Luke nodded. The pain appeared to be more than he wanted to admit. He gave Sydney a brave smile and tried to lighten the mood when he noticed her concern. "Chicks dig scars, I hear."
"You"re okay?" The words came out as a strangled whisper. "I thought you were dead."
"He"s fine. He was wearing a vest. If she"d have shot him in the chest, he wouldn"t have had a mark on him," Wade said thumping Luke in the chest for good measure.
"Next time you need help, you go cause the diversion and I"ll save the beautiful woman."
Wade offered Luke his hand with a genuine smile on his face and the two shook hands. "Agreed."
Luke stepped out of the house and Wade returned to her side, inspecting her other injuries. All the while he worked on her, blood ran down his arms from the gashes Charles had inflicted. His wounds dripped blood onto the floor at his feet, but he didn"t seem to notice the pain he had to be feeling. His entire focus was on Sydney.
"You"re bleeding, and your eye is swelling shut. You need a doctor, Wade."
He kissed her forehead. "I"m fine."
"No, you"re not! Those cuts...there are so many of them and blood"s everywhere. You could have a concussion-" Her hysterical rant was cut off by his ma.s.sive arms wrapping tightly around her.
"I"m fine."
"She said she shot you like she shot Luke." Sydney shuddered against his chest.
"She lied."
"How"d you get into the house?"
"Secret pa.s.sage way."
Sydney sat back in surprise. "Seriously?"
"Yes," Wade said with a grin. He wiped the blood from her face with such tenderness, it melted her heart. But it wasn"t over yet. And they still had to find Faith.
"Faith." Her daughter"s name flew out in a rush. Her heart rate speeding up as the panic returned. "W-We have to find her. I-I can"t find my baby. I looked everywhere, Wade." Sydney broke down into hysterics, the emotions she had kept hidden overwhelming her. The pain, the fear, and the desperation were too much to contain. Her past had caught up with her and there was enough death and destruction in Agnes" house to prove it. Every awful thing she ever imagined happening paled in comparison to the truth as she looked around at the blood stained kitchen.
However, in Wade"s arms, she knew it was finally safe to let it all go. So she cried, and screamed, and wailed until she nearly hyperventilated, and he held her through it all.
With a gentle strength, he held onto her as tightly as he could, rocking her back and forth like a child, telling her she was safe. He knew where Faith was hidden and he promised her that her daughter was fine. But even his rea.s.surance couldn"t ease the tears.
"I was so scared for you," Wade admitted when Sydney"s sobs had finally run their course. "George had built a bolt hole, but the door wouldn"t give." He shuddered. "I was afraid I"d make noise prying it open so I had Luke start banging on the door to distract Amanda and cover up any sounds you might hear. I didn"t know if I"d get to you in time. I d.a.m.n near ripped the door off its anchors, but the moment it opened, I ran all the way here." Sydney glanced down at his hands and saw his b.l.o.o.d.y fingers were horribly swollen and bruised. Proof of how hard he tried to reach her.
"I love you." The words had been at the forefront of her mind since the moment he rushed into Agnes" bedroom to save her. Now they slipped effortlessly from her lips, without regret or hesitation. In that moment, the wide smile that crossed Wade"s face a.s.sured her that everything would be all right. They would be all right.
"I love you, too."
"Oh, Wade," she gasped, caught off guard for a moment by his admission. Then Sydney kissed him, her head still spinning with the knowledge that he loved her too. It wasn"t the trauma of the evening or the fear she had felt, it was the knowledge that he was someone she could count on, in any situation for the rest of her life. He"d seen her at her worst and stood by her side. And loved her. How did she get so lucky?
"When I thought something happened to you..." Her voice trailed off, unable to find the words to express the fear and anguish she felt. A hollow feeling filled her at the mere thought, but then Wade cradled her face in his hands and kissed the pain away.
"Nothing on this Earth could ever keep me from you. I"ll always come back to you, Sydney." The sincerity and strength behind his words left no doubt in her mind: he was the one. There would never be anyone else. They were going to make a wonderful life together, with Faith.
But first they had to end this ugliness and face whatever legal issues stood in their way. As if reading her mind and sensing her worry, Wade offered her a smile.
"It"s over."
Was it really? Amanda Washington was dead along with Charles and Marcy. Wade had killed them and now the police were going to be involved. It was only a matter of time before the truth of it all came out. It was only a matter of time before there was a chance Sydney could lose Faith. For good.
"I need Faith." With a wince, Sydney pushed herself to her feet, the edge in her voice not going unnoticed by Wade.
