Look, forget it, okay? Forget Dad for now. Emily chewed on her fingernail and strove for casual. Sowhat was for lunch? Puke-colored Jell-O again?
Rachel took a deep breath, heart aching. Emily, honeyyou are like him. Just like him. In so many ways.
Emily blinked twice, slow as an owl, and Rachel couldnt blame her. Rachel often hadnt been willing to talk about Ben. Not a great parental decision, she could admit now. Yes, you look just like him. You know that. And since hes drop-dead beautiful, you are, too. So beautiful, Emily.
Emily looked stunned at the turn of the conversation, which made Rachel doubly glad shed had it. So She cleared her throat. You and Mel hired someone for us? You going to be okay with that?
Emilys glow faded and she stared at Rachels hand, which she gently clasped in her own smaller one, nails polished with chipped purple glitter and chewed to the quick. I wish you wouldnt worry about me so much.
Its a mom thing. Am I going to like her?
Oh, man, would you look at the time? Emily pulled her hand free and bounced up. Gotta go. Homework.
Nice avoidance technique. Who is she, Em, Attila the Hun?
Youre funny, Mom. You should write a comic strip.
Emily Anne, what are you up to?
Innocent eyes glanced back, solemn and full of intelligence. What makes you think Im up to something?
Intuition, Rachel said dryly.
Hey, Im just getting you where you want to be, Mom. Home.
CHAPTER THREE
DESPITE HIS desperate need to get to South Village immediately, it still took Ben nearly a week. Two days to get out of the jungle. Another two waiting for a seat on a small plane to get to an international airport. And then nearly two days more of connections and travel.
Finally, Ben landed in Los Angeles and nearly choked on the smog. It wasnt even noon and the temperature had already hit ninety-five degrees, a sweltering, shimmering heat that made the air so thick that breathing was optional, and unadvised.
Granted, hed suffered far worse, with much more humidity, for long months at a time. But somehow, spring in Southern California seemed more hell-like than anything he could remember.
Okay, so it was more than the weather. It was the fact hed come back to his inauspicious beginnings after all these years, a place he tried not to think about, much less visit. Hed left here at seventeen, scrawny, too poor to even pay attention, and sporting a broken heart. Hed done his damnedest to stay far, far away.
For the most part, hed managed, convincing Rachels sister Melanie to bring his daughter to wherever he happened to be. To further her education, hed said in his defense of dragging a young girl to all four corners of the earth. Dirty corners at that.
Melanie had bought the excuse. So apparently had Rachel, and Emily had been delighted with her annual travels with her father.
As a bonus, he hadnt had to face this place in a good long time. But he was here now, courtesy of his own terror over a madman who may or may not know about his daughter, about Rachel.
Ben had contacted the local authorities here in the States, and had been passed over to the Feds. Theyd been polite, helpful and dishearteningly doubtful that Asada would be stupid enough to show his face here in Southern California. After all, just the week before, hed been featured on the television show Americas Most Wanted. Unless Asada had a death wish, he was deep in hiding. Still, theyd promised to do drive-bys to surveil at Rachel and Emilys place. And theyd promised to take a look into Rachels accident, to see if maybe it hadnt been an accident at all.
A thought that made his blood run cold.
He had a meeting tonight with one of the FBI agents hed spoken to, Agent Brewer, and hopefully would learn something more. Something like theyd caught Asada.
Riding the airport escalator to the ground floor, Ben took a long, critical look at his own reflection in the mirrors that lined the walls. A grim stranger stared back. Hed have thought hed had enough grimness in his life, that he didnt need to borrow more, but just being back home seemed to have uncovered some vast store of it deep within him.
He hadnt told Emily about Asada. No way was he going to be the one to introduce her to the truth about the cold, cruel, dangerous world he lived in.
And Rachelwell, hed wait and see on that one. For all she knew, he was coming to help her. Though why on earth shed agreed to such a thing was beyond him. He figured desperation must have played a huge role, but for the life of him he couldnt imagine the only woman whod ever brought him to equal heights of ecstasy and depths of misery being that desperate.
Of course, he no longer knew her every thought and whim as he once had. Right now, she was injured, hurtinghe wouldnt put more stress on her shoulders by bringing up Asada.
