Last Stop (Book 4: Peach Blossom Romantic Suspense)

I’m Savannah Douglas, and today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Everything matched my lifelong dreams for my wedding: a flowing gown, sparkling diamonds, and the perfect venue. But something feels off, and I'm beginning to think it might be more than just pre-wedding jitters.

As I walk down the aisle, I see my groom, Brandon, but his attention is on someone else – his ex, Elaine, who’s sobbing in the second row. Doubts that have been whispering in my mind now roar louder. Memories of my parents' turbulent marriage flood back, and I realize I can't go through with this. I turn and run, leaving behind a perfect wedding for a future I'm not sure about.

I find myself in a small town called Peach Blossom, where I hope to gather my thoughts. But before I can even catch my breath, a car crashes into my living room. The driver, a stranger, is dead on arrival, and a note addressed to me is found on the passenger seat along with a familiar blood-stained trinket.

Enter Ethan Smythe, the Assistant Regional Medical Examiner. Our paths cross in the aftermath of the crash, and an unexpected spark ignites between us. As we delve into the mystery, we uncover dark family secrets and a sinister plot that puts us both in danger.

Together, we must rely on each other and our faith to outsmart a desperate murderer. It’s a race against time, filled with twists and turns, as we dig deeper into the past and fight for our future.

Join us in Peach Blossom, where mystery unravels, sparks fly, and love emerges from the shadows. Get your copy of "Last Stop" and embark on this thrilling journey with us.

Savannah Douglas suppressed a frown while examining her reflection in the Bride’s Room mirror. Everything matched her lifelong dreams for her wedding. Just the right amount of dainty lace covered her flowing gown and long train. Her white stiletto shoes with pointy toes looked amazing when she walked. The diamonds on her necklace sparkled in the light.

She touched the tip of the pendant, a family heirloom that had witnessed generations of marriages. As if the gems-on-silver cross could impart ancestral wisdom, she questioned what about this day felt so off.

At her mother’s warm touch on her arm, she shook her head to realign her thoughts. The day was perfect, just as they’d planned it.

She smiled and reached for the veil Mom held above her braid-wrapped “chignon.” That’s what Brandon’s mother had called the bun that her overpriced hairdresser created at the back of Savannah’s head. Her soon-to-be mother-in-law was right that the hairstyle added an elegant detail. But the thought of Brandon’s opinionated mother sent a shiver across Savannah’s shoulders.

Mom secured the waist-length headpiece using the attached comb and faux pearl hair pins. Savannah adjusted her gown, the weight of the satin and lace suddenly feeling oppressive.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Concern radiated in Mom’s eyes.

Savannah lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Yeah. But – I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like I expected it to.”

Mom’s arms fell to her sides. “Oh.” With a deep breath, she held a hand against Savannah’s cheek. “Are you having second thoughts?”

Was she? A few weeks back, Mom had questioned if Brandon had cut her off from her friends. Savannah had denied it, but was she deluding herself by thinking she was too busy to spend time with anyone but Brandon? That’s what your father did to me, Mom had said. I should have listened to my intuition and never married him.

Savannah turned to search her mother’s eyes. “You once told me you got a sudden urge to run away when you were walking down the aisle to marry Dad. Why didn’t you?”

Mom blew out a long sigh. “He pretended to be a nice person back then. I can’t regret marrying him because I wouldn’t have you, the most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me. But – I’m sorry for what I let him put us through.” She sat in a padded chair by the door. “You deserve true love, Savannah, and I hope you’ve found it with Brandon.”

It was a statement, but her mother’s tone and the deep lines on her forehead made it seem more like a worrisome question.

Savannah wanted to sit in the chair beside her mom, but the dress – it was huge. “Brandon isn’t like Dad, right?” Subtle anxiety raised her heart rate and heightened the tone of her voice up half an octave. Images of her father’s rage-filled eyes flickered through her mind. She squeezed her eyes closed on the memory of moving every few months so he couldn’t find them.

Mom stood and placed a gentle hand on Savannah’s shoulder. “Let’s hope not and just focus on today. You’re starting your own journey now, and it’s different from mine.”

Was it?

Her gaze lingered on the love glistening in her mother’s eyes. “You’re right, Mom. It will be fine.” But would it?

“I wish you sounded more convinced.” Mom slid her hand back to Savannah’s face. “It won’t be too late to back out until you say the words, ‘I do.’ Even then, if things don’t go as you’d hoped, promise you won’t hang on as long as I did, thinking you can change him. You can’t.”

A gentle tap sounded on the door. The wedding planner inched it open, poking her head in with a perky smile. “It’s time.”

Savannah followed the woman to the church lobby and waited while the usher seated her mother in the front row.

A string quartet played the songs she’d spent hours selecting for her perfect wedding. Why hadn’t Brandon taken any interest in the music? Why does that only bother me now?