"I know this is taking a while, but I don"t want Faith to be scared when she sees you. She"s a smart kid and is going to know something"s up. You are cut and bruised from head to toe, Syd. I don"t want to scare her so let"s get you cleaned up a little more before we see her. I swear on my life, she"s safe."
Wade asked Sam to go look around the house for a clean shirt for Sydney. Luke happened to have a spare sweatshirt in his car and brought that in for Wade so he could get rid of his shredded T-shirt.
Numb, Sydney sat in a chair and drank a large gla.s.s of water while Wade tended to the rest of her cuts as best he could. The paramedics quickly wrapped the worst of her injuries but agreed to let Wade transport her to the hospital as soon as she saw Faith. She had a number of visible cuts and sc.r.a.pes that they wouldn"t be able to hide from Faith, but at least the bleeding had let up and she wasn"t as dizzy anymore.
"When we see Faith, we"ll tell her there was an accident and we"re fine but you need to spend the night in the hospital, okay?" Wade watched her reaction closely, making sure she felt like composed enough to see Faith without terrifying her. "Are you ready?"
"Absolutely," she murmured, lacing her fingers in his outstretched hand.
She tried not to wince as she moved. Now that the adrenaline was gone, her injuries seemed to hurt a lot more than they had earlier. He led her out of the kitchen and toward the guest bedroom where Charles had found the safe room. Sydney shook her head vehemently. "She"s not in there. Earlier C-Charles found the room but they weren"t there."
"Actually, they were. She just didn"t look closely enough." Wade led her inside the safe room and pulled back the door all the way, exposing the small five by five room. He ran his finger along a nearly invisible seam in the concrete. Finding what he was looking for, he smiled and pressed a tiny black b.u.t.ton.
"Middlemist Red, Agnes. Middlemist Red." There was such relief in his voice as he pulled Sydney against his chest and kissed the top of her head. He wasn"t the least bit surprised when the concrete moved to the side and he found Agnes standing at the top of a narrow staircase, with a shotgun aimed directly at his chest.
"Better safe than sorry," she said with a shrug as she lowered her weapon. "Jesus, you two look like h.e.l.l. But I"m d.a.m.n glad to see you."
They followed her into a huge underground bunker that probably took up half the yard beside her house. It was enormous, stocked with enough food to last a few years from Sydney"s guess. It had all the amenities of home as well as a full a.r.s.enal of weapons locked up somewhere, she heard Agnes explaining to Wade. Just then she saw Faith curled up in a beanbag chair watching a movie on the tiny television in the corner. The headphones on her head kept her from even noticing they had walked into the bunker.
"Is the woman dead?" Agnes asked, startling Sydney. She motioned to the tiny monitor that showed not only the guest room but the safe room as well. "I saw her drag you in there, but I knew she"d never find the door to the bunker." She beamed with pride. "My George was one h.e.l.l of a construction man."
"He was at that," Wade said ruefully as he held out his bloodied hands. "I had a heck of a time breaking into the bolt hole he put in the garage."
"The old coot told you about the tunnel, too? Sonofab.i.t.c.h, that man couldn"t keep a secret for anything." With a teary laugh Agnes pulled them both into a hug. "I was so scared for the two of you. And if you tell anyone I said that, I"ll smack you both."
"I cannot ever thank you enough for what you did for Faith today, Agnes. She"s my whole world. I hope you know that, and remember that even after you f-find out what I did to bring all this upon us."
Agnes touched her face gently, careful to avoid her many cuts and bruises. "I don"t care what you did. There"s nothing that"s going to change how I feel about you. We"re family. Now and forever."
They embraced and shared a more tears until Faith finally noticed they were in the room. She yanked off the headphones and ran over, stopping a few feet short.
"Mommy! Wade! What happened to you?" Her blue eyes were wide with worry as she looked at their injuries.
With careful movements, Wade crouched down in front of her and smiled. "Hi, doll. We were in a bit of an accident. I want to take your mom to the hospital to see if she needs any st.i.tches. Would that be okay?"
Faith"s beautiful eyes looked back and forth between them, trying to process the cuts on her mother"s face and Wade"s hands. Sydney knew if she looked half as bad as Wade, Faith was probably terrified, but to her credit, she didn"t act like it.
"Are you okay, Mommy?" She took a few steps closer, nervously chewing on her lower lip.
"Yes, baby. I"m good, but I could really use a hug." When she opened her arms the little girl smiled and gingerly wrapped her arms around Sydney"s waist. "I love you, Faith, don"t ever forget that."
"I love you too, Mommy. Forever and always."