Of course, he no longer knew her every thought and whim as he once had. Right now, she was injured, hurtinghe wouldnt put more stress on her shoulders by bringing up Asada.
No, Asada was his cross alone to bear.
He stepped outside, and the heat sapped his energy. Or maybe it was the reality of being here.
Your own fault.
With a sigh, Ben slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed toward the rental cars, resigned to his fate.
TO RACHEL, South Village was home sweet home. Beyond being the busiest and most energetic pedestrian neighborhood in California, South Village was her life. The casual elegance of the charming town was no faux city walk like Universal City, but authentic, steeped with the blend of history and early California legend that came from being one of the original mining towns in the late 1800s. Since then, the place had been subjected to face-lifts, decline, then more face-lifts, and was now enjoying an upswing.
In a few square miles one could eat at a restaurant owned by a famous celebrity, check out the best and latest in live theater, grab a drink from a sidewalk café, buy a present from a funky bookstore or an original boutique, or simply wander the streets drinking fancy iced coffees, taking in the sights.
But thats not why she loved it so much. Here she could surround herself with people. Here she could lose herself in the crowd. Here she could just be.
Here shed granted herself the luxury of learning a place inside out for the first time.
She lived on North Union Street, right in the heart of downtown. On her left sat One North Union, an old hotel remodeled into an array of art galleries. On her right stood what had once been the sheriffs office in the great Old West, and was now her neighbors house. On the other side of that was Tanner Market, nearly hidden from view on the street by a brick courtyard filled with flowers, fountains and wrought iron.
In her opinion, what made the block of beautiful buildings was her house. Thanks to the syndicated success of Gracie, shed purchased the old firehouse five years ago. The three-story brick structure had already been shined up, gutted and restored for modern use, but Rachel and Emily had customized it further, turning it into the home of their hearts. Every wall, every floor, every piece of furniture, had been lovingly agonized over and decided upon based on comfort.
This was her first real home-already shed lived here longer than anywhere else-and if she had her way, her last. She sat in the wheelchair she was determined not to need by the end of the day and looked around. Itd been nearly a week since shed been promised release from the hospital, and finally, finally, after more physical therapy, after long discussions with her doctor, here she was.
Already, amazingly, she could feel the improvement in her bones. Just being home did that, she mused sitting in the big, open living room that had once housed fire-fighters. A month and a half ago, shed stood in this very spot every single day, staring down at the street below, watching people stroll by, smiling, laughing, living. She loved it here, right smack in the middle of organized chaos. Here she was home. Safe. Just her and Emily.
Now, fresh from the hospital, with her head still spinning from her doctors orders to take it easy, she was waiting for the new nurse, telling herself shed be out from under the nurses care as soon as possible.
Here, Mom. Emily came up behind her and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders.
She hadnt even realized she was cold, but now she could feel her limbs shiver. Her brain still fooled her like that sometimes, and it disturbed her, this horrifying lack of control. But the bone-melting exhaustion frustrated her most of all. Her good hand trembled where it rested on her thigh. Her shoulders slumped, making her bad arm ache all the more, and shed only been sitting five minutes.
For a woman used to running five miles before breakfast, then working a full day, then chasing Emily around on a racquetball court, the lack of energy was demoralizing.
She felt used and abused. Washed up. And so discouraged she could hardly stand it. She wanted to jump up, wanted to run through her house, wanted to see each and every room shed made theirs. She wanted to go into her lovely studio upstairs and touch her easel, her colored pencils, fresh clean paper. She wanted to draw, paint, screamanything other than sit here helpless. Helpless made her feel like a child again.
As that child, shed had money, privilege, material thingseverything but stability, security and safety; the three Ss which meant so much to her. Her father had spent his entire adult life taking over troubled corporations and turning them around, gathering millions as he did. He gathered the money to himself in a way he never had his own family. Thered been no laughter, no shared family dinners, no affection and certainly no love in their household.
Melanie, the oldest by two years, had usually commanded the fleeting attention of their parents. Given Mels penchant for trouble, most of that attention had been negative. Still, shed thrived on their nomadic existence, making friends with ease-especially male friends.
Not Rachel. As the years passed, shed promised herself that someday, she was going to find her own home and never leave it. In her senior year, her father moved them to South Village, and by the time Rachel had graduated, it was time for her parents to move on.