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Sawyer nodded. “She took the kids three days ago from someplace in Florida. They haven’t had anything to eat and she’s kept them under a blanket in the back of her car.”
The woman expelled a gasp of dismay and put both hands to her face.
Aha! Sawyer thought, vindicated by that expression of guilt. Gotcha!
“She’s a hard case, all right,” Draper said. “Goes by the name Sophie Foster. ER nurse at Losthampton Hospital, sings at St. Paul’s Catholic Church—eight-thirty mass—and helps out at the crisis shelter for battered women. But she does have a problem with kids.”
“Stealing them?” Sawyer asked, not sure what to make of Draper’s description.
“No, raising them,” Draper replied. “She appears to have two little frauds on her hands. Can I see the children in question?”
This was not looking good. Sawyer could feel himself physically shrinking. He was about two feet high now. He reached behind the case and pulled out the boy. Inexplicably, the boy was grinning.
“I found him, Mom!” he exclaimed. “This is him! Brave! Willing to help! Not married! He’s perfect!”
The woman dropped her hands with a groan and said to Sawyer in a remarkably even voice, all things considered, “You know what, Mr—?”
“Abbott,” Draper provided before Sawyer could.
She was distracted for a moment. “The Shepherd’s Knoll Abbotts?” she asked Draper.
He nodded. “Second son.”
“Ah.” She nodded, then diverted her attention at Sawyer. He waited for the slow perusal women usually gave him that resulted in a smile of admiration, even when they pretended not to be interested. Of course, he’d just called the police on her, so he wasn’t entirely surprised when she did nothing but look into his eyes, her own very weary. “Tell you what, Mr. Abbott number two. You obviously care for these children, so how about if I just let you have them? Right now. No charge.” She turned to Draper. “That’s not a problem for you, is it? I mean, I’m not selling them—I’m just letting him have them.”
Eddie grinned up at Sawyer. “She’s just kidding. She loves us a lot.”
“Of course I do, Eddie” she said to the boy, “but you couldn’t possibly love me if you’d do something as mean as make me believe you’d gotten lost. And something as mean to this man as telling him that I’d kidnapped you.”
The little girl ran out from behind the case to wrap her arms around her mother’s hips. “We did it to help you find a daddy,” she said, “not to be mean. ’Cause you just can’t find one by yourself.”
SOPHIE WOULD HAVE HAPPILY abandoned her children, her job, her little cottage on the water and every one of her meager possessions for life somewhere on the Riviera.
According to novels and movies, life there would involve political intrigues, amassing of jewels or cash, achieving a high social position. Definitely easier than raising three children by herself while trying to erase painful memories and live in a world that seemed to work for everyone else but not for her.
Being trapped in an abusive relationship for several years had left her unable to bear a man’s touch, yet with a desperate need for it. She didn’t understand it and neither did her psychotherapist. And Father O’Neil could tell her only to keep praying, keep living her life and trusting in God to find her a solution.
She’d been doing that for two years, but there was no light on the horizon that she could see. Added to her confusion was the fact that her two younger children wanted a father so much. They hadn’t witnessed as much of Bill’s temper as had ten-year-old Gracie, who, like Sophie, didn’t want another man in her life. She was withdrawn and skittish, and Sophie ached every time she saw Gracie take a step back when a man approached.
Two of the children wanted a father, and one of them didn’t. They manifested, Sophie thought, the dichotomy that existed within herself.
So she prayed, and lived her life, and waited for a solution. Eddie and Emma’s current prank was making escape look better and better.
She was mildly entertained, though, by Abbott number two’s horrified expression.
“I’m so sorry,” he was saying, as Draper talked on his radio. “But they were dirty and seemed so frightened. And I saw you and thought you seemed…” He hesitated over the words on the tip of his tongue. She was enjoying his discomfort just a little; only fair, considering what he was putting her through.
“Cruel?” she asked. “Psychopathic?”
He shook his head guiltily. “No. No. Tired. A little stressed.” He put a gentle hand to Eddie’s head and smiled wryly. “Now I understand why. I haven’t been around kids very much. It didn’t occur to me that they’d lie about such a thing.”
She was inclined to believe him. “Kids this age are always dirty, and there’s a vast uncharted territory in their little minds between truth and fantasy. I just hauled them out of the backyard to go shopping. I should have bathed them first, but I was pressed for time.”
Actually, the man was very handsome in a wild Long Island–playboy sort of way. He had dark blond hair, which he wore in a spiked and disheveled style that made him appear youthful and somehow useless. But added to that was a pair of blue eyes that were sharply intelligent and surprisingly gentle at the same time. They were set in a handsome, nicely shaped face that managed to look strong without sharp angles or a square jaw.
