Agnes played her cards very close to her chest. She thought of Wade like a son, and was going to protect him if necessary, it seemed. "What do you want to know?"
"Why does Luke hate him?"
"Why didn"t you ask Luke or Wade?"
"Because I didn"t think either of them would tell me." Sydney had considered cornering Luke, but he was always so emotional when it came to Wade, she knew no good would come from it.
"Why not?"
"Will you stop answering my questions with questions?"
"Sorry. Those two have a long history and I think it"s their story to tell. Why is it so important to know?" Again, Agnes cautiously avoided answering.
"Luke"s a friend, I guess, but sometimes it"s hard because Wade..."
"Might be something more?"
Sydney didn"t answer right away, instead pausing to organize her thoughts before she spoke. "You know there"s a lot I can"t tell you, right? I"ve kept my secrets since we came to town. And I trust you to watch Faith when I"m not around. I can tell you that trust doesn"t come easily for me." Her eyes drifted to the other room where her daughter played happily, making decorations for her birthday party. One Sydney hoped she"d be able to have in Elton, if it was safe. "I trust Wade. At least I did until today. Things are... catching up with me and, right now, I need to make a choice between leaving Elton or staying. But I can"t stay if I can"t trust Wade to keep his word. Right now, after seeing him in the parking lot, I have to say, I"m more inclined to run so if there"s something you can tell me to change my mind, please do. I"m begging you. Our lives might depend on it."
"Both of those boys are as trustworthy as they come. Their problems are between them. Pride and jealousy are powerful emotions that are hard to let go. For everyone involved, that is." When Sydney didn"t say anything but looked at her imploringly, Agnes tossed back the rest of her whiskey. "Screw it. Whole town knows anyway. It"s public knowledge. I was hoping you"d talk to Wade about it, then maybe share whatever it is you"ve been hiding. Now don"t look at me that way, child. I wasn"t born yesterday. Your confession doesn"t surprise me at all. I know evasive techniques, and you"ve been practicing them so long I bet you don"t even think about it anymore." Sydney"s head dropped. "But since I can see you"re as stubborn as an old mule I once had," Mrs. Whittman said with a cheeky smile, "I"ll tell you what I can."
"Thank you," Sydney said softly, still plagued by guilt for always being the one asking for things from people but never willing to give anything in return. It was a difficult way to live and she was getting tired of it.
"Luke and Wade grew up together and were never close friends. But their dislike of one another grew deep when their hormones kicked in and they began chasing skirts."
Faith ran in for some juice then disappeared back into the living room. "They"re opposites, as you"ve noticed. Luke was the outgoing one and Wade was more of the quiet, mysterious type."
The picture was becoming clearer for Sydney and she knew exactly how the girls would react to them. Luke would be charming and pursue girls constantly and Wade would give off the air of danger that would attract girls like flies. Then the conflicts would arise and the posturing, probably mostly on Luke"s part. His insecurity, his distrust of Wade made a lot of sense, but he was so vehement about it. There had to be more.
"After high school, Wade went into the military. The female population around here wore black for a month when he was deployed. His parents were so proud of him for going into the service. Bragged about him to anyone who would listen a which was just about the entire town. Drove Luke crazy."
"That"s still not the end of their story, is it?" There had to be more to it and whatever it was, Agnes was reluctant to tell her. That had all her internal alarms ringing.
"No. When Wade came home, he met this girl, Tara. I"m pretty sure she"s the one you saw pawing him in the parking lot today. The girl was either an unidentified mental patient or Lucifer"s niece. One of the two."
"Don"t hold back, tell me what you really think."
"She was rotten, but a skilled liar. Her family had moved to town a few months before Wade got back and she"d been dating a number of the men in town but the moment she saw Wade, she was like a heat-seeking missile and wouldn"t let go."
Green"s so becoming on you, Sydney, she told herself as her gut churned. "Let me guess, Luke had his eye on her before Wade came home?"
Agnes" nodding head confirmed it. "He had more than his eye on her-they were pretty serious. At least Luke thought they were. Then Wade came back and you have to understand, Wade had been in the thick of it in Iraq. From what I heard from my husband, he saw some horrible stuff and he wasn"t himself those first few months." She took Sydney"s empty plate to the sink and went to refill her gla.s.s. "George talked to him a lot. Being a veteran, he understood some of what Wade was going through. The two of them became close."
"That"s why Wade is so important to you." She smiled in confirmation and before coming back to the table Agnes looked in on Faith and checked her monitors.
"Yes. While he was getting his feet back under him, Tara swooped in and dug her claws in deep. He was hurt and lonely and she took advantage of that. Worm that she was." The nasty tone Agnes" voice took on when she mentioned Tara spoke volumes.
Tara was sc.u.m.
