Flynn Read online

  “Lacey and I will start driving around town, and maybe you and Rory can do the same thing. And whatever you do don’t tell Mom because she doesn’t need the stress in her condition.”

  “And what if we don’t find Emily?”

  “We’ll meet up at your place in say an hour, and if we haven’t found her then I’ll see what we do next.”

  Flynn put the phone down. He just hoped Emily hadn’t gone far.

  ****

  Lacey patted Flynn on the back. All four of them had searched the town and surrounding area for two hours, but no sign of his daughter.

  “It’s going to be okay, really it is,” said Lacey.

  “It’s not. It’s all my fault. I sent Natalie away, and I’ve been in a bad mood for over a month, and I’ve been a bad dad.”

  “Hey buddy, that’s the last thing anyone can say about you,” said Shane. “Let’s start by calling people that Emily might run to. How about school buddies?”

  “Yeah, it’s a possibility,” said Flynn walking over to his phone. He pulled out a list of numbers he had for some kids Emily hung out with from time to time.

  “How about Natalie?” asked Lacey.

  Flynn looked at her.

  “It makes perfect sense. She misses her and she’s gone looking for her.”

  “Lacey has a point,” said Rory.

  “She wouldn’t even know how to get to Florida,” said Flynn.

  “I don’t think that’s ever stopped Emily from trying to do something,” said Shane.

  He was right. His daughter was one determined girl.

  “I think I should call the airport just in case that’s where she’s at or is heading,” said Shane.

  Flynn slumped down on the chair. “What if she’s hitched a ride, hitched a ride from the wrong person and…”

  He put his head in his hands.

  Rory patted his back. “You have to think positive, Flynn. And I think we should call Natalie and alert her just in case Emily is heading her way.”

  Flynn looked up at him. “You or Shane can do it. I’m not talking to her.”

  If I hear her voice again my heart will break.

  ****

  Natalie knew she should have switched off her cell phone while she was in conference with her new client. The sound rang out in her purse that hung on the back of her chair. Probably her mother again pleading her case. Should she ignore it?

  No, better to just get it over and done with.

  “Would you excuse me for a minute?” she told her client.

  He nodded.

  She reached into her purse, dug out the phone and noticed not her mother’s number, but one she’d never seen before.

  “Hello, Natalie Stevens.”

  “Hi Natalie, it’s Lacey Malone.”

  She swallowed. Secretly she’d hoped that Flynn would come to his senses and call her, but she hadn’t expected to hear from his sister-in-law.

  “Hi Lacey, how are you doing?”

  “I’m good, but we have sort of a situation here.”

  Was something wrong with Flynn… or Emily?

  “What’s happened?”

  “It’s Emily, she’s gone missing.”

  Natalie stood but then sat down again because her legs were too wobbly to hold her weight. Her baby was missing.

  “When and how?” asked Natalie.

  “Flynn discovered her missing this morning. We searched all of Timber Creek twice, called some of her school buddies, but no one’s seen her.”

  Natalie put her hand over her mouth and wanted to throw up.

  “We think that maybe she’s trying to get to you because Flynn checked her room and her knitting’s also missing.”

  “Would she know how to get here?” asked Natalie.

  “Shane called the airport and no one matching her description has boarded any flights, but we thought you should be on alert just in case she found another way, maybe by car or bus.”

  Her baby all alone. She wiped her eyes.

  “Shane’s putting out an alert, but if she does make her way to you could you give us a call immediately?

  “I will, and will you let me know if she shows up?”

  “You’ll be the first person we call.”

  “Okay, take care, Lacey.”

  “You too.”

  Natalie pressed the end call button.

  “Something wrong?” asked her client.

  “My daughter’s gone missing.”

  First time she’d said the words my daughter, and it felt so wonderful.

  “Then I won’t keep you. This matter can wait. Family should always come first.”

  He stood and put his hand out for Natalie to shake. As she watched him walk away she realized he was right.

  Even if Flynn didn’t like it, even if he got Shane to arrest her, she was heading back to Montana to find her baby.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Flynn raised his head, not realizing that he’d slept with it resting on the kitchen table. He sat up, every bone in his body aching from obviously suddenly falling asleep while he’d been sitting in the kitchen. He grimaced when he tried to stand. Today he felt every one of his forty- three years. He’d come home beaten and defeated at not finding Emily when the search party had set out early yesterday morning.

  “It’s important we find this teenager,” he recalled Shane telling everyone as he held up a photo of Emily beaming from ear to ear as she did in every snapshot. He couldn’t help it any longer. He began to cry. She’d been his whole world for the last thirteen years. She’d given him a reason to exist when Jill had walked out on him and their marriage.

  Flynn managed to stand and hobbled into the bathroom to splash his face and brush his teeth. He took off his clothes and ran the water in the shower. He stepped into the tub, letting the water make its way down his back.

  They’d checked all leads. She’d left her cell phone behind so they couldn’t trace her through that. She didn’t have credit cards they could check…

  Shane had told him to get a good night’s sleep, and they’d start afresh this morning. But it was cold and snowing, and his baby girl could be anywhere out there. Hurt, lost, frozen…

  If only the phone would ring and it would be Natalie telling him that Emily was with her.