He was tall and athletic in simple cotton slacks and a dark blue shirt. She glanced at the contents of his cart. He did have strange taste in food, however.
She didn’t want to have to explain to him about her younger children and their obsession about finding a father, but they had used and embarrassed him, and she owed him that much.
“They want a father,” she said with a sigh, “and I have no use for another husband, so it’s hard for us to come together on a solution to the problem. I just didn’t realize they were desperate enough to go searching one out on their own.”
“Another husband,” he said. “You mean you’ve already got one?”
She shook her head. “I had one. He’s gone.”
“He’s gone to heaven!” Emma said loudly, the way she said everything.
Sophie wasn’t sure that was where he was, but she didn’t mind that Emma thought so. That was about all this stranger should know about her difficult past, but she couldn’t just walk away until Dave Draper decided what he was going to do about Eddie and Emma.
“I saw your picture in the paper,” Eddie said to Sawyer Abbott, looking pleased with himself. “You did that dangerous stunt with the skis and the barrels. And you give lots of money to help children. That’s why we picked you out when we saw you buying oranges.”
Abbott squatted in front of him. “I’m flattered that you picked me out. But that was a pretty awful thing to do to your mom. What if a policeman had come who didn’t know that she really was your mom and he took her off to jail because he really thought she’d kidnapped you?”
The expression on Eddie’s face said he’d never considered that.
“I wondered if you’d help us,” Eddie said with a frown. “And not just with something easy, but with something really hard. ’Cause a lot of dads don’t help with the hard stuff. So, if we’re going to find another one, he’s got to be great.”
Clearly, Sawyer Abbott had no experience with children. Eddie already had him wrapped around his little finger. When Emma put her arm around his neck, he turned to look into her face and Sophie saw his eyes melt.
“Okay, that’s it,” she said, taking each child by the hand and drawing them back from him. “We’ll probably have to go to the police station, but Mr. Abbott didn’t do anything wrong, so Officer Draper will just let him go home. I’m sure he’s eager to get on his—”
“You have to come with me,” Draper announced, tucking away his radio. “Sorry, Mr. Abbott, but the chief wants to see you, too.”
“But all he did—” Sophie began to protest.
Draper cut her off with a nod. “I know, I know, but we need a full report,” he said with a significant glance at the children, intending to help them realize the gravity of what they’d done. “And in order to do that, we have to have Mr. Abbott’s input.”
“I’m sorry,” she said with a sigh. She’d had a long day at the hospital, and the quick dinner she had planned, followed by a long period with her feet up, didn’t look as though it was going to materialize.
Abbott smiled. He had to be the most even-tempered man. “Not a problem. I’ll meet you at the station,” he said to Draper, who nodded, then took each of her children by the hand and led them toward a roped-off checkout line. The young officer went ahead of him to unhook it, then closed it after him when he followed her and the children through.
People were watching them with frowns, wondering, she was sure, what crime they’d committed. She’d be horrified if she wasn’t accustomed to policemen being called, usually on her behalf, and the shocked expressions of neighbors. This wasn’t what she wanted for her children. She and the kids would have to have a serious talk about this father-finding stuff when this was over.
She could only hope that being marched out by a police officer was having the desired effect on the children.
That hope was dashed when Eddie looked at her over his shoulder and said with a big grin, “Isn’t he great, Mom? He didn’t even get mad!”
Chapter Two
“You’re going where?” Brian asked, as Sawyer called him on his cell phone.
“The police station,” Sawyer repeated a second time. “It’s kind of a long story.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. These kids told me they’d been kidnapped and I called the police on the woman they were with. Turns out she really is their mother.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“Brian?” Sawyer prompted.
“I’m here,” he replied. “I just don’t know what to say to that. Are you in trouble, or is she?”
“I think the officer’s just making a point, bringing us all in to make an impression on the kids so they don’t do it again.”
“Why’d they do it in the first place?”
“They’re looking for a father.”
Sawyer heard stifled laughter. “And they picked you?” Brian asked.
“Yes, they did, thank you very much. Seems they read about me in the paper.”
“I didn’t know kids read the paper.”
“Yeah, well, there’s apparently a lot you don’t know. So, I’ll be over later than I’d planned, okay?”
“Sure. Call me if you need bail.”
“Ha, ha.”
Sawyer pulled into the parking lot of the small police station, with its turn-of-the-century, ball-shaped lights in front of the building. He was right behind Sophie Foster as she climbed the few steps into the building, following the police officers and her children. Sawyer caught up to take her elbow. She had to be feeling terrible.
He was surprised when she recoiled, yanking her arm out of his reach. “Don’t!” she said, fear visible in her eyes and the sharp line of her mouth.