SYDNEY PACED OUTSIDE THE courtroom, the click of her heels echoing throughout the marble cave that surrounded them. Her arms remained tightly wrapped around her chest as if she were physically trying to hold herself together. Wade calmly sat on a bench with his elbows resting on his knees, watching her teeter on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
"Syd, come here for a minute and then you can get back to wearing a hole in the floor." He held his hand out to her and smiled.
She was a ball of nerves waiting for the lawyers and the judge to decide their fate. The men and women on the other side of the door had the power to either make her the happiest woman alive or to literally tear her heart from her chest and never let her see Faith again. Either way, when they came out, her life was going to be forever changed.
The not knowing was killing her.
"I don"t know what I"ll do if-" she started, but Wade cut her off, silencing her with a tender kiss.
"We aren"t going to talk like that. You"ve done everything they asked. We both have."
Time had seemed to slow down over the last few months as they had struggled to sort the whole situation out. Sydney had been arrested the moment she was discharged from the hospital. Wade had been her rock and stayed by her side through it all, until he, too, had been named in Amanda"s death. Some young DA looking to make a name for himself tried to paint the picture that Wade had killed Amanda so Sydney could keep Faith. It was thrown out of court, but it forced Wade to stay in Missouri and tie up loose ends while Sydney had been sent back to Montana to face her charges.
David Post, Wade"s friend from Boston who took her case without hesitation, was every bit the brilliant lawyer she had hoped and prayed he was. He managed to get Agnes appointed as Faith"s foster parent, provided she moved to Montana while all of this was being settled. He even managed to get Sydney supervised visitation once a week with her little girl. It was difficult to see her so infrequently, but considering that she thought she might never see her again after that night, Sydney was grateful for every second she could get.
Wade came to Montana as soon as he could and he brought with him Pete and Cara who closed the diner for a few days once a month so they could stay with Sydney. Never in her life had she known such unconditional love and support as she did in the days after returning to Montana. Even though she was terrified and heartbroken about being away from Faith, she knew that, no matter what, she had people in her life who loved her.
And that would get her through whatever may happen.
"Did you talk to Faith this morning?" Wade asked, trying to occupy her mind with something more pleasant for a while as they waited.
"I did," Sydney laughed and ticked off all the messages Faith had told her to give to Wade. "She says h.e.l.lo, she misses you, and of course, she wants to know when you"re going to come over again. She has a new recipe she wants you to try."
Wade laughed and shook his head. "It can"t be any worse than the marshmallow and sunflower seed creation she made me eat last time." He poked Sydney in the side. "She takes after her mother."
He meant the words to be teasing, but all they did was bring tears to her eyes. She so desperately wanted to be Faith"s mother. Legally and irrevocably. She glanced at the door.
"Did you talk to Melissa, too?"
"Yes. Thunderstorms in New York have grounded her flight. She"ll be in tomorrow. Poor thing sounded exhausted." Melissa had flown home the minute she heard about Sydney"s arrest. She put everything on hold and came back to support her friend. It was only at Sydney"s insistence that she returned to Europe to finish her trip. There was no point in both of them feeling trapped. She begged Melissa to go travel through Europe for her. It would give her something to dream of. "I thought she"d never come home. She"s changed her return flight four times now."
Wade"s hand ma.s.saged her shoulder. "Don"t worry about that now. Melissa"s on her way home."
As her foot tapped out an impatient rhythm, Sydney glared down the hall toward the courtroom. "What"s taking so long, Wade? This has to be a bad sign."
"Stop." He kissed her temple. "You"re going to drive yourself crazy."
They sat, holding hands in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, then the door to the courtroom creaked open and Sydney shot to her feet, her heart slamming against her ribs. David stuck his head out and, with a less than encouraging smile he waved for them to come inside.
It felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the building as Sydney tried to take a breath. Her anxiety spiked, and Wade pulled her into his arms. "It"s going to be all right. Whatever they decide, we"re going to get through it. Together." He tipped her face up and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. The determination in his eyes gave her the courage she needed to put one foot in front of the other and walk through that door, with Wade"s hand in hers.
Through the enormous doors, the judge sat behind his elevated desk, a stern look on his face. The district attorney and the woman from family court made brief eye contact with Sydney then went back to their conversation. Neither one of them gave any indication with their expressions or body language what the decision had been. On Sydney"s side of the room her probation officer, David, and a few other people had their heads tucked together so Sydney didn"t recognize them until they looked up. Then appreciation and shock slammed into Sydney.
"Cara? Pete?" She launched herself into Pete"s outstretched arms, confused by their presence, but thrilled beyond words to see both of their faces. Cara had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Sydney, too. If things didn"t go her way, she was going to need all the support she could get. "What are you two doing here?"
