Change of Heart

by Jude Deveraux

  It was a moment before he sat back down, and Chelsea saw that Abby and Scully were sitting in the backseat.

  Abby spoke first. “It was the ballet slippers. When I saw some really cute pink ones in the store, they made me remember where I saw you. You went over my fence, and both of you cleaned out the shed.”

  Eli and Chelsea were so stunned that they just looked between the seats at the two kids in silence.

  “Who are you?” Scully asked. “You don’t look like thieves.”

  Eli nodded toward the glove box and Chelsea opened it. She knew that his firearm was hidden at the top, but she didn’t think that’s what he wanted. Instead, she reached in and pulled out a leather case and handed it to Eli.

  He held up an FBI badge.

  Scully took it, examined it, then looked at Abby. “Told you so.” He looked back at Eli. “Is this about Orin Peterson?”

  “I can’t talk about a case. It’s—” Eli began.

  “It has to be!” Abby said vehemently. “You have to get rid of him, get him out of our house!”

  “What’s that slimeball doing in your house?” Chelsea asked.

  “Chelsea!” Eli said in warning. “You can’t—”

  “Yes, I can!” she said and looked at Abby. “Tell us what’s going on.”

  “He was in my room. He—”

  “He made a pass at you?” Chelsea asked in horror.

  “No,” Scully said. “He’s searching for something but we don’t know what. We covered for you on the shed, but he’s not interested in it. His wife died and—”

  “No, she didn’t,” Chelsea said with a glance at Eli. “I think you two should tell us from the beginning everything that’s happened.”

  Abby started to speak but Scully put his hand on her arm. “We want to know why you two stole everything that was in the shed.”

  “If you saw us there,” Eli said, “why didn’t you call the police?”

  Scully looked at Abby for a moment, then back at Eli. “We didn’t want to upset Abby’s mom. She’s afraid of what’s inside that shed. But we know there’s nothing of importance in those boxes.”

  “You two went through them?” Eli asked.

  “Every page,” Scully said with pride.

  “What does that man want from us?” Abby said, and there were tears in her eyes.

  “What does he say he wants?” Eli asked.

  “I think we need to go somewhere private so we can consolidate information,” Scully said, sounding like an adult.

  “There’s a restaurant—” Eli began.

  But Scully cut him off. “Take us back to Edilean.”

  “We’re strangers to you,” Chelsea said primly. “You can’t just ride off with us.”

  “I took photos of you two and sent them to Shamus. He says you’re okay, so let’s go.”

  Eli looked at Chelsea, his eyebrows raised.

  “Robin and Marian Les Jeunes the Next Generation seem to be alive and well,” she mumbled as Eli started the car.

  “We’ll go to my house, a place where Shamus has been,” Eli said.

  Scully nodded as he took Abby’s hand in his.

  Thirty minutes later they were all seated at the breakfast table at the house in Edilean, with lemonade and cookies before them. Abby, with Scully’s help, began telling her story.

  Two nights before, Orin Peterson had shown up at their house with a cheap suitcase—and he was crying. He said his beloved wife had just died and he had nowhere else to go. The next morning, after Grace left for work, Orin had asked Abby about the combination to the lock on the shed. He said he just wanted to make sure it was in a safe place.

  “That’s when I put everything together,” Abby said. She looked at Chelsea. “First horrible ol’ Orin showed up and asked about what’s in the shed. Then you did a ballet step over the fence, and you guys took everything.”

  “What did you tell him?” Eli asked.

  “Nothing at first. I said I had to go, then I called Scully.”

  “And he had a plan,” Chelsea said. “Eli was like that. Still is. He always has a plan.”

  “You?” Scully said in contempt. “I bet in high school you were on the football team. Or did you go in for basketball?” There was venom in his voice. “Do you even know how to turn on a computer?”

  “Scully!” Abby said.

  “I manage,” Eli said with a bit of a smile. “What did you do about Peterson?”

  “It was Scully’s idea to tell him that we’d taken everything out of the shed and put it in a neighbor’s big dumpster,” Abby said proudly.

  “How did he react?” Chelsea asked.

  Abby shrugged. “He was glad, I think, but I’m not sure. He’d spent the day searching. Everything in my room had been moved. Not a lot, but enough that I knew it was different. What does he want from us?”

  “And what do you two want?” Scully asked, his eyes narrowed at the adults.

  “Honestly,” Eli said, “we don’t know what the man is after. We don’t know anything about him for sure.”

  “Except that he steals money from Abby’s mom,” Scully said. “Have you ever seen a man do that?”

  “Yes,” Eli said. “When I was a kid, I had to watch my biological father come up with lie after lie to get my mother to give him money. He didn’t need it; he just wanted to win the game.”

  “Orin needs it,” Abby said. “He’s poor.” She looked at her hands.

  Scully spoke up. “Abby’s mom said they have to be nice because of what Abby’s dad did to him.”

  “He did not do that!” Abby said. “I’ll never believe it!”

  “I know,” Scully said softly, “but—”

  “I don’t think your dad did anything bad, either,” Chelsea said, “and I have some photos you should see.” She got her camera and quickly flipped through to the ones she’d taken of Orin and his healthy wife at their big house beside a lake.