He dropped his hand immediately. He’d never frightened anyone that he could recall, except maybe those who’d misused Abbott Mills Foundation funds.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
The fear left her expression as she exhaled. “That’s all right,” she replied, apology in her tone. “I’m just not very…physical.”
He nodded. “I was trying to do the gentlemanly thing by helping you up the stairs. My stepmother is European and raised my brothers and me to open doors for women, walk on the street side of the sidewalk, offer a steadying arm on stairs and across streets.”
She smiled pensively, probably thinking that he was odd. But he got that a lot, so he was used to it.
“And that’s charming,” she said. “But I’m quite agile.”
“I’ll remember that.” He walked up the stairs beside her.
“I’m sorry this is wasting time you should be spending with your family,” she said.
He shook his head. “I called and explained. We’ll connect later. I’m surprised our paths have never crossed before. I’m at the hospital all the time. Are you new to Losthampton?”
“Ah…a couple of months.” She gave him that look again. “I’ve been filling in on odd shifts. Fortunately, my neighbor will baby-sit any time I need her. You’re there all the time as a patient, or for some other reason?”
“Sometimes as a patient,” he admitted with a little laugh. “I’m sort of the Evel Knievel of Long Island. Or Abominable Abbott, as my brothers like to say.”
She smiled. Her teeth were square and very white, the left front one overlapping the right just a little at the bottom. She seemed warm and kind, but he had the feeling she probably didn’t smile very much.
“Abominable Abbott,” she repeated. “That’s a terrible way to go down in history.”
“I don’t think I’ll make the history books.”
Draper held the door open for her and ushered her through a small, crowded office to an even smaller office on the other side. The walls were green and all the furnishings gray. He frowned at Sawyer. “Apologize for holding you up,” he said under his breath. “But we need to make a point here.”
Sawyer nodded. “I agree.”
“You making time with my little perps’ mother?” Draper asked with a grin.
“Why?” Sawyer returned the grin. “Is it against the law?”
“The way you risk your life, it is. This pretty lady’s got enough troubles with her imaginative children.”
Draper moved ahead to take Sophie and the children to a waiting area with wooden chairs. As they sat down, Sophie in the middle and the children crowding close to her, Sawyer saw them in a new light.
Up until now, they’d been a surprising, somewhat fun diversion on an ordinary afternoon—if you didn’t consider how Sophie had been frightened and how he’d been made to look like a completely gullible idiot. He loved children, and he liked women in his life—at least, on a temporary basis. Commitment to one would require a basic change in his life he wasn’t ready to make.
Right now, his time and energy were focused on the Abbott Mills Foundation and the best dispersal of its funds. It was a heavy responsibility, and he took it to heart.
Added to that, life at Shepherd’s Knoll had been very distracting lately. In the past month alone Killian had brought his bride back to Shepherd’s Knoll after a three-month separation, Sawyer had been practicing a ski jump for the Children with Cancer fund-raiser and broken several ribs, Brian had saved his life and taken his place in the family as their half brother and China Grant had appeared on their doorstep the very day of Sawyer’s accident and said she thought she was their sister, Abigail.
Suddenly the Abbott family’s life had superseded his personal life. He’d done his best to support Killian and Cordie’s renewal of their marriage, to spend time with Brian and get acquainted with China. After all, he’d always felt responsible for her disappearance in the first place. That is, if she was Abby.
He pushed that thought away, trying to refocus on Sophie and her children. Understanding what was going on here was important to him. Helping anyone in trouble was a family commitment.
There was something particularly appealing about Sophie, Eddie and Emma. And he felt a curious compulsion to know more. While the children had done an inadvertently cruel thing, he had to admire the cleverness of their scheme.
And what had it been about marriage that had made Sophie Foster not want another husband? Maybe the guy had been a rat.
Sawyer had gotten the impression, when she’d told him her husband was gone, that she’d wanted to let the matter go at that—as though he’d simply walked away. Then Emma had added that he’d gone to heaven. The expression in Sophie’s eyes had said she didn’t think so.
Sawyer followed them to the row of chairs, determined to know more about Sophie. She was very pretty in a delicate way, yet she looked as if she’d struggled through or endured something difficult. He knew that being a mother required toughness. Chloe, his stepmother, was a beautiful, genteel woman who could be as hard as necessary when the situation warranted it. But she’d had his father to help until he’d died, then she’d had the support of her son and her stepsons.
Sophie had the love of her children, but he’d gathered from this afternoon’s antics that she had her hands full keeping them from harm—or at least, incarceration.
She looked lonely.
He sat on the other side of Eddie just as a nearby office door opened. The police chief stood in the doorway, his expression severe. Until he saw the children. Then his posture relaxed and he said in a firm but quiet voice, “Edward and Emmaline Foster?”