"Sydney and Wade, this is Jason, our son-in-law and this is his brother Michael who happens to be a family law attorney. When Jason told him about your custody situation, they flew out here from Chicago to consult with David because Michael found a precedent he thought might help."
Wade"s hand immediately extended to both men. "I appreciate you taking the time to come all this way for us."
"I don"t know if we did any good or not. This judge has one of the best poker faces I"ve ever seen in a courtroom. I"ve argued before some pretty stern characters, but he takes the cake," Michael said with a glance up at the judge who was still shuffling some papers on his desk.
"How are you holding up, honey?" Cara asked, with a motherly smile. "Wade"s taking good care of you, I hope."
Without hesitation Sydney laced her finders with his. "I"d be lost without him."
Cara reached up and patted Wade on the cheek. "Good boy."
"I-I still can"t believe you"re here."
"Well, believe it, sweets. Luke and Hailey send their love. The two of them are running the diner while we"re gone." Pete laughed. "Hopefully they don"t burn the place down."
"You"re both crazy," Sydney said with tears in her eyes.
"We both love you," Cara said with a sniffle. "And there"s no way we weren"t going to be here for you."
The judge cleared his throat and all talking in the courtroom ended. Sydney took her place beside her attorney, with Wade on her other side.
"This case is most unusual." The deep baritone of the judge"s voice echoed off the marble walls. "I"ve listened to the arguments. I"ve spoken extensively to Mrs. Washington"s former psychiatrist, as well as listened to the recommendations of the representatives from children"s services and your probation officer." He pinned Jason and Michael with a hard look. "I"ve even been woken up at a most inappropriate hour this morning to hear yet another person willing to spout antiquated precedents that support your request for custody, Miss Jackson."
"Oh, please. It was seven o"clock," Jason hissed under his breath earning a smack from Cara.
"Shh, you behave."
"As I was saying, this whole case is unusual. If you just would have turned the girl into the authorities that night, you could have begun the legal adoption process and we wouldn"t be here." Sydney felt her cheeks flush red, the burden of her guilt and the potential consequences making it hard to breathe. She opened up her mouth, ready to offer yet another apology to the judge. Even if he wouldn"t give her custody, she would plead for visitation. There was no way she could cut Faith out of her life. It would kill her.
Sensing the direction of her thoughts, Wade gave his head a slighted shake and put his arm around her shoulder, holding her in place. Sydney leaned into him and allowed his strength to support her at the most terrifying moment of her life. Staring down the barrel of Charles" gun was nothing compared to this.
"You have been the model parolee. I see that you"ve met with the court appointed psychiatrist on a regular schedule, and that you"ve completed the community service requirement, and then some." He pulled off his gla.s.ses and folded his hands on the ma.s.sive desk, looking directly at Sydney. "But that doesn"t change the fact that you kidnapped a young girl."
"Are you gonna let him talk about Sydney that way," Agnes barked out, sending Sydney"s attorney to his feet.
"Your honor," David started, but the judge sent him back to his seat with a glare and threatened to throw Agnes out of the courtroom if she spoke out again.
"I"d like to see him try and get me out of here," she mumbled under her breath, making Cara chuckle.
"Dr. Lee has been an advocate for you getting custody, as have your psychiatrist, the social worker, pretty much every person in this room." He waved his arm at the crowd and Sydney was moved to find everyone nodding in agreement. Tears flooded her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She knew what he was going to say next, and her heart was breaking.
"I wish I could, but with the charges against you, I can"t set that precedent in the eyes of the law. Imagine what other attorneys could argue down the road."
Wade held her tighter when she started to sway in her seat on the verge of fainting. There was no way she could even comprehend a life without Faith. Without her laughter and smile, or her hugs.
The judge did not miss her distress and called out to the bailiff. "June, get her a gla.s.s of water. She"s white as a ghost down there." He waited until the water arrived and she took a sip. The whole room was holding their breath, wondering what decision he had made about Faith.
"What am I going to do?" Sydney whispered to Wade.
"Be brave. And trust me." He pressed his lips to her temple and Sydney could feel him pouring all his strength and love into her at that moment. She did trust him, and she trusted the people surrounding her in the courtroom. Cara"s hand rubbed gently on her back giving her what comfort she could. Pete mumbled to Jason, who was doing his best to keep his father-in-law from jumping the barrier and "letting the judge have it," over his disagreement with what the judge was saying. If she wasn"t so heartbroken, Sydney would have laughed at it all.