More Than Words, Volume 6 Page 5

  “Oh, I don’t want to wear it,” Miranda said. “I just want to smell it.”

  “What?”

  Miranda looked sheepish as she explained, “After Mom died I used to go in your bathroom and press my nose to Mom’s bathrobe…and I could smell Mom. It was like she was right there in the room with me.”

  “I see.” Seth rose and crossed to his dresser, opened the second drawer, took something out and returned with it to the bed. He sat down beside Miranda and handed it to her.

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  “It’s a hankie from your mom’s top drawer. Smell it.”

  Miranda carefully opened up the delicate white linen handkerchief with a pink flower embroidered in the corner, held it against her nose and inhaled deeply.

  Karen’s throat ached as she watched the tears appear in Miranda’s bright, shining eyes.

  “Oh, Daddy. She’s right here!”

  Karen heard Seth sniff and noticed him surreptitiously brush a hand across his eyes before he said, “You can share my hankie until I get your mom’s robe unpacked.”

  “You miss her, too, Daddy, don’t you?”

  “Every day.”

  Karen felt like an intruder as the two of them smiled and stared into each other’s eyes, sharing the sadness of loss and the joy of living on together.

  The spell was broken when Seth said, “Now, young lady, it’s time for you to get back to sleep.”

  “Wait!” Miranda turned back to Karen and said, “Can I visit Jackie in the hospital tomorrow?”

  Karen turned to Seth. “That’s up to your father.”

  Miranda focused her luminous green eyes on her father and said, “Jackie’s going to need me, Daddy.”

  Karen saw the struggle in Seth’s eyes between protecting his daughter and allowing her to help her friend get through a very difficult time in her life. At last he said, “I’ll check with the hospital and see when they have visiting hours.”

  Miranda huffed out a breath she’d apparently been holding and said, “Thank you, Daddy.” Then she turned to Karen and said, “And thank you, Karen, for saving my friend.”

  Miranda lay back down, turned on her side, pulled the covers up to her chin and said, “Good night, Daddy. Good night, Karen.”

  Karen watched as Seth carefully tucked his daughter in, then rose when he did and left the room.

  Once they were in the hall, he surprised her by taking her hand and pulling her along behind him. She followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he turned to her, seemed surprised to discover he was holding her hand, and abruptly let go of it. It seemed he’d needed someone to hold on to, and she’d been there. His next words confirmed it.

  “What am I going to say to Miranda when she sees Jackie’s face?” he asked in an agonized voice. “How am I supposed to handle that?”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure out the right thing to say.”

  “Will you come with me—with us—tomorrow morning?”

  She thought about lying and saying she had to work. But he knew she’d just gotten off her shift. She could tell the truth and say she needed to sleep if she was going to be awake and aware to handle work the next evening.

  Perhaps sensing her hesitation, he said, “Please come. I’m afraid I won’t be able to manage this meeting without you.”

  “I’m sure you—”

  “You don’t understand,” he said in a harsh voice. “When I think of Jackie’s face being bruised and beaten, I want to kick the crap out of the animals who did that to her. But they’re long gone, free to do the same thing to some other innocent child.

  Karen had already visited Jackie in the hospital, so she had some inkling of how bad the girl’s face was going to look in the morning. She understood Seth’s rage at the sex traffickers and shared his feelings of frustration that they’d escaped without being punished.

  “It doesn’t help that I know Jackie’s going home to a mother who spends way too much time with a bottle,” he said. “If I thought foster care would be better, I’d report her to Social Services.”

  “That’s always an option,” Karen said.

  He forked a hand through his hair and sighed. “Miranda swears to me that most of the time Jackie manages fine with her mother. But I feel frustrated and helpless, knowing what that child is going through.”

  “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be,” she said. “But if you’d like me to be there tomorrow…”

  “I would.”

  She smiled. “Then I’ll be there.”

