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“Have I told you how much I love your beard?”
“Not as much as…” He trailed off and then laughed, revealing the dimples she loved underneath that beard. “You got me.”
Eve pushed at his chest with her free hand. “Your compliments were completely insincere. You were just parroting.”
He bent down close. “I’ll show you what’s sincere.” Then he was kissing her and she wasn’t going to stop that to tease him.
They smiled at each other as they pulled apart and both instinctively turned to look for Paisley. Eve’s gaze swept over the large playground, searching for the dark hair and the pink t-shirt. “Do you see her?” she asked Beck, not really concerned. There were so many tunnels and tube slides and playground objects to hide behind.
“No.” He stood and said, “I’ll take the right side.”
Eve loved him so much. Paisley was going to tumble out of a slide any second or they’d hear her happy voice talking with another child, but Eve loved that Beck took watching her little girl seriously as she also stood and started skirting the playground to the left.
Eve carefully looked inside the slides and tubes and behind the obstacles. That flash of pink shirt and contrasting dark hair wasn’t appearing. Her stomach started feeling a little squeamish and her gaze darted over to the river. Clear Creek was a lot tamer this late in the summer, without the spring runoff, and Paisley loved going to one of the many areas where manmade steps went down into the water, but she wouldn’t go on her own. Eve had warned her far too many times.
Beck met up with her and shook his head tightly. They both looked to the river and Eve’s stomach plunged. “She wouldn’t, would she?” Beck asked.
Eve shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve drilled it into her head that she can’t go there without me.”
She heard a light laughter and her head darted up. Disappointment slithered through her as she saw it was a little blonde girl in a blue shirt. Yet she’d noticed minutes ago that Paisley was playing some chase game with that girl and her blond brother who looked to be a couple years older. She hurried over to them. “Were you playing with Paisley?” She tried to smile encouragingly so as not to scare them.
“Yeah,” the little boy said. “We were playing hide and seek in the tubes and slides but then she went with her dad that way.” He pointed to the west across the park. There was a community center there and a parking lot adjacent to it. She couldn’t see Paisley or some man this kid thought was her dad.
“Her dad?” Her stomach felt like it would fall out. Her dad? She looked up at Beck for help.
“Did he have blond hair, looked like a weasel?” Beck asked the kid.
The little boy shrugged in confusion.
“Yellow hair?” Eve clarified.
“Yep.”
Beck took off at a sprint over the playground and across the grass. Eve followed, panic making her breath come so fast she felt lightheaded and dizzy as she ran.
“No!” Beck roared as they approached the parking lot and a silver Lexus pulled out, heading north. Beck sprinted after them but the car sped up.
“Please no, please no,” Eve screamed out in anguish. Her baby girl. Her daughter. The light of her life. Gone. Had Beck gotten the license plate? What could they do to find her? She dialed 911, knowing the police were their only hope now but the terror of Paisley being gone with Mark consumed her.
Beck was still chasing the car but it was growing farther away. Eve wanted to collapse and sob, but she had to stay focused and do all she could to help the police find Paisley. She prayed desperately in her heart. She knew she couldn’t survive without her little girl.
