Chapter 11: Chapter 11

ELI

Eli jerked awake when he heard the scream and quickly stumbled from the couch. He rushed back to the bedrooms, checking the girls first to find they were sleeping peacefully.

He went to Andie’s room and immediately spotted her standing in front of the small window. He walked up to her slowly. “Andie?”

She spun around, and under the soft glow from the bedside lamp, he could see how pale she was, her eyes wide with fear, and she was shaking.

He glanced at the digital alarm clock. Two forty-five. She moved into him, wrapping her arms around him, and laid her head just below his chest.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he rubbed her back and cradled her head.

“Must have just been a bad dream,” she mumbled into his shirt.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She began to tremble a little more. “It’s the same dream I’ve been having since the night at the station. Only it shifted to something different. Someone was standing outside my window and looking—oh, no, the girls!”

She pulled away, but he pulled her back to him.

“Easy, Andie, they’re okay. I checked on them before I came in here. I wanted to make sure you weren’t in there.” He rubbed her shoulders a little. “Why don’t you try to get a little more sleep?”

Her eyes darted to the clock, and she let out a loud, heavy sigh. “There’s no point. It’s already three. I have to be up in half an hour to shower and get the girls ready, so I can start baking.”

“I could stay and watch them today if you’d like me to,” he offered, pulling her back against him.

“It’s okay, Eli. You have the ranch to worry about. I can handle the girls.” She pulled away, but not before he saw the tears brimming her soft gray eyes. She grabbed some clothes and rushed into the bathroom.

“Andie,” he called, but she just shut the door. He took a deep breath. He didn’t know what to do. Part of him wanted to go after her. Part of him knew she wanted space.

He opted for giving her space. So much had happened in the last week. But he wasn’t leaving until he helped her get Lily and Lucy to the bakery.

He headed to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

ANDIE

Andie took a fast shower, got herself ready for work then headed to get the girls. The scent of fresh coffee swirled around her. It smelled so delicious, but she didn’t think she’d give in to the temptation.

Her on coffee, with the little sleep she had been getting, was a disastrous idea. She went to get the girls up and ready, then headed to the kitchen.

She stopped dead when she saw Eli standing in her little kitchen. Would she ever get used to how much room he took up?

He turned around as if he felt her presence and set the black coffee mug on the counter. He walked to her, took Lucy, and placed her in the highchair while Andie put Lily in the other.

Lily was slowly getting used to the schedule of waking up so early in the morning.

Andie hated doing it to her but didn’t have a choice. She had placed an ad for a babysitter for Lucy a while ago with no luck. Who would take care of two girls?

She went to get the jars of baby food while Eli adjusted the chairs in front of the girls like he’d been doing it forever. She took in a deep breath and headed back to them.

She and Eli began to feed them. Soon they were drinking their bottles, and Eli helped her clean up. He then helped her get Lily and Lucy over to the bakery.

He kissed the girls as he placed them in the playpen and then turned to her. He laid his hands on her hips gently. “I’ll be back closer to when you close up to help with the girls. If you need me, call, okay?”

She nodded, and before she could pull away, he tilted his hat back and kissed her with the same urgency as their first kiss yesterday.

She felt the warmth spread across her body as she kissed him back. Then he slowly pulled away and headed out to his truck next door.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she went to the door and locked it. That man wasn’t safe to be doing these things with. Only her body seemed to refuse to listen. But she had to make it listen, some way, somehow.

ELI

Eli pulled into his driveway, but something nagged at him to turn around and go back to Andie and the girls, even though he knew it would probably just make her angry.

Six hours. They would only be out of his sight for six hours. What could possibly happen in six hours?

Shit, his brother and Candice had died in less time than that. His hand tightened on the steering wheel as he stared at the dark, empty house. He replayed that night in his head.

Candice had Lily ready around five, and she and Caleb took Lily to Andie about six. They had been dead for at least five hours before he had woken up and received the message at four a.m.

So somehow, between 7 and 11 p.m., they had the run-in with the robber. Four hours alone, together, just loving each other, and wham! Gone.

But why would someone go after Andie? Then again, why would someone go up against his brother? He was bigger than Eli, had more muscle, and was a couple of inches taller.