The stained-glass windows filled the room with golden streams of light. Everything was as she’d dreamed.

The music’s crescendo was her cue to take her first step toward Brandon at the front of the room. A sobbing woman in the second row stole Brandon’s attention. From the back, it looked like his ex, Elaine. What’s she doing here? I told Brandon I didn’t want her here on our special day.

Brandon still wasn’t looking at Savannah. His expression, focused on Elaine, appeared more compassionate than it should have been for someone who had crashed his wedding.

A different dimension seemed to swallow her, giving her a light-headed feeling and pushing Elaine’s sobs into the background. She took a second step, forcing a smile and focusing on her groom’s inattention. A chill crept up her spine. Her shoulders quivered. She forced herself to ignore the sweat pooling above her upper lip.

Memories assaulted her. Fists flying. The lamp her mother had shattered over Dad’s head. A midnight run through a foggy street, her mother’s hand clenching Savannah’s as they fled the terror that was their life.

Halfway down the aisle, the faces of friends and family blurred. Tunnel vision focused her gaze on Brandon’s uninterested eyes. Whispers of doubt became a deafening roar. Blood pounded in her ears and drowned out the music, Elaine’s sobs, and the murmurs of the guests. Her legs grew heavy, weighed down by the crushing fear that marrying would return her to the unpredictable life she and Mom had escaped.

She tried to convince her body to move forward. Mom and I saved my whole life so I could have the perfect June wedding. The flowers were perfect. Her dress was perfect. A pre-occupied groom was not.

Her gaze darted to Mom’s moist eyes and crinkled eyebrows. “I love you,” Mom mouthed.

The floor seemed to transform into sand, forcing her to a halt.

“Sorry. I can’t do this.”

Only then did Brandon swing his attention from Elaine to Savannah. His eyes held a displeased glare that didn’t come close to suggesting a wounded heart.

“Go,” Mom mouthed.

Savannah pivoted, retracing her steps. She heard someone running behind her, goading her into a sprint with her train draped over her arm. Gasps of surprise followed her, but Savannah didn’t care.

The heavy oak door slammed shut behind her, then opened and thudded again, muffling the sounds of confusion from the guests inside. She hesitated long enough to take in gulps of Oklahoma’s humid summer air while locating Brandon’s BMW. A moan escaped when she read the words “just married” on the back window. She hiked up her skirt and sprinted toward it.

The sweet scent of her bouquet of trumpet lilies mingled with the faint stench of gasoline, making her stomach churn. She breathed in quick puffs while finding Brandon’s sleek, black sedan parked at a haphazard angle near the church’s entrance. Savannah opened the driver’s door and threw her flowers into the passenger seat. She turned sideways and fell backward into the seat, pulling yards of fabric inside, stuffing it in, and pushing down silk and lace that had billowed around the steering wheel.

At the sound of a knock on the closed passenger window, Savannah looked up to see her mother’s flushed face peering at her. “Go get your car so he doesn’t accuse you of stealing this thing.”

Savannah pictured the ways she’d witnessed Brandon’s need for revenge in business, then gave her mom a clipped nod. Mom backed away from the car, giving Savannah room to speed off toward the house they shared.

* * *

She parked the BMW in the street, the hem of her train catching when she closed the door. She freed it, stumbled on her stilettos, and tripped over the dress. Picking up the train and the front of the blasted skirt, she wobbled toward the back of Brandon’s car, plucking her purse and purple suitcase from the trunk.

The question of going inside to change clothes seemed ludicrous. What if they’re on their way here already?

She wheeled her two weeks’ worth of new honeymoon clothes across the driveway to her ancient Taurus. After pulling her keys from her purse, she threw the suitcase into the back and tossed the purse onto the front passenger seat. She stuffed herself and her dress into the sweltering car with broken air conditioning.

Her stilettos too tall for driving, she threw them into the back and considered nothing but the fact that she needed to get away from Tulsa to breathe again. Where was irrelevant. As was wondering how long she’d stay away. She just needed to go. Details could come later.

Speeding toward the nearest freeway, she barely noticed that her veil fluttered out the open window.

* * *

It took an hour for Savannah’s heart to stop pounding and the fog to lift from her brain. She exited the freeway and stopped at a traffic light in a small town. The veil drifted down outside the open window. She pulled it off her head, destroying her two-hundred-dollar hairstyle.

Welcome to Peach Blossom, a sign read.

“Yeah, sure.” She scanned the quiet streets. The sight of a quaint town square comforted her – an open plaza made of red brick, replica gas streetlamps, and independent retailers lining the perimeter.

This enchanting place was where she would spend the night – she needed to figure out her next steps.

A sandwich shop on the far corner of the square reminded her she’d skipped breakfast and lunch. Her stomach rumbled, but she needed a change of clothes and some cash before she could stop for a meal.

