Page 97 of Noble Neighbor
Oliver rubbed a hand across his mouth. “But I havean idea who ran them from the road,” he said andrecounted what his father-in-law had told him about Vance.
He drew in a deep, calming breath, exhaling slowly. “But from your expression, you knew it was him. Yet you never prosecuted.”
Delaney chuffed a hollow laugh. “No. There were … complications.”
Complications? Stomping away, Oliver halted in front of the window, indignation rising in him. How could her familynotact against the man?
He’d’ve given anything to see Christie’s killer rot behind bars.
He swallowed hard, tamping down the welling emotion as he focused his gaze on the empty house resting on a low rise, and saw two shrieking girls hurtling down the hill on a toboggan—
Oliver stiffened. And understood.
“Kenzie and Molly are the daughter’s,” he stated. “They survived the accident.”
Spunky Kenzie, protecting her baby sister. And sweet Molly, worrying about “bad mans.” Two little girls who’d crept into his heart, finding their forever place in it. The offspring of the man who killed his wife. No wonder Sunny took the girls and ran.
Sunny.
Head spinning, blood pumping rapidly, a crazy idea sprung to life. His gaze raked over the man who’d flown to Nebraska at the drop of a hat. “Savannah … shediddie, didn’t she?”
If the girls were alive …
But no. There was no way Sunny was Savannah.
They didn’t evenlookthe same.
But Sunny’s a natural blonde, Oliver. And she has scars on her left side, pins in her hip.
Delaney rubbed his neck, inhaling a deep breath of air as he glanced around the room. Oliver didn’t look away when the man’s blue eyes settled, and held, his.
Chicory blue eyes. Sunny’s eyes.
Sunny with her effervescent smile. So wide, so brilliant, it blinded.
Like Christie. Like Savannah.
“Sunny is Savannah,” Oliver growled.
The man looked past Oliver's shoulder, his eyes shimmering with emotion as he slowly nodded.“We arrived at the accident scene to see her car, halfway down the incline, go up in flames. For a few dreadful moments we thought we’d lost them. Then the sheriff stumbled to the road, Savannah in his arms, brave little Kate clutching Mary. My sister drifted in and out of consciousness while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. During one of her lucid moments, she spoke to us. ‘Savannah is dead,’ she whispered and looked me in the eye. ‘Make it happen.’”
Delaney shrugged, looking down at his hands. He flexed, then fisted them. “We made it happen.”
“How?” Oliver asked.
Sunny’s brother offered a wry smile. “It was easy. We’re from a small, tight-knit Texas community.Only a few hundred in the town. Dad’s the local pastor,and lifelong friends with the sheriff and the doctor, whom incidentally, delivered both me and Sunny. Mama’s family own most the land in the area and she’s related to half the townsfolk. Between us, we made it happen.
“After Doc and the nurse stabilized her at the county clinic — her left arm and hip were fractured — she was spirited to a large hospital in Dallas and admitted under a false name.” Delaney rose and paced around the room. “With her bruised and swollen features, and her hair shorn because of a head wound, visual identification was unlikely. Sunny went to Dallas alone. It broke us.”
He stopped, drawing in a few deep, ragged breaths. “It felt like we were abandoning her. We tried to change her mind, but she held firm to her decision. ‘It’s for the girls,’ she’d said. ‘Lathan’s evil willnevertouch their lives again.’”
Eyes brimming, Delaney flexed and fisted his fingers once again before continuing, “We hid the girls on the ranch. Locals — and the press — were told they died on scene, Savannah succumbing to her injuries in hospital, and all three were cremated. A week later, Sunny moved from the Dallas hospital, pin in her hip, arm in a sling, to a private clinic in Mexico. I took the girls to her and stayed with them while she suffered through months of physical therapy and her first cosmetic surgery.
“And then started, what she termed, their ‘gypsy period’. Sunny had three more cosmetic surgeries over the next two years.Subtle changes, spaced apart to not scare or confuse her girls, but sufficient to alter her appearance.” He shrugged. “Chin dimple removed, bump added to her nose broken during the accident, jaw implants. And of course, a new identity, a new place to live, after each time.”
“She’s had no contact with her family since?” Frank asked softly.
Delaney shook his head. “Only me. It’s easy for me to cover my tracks. And, Oliver, to answer your question regarding Vance. Our hands were tied. Savannah, Kate, and Mary were dead. Yet not, because Sunny, Kenzie, and Molly were alive. We couldn’t make a case. As far as the man knew, he’d achieved his goal.” He gave Oliver a contemplative look. “How serious are you about Sunny?”
