Page 90 of Tempting as Sin
She said, “I know. I’m sorry. I’m keeping you up. You can go home if you want. There’s nothing we can do tonight. I get it.”
He didn’t sigh, and he didn’t get out of bed. A rustle of bedding as he rolled over, and then he draped his arm over her, tucked her into his body, and said, “Nah. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“It was how sheknew,”Lily said. “How she didn’t even have to ask. How you can tell she’s walked out the door carrying nothing, going who knows where, so many times. She’s so tired, and she’s so scraped up. Will they put antibiotic ointment on her? When will she get to bed tonight? Will she have pajamas to change into when she does? Did anybody give her a hug?”
“I don’t think she wants a hug,” Rafe said.
The tears were rising behind Lily’s eyes. “I know. That poor baby. I just…I can’tstandit. I need to do something. I need to take her some pajamas. I need to give her a hug.”
He stroked a hand over her hair. “I know. Maybe you should get up and make a list.”
She groped for a tissue on the bedside table and wiped her eyes. “A list?”
“We’ll find out where she is,” he said. “Once we do, you can take her those pajamas. Clean undies and socks. We can take her bike to her, and her helmet. What else?”
“Books,” she said. He was right. They could still help. All they had to do was find out where Bailey’d been taken. “We could go to Kalispell. They have a bookstore.”
“Good idea,” he said. “Get up and write that list, then. In the morning, you’ll ring up and find out what we can do. We’ll go see her, and we’ll take her everything you can think of. We’ll let her know she has people who love her and are standing by her, whatever she thought tonight. The worst thing to lose is hope. Worse than losing a home. Even worse than losing a person. We can make sure she doesn’t lose that, and we will.”
She turned to him. She had to, even though she was crying for real now. “You are such a good man,” she said. “And I love you. You’re so…you’re justgood.How did you get that good?”
He laughed a little, then kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair some more. He found her even in the dark, and it was as if he wrapped his hands around her heart and held it close and safe.
There was no protection, and she knew it. Maybe there was, though, because surely, that was what she was feeling. “Don’t you think,” he said, “that that’s why I love you, too? Don’t you imagine that I love you, and your sister loves you, and Hailey and Chuck and Bailey all love you, because you see the best in us and make us want to be even better, to be what you see? How could anybody not love you? I know you’ll help. You won’t rest until you do. Get up and make your list now, baby. You’ll feel better. And in the morning, we’ll see.”
“They may not want to tell us,” she said. She’d gone beyond tissues now and was wiping her face on the sheet. “It’s the county. It’s bureaucracy.”
“Ah,” he said, “but I’ve got a weapon for that, too. My superpower.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
She couldn’t see him, but she knew he was smiling. “Not to be a cocky bastard,” he said, “but most county employees are women. And I’m sexy.”
It wasn’t easy. The photographer was back in the morning, and he had friends. A cameraman, a sound man, and a reporter. A full complement. Rafe ignored them, and after some hesitation, Lily did, too. But when they were sitting in county social worker Charmaine Hopkins’ tiny office in a drab government building, files stacked in a vertical holder half-covering the desk and Charmaine herself regarding Lily soberly from across it, he could tell that Lily wanted to bang her head against the wall.
“She’s here?” Lily asked. “In Kalispell? But her friends are in Sinful. Her dog. Herlife.It’s summer. What will she even do all day?”
“We have to place her where we have a suitable foster home,” Charmaine said. “Montana always has a shortage of foster parents. But then, show me a state that doesn’t. She’s lucky she’s a girl, and that she’s young. Boys are even harder, and teenagers are the hardest of all.”
“Bailey’s never been lucky in her life,” Lily said, sounding fiercer than Rafe had ever heard her.
“We appreciate you making time for us,” Rafe put in. “And giving us more information.” It would give Lily a minute to gather herself, he hoped.
“Maggie Howden’s a friend,” Charmaine said, sounding stiff. But, Rafe thought, Charmaine was a fan. Her face had softened a bit when she’d looked at him, and he’d swear she’d gone a bit breathless when he’d introduced himself.
“How’s her grandmother doing?” he asked.
Charmaine looked like she wanted to melt some more, but the fan was warring with the professional. He helped her along with a smile. “I’d like to know,” he said, “and we didn’t have a chance to stop by the hospital. Too eager to get here.”
“I can’t share that,” Charmaine said.
“But you see,” Rafe said, “you can. Ruby’s my aunt.”
She looked at him flatly. “Your aunt.”
“Yeah.” He propped an ankle over his knee. He was wearing his tightest jeans and a black T-shirt today, just in case it was helpful. It generally was. “My mum’s younger sister. Black sheep, you could say.” He grinned, letting her in on the secret. “That’s not me, shockingly enough. Reckon it’s all in the comparison. That’s why I’m here in Montana, though. My mum’s American, originally. We keep that quiet. Can’t be Crocodile Dundee with a Yank mum, can you? My brother Jace bought the cabin here for the same reason. You could say we were raised on the stories. Wolves and grizzlies, wild horses running free in the valleys, and the mountains all around. Romantic stuff.”
Charmaine eyed him narrowly. “And you haven’t shared this before why?”
