“Look, as much as I’d love having this conversation here with the family of my boyfriend looking on, I’m not going to. I hadn’t had the chance to tell either one of you. Brian, your plane was late and Shane, you waylaid me when I got to your house. I appreciate your concern but it was nothing. And that’s all I’m going to say right now.”

“Cassie…”

“Shane Edward Chase, let it go. Your daddy made a big enough mistake, don’t compound it. She’ll talk to you about it later.” Polly narrowed her eyes at him and he backed off with an annoyed shrug.

Maggie changed the subject quickly to the trip she and Kyle were taking in the spring to Italy and Cassie sent her a grateful look. Penny was there with Ryan, he’d come to town once or twice since the Grange night and had spent quite a bit of time on the phone and email with her. Cassie approved, she’d never seen Penny so glowing before.

After dessert and a game of cards so cutthroat that Cassie just watched in awe, they made their way back to Shane’s. They’d promised to be back at seven the next morning in exchange for not sleeping over. Cassie felt self-conscious enough, she really didn’t want to sleep with Shane at his parents’ house.

On the way out, Edward took her aside. “I do apologize, honey. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that. I just spoke while thinking about it and then realized that you must have felt nervous with all those new people and all. I know it seemed nosy of me, but I care about you like one of my own. I was just concerned. I hope you’re not mad at me.”

She kissed his cheek. “Thank you for explaining. I feel a lot better now. I do appreciate you caring about me, honestly. I’m not angry. It takes a bit of getting used to, being part of your circle, I’m trying.”

“You’re not part of our circle, honey, you’re part of our family. You’re one of us. Even if it was only that Shane loved you we’d think of you that way. But we love you too. You’re an eminently lovable woman. Now go on, Shane’s going to want to hear all the details along with your brother. We’ll see you first thing.”

All she could do was nod. It was a simple thing, the acceptance and love from the Chases but it meant so much more than she could ever begin to put into words. Swallowing back her tears, she smiled and walked out, garnering hugs and kisses from a whole host of Chases before she reached Shane who waited for her on the porch.

In the car she got belted in and held up a hand as they pulled away from the curb. “I will tell you everything. I was shopping and felt odd. Like a cold chill. I looked around but there wasn’t a damned thing wrong. Your father bumped right into me, asked if I was all right. I assured him it was and we had lunch. That’s it.”

Shane sighed hard. “All right. But I want you to tell me this stuff right away. Call me from the restaurant.”

“Me too! Damn it, Carly—Cassie, I can’t be here, the only way I can keep from worrying to death over you is your assurance that you’ll tell me what’s going on.”

“Brian, you were on a plane. And Shane, I wasn’t going to call you from the restaurant over a funny feeling. I was with your father and you know why I was a bit busy later on. If it had been important I would have called you immediately. Now it’s Christmas Eve, let’s talk about something else, please.”

Chapter Sixteen

The beginning of February had Penny and Cassie heading to Atlanta to pick up more supplies for Cassie’s blooming jewelry business. With Valentine’s Day approaching, Cassie found herself nearly out of the findings she needed for earrings and she wanted to pop in to a little bead shop she’d ordered from online.

Ryan joined them for lunch after they’d spent too much money on beads and clothes. The roads were a bit slick but not icy so they wanted to get back before it got too dark and cold.

Cassie had a sense of foreboding all day. She’d attributed it to the anniversary of her divorce from Terry and the news from a week before that Terry had been sighted in New York City and that it appeared his family had been helping him financially.

Shane had insisted on their driving his giant truck and in retrospect later on, it probably saved their lives. Halfway between Atlanta and Petal, Cassie noticed the lights of an SUV that had been with them for the last ten miles. It stayed right on her tailgate and felt aggressive. Not so unusual really, people drove like idiots all the time but she couldn’t ignore her increasing nervousness. On top of that, Penny was in the car and Cassie didn’t want to ignore something that could hurt her friend.

Swallowing back fear and nausea, Cassie reached out and touched Penny’s arm. “Penny, I want you to get on that cell phone and call Shane. There’s a car following us. A big SUV, Georgia plates. It’s probably nothing but it makes me nervous. Crossed a few lanes to keep up with us several times.” Putting her hands firmly on the wheel, she wrestled the demon of her terror and read the plate number to Penny, who calmly made the call.

Shane stayed on the line with her and patched a call into the state patrol to check the plates. He urged Penny to tell Cassie to stay watchful. They’d entered a more rural part of the drive back to Petal and there weren’t many off ramps. So rural that even at most of the few offramps there weren’t any services or places to go for help.

The SUV backed way off and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to kick herself for her paranoia. She turned to tell Penny everything was all right when she caught the lights moving toward them from the next lane at a high rate of speed.