"How she got him to marry her was anybody"s guess."
The air in the room seemed to vanish as Sydney sputtered for breath. "M-Married? Wade"s married?" Not only was Tara sc.u.m, she was Wade"s sc.u.mmy wife.
Great.
"You don"t like the idea of Wade married, do you?" The smug grin on Agnes" face made Sydney"s heart pound. "Good. Then you"re really gonna hate the next part." She grabbed another gla.s.s and poured Sydney some whiskey of her own, which she quickly sipped. "Tara became pregnant."
Sydney gripped the table when the room began to spin, either from the whiskey burning a hole in her stomach or the thought of the baby.
Wade had a child.
"He was so excited. He told George that he saw the baby as his future, his hope. It brought him out of the funk he was in after his tour." Something on one of the monitors caught her eye, distracting her mid-sentence. "Speak of the devil." She tapped the monitor. "This her?"
Sydney craned her neck and was shocked to see the woman she now knew was Tara standing on the sidewalk, staring at her house.
"Yes. What is she doing?" They watched her pace back and forth between their two houses before getting into her car and driving away.
"Who knows? Her parents moved a few towns over. I"m sure they"ve pa.s.sed on the gossip from the festival and she came to mess with Wade again. She"s a disturbed girl." Agnes sat back down and sighed. "Now where were we?"
A feeling of dread slid down Sydney"s spine. She wasn"t sure if she wanted to hear any more of the story. "Wade was having a child with Satan"s niece."
"Ah, yes. Well, the day before she was due to have the baby, she told him it wasn"t his."
"Are you kidding me?"
"No."
"And it was true?"
"Yep. Paternity test proved it a few months later."
Sydney sprang to her feet, unable to stay still a second longer. "That"s horrible! Who does that?"
"Apparently you missed the part of the story where I called her a mental patient..."
Her feet stopped and she became rooted to the floor. "Oh my G.o.d, poor Wade."
"Devastated was putting it mildly." Every word out of Agnes" mouth was breaking her heart. "Max was born the next day. Tara refused to allow Wade to be in the delivery room for the birth, so he only saw him through the window of the nursery. Overnight, Wade"s world changed. He would have done the right thing by that boy and raised him, but Tara told him she"d never let him be a part of Max"s life. Wade was crushed when he had to walk out of that hospital alone."
"Oh, G.o.d." Sydney knew exactly what that felt like to think for months you were going to leave the hospital with a tiny angel and then that dream is s.n.a.t.c.hed away. She had more in common with Wade than anyone else in the world.
Agnes shook her head. "From there, Wade went directly to the courthouse and filed for a divorce. It got very ugly. She insisted on living in their house with the baby, so Wade moved to his parents but whenever he saw her, it ripped his heart out. Then the rumors started."
Her blood chilled. "What rumors?"
"Tara," Agnes spat her name in anger, "that conniving witch started telling people that Wade hit her and that was the reason they were getting a divorce. The killer was, people believed her. She had played so many folks in this town, she had them eating out of her hand. Especially when she waved that beautiful baby in their faces."
"Wade would never hit a woman! Who would be dumb enough to believe her? Most of the people in this town grew up with him!" Then it hit her. "Luke believed Tara."
"Yep. But you have to remember, he was still bitter about her choosing Wade over him. His pride was hurt something awful so he wanted it to be true. He wanted Wade to be the louse he always hoped he was. Made his anger easier to fuel." She paused, shaking her head. "There never was any proof, not a scratch on her miserable head. So she started breaking things in her house, b.u.mping into things to bruise herself up a little and telling people Wade came over in a rage and did it. I don"t have any proof that"s what she did, but no way Wade would walk into his home and trash the place no matter how mad he was. He made his choice. He simply walked away from her. It was all circ.u.mstantial evidence at best, but those who had an axe to grind with Wade bought into it. Still do, to this day."
"What about the baby?" The question slipped from her lips before she could stop it. "Who was the father?"
Agnes shook her head sadly. "Don"t know. That"s something Wade would never talk about. I don"t think it was Luke"s. He would have chased after Tara to the ends of the earth if there was even a chance of it being his. The whole thing was a horribly sad mess created by one nasty woman looking to grab everything she could from the folks around her."
It took Sydney a few minutes to collect her thoughts. This thing between Luke and Wade went deep and it wasn"t a quick fix. But one thing was crystal clear in her mind-Wade would never hit a woman. And it was difficult not to think less of Luke for thinking he would.
"So why was he kissing her today if she"s so horrible?"
That brought a smile to Agnes" face. "You said you could see her but not him, right?" Sydney"s nodded her head. "Well, then I"m guessing if you could have seen him, he"d have looked like he was on the verge of throwing up." She looked out the window thoughtfully before she spoke again. "If she"s back, she wants something from him. She either wants money or to cause trouble. That"s the only time she comes around him now."
