Page 36 of Hide My Heart
Nate
I call my mom andtell her Beck and I are safe at Uncle Joe’s cabin. She’s pissed and upset at me for running out, but I explain that “Sharon” missed her bus to the base and she’s hiding from the military police.
Mom threatened to come up and nab me and Beck, but the snow we had the past few days is covered with ice, and no one’s going anywhere until everything thaws out.
Powerlines are already snapping under their icy burden, and downed trees block roads all over the region. We have electricity because of the generator, but TV reception is poor, so I have to rely on the radio for news.
I called a tip line for the police to go to Hunter’s house and investigate a possible injury, then I go through his contacts to see if he knows anyone living in Divine.
My stomach flips when I see Darlene’s name and the number of my motel. I snoop through his text messages and sure enough, Darlene has been gossiping about Amber’s family.
She’s also flirting with Hunter, telling him how strong he is and encouraging him, despite saying to me he’s ugly.
Why, she’s looking forward to him spending Christmas with her and invited him to her rooming house near the town square.
Darlene Dixon wasn’t a local who grew up in Divine. She came wandering through town about six months ago and chatted up my mother who gave her the job as lobby clerk at the Redbird.
Even freakier are the pictures I find on the phone: the church Amber’s father pastors, Amber’s grandmother getting out of a car, the house Amber’s family lives in, and a picture of Amber’s brother and his wife pushing a baby stroller, walking toward church.
It’s the last picture that kills me.
The back of my car as I drove Amber to Spokane.
Hunter had been lying in wait in Divine and listening to the gossip. Somehow, he knew Amber would be visiting her grandmother. What else does he know?
“What are you looking at?” Amber asks as she crosses into the kitchen, holding Beck.
“Hunter’s phone. He’s been stalking Divine,” I say, handing it to her.
She stares at the pictures and shudders. “He’s been going to my dad’s church.”
Her eyes mist as she flips to the picture of her grandmother. “I need to see her. I promised her in a letter I’d be home for Christmas.”
“We can’t go anywhere until the ice melts,” I remind her. “The forecast is bad.”
She glances out the window. The rain and snow have stopped falling, leaving a glistening forest of ice crystals. Spears of ice hang from the rafters, while stark clear ice entombs every branch and needle of the surrounding trees.
“I should call my grandmother,” Amber says. “I was going to surprise her at church before Hunter kidnapped me.”
“Did she know you were coming to town?”
Amber nods solemnly. “She knew I was coming, but she didn’t know the date. I had to find a place to stash this little one.”
Beck is sleeping quietly in her arms.
“Let’s figure out what happened to Hunter before we go back to Divine,” I suggest. “But yeah, you should call her.”
I give her my phone, and she takes it back in the bedroom, along with Beck.
I’m frying up some bacon and flipping pancakes on the griddle when Amber returns with my phone.
“Your mother called and I spoke to her,” she says. “I let her know Beck is okay. She’s calling me all sorts of names for missing the bus and not reporting to duty. What did you tell her exactly?”
I explain all the lies I had to tell to help protect her and Beck.
Amber shuffles her foot on the heart pine floor and shrugs. “Sorry I got in between you and your mother. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I have a real bad feeling about all of this,” I say as I turn off my phone. “Maybe I shouldn’t have lied to her. Now she thinks Beck is her grandson.”
