Page 9 of Christmas Wedding
CHAPTER SIX
Thanksgiving was a success. Piper and Tag showed up first with Sunny in tow. Piper was afraid to leave Sunny alone since she was getting closer to her due date. She was afraid that Sunny would forget to take care of herself. She seemed so consumed with worry over having to raise the baby alone since Aaron still hadn’t made an appearance. Tag finally talked to him earlier in the week, but Piper and Sunny swore him to secrecy. After months of no word from Aaron, Sunny was determined to bring her child into the world surrounded by people who would love her. Lorna knew that Aaron would love his child if he just knew about her. Sunny and Aaron were the two most stubborn people that Lorna knew.
Seeing Sunny’s huge baby belly made Lorna a little misty. She and Sawyer stole secret little looks during dinner, knowing that she carried a new life that they had made together. It was nice keeping the news to themselves. It was their private secret that bonded them together. Sawyer couldn’t keep his hands off her—he loved to wrap his arms around her and hold her tummy. She had to admit she loved that too. She scheduled a doctor’s appointment for two weeks before Christmas, when they mighthear the baby’s heartbeat. That was all she wanted for Christmas—to know that her baby was growing and healthy inside her.
Maddie and Jack went back to visit with her family for Thanksgiving. Maddie wanted her son’s first holiday season to be spent with her brothers and parents. They were going to spend the whole next month down in Alabama, and while Lorna missed having them around, she was so happy for them. Maddie missed her family, so a trip home would do her some good. Lorna agreed to water their plants and feed their cat, Dusty, until they came home after Christmas.
The day passed quickly in a haze of turkey and food, followed by delicious pies and watching football games on television. After everyone left, it was like a switch flipped in Sawyer, and all he wanted to talk about was Christmas. He was so into the whole Christmas scene that Lorna had to reel him in when he started talking about putting up three trees. She talked him down to one big tree for the family room and maybe some lights outside. She was still tired, and the thought of decorating every square inch of their home sounded exhausting. Sawyer promised her that she didn’t have to lift a finger if she didn’t want to. She loved that he took care of her, especially now when her energy level was so low. Sawyer even talked her into reducing her hours at Scrumptious. Lorna excused herself after dinner to lie down, and Sawyer gave everyone the excuse that she had a little virus and was just feeling run down. Of course, Piper wanted to check on Lorna, worried that she was worse than he was letting on. It took every ounce of willpower not to blurt out the news that she and Sawyer were having a baby. Instead, she convinced Piper that what she had wasn’t contagious and that she just needed to rest for a few weeks until she got her energy back.
The next day, Lorna decided to run a few errands while Sawyer was at work. She knew that he worried about Piper since Joe showed up in town. He told her that his sources said that Joewas back in New York, but he still made sure that he or Tag was with Piper always. She worried that he was hiding something from her, but she was just too tired to figure it out. She headed into town, stopping at the library to pick up some books that came in for her. Then she ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items so she wouldn’t have to venture out in the storm that was supposed to hit overnight.
She decided it would be best to bring Maddie’s cat over to her house to make sure the little guy had some company during the storm. She grabbed Maddie’s keys from her purse and let herself into the quiet house. Jack and Maddie’s home was always so alive and noisy, especially since the baby. With them out of town, the old place was way too quiet. It kind of gave her the creeps. She called for Dusty, and he came running to her, meowing and purring. He rubbed up against her, and she picked him up to cuddle him. Poor thing missed his humans.
“I’m going to take you back to my place, Dusty. Would you like that?” She scratched his little gray head as she walked into the kitchen to drop Maddie’s mail on the table. She found the carrier that they left for Dusty by the pantry door and shivered. She realized that the room was colder than usual and wondered if the heat wasn’t running. Lorna put Dusty in the pet carrier and looked around for a thermostat to check the temperature. As she passed by the basement door, she thought she heard footsteps in the bedroom above her. She froze, too scared to move as the noise trailed down the hallway to the steps. If someone were in Maddie’s house, they could easily head her off at the front door, and she would be trapped. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to make it out with Dusty in tow. She left him in the kitchen, looking back at him as if trying to silently tell him that she would be back. She needed to get out and find help. She ran for the front door as the footsteps barreled down the wooden steps. Whoever was in the house was going to try to stop her fromleaving. She screamed and lunged for the door, only to run right into Joe. Sawyer was right to worry—Joe wasn’t in New York. He was in Maddie and Jack’s house, and from the smarmy smirk on his face, he was there waiting for her to feed Dusty.
“Hey, Lorna. Nice to see you again.” He pulled her arms behind her back. A sharp pain shot up her arm and into her shoulder as he pulled tighter to get the zip tie around her wrists. “I knew that sooner or later you would have to come back and feed that damn cat. Looks like today is my lucky day.”
“Please,” she screamed. “You’re hurting me, Joe.” He chuckled to himself, and she knew why he was there—he wanted to get to Piper. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She needed to stall him. If he tried to move her, she might never see Sawyer again. His face flashed through her mind, and she closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer.
“Why are you here, Joe?” She decided to get him talking and maybe buy herself some time.
“I’m pretty sure that you and that goon you’re living with figured out who I am. I’m here to have a little chat with your niece. Hell, she was supposed to be the one at the shop that night, not you. But then I realized that you’re her aunt, so it wasn’t a total loss. I didn’t count on your boyfriend being her bodyguard, though. He has her guarded all the fucking time, so I thought that he might want to make a little trade. That’s where you come in.” He kissed her cheek, and she couldn’t help her sob. The thought of Joe getting his hands on Piper made her physically sick.
