Forever…Again Read online

  Ron laughed and took her elbow, turning her toward the clinic and the parking lot beyond. “Fine. Two hours. Then I’ll take you to a dinner that’ll knock your socks off.”

  “I won’t be wearing socks.”

  “You’ll like it anyway.”

  “Which restaurant?”

  “You’ll find out.”

  “It’s not a cook-it-yourself kind of place is it?” she asked on a short laugh. “Because if it is, I think I should warn you that the fire department in New York actually banned me from cooking of any kind when I—”

  She stopped dead when a police car, lights flashing, siren wailing, pulled into the clinic parking lot and stopped with a screech just outside the doors. Even from a distance, they both recognized Bryce Collins as he jumped from the car and slammed the door behind him. The tall, dark sheriff then walked toward the clinic like a man on a mission.

  “What on earth?” Lily muttered.

  “Hell. What now?” Ron countered, already hurrying his stride, pulling Lily along in his wake.

  By the time they pushed through the door, the waiting room was in chaos. A handful of patients were chattering, shouting questions, then answering themselves when no real information came their way. A two-year-old boy, startled by all the activity, sat at the children’s table, mouth open in a howl of displeasure while tears tracked along his fat cheeks. A teenage girl, obviously in labor, sat in a corner, huffing and blowing, while keeping her interested gaze fixed on the commotion.

  Heather, the receptionist, had planted herself in the middle of the hallway and was glaring up at Bryce as he tried to push past her.

  “Damn it, it’s my job,” the sheriff said tightly.

  “Your job sucks, Bryce.” Heather planted both small hands on his chest and gave him a shove. He didn’t budge, which only made her try harder. “Now, you get out of here and let us get on with business.”

  “I’m here on business,” Bryce told her, raising his voice to be heard above the uproar. “And if you don’t get out of my way, I’ll arrest you for getting in the way of that business.”

  “You arrest me, Bryce Collins,” Heather snapped back, “and I will make your life a living hell. You can’t go around arresting law-abiding citizens.”

  “If you’re obstructing justice, you’re not law abiding, are ya?” He snarled the question, sending a searching gaze over the top of her head and down the hall.

  The toddler cranked it up a notch, and Ron winced as he made his way through the crowd to get closer to Bryce and Heather. Lily scooped up the crying child and dropped him onto her hip, jiggling him sympathetically while following Ron through the cluster of pregnant women.

  “What’s going on here?” Ron demanded. His voice, the deep, rolling sound of authority, cut through the noise and demanded silence.

  Lily worked her jaw in the sudden silence, as if trying to unpop her ears, but then the child on her hip snuffled loudly and she knew her hearing wasn’t damaged. It was just Ron’s natural ability at leadership that had reestablished order.

  Bryce turned his head and looked at Ron. Fury and frustration simmered in the sheriff’s dark eyes, and Lily’s heart dropped. She felt it sink lower in her chest and knew that whatever was happening was about to get worse.

  “I’ve got to see Mari,” Bryce muttered, shooting another steely glare at Heather, who hadn’t moved an inch. “Now.”

  Heather sniffed and folded her arms across her chest, silently daring him to try to get past her.

  Ron leaned in and took hold of Bryce’s upper arm. “What’s going on here and why are you creating such havoc in this place?”

  “Damn it, Ron,” Bryce said in a furious whisper, “this is official business. I don’t have to talk to you. My business is with Mari.”

  “She’s busy,” Heather snapped. “Like I told you already.”

  “Tell her to get unbusy.”

  She snorted and gave him an up and down look that told him in no uncertain terms she thought he was the biggest jackass she’d seen in a long time. “Uh-huh. Let me just run back to room five and tell Loretta Sanchez to cross her legs and go into unlabor.”

  Bryce snatched at his hair with both hands. “There has to be someone else here to deliver that baby.”

  “Loretta’s Mari’s patient and you know she won’t leave when she’s needed.”

  “No,” he grumbled. “She wouldn’t. Not now.”

  “Bryce…” Ron spoke up again and Lily sidled close enough to listen in.

  She wasn’t proud.

  Eavesdropping worked.

