Way to Her Heart - By Melanie Schuster Page 0,64

her haste to find out what was going on.

Royce was already there and he caught her before he could fall. “It’s okay, Sherri. Everyone is fine. I had an investigator watching their house and the daycare center because I was fairly sure that something might pop off. I also had the police on alert. My cousin works for the Columbia P.D. and I called in a few favors. There’s been an unmarked car here since yesterday.”

“What’s the ambulance for?” she asked in a shaky voice.

Royce nodded toward the house. “Trevor went a little berserk when he couldn’t find Sydney. His plan was to snatch her—or try to. Because she wasn’t at the daycare, he came over here and your mother let him in because she didn’t realize that he was nuts. He started out sane enough, but then he went ape-shit crazy, oh, excuse my language,” Royce apologized. “He started getting loud and hysterical and threatened her with a gun.” Sherri gasped. “That’s when he took the picture and texted it to you to get you over here.

“But your father saved the day. He came home unexpectedly and Trevor was doing so much ranting and raving that he didn’t hear your father coming in the back door. Your dad didn’t hesitate—he beamed Trevor with a Louisville Slugger and knocked him smooth out at the same time the police were coming in the front door. Your parents have had quite a day,” he said in the understatement of the century.

Sherri ran inside to see about her parents while Lucas took his first look at the man who’d caused his woman so much pain. He was handcuffed and bleeding slightly from his head wound. Lucas’s only regret was that he hadn’t been the one to knock the man silly. Royce seemed to read his mind.

“Look, I know you want to protect your woman, but if you’d put your hands on him he’d be dead right now. Scuzzbucket though he is, you wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for taking your new daughter’s father out, right? I do appreciate the additional information you got from your friend, though. When your friend found out that Trevor also had a drug problem, it made it easier to get the restraining order and keep the police on a 24/7 alert. I didn’t want to say this in front of Sherri, but you saved her mother’s life today. Without that additional stuff on Barnes I wouldn’t have had all this backup,” he said as he shook Lucas’s hand.

“Royce, I appreciate everything, man. Send the bill to me and if there’s anything I can do for you anytime, let me know.”

“Hey, an invitation to the wedding is all I require. I have a feeling it’s gonna be the best party of the year,” Royce said as he laughed.

* * *

Lucas went inside the Stratton house to find Sherri sitting on the sofa with her mother sobbing in her arms. “Sherri, I’m so sorry, so sorry! I had no idea that man was crazy—just none. I was so wrong about so many things,” she wept. “I was so wrong.”

Sherri had her arms around the older woman, patting her and saying comforting words. “It’s okay, Mother. It’s going to be okay. Shh, calm down, calm down,” she said over and over.

After a while, with the application of cool cloths to her face and sips of water provided by her husband, Mrs. Stratton did calm down. Sherri sat between her parents, holding her mother’s hand while talking to her father. “Are you sure you’re okay, Father? Did the EMTs take your blood pressure while they were here? Do you need to lie down?”

“I’m fine, daughter. Maybe for the first time in years, I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong here that we can’t handle, your mother and me. What I want to know is—where is my grandbaby? That man was going to try to take her,” he said with anger in his voice. “I wish I’d hit him a few more times,” he added. “Damned crazy bastard.”

“Sydney is just fine. She’s on Hilton Head with Lucas’s parents having the time of her life. She’s perfectly safe,” Sherri assured her father.

Her mother piped up, “Who is Lucas?”

Sherri realized that her parents had never met the man she loved. She held out her hand to him, and he came close enough to the trio to take it. “This is Lucas VanBuren, Mother. He’s very special to me.”

Her mother blinked as she looked up at