Divine Charity (9 page)

Val met his eyes over Charity’s head and his chest rose and fell with a silent chuckle. Justin just nodded.

Yeah, that’s how it is. Welcome to the family.

* * * *

Trevor Dornan stunk of stale sweat and nerves as he picked the lock on the bitch’s apartment. It was his best chance to find his kid. He shot furtive glances up and down the hall, swearing retribution to anyone who came upon him.

“Come on, son of a bitch.” He growled in frustration as he stopped to wipe his greasy brow. He wanted a shower and something to eat before he got to work. No, first he wanted to beat the fucking shit out of the bitch that had given him the slip and proved how disloyal she was by testifying against him. Then he wanted a fuck. Then shower and food. And a beer. He grinned.
That’d be perfect.

A truly disturbing thought occurred to him as he worked. Looking forward to all those things should’ve made him bone-hard but he’d felt only a slight tingle. His cock hadn’t been acting like normal lately and he was beginning to wonder if that wasn’t related to his disfigurement. He’d been able to get it up after he’d healed from the attack in jail and he’d figured he would just shoot blanks from then on but now he was starting to wonder.

He’d stayed off the roads since getting free of that dumb-ass sheriff’s deputy during a bathroom break. It was the dumb fuck’s own fault that his throat was cut and all his blood now soaked the asphalt outside that old gas station’s men’s room in some godforsaken stinking town in Southern Louisiana. He’d found his way to the interstate and laid low at a travel stop until he got lucky and stowed away on an eighteen-wheeler headed west in the middle of the night, when all the weigh stations would be closed. The truck hit Houston well before dawn and he jumped off at a traffic stop with the driver completely unaware of how he’d helped him.

It’d taken him a good two hours to find her place. All he could do was pray she was still at the address he’d taken her from before.
Second time’s a charm
.

Something finally clicked inside the lock and the knob turned for him. “Hell yes.” Glancing up and down the hallway, he silently slipped inside.

He grinned when he recognized the layout of furniture and the same pictures on her walls. He wanted to jump up and down and do a victory dance but he restrained himself. If his luck held out, she was sound asleep in her cushy bed, waiting for him.

Baby, baby, baby. Do I have a surprise for you.

Two minutes later, white hot with fury, he was nearly unable to refrain from exploding. She was gone. With his kid. His life was shit because of her. Because of her and her big mouth he had no nuts. His focus had narrowed to one fact. He wanted his kid, since he could have no others. She had to be nearly done being pregnant with it and he’d find her and take it. Even if that meant cutting it from her. That kid was his seed. He’d do what it took.

He looked around once his vision cleared and began to think. Signs of a break-in would put her on alert. If she was just out of town, her landlord would let her know if someone trashed her place. He was smart. She’d never know. Never suspect, until it was too late. His daddy hadn’t raised him to be no dummy. He’d done a good job on Trevor all on his own, same as Trevor would on his kid. No mouthy bitch needed for that job.

He made himself a double-decker sandwich with extra mayo on a sub roll, the extra creamy kind he especially liked with his favorite kind of bread. Yeah, him and his bitch were a perfect match. He ate up, drank two of her sodas since she didn’t have any damn beer, and then took a shower in her bathroom, using her bodywash and her shampoo, and her bath sponge. He changed into the clothing he’d found earlier in a clothes dryer on some poor schmuck’s back porch. It’d been pure undeniable luck that the clothing was in a size that’d fit him.

He cleaned up his mess in the kitchen and the bathroom so she’d never know he was there, at least not as long as she didn’t count her slices of bread or lunch meat. Like the careful sleuth he was, he went about her apartment, delving in here and there, searching for clues to her whereabouts. He’d almost been ready to give up when he noticed the intermittent, flashing light on her desktop computer.