Most people in their right mind wouldn’t approach men their size. And yet, someone had, maybe because they had the gun.

He had to get his head on straight and trust that if Andie sensed danger, she’d call him and the cops.

He let out another sigh and headed inside, where he fixed himself more coffee and then got ready for the day. He went out to the barn, where Dale already was.

“Hey, boss. Late night?” Dale mused. His eyes crinkled and twinkled as he smiled.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Eli answered as he took another chug of his coffee from the foam cup he had poured it in.

“Andie Malone finally keeping you entertained?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking. She’s been having some weird feelings.” Eli sighed as he adjusted his Stetson and took another swig of the hot liquid in his cup.

Dale’s smile turned into a serious frown. “Weird feelings? Toward you, or what?”

“Like someone’s watching her and the girls. I went over yesterday, and it happened again, so I stayed the night on a very small, uncomfortable couch.

“I wanted to make sure they all stayed safe or give the person she feels may be watching them the hint that she’s with someone and not alone.

“I want to tell Murphy, Carl, or Dean, but you know none of them will do anything until there is proof.” He let out an aggravated breath.

Dale laid a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you have her stay here? I mean, it’s safe here with an alarm system, and we hired hands would help keep a look out for her and the girls.”

Eli met his soft brown eyes. “Yeah, but she’s got the bakery. That’s how she makes her living and supports the girls. I doubt she’d go for it.”

Dale’s brown eyes twinkled a little. “She could still run it.

“We could find someone we know very well to watch the girls here, and someone could always guard her while she’s at the bakery, escort her back here, and one of us could keep watch over the girls and sitter.”

Eli thought about it for a minute. “But who would watch Lil and Lucy? No one’s been too helpful to Andie in the last almost two years she’s been here. I’m surprised she’s stuck around as long as she has.”

“She stayed because of Candice,” Dale supplied quietly. “Belle might watch them.”

“Your girl?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to her and see what she says.”

“Okay, I’m going to head back there when she closes up today. You know I found that stubborn woman up on a ladder yesterday, wrapped up in her garden hose.”

He shook his head at the thought. “It could have ended badly if I hadn’t shown up. She fell off of it.”

Dale let out a whistle. “That woman is something else. You may have met your match with her.”

Eli frowned at Dale a little. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on. Everyone knew Caleb and Candice were trying to set you two up. Might have been the reason they gave her custody of Lil, to bring you two together,” Dale suggested.

Eli stood there silent for a few minutes.

Yeah, Caleb had given some hints to him. But had Candice been in on it too? Had she tried to sell him on Andie, and when he didn’t bite, it made her even more secluded?

Shit. He was an asshat.

Someone didn’t kiss back like that unless they’d had feelings before. He hung his head and rubbed the back of his neck. What was he going to do?

He left Dale to go start the work that needed to be done with so many thoughts of Andie running through his mind.

Before he knew it, it was almost ten. He rushed into the house and grabbed a change of clothes, and his body wash, just in case he ended up staying with Andie again. He would worry about her if he didn’t.

ANDIE

Andie let out a breath as a few more straggling customers walked into the shop, and she hurried to help them.

She glanced at the clock. Eli said he’d be there before she closed, and he wasn’t. She closed her eyes briefly. She had believed him, and she shouldn’t have.

She could only depend on herself, and that’s the way it had to be. She rang up the last customers and then followed them to the door. She flipped the sign when she heard the girls let out screams.

She turned around quickly, and fear squeezed her heart. Someone was crouched down in front of the playpen. “Excuse me. I’m closing now. I need you to leave.”

He stood and turned toward her. She sucked in a sharp breath. She rushed to the girls, putting herself between him and the playpen.

“Hello, beautiful. How’re you?” His raspy voice raked against her skin.

“You’re not supposed to be here. You can’t be here.” She glared at the man she thought she had loved at one time. She felt nothing as she stared into his lifeless, beady black eyes.

“Yeah, news about Candice got to me. I know how close you two were, so I figured I’d check to see how you were handling it.” He stepped closer to her.