  Natalie. He missed her like crazy.

  This was all his fault. He should never have sent her away. Not only for Emily’s sake but for his own too. Rory was right. He was pissed with her because he loved her. Only strong emotions like this surfaced when you loved someone. Only people you loved could hurt you.

  Now he might have lost both of them. He wouldn’t have the strength to go on. Just thinking about how lonely his life would be made him sob again. He got out of the shower and wrapped the towel around his waist. Coffee is what he needed.

  He headed to the kitchen.

  A car… there was a car approaching the house. Maybe it was Shane, maybe it was his brother with good news, maybe even Emily…

  He rushed to the window. It was a car he hadn’t seen before. He continued to watch and then his heart beat faster as Natalie stepped out of it. She ran toward the door with her coat pulled over her head to protect her head from the falling snow.

  Flynn rushed to the door and opened it. They stood looking at one another, neither of them saying a word for what seemed like forever. Then finally he couldn’t resist it any longer, he pulled her inside, pulled her close to his body and kissed her.

  Natalie put her arms around his neck and tickled the nape of it as his tongue slid across her lips. He had the mother of all hard-ons. He knew it was a terrible time to be thinking about making love, but he couldn’t help it. It felt like the thing to do.

  They still hadn’t said anything, and he simply picked her up in his arms and shut the front door with his foot and carried her toward his bedroom. The small distance from the car to the house had obviously made her feel so cold, but no problem, he’d warm her up.

  He set her down
on the bed, taking off her shoes and throwing them across the room. He tugged at the belt of her coat until it opened.

  “I’m sorry for sending you away, baby.”

  She ran her hand down the side of his face.

  “I’m sorry I lied about who I was.”

  He kissed the palm of her hand.

  “I had to come back because I know we’re going to find Emily. In my heart, I know you and she are supposed to be in my life.”

  “I love you,” he said.

  “I love you too.” She pulled at the towel, loosening it and making it fall to the floor. He got on the bed beside him as he put his hand under her sweater, feeling her breasts and their nipples turn hard between his fingers. He leaned over and kissed her again, growing harder as Natalie’s hand went onto his cock and began stroking it.

  If only they’d get a call saying Emily was safe, his world would be damn near perfect.

  Never one to rush lovemaking, today would have to be an exception. He needed Natalie. He needed to be inside her so they could reconnect and be one.

  Lifting up her sweater, she took the cue about his urgency and lifted it over her head. She was wearing the pretty blue bra again. He fingered its lace edges. She removed it, tossing it next to the towel that only minutes ago had been secured around his waist.

  Her jeans and panties were the only thing in the way now. He tugged at the zipper. She lifted her butt off the bed, allowing him to pull them down her legs. The tiny pink bow on her panties was super cute. He fingered that too before sliding the underwear down her legs.

  Flynn ran his hand over her thighs. How he’d missing seeing the gorgeous white skin and the dark curls at the top of them. He pushed them slightly apart, already seeing the shiny evidence of her arousal clinging to her outer pussy lips.

  She was beautiful.

  And the scar. Today it looked more raised and pink.

  He ran his finger the length of it.

  “Did it hurt?” he asked.

  “Nope, they put me right out because the baby… Emily was a long time in my birth canal. When I woke up it was all over.”

  He kissed her. “It must have been horrible for you.”

  She rested her hand on his face. “Worst part was having to stay in the hospital longer, seeing everyone with their babies, my breasts producing milk and not having a baby to feed.”

  He could imagine what she’d gone through. He looked down at her stomach. Her body had given him Emily. All the years of joy because she’d carried her and loved her.

  She stroked his face again.

  “Make love to me,” she said.

  Flynn reached over to the nightstand and pulled open the bottom drawer. He found a condom sitting on top of one of the books he’d been reading a few weeks ago. He laid back on the bed to sheath himself, knowing within seconds he’d be in paradise.

  ****

  There was one moment she’d grown to love, and that was when Flynn’s cock introduced itself to her pussy. He was always so gentle as he pushed inside her. She was tense today, tense and tight because she’d been on edge not knowing what reception she’d get from him when she’d arrived unannounced at his front door.

  He moved slowly over her body, looking down and smiling at her.

  He loved her. She’d guessed that he did.

  Natalie bucked her body upward to meet his thrusts that were now getting harder and quicker.

  She’d missed him. Missed being around him. Hearing his voice. Even the smell of his aftershave. And yes, his body being this intimate with hers.

  Wrapping her legs around him, she felt him slid deeper. She gasped but in a good way. The end of his cock tickled the back of her pussy, making it spasm as her orgasm built slowly, wave upon wave of pure pleasure that only Flynn could give her.

  Her muscles tensed, her pussy pulled, and then that was it. Fireworks, sparks, and warmth spread through her channel and thighs. No one had ever given her these sorts of sensations.