“What do you want with her? She was just a little girl when your brothers took her parents away from her.” He tugged her arms further behind her body, sending sharp pains up into her shoulders. She screamed in agony, and Joe seemed amused by her discomfort.
“It’s because of her testimony that my brothers died in jail. I was just driving my brothers to the store. I had no idea that they were robbing it or that they were going to kill Piper’s parents. When the police finally caught up with me, I was hiding at my girlfriend’s house. They had already found both of my brothers, and they both rolled on me, telling the cops where to find me. The cops painted me as an accomplice even though I didn’t step foot in that store. I served my time, paid my price, and now I want some face time with the brat that caused my family so much pain.” He led Lorna into the kitchen and sat her down in a chair. She didn’t try to fight him as he tied her legs down. She didn’t want to give him any cause to hurt her or her baby.
“She was just a little girl, Joe. She lost her parents. I was all she had left. Please don’t do this to her.” Joe leaned against the countertop, watching her. “Please just let me go, and I promise you that I won’t tell anyone about this.” She wished she could wipe the tears from her face. She flinched at the pain as she tried to free her hand.
“Well, I lost my family that day, too. How the hell do you think it made me feel to be locked up for something that I didn’t do? I was so angry at my brothers for going off and doing something stupid. But then I realized that Piper and her parents were just as much to blame for all this. I was an innocent bystander, and I spent years in jail rotting like a hardened criminal. I learned real fast how to take care of myself, and now I want a little payback.” Lorna shook her head.
“No, Joe! Please don’t hurt her.” Joe laughed at her again.
“I won’t lay a finger on your precious niece. As long as she coughs up a large sum of money, I will be on my way. I read about her inheritance, and I want what’s due me. She owes me for all those wasted years, and I plan on collecting, one way or another.” His smile was mean, and Lorna shivered. He looked like someone who would do anything to get what he wanted.How did she miss that the first time that they met? He seemed so harmless. She even invited him back to her home for coffee. God, she was a fool.
“She doesn’t owe you anything! You will rot in jail again before you get anything from my family.” He took two steps across the kitchen and smacked her so hard across the face that the chair she sat in tipped over. She landed on her side and heard her shoulder crack as it hit the floor. She instantly knew that she had either broken or dislocated her shoulder; the pain was almost unbearable. She felt her world spinning, and the last thing she remembered was Joe standing over her body laughing at her as her world went black.
Sawyer felt bone-tired after his long day. He spent most of it running around with Piper so that Tag could spend time at his store, doing inventory. Piper was on a mission to find the perfect gift for Tag, which meant that she dragged Sawyer to every store within a hundred-mile radius. He hated shopping more than anything, but he did manage to do some of his own. He found the perfect engagement ring for Lorna at a little antique store. She loved old jewelry, and he loved the beautiful London blue sapphire ring that he found in a display case in a corner of the store. Hiding it from Piper proved challenging, so he had to tell her about it. He tried to keep it from her so he wouldn’t burden her with a secret she struggled to keep. Piper was smart, and she admitted her faults, so she easily accepted her biggest flaw of not being able to keep a secret. Sawyer just needed to find a good hiding place to stash the ring until he planned on giving it to Lorna on Christmas morning. When he finally got home, he was surprised that Lorna wasn’t there. Itwas his night to cook, so he hid her ring in his old room since she never went in there. He headed back into the kitchen to prep dinner and checked their answering machine—no messages. He pulled out his phone to text Lorna. Something felt off. He knew she wasn’t at the shop or Sunny’s—he was just at the bakery with Piper. After fifteen minutes and no reply from Lorna, he decided to check the library. He called over, but they said she was in hours earlier. He hated to worry Tag or Piper, but he had no choice. He was starting to worry about Lorna.
“Hey, Sawyer, what’s up?” Tag sounded like he was running a marathon.
“Shit, did I interrupt your and Piper’s alone time?” Tag chuckled.
“Alone time? Dude, you can say sex. I know you’ve heard of it. Hell, I’m betting that you’ve actually had some.” Tag was joking around, but Sawyer was getting more antsy by the minute.
“So, if you and Piper are having sex, then I’m assuming that Lorna isn’t there,” Sawyer said.
“Eww, fuck no! God damn it, Sawyer, now you’ve ruined my focus,” Tag complained. Sawyer huffed out a breath, starting to get frustrated by Lorna’s disappearance. “She’s not there? Maybe she just ran over to the shop,” Tag offered. Sawyer wasn’t sure where to try next. She wasn’t at the shop—hell, she didn’t seem to be anywhere. He checked with just about everyone in town.
“I’m worried, man. I can’t find her anywhere,” Sawyer said. Tag was rustling around on the other end of the call.
“I’m getting dressed now, and I’ll drive into town,” Sawyer sighed.
“Thanks, man. Bring Piper with you. I don’t want her to be alone up there. Something isn’t right, and I just can’t put my finger on it.” Sawyer hung up and paced their small kitchen.He decided to call Lorna’s phone instead of texting. It rang four times, and then she picked up.
“Thank Christ, baby. I’ve been worried sick. Where are you?” Sawyer’s hair stood on end when he heard a man laughing into the other end of his phone.
“Aw, I’m touched that you were worried about me, but I’ve been around. I’ve been watching you and Piper for weeks now. Man, you don’t let her out of your sight, do you? She’s well-guarded between you and that mountain of a husband she’s with. But you dropped the ball on guarding poor, helpless Lorna, didn’t you?” Sawyer felt sick. Joe was watching them all this time? “Do you have her, Joe? If you lay one finger on Lorna, I’ll fucking murder you,” Sawyer growled. Joe made a tsking noise into the phone.