“Well, hello there.” With any luck there was no password and lots of bookmarks. He rubbed his hands and nudged the mouse. A minute later the unprotected desktop popped up. A picturesque scene of cedar trees dotting a hilly landscape, most likely the Texas Hill Country. And right there on the screen was an icon for e-mail.

“For making this so easy for me, maybe I won’t slit your throat, bitch,” he growled softly to himself. “Maybe I’ll find a nice secluded place and chain you again so I can watch you suffer by yourself while you give birth to my kid. I could call my brother. Brian would like you. I might not be able to breed you anymore but I bet he’d like a chance at you.” The thought gave him shivers of pleasure and even made his cock tingle.

He double clicked on the icon and waited while the online mail site loaded. With any luck, there might be travel confirmations, or an e-mail from family giving a hint at her destination.

Nothing. Just a message from a doctor’s office.
His kid
. Maybe it was news about his kid. Hungry for information, he clicked on it and frowned. Then understanding dawned on him.

“Well, well, well.” He was grateful to the doctor’s office for being so careful with their patients’ information. It was important to confirm records transfers when they were requested via e-mail. Looked like his bitch wasn’t going to be back to the apartment any time soon. He still wouldn’t trash it because the noise might draw attention, but he did load up the desktop, monitor, and accessories in a cardboard box. He needed to take some time and regroup. Locate her but let her think she was safe. Let her finish baking the bun he’d put in her oven. He also packed up some food for the road and went about devising a means to get transportation.
Shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve masterminded all this so far.

March…

Charity pulled out her vibrating cell phone as she walked down the main hallway of the medical building she worked at in Divine. She’d just returned from lunch at Rudy’s with Dr. Emma Rivers and Maya Warner.

It was thanks to Emma and Maya that she’d found a job a few years before at the medical laboratory in the same building as Emma’s medical practice. Prior to that, she’d had to commute every day to Morehead for her job as a phlebotomist.

Drawing blood specimens wasn’t the most glamorous job but she’d been told on numerous occasions that with her level of skill she was worth her weight in gold. She was proud of that, and her ability to set anxious patients at ease.

She looked at the message from Justine on the phone screen.
“Mom, would you mind picking me up after school? I really don’t want to wait while Beau is at basketball practice. Not today.”

She typed a speedy reply.
“Sure, honey. See you out front around four.”

The reply was just as quick and in all capital letters.
“BLESS YOU!”

Charity smiled. Justine usually rode home from school with Beau in his truck after practice every day. Her level-headed daughter didn’t ask for favors unless it was important. She sighed, knowing that the time was drawing near for a little talk. Maybe they’d go for a treat that afternoon. Charity might be able to coax it out of her with soft-serve ice cream and hot fudge.

She slipped in through the employee entrance door. The receptionist grinned at her when she handed her the takeout box from Rudy’s and said, “Thank you for picking something up for me.” Charity slid her purse into her locker, washed her hands, and then returned to the office. The receptionist slid two forms across the counter and said, “You’ve got a client waiting.”

Charity lifted the forms, read the name twice, and then opened the door that led out to the waiting room. “Presley Ann.”

No one moved at first and she scanned the heads in chairs and spotted the blonde in the corner, facing the front windows, sitting alone. She glanced at the tests requested on the forms and schooled her reaction.

We’ve got babies just popping up all over the place lately. I sure didn’t see this one coming.

She walked over to where Presley Ann Woodworth sat and perched on the edge of the cushioned chair next to her. The pretty blonde was staring out the window. Her face was ghostly white and her eyes were vacant and bloodshot. Tear tracks marred her otherwise perfect makeup. “Presley Ann? Want to come on back with me?”

Presley Ann blinked and turned to her. “Huh? Oh. Sorry.” She sniffled and rose from the seat and slung her designer bag over her shoulder. Her confident front was belied by the way she teetered momentarily in her heels and Charity put out a hand to catch her in case she passed out. She directed Presley Ann to a seat in a private client room.