“Oh, what, now you care? Well, you see, I’m fine now, so you can leave.” She glared at him more.

He stepped even closer and reached out to touch her cheek, but she slapped his hand away. “Oh, come on, Andrea. I’m sorry. I’ve missed you.”

“Well, I haven’t missed you. I’ll never forget what you did, what you almost caused. You need to leave, Daryl. Now.” She folded her arms across her chest, trying her best not to show any fear.

“Come on, love. I just want to talk. Which one is mine?” he asked and went to step around her.

She hurried into his path and pushed him away from the girls. “That’s none of your damn business. You’ll never know either.”

He reached out and gripped her cheeks painfully between his thumb and fingers. “That dirty mouth of yours always set me off. I have a right to know which one is my daughter.”

She slapped his hand away from her and pushed him back again. “Over my dead body. How long have you been here?”

Daryl shrugged as his dark gaze hardened more. “You know you’re not supposed to question me.”

She dug into her back pocket to grab her phone. “And you know you’re not supposed to be anywhere near us. Now leave,” she demanded.

He reached out and pushed her aside. “I want to know which one is mine.” He took a step toward the playpen, but Andie darted in front of him again and shoved him back.

He glared at her. “You dare to get between me and my daughter?” He pulled his hand back and backhanded her hard. “You know better than to get in my way.”

The force knocked her down, and she dropped her phone. It skidded across the floor.

“Maybe you needed a reminder. Now, which one is mine?” He yanked her up by her hair.

“Fine, neither one of them. I lost the one you put in me.”

“You’re a lying bitch. I will leave as soon as you tell me.”

“Go to hell, asshole,” she gritted out, and she saw his hand raise again. She knew it was going to hurt.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” the male voice shouted from behind them.

Andie’s eyes darted around Daryl. Eli. Thank God.

Daryl shoved her back to the ground as the girls started to cry.

Andie went to comfort them but was met with another slap to the face. The next thing she knew, Eli and Daryl were on the ground fighting. Eli had tackled Daryl and slammed his fist into Daryl’s face.

Andie scrambled to her phone and began to call 911. She hurriedly explained what was going on.

They had an officer en route, and Andie grabbed both girls. She tried to soothe them as she took them away from the violence. Eli was giving some good punches.

Andie rushed to the kitchen with Lily and Lucy. She sat down against a bare wall and began to rock them gently, hoping the cops would show up soon.

She held the girls closer to her when she heard other voices in the shop. She fought the tears that wanted to fall. Her scalp stung a little from Daryl yanking on her hair, and her face stung a lot.

“Andie?” the deep male voice called as the metal door swung open.

“Eli?” she whispered.

He rushed to them and knelt in front of her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded a little then he pulled all three of them into his arms. “I’m so sorry I was late. Time seemed to slip away from me. Are Lil and Lucy okay?”

“I think so. A little upset, but I didn’t let him touch either of them.”

“Was that Lucy’s father?”

“More like sperm donor, but, yeah, that was him.” She fought the sob that was trying to get out.

“Carl and Dean are here. They want to talk to you.” He stood and helped her up, then took Lily, holding her and Lucy close to him as they headed out to the shop area.

Carl and Dean were standing, whispering but fell silent the minute they walked out.

Andie glanced at the two officers. ~And so it begins, the rumors she didn’t want Eli to get caught up in. But he asked for it.~

Carl stepped forward, and she met his soft, deep-blue eyes. They seemed sympathetic, but that didn’t mean he approved of Eli being around her.

“Have a seat, you two,” he began, then sat down across from them. “Who is that man?”

“My ex. He’s not supposed to be near me. Restraining order,” Andie answered, not flinching nor averting her gaze from Carl. “He’s not supposed to be near Lucy either.”

“Why?” he asked after he wrote down some notes.

“Well, obviously because he has a short fuse and is abusive,” she answered, not wanting to talk about it.

“So abusive you had a restraining order put against him for Lucy as well?”

“Yes.”

“And why did a judge agree to that?”

She bit the inside of her cheek as she adjusted Lucy. “Because he didn’t and doesn’t want kids.”

“Why was he here?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since the day I filed the order. They kept him away from me when we had it settled in court.”

