Kidnapped by Dee Henderson

suspicious events occurring around Caroline last fall and what they suggested about the stalker’s behavior. How much of what was happening today was rooted in those days?
    He watched moonlight shadows drift across the wall. Mark might survive a fight, Sharon would try to negotiate an out, but Benjamin had no defenses. He was resourceful, not as likely to realize the extent of the personal danger he was in, but defenseless to the emotional hit if he saw someone hurt his mom. Luke closed his eyes at that image. He couldn’t even imagine where the three of them might be found.
    Just let it be something I can deal with, Lord. Even if it’s a snatch and a ransom—something for which there’s at least hope they will be found alive.
    Life already had a before and after quality to it. He would gladly trade his own life for any of theirs. His worst fear was that he wouldn’t have the chance.

Chapter Ten
    C aroline got up quietly after two hours, her sleep too filled with nightmarish images to close her eyes again. She pulled on sweats and heavy socks. Not wanting to wake Luke by going downstairs, she settled in the sitting room, which had once been her parents’ room, curling up on the rocking chair with a blanket across her lap to keep warm.
    Her attention drifted across the photos and the books, the display shelves with mementos from family trips. So many memories here . . .
    Unable to help herself, she reached for the photo album on the bottom shelf of the table beside the rocking chair and set it in her lap. The old album needed retaping to hold the spine together and saved programs and ribbons moved to a more secure box, but it was a project still waiting to be done. Her family had documented everything in photos, from the proud loss of a first tooth to the high school debate finals.
    Caroline opened the album and ran her finger across the photo of her dad. “I wish you were here.”
    She let the tears fall as she turned through pages of Sharon’s first wedding, the baby shower, and Benjamin’s birth. If these memories became her only connection to her sister, as the photos were the last links to her parents— She bit her lip to hold back a sob.
    O God, it hurts.
    With an unsteady hand she retrieved Benjamin’s birth announcement, remembering the hours she and Sharon had spent choosing the card and the words. Being Benjamin’s aunt was one of the best things that ever happened in her life. If he were her own son, she couldn’t love him more.
    â€œDo you remember New Year’s Eve?”
    She looked up, startled, and hurriedly wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
    Luke took a seat in the big chair beside her that her father had loved. “I wasn’t sleeping well either.”
    â€œWhat about New Year’s Eve?”
    â€œCramming into that photo booth because you wanted a photo of us together to remember the night?”
    She smiled. She’d forgotten, but it was obvious he hadn’t. “I like photos.”
    He reached over, closed the photo album, and gently took it from her. “Then don’t let these make you sad. They are good memories. Let them stay good.”
    â€œI don’t know what to do with the fear.”
    At this odd hour of the night, it was okay to admit it. And she loved him all the more when he didn’t tell her right now to trust God and stay brave and keep hoping.
    He just extended a foot and started her chair rocking gently. “Close your eyes for a bit. I’m here. The nightmares will stay at bay this time.”
    She had his undivided attention. They wouldn’t be interrupted, and under any other circumstances she would have sought to talk about their future and settle the disquiet that had been building over the last weeks. She had to tell him of her need to know if their relationship would develop into something much more serious or would it return to