  He smiled back and she felt the strong pull of attraction that had been there from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. She didn’t understand what it was about this man that called out to her. She hadn’t felt like this since…since she’d first seen John Toller in his police uniform.

  She could see—and had felt earlier, in the kitchen—that Seth was physically attracted to her, as well. But while she might be ready to love again, she didn’t think he was. Better to nip this in the bud before she got hurt.

  Seth’s smile faded before hers did. She thought maybe he was remembering his wife. And wondering at his ability to be attracted to another woman so soon—was a year too soon?—after her death.

  She hadn’t forgotten her late husband. John would always have a piece of her heart. But if Seth had given her the slightest sign, she would have stepped in for an embrace.

  “I should go,” she said into the awkward silence that had grown between them.

  He gave a jerky nod. “Yeah. I’ll see you out.”

  “I can find my way,” she said, unwilling to endure another uncomfortable moment at the door.

  But courtesy demanded he walk her to the door. When they got there, he stopped and turned to her. The tension between them was palpable.

  “I appreciate everything you’ve done to make this easier for Miranda,” he said.

  “She’s a wonderful girl.”

  “Thanks. Her mom did a good job raising her.”

  She tried to step past him to leave, but he put himself in her way. “Was there something else?” she asked.

  She waited, hoping he would say something to acknowledge the inexplicable attraction between them.

  But he shook his head and said, “It can wait. I’ll see you tomorrow, Lieutenant.”

  Calling her by her police rank was a clear indication that he wanted to back off, that he intended to put more space between them in the future, to protect himself from whatever feelings he had for her. She had to accept his decision.

  She met his gaze, and in the same detached voice he’d used, said, “Good night, Mr. Burnett.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  In light of the way she and Seth had parted ways last night, Karen had debated whether she should bow out of the hospital visit between Miranda and Jackie this morning. But she’d been through this sort of thing enough times to know that her presence would help Miranda—and Seth—get through what was sure to be a difficult half hour.

  “Karen!” Miranda cried when she spied her coming down the hall. “I’m so glad you’re finally here!”

  Karen saw Miranda was holding a small blue ceramic vase with an arrangement of white daisies. Her father held several teen magazines under his arm.

  “Daddy said I had to wait to see Jackie until you got here,” Miranda said, explaining her impatience.

  Karen glanced at Seth and noted the worry in his eyes. “I’m glad you waited for me,” she said to Miranda. “I need to tell you a few things before you see Jackie.”

  “Like what?” Miranda asked, a sudden wary look in her eyes.

  “First of all, Jackie’s face will be swollen and black-and-blue. She has some black stitches over her right eye and a big bandage over her nose, which got broken. Her lip is split and she has stitches on her chin.”

  Karen watched the blood drain from Miranda’s face as she listened to the litany of injuries her friend had sustained. Better the girl should faint here, if she was going to
, than in the room with Jackie.

  Miranda turned frightened eyes to her father and said, “Daddy?”

  “Would you rather not go in and see her?” he asked.

  Karen watched the struggle on Miranda’s face before she lifted her chin and said, “If it had been me, Jackie would have come to see me, no matter how bad I looked.”

  “Yes, I think she would,” her father agreed.

  “Then I have to see her, no matter how awful it is.” She turned back to Karen and said bravely, “Is there anything else I should know?”

  Karen debated a moment, then said, “Try to imagine how you would feel if you’d done something as foolish as what Jackie has done, something that resulted in your being taken advantage of and beaten up. How would you feel the next time you saw your friends?”

  Miranda lowered her gaze and caught her lower lip in her teeth as she contemplated the scenario Karen had given her. When she lifted her chin, her eyes were troubled. “I don’t think I’d want to see my friends,” she admitted. “I’d feel ashamed. And humiliated.”

  Karen nodded in approval. “Exactly. Besides being hurt and sore, Jackie may have a lot of those same feelings right now. She may wonder if you still want to be her friend.”

