Page 2 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Cracked.

Deranged.

Psychotic.

But when Daddy talked about Mom, it was always with a kind, gentle tone.Your mother was unwell, Aspen.

Funny how, in all those words, what she remembered wasn’t the adjectives used to describe the woman who’d given birth to her, the woman she had no memory of.

It was the verb.

Was.

Your. Mother. Was.

Past tense.

Daddy had told her that, though no body had been found, she’d been presumed dead for years. He’d claimed not to know what happened to her.

Aspen leaned closer to him, squeezing his hand, refusing to be angry in what could be their last moments together. “What about her, Dad?”

“The house,” he said. “You’ll get the house.”

In all their years in Kona, despite his restaurants’ successes, they’d never lived in a house.

“The apartment? What about it?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry.” He took a shallow breath. “I didn’t do right…by her. Or you. Don’t…” He gasped for breath.

“I’m sure you did your best.” Her voice squeaked. She leaned down and kissed his cheek. “You’re a good, good man. I’m sure whatever you did, you felt you had to.”

Tears dripped from his eyes and soaked into the pillow beneath his head.

He licked chapped lips and tightened his hold on her hand until her fingers ached. “Wanted to…” His words were interrupted by raspy breaths.

“What do you want me to do?”

He shook his head and pressed his hand to his chest. “Me.” He shook his head, tapped his chest. “Find her. Do what I never…had the courage…to do.”

“What do you mean? Is she alive?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but a cough choked out the words, the sound tearing through her soul like a dull knife against tough meat.

The nurses hurried back in. One propped him higher, speaking words Aspen couldn’t make out over his coughing and the dull roar whooshing through her brain.

Another nurse gripped her shoulder. “You need to step out.”

“No.” Her father’s eyes filled with terror. “You don’t… I have to?—”

“Ma’am.” The doctor’s voice drew Aspen’s attention. “We’ve got to do this now. I’m sorry.”

She tugged her hand, but Daddy held on and tried to speak. He didn’t have the breath.

“You’re going to be all right.” Somehow, she didn’t think it was fear of death that put that panic on his face.

“Now, please.” Someone tugged on her arm.

“I love you, Daddy.” She pulled her hand from his and moved into the hallway. She watched the scene through the open door, barely glimpsing her father beyond all the medical personnel trying so hard to save his life.

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