Protecting Melissa (Holiday Cove 4)

Melissa chased after him and I watched them play along the shore, hanging back deliberately to give them some space. Melissa finally looked back to being herself again. I realized how heavily the news of her pregnancy must have been weighing on her. It was good to watch them together, smiling and laughing like they had in Cabo before everything went to shit.

I hoped I’d gotten through to her and made her see she wasn’t in this alone.

I thought back to the night before and the phone call with Matt. The secret about Melissa and me I’d been keeping from him would need to come to light sooner or later. He was going to be an uncle, after all. I exhaled at the idea. I was going to be a dad. Wow. It certainly hadn’t happened the way I’d expected, but I was thrilled, nonetheless.

Spending the past month with Jackson had opened my eyes to how rewarding parenthood can be and the idea of having my own family someday had snuck into my thoughts more than once over the last few weeks. I’d even gone so far as to picture what it would be like to start a family with Melissa, though, at the time, I’d written that thought off as a fantasy.

Now, it was my reality. My future.

I shook my head, amazed at how quickly my entire life had changed. Had it really only been a little over a month ago that Matt called me about the job? I was lying by the pool at a beachside hotel, reading a King novel, and chugging a beer. I was unattached, single, and carefree.

One phone call changed my whole life.

And not just mine. It changed Melissa and Jackson’s life too.

A dark thought crept in amongst the happy daydream of what life might be like once this nightmare was over, and I wondered what Henry would do if he found out that Melissa was pregnant. He’d know it wasn’t his because they hadn’t been intimate in a very long time. He’d had no qualms about murdering her before. Would a baby change that? Or would it make him more determined to have her killed?

I shuddered at the morbid thought. A surge of rage quickly followed, and I set my jaw, more determined than ever that Henry O’Keefe would never hurt Melissa again.

39

Chase

“It’s eight o’clock,” I told Melissa before sinking down onto the couch beside her. “We should probably call Matt and let him know what we’re going to do so he can prepare. If we leave tomorrow, it will still take a few days to get back.”

Melissa sighed and laid her head back. “But I still don’t know what I want to do.”

“We can’t stay here, Melissa. I think you know that. At least not forever.” I stroked her hair but she continued staring up at the ceiling. “It’s been a good place to hunker down but we knew this wasn’t someplace we could stay indefinitely.”

“I know. But there has to be somewhere else we can go,” she said, rolling her head over to look at me.

“If that’s what you want,” I said. “But I think you need to consider what Matt said. The longer you stay away, or more accurately, the longer you keep Jackson away from Henry, the worse it makes you look in the eyes of the court. I don’t want you to damage your chances of getting full custody of Jackson.”

“But if the FBI is investigating Henry, then we just need to lay low and wait. They have to find something that can stick, right?”

I wished I could agree, but I refused to lie to her. “I don’t know, Melissa. I wish I had the answers, but he’s evaded them this long and neither of us knows just what he’s done—or how deep any of this goes.”

She turned her head back and stared up again.

“Let’s call Matt. He’ll give us advice.” I pushed up from the couch and crossed to the kitchen to retrieve my phone from the table. I dialed the number for Matt’s burner phone in slow motion. I didn’t want to force Melissa into making a move, but I trusted Matt’s legal mind and if he thought we needed to return to California, then that was probably the best idea.

It was just a matter of how to get Melissa to trust that everything would work out.

On top of that, I knew the small village wouldn’t be able to provide the level of medical care that Melissa needed as she got closer to having our baby. If something happened to her, or our child, I’d never be able to forgive myself.

“Chase?” Matt answered, not on speaker yet.

I glanced out at Melissa and my heart squeezed tight at how she was running her hand along her stomach. I could almost read her mind and it was heartbreaking.