Daniel's Desire - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,12
not for a fact,” she said, not willing to be swayed by logic. “As if he has any reason to distrust me. He’s the one who’s not trustworthy.”
“Honey, Joe Sutton saw Kendra right here, and unless Daniel’s not as sharp as he once was, he saw her, too. He wasn’t lying about that,” Retta told her quietly. “He was already through the front door when you sent her flying through here and out the back door.”
Molly frowned. “Are you saying I should have admitted that Kendra’s here and turned her over to him? I don’t know why she ran away, but I do know she’s scared about something and doesn’t want to go home.”
“I’m just saying you can’t blame him for thinking you had her stowed away somewhere.”
Because it was futile to continue arguing the point, Molly asked, “Where is Kendra, by the way?”
“I sent her over to my place. Leslie Sue will keep her occupied till I give the word that it’s safe for her to come back. Want me to call over there now?”
Molly nodded. “Make sure Leslie Sue comes back over here with her. If Kendra’s scared because of Daniel’s visit, she could take off. I need to talk to her. I have to get to the bottom of what drove her to run away from home in the first place. I told her she had a week, but it appears we’ve already run out of time. Daniel’s coming back, no question of that, and I need to prepare her for that, too. I can’t protect her if I don’t know the truth.”
“You think she’ll tell you?”
“No,” Molly admitted.
“You could call her folks, tell ’em she’s safe,” Retta suggested.
“I don’t know how to find them.”
“You do know,” Retta corrected. “The name was plain as day on that poster Daniel was waving around.” She picked up a slip of paper from the counter. “I made a note of it right here. Got the phone number, too.”
Molly hated it when anyone called her on an evasion. No one did it more often than Retta. She scowled at the woman who took pride in serving as her conscience. “I can’t betray Kendra like that.”
“Well, honey, you’d better do something unless you want Daniel underfoot every time you turn around. The man’s not going to leave this alone, no matter how uncomfortable it makes either one of you. When it comes to those kids he looks out for, he’s like a pitbull. He doesn’t let go.”
“I know that.”
“Well, then.”
“Fine. Call Kendra and get her back over here,” Molly said. The prospect of trying to pin the girl down was only minimally more appealing than trying to throw Daniel off track day after day after day.
In the meantime, she went back to tend to her long-neglected customers. When she finished making her rounds, she found Alice Devaney sitting at the bar. Molly frowned at her best friend.
“I imagine your husband sent you over here to find out if his brother had turned me into a basket case,” she said.
“Patrick mentioned that Daniel had been here,” Alice admitted. “I figured out all on my own that it would probably be an uncomfortable meeting. Are you okay?”
“I survived the first round, but there will be more unless I give him what he wants,” Molly told her.
“Which is?”
“He wants me to turn over the runaway who’s been staying here.”
“I see. Are you sure you’re doing the girl any favors by hiding her?”
“Don’t you start on me, too. She’s better off here than she would be on the streets,” Molly said defensively.
“No doubt about it,” Alice agreed. “But maybe she’d be even better off at home.”
“Or not. How can I be sure?”
“Maybe this is one area where you can trust Daniel to know what’s right,” Alice suggested cautiously. “I know that goes against the grain with you, but he is the expert.”
“At rules and regulations, not human beings.”
Alice reached for her hand. “Molly, I’m sorry he hurt you so deeply, but it is his job to find and help runaways. From everything I’ve ever heard, he’s very good at it.”
“I’m not letting him take another child away from me,” Molly retorted without thinking.
Alice gasped. “What are you saying? When did Daniel take a child from you?”
“Forget I said that,” Molly said at once. Patrick and Retta were the only two people other than herself and Daniel and the doctor at the local hospital who knew about the miscarriage. It wasn’t something she’d wanted spread around the