Hearths of Fire (15 page)

“Climb back on the bed and—”

Noise came from the front of the house and within seconds Mandy’s voice carried through
the air. Charlotte placed a hand on his chest and brought one finger up to the mouth
he’d just devoured. She shook her head vigorously and although he too didn’t want
to interrupt what they were doing, it would seem they didn’t have a choice.

“Charlotte? Neal?” Mandy’s tone contained excitement as the sound of her voice indicated
she’d made it to the kitchen. “Are you guys home?”

“We can’t ignore her, Char,” Neal said, albeit reluctantly. Charlotte squeezed her
eyes shut and scrunched her nose as if she was holding back a scream. With the way
his dick was painfully throbbing, he understood exactly how she felt. It didn’t mean
they couldn’t continue on after seeing what Mandy needed. “She might have news about
Becky.”

Charlotte nodded and jerkily proceeded to gather up her clothes. They both dressed
quickly and silently, as there wasn’t much to say at the moment. They’d be able to
talk about this later. It wasn’t until he took a moment to grab her hand that he realized
she was trembling. Pulling her into his arms, he rested his cheek against her head
and inhaled her sweet fragrance.

“I promise you that we will finish what we started.”

“Do you?” Charlotte shifted in his arms until she was looking up at him with those
beautiful baby blues that contained so much uncertainty within them. “You leave tomorrow
and—”

“I’m staying until Tuesday.” Neal brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers,
liking that the flush from earlier was still there. He wouldn’t leave Hearth without
giving both of them what they wanted. “As long as you know that this ceases come Tuesday.
We get each other out of our systems and then go on with our lives.”

“Is that what this is?” Charlotte searched his face as if he held the answers. He
didn’t and his chest tightened at the pain in her eyes. “Some therapeutic measure
to forget the past?”

“Does it matter?” Neal threw out the question, not with the intention of hurting her
but more in the manner of ensuring she understood where they both stood. “We want
each other. You said it yourself.”

Charlotte didn’t get to reply when her cell rang from where it was sitting on her
nightstand. He let her go to pick it up, although it was obvious that she didn’t want
this conversation to end. The long drawn-out sigh and a glance toward the door told
him that it was Mandy calling. If she wanted to talk to them that bad, chances were
it was in regards to Becky.

“Let’s find out what’s going on.” Neal led the way through the bedroom door and down
the hallway to the kitchen where Mandy had just pulled the phone away from her ear.
Much to his surprise Garreth was in attendance and leaning up against the living room
archway. “Mandy? Has Becky been found?”

“No,” Mandy replied with a shake of her head, her mouth turning down in a frown. Her
gaze went past his shoulder to where Charlotte had walked in behind him. She looked
well kissed and it was apparent what the two of them had been doing. It surprised
him when Mandy didn’t address it but instead she smiled and held up her left hand.
“Garreth and I are getting married.”

‡

C
harlotte couldn’t remember
what was said or who spoke first, but she found herself being embraced by Mandy.
As she held her sister close and looked up at Neal, she couldn’t prevent the tears
that welled up and threatened to spill. Mandy was no longer the little girl that needed
her sister to become a mother. She was no longer wearing pigtails, playing with her
dolls, or telling her how disgusting boys were. She was a woman who in less than a
week would be able to make her own decisions, dead set on proving that she’d certainly
outgrown her stilted opinion of boys. Charlotte wanted nothing more than to turn back
the clock to a time when what she said had an impact instead of being viewed as nothing
more than a quick source of reference and material support.

“Charlotte, I know you’re going to think it’s too soon, but it’s not,” Mandy declared,
pulling away far enough to hold onto Charlotte’s hands. Seeing the joyful light in
her baby sister’s eyes was almost too much to take. What could be said to make her
see the reality of the situation? “Life is too short. The candle ceremony for Becky
made us realize that we shouldn’t wait until after I attend nursing school or Garreth
takes over his church. We need to make the most of what is here and available to us
now.”

Charlotte remained silent, looking down at their clasped hands. It was clear that
nothing she or Neal said would get Mandy to change her mind. Hell, those weren’t even
her sister’s words. She didn’t talk like that, but Garreth probably did. For the moment
he had won and there wasn’t a single thing that anyone could do about it at the moment.
Forcing a smile, Charlotte looked up and past Mandy to see Garreth studying her. She
could see the surprise when she released Mandy’s hands and walked over to him with
her arms extended.

“Garreth, there is nothing more important to me than my baby sister’s happiness,”
Charlotte stated through gritted teeth, praying that the words didn’t seem forced
but that they were loud enough for Mandy to hear. She could feel the stiff way he
held himself and she prided herself on the fact that she caught him off guard with
her response. It was time to put a wrench into whatever plan he and his cult had designed.
“I wish you nothing but the very best you all deserve.”

Charlotte pulled away from Garreth, ignoring the urge to wipe her hands on her jeans
to get rid of the disgusting feeling that clung to her. It was apparent that he was
trying to gauge exactly where she was going with this, but it was time to play this
game the way it was intended—by any means necessary. She hoped that crossing her arms
didn’t give off her apprehension, but it was such an unconscious gesture that she’d
done it before realizing what she’d been doing. Five minutes ago she’d been in Neal’s
arms where she’d been shielded from reality. She really did need a time machine that
could transport them back to a much happier time.

