Holiday Hideout by Lynette Eason Page A

trust him no matter how much she wanted to. Vision of Reese’s buddies watching her, waiting for her wherever she went flitted through her mind. Pulling her over and giving her a warning for some made-up infraction of the law.
    Cops stuck together. No matter what. At least the ones she knew did.
    Maybe Cal was different. But could she take that chance? “I do owe you, I just…I’m afraid…”
    His hand reached out to stroke her hair. She wanted to lean into the comfort. He cupped her chin. “Who do you need protection from?”
    She looked away. “It doesn’t matter. Just leave me alone and let me go.” She set her jaw and headed to the counter.
    “Abby, please…” His soft voice stopped her in her tracks.
    Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath. Looking around, she spotted an empty bench and motioned him toward it. They sat side by side, her bag resting against her legs. “That horrible letter is a lie. And yet…it’s not.”
    Confusion clouded his eyes. “You’re no murderer, Abby.”
    She felt tears press against her eyelids. It was too soon to tell him. Too raw to talk about. “Like I told you, my sister died in childbirth. And so did her baby. My family blames me for not being able to convince her to go to the hospital.”
    He blew a raspberry. “How is that your fault? She was a grown woman capable of making her own decisions, was she not?”
    A little humorless laugh escaped her. “Yes, of course. It’s just that my family and her husband thought that I should have been able to ‘talk some sense into her.’” She wiggled her fingers as imaginary quotes as she said the last five words.
    Only she wasn’t telling him the whole story. Wasn’t adding that she’d been her sister’s doctor. Was supposed to deliver a healthy baby girl so she and Keira and Reese could live happily ever after.
    Cal didn’t look like he was buying her story.
    But it was the truth.
    Most of it anyway.
    “You’re leaving something out.”
    Biting her lip, she nodded. “Some things hurt too much to talk about,” she whispered.
    “Yeah, I know.” He sighed and his eyes took on a faraway look. And she realized that he might understand if she told him the rest of it.
    Then the light winked off his badge and the words froze in her throat.
    She couldn’t confide in him. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Come on back to the house,” he said with a glance to the glass door. “It’s snowing buckets now. Whatever bus you’re wanting to take is going to be stuck anyway.”
    She gasped and looked.
    Once again, a world of white greeted her. Abby jumped up from the bench and grabbed her bag. “I’ve got to get my ticket.”
    “Where are you going?”
    She wrinkled her nose. “Somewhere warm.” She walked toward the ticket counter and got in line.
    Cal followed. “Abby, come home with me. Please.”
    “I can’t.” She kept her voice low. “Joseph doesn’t trust me. Not around Fiona. Not after that letter.” She swallowed hard. “And I don’t blame him.”
    “I trust you.”
    She stared at him. “How can you say that? You don’t know me. You don’t know—” Could she even say it? “I was— I let her die, Cal. I watched her stop breathing, I tried everything I knew how to do and it wasn’t good enough. I let her die!” Tears welled, threatened to rupture into a flood she’d never be able to stem.
    He pulled her into his arms. They felt so good so she didn’t have the strength to fight him. “Abby, honey, I’m so sorry.”
    She looked up at him, the grief nearly crippling her. “So? You see?” She whispered. “You don’t know. I should have stopped it. I should have known what to do. But I…”
    Even as his fingers swiped the tears from under her eyes, he was saying, “I know enough. And I have great instincts when it comes to reading people. Yeah, I think you’re keeping secrets, but you’re no killer and you’re not a danger to my family—no matter what Joseph