CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It took them an hour to get to Provo, using back roads and dirt trails to finally make it into the city. Once there, they parked the car in a shopping mall garage and sought a pay phone. Hank called the airport, dismayed to discover the earliest flight to San Bernardino was eight hours away.
“I don’t want to hang around for eight hours,” he said with a frown as he hung up the phone.
“Maybe we can catch a bus right away,” Colette suggested. “Besides, I’m not real thrilled about flying.”
Hank leaned against the phone stand and rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. “The bus is probably better anyway. The first thing they’ll do if and when they find the car is guess that we got on a plane.”
She nodded absently. “Hank…please let me call my sisters.” She eyed the phone longingly, then looked back at him. “I need to let them know I’m safe.” She didn’t know how he would respond to her plea. He’d been emotionally removed from her since the moment they’d finished making love and gotten back into the car. “Hank, it’s important to me.”
“Colette, it’s just not smart.”
“I don’t care whether it’s smart or not. I want to call and I’m not moving a foot from this phone until I do.” She raised her chin defiantly.
“Colette, be reasonable.” A muscle ticked in Hank’s jaw, an open display of irritation.
“I’m tired of being reasonable. I know Abby and Belinda must be frantic. I’ve promised you I wouldn’t try to run again. I’m committed to seeing this whole mess through, but I’m serious about this. If you don’t let me make this call, you’ll have to carry me kicking and screaming away from here.”
He hesitated a moment, the jaw muscle working overtime; he dug out a handful of change and handed it to her. As she deposited the money and dialed, he walked several steps away from the phone to give her some semblance of privacy.
Abby answered and the sound of her voice immediately brought thick emotion to Colette’s throat. “Abby?” She swallowed against her tears as Abby responded half hysterically. It took her a few moments to calm Abby, reassure her that everything was fine and Colette and Brook safe.
“But where are you?” Abby asked when Colette had explained the situation to her.
“I can’t say, but we’re on our way to San Bernardino. We should be there sometime tomorrow.”
“Then what?” Abby asked.
“Hank says we’ll stay in a safe house, a place in a quiet little suburb where nobody will find us. We’ll stay there until the trial…then I don’t know what will happen.”
“I do. You’ll come home,” Abby answered in her no-nonsense tone.
“But, Abby, if Collier goes to prison, that doesn’t mean he won’t try to get revenge on me.”
“I don’t give a damn if he sends an army after you, you belong here at the ranch with us.”
Colette closed her eyes and gripped the phone closer against her ear, grateful for the love and support that radiated to her over the line. “Before I come home I want to try to find Brook’s father. I need to know why he’s not with me, what’s kept him from me. I need to know if he’s my prince.”
Abby didn’t answer for a moment, and Colette wondered if Abby was thinking of the three little girls they had been, each hoping for a prince to marry them and be their soul mates for life. “Do what you need to do Colette, but know Belinda and I are here for you no matter what happens.”
“I know. Somehow I’ll stay in touch,” Colette replied, then, saying goodbye, she hung up. She turned to Hank, who stood some distance away with his back to her. She shifted Brook from one arm to the other, sorry they’d left the car seat behind. “Thank you,” she said softly as she touched his arm.
He spun around, the aloofness still on his features, in the dispassionate way he glanced at her. “Let’s get going.”
The bus station was nearly a mile away from where they’d left the car. Colette shifted the baby from arm to arm, trying to keep up with Hank’s long strides and fighting down a wave of irritation.
From the moment she’d tapped into his passion, he’d turned off his emotions. After the explosive lovemakingthey’d shared, how could he be so detached? So cool and unapproachable?
Or was it fear? She toyed with this thought, wondering if perhaps he was afraid that because they made love, she’d expect something more from him. Maybe he was afraid she’d demand an emotional commitment, she’d desire a surrogate father for Brook if she couldn’t find the real thing.
Had his wife’s death scarred him so deeply that he feared any commitment of any kind to another woman? She thought of Abby. She’d given her heart to a cowboy who’d abandoned her and now swore she’d never give love a second chance. Deep love apparently caused devastating scars.
She wondered if she’d loved Brook’s father that deeply and would her heart grow a hard shell if she discovered Brook’s father was an uncaring man who wanted nothing to do with either his child or her mother? Somehow Colette couldn’t see herself losing faith in love, no longer believing in a happily-ever-after ending for herself and her daughter.
All she had to do to get to her happy ending was avoid an army of hitmen, testify in the trial of a powerful killer and find the man she loved despite the fact she couldn’t remember a thing about him. A wave of hopelessness swept through her and she moved closer to Hank, somehow feeling safer even walking in his shadow.
The bus station was a squat building that appeared to waver in the afternoon heat. Once inside, Hank bought two tickets, obviously pleased that the next bus left within the hour. “We’d better grab a hot dog or something,” he said, pointing to a concession.“Who knows how often the bus will stop between here and our destination.”
