Love Songs (7 page)

It was then, during the bliss of the kiss, when she heard the distinct sound of the theater lights being turned off.

Her eyes flew open and she clung to Warner, a scream was caught in her throat and threatened to choke her.

“Hello!” Warner called out.

Clara’s hands shook as she gripped him tighter.

“Hello?” He called again.

“Clara? Are you in there?” John’s voice called from the back of the stage.

“Uncle John, we’re here.”

A smaller light illuminating the back stage turned on and she could see him standing near the door.

“Sorry kiddo. I thought you guys left. It got quiet.” He took a step toward the stage. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Her hands were still gripping the front of Warner’s shirt and her other hand had such a grip on the guitar that the frets were cutting into her fingers.

“I’m okay,” she said, but her voice shook.

Warner looked down at her. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re shaking like a leaf.”

“I’m fine.” She took a step back. “I said I was fine.”

She let out a long breath and tried to steady herself. Her palms were sweaty and her hands still shook as she tried to gather the music off the stand as Warner tucked his guitar into its case.

John walked to her and placed his hand on her back. She winced and that bothered her.

“Honey, you okay?”

“I’m fine. You just startled me, that’s all.”

“I know. You haven’t been this jumpy in years.”

He was trying to keep her calm, but standing on that same stage with darkness enveloping, it brought back too many memories.

“Do you need a ride home?” John asked.

“I have my Jeep.”

“Is Christian home?”

Clara shrugged. “I don’t know.” She sucked in a breath. “I’ll be okay. I’m fine.” She pushed her shoulders back. “I can lock up. You can go.”

John shook his head. “Give me your guitar. I’ll put it away and you two go out the front. I’ll wait until you’re out.”

She wasn’t going to argue. Clara handed him the instrument and started off the stage.

Warner watched her walking away from him. He exchanged glances with John, who gave him a simple nod and then headed back stage.

He picked up his case and hurried after her.

She was walking at an ungodly pace, but he finally caught up with her when she crossed through the front door. But the last thing he expected was to have her turn into his arms and sob against his chest.

“Hey,” he said as softly as he could, but he’d been nearly bowled over by her falling into him. “It’s okay.”

She sobbed into his shirt. This was a first. He’d never had a woman do this. Usually he’d been the cause of their tears, not the comfort.

Warner ran his hand over her hair and waited for her to either cry out all her tears or give up. He wasn’t sure which had happened but it took about five more minutes.

When Clara raised her head and began wiping at the tears that lingered on her cheeks, she shook her head “I’m so sorry. That was so unnecessary. You didn’t need to see that side of me.”

“I’m not sure what I saw.” He gripped his hand around the handle of his guitar case a little firmer. “Did you just get startled?”

Clara looked at the ground and then back up at him. “I had a bad experience in there when the lights went off. That just took me off guard.”

He could feel the heat rise under his skin, as if his blood were beginning to boil. He reached out for her. “Did someone hurt you?”

She was gathering her thoughts and biting her lip. Warner knew he’d felt heart break a million times in his life, but standing there waiting for her to tell him that someone hurt her—it was killing him.

“I just want to go home.”

He wanted to shake the story out of her. How could someone have had that kind of reaction to something and then not want to talk about it?

Maybe she just didn’t want to talk to him.

“You’re really in no shape to drive. Let me give you a ride.”

She took a breath, and he was sure she was going to argue, instead she clasped his hand. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

The drive was quiet and Clara fought within herself to gain composure. There was no reason for her to have gotten that worked up over something as silly as John turning off the lights. But she couldn’t help it. There were just some events in your life that formed you into who you would become. The night she stood on that stage and the lights went out when she was thirteen would haunt her forever.

“Can I come in?” Warner asked and she snapped up her head. He’d parked in front of her house and she hadn’t even noticed.

The lights were on upstairs which meant Christian was home. She’d be okay, but when she turned her head and saw Warner looking at her the tears started again.

