Just One Kiss (Whisper Lake #4) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,68

gaze met hers. "Are you afraid to tell me?"

"I am. I don't want to trigger you."

Her mom didn't say anything right away, as if she was debating how much she wanted to know. "I can handle it, Hannah. I've had some time to get used to the idea that Kelly is probably in trouble. But I need to know how much."

She had to start trusting in her mom's ability to handle herself. "Okay. Here's what I know about Kelly. She was married to Brett's father, who was in the military, but he died in action when Brett was a baby. Kelly lived in various cities after that, most recently Colorado Springs. She was dating someone named Russ Miller there. They disappeared from their jobs and from the city about three weeks ago. They checked into a campground outside of Denver last week. Two days later…" She drew in a breath.

Her mother's jaw tightened. "Just say it."

"Russ Miller was found dead. He'd been stabbed."

"Oh, my God!" Her mother put a hand to her heart. "I wasn't expecting you to say that. What about Kelly?"

"All I know is that her boyfriend was killed on Wednesday and Kelly showed up at the cabin on Friday. Now, she's missing. Oh, and she's also pregnant."

Her mother let out a breath. "Well, that's a lot of information to get in a couple of sentences."

"I wish I could put context around the facts, but I don't have any, Mom. There's some thought that Kelly was in an abusive situation with her boyfriend. She told a friend she was having trouble with a guy. Now a man is dead."

"Are you saying that Kelly…killed him?" her asked in confusion.

"I don't know—maybe."

"This is worse than I imagined."

"And maybe not even true. Like I said, it's all speculation. Brett told me last night that this Russ Miller was a good guy. He liked him."

"Brett has a big imagination. I'm not sure you can trust what he says."

"I agree. We need to find Kelly. She's the only one with answers. But as the days pass, I worry she's not coming back, and that will destroy Brett. He told me he asked Santa to bring his mom back."

"She'll come back; she has to. That little boy needs her."

"He does. And it's clear that he loves Kelly. He talked about her all day long."

"He talked about her to me, too, when we were baking yesterday. It was a little hard to hear."

"It was," she agreed. "I stopped wondering what Kelly was doing a long time ago. Now, I feel guilty that I didn't know she was married or that she was widowed or that she was raising a kid on her own."

"That was her choice."

"Yes, but as we both know, people can make bad choices. She was young when she left, and she was in pain from Dad's death, from the blame she was getting."

"And you blame me for that."

"I blame both of you. I know that it was just an accident. And like you, I was angry that Kelly was the reason Dad went out that night. But that wasn't fair to her. And Dad would have hated that we blamed Kelly. He adored her."

"He did. Your father would be so angry and disappointed in how I fell apart after his death. I just couldn't handle my pain. Every time I heard his voice in my head, I would drink, because I couldn't stand to think how I'd let him down, how I let all of you down."

There was a clarity and a self-awareness in her mother's voice that she hadn't heard in a very long time. "I know you're sorry, Mom. I'm glad you're better now. I hope you continue working hard to stay that way."

"I will, Hannah. I don't ever want to be that person again. And when Kelly comes back, I'm going to apologize to her. I'm going to tell her that it wasn't her fault. I want us to be a family again. Having Brett around, reliving our traditions, has brought everything back. We were a good family once. I think we could be again."

She felt a sense of déjà vu. Her mother wanted a second chance. Jake wanted a second chance. What did she want?

"In the meantime, what else can I do for you?" her mother asked, changing the subject.

"Want to help me pack up the cookies for the hospital party?"

"Of course. I'd like to go with you to the party, if you're okay with that? Or will