Unbreak My Heart (Strawberry Inn Book #4)

Chapter 24

ELIZABETH

Dalton drove me home from the elementary school with Katie in the backseat. It was a somber drive home without Eva in the car with us. During the short drive, I kept looking in the backseat, expecting to see her, but she wasn’t there. The pain of being in my apartment without her was unbearable, so I just kept my hand in Dalton’s and didn’t fuss when he walked up to his apartment. Katie wasn’t doing much better. She was carrying so much guilt and I wanted to tell her that it was okay, but I also didn’t want to lie.

I’m not sure what my dad said to Eva to convince her to keep their meetings a secret. I had done my due diligence her entire life about stranger danger. We had plans in place if she ever was separated from me in public. She knew my phone number and our new address, it was the first thing we did when we moved. I couldn’t remember if she even knew my dad’s name or what he looked like. He was in prison her entire life and I hated talking about him. My mother never wanted to be Eva’s grandmother, so she had only ever seen her a handful of times. It had just been the two of us for the last five years or so.

Maybe he had a picture of us together or was able to tell her about my mother. There had to be something personal that he told her to get her attention and believe his story. Once she was back and we dealt with the trauma of this event we were going to go back to the basics to make sure she never kept a secret like this from me again.

“Do you need anything?” Dalton gently put his arm around my waist and kissed the side of my head.

I shook my head and started crying again, “The only thing I need is the one thing you can’t give to me, Dalton.”

“I know, baby. If I could, you know I would.”

“Daddy,” Katie said in her meek voice, “Can I go watch a movie?”

“Yeah, sweet girl, you can do that.” Dalton and Katie disappeared down the hallway while he set up the tv in her room for a movie. I moved from the foyer to the living room area, taking a seat on the couch. I grabbed the blue plaid blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped myself in it. The events of the last few hours had taken such an emotional toll that once I found a comfortable place, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

“We’re on our way.” I heard Dalton’s voice and once the words he said permeated my groggy brain, I shot to my feet. Dalton was just hanging up the phone and he quickly pulled me in for a hug against his chest. “They found him, Liz. The police are getting ready to enter his room at the motel.”

“And Eva?” I begged for more information.

Dalton shook his head, “They don’t know for sure, but Nathan said they had reason to believe she was in the room with him. They don’t have eyes on them and they aren’t moving in until we get there, so let’s go.”

I looked over my shoulder and down the hallway, “What about Katie?”

Hayes is on his way over, he should be in the parking lot right now. Grab your coat and let’s go get our girl.”

Our girl…the way he has kept saying that with such ease did something to my heart that was unexpected. Dalton had me swooning for him from almost day one, but when he referred to Eva as his, it was just another level of swooning that I didn’t know existed. Dalton was genuine, something that had been missing in all my past relationships. Even with the sorrow of Eva’s disappearance taking place front and center in my brain, I realized that I loved Dalton more than I ever thought I could love a man.    

While I was getting my coat on, Dalton went down the hall and told Katie that we were leaving. There was a knock at the door and when I answered it Hayes walked into the apartment, “Hi, Ms. Elizabeth.”