Chapter 75

SEVENTY-FIVE

COAL MOUNTAIN CEMETERY

Barbara hated hiding out. Hated the small hotel room she'd rented on the outskirts of Emerald Falls. Hated the grief that consumed her.

Hated even more that Taylor and Heidi were gone. And that she had to visit her own deceased little girl at the graveyard. She'd never gotten to see her first smile or take her first step. Say her first words. Watch her pick flowers and learn to swim and collect seashells on the beach.

People tried to assure her that grief got better with each day. That one day she'd wake up smiling and forget about what she'd lost.

Instead, each day the pain grew deeper like a cancer spreading into her bones and deeper into her very soul. She could still feel the horror of holding her dead daughter in her arms. Feel Grace's stiff little body as she shook her gently to stir life into her. As she'd prayed and begged God to save her.

The doctor's voice had cracked when he told her it was too late. Then the nurse tugged the child from her arms and a stark hollow emptiness overcame her.

Swiping at her tears, she carried the bouquet of mini pink roses in one hand as she picked her way across the snow-covered cemetery, carefully avoiding stepping on the graves.

When she'd buried Grace, she'd stood here in stunned shock with Thomas beside her. Even then she'd felt alone, as if she was in her own world and he was a stranger.

Thankfully, after that, she'd met the other women in the support group. She wasn't the only one who'd lost a child. They were desperate for motherhood just as she'd been.

They'd held her and cried with her and shared their own stories of sorrow. Once they'd forged their friendship, they'd met her here year after year to pray and honor little Grace.

Only today they were nowhere in sight.

Leaves crackled and footsteps sounded in the distance. Paranoid the police had found her, she swung her head around. Not the police. A man in all black, his back to her, a beanie pulled low over his head. Though she couldn't see his face, the hair on the nape of her neck prickled.

You're being paranoid, Barb.

He stooped to put flowers on a small grave then she noticed him drape a corded necklace around the child's headstone. Sympathy for him rolled through her. Another person suffering and stopping to pay respects for a lost child.

She knelt and gently placed the flowers in the vase at the head of Grace's grave, trying to imagine what her little girl would look like if she'd lived. Closing her eyes, she heard the whisper of the wind and felt a tingle ripple through her as if Grace was calling her mommy. Heard the soft tinkle of her laughter as she danced through the falling snow.

Felt her little girl's hand slipping into her own.

For years now, Taylor and Heidi had given her their hands to hold as if they sensed she needed them. Now they were gone, too.

Would Claire lay them to rest here with Grace?

The sound of footsteps crunching ice and dead leaves echoed behind her and she suddenly felt someone behind her. Felt a hand curl over her shoulder.

Praying it was Claire, she pivoted slightly. But Loretta stood behind her, alone, a pensive, grief-stricken look on her face, her blond hair pulled into a tight bun.

"I'm here, Barbara," Loretta said softly. "I tried to reach Ros and Claire again but couldn't get hold of them."

Worry knotted Barbara's stomach. They were all supposed to meet at Winterfest so the kids could enjoy the activities together. "I'm really scared for Claire. I think we should go to her house and see if she's okay."

Loretta nodded. "I'm worried, too. She should have called one of us by now."

"Where's Ivy?"

"With Michael," Loretta said.

"He still doesn't know the truth?"

"No, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"But what if Taylor and Heidi were killed because of our secrets? This maniac might come after Ivy and Mazie." Barbara's voice grew raspy with fear. "We should go to the police."

Loretta hesitated. "If we do that, I'll have to tell Michael that Ivy isn't his. That will destroy him."

"But the twins were murdered," Barbara argued. "We can't let their killer escape."

"I know. I don't know what to do."

"Go back to Michael, take care of Ivy and keep her safe," Barbara said. "I'll take care of Claire." After all, she was totally alone.

She had nothing else to lose.