  “Of course I do!” Miranda said. “Is it all right if I see her now?”

  Karen met Seth’s gaze and said, “I think we’re ready.”

  “You might be,” he muttered so only she could hear. “But I’m not.”

  Karen walked in behind Miranda, with Seth following her. She stood to one side as Miranda walked right up to the bed, held out the small floral arrangement and said, “I brought you these.”

  Karen had forgotten about the girl’s broken forefinger, which was revealed in a splint when Jackie lifted a hand to take the flowers.

  “Oh, your hand’s hurt, too!” Miranda glanced at her father, who nodded reassuringly. She turned back to Jackie and said, “I’ll just put the daisies here on the table beside your bed, okay?”

  Jackie nodded.

  The bed was high and the side rails were up to keep Jackie from falling out. Karen watched as Miranda climbed up and sat on the foot of Jackie’s bed.

  The two girls stared at each other a moment without speaking. Then Miranda said in an angry voice, “Why didn’t you call me? I’ve been so scared!”

  Karen wasn’t really surprised at the attack. She put an arm across Seth’s chest, holding him back, letting the two girls work this out by themselves.

  Silent tears slid down Jackie’s battered face. “I wish I had,” she said. “And then I couldn’t.”

  “Look what they did to you,” Miranda said, immediately contrite. “Your beautiful face. It’s… It’s…”

  “It must be awful. Nobody will let me see what I look like,” Jackie said, reaching up toward, but not touching, the stitches above her brow and the ones on her chin.

  “Do you remember me?” Karen interjected.

  Jackie nodded. “I met you last night, didn’t I?”

  Karen was wearing her badge and her gun, which identified her as a police officer. “I’m Lieutenant Toller. I don’t know how much you remember about what the doctors told you last night, but you were seen by a plastic surgeon, who said that when all the bruises are gone and the stitches are removed, you’re going to look as good as new.”

  “Really?” both girls said at the same time.

  “Really,” Karen said with a smile.

  Miranda turned back to Jackie and said, “My dad says we can’t go to the mall anymore unless there’s three of us.”

  Jackie picked at a string on one of the sheets, her eyes lowered as she said, “I didn’t think your dad would ever let you near me again.”

  “Dad, tell Jackie you don’t blame her for what happened to her,” Miranda instructed.

  Seth took a step closer to the hospital bed and said, “I don’t blame you for what happened, Jackie. But I do want you girls to be more careful in the future.”

  “We will be,” Miranda said. “Won’t we, Jackie?”

  “You still want to be my friend?” Jackie murmured, eyeing Miranda from beneath lowered lashes.

  “Of course. How stupid can you be?”

  There was an awkward silence before Jackie said wryly, “Pretty stupid, I guess.”

  Miranda put a hand on Jackie’s thigh and said, “Not any stupider than me. But between our two stupid brains, we’re going to have to figure out who we want to bring with us to the mall next time we go. I was thinking maybe Jenny Hudgins.”

  Jackie tried to grimace in protest at the suggestion and winced when she pulled her stitches. Karen felt her insides clench as she reacted to the girl’s pain. When she glanced at Seth and noticed his hands had balled into fists at his sides, she reached out and touched his wrist. His hand opened and grasped hers.

  “Jenny Hudgins is too shy,” Jackie complained. “She barely says a word.”

  “That’s why I picked her,” Miranda confided. “She won’t take up all our time together doing all the talking.”

  “I never thought of that,” Jackie said. “What do you think of Sally French?”

  “Sally made fun of my braces.”

  “I didn’t know that. She’s out, then. I know! How about Regina Tildon?”

  Miranda pondered for a moment, her chin in her hand, then said, “She might work.”

  “But who knows when we’ll get to go,” Jackie said glumly.

  “You’ll be amazed at how quickly your bumps and bruises will heal,” Karen said. “Now I think we should let Jackie get some rest.”

  “Will you come back again?” Jackie asked.

