, catty, jealous remarks, so help me I will do everything in my power to get her to leave you. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes,” he said softly. “What do you want me to do?”
“Can you drive a car?”
She could tell that he was fighting back a sarcastic remark, but all he said was “Yes.”
“Then follow me. We’re going to get Brad’s car and go back to Farrington Manor.”
Eden nearly ran through the woods, listening to the sounds, but she heard nothing that made her think that people were hiding nearby. What had happened? Where was Melissa? she thought, and her entire body started to shake, but she got it under control. Where were Jared and Brad? Remi?
Eden pulled the key Brad had given her from inside her pocket and handed it to Stuart. As soon as he started the car, she climbed into the backseat. She was going to search for the weapons that Brad had told her were hidden in the car.
“What are you looking for?” Stuart asked as he turned the car around and headed for the highway.
“Guns. Knives. Explosives. Whatever I can find,” Eden said. Her head was hanging over the backseat as she searched the floor. She found a pistol taped under the driver’s seat. There was a rifle under the overh
ang of the backseat.
“I think I’m lying on one,” came a voice from the back.
Stuart slammed on the brakes so hard that Eden’s face hit the back of the seat. She felt blood begin to run from her nose.
In a second, Stuart had jumped out of the car and run to the back, where he threw open the big back door. Eden, dripping blood, hung over the seat. Her daughter, her beautiful daughter, was lying on her side, curled up in the back of the Jeep.
Eden reached for her daughter, but Stuart beat her to Melissa. He pulled his wife from the car and was kissing her face all over.
“I was crazy with worry,” Stuart was saying between kisses. “Don’t you know that I wouldn’t have a life without you? You’re my very breath. You’re everything to me.”
“I thought you didn’t care about me anymore,” Melissa was saying, crying and kissing Stuart back.
Eden turned away from them and sat down in the backseat. There was a box of tissues on the floor, and she pressed a handful to her bleeding nose. In her lap was a pistol, a rifle across her legs. Did every mother have this moment? she thought. This moment when she realized that she’d lost her child?
“I think we better go,” she said softly, but no one heard her. She was tempted to climb over the seat and drive away. If she was sure Melissa—and, okay, Stuart—would be safe, she’d do it. But Eden didn’t know who or what was still outside.
“Let’s go!” she said, louder, making them hear her. Holding hands, not wanting to separate, Stuart and Melissa sat side by side in the backseat and Eden drove back to Arundel. When she stopped the car in front of the sheriff’s house it didn’t take much persuasion to get them to get out.
“Mother,” Melissa said. “I don’t think you should go back there. I think you should stay with us and talk to the sheriff.”