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Taylor stared at Kylie, who stood with fists clenched at her sides. Her small face was white with distress, and tears pooled in her eyes.
Kylie let the screen door of the cottage bang shut behind her.“You’re lying! Jon isn’t my daddy. Why would you say something like that? It’s mean.”
Taylor had vowed never to lie to the little girl, and she wasn’t going to pretend now. The kindest thing was to let the truth come out. “I’m sorry, honey, but it’s true. I heard Jon and your mom telling Jon’s dad last night. Your mom found out the truth when you were diagnosed with celiac disease. I know Nate loved you, though. And you loved him. You can still think of him as your daddy.”
Kylie shook her head and clenched her hands together in front of her. “It can’t be true. My mom wouldn’t lie to me like that.”
While Taylor wanted Kylie to despise Annie, she couldn’t feed more pain into the child’s hurting heart. “She didn’t lie to you when it was something she didn’t know herself until you were diagnosed.”
“He’s not my daddy!” Tears rolled down Kylie’s face.
Taylor approached her with arms outstretched, but Kylie backed away. “Don’t be afraid, honey. It’s all right.”
“Why did you bring me here? You said we were going to go hiking, but we didn’t even see the mountains. And you left Kade’s ATV along the side of the road. Someone will steal it. We need to give it back to him. You shouldn’t have taken it.”
The kid’s litany of all that Taylor had done wrong spiked her anger. “Look, you’re too little to understand, so just knock it off with the complaints.”
Lissa went to the car and opened the back door. “Quit your crying and get in the car, Kylie. Now.”
The tone was of a woman used to dealing with children, and Taylor thought it had worked when Kylie went down the stepsahead of her. But as soon as she hit the grass, she took off running in the other direction. Taylor didn’t have a chance to react before the little girl disappeared into the forest on the right side of the cottage.
Lissa shouted at Taylor to get her, and she finally sprang into motion. “Kylie, come back here!” She ran after her and plunged into the cool shadows of the tall oaks and pines.
She stopped and looked around. “Kylie, where are you? Come here, honey. I’m going to take you back to your mom right now.”
Birds resumed their chirping in the treetops, and the scent of pine swirled in the air as Taylor shuffled through fallen spruce needles. Where would the little girl hide? She checked under bushes and pushed back branches while calling for Kylie to come out. But there was no answer.
“Taylor?”
She turned to see Lissa standing awkwardly at the edge of the forest, with one hand behind her. “I can’t find her.”
Lissa shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. She’ll run into civilization and get home eventually.”
“Lissa, she’s achild! She could die out there.”
“Listen to yourself. We’re not that far from town. She’s lived near the forest all her life. She’ll get home just fine. The biggest problem is getting you away before you’re found and they find me. Get in the car, and I’ll get you out of here.”
“I can’t go without Kylie.”
Lissa brought her arm around, and Taylor gasped at the gun in her hand. She held up her hands. “Lissa, what’s going on? You’ve got a little girl yourself. How could you be okay with leaving Kylie out here?”
Lissa waggled the gun. “I’m through arguing with you. Youbrought trouble on me, and I won’t stand by and pay for what you did. Get in the car like I said, or I’ll shoot you in the leg and haul you in there bleeding and wounded.”
Taylor hesitated, but she had no choice. Lissa’s set expression held not a trace of mercy. She’d shoot first.
Dropping her hands to her sides, Taylor trudged past Lissa toward the car. If she had the courage, she’d tackle her and wrest the gun from her hand, but Taylor wasn’t the most coordinated of people. Lissa would probably shoot her.
Taylor cast one last glance back to the woods, but no small face looked back at her. This was all her fault. Why had she been so hotheaded and foolish? The minute she got to civilization, she’d call Annie and tell her where to find Kylie.
She got in the passenger seat and fastened herself in. The key was in the ignition, and for a moment she imagined releasing the buckle and sliding over to start the car and drive off by herself, but Lissa got in before Taylor got the courage to act.
Without speaking, Lissa laid the gun in her lap and drove off the property and onto the road. They headed down M-26. Taylor had expected her to head for the airport or a dock so she could escape the area. “Where are we going?”
“To a safe place until I can figure out how to get you out of here.”
Lissa’s terse voice warned her not to ask too many questions, so Taylor shut up and stared out the window at the passing forest. She must have dozed a little because when she opened her eyes, she was deep in the shadows of thick trees on a narrow dirt track. The bumps must have awakened her.
Lissa shot a warning glare her way, so Taylor pressed her lips together and didn’t ask questions.