  That’s why so many people did it.

  “I can’t talk about this with you, Ron,” the sheriff said, finally glancing around at the audience watching him as if noticing them for the first time. His gaze slid away from the interested women gathered in close and focused on Ron again. “It’s important I talk to Mari.”

  Lily’s heartbeat skittered unsteadily, and she wrapped her left arm around the toddler on her hip, seeking as much consolation as she was giving. Something was terribly wrong here and these two men weren’t going to find a way through it without some help.

  “All right everyone,” she called out into the uneasy quiet. “Why don’t you all sit down? Heather will make some coffee—” she looked at the tear-stained face of the boy on her hip, and Lily’s heart rolled. He was beautiful. Big brown eyes, soft, blondish-brown hair and a chocolate mustache that he’d already transferred to her sweatshirt. “And I’ll bet Heather can even find you another cookie,” she said. “Would you like that?”

  He brightened instantly and threw both hands high as if he was doing a personal, one-baby wave. “Cookie!” he crowed and every woman in the place chuckled, which was enough to ease the tension layering the room.

  “’Atta boy,” Lily murmured, and stepped between Bryce and Heather as if unaware of the fury simmering between them. Handing the child off to the receptionist, Lily jerked her head toward the waiting room and said, “Take care of everyone in there, all right? I think Tina, over in the corner, there, is pretty serious about labor this time.”

  “She was last week, too,” Heather said with a tired sigh. “I told her to stop eating burritos at dinner. Gives her gas, and she screams ‘labor.”’

  Lily ignored Ron and Bryce and focused on the tiny woman in front of her. “Well, this might be the real thing. So you take care of things out here, and I’ll take care of these two. Deal?”

  Heather’s sharp gaze swept from Ron to Bryce and back to Lily. “You got the worst end of that deal.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Lily said with a chuckle that sounded as forced as the smile she’d plastered on her face. But she made that smile brighter as she turned and looked up at the two men watching her. “As for you two—in my office.”

  “Lily—” Ron started.

  “Ms. Lily—” Bryce spoke up at the same time.

  She held up one finger like an elementary school teacher warning her charges. “No more. Not out here. Not one more word. Either of you.”

  With that, she spun around and marched down the long hall toward her office, never stopping to see if they were following her. She knew they would be. What choice did they have? They couldn’t see Mari at the moment, and they wouldn’t have any luck dealing with Heather. So Lily was all they had left.

  She walked into the room and instantly felt more in charge. Whatever had happened, they would handle it. Whatever Mari needed, Lily, personally, would see to. Nothing could be as bad as what had been running through her mind out in the waiting room. That, ridiculously, Bryce had come to arrest Mari Bingham.

  The very idea was absurd.

  Wouldn’t happen.

  At least, not if Lily had anything to say about it.

  The two men took the turn and tried to enter the office at the same time. Two pairs of broad shoulders weren’t going to fit, and Lily sputtered at the men, neither of them willing to be the one to back away.

  “For heaven�
��s sake,” she snapped, and grabbed hold of Ron’s coat sleeve. She tugged him forward, Bryce followed directly after, and then, for the first time since she had come to work at the clinic, she shut her door.

  “Ms. Lily,” Bryce started to say.

  “Just Lily,” she said, interrupting him quickly. “Ms. Lily makes me sound like a saloon dancer.”

  Ron smirked, and she shot him a look. Just minutes ago, she’d been wrapped in his arms and lost in his kiss. Now she wanted to kick him. “As for you, you weren’t helping the situation out there, you know.”

  Bryce’s eyebrows lifted, and he pursed his lips as if about to whistle innocently. Ron stared at Lily. “I was trying to help.”

  “By shouting in that lord-of-the-manor tone?” She shook her head. “Not helping.” Then she turned on Bryce. “And you should know better than to storm into a place of business—a business where women are in pain and needing comfort and solace—and start throwing your weight around as if you’re the FBI or something.”

  Ron smiled as Bryce got his share of Lily’s tirade, but a quick look from her wiped that smile off his face.

  “Lily,” Bryce said tightly. “I’m the sheriff. I decide what’s right. And which way I do my job.”

