He parked his car in the driveway, jumped out and trotted up the narrow walkway to the front door. He stepped inside and the silence hit him like a blow. Taking the stairs two at a time, his own footsteps echoed in the stillness like a heartbeat. He passed his own room, went straight to Casey’s and opened the door.
Her bed was empty and the first tendrils of uneasiness began to slip through his system. Turning fast, he crossed to his own room, thinking that maybe she’d come to her senses and had wanted to be in his bed—their bed. But she wasn’t there, either.
Across the hall from him was Mia’s room and her door stood open. No night-light was burning, though. There were no magical stars shining in the darkness to keep his baby girl company. There was only more silence. He walked across the threshold, and moved through the darkness to the crib, though he knew he’d find it empty. His heart fisted in his chest and the uneasiness quickened into a deeply felt fear like he’d never known before.
Casey had taken Mia and left. He glanced into the baby’s closet. Empty. As empty as the house. As empty as his soul.
“Where the hell did they go?” Fear and fury tangled together in the pit of his stomach as he answered his own question. “Dani’s.”
“Don’t tell him anything!”
Jackson looked past a sleepy Mike Sullivan to his wife, standing on the stairs, wearing a pink fluffy robe and a dangerous gleam in her eye. “Dani—”
“Haven’t you done enough?” She came down another step and glared at him. “Leave her alone.”
Mike moved to block Jackson’s view of his wife and planted one hand on the threshold, preventing him entry. “She’s not here,” he said.
Jackson had been so sure. So positive that Casey would turn to her best friend, he had no idea where to turn now. He looked at the other man and saw sympathy on his face. Jackson responded to it. “Tell me where she is.”
Mike shot a glance over his shoulder and winced. Lowering his voice, he looked back at Jackson and said, “I feel for you. I do. But Casey’s a friend. And if I want to keep living with my wife…”
“Just tell me if Casey’s okay.”
“Unhappy, but safe.”
Jackson’s heart felt like lead in his chest. He didn’t want her unhappy. He just wantedher. Shoving one hand through his hair, he turned around and looked at the quiet, suburban street. Houses were shut up tight, lights were few. Families were in those houses. Together. And Jackson felt more solitary in that one bleak moment than he ever had before.
“I don’t know where to look,” he murmured, more to himself than to the man behind him.
Lowering his voice, Mike offered, “You might try talking to your brother.”
Whipping his head around, Jackson stared at him. “Which one?”
“Adam.”
Turning, Jackson jumped off the porch and ran through the night to the car parked at the curb.
Twelve
“What thehell are you doing pounding on my door in the middle of the night?” Adam stood on the threshold, bare-chested, wearing pajama bottoms. His hair was sleep-ruffled and his eyes looked furious.
“Casey’s gone.” Jackson pushed past his brother, stalked across the foyer straight into Adam’s study. “I’ve got to find her and I don’t know where to look.” He wasn’t used to feeling panicked and he didn’t like it. Felt like he was beginning to unravel at the edges and there was nothing he could do about it. “I went to her friend Dani’s and her husband told me I should check with you.” Facing his older brother, Jackson said, “So? What do you know?”
“I know it’s the middle of the night and I’m tired.” Adam walked past him to the wet bar, poured himself a brandy and asked, “Do you want one?”
“No, I don’t want a damn drink. I want Casey.” He shoved both hands through his hair again and gave a good yank. “I’m wasting time just standing here. I should be looking for her. Butwhere? ”
Adam took a sip of brandy and leaned one elbow on the bar. Studying his brother he asked, “Wherever she is, maybe she doesn’t want to be found.”
“Too bad,” Jackson snapped. He felt as if he were hanging off the edge of the world, the only thing keeping him safe a quickly unraveling rope. “I’m not going to let her leave me. Just walk away like what we have is nothing.”
“Uh-huh. Why not?”
“What?” He shot his brother a hard look. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“Simple question. If you don’t love her, why do you want her?”
Jackson winced. “Did Casey talk to Gina?”
“You could say that,” Adam muttered darkly. “Gina’s been talking my ear off about nothing else since. She’s not real fond of you at the moment.”
Gina wasn’t Jackson’s problem. Casey was. “I asked her to marry me and she turned me down!” He shouted the words as if he’d been bottling them up for days.
“This surprises you?” Adam snorted a laugh.
Astonished, he said, “Hell yes. She’s pregnant withmy baby. We’ve already got a daughter. Sheshould marry me. It’s the only sensible solution.”
Adam shook his head, walked across the room and turned on a single standing lamp before sitting down. “God, you really are an idiot.”
“Excuse me?”
“Gina’s been calling you one for days and I’ve been defending you, but I can see now, I was wrong.”
“How am I the bad guy here?” Jackson asked, defending himself since it was clear as hell nobody else was going to do it. “I wanted to marry her.”
“Not because you love her.”
“What’s love got to do with anything?” Jackson prowled the dark room, shooting the occasional hot glare at his brother, so comfortable in his own house. “Love just complicates things. You get in so deep you don’t know which end’s up. Who the hell needs that?”
“Everybody,” Adam mused, taking a sip of his drink.
Jackson stopped and scrubbed both hands over his face.
“I wanted this to be simple. To live with Casey and our daughter. To be together. Happy.”
“How’s that workin’ for you?”
“Not well.”
“Tell you anything?”
“Yeah,” Jackson said, dropping into the closest chair.
“It tells me I’m in deep trouble here. Hell, I’ve been in deep trouble since the night Casey walked into the hotel bar and smiled at me. I knew it then. I’ve just been fighting it. Tonight just caps it. I walked into the house and she was gone and I felt like I died. Like there was no air in the world.”