Behind the Flame (Home in Carson 3)

He was thankful Poppy kept long hours at the daycare facility since many of the families had farms, wineries, or orchards and kept non-standard work hours.

The facility was packed when he arrived around 6:30 p.m. and he hoped that it wasn’t too late for Delilah. She liked to eat dinner a little earlier than that hour.

Walking through the main doors, Ridge’s eyes instinctively sought out his small and sexy neighbor, but she was nowhere to be found. Neither was his cousin’s wife. It was only then that he realized that they both must have left for the day.

Logging into the computer system at the door as Poppy had shown him, he designated Delilah’s check out of the facility then headed back to gather the little girl he had missed fiercely. She seemed to have sensed his arrival because she looked around the room in excitement until her gaze found him standing by the wall of cubbies.

“Dada!” she shrieked as she rocked into a standing position. On her chubby little legs, she waddled toward him and he knelt down to catch her in his arms. Embracing her tightly, he breathed in her sweet baby scent that was mixed with her strawberry shampoo.

“I put her bear in her diaper bag after naptime. A few of the other kids tried to play with it and she wasn’t having that at all.” Ridge turned to find Poppy standing at the door, glancing at his daughter affectionately.

“I figured you had gone home,” he told her as he scooped Delilah up into his arms, her head immediately resting on his shoulder.

“I stayed to make sure the pick up went smoothly.”

“Do you do that for all of the families?” Ridge asked curiously as he grabbed the diaper bag, glancing down at Delilah’s daily report placed in her cubby.

“Only by request, but you’re family, of course. And I was to ask if you wanted to join us for dinner tonight,” she requested expectantly.

Normally Ridge would jump at the chance not to have to come up with a meal for himself and Delilah, but as his daughter released an over-sized yawn against his shoulder, Poppy got her answer.

“She had a big day. Maybe we can get together again this weekend. It’s always nice to have everyone together.”

“Sure, that would be nice. I guess I should get this little one home and hopefully get her to eat a little before she heads to bed.”

Poppy walked with him to the parking lot, where she got in her own vehicle as he buckled Delilah into her seat. It seemed at that moment she realized that her pink bear was no longer in her grip and released a frustrated pout. Ridge quickly reached into the diaper bag and grabbed the bear Poppy had graciously placed right on top.

“Here you go. Let’s get you home.”

Ridge continued to check his rear-view mirror to see if Delilah fell asleep, but instead, she seemed to stare out of the window with droopy eyes. She was drowsy from the day but most likely over-stimulated and didn’t want to miss anything more.

Luckily the drive home was short and only interrupted by a short stop at the mailbox at the end of the driveway. Delilah garbled in the backseat as Ridge unlatched her and carried her from the truck.

He was surprised at the stack of mail he retrieved from the mailbox, but as he sifted through, he realized that it was mostly welcome letters from his neighbors and people in the community. One particular letter in a plain white sealed envelope caught his eye. There was no return address but the writing seemed familiar. But what really threw him off was the lack of street address under his name, meaning someone had dropped off the letter.

With Delilah safely secured in her gated area Ridge opened the letter to find a blank paper slip. Or what he initially thought was blank. Before he tossed it aside, he noticed the imprint of Penny’s name scrawled along the bottom edge. She had been there, to his house, to Carson.

Glancing over at his daughter, he pondered what he should do next. He didn’t want to leave her alone and now he worried that his ex was watching and waiting. But then, how come no one had been able to locate her yet.

Per his uncle, he had been in touch with the local Sheriff of Carson, who assured him that they’d reach out to Sunnyville and work together on the case to at least track her down and make sure that she was safe. But now Ridge couldn’t help but worry. Not just for Penny but for Delilah as well.

For a second, he tore his gaze away from the paper held tightly in his shaking hand and looked over at his sweet daughter. She had suffered enough already between shuffling back and forth between homes and then losing her mother altogether. Ridge wasn’t sure if he was prepared to weather another storm for her, but he knew he’d have to make himself ready.

Knowing he needed to handle the letter, Ridge threw some water into a pot, set the burner on high, and poured some spaghetti sauce into a smaller saucepan to make some spaghetti. While in the meantime used his mobile phone to reach out to the local sheriff and let him know about the blank letter. He assured Ridge that he would collect the letter from him in the morning if Ridge could seal it in a gallon-sized bag.

“What are you up to?” Ridge whispered to himself as he ended the call. Penny could be manipulative when she wanted and Ridge feared that this was now one of her many games.

He really didn’t want to uproot his daughter again, especially since it wasn’t challenging for anyone to track him down. Ridge knew that this move was the best thing for him and his daughter. Now he just needed to find a way to push the worry aside.

***

Something felt off as she walked up and down the aisles of the small market. Not only had a prickling on the back of her neck started the moment she grabbed her cart, but that inkling had continued and strengthened as she made her way toward the deli at the far side of the building.

“Excuse me,” River called out to a young man stocking shelves. She asked him if he knew whether they kept a specific type of bean in stock for no other reason but to be closer to someone in the unfamiliar space. Thankfully that nervous feeling that had been shadowing her dissolved into thin air as he showed her to that particular section of beans, then graciously assisted her with checking out.

Just as she stepped through the automatic doors with the market worker trailing closely behind, the strange feeling returned. River paused to look around the mostly empty parking lot and found nothing out of the ordinary. With a sigh, she and the worker made the way to her new SUV and filled the back with groceries.

“Hey, you’re my new neighbor, right? Ocean or something,” the man said as he began loading his own groceries into the trunk of his gray sedan. River meant to answer, she really did, but she was struck silly by the cocky man with his golf shirt's popped collar. She thought that was a fashion that had gone out decades ago. He was attractive, or so she assumed most women would think so, but River’s meter was stuck on scorching from her neighbor across the street.