But Nate leaped up from the chair and grabbed her wrist.
In the next second, the side door opened and Rowan and two men in FBI jackets burst into the room, guns drawn and aimed at Terri.
“It’s okay.” Nate took what was a bronze dog out of Terri’s hand and put it back on the shelf. Then he enveloped Terri in his arms. “Everything is all right.”
She pushed away from him, anger running through her. “Don’t you patronize me, you ungrateful bastard. We’ve been searching for you. You disappeared and we saw you through the window and thought you were being held hostage. We—”
“Is ‘we’ you and St. Billy?”
“None other,” Billy said with a grin. “Hope no one minds but I need to sit down. This has been too much excitement for me. Oh! Hello. I didn’t see you there. I’m William Thorndyke, soon to be pastor of St. Anne’s. I think. After today I may be thrown out of the country.” He looked at Rowan and the two agents who were sheathing their weapons.
Sitting in a chair was an older woman, slim and elegant. Her eyes were zeroed in on Terri.
Terri jerked away from Nate’s grip. Anger was saving her from dissolving into a lump of embarrassment. “You could have called,” she said through her teeth. “But you’re here having a party.”
“Party! I haven’t slept in—”
Rowan cleared his throat loudly. “Terri, may I introduce you to your grandmother, Mrs. Carolyn Fornell?”
It was all too much for Terri. Finding her mother’s body, dealing with the press, fending off questions, trying to stay strong while everyone she loved seemed to disappear—her father, Frank, Nate—it was more than she could handle.
Her legs went first, then her head seemed to spin round and round. “Grandmother,” she whispered.
Nate caught her before she went down.
Chapter 24
When Terri woke, she was in her own bed and it was early morning. It looked like she’d slept through the night.
There was a dent in the pillow beside her. It seemed like Nate had slept there, but he was gone.
She sat up in bed, blinking, rubbing her eyes and trying to remember what had happened in the last few days. What was real and what had she imagined? Her mother found in the trunk of a car. Murdered. She—
The door opened and Nate came in carrying a tray of food. “Thought you’d be awake. Want some bacon and eggs? Or how about some casseroles? I put eight varieties on this one plate. Think you can handle them?”
“I could eat a shark, teeth and all. I’ll eat while you talk.”
He put the tray across her legs. “That silver bowl—” He halted. “You know what? I think I should let your grandmother tell you.”
Terri paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. “I thought maybe I dreamed her.”
Nate went to the door and opened it. She must have been waiting outside as Carolyn Fornell came in right away. Nate motioned her to a chair beside the bed.
She and Terri looked at each other in wonder.
“You look like my Leelee,” Carolyn whispered.
Terri started to put the tray aside, but Carolyn stopped her.
“Please, go ahead and eat. If you are as active as my daughter, then I’m sure you’re starving. She ate huge amounts but never gained an ounce.”
“She burns it off,” Nate said. “She drives her boat like a maniac and never walks if she can run. She throws rope like a sailor and—”
Both women were staring at him.
“I, uh, I think I’ll leave you two alone.” He left and closed the door behind him.
“Where do I begin?” Carolyn asked.