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Miss Parker rose to the ringing of the phone and slapped out a hand to pick it up. When she encountered only warm flesh, she sighed heavily and slapped at Jarod until he was awake also. When he realized the phone was ringing, Jarod whipped out his hand and placed the annoying machine into her outstretched palm.

“What?” she barked hoarsely into the phone.

“Miss Parker!” Broots’ voice came to her over the phone.

“Broots! What the hell are you doing? Do you realize that it is three ‘o clock in the fucking morning?” Miss Parker asked angrily and then feeling Jarod’s hand run up her thigh lightly, she shivered and batted his hand away from her sensitive skin.

“Stop it!” she whispered over her shoulder ignoring Broots’ whining on the other end of the phone.

“Miss Parker, listen to me!” Broots yelled at her over the line. “They are coming to the cabin. Raines told Lyle that it was where Sydney took Jacob before he died and Lyle thinks Jarod is hiding there also. You have to get out of there. They’ll be there in about an hour, maybe two at the most.”

Miss Parker sat straight up in bed, ignoring the fact that she was unclothed, and felt Jarod sit up behind her. When she looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes wide with worry, Jarod knew immediately what was happening.

In lightning speed movements she hung up on Broots, who was in mid- sentence, and she and Jarod were out of the bed. Jarod got dressed and began the familiar routine of cleaning the house to make sure there was no evidence of them being there. Miss Parker paused briefly to watch him and he caught her gaze. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and he smiled at her sympathetically. She shook her head and finished getting dressed. She then ran into Catie’s bedroom, flicking on the light. Catie was huddled down underneath the covers, but she somehow felt her mother’s presence in the room and wiggled out.

“Mama?” she asked sleepily. “Is it morning already?”

Then with the amazing speed only a child has to wake up without the aid of coffee, Catie’s sleepy look disappeared and she looked excitedly at her mother. “Are we going to swim in the lake today, Mama? I wanna show Daddy how good I can swim.”

She looked at Miss Parker with trusting eyes and Miss Parker felt her breath catch. She was about to destroy her daughter’s happy image and she felt like a complete jerk.

“No, Catie. We can’t go swimming. We have to leave here very quickly.” Miss Parker said breaking her gaze with her daughter and moving to grab a little sundress out the tiny bag, that had served as the closet for the past two days.

Catie sat shock still absorbing the information then small cry escaped her lips. “Mama, they’re coming aren’t they? The bad men.”

Miss Parker just nodded quickly and helped her daughter dress. When the top of the dress slid over Catie’s head, her tear-streaked face was revealed to Miss Parker.

“Oh, Catie. It’ll be okay. I promise.” Miss Parker said quietly pulling the tiny child into her embrace. Catie’s arms encircled Miss Parker’s neck and she clung to her for a few agonizing moments. Miss Parker gently rocked her from side to side, stroking her soft hair before pulling away and kising the top of her head. As soon as she let go, Miss Parker grabbed her hand and the overnight bag, leading Catie into the hallway.

Jarod was waiting for them and he took the bags from Miss Parker slightly caressing her hand in passing. She looked up at him and he smiled sadly. When he returned from putting the bags in the car, he took out his cell phone and dialed a number quickly. While he waited for the other person to pick up, he motioned for Miss Parker to take Catie out to the car. Although somewhat reluctant, she had seen the chemical spray on the coffee table and she knew that he was the best one to erase any sign of their activity from the past few days. She led Catie to the car and buckled her into her car seat, smoothing back the child’s dark hair so it was out of her face. She gave her daughter a reassuring smile and then walked around to settle herself into the passenger seat. A few minutes later Jarod appeared in the doorway, paused then continued down the porch steps.

Jarod buckled into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition. The sound seemed so loud for the early morning and Miss Parker winced. After squeezing her hand in encouragement, Jarod’s face became hard and he shifted gears. Then pulling out onto the dirt road that Syd had told him to take, neither adult looked back knowing that it would do no good thinking of things they couldn’t have at the moment.

In silence they traveled for an hour, each respectively noticing the clock when it read four thirty. Jarod and Miss Parker exchanged glances sharing the same thought. Lyle would be just arriving at the cabin with his sweeper team and in a few seconds realized he had missed Jarod, again. Miss Parker turned to check on Catie, who had gone back to sleep after about twenty minutes on the road; her dark lashes still wet with the silent tears she had used to cry herself to sleep.

They arrived at a little diner that Miss Parker knew was only about twenty minutes from her house. She immediately noticed Sydney in a seat by a window, sipping a cup of coffee. Miss Parker looked over at Jarod who had also seen Sydney.