Across from the town square was a bank with an ATM. The light turned green, beckoning Savannah through. She parked near a curb in front of the double-glass-door entrance, wedging her debit card in her fist while wrestling with her yards of fabric. The second she kicked open the car door and set her foot on the pavement, a man in a dark mask plowed into the door. He stumbled back a step, then grasped her door and leaned down to snarl at her.

“Are you insane, lady?”

She hadn’t seen him exit the bank. Fear clogged her throat, reducing her apologetic answer to a shake of her head.

“Freeze!” The authoritative voice came from the sidewalk to her left.

Savannah and the robber whipped around to see a tall man in a crisp beige uniform, complete with a cowboy hat and shiny black boots. The sun reflected off the badge above his breast pocket, and the ominous barrel of his gun caught her attention. The thug pulled Savannah from the car and captured her neck in the crook of his arm.

“I’ll break her neck if you come any closer.”

The pressure on her throat caused Savannah to choke.

“Let her go!”

“You think I’m afraid of you?” The thug adjusted his grip on Savannah’s neck when he spoke, giving her a chance to take in a breath.

She whimpered when he placed his hand against her head and applied an uncomfortable amount of pressure.

“Come any closer, and she’ll be dead before she hits the ground.”

The officer holstered his gun and held up his hands. She forced herself not to panic at the officer’s gesture of surrender. Surrender? As had been the case for so much of her life, Savannah was on her own to get out of this mess. Think, she told herself.

“Easy,” the cowardly officer said. “Nobody needs to get hurt here. Just let the girl go, and we can talk this out.”

Okay, so maybe the officer wasn’t a coward. He was just trying to subdue the guy.

Her captor scoffed, tightening his vice-like grip on Savannah’s throat. “I don’t think so.”

Savannah willed the officer to look into her eyes and hear the thoughts she sent him: I’m going to pretend to faint. His gaze snapped to hers. She gave a subtle nod before bringing her hand to her forehead.

“Oh.” She hoped that was dramatic enough.

When she allowed her body to go limp, the surprised bandit loosened his hold on her, allowing her to slump her weight across his arm. He lost his grip but managed to grab the train of her gown to keep her from scampering away.

The officer dashed forward and rammed his shoulder into the guy’s chest, tackling him onto his stomach, away from Savannah.

She lifted her skirt, swooped her train over her arm, and hightailed it behind a white column beside the ATM. Her knees betrayed her, forcing her to sink to the sidewalk, fabric billowing around her, her body quaking with shivers despite sweat rolling down her back.

The officer hauled the thug to his feet while reading him his rights. He pushed the greasy-haired man toward an SUV with the words Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department emblazoned on the side.

“You’re making a mistake, Deputy.”

“That so?”

“Your whole town will pay.”

The guy continued snarling threats even after the officer shut the door and turned back toward Savannah. She wasn’t sure what to do with her hands, so she settled for playing with one of the wavy strands of hair that had escaped her bun.

“You alright, ma’am?” The officer locked his vehicle and walked toward her. She didn’t like the amused twinkle in his eyes.

“Yes. Stunned, but okay.” She shifted her gaze to the pavement.

“That was some quick thinking back there. Where did you learn to do that?”

Savannah found a weak smile. “Saw it in a movie.”

The officer gestured toward her clothes. “Are you on your way to your wedding?”

She wilted against the column beside her. “More like I ran away from it.” She squeezed her eyes shut. Her mind was too frazzled to organize her thoughts. “Is there a hotel around here where I could sit and think about what to do next?”

He pointed east. “There’s only one motel in town. Two blocks that way. Can’t miss it. It’s next door to Moreno’s Plant Nursery. Do you think you can make it on your own?”

“I’ll be fine.” The last thing she wanted was a nosey deputy following her around.

“I’ll need you to stay here a few minutes to give me your statement.”

She nodded, but the world seemed to sag when she looked at her car. “My door is a little banged up.”

The officer tested it. “It still works.”

Thankful to have one piece of good news, she let a smile quirk her lips. It slid away when she looked up into a sunbeam and winced. The deputy moved to create shade for her, then listened while she told the story from her perspective. She signed the statement and stared up at him. “Will I be safe here?”

“Peach Blossom is a safe town. My prisoner isn’t from around here. He’ll cool off once he spends the rest of the weekend in jail. He won’t be able to appear before a judge until Monday.”

The deputy checked the surroundings. “Did you stop to use the ATM?”

“Yes.” She had forgotten about the debit card she held.

“I’ll stay while you do that, then you can go to the motel. How long will you be in town?” He held out a hand to help her up.

“Not long. Overnight. I think.” She stood on shaky legs, appreciating how he stayed vigilant while she withdrew the money, then turned back toward him. “I’ll go now. Thanks for your help.”

He rested his hands on her door while she stuffed yards of fabric into her car.

“Stay safe.” He had a kind, caring smile beneath sandy brown hair.

In the rearview mirror, she saw him watching and smiling until she turned the corner.