Free KIDNAPPED, A Romantic Suspense Novel by Suzanne Ferrell

his head. “Do you need some help getting him dressed to go?”
    “No. I can manage it.”
    “Okay.” He laid the jacket on the corner of the bed. Striding down the hall, he left her alone to dress Nicky.
     
    Sami lifted the pale blue cambric shirt, gently pushing first one of Nicky’s arms then the other into the sleeves. Remembering the pair of khaki pants her nephew left the last time he went swimming at her apartment, she laid Nicky back against the pillows. She searched through her dresser, finding the pants in the bottom drawer. She had just slipped the jacket on Nicky when Jake returned. He thrust a piece of paper into his jeans pocket as he came into the room.
    “Here, let me carry him,” he said as she attempted to lift the listless boy.
    “What? No handcuffs? No ropes to bind me this time?”
    He flashed her a mischievous look. “Only if you want them.”
    Sami ignored him as she folded Nicky’s jeans. She thrust them into the duffel with the other clothes. She noted Jake had packed the bandage supplies, the last few packages of suture, more rubbing alcohol and peroxide, as well as the Tylenol. The man liked to be prepared. She added the thermometer.
    “Ready?” Watching her, he held Nicky’s limp body easily.
    “Yes.” She threw on her coat and started to follow him, then stopped. Running to her bedroom, she grabbed a quilt off the chair in the corner. She tucked it under her arm and snatched her purse on the way through the kitchen. Then she climbed into the Suburban’s passenger seat. Jake laid Nicky on her lap, so the little boy’s head rested on her shoulder. Sami tucked the quilt around him.
    Jake climbed into the driver’s side. He pushed the button for the garage door opener, then slowly pulled the big vehicle out into the late autumn day.
     
    The steel grey skies did indeed predict a snow front coming into the area. Sami hoped she wouldn’t get caught driving on icy roads on her way home.
    The rural scenery turned more urban as they headed into the city limits of Columbus. For the last twelve years she’d lived here attending college at Ohio State to get her nursing degree, then as a married wife and mother. The city had grown a lot in that time. Like a sprawling giant, it slowly engulfed the surrounding towns and suburbs, then outlying farms as even the suburbs burst at the seams with yuppies during the eighties and nineties.
    “Who did that jacket belong to, the one Nicky is wearing?” Jake’s question drew her out of her reverie.
    “Why do you ask?” A dull ache began around her heart. It had been years since she talked about Aimee with someone else.
    He glanced at her, then looked at the road ahead. “You seemed a little upset about finding it in the closet. I just thought you might want to talk about it.”
    “My brother bought the jacket for my daughter several years ago.”
    “You have a daughter?” Jake glanced at her. Surprise registered on his face.
    Sami bit her upper lip for a second. “Had. I had a daughter.”
    “Had?” He laid his hand on hers where it clutched the quilt tightly. “What happened to her?”
     
    “She died from pneumonia complicated by her leukemia four years ago.”
    “Oh, man. I’m sorry to hear that.” He squeezed her hand.
    Sami blinked at the tears that suddenly filled her eyes. In one two-minute conversation, this virtual stranger had given her more comfort and compassion than her ex-husband had managed in all the years during and after Aimee’s illness.
    “Where are you meeting your boss?” She needed to change the subject quickly, before she embarrassed herself by dissolving into a flood of self-pitying tears.
    Jake squeezed her hand once more, signaling he understood her desire not to continue the topic of Aimee. He lifted his hand, then stretched his arm over the back of the front seat. “We’re meeting my captain at the farmers market.”
    “There will be lots of people there on a Saturday afternoon,” she said as he