Page 115 of Winter Vows

“I think you should leave it to a professional,” Justin argued.

“He’s not going to deal with a professional,” Kelsey countered. “He’s only going to want to deal with me, anyway, and you know it. I have to be ready, Justin. You might as well help me figure out what to do.”

Justin looked as if he wanted to argue, but wisely he didn’t. “Why don’t we just wait and hear what his demands for the meeting are?”

“Fine,” Kelsey said, gathering strength and resolve. “But I have a few demands of my own this time and, by God, he’d better be ready to agree to them.”

The next few hours were endless. Justin kept the neighbors and his family away, except for Lizzy, but not even her best friend could keep Kelsey from growing more frantic with every second that passed. Sharon Lynn brought the pills by in a duffel bag.

“Do you think that’s enough?” she asked worriedly. “It’s not exactly like stuffing a bag with cash. Even though there are a lot of them, they don’t take up much space.”

Kelsey glanced in the bag and saw at least two dozen large, unlabeled prescription bottles, each of which probably held two hundred tablets. Had these been the real thing, anyone using them as a legitimate doctor prescribed could go for years on what was in the bag. For someone addicted like Paul, it was impossible to say what his reaction would be.

“It will have to be enough,” Kelsey said grimly. “I’ll tell him it was all I could get on short notice. It’s not like a town this size has a major drug company around the corner. I’ll tell him if he wants more, he’ll have to wait until you can get another shipment in. He won’t want to do that.”

Sharon Lynn wrapped her in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I look at my own two kids and try to imagine how I’d feel...” She shuddered. “It was awful enough when I thought I was going to lose my daughter to that horrible biological grandmother of hers. I can’t even think about something like this.”

“Hopefully, you’ll never have to face anything like it,” Kelsey said. She patted the bag. “Thank you for these. I’ll pay you for them after all this is over.”

“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” Sharon Lynn said fiercely. “We look out for our own around here and you’re one of us. Besides, if the police take Paul into custody, these won’t be gone long.”

“But they’ll be evidence. You won’t be able to put them back in stock,” Kelsey protested.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sharon Lynn insisted.

Tears stung Kelsey’s eyes. She tried to blink them back, but couldn’t. Instead, she turned and walked away. Lizzy moved beside her and silently handed her a tissue.

“Tell Sharon Lynn I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice choked. “It’s just that everyone is being so kind.”

“There’s no need to be sorry, not with any of us,” Lizzy said. “Why don’t you just have a good cry and get it out of your system?”

“I can’t fall apart now,” Kelsey said, drawing in a deep breath and trying to pull herself together as Sharon Lynn came to join them. “This is it. I have to be ready.”

“I think you’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met,” Lizzy told her.

“Not me. I’m just trying to survive a nightmare.”

“Sometimes surviving takes more strength than anything else,” Sharon Lynn chimed in softly. “After Kyle died in that accident on our wedding night, I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I did. Then Cord and my baby came into my life and everything changed. I’m living proof that you can survive anything.”

Kelsey clung to that as the hours dragged on. There was no word from Dylan either. Kelsey had resigned herself to the fact that there would be no last-minute rescue. By the time the cell phone finally rang after midnight, she knew she was going to have to deal with Paul directly.

“Have you got them?” he asked without preamble.

“Yes,” she said. “They’re right here.”

“Then we’ll meet in the morning just after daybreak, six o’clock.”

“Where?”

He described a place in the middle of nowhere, about halfway between Los Pinõs and Garden City. “There won’t be anywhere for the cops to hide behind the bushes, so tell them to stay away,” he warned.

“You’re bringing Bobby, though, right?”

“No, but I’ll tell you where to find him afterward.”

“Forget it,” she said vehemently. “I want to see Bobby. I want him with me before you get your hands on the pills.”

“Don’t you trust me, sweetheart?” he asked, sounding amused.

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