  Flynn groaned as he picked up tempo, breathing heavily. Her knowing him well enough now to sense that he was on the verge of his own release. And then it happened quickly, the tell-tale pressure flooding inside her that told her he’d climaxed.

  She could even hear his heart beating as he pulled out and laid his body close to hers. She’d always dreamed about having another child. One that no one would take away from her. Natalie turned over on her side, running her hand down his belly. A child with Flynn, a brother or sister for Emily.

  Emily.

  Here they were enjoying their reunion and the pure pleasure of one another’s bodies when they had to find their daughter.

  “We’re going to find her today,” said Natalie. “I feel it in my heart that she’s safe and close by.”

  He turned and kissed her.

  “I hope so because once I have her back, and now that you’re here with me, I have everything I’ll ever need.”

  ****

  Natalie had insisted on cooking them breakfast before they headed out to join Shane and Rory and twenty plus volunteers from Timber Creek in the continuing search for Emily.

  “Did I tell you I’m going to take a permanent job at your mom’s café?” Natalie’s question startled him.

  “Hope you’re not going to burn the customer’s bacon like you have today.”

  She’d only slightly singed it, but he couldn’t help tease her.

  Natalie slapped his arm and slid in the chair beside him.

  “You don’t want to be a lawyer any longer?”

  “I don’t think I ever did. It’s yet another thing I got talked into.”

  Like giving up your baby.

  “Well, mom can do with some help now that she’s recovering.”

  “I thought…”

  Natalie stopped in mid-sentence. She obviously heard it too. A creaking sound coming from what sounded like the hallway.

  “You have loud mice in Montana,” she said.

  “I think we might have some company.”

  He sensed where exactly it was coming from, and as he walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway, his instinct was right. There descending from the ceiling was the old wooden ladder that him and Rory had built when they were kids to access their favorite hiding spot that he thought to this day no one but the two of them knew about.

  Natalie grabbed his hand and squeezed it when Emily headed down the rungs. She turned and looked at them.

  “You, young lady have a lot of explaining to do, but first I want to hug and kiss you.”

  “Sorry Daddy, sorry Mommy.”

  He glanced at Natalie. Had she heard Emily call her Mommy? She must have because tears were running down her cheek.

  Flynn held open his arms, and Emily ran toward him. She put one arm around him and the other around Natalie and squeezed so tight he could hardly breathe.

  She pulled away and looked up at him.

  “You mad, Daddy?”

  “I have mixed feelings right now. How did you know about the hiding space up there?”

  “I heard you and Uncle Rory talking about it a long time ago, and I took my food and water up there, but I ran out today.”

  “Honey, why did you do it? We were all so worried,” he asked lifting her chin, so she had to look directly at him.

  “I knew it would bring my mommy back here.”

  She looked at Natalie and then at Flynn. “I overheard you talking to Uncle Rory that morning and knew Natalie was my mom. You’d sent her away, and I wanted her back.”

  She began crying and then pushed her face into Natalie’s chest. Natalie rubbed her back.

  “It’s okay, honey. I’m here, and it was wrong of me not to tell you and your dad who I really was from the first time we met.”

  “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me again,” she sobbed.

  “Honey, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay with you for as long as you want me to be your mom.”

  She pulled away. “Then that’s forever.”
r />   ****

  Flynn had suggested that she and Emily sit down and read Jon’s letter to Emily in private, but he was part of this story too and she couldn’t shut him out.

  “Why did my birth daddy die?” asked Emily looking at the photo Natalie had handed her. She fingered Jon’s face.

  “Sometimes that’s what happens in life,” said Natalie. “People get sick with things like cancer and doctors can’t cure them.”

  “He has the same color hair as me.”

  “That’s right, and I can see a lot of him in you. And he left you money to go to college.”

  “Emily, you remember reading about the boy with Down’s that went to a special program at a university?” asked Flynn.

  Emily nodded. “He was happy.”

  “You think you might like to try that too when the time comes?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, we’ll see that the money is invested for you and then you can think about it,” said Flynn.

  “Your birth dad also wrote you a letter,” said Natalie handing it to her.

  She took it and opened it up. “I want you to read it to me,” she said handing it back to her.

  Natalie took it and placed it on her lap.

  I should start with dear something, but I don’t know your name or even if you’re my daughter or my son. One of the regrets I have is that I didn’t get to meet you. I’m sure you’re pretty or handsome. In fact, I’m certain that you are.

  I want you to know that I’ve thought about you a lot. And I’ve also thought about your mom every day. You couldn’t have asked for a…

  Natalie stopped and blinked away some tears.

  Flynn reached out and covered the back of her hand with his, giving it a squeeze.

  a better, kinder person. I’ve requested that she find you and knowing her, she’ll do just that. I hope that you’ll forgive both of us for not keeping you and raising you, but maybe when you get older you’ll understand why we couldn’t.

  She paused again.

  When the two of you find one another it’s my hope that you’ll be together forever and that you’ll get to do things that you and I never got around to doing. Although I never met you, know that I love you with all my heart. With all my love, Jon Nelson.