Page 74 of Just One Kiss

"Aside from entertaining a four-year-old all day? No."

Her mother smiled. "Just think—I had three kids to entertain. How about some coffee? I think we could both use a cup."

"All right," she said, as they moved into the kitchen. "How was your day?"

"Busy. I got in at seven this morning to help get all the Christmas centerpieces out on time. But now I'm off until next weekend. What about your work schedule?"

"Luckily, I have the week off, barring any unforeseen major disasters. I'm supposed to go back to work Friday. Hopefully, Kelly will be back by then," she added, as she started the coffee maker.

"Hopefully," her mom echoed. "Is there any news?"

She sat down at the table across from her mom. "Kelly borrowed a car and the police are now looking for that vehicle."

"Borrowed?" her mom queried. "Is that a polite word for stole?"

"Maybe. I don't know exactly what's going on."

"But you know more than you've told me."

"Yes."

Her mother's sharp 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."

---