winter storm raged around the small town of Sanctuary, North Carolina.
Shivering with the cold, she threw open the door, flipped on the sunflower lamp Sara had begged for and crossed the distance to her little girl’s bed. Sara was thrashing around, tangled in the bright green comforter, sobbing and shaking.
“No, don’t hurt her, don’t hurt Cissy…”
Madelyn’s heart broke, worry throbbing inside her as she eased herself onto the mattress and gently shook Sara.
“Honey, wake up. It’s just a nightmare,” she whispered. Although Sara would insist that it was real.
Sara sobbed harder, swinging out her hands as if fighting off an invisible monster, and Madelyn pulled her into her arms. Tears blurred her own eyes as she rocked her back and forth. “Shh, honey, Mommy’s here. It’s all right.”
“Gonna hurt Mommy…” Sara wailed. “Help Cissy. We have to help Cissy!”
“Shh, baby.” Madelyn stroked Sara’s fine, blond hair. “No one is going to hurt Mommy. I’m right here.”
Sara jerked her eyes open, her pupils distorted, her lower lip quivering. For a moment, she stared at Madelyn as if she didn’t recognize her.
“But Cissy’s mommy is hurt,” Sara said in a shaky voice. “The bad man chased Cissy into the woods and he catched her, and…”
“It was a dream.” Madelyn cupped Sara’s face between her hands, imploring her to believe her. “A really bad dream, sweetheart, but it was just a nightmare.”
“No,” Sara choked out. “It was real. Cissy’s in trouble and we gots to help her or he’s gonna hurt her…”
“Oh, honey,” Madelyn said softly.
Sara gulped. “It was real, Mommy. I saw Cissy.” Tears rolled down her face. “And she saw me. She begged me to help her. I tolded her to get up and run, but he caught her and dragged her back to the house….”
Shaken by the horror in Sara’s voice, Madelyn took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm the anxiety bleeding through her.
She dried Sara’s tears with her fingers. “Sara, I told you that we lost Cissy a long time ago.”
“No,” Sara said with a firm shake of her head. “She lives with that other mommy. But if we don’t helps her, that mean man’s gonna kill ’em both.”
Madelyn hugged Sara to her, lost in turmoil.
Something was very wrong with her little girl. She’d been having these nightmares for the past two months, ever since they’d moved back to Sanctuary, and nothing Madelyn had done or said had helped. Not her long talks with her about Cissy, Sara’s twin who they’d lost at birth, or the therapists Madelyn had consulted for assistance.
“Please, Mommy,” Sara cried. “We gots to do something.”
A tear slid down Madelyn’s cheek. The day the twins had been born was the happiest and saddest day of her life. She’d gotten Sara but lost her sister.
She’d heard that twins had a special connection, but why was Sara still dreaming that Cissy had survived?
Knowing neither she nor Sara would sleep well the rest of the night, she carried Sara to her bed, then snuggled beside her. Sara lay on her side, sniffling for another hour, then finally drifted into an exhausted sleep.
Madelyn’s heart wrenched, and she lay and watched her daughter, unable to sleep. Just as dawn streaked the sky, her telephone jangled. Who could be calling at this hour? She checked the caller ID. Her mother.
She grabbed the handset, then slid from the bed, walked to the window and connected the call.
“Mom? What’s wrong? Are you all right?”
“Yes, honey, I’m fine. Have you seen the news?”
“No, why? What’s going on?”
“A big story aired about a doctor in Sanctuary who stole babies and sold them. His name was Dr. Emery. Isn’t that the doctor who delivered the twins?”
“Yes. Oh, my god. What else did the story say?”
“This lady named Nina Nash thought her baby died in that big, hospital fire eight years ago but discovered her child was alive. She hired these detectives at an agency called Guardian Angel Investigations there in Sanctuary. These men are all dedicated to finding missing children and they found her little girl.”
A cold chill swept up Madelyn’s spine. She glanced back at the bed where Sara was sleeping. Dear God.
Was it possible that Cissy could have survived?
CALEB WALKER ENTERED the offices of GAI, his neck knotted with nerves. He hadn’t liked the sound of his boss’s voice when he called. The urgency had him postponing his visit to the cemetery to visit his wife’s grave this morning, and that pissed him off. He’d wanted to go by first thing, to pay his respects, leave Mara’s flowers, talk to her and beg her forgiveness one more time….
Gage’s voice rose from his office, breaking into his thoughts, and Caleb forced himself to focus. There would be time for seeing Mara later. Time to drown his sorrows and guilt.
He climbed the steps to Gage’s office, his mind racing. Had another child gone missing?
Or was there another case related to Sanctuary Hospital? Ever since the news had broken about the recovery of Nina Nash’s daughter and Dr. Emery’s arrest for selling babies, the phones had gone crazy.
People from all over were demanding to know if their adoptions were legal. GAI had been plagued by crank calls, as well, two from distraught women whose accusations of baby kidnapping had turned out to be false. The women had been so desperate for a child they’d tried to use the illegal adoptions to claim one for themselves.
Caleb twisted the hand-carved arrowhead around his neck to calm himself as he knocked on his boss’s office door.
“Come in.”
Caleb opened the door and Gage stood.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Gage said without preamble. “We have a new client. One I’d like for you to handle.”
Caleb narrowed his eyes. “Why me?”
Gage’s eyes darkened. “You’ll know after you meet her and her five-year-old daughter, Sara. Sara insists she sees her twin in her nightmares, that her sister is in trouble.”
“I don’t understand,” Caleb said. “Sounds like a child having bad dreams, not a missing person case.”
“It gets even more interesting.” Gage flicked his gaze to the conference room across the hall. “The mother claims the twin died at birth, but Sara insists she’s alive.”
Damn. Gage requested him because of his so-called sixth sense. He wished to hell he’d never divulged that detail.
But Gage had caught him in a weak moment.
Gage motioned for him to follow. “Come on, they’re waiting.”
Caleb rolled his hands into fists, then forced himself to flex them again, struggling to control his emotions. Emotions had no place in business. And business was his life now.
The moment Caleb entered the conference room, he spotted the woman sitting in a wing chair cradling the little girl in her lap. Gage had purposely designed the room with cozy seating nooks to put clients at ease.
But nothing about this woman appeared to be at ease.
Her slender body radiated with tension, her eyes looked haunted, her expression wary.
Yet he was also struck by her startling beauty. Copper-colored hair draped her shoulders and flowed like silk around a heart-shaped face. Big, green eyes gazed at him as if she desperately needed a