Presley Ann placed her arm where Charity directed her to and went through the motions as Charity prepared to draw blood to test for hCG, RPR, HIV and Alpha Fetal Protein. Tests normally performed early in pregnancy. Presley Ann looked off into the distance and didn’t even flinch when Charity did the venipuncture.

All Charity knew about Presley Ann was what she’d been told, and what she had observed about her bizarrely immature people skills. Intuition told her there was more to this young woman than anyone saw. She didn’t doubt Lydia Carlisle’s assessment of Presley Ann. She just thought there was more to the story.

Presley Ann gulped and sniffled as she looked off into the distance and Charity observed her become even paler as she switched out the glass vials one at a time, taking care to not inflict any additional pain.

“Presley Ann, did you eat lunch before coming in to have blood drawn?”

Drawing her attention back to Charity, Presley Ann looked up at her and Charity clucked sympathetically as her blue eyes rolled back and she passed out. She kept her from falling out of the chair and gently leaned her toward the padded arm and reached for a smelling salts ampule and broke it open. After she came to, Charity reached for a Wintergreen candy from the dish she kept filled just for such an event.

Presley Ann moaned and Charity quietly asked, “Are you diabetic?”

“Huh? No.”

“Open up, honey. I’m going to give you something that’ll help. I have a feeling you just gave me most of your blood sugar if you didn’t eat or drink anything before coming here. Better?”

Presley Ann whimpered and sucked on the candy. “What happened?”

“You passed out.” She handed her a paper cup filled with water. “Drink all of that.”

Presley Ann tipped the cup and drank every drop and asked for another after Charity was finished and had placed a bandage on her arm.

“Thank you. I didn’t realize…”

“It creeps up on you like that.”

Presley peered at Charity as she handed her the cup and then eyed the forms on the counter. “You won’t say anything, will you? I mean, I know people in small towns gossip. Soon enough everyone will know. I guess that should be the least of my worries.”

Charity patted her shoulder and said, “You stay put until you feel ready to stand up. And no, I won’t say a word. You’re covered under the Patient Privacy Act but…I’d never say anything even if that wasn’t the case. Everyone gossiped about my husband and me when we got married. They thought I was pregnant right out of high school graduation. We proved them wrong but it still hurt. I’d never do that.”

After a couple of minutes, during which she was almost painfully quiet, Presley Ann seemed to gather herself and stood. She looked down at her heels. “I hate these things.”

Charity chuckled. “I know what you mean, honey.”

“Why do we do this to ourselves? The heels, I mean?”

“Beats me sometimes. I suppose it’s to make us feel good about ourselves. I have a love-hate relationship with mine, too.”

Presley Ann chuckled dryly. “I wear them to impress men. Pretty soon I guess my feet won’t even fit in them…and I doubt I’ll be impressing anyone.” Her unfiltered honesty struck Charity as refreshing, despite the devastation that still showed in the dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

Charity smiled and said, “Enjoy them while you can, just be careful until you get something to eat. Your doctor will have the test results at your next appointment.”

Presley Ann turned to her, hesitated, and then held out her hand. “Thank you, Charity.”

Charity shook her hand gently, her heart filled with sympathy. “Hang in there, honey.”

Presley Ann finished up at the reception counter and was gone before Charity realized that she had dropped the juvenile speech affectation she normally used. Charity had thought it was put on but couldn’t understand why. Maybe Grace was right and she was afraid of being an adult, on her own. Considering the situation she was in, how grown up she could be was about to be tested. Parenthood was not for the weak of heart or character.

The afternoon rolled by at a quick pace and soon her workday was over. She pulled out her phone from her purse and checked for messages as she walked out to her car. Nothing new from Justine but there was a message from Justin.

“Hey, babe. Mom and Dad are coming to stay for the weekend. When you get home, pack a bag for a weekend getaway. Nothing fancy. You can pack some sexy lingerie but no guarantees you won’t go naked all weekend.”