"Why did you decide to tell me this?"
"Because Wade"s too d.a.m.n proud to share it himself. And I wanted you to understand that he has been alone for so long, by his choice, that the fact that he is showing interest in you, Sydney, is huge. I think you"re good for him. You are genuine and selfless. And he"s as trustworthy as they come. If he offers you his protection, he"ll die before he"d let anything happen to you or your daughter. If you want my opinion, and even if you don"t, here it is: You and Wade would be good for one another. So stay. Stay with Wade and fight whatever demons might come after you."
Agnes had given her a lot to think about as she loaded Faith and her toilet paper roll castle into Sydney"s arms a short while later. Finding out Wade had been married was a shock. Part of her was furious he hadn"t mentioned it, but the rational part of her understood. She had plenty of things in her past she wanted to keep dead and buried-why should he be any different?
He wasn"t a liar, which made her feel somewhat better. She hadn"t been wrong about him. But two people with as much in their pasts standing between them as Wade and Sydney had, there was very little chance of a happy ending. She had to be honest with herself about that much at least.
The smartest thing to do was to push all thoughts of Wade out of her mind. That"s what she hoped this conversation with Mrs. Whittman would do-allow her to find a reason, any reason to keep away from him. But then she heard about his wife, the child that he lost, the future he was robbed of, and she couldn"t get him out of her head. If anyone could ever understand why she did what she did, he might.
Might.
Or he could find her as vile as the woman who had stolen everything from him and throw her in jail. And was Sydney really any better than her? She took a child from her family. It wasn"t up to Sydney to judge them unfit, maybe there were grandparents who could have given Faith everything and protected her from her father while allowing her to be with her relatives. Instead of looking into that, Sydney took the little girl who was so horribly offered and ran, using her tiny body and unconditional love to soothe the ache in her chest. She was worse than Tara.
Tara.
The image of her staring at the house stuck in her mind. What kind of trouble was she going to cause? Sydney had enough on her plate. She didn"t need to add a jealous ex-wife into the mix, especially one as volatile as Tara sounded.
As soon as she stepped into her living room, Wade consumed her thoughts. She remembered him sleeping on her couch, walking through her house with no shirt on and making himself at home with her daughter, and she liked it. Way too much. What she wouldn"t give to see what could happen between them. But to try could cost her everything.
The phone rang, breaking her sullen train of thought. She hurried into the kitchen and when she picked it up for the third time today, there was no one there. Just breathing on the other end. So Sydney made the only choice she could.
It was time to run.
AFTER TWO SLEEPLESS NIGHTS and two longer days of avoiding Wade and his phone calls, Sydney had made up her mind. They needed to leave. It had nothing to do with Wade and Tara, she kept telling herself. That was ancient history. But every day at work she saw the faces of people who could be hurt if he came to town to exact his revenge on her and she couldn"t stand to see a single one of them harmed because of her. For their safety and Faith"s she decided it was time to leave Elton.
She"d been quietly packing things up, telling Faith she was cleaning the house for her upcoming birthday party. A party she wouldn"t ever attend because they"d be long gone. But Sydney pushed the thought of her daughter"s impending heartbreak out of her mind and focused on sorting things into the suitcases and getting rid of anything that could leave behind any information about them.
She had stared at a map online late at night, trying to decide where to hide this time. Big city or small? East Coast or West Coast? If it wasn"t so late in the fall she might have considered a trip up to Alaska, but then she didn"t think it wise to test fake pa.s.sports at the borders. She"d settled on Arizona, hoping the warmth and scenery would make it up to Faith that she wouldn"t get to celebrate her sixth birthday with her friends in Elton.
Everything was packed and ready to go. Sydney had to wait another day to get her last paycheck from Pete and Cara, then they"d be off. The night before they were set to leave, Faith had woken up with a high fever. The poor thing was miserable with a sore throat and cried all night. She couldn"t possibly steal her from her sick bed and start off on an eighteen hour trek across country without a doctor around if she needed it.
So instead, Sydney stayed home, locked the doors, and nursed her daughter back to health. It was a good thing she had stayed because it ended up being strep throat. Had she left that night, G.o.d knows how sick Faith could have gotten over the course of their trip. Countless popsicles, bowls of Jell-O, and gla.s.ses of ginger ale later, she began to perk up.
When she walked out the door to work this morning, Sydney was already exhausted, but Faith was ecstatic because it was her first day back to school and she had missed her friends desperately.
Friends Sydney was planning on ripping her away from tonight, now that she was better.
It was going to do more than tear out Faith"s heart to leave; Sydney wasn"t going to make it out unscathed, either. But they had to go. There were more phone calls with no one on the other line. Once she heard a man"s deep chuckle before the line went dead. Now, when a phone rang, Sydney jumped a mile and approached it like it was a living thing out to do her harm.