  “Of course I will,” Miranda said. “When do you get to come home?”

  “I don’t know. I heard my mom talking to the doctor this morning and he said it might be up to a week.”

  “I’ll come every day you’re here,” Miranda promised. “You’ll bring me, won’t you, Daddy?”

  She turned to look at her father and Karen saw the moment when Miranda realized he and Karen were holding hands. Her gaze shot from their joined hands to her father’s face and then to Karen’s.

  Karen felt Seth slip his hand free. She thought Miranda might comment, but she just said, “I need to say something private to Jackie. Would you and Karen mind leaving us alone for a minute, Daddy?”

  “Sure,” Seth said.

  Karen headed back into the hall with Seth. When Jackie’s hospital door closed behind them, she looked up at him and said, “I’m more than willing to hold your hand to provide support, but your daughter is liable to misconstrue your actions and think we’re—”

  “And I appreciate your support,” he interrupted. “I don’t know how I would have gotten through the past twenty-four hours without you. If Miranda asks, I’ll tell her that parents need friends, too.”

  She felt her heart sink. Friends. Without the possibility, it seemed, of anything more.

  Then he raised his hand and slowly brushed his knuckles across her cheek. He didn’t seem to realize the intimacy of such a gesture. She stared into his striking blue eyes, noting the turmoil and confusion there, wondering how such a small, gentle touch could make her stomach do a somersault.

  “Karen,” he said in a husky voice.

  She had to clear her throat to answer. “What?”

  “We have company.”

  She followed his gaze down and found a green-eyed, freckled face grinning up at her. She took a quick step back, putting distance between her and Seth.

  “Want to join us for lunch?” Miranda asked.

  Karen hesitated, looking toward Seth for guidance. She liked Seth and she liked his daughter. But she didn’t want to impose herself where she wasn’t wanted. She lifted a brow, waiting for Seth to decide whether he wanted her along.

  “Join us,” he said at last.

  “What are we having?” she asked Miranda.

  “Pizza,” Miranda replied.

  “We had pizza last night,” Seth said.


  “I couldn’t eat a thing last night,” Miranda reminded him. “Now I’m starving!”

  “Then pizza it is,” Seth said as he ruffled her red curls.

  Karen watched him slide his hand around Miranda’s nape and pull her close as the three of them headed down the hall. She had only a moment to envy the girl before Seth reached out and caught her hand in his.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  After their pizza lunch, Karen didn’t see Seth, or hear from him, for an entire week. She told herself it was for the best. She, of all people, knew it took time to grieve the loss of a spouse. Seth just wasn’t ready to move on. She had to forget about him.

  That wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

  The hairs rose on her arms when she remembered the look of wonder in his eyes as he’d reached out to caress her cheek. Her heartbeat ratcheted up when she remembered the husky sound of his voice. She felt an ache beneath her breastbone when she remembered the way he’d reached for her hand and held it in his.

  She yearned for what might have been.

  Karen knew it was foolish—ridiculously foolish—to pine for a man she barely knew. But it didn’t help.

  She had one thing for which she could thank Seth. He’d reawakened her to the possibility of loving again. She made up her mind to accept the next offer of a date that came her way. Meanwhile, to protect herself from falling for a man who wasn’t ready to love her back, she would keep her distance from Seth Burnett and his daughter.

  Her good intentions went out the window the instant Seth showed up in the doorway to her office.

  “Hi,” he said. “The sergeant said you were here.”

  She lurched from the chair behind her desk and asked, “Is everyone all right? Miranda? Jackie?”

  “Everyone’s fine.”

  “Then why…” For one mad moment she thought he’d come because he’d simply wanted to see her again, and she felt elated.

  Then he said, “It’s Jackie’s mother.”

  “Oh.” She struggled to hide her disappointment.

  “I’m planning to talk to Mrs. Kirkland about her drinking. I’m a little worried about how she’s going to respond.”