  She wasn’t impressed. Lily took a step closer and tipped her head back so she’d have no trouble meeting his gaze directly. “And you decided to cause a riot? Was that the best you could come up with?”

  “There was no riot.”

  “Damn close,” Ron muttered.

  “If you need to see Mari, then you can wait until it’s convenient,” Lily said, ignoring Ron’s comment.

  “Convenient?” Bryce echoed, clearly astonished. “You think I wanted to be here? You think I like accusing a woman I once—” He caught himself before he could bring up the subject of love. “I didn’t want to see her today. I have to see her.”

  The underlying tone of pain in his voice suddenly reached both Lily and Ron. Worry shone in Bryce’s eyes and his body nearly vibrated with tension. Lily’s gaze snapped to Ron’s, and he instantly moved closer to Bryce.

  Lowering his voice, he asked, “What’s going on? What do you need to see Mari about?”

  Bryce shook his head. “Can’t tell you that. It’s police business, Ron.”

  The older man stiffened slightly. “I’ve known you since you were a kid, Bryce. Our families go to the same church.”

  Bryce nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it.

  Lily braced herself.

  “Mari’s my daughter,” Ron said. “You know damn well I’ll be standing right beside her when you finally tell her, so save some time and spill it now.”

  Bryce’s gaze shot to Lily, and she suddenly felt exactly what she was.

  The outsider.

  Regret crowded her chest, but she lifted her chin and said softly, “I’ll be outside. Use the office as long as you need.”

  She reached for the doorknob, but Ron’s voice stopped her. “Don’t go.”

  Lily glanced over her shoulder at him. His gaze locked with hers. “Stay. You’re…a friend. Mari might need one.”

  She nodded and came back into the room, taking up a spot just beside Ron. Silence blossomed and grew in the room until it was a living breathing thing that clawed at the air.

  Finally, when even he couldn’t stand it any longer, Bryce spoke up. “Fine.” Looking at Ron, he ignored Lily and said, “We just raided a house. Nabbed two suspected drug dealers.”

  A shiver of warning trickled along Lily’s spine, and she just managed to keep from shuddering. Drugs. Again. The Orcadol? For months now, the clinic—and Mari in particular—had been under suspicion of selling Orcadol, a powerful pain medication, on the black market. Naturally, there was no basis at all to the ridiculous claims. But Mari’s life had been in turmoil, and a cloud of mistrust had been hanging over the clinic and everyone working there for far too long.

  They certainly didn’t need yet another round of accusations and innuendo.

  As she fought to maintain a stoic air of nonchalance, a headache of monstrous proportions leaped into life behind her eyes. The throbbing pounded in time with her own heartbeat, and she wondered why her head didn’t just simply explode.

  “What’s that got to do with Mari?” Ron demanded, taking a step toward the younger man as if wanting to grab him and give him a good shake.

  Bryce’s jaw clenched, his features screwed into a mask of distaste, and he reached up to unbutton the top left pocket of his uniform shirt. Then from that pocket he pulled a plastic bag with a few papers sealed inside it.

  Worried now, Lily swallowed hard and tried to ignore the pain in her head and the sinking sensation at the pit of her stomach. As Bryce handed the bag to Ron, Lily stepped close enough to look at the papers.

  “What’s this?” Ron demanded without even looking at them.

  “Oh, God.” The soft exclamation slid from Lily’s lips before she could stop it.

  “Yeah.” That one word left Bryce on a resigned sigh before he told Ron, “We found these prescription papers—more than half a dozen—hidden in one of the perp’s bedroom. Stuffed between the mattress and the boxspring.”

  “So?” Ron’s fingers tightened on the bag, but still, he refused to look at the evidence Bryce had handed him.

  “We can’t make out the name of the prescribed drug,” Bryce said. “But the doctor’s signature is clear enough. It’s Mari’s. And the suspect is not one of her patients.”

  The room tilted.

  But that couldn’t be.

  Lily shook her head to find her balance again and looked from Mari’s scrawled signature up into the bleak eyes of the young woman’s father. A slow count of three passed before she saw refusal and denial lift up in Ron’s hazel eyes.