“Are you sure you want to come in and sit with an emotional baby?”

“Baby? Something set you off like this and you think I think you’re a baby? Something tells me I’m a much bigger baby than you are.”

That made her chuckle. “I think I would like you to come in.”

Warner gave her a nod and jumped out of the truck. Clara wiped away her newly fallen tears and opened her truck door. Warner was right there with his hand out to help her down.

She easily slid into his arms as she climbed out of the truck.

He held her and she cried again. This was stupid, she thought. These emotions hadn’t surfaced in years.

Warner didn’t say a word. He held her tightly, right there on the sidewalk until she could compose herself.

“You ready to go inside?”

Clara nodded and hand in hand they started up the front steps. The moment she was in the house Christian, sounding like a team of horses, ran down the stairs and stopped abruptly when he saw Warner.

“Hey,” he said, as if to cover up the grin still plastered on his face.

Clara felt a smile form as she batted back the last of her tears. He’d been coming down for gossip and hadn’t expected her to have brought Warner into the house.

When Christian looked at her his smiled faded and he moved to her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She felt Warner step back as Christian moved in.

“I just had a startle at the theater. John turned off the lights while we were practicing on stage…” another sob broke free.

Warner let go of her hand as Christian pulled her to him. “It’s over, sweetheart. Long, long, over.”

“I know. This is stupid.”

Christian smoothed his hand over her hair as she rested her cheek against his chest.

“It’s not stupid. That was a part of you and you have every right to be frightened. And all of this is fresh in your head because of Darcy being around and its okay.”

“This isn’t Darcy’s fault,” she argued.

“No, but it’s in our heads.” He gave her a squeeze. “Listen, go up and take a hot shower. I’ll make you some tea and a sandwich.” He pushed her back so he could look at her. “It was over that night. He’ll never hurt another Keller, ever.”

She gave him a nod.

“I’ll let you be. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Warner stood, now closer to the door.

Clara turned. “You don’t have to go. Please stay.” She reached her hand to him and he grasped it.

“Are you sure? You seem to be in very good hands.”

Clara moved from her brother to this man who in less than a week had become more important to her than anyone else. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head to his chest. “Stay. I’ll be back down soon.” She kissed him on the cheek and headed upstairs.

Warner watched her disappear and then focused on her brother, whose eyes were focused on him.

“Sounds like she had quite a night,” Christian said still keeping a steady eye on Warner.

“She’s pretty frightened.”

“And John just turned off the lights and she got like this?”

Warner nodded. “That’s about it. I don’t know what set her into this, but that triggered it.”

Christian took a step closer to him. “You don’t know why she’s like this and yet you’re this calm around her?”

“Hey, man. She needed a shoulder to cry on, a set of arms to hold her. She’ll tell me in her own time.”

Christian took a step back and the corner of his mouth curled up. “You’re one of those very patient men aren’t you?”

“I don’t know about that. I just know this isn’t any of my business.”

“C’mon,” he started for the kitchen. “I’m going to make it your business.”

Warner followed reluctantly. Finding out about someone’s demons was a big step to take. But Clara knew he had this stupid connection to Patricia Little and she was still sticking her neck out for him.

“Have a seat. Can I offer you anything?” Christian pulled a mug from the cupboard.

“I’m fine,” Warner said as he sat down at the kitchen table.

“Crap, I can’t remember which one of these is supposed to make her calm.” Christian pulled down the two boxes of tea he’d been staring at in the cupboard.

Warner wrenched his neck to see what he had in his hand. “The black tea will keep her awake. The green tea is supposed to be more soothing.”

Christian turned his head and lifted a brow. “You know this?”

“One of my many many jobs was as an assistant to this antique dealer. She was a tea freak. You have only so many cups of tea thrown at you before you get it right.”

“If she’s throwing hot tea at you I hope you didn’t work for her for long.”

“You do what you have to do to pay rent and eat.”

