Page 40 of Two Hearts Reunited

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day went by in a blur, and Anya couldn’t have enjoyed herself more. Despite not knowing Ashley’s parents well, they’d been just as accepting of her as Eric’s had been.

Anya actually took over a lot of the cooking because it was something she enjoyed. Ashley had been looking drained, so Anya was glad that she had her family here to take care of her as well as Eric to watch Arielle when she and Brian needed a break. It was also nice that Arielle had a couple of grandmothers there during the holidays to hold her because she was definitely teething.

But Anya realized as she drove off to return to the cabin on Christmas evening—she’d felt like she had a family again. As a matter of fact, she felt more like she belonged with Eric’s than she ever had with hers. It had been the same when she’d been dating Eric in high school.

Since Jake Loughlin would be visiting tomorrow morning at the cabin, Anya wanted to get to sleep early and organize her notes in the morning. She’d been relieved that Eric wanted to be there with her too. He wanted to help with the search in any way that he could.

After pulling her truck into the garage, she gathered her Christmas gifts along with the food they’d sent home, including the cheesecake Eric had apparently purchased when he’d been in town yesterday.

But she felt like something was different when she walked inside the cabin and realized that her mom’s cell phone was beeping. There appeared to be a new message on voice mail.

It was the one source of communication that Anya had decided to keep once she’d sold the house, although she’d also picked up a more modern phone and kept it plugged in at the cabin. She’d held onto her mom’s cell phone with the original number because of the phone call Mom had received from Shanna.

Inhaling an unsteady breath, she rested her gifts along with the food on the table, trying to calm down her nerves. She’d put the food away first before listening to the message, she decided.

After everything was loaded in the refrigerator, she approached the plugged in cell phone again, sitting on the chair beside it. Picking it up, she glanced to see if there was a caller ID number.

No, it was just marked private. But then again, there hadn’t been a number before.

She scrolled through the settings, double tapping the screen where the message notification was displayed.

“Anya,” the woman said, in a voice that sounded like it was coming from inside a long tunnel. “I know you’re home and you haven’t given up on me.Pleasebe careful. I’m not far away, but if something happened to you, it would devastate me more than you know. I’m going to need you.” There was a long pause. “I know we never seemed to get along, butI love you.”

And then the phone disconnected.

After a moment of stunned silence, her tears started falling, followed by gulping, heart wrenching sobs.

Another fifteen minutes later after she’d finally managed to settle down, she glanced at the ring on her finger.

“I don’t have to do this alone,” she said aloud, reaching for her cell phone.

Eric answered right away.“What’s wrong?”

“How did you know?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“I just sensed it,” he replied softly. “What happened?”

“Shanna left me a message.”

There was a long silence until finally he asked, “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she said firmly.

“I’ll be right there,” he muttered, disconnecting.

While she waited on the couch, she decided to make a recording of the message on her laptop along with her phone, so by the time she was finished, Eric was pulling his truck into the driveway, and then parking at an angle near the porch.

He was carrying his duffel bag, she noticed as he walked inside.

“I’m staying the night,” he said, staring into her eyes with a look that warned her not to argue.

“Good,” she answered softly.

He glanced around the living room. “Although it’s nice and neat and organized, do you mean to say that you’ve only been living in this small space all this time?”

“Just through the winter. I’ve got a private investigator to pay,” she replied. “Can I get you something to drink? I don’t have much company, but I actually have beer in the fridge.”

“I can get it,” he said, resting his bag near the door before tugging off his coat and hanging it on the hook near the door.

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