  “No way,” he ground out, shoving the incriminating evidence back at Bryce as though touching it had contaminated him.

  “Damn it, Ron, it’s right there. Plain as day.”

  Ron barked out a sharp, almost painful-sounding laugh. “Bryce, you could show me a picture of my daughter standing on a street corner, passing out drugs to kids and I still wouldn’t believe it. There’s something else going on here. Mari doesn’t deal drugs. And you know it. Damn it, you know her.”

  “I used to,” Bryce said. “A long time ago.”

  “Then remember it,” Lily said, speaking up for the first time. She grabbed Ron’s hand and was pleased to feel him squeeze her fingers, hard. “Remember the woman you knew. The woman you loved. Mari Bingham is one of the finest women I’ve ever known. And I believe you know that, too.”

  Bryce’s gaze fixed on her for a long minute, and Lily saw the pain and disbelief shining in his eyes. But she also saw determination and that worried her. Bryce Collins was a man as devoted to his work and to the preservation of the law as Mari was to her profession. He would do what he had to do, no matter what it cost him.

  When he spoke a moment later, he confirmed her thoughts.

  “Doesn’t matter what I believe,” Bryce said, his voice a low rumble of sound in the otherwise still room. “Only matters what the evidence says. And this evidence says Mari’s got some explaining to do.”

  As if appearing on cue, there was a knock on the door and then Mari stepped in, a wide smile still on her face. “Loretta had a boy. Eight pounds, ten ounces and the proud father is already signing him up for football!” She stepped into the room, let her gaze sweep across the faces of the people gathered there and slowly her smile faded away. “What is it? Dad? Bryce?”

  Lily held onto Ron’s hand as Bryce faced Mari with the prescription papers. She watched, silently, as the young woman she loved so dearly, stared in disbelief at her own signature on the damning evidence.

  “This is impossible,” she whispered, shaking her head for emphasis. “I mean—it sort of looks like my writing, but it’s not.”

  “Mari,” Bryce said softly. “I need you to come to the station with me.”

  Ron stepped forwa
rd, and Bryce stopped him with one upraised hand. “Just to talk,” he said.

  “I’ll call our lawyers,” Ron told him.

  “That’s your prerogative.”

  Mari’s gaze lifted to the man she’d once loved beyond all measure. “Are you saying you think I need a lawyer?”

  “I think you should be safe.”

  “Do you believe I’m involved in this?” she asked, ignoring the presence of her father and Lily.

  “Me personally, no.” Bryce looked down at her and everyone in the room could see what it cost him to add, “But as the sheriff, I’ve got a job to do.”

  “Fine, Sheriff,” Mari said shortly. “I’ll get my purse.”

  Bryce followed Mari out and down the hall, leaving Ron and Lily alone, standing in stunned silence.

  She sucked in a gulp of air, then blew it out in a rush before saying, “This is ridiculous. Mari’s no more guilty of selling drugs than I am.”

  Ron squeezed her hand again, then let her go, walking to stare out her window at the sun, slowly moving lower in the sky. Twilight wasn’t far off. Soon the first stars would be winking into existence, even as the sun painted brilliant, vibrant streaks of color across the western sky.

  Lily watched him, unsure of what to say, do. She’d never had children, so she couldn’t imagine what must be going through Ron’s mind. But she did love Mari like a daughter. The woman was everything Lily would have wanted a child of hers to be. Giving, loving, kind and generous to a fault. She was no criminal. But beneath the fury Mari must be feeling at the moment, there was undoubtedly fear.

  “You should go be with her,” Lily said softly.

  He glanced at her and smiled wryly. “Oh, I want to,” he admitted quietly. “That’s always been my first instinct when someone attacks one of my children. Go in swinging and ask questions later.”

  “You’re a good father, then.”

  “I’d like to think so.”

  Worry shadowed his eyes, and his features were grim. “But if I go in with Mari while she answers a few questions, then I’ll be giving Bryce’s suspicions more weight.”

  She took a step toward him, then stopped. “Oh, I don’t know…”