Dream a Little Dream (Chicago Stars, #4)(246)

“My ears.”

Gabe immediately turned Edward’s head to look. “Your ears hurt?”

“Rosie’s got a loud scream. It hurt my ears.”

Gabe visibly relaxed. “Is that all? Anything else?”

Chip shook his head. “I was real scared. That boy was bad.” He started to cry.

Gabe gave him a quick hug, thrust him at Rachel, and took Rosie to check her over.

Edward trembled in her arms and spoke against her belly. “Mommy, I was so scared. The car turned over, and I was afraid that bad boy would wake up and run off with us again, so I got Rosie out of her seat and carried her, but she was heavy, and she kept screaming ’cause she was scared, too, but finally she stopped.”

Rachel spoke around her tears. “You were so brave.”

Gabe, in the meantime, had quieted Rosie. Rachel looked up at him, and he nodded. “She’s fine. We’ll have them both checked, but I think they’re all right. Thank God they were buckled in when that car went over.”

Thank you, God. Thank you.

Rosie rested her head against her uncle and brought her thumb to her mouth. Her little chest heaved as she took a few comforting sucks.

Edward reached out and patted her leg. “See, Rosie. I told you they’d find us.”

Rachel kept her arm firmly wrapped around her son as they began to head across the clearing toward the highway, but they hadn’t traveled more than a few yards before Rosie let out another shriek.

Edward winced. “See, Mommy. I told you she can really yell.”

Gabe rubbed her back. “Hush, sweetheart . . .”

But Rosie wouldn’t be hushed. She twisted her body, flung out her arms, and screamed.

Rachel followed the direction of her gaze and saw Horse lying at the base of the tree where they’d found the children. Rosie wanted her stuffed rabbit. “I’ll get it.”

She walked back to the tree, then came to a halt as she saw that the back seam had split open and the stuffing spilled out.

Shining, sparkling stuffing.

Gabe saw it at the same time she did. He hurried back to the tree and stared at the small pile of glittering stones. Most of them lay on the ground, a few clung to the rabbit’s mangy gray fur.

Gabe let out his breath. “Diamonds.”

She gazed numbly down at the sparkling stones. Dwayne had hidden his cache inside Edward’s stuffed rabbit. The Kennedy chest and the Bible had merely been diversions so she wouldn’t suspect the truth. When he’d begged her to bring their son to the airfield, it wasn’t because he wanted to say good-bye, but because he’d known Edward would bring Horse along. Dwayne had wanted the diamonds, not his son.


At that moment, Rachel decided G. Dwayne Snopes was no longer Edward’s father.

Gabe took her hand. “Looks like you finally found your fortune, Rach.”

She poked at one of the stones with the toe of Kristy’s sandal and knew he was wrong. These diamonds weren’t her fortune. Her real fortune stood right in front of her, but she had no right to claim it.





Rachel didn’t get to take her shower until nearly ten o’clock that night after Edward had finally fallen asleep. She turned off the water and, as she dried herself, said one more prayer of thanksgiving that Edward and Rosie had both been given a clean bill of health by the doctors.

There had been so much to do since they’d recovered the children. Cal had locked up the diamonds for her in Dwayne’s old safe, then all of them had spoken with the police. They’d also checked on Bobby Dennis, who was in the hospital, and Rachel had talked with Carol. Bobby’s mother was badly shaken and very much in need of forgiveness. Rachel had given it without a moment’s hesitation.

But she didn’t want to think about Bobby now, so she concentrated on untangling her wet hair with Gabe’s comb. She wasn’t in any hurry. Right now, Gabe and his overdeveloped conscience were sitting out there waiting for her, and she knew that Mr. Eagle Scout had prepared himself to do the honorable thing. The comb caught on a snarl, and she tossed it down.

If she’d had her wish, she and Edward would have gone back to Kristy’s condo for the night, but Edward and Gabe had refused to be separated. She still didn’t entirely understand how the relationship between them had changed so drastically. It was ironic. What had once seemed like an insurmountable problem in her relationship with Gabe had disappeared, but an equally large barrier still stood in the way. Gabe didn’t love her, and she couldn’t live in Cherry’s shadow.

She reached down to pick up the clean clothes Ethan and Kristy had brought her from the condo only to realize they weren’t there. Wrapping a towel around herself, she cracked open the door. “Gabe? I need my clothes.”

Silence.

She didn’t want to walk out like this.“Gabe?”

“I’m in the living room.”

“Where are my clothes?”

“I burned them.”

“You did what?” She shot into the hallway. She felt defenseless enough without having to confront him wearing only a towel, so she stormed into his bedroom and pulled on one of his clean work shirts. After hurriedly buttoning it, she marched into the living room.

He looked as cozy as could be, slouched in a wicker armchair with his feet propped on the old pine-blanket chest that served as a coffee table, ankles crossed, and a can of Dr Pepper in his hand. “Want something to drink?”