“Why?”

She bit her lip hard as she glanced out the window and saw Daryl thrashing around in the cop car.

“So he didn’t hurt me again. They wanted him away from me during the trial. Candice made sure it was carried out,” she whispered as she looked at Carl.

“Must have been pretty bad, huh?”

Andie shrugged. “I’m still alive.”

Carl narrowed his gaze at her a little.

She didn’t squirm like most would have under that gaze.

“How bad was it?”

“I’m sorry, what does that have to do with today?” she asked, her voice returning to her a little more.

“We want to know how dangerous he can be. We need to know if he has ever broken the restraining order before?”

“No. Then again, he’s never found me before. He said he heard about Candice and wanted to make sure I was handling it okay.”

“How bad was it, Andie?” Carl asked, his voice softer than before.

“Bad enough that I almost lost Lucy,” she whispered as she pulled her daughter closer to her.

“Yet Candice and Caleb gave you guardianship over Lily. Did Caleb know about the guy?”

“Y-yeah, of course he did. I stayed with them after that night. I got away as soon as I could, and I came to stay with Candice and him on Caleb’s request.”

Eli was tensing up beside her. “What’s that got to do with any of this?”

“Seems a little odd that shortly after they were killed, her ex shows up out of the blue,” Dean interrupted.

Andie’s eyes flew to the other man. “What are you suggesting?”

“Are you sure he didn’t know where you were, that maybe you guys would plan to take off with Lily after Candice and Caleb were disposed of, then would give her back to Eli for a price?”

Eli was the one to demand an answer. “Again, what are you guys implying? I think we’re done here. He broke the order. Shouldn’t you be giving him the third degree?”

“Well, your ranch is finally booming, great steady income. Maybe her baby’s daddy killed your brother and sister-in-law because she knew she would be the guardian. Boom, trade Lily for money.”

Andie just stared at the two men. “Because I want every fancy thing in the world,” she said sarcastically.

She glanced at both cops. “I didn’t know Candice and Caleb made me the custodial holder until that will was read. I love Lily as much as I love Lucy, and you want to know how bad it was?

“He kicked me repeatedly in my stomach, beat me until almost every inch of me was black and blue, and he threw me down a flight of stairs. That’s how badly he didn’t want kids.

“He was trying to make me miscarry Lucy. My neighbor, just by chance, heard me scream and called the cops.

“The doctor thought I would barely make it, let alone Lucy, who I wasn’t even supposed to be able to have to begin with.” She glared at the men but kept her tone level so she wouldn’t scare the kids.

“Okay, Andie, okay.” Carl held up his hands. “We just needed to do our jobs. When Murphy heard about the call, she wanted us to question you.”

“Why me? And why now?”

“We still can’t find anything on their murders, and she was starting to think you had a motive.”

Her stomach knotted up and rolled, and she felt like she was going to be sick. “How could I have had anything to do with it? I had Lily and Lucy from seven that night, and I loved Candice. She was my only family.”

“She thought up the money scandal. She’s getting desperate.”

Andie looked at Eli. His gaze was trained on the officers before them. He had so much anger radiating off of him he looked almost dangerous.

“You can tell Murphy to screw off. Candice and Caleb left Lil to Andie for a reason, so tell her I said to keep looking and back off of Andie. Is Murphy losing her edge or what?” he demanded, pulling Andie to her feet.

“Come on, baby. Let’s get you three home.” He opened the shop door and waited for Carl and Dean to leave before he took her out of the bakery, locked it up, and led her home.

And she let him. She felt so lost and numb. Why would they think she had anything to do with Candice and Caleb’s deaths?

Had they forgotten how sick she had gotten after she identified them? She let out a choking sob but pulled her emotions in as she and Eli walked back to her house.

She hurried to the nursery and changed Lucy, then traded Eli, who had followed her. There was such a strain between them now, or was it just her? Now he’d try to take Lily away, and her heart broke at the thought.

They fed the girls and put them down for their naps. She expected Eli to leave, but he didn’t.

He went to the living room while she went to take a shower. How the hell was she going to prove she had nothing to do with her best friend and her husband’s deaths?