Christian nodded and pulled a green tea packet out of the box. He then filled the tea pot with water and set it on the stove before pulling out a chair and sitting across from Warner.

“Just so you know, my sister doesn’t spook at just anything. It’s not like she’s afraid of the dark—usually.”

Warner nodded. “She doesn’t come across as a woman who lets things bother her.”

“My aunt was involved with this man once. We didn’t even know him. We were really little and they lived in Hawaii.” Christian drummed his fingers on the table. “They were engaged, having a baby, starting a new life.”

Warner watched him and the lines around his lips began to deepen.

“He decided to marry someone else, for wealth. As if the S.O.B. wasn’t wealthy enough.” He shook his head. “Anyway, he decided the best thing to do would be to kill my aunt and the baby.”

Warner felt the blood drain from his head. “Are you kidding me?”

Christian shook his head. “He beat her and left her to die, still pregnant.” He sucked in a breath. “Well, they both survived. My aunt gave up the baby for adoption so that he couldn’t get to her and she went on to marry and have two great sons.”

“They caught this guy? Locked him up?”

“No.” Christian closed his eyes for a moment. “The bastard left the country with his new wife.”

“Coward.”

Christian chuckled. “He surfaced a few years later and then again when Clara was about thirteen.”

Warner felt his heart rate kick up. This was where it became real to him. This bastard had something to do with Clara and already he could feel every muscle in his body tense.

“Why would he come back?”

Christian sat back in his chair. “He was now in the knowledge that the baby my aunt was carrying had survived. I think it was all a power trip, because he didn’t want that baby. But his wife divorced him, left him broke. He was seeking revenge.”

“He came after her?”

“He came after the whole family.” Christian leaned in and rested his arms on the table. “My other aunt was remodeling the theater with John. Their first production was going to be
Annie
and Clara was going to have the lead. They were told to meet there, but he was there.”

Christian’s eyes had glazed over and Warner realized he dug his own fingertips into his thigh waiting for Clara’s part in this story.

Christian blew out a breath. “He turned off the lights. Grabbed Clara and locked her in the props closet.”

Warner felt the heat rise under his skin.

Christian drummed his fingers again. “Then he set fire to the building.”

“Oh, God!” Warner wanted to find this man and kill him himself. Who did that to a young girl?

“My aunts got her out of the closet. She inhaled a lot of smoke though.” He ran his fingers through his hair and went back to tapping them on the table. “They were able to get through the theater and out to the lobby before he grabbed them again. But somehow Regan got the gun out of Arianna’s purse and she shot him.” A smile crept across Christian’s lips. A smile of pride. “They got out, he died in the fire.”

“No wonder she freaked out. That is horrible.”

“She went through a few years of counseling over it. Dad being in education knew she had to. He saw too many kids messed up by events in their lives. It’s never been an issue to her. She knew the man wasn’t after her. Clara just got in the way. But she still had nightmares.”

“You said something about this all coming back because of Darcy. Ed’s Darcy?”

Christian smiled and scratched the growth on his chin. “Darcy is the baby.”

“The baby your aunt gave up for adoption?”

“Yep. Funny how things happen, huh?”

Warner gave some thought to the Keller family story. “And since your dad and your aunts are all adopted then Darcy and Ed aren’t related at all.”

“That’s how it goes.”

Warner let out a little laugh as the whistle on the tea pot sounded.

Christian stood and poured the water into the mug. “Clara was fine until Darcy came into the picture and the story was brought up again. She doesn’t blame Darcy, it just surfaced memories.”

“I understand that.” Warner couldn’t hear an old OX song without thinking of the moment he found his father dead. He shook off the thought. “She’s a strong woman. I don’t suppose there is anything that could take her down.”

“You two gossiping like little girls makes me wonder about how strong you big men are though.” They both looked up to see Clara standing in the doorway.

Her hair was wet, and much darker than normal. She wore a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. She obviously had skipped the bra and that had Warner looking away and down at the table.

Clara sat down at the table and Christian pushed the mug toward her.