Countless times she had felt like she was being watched when she was home alone with a sick Faith. Especially in the middle of the night, when she"d come downstairs to get a gla.s.s of water or a cool rag to take down her daughter"s fever, she"d shiver, feeling an unknown pair of eyes on her. So many times she reached for the phone, wanting to call Wade, or Cara and Pete, but then stopped herself, knowing there was no point in leaning on him or anyone else in town. It"d only make leaving that much harder.
She hadn"t seen Wade since the night she spoke to Agnes about his past. It wasn"t something she ever planned to ask Wade about. It was his past, his business. If only he"d give her the same respect, they wouldn"t have an issue. But he was busy with work and she was busy with a sick child, so circ.u.mstances had helped her stay away from him.
Not that it kept her from thinking about him constantly.
The FBI appeared in town, interviewing people and asking more questions. Their presence was part of the reason she"d been able to avoid Wade the last two days. He"d been busy, too. And fortunately she"d been spared their attentions while Faith was sick. Word around the diner was they believed there was a link between the diner murder and the woman they found outside town a few weeks earlier, but they weren"t sharing much with the local police. The investigation was taking up all of Wade"s time and energy, which was fine with Sydney. She didn"t want him to suspect she was getting ready to leave, and with his keen observation skills, he"d probably figure it out in a second.
"You okay?" Cara touched Sydney"s shoulder and she nearly screamed, having worked herself up thinking about Wade and the strange phone calls. "What"s wrong? You"ve been so jumpy today. When the phone rang before, you turned white as a sheet."
"I don"t know, maybe I"ve caught a touch of what Faith had."
Cara pressed the back of her hand to Sydney"s forehead. Her brow furrowed with concern. "No fever. Maybe you should go home and rest. Strep is very contagious. You have to be exhausted. Taking care of her alone isn"t easy. I wish you would have let me come over and help."
As much as Sydney would have loved her company, she couldn"t let anyone come over and see the bags she had packed. She was saved from the conversation by Luke.
"Well this day just got brighter. My favorite girl is back at work!"
"Hi, Luke." Sydney was happy for a reason to get away from Cara before she was forced to make up another lie. "What can I get you?"
"Coffee and a southwestern omelet." He flashed a wide grin. "I missed you. Hailey"s nice but she doesn"t put extra salsa and sour cream on my omelet like you do. I heard Faith was sick. Is she feeling better?"
"She went back to school today. I think missing cla.s.s made her feel worse than the strep throat." Sydney laughed. "I know I definitely wasn"t like that as a kid. If there was an excuse to get out of school, I used it."
"Same here," Luke said, slapping his hand on the counter in amus.e.m.e.nt. "She must have gotten that from her father."
At the mention of Faith"s father, Sydney froze. Images of him with the b.l.o.o.d.y bat flooded her mind. It wasn"t Luke"s fault, he had no idea what those words had set in motion, but her reaction was too strong, it was impossible to hide and he picked up on it right away.
"Syd? Honey, talk to me, what"s wrong?" When she stood there unmoving, he reached across the counter and took her hand, even though she tried to pull away. "Are you okay?"
"Why don"t you take your hand off her and let the lady catch her breath," a voice said from behind Luke. There was no mistaking the warning in Wade"s voice. Sydney could see Luke thinking of a response. She must have looked fragile enough that he thought better of engaging Wade in an argument at the moment, and he released her wrist. Sydney took a few steps away from the counter and tried to collect herself.
"I"m getting really tired of you telling me what to do, Sheriff."
"Guys, please don"t fight," Sydney said softly, pressing a hand to her queasy stomach.
Wade ignored Luke"s comment and made a bee line for Sydney, coming right behind the counter uninvited. She tried to wave him off, but he ignored her flailing hand.
"Make yourself at home," Luke mumbled into his mug, but Sydney heard and gave him a stern look. She didn"t want to be the cause of another fight between them. Tomorrow she"d be long gone and they would still be in town together.
She allowed Wade to take her into the corner of the kitchen. Pete and Cara immediately exited and busied themselves in the dining room, giving them some privacy.
"Next time Luke touches you, do me a favor and deck him." He stepped toward her and brushed his fingers lightly over her wrist.
Even with as much as she had been avoiding him, Sydney had to admit, it felt good to be around Wade again. He had a way of pushing away the bad things and making her feel safe. More like herself. "I hear the sheriff frowns upon a.s.sault here in Elton."
"I"d make an exception." Somehow Wade made even a simple wink look s.e.xy. His long lashes and full lips made Sydney"s mouth water, forgetting the conversation with Luke that shook her so badly.