“Who are you?” a girl’s voice came back.
“Sam!” Amy shouted, relief almost taking her knees out from under her. “Bailey, I’m Amy Finley. The music teacher’s sister.” She babbled words, not sure how this teenage girl would know her. “I have the sheriff with me. Do you have Aiden?”
A baby’s cry was her miraculous answer.
Behind her, Sam’s footsteps vibrated the ground, a welcome sound even if it might be the last time those feet headed her way. Amy had to hold a hand out to a tree to steady herself, not realizing how dizzy the swell of relief could make a person.
“Bailey.” Sam’s form took shape in front of her, his broad arms wrapping around both the girl and, Amy could now see, the small bundle that must be his son. “Cynthia?” Sam barked into the blue glow of a cell phone. “We have him. He’s safe.”
Amy swallowed hard and stepped closer, sliding an arm around the girl’s shoulders. She remembered the feeling of being alone and terrified in strange woods at night. The confusion and shock that came with the aftermath of a traumatic event. She recalled wanting someone’s arm aroundher, to lead her out of the dark, so she offered what she could to this brave girl who had sheltered a defenseless infant.
Sam held his son now, ignoring his phone and the police radio for a moment longer to cradle the child to his chest.
“Are you okay?” Bailey McCord asked Amy suddenly, her pretty young face close to Amy’s in the dark.
“Am I okay?” A crazy sort of laugh bubbled free. “Of course. I’m so relieved you’re both okay.”
“You’re crying so much.” Bailey pulled her shirtsleeve over the palm of her hand and swiped Amy’s right cheek, then her left. “I’m fine. We’re both fine,” she assured her, crooning to Amy as if she still cared for an infant and not a grown woman.
Wordless in the face of her strength, Amy could only nod.
“Here.” Sam turned to her then, his powerful presence affecting her deeply. “Can you take him while I call in?”
“He’s really hungry,” Bailey explained, patting the wailing boy’s back while Amy settled him against her chest. “I didn’t have time to get the diaper bag. I just ran when I heard someone in the house.”
Amy swiped more tears aside, focusing on the people who needed her. “Hunger is a welcome problem after what we’ve been fearing.”
Following the outline of Sam’s broad shoulders on their way out of the woods, Bailey chattered about trying to keep Aiden quiet and worrying someone was following them. Amy listened with half an ear as Aiden’s cries grew more frantic.
She kissed his downy head and knew Sam would take care of everything else tonight. She could go home since she didn’t really have a place here anyhow.
It was time to finish the cabin renovation. Because Sam was going to have a lot of evidence against Jeremy Covington very soon. Once he picked up Patience, Amy had the feeling things would start to fall into place. Her sister would be okay to testify whether or not Amy was in town.
Now that she’d made peace with her family, she needed to leave Heartache and let Sam move on with his life with his family.
Chapter Seventeen
BAILEY SAT AT the dining room table at Mrs. Hasting’s house, a cooling cup of cocoa beside her. Wrapped in a warm blanket that Dawson’s foster mother had given her, she was flanked by her father on one side and her mother on the other—a minor miracle she would have never anticipated.
But it seemed no matter how angry they remained with each other, they’d both been equally worried about her tonight. They’d arrived within minutes of one another, greeting her with hugs and tears. Yes, her father had shed tears for her safety. It was a moment Bailey would never forget.
And during her debriefing about what had happened tonight, she’d also told the officer—and her parents—everything that had happened between her and J.D. The shoving. The shouting. The wrestling that had turned painful on two different occasions.
When she was alone in those woods tonight, the need to share the truth seemed so simple and clear. Now a police report would be filed. A temporary restraining order wasalready in effect. And she felt like a boulder had been rolled off her back.
“Mr. and Mrs. McCord, I will never be able to thank your daughter enough,” Sheriff Reyes told Bailey’s dad after the lady police officer finished taking Bailey’s statement. “She showed an incredible amount of presence of mind to keep my son safe today.”
Bailey sipped from the mug of hot chocolate, letting the sweet warmth settle her nerves. The second wind she’d felt after the sheriff had found her was starting to fade, making her realize—and really, deeply appreciate—how very lucky she was to be safe right now. How lucky that tiny baby was, too. How would she have ever slept again if Aiden Reyes had been kidnapped on her watch?
“I couldn’t be more proud,” her father was saying while her mother stroked a hand over Bailey’s hair in the middle of her back.
“Bailey.” Her mom leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “Officer Marquette said we’re free to go. But I think someone else would like to speak to you.”
Just outside the dining room, she noticed Dawson straddling a kitchen chair at the breakfast bar, scrolling through screens on his phone. His gaze darted toward her, long enough to make her heart skip a beat.
“Is that okay?” She shouldered her way out of the blanket as she stood. “I mean, I don’t need to do anything else?”
“We can leave anytime.” Her mom rose to her feet, too, slipping her arms into a heavy cardigan sweater. “And I’m so sorry if I pushed you to be with J.D.—”
