Holiday Hideout Read Free

rest of her surroundings.
    “Ah, so you’re awake now?”
    The voice with the soft Irish accent made her start. The smell of chicken broth made her stomach rumble. Abby felt a surge of fear, but in light of the yellow curtains, cream-colored walls and the very pregnant woman staring down at her, she managed to swallow that fear and ask, “What happened? Where am I?”
    Bits and pieces of the past few days flitted through her mind. A woman helping her to the bathroom. A cool cloth placed on her forehead. Sipping some broth. A shot? Yes, she definitely remembered the shot.
    She looked at the woman in front of her and decided she looked familiar, but she wasn’t the one she’d seen in her dreams.
    Or was it all real?
    “I’m Fiona Whitley. You’re in my home in our small basement apartment. My mom and my brother, Cal, rescued you when you passed out at the bus station.”
    “Passed out!” Abby sat up and regretted the quick action when the room spun. Closing her eyes, she waited. When she opened them, things had settled, but she still felt as weak as a newborn. “When was that?”
    “On Tuesday. Today’s Friday. Your fever finally broke yesterday. You’ve had a nasty case of the flu and strep throat. Dr. Seabrook came by and gave you some fluids by IV. After that, you seemed to start improving hourly.”
    Abby remembered her self-diagnosis in the bus station. And with that memory came the vision of the man who’d been following her. “Oh, no,” she whispered.
    The pretty woman with the red curls and green eyes frowned. “What’s wrong?”
    Did she dare burden her? Abby looked around the cozy apartment and realized she couldn’t just blurt out she thought someone was following her.
    A person who had evil intentions toward her. “Has…um…anyone been looking for me? Asking about me?”
    “Not that I know of.” Fiona gave her a wry smile. “We live on a large ranch, not exactly a hub of excitement and information. Fortunately, we have all of the modern conveniences. Do you have someone you’d like me to call?”
    “No!” At Fiona’s start, Abby softened her tone. “No. No one.”
    “But surely someone’s missed you by now.” Fiona sat on the bed beside Abby. “We found your phone in your purse, but the battery’s missing.”
    “I took it out.” She remembered thinking that somehow her whereabouts could be traced through the phone’s location, so she’d pulled the battery out and sewn it and her driver’s license—and the flash drive—into the leg of a pair of her jeans. An extreme measure maybe, but she just wanted to disappear. She didn’t want to be Abby O’Sullivan for as long as it took to find a slice of peace and put her life back together.
    A guilty look flashed across Fiona’s face. “We went through your things trying to find out who you are.”
    “My things?” At first she was alarmed, then calmed. She hadn’t had very much. “That’s all right.” They wouldn’t have found her identification. A fact that was probably weighing on the pretty woman’s mind. Abby said, “I’m Abby. Abby…um…Harris.” She picked at the comforter as she gathered her strength. “Thanks so much for taking care of me.” Her eyes landed on the woman’s belly. “I sure hope you don’t get sick.”
    “Mom didn’t want me near you, either,” Fiona admitted with a small laugh. “She used to be a nurse and insisted on doing most of the caring for you. And Dylan came by a couple of times.” Fiona smiled. “So no worries, I’m fine and so is the little one.”
    Abby swung her legs to the side of the bed and realized she had on a pair of strange pajamas. “Where did these come from?”
    Fiona gave another light giggle. “They’re mine. I outgrew them quite a while ago—” she patted her distended belly with a loving hand “—but they looked like they might fit you.” She bit her lip. “I hope you don’t mind, but we couldn’t leave you in your clothes once your fever broke