Page 19 of Reunion at Mistletoe Lodge
Zac started to pace again, muttering something she couldn’t quite hear. He stopped and walked toward her. “Barb, did Trevor give you anything the night before you were supposed to get married?” He snapped his fingers thinking. “Maybe a chunky piece of jewelry, a card, or any gift he could’ve used to hide a thumb drive or a map of where he’d hidden the information?”
“Is that why you and your brother are here?” Barb asked, ignoring Zac’s question.
“Don’t do that!” Zac’s eyes sparked with anger. “Don’t try to lead me away from my train of thought,” he accused. “I’m having a hard time as it is with all these pieces of my memories floating around in my head. It’s like mybrain got smashed, and now I’m trying to piece it together one memory at a time.”
“I’m sorry!” Barb apologized and decided to answer his question. “No, he didn’t give me anything. It was the day before Valentine's Day because we were getting married on the most romantic day of the year.” She smiled, thinking about that day. “As we weren’t having a traditional wedding, Trevor wanted to make the day before our Valentine's Day.”
“Did he give you a gift or ask you to keep anything for him that day or the day of your wedding?” Zac’s eyes widened with excitement at the thought that she may have what he was looking for.
“Trevor and I never gave each other gifts,” Barb told him. “Dedicating the entire day to each other was our gift.”
“Did you go somewhere special?” Zac asked.
“We went to our favorite Italian restaurant on the waterfront near my apartment in Santa Barbara,” Barb told him. “After that, he walked mehome, and we were supposed to meet at the courthouse at ten the next day, and that’s whereyoushowed up to let me know the news that Trevor had been killed in the line of duty.”
A lump formed in her throat, and she fought back the tears the memory of that day had still brought her. Barb hadn’t even gone to Trevor’s funeral as she wasn’t allowed to—Zac had swooped into the courthouse and dragged her away from it to redeposit her in her new life in L.A., and she landed a position with the Holland Corporation.
She’d lived quite happily as the heartache of losing Trevor slowly subsided, replaced by the love for his son growing inside her. After that, Oscar had become Barb’s world until two years ago when her uncle found her and tried to get Giles Holland in trouble and killed.
That’s why Barb and Oscar had joined Heather and Giles Holland on the Clean Water Project in Africa. Zac had come along as the agent in charge of Barb and Oliver’s protection. She’d gotten as far away from America as she could until her uncle was caught and sent to jail for life.
Until Zac had gone awol nearly a year ago, Barb had thought her life was taking a turn for the better, only to be once again slapped down by fate, dragging her into another drama.
Her eyes drifted back to Zac, who was once again pacing anxiously in front of her. If he was really Zac, then he was the one in trouble, and Barb had no idea how to help him. Not that she was even supposed to be near him at all, but now Barb knew why Liam was so worried about him. Zac seemed to realize he had a problem, but he didn’t know which memories he’d lost. He seemed to be struggling with Trevor's memory.
Barb didn’t know if she should mention anything to Zac about her account of what happened to Trevor. Zac seemed to believe Trevor was still alive. It was a bit alarming because while she knew Zac was not well, he also had no inhibitions and seemed to be speaking his mind. Barb wasn’t sure if what he was saying was true and reminded herself once again that Zac wasn’t well.
But if Trevor is still alive…She gave herself a mental shake—no, that was not possible. Zac would’ve said something to her when they were together inAfrica—or would he have? Her eyes narrowed on the man walking next to her. It seems he’d kept a heck of a lot more from her if what Zac was saying now about Trevor did turn out to be the truth, and by the look in Zac’s eyes… Barb was starting to have doubts about a lot of things.
Her heart grew heavier when Zac lifted his eyes to hers and came to stand in front of her. She could see the pain and confusion in his eyes. Barb felt for him.
“Barb, I know how hard it must be for you that we had to take Trevor from you.” He reached out and took her hands in his. “But it had to be done for both of your sakes. I can’t tell you the details of the case, but I need to ask you something. I hate bringing up terrible memories, especially since it’s only been two months since we had to take Trevor from you.”
Her brow creased, and her heart jolted at Zac’s words—since we had to take Trevor from you.Is Trevor still alive?Surely not! But Zac had basically said as much a few times to her already.
“Zac, please just tell me the truth!” Barb knew she shouldn’t be trying to get information from a man with abrain injury, but she needed to know. “If he is, what really happened to him?”
Zac stared into her eyes for a few seconds. “I can’t tell you that right now, Barb.” His voice was low, and he glanced around them again. “But soon.” He gave her a tight smile. “I’d better get back before someone comes looking for me. They can’t know about you, Barb, or that we spoke. We must act like we don’t know each other, or you could be in danger.” He pulled out his phone. “What’s your number? I’ll send you a message so you have my number in case you remember anything about Trevor leaving something for you.” He looked at her. “Or if you need my help.”
Barb swallowed, trying to figure out what to do. She’d promised Liam she wouldn’t go anywhere near Zac, but she was about to give him her number here.
“Barb?” Zac looked at her expectantly. “I promise you, I might have a little problem with my memory at the moment, but I promise you, I remember this quite clearly. In fact, it’s so vivid in my mind that day…” He closed his eyes for a few minutes as if trying to contain himself. “That day Trevor was shot. It’s like a video that’s beenlooped in my brain set to play whenever I close my eyes or have some alone time.”
“I’m so sorry this has happened to you,” Barb’s words were heartfelt, and she rattled off her number.
She watched as Zac typed it into his phone and then sent her a message. “There you have my number. Please, Barb, don’t hesitate to use it if you need to. I promised Trevor I’d look out for you.”
“Thank you,” Barb’s voice wobbled with emotion, and she felt like lead, and she needed to crawl into a dark corner to mull over the past couple of hours. “I’ll go out of the barn first and let you sneak out when I’m gone.”
Zac nodded. Barb gave him one last lingering look before turning and slipping out of the barn, hopefully, unnoticed by whoever Zac thought was watching them. A glance around showed no one as the world around her was still not even the insects chirped in the crisp winter air.
Twenty minutes later, Barb showered and curled up in her bed, with Charlotte lying in the crib beside her. She had pulled the crib into her room because she wasexhausted from the trip from Africa, and her brain was completely taxed by everything that had happened since arriving at the resort.
All she wanted to do was let herself drift into sleepy oblivion for at least ten hours, but she knew she had about four until Charlotte woke up for a feed. Barb lay on her side, looking at her beautiful baby girl through the slats of the crib. She was sleeping so peacefully now that they were not in an airplane. There were nights when Charlotte slept right through, and a pediatrician had told her to let her sleep and not wake her if she didn’t want to wake up.
Barb had to stop herself from getting up and putting Charlotte in bed beside her as a wave of loneliness and sorrow hit her. When she felt like she was missing Zac, Barb found holding her kids helped. But Oscar was having a sleepover, and Charlotte needed to get back into her routine, which had been disturbed because of the flight.
Barb sighed, closed her eyes, and let her mind drift back to the night before her wedding. She’d been so excited as she and Trevor had gone to the Italian restaurant. They’d spent the evening staring into each other’s eyes and speaking about everything and anything. They did that.Trevor was a brilliant man. He’d studied astronomy and astrophysics before joining the FBI to follow in his late father's footsteps.