“You have no idea how much that means to me,” Mandy said, tears in her eyes for an
entirely different reason than the one that made Charlotte want to cry. “I know that
you think I’m too young…that we’re both too young, but we don’t want—”

“What Mandy is trying to say is that it hurts her to see how the two of you have grown
apart.” Garreth was treading on thin ice and Charlotte glanced over at Neal, who didn’t
seem in any way offended by the words. She knew better by the muscle twitching in
his jaw. “If the two of you had married after high school, things might have been
different for everyone concerned.”

“That’s very true,” Neal said, although there was no concession in his voice. “Had
we gone through with it we might be divorced by now. I might have made different decisions
and gotten myself killed while on deployment. Or maybe it would have worked and we
would be living in some other state, where you and Mandy never would have met. Fate
is a fickle bitch, isn’t she?”

Garreth didn’t seem to know how to reply and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. If
this was how he responded to someone pushing back, it didn’t instill Charlotte with
much faith regarding him leading a church. There was a momentary thunderclap of uncomfortable
silence before Mandy ended it by saying they had wanted to share the news and that
they were now going to go and tell his parents. Charlotte’s stomach hurled up in protest,
but there was nothing she could say or do to prevent this from happening.

“We want you to be happy, kiddo.” Neal pulled Mandy into his arms and held her for
a brief moment. Charlotte knew he was experiencing an emotion of helplessness, but
as each second passed a determined sentiment came over her. The Ashes weren’t going
to take her sister and Garreth’s true intentions would eventually make themselves
known. She had to believe that. “Tomorrow we’ll see where the sheriff stands with
the investigation. We’ll all help find Becky.”

“Thank you for being here, Neal.” Mandy pulled away and wiped away her tears with
her fingertips before hugging Charlotte once more. “I’ll be back in an hour, but you
guys don’t have to wait up if you’d rather not.”

“We’ll be waiting, and Garreth—make sure to walk Mandy back to the door when you bring
her home,” Neal countered, steadying his gaze on Garreth. “Drive safe and remember
to tell your parents that we said hello.”

Garreth nodded as he reached for Mandy’s hand. Charlotte and Neal stayed where they
were until they heard the front door close. She even managed to not say anything until
she heard the engine of Garreth’s vehicle start and then fade away into the distance.
She wanted to double over and scream with all of her might, but she took a more dignified
approach by placing her hands over her face and counting to ten. Nothing could really
make a difference at this point.

“Tell me what we have to do to fix this.” Charlotte paced the kitchen, ignoring his
outstretched hand. Neal’s embrace wouldn’t take this reality away. He already said
he was leaving Tuesday and she would be left here to deal with the Ashes. She’d have
to watch from afar as her sister was led down some sinister path for whatever destiny
the Ashes thought was foretold from their skewed interpretation of the scriptures.
“She can’t go through with this. There has to be a way that we can force Mandy to
realize how fucked up they really are. They are, right? I mean, I’m not just stirring
this shit up in my head, am I? For god’s sake, we think the Ashes took Becky and now
Mandy is engaged to their fucking messiah. Garreth just used her missing friend as
an excuse to further his agenda. I’m just amazed that she can’t see through his façade.
He tried making us look bad and she didn’t seem to see that at all. It’s like he’s
blinded her. I—”

“Char, look at me.” Neal’s calm, steady, and stern voice broke through the panic and
she finally stopped walking back and forth. Seeing the determination in his green
eyes made her feel as if she was surrounded by his strength. “I won’t leave Hearth
unless I know Mandy is safe. You have my word.”

*

What the hell
made him say that to Charlotte? Neal could feel another nail in his coffin being
tacked shut with every passing hour. He didn’t have the freedom to give an oath like
that, not when his team was counting on him to train for a hostage rescue mission
that would save hundreds of lives. Starr and Gunny would probably see it as his trading
one life for many, many more. Fuck if he just didn’t put himself in a perilous situation.

“Tomorrow night I’m going to their compound.” Neal knew that Charlotte wasn’t going
to sleep until Mandy returned home, so he went about making them hot chocolate from
the homemade supply in the old mason jar still setting in the same place on the counter
it always had. “You’ll stay here and I’m assuming Mandy will be in as well considering
it’s a school night—even with Becky missing, those kids need to keep their schedule
as normal as possible. I’ll see what I can find and then we’ll go from there.”

“What if you find nothing?”

Neal had already pulled the milk from her refrigerator and poured a healthy amount
in a saucepan. Putting the carton back, he’d already known she’d ask him that question
which led right back to him fucking up by promising her something he wasn’t sure he
could deliver. He’d never sworn to anything that he couldn’t uphold and he didn’t
plan to start now.

“Then we deal with it tomorrow night and find another lead to follow.” Neal flipped
the burner to ignite the gas on the stove and went to select a spoon for her hot chocolate.
He wasn’t surprised that she had already washed and put away their dishes from earlier.
“Becky’s disappearance isn’t a coincidence. Somehow, someway, I’ll find out what ritual
Ashe was talking about. If it involves Mandy we’ll sit her down and lay out our cards.”