Page 54 of A Brambleberry Summer

“You’re welcome.”

He glanced at Rosa and found her looking at him with such warmth and approval that he couldn’t seem to look away.

Addie came running over, with Logan close behind.

“Mommy,” she said, tugging on Jen’s shirt, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

Jen gave her a distracted look then seemed to sharpen her focus on her child. “Right. The door is locked. I’ll get it for you.”

She turned back to Wyatt. “Thank you,” she said again. “I’ll get you that picture.”

“That’s the best thing you can do right now.”

“I’m glad I told you. Rosa was right.”

She gave Rosa a look he couldn’t quite interpret, but one that left him feeling as if he had missed something significant, and then Jen grabbed her daughter’s hand and hurried for the house.

After she left, Wyatt turned to Rosa and found her looking at him with that same expression of warmth and approval.

“What were you right about?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I told her she could trust you. That you would help her if you could.”

If she believed that, why wouldn’t she trust him herself?

He could not ask. “I don’t know how much I can do. I hope she’s right, that he has lost interest.”

“But you do not think so.”

He couldn’t lie. “If the man was willing to break the law to hack into her emails and completely disrupt her life to that extent, I can’t see him giving up easily. I think he will keep searching until he finds her.”

“What can we do?”

“Not a great deal unless he does something overt. I’m sorry.”

“I feel so helpless.”

“I know. It’s a terrible feeling. I’ll do a little internet sleuthing and see what I can dig up on the guy without coming right out and contacting his department. I don’t want to run the risk of him getting wind that a detective in Oregon is looking into him, or that will certainly clue him in that she’s here. Meanwhile, I’ll circulate the picture around here when she gives me one and we will keep our eyes open.”

It didn’t sound like much, even to Wyatt. He hated that he couldn’t do more. If this Aaron Barker was obsessed enough about Jenna and Addie, he would figure out a way to find them.

“Why can’t some men take no for an answer?” she asked quietly.

He gave her a searching look but she quickly shifted her gaze away.

“It usually has to do with power and control. And some men just can’t accept rejection.”

“She has already been through so much, losing the man she loved with all her heart. It is not fair.”

“No. It’s not. I hate when any man hurts or threatens a woman, but I especially hate when he’s in law enforcement.”

“Thank you for believing her. That was the most important thing. Everyone else she told thought she was making it up to get attention or to get this man in trouble.”

“You believed her.”

“I know fear when I see it,” Rosa said simply. “She is afraid or she would not have taken her daughter away from her family and her friends.”

Something told him Rosa knew plenty about fear, as well. He wanted to press her to tell him but held his tongue.

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