An Accidental Woman Read Free Page A

announced—a totally un practical thing to say, since he couldn’t take the girls with him and they couldn’t possibly stay here alone, but his words were driven by emotion, not logic.
    Mooney ignored him and kept on going.
    Pete became the practical one. “Not wise to do that right now.”
    Eyes on Heather, Micah watched her vanish into the back of a dark van, the vehicle farthest from the house. At the same time, two other men materialized from the woods and slid into the van.
    Micah began to run. “I want to go with her.”
    Pete ran alongside him. “They won’t let you. You’d be better going down later with Cassie. Let these guys go without a fuss now. Get them out of here before the sun’s up. There’s less of a spectacle that way.”
    Micah hadn’t begun to think beyond the moment. Looking now, he saw that the sky had indeed begun to brighten. Pete had a point. But when the deputy pulled at Micah’s arm and tried to steer him back to the cabin, Micah tugged free and ran on. He stopped at the closed door of the van, bent down, and flattened a hand on the window. His eyes met Heather’s just as Mooney started the engine, and short of running alongside until the van gained enough speed to leave him behind, he had no choice but to stay. Straightening, he stared at the head that was turned and looking back at him. He held that gaze until the van rounded a bend and disappeared down the forest drive.
    She was gone.
    Suddenly, he felt cold inside and out. Turning fast, he started back toward the house. Of the two cars he’d heard earlier, only Pete’s Lake Henry cruiser was left.
    â€œSome friend you are,” he muttered as he stormed past the deputy.
    â€œHell, Micah, what could we do?” Pete cried, following him. “They had the warrant for her arrest.”
    â€œYou could have said it was wrong. You could’ve said they made a mistake.”
    â€œWe did. But, Christ, they’re FBI. It was already a federal issue. What could we do?”
    â€œCall us. Warn us.”
    â€œHow would that’ve helped? Would you have run off, like you were guilty of something? This was the only way, Micah.”
    Micah took the front steps in twos, energized by anger.
    â€œLook at it this way,” Pete said. “They have to prove she is who they say. You think anyone here’s going to say she’s someone else? No way. So they’re going to have to dig up other people. That’ll take some time, don’t you think?”
    What Micah thought was that any amount of time he was separated from Heather was bad. He wanted her with him, and not just for the girls’ sake. He had come to depend on her gentleness, her sureness, and—yes—her practicality. He was a nuts-and-bolts guy who sometimes was so focused on the small details that he didn’t see the larger picture. Heather did. She was his helpmate when it came to being human. She was also his partner when it came to maple sugaring, and the season was about to start.
    But she wasn’t here. And he did need to see the larger picture. In this instance, that meant calling Cassie.
    Striding into the house, he shut the door before Pete could follow, then promptly forgot about Cassie. Missy stood in the middle of the living room looking crushed, and though there was no sign of Star, Micah was sure she was near. He looked around the living room, behind and under the sofa, the chairs, the large square coffee table that he had built at Heather’s direction, but it wasn’t until he looked behind him at the bookshelves flanking the front door that he spotted her. She was on the bottom shelf, tucked in beside a stack of National Geographic magazines that were a stark yellow against the pale green of her nightie. Her knees were drawn up and held close by her small arms. Her hair, dark like his but long, straight, and fine, lay over her shoulders like a shawl. Her eyes