“You planned to stop here. It was Syd you called back at the cabin.” She said, not accusingly just stating a fact. He nodded and sighed, leaning back against the headrest.

“I can’t take you all the way. There will be sweepers waiting at your house, they have probably been there since you and Catie disappeared, and if I show up I am bound to be caught. I have to disappear now, while I have a chance. We both know that Sydney has to be the one to take you home and there’s no use pretending otherwise.” He chuckled a wry laugh at his choice of words. Even she had to smile at the irony of it.

They slid out of the car and the shutting of the doors woke up Catie. While Jarod handed the bags over to Sydney, who went to put them in his car after his own good-byes with Jarod, Miss Parker got Catie unbuckled. She lifted her out of the car and set her down to stand in front of her, placing her hands on Catie’s chest and pulling her towards her so the little girl’s back was pressed into Miss Parker’s legs. She realized only too well that she was holding her close, not only for the girl’s sake but her own. Jarod moved to kneel in front of his daughter, unbelievable pain slicing through his chest at Catie’s dejected face. Wordlessly he gathered Catie into his arms, feeling her arms squeeze his neck forcefully.

“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered and pulling back she kissed him good-bye.

“I love you too, Catie-Bug,” he said caressing her cheek tenderly. “Never forget that.”

“I won’t.” Catie said solemnly, stepping back to be held once more in her mother’s protective embrace.

Jarod stood and looked into Miss Parker’s eyes. So much to say, so little time. He let his eyes convey his thoughts and she did the same, knowing that if she uttered a word it would break her.

Miss Parker had never felt this kind of bond before with a man, not even Tommy, and as he moved to climb back into the car, she literally felt as if part of her body was being amputated. The pain was so deep she felt it in her bones and lifting Catie into her arms, she knew that she would not see him for a long time. He would call her as usual, maybe even sometimes at work so she could play the game of huntress/hunted in front of witnesses, but she would not physically feel his touch. And that alone would kill her.

Jarod caught Sydney’s eye again from where he waited in his own respective car and nodded, then with a final boyish smile disappeared into the car and pulled away leaving the image of his daughter in his lover’s arms imprinted in his brain for the rest of his life.

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Sydney drove them to Miss Parker’s house and remained silent throughout the entire ride, seeming to sense that Miss Parker couldn’t express her emotions for fear she would fall apart. Catie had refused to sit in the back seat even to the point of tears. She had clung to Miss Parker’s waist and Miss Parker had relented, knowing that her daughter’s mood was the result of all of the emotions she was feeling and the lack of sleep. So Miss Parker had done the same thing she had done on the ride with Jarod. Catie now sat contentedly on her mother’s lap, thumb in her mouth awaiting the site of her beloved house.

Then it appeared over the rise of a slight hill, and Catie’s thumb slid out of her mouth in delight. “Mama, there it is! We’re home!”

The car had barely come to a halt when Catie unlocked the door and jumped out. She raced up the driveway and onto the porch, shoving open the front door and disappeared into the house. Miss Parker and Sydney chuckled and she allowed Sydney to get the bags as he shooed her towards the house. Catie burst out of the front door again, this time holding her long missed teddy bear. She raced over to meet Miss Parker halfway and jumped into her arms. Miss Parker laughed and swung her daughter up into her arms, making Catie laugh also.

As she held Catie tight to her chest, Miss Parker heard Catie whisper happily in her ear, “I’m home, Mama.”

She felt a sense of some unknown emotion flee Catie’s body as if it were a dog shaking off water. Again Catie whispered the words, but this time Miss Parker heard the undeniable relief in her daughter’s voice. Finally Miss Parker understood that the unknown emotion had been fear. The fear that Catie had held inside for over a month was of never seeing her beloved home again. Miss Parker set her down on the grass and then after kissing her mother’s cheek, Catie looked over to where Sydney stood by watching them, a tiny smile on his lips, and blew him a kiss also. Sydney and Miss Parker laughed, then took her daughter’s hand and started to move towards the house.

As she made her way to ask Sydney to join them for lunch, Sydney’s face grew hard as he focused on something behind her. Miss Parker turned her head and saw Lyle begin to climb out of an ominous black sedan followed by her father and Brigitte. Miss Parker felt Catie tense up at seeing them and she squeezed her daughter’s hand tighter. Catie ignored the reassuring gesture and wrapped her arm around Miss Parker’s leg and slipping her hand out from Miss Parker’s, she stuck her thumb in her mouth.

“Angel!” her father called out and moved to envelop her in a hug.

“Daddy.” she said hugging him back. She would never forgive him for not telling her about Catie, but she had learned to accept it and move on. Seeing her father bend down to scoop up his granddaughter, she felt a twinge of sadness. She didn’t want Catie to worship her grandfather as Miss Parker had done him when she was younger. It had only brought her pain when she realized all the suffering he had caused to other families and her mother. Miss Parker vowed to try to do whatever it took to keep that pain from ever entering Catie’s heart.

“And how’s my Littlest Angel?” Mr. Parker asked holding Catie at a short distance and flashing his I-can-charm-a-snake smile.

“Fine, Grandpa.” Catie said earnestly as he put her down next to Miss Parker once again. But when Catie spoke, Miss Parker could tell there was a change in the little girl’s attitude toward her grandfather. Miss Parker was slightly confused by this, because before she had gone away Catie had always loved being coddled by her grandfather. She made a mental note to ask Catie about it later and focused her attention on the other two people that had accompanied Mr. Parker on his visit.

“We missed you, Muffin.” Brigitte said smiling at Catie and looping her arm in Mr. Parker’s. Miss Parker felt Catie stiffen at the false note of concern in the blonde’s voice and she mentally cursed Brigitte for treating Catie as if she were an idiot. Even if she hadn’t been a pretender she was still an extremely perceptive child who could detect when people were lying to her. Miss Parker was stopped in her thinking by the large collection of questions coming her way from her odious brother.

“Where have you been, Sis?” Lyle asked and brushed his hand over Catie’s dark head. Catie shrunk back against Miss Parker’s legs and Miss Parker lifted her up into her arms and out of Lyle’s reach.

“I went to go get Catie,” she said telling her psychotic twin as much of the truth she was ever going to tell him.

Shifting farther away from Lyle as he opened his mouth to ask more questions, she then suggested they all go inside the house. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a movement and she grabbed a hold of Sydney’s arm as he made a move to go to his car. She caught his gaze and pleaded silently with her eyes. Sydney sighed and then reached out to take Catie from Miss Parker. The little girl went willingly and Miss Parker followed them into the large house. Sydney took Catie to Miss Parker’s bedroom and came back moments later, after quickly explaining that he had set up a new Disney movie for Catie to watch so the adults could talk.

Miss Parker could tell her father resented having Sydney here, but she also knew that he wouldn’t say anything to cause a scene and apparently Lyle and Brigitte were taking their cues from him, because they didn’t say anything either. She began to tell the tale that she, Jarod, Broots, and Sydney had agreed upon. Her father seemed to accept it and therefore again neither of the other two spoke up, but Miss Parker knew without a doubt that her brother and Brigitte would do some checking up on the story. She wasn’t worried in the least, though. She had complete faith in Jarod and the fact that he had contacted the people to collaborate their tale. Catie walked back into the room, apparently bored with the film, and she climbed into Miss Parker’s lap, snuggling back into her mother’s chest. Miss Parker breathed in the sweet smell of her daughter and smiled when Catie yawned.

“I think it is time for someone’s nap.” Miss Parker said to Catie, but directing the statement towards the other adults in the room, hoping they would take the hint.

“Well,” Sydney said understanding what Miss Parker was trying to do, “I think I had better get going.”

“Yes,” her father spoke up not to be outdone by his employee. “We should all be going.” He leaned over Miss Parker and kissed her forehead. “Good-bye Angel. We’ll come visit again soon. After you get all settled.”

Then he kissed Catie’s head and murmured something about finally being able to get back to business. He led Lyle and Brigitte out, neither of whom said good-bye to Miss Parker. Lyle, however, did pat Catie on the head as he passed and Miss Parker felt her daughter shudder violently. Once they had left, Sydney gave Catie a hug good-bye and then kissed Miss Parker’s cheek.

“I’ll talk to you soon, Parker. Don’t forget that I’m here if you want to talk.” He said earnestly looking into her eyes.

“I know, Syd. Thank you.” Miss Parker replied smiling gratefully. She walked him tot he door and watched him pull out of the driveway. She then turned back to where Catie had been standing, but she was nowhere in sight.

“Catherine,” Miss Parker called out. “Catie, answer me.”

She refused to panic as she walked towards her daughter’s bedroom. She sighed in relief when she noticed Catie lying, sound asleep, on top of her bed. She covered the small girl and kissed her cheek lightly.

“Sleep tight, my beautiful little girl.” Miss Parker whispered. “Welcome home.”









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