  “This is his house?” Abby asked, sounding confused. “Who is that woman?”

  Now it was Chelsea and Eli’s turn to tell how everything had come about. Chelsea did most of the talking, starting with the overnight camping that she’d hated so much. “It was all dirt and mosquitoes,” she said, “but Eli wanted to do it, so of course I followed him. Here, I’ll show you.”

  Getting up, she got the box where she knew Eli kept photos of the two of them as kids. There was astonishment from the teenagers as they saw how pretty Chelsea was, and how thin and geeky Eli was.

  Throughout the story, Scully kept his eyes on Eli, watching him and seeming to be puzzled.

  When Chelsea finished her story, she showed Abby a photo she’d just received from her mother. “It’s a dress I wore when I was younger. My mother keeps everything. I thought it might fit you.”

  The dress in the picture was pale pink, floor length, strapless, and covered with thousands of tiny crystals. They were most dense at the waist, then gradually lessened top and bottom.

  “Wow,” Abby said. “That’s beautiful.”

  “My mom can send it if you’d like, and you can wear it to the dance.”

  “Could I?” Abby said in wonder. “But I don’t have shoes.”

  “I have some Manolos that might fit you.”

  “Oh.” Abby seemed to be incapable of speech.

  “Let’s go upstairs and see what we can find,” Chelsea said.

  Eli stood up. “Want to see my new game?” he asked Scully. They went into the living room and turned on the TV. In seconds, the game box was on. They sat side by side, their hands filled with the controllers.

  “How did you get the new Trafalgar Warriors game?” Scully asked. “No! Don’t go that way. There’s always a trap there.”

  “I know,” Eli said. “It was too predictable so I changed it. Go left, but avoid tha
t rock. I put snakes under it.”

  “You . . .” Scully looked at Eli. “You wrote this game?”

  “I had to do something. The government pays me nothing, and how was I going to win Chelsea back if I was broke? Leap over that open pit.”

  Scully agilely moved the controls to miss the demon that jumped out of the hole. “Win her back from what?”

  “From all the catastrophes that that damned beauty of hers causes. You ever wish Abby was born ugly?”

  “All the time,” Scully said. “But you look like her.”

  Eli shrugged. “I grew taller and put on some muscle. How tall is your dad?”

  “Six-two and my mom was five-ten.”

  “Then the odds are that in a couple of years you’ll shoot up.”

  “But what do I do now?” There was such vehemence in his voice that he missed a pitfall and his warrior fell dead. He put down the controller. “Abby likes some dumb jock named Baze. He’s only asking her out because she’s so pretty and he wants to make his ex-girlfriend, Ashley, jealous. As soon as they get back together, he’ll dump Abby.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” Eli said. “Then you’ll have to listen to her heartbreak. Wait until you see pictures online where she’s laughing with some guy who’s not as smart as his horse.”

  Scully’s eyes were wide. He’d never before met someone who truly understood his problems. “If all this about Peterson comes out, I’m afraid Abby’s mom will move. I heard her say she’s always wanted to see California. Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Because I’m seeing my past in your future. You ever wonder how you could do things differently?”

  “Abby says I never asked her to the dance, but—”

  “She would have laughed at you and not believed you were serious,” Eli said. “I know that too well. I have an idea. What if you went to the prom on your own? With someone other than Abby?”

  “I don’t want to go with anyone else,” Scully said.

  Eli picked up his phone and flipped through the photos to stop at a picture of his two cousins Lainey and Paige. They were very pretty young women, wearing thin summer dresses, their long hair blown by the breeze.

  “They’re . . .” Scully said.

  “Right. They are. Tall, beautiful, smart, talented. How about if I get them to fly down here and go as your date?”

  “Both of them?”

  “Sure. Why not? Actually, I think they should come sooner and spend some time teaching you a few dances.”

  “I can’t dance.”

  “Of course you can’t. At your age, I couldn’t either, but I learned. How does all this sound to you?”

  “Great, but I need to help Abby. That man—”

  “Chelsea and I will figure out Abby’s problems. Besides, it might do her some good to be told that you’re doing something she doesn’t know about. As for her moving, what’s your dad like? He’s a widower, right?”

  “Yeah. My mom died when I was four and it’s been just Dad and me. He likes Abby’s mother a lot, but she won’t go out with him. Abby says she feels guilty over what she thinks her husband did.”

  “Embezzled funds? Bankrupted a big company? Put Peterson and his sick wife on the poverty line?”

  “Yeah,” Scully said. “All of that. Abby’s tried to get her mother to go to Richmond to see that the furniture store is still thriving, but she won’t do it.”

  “Both stores are doing well,” Eli said. “And no matter what Peterson says, he still owns them.” The sound of the laughter of the two females as they came downstairs made them stop talking.

  “What are you two up to?” Chelsea asked.

  “We were looking at the polo scores,” Eli answered.

  “Did Rodrigo win as usual?” Chelsea was smiling. “I think we should take these guys home. You and I have some things to do.”

  “Can you take me to my dad’s store?” Scully asked Eli. “I’d like for him to meet you.”

  “In that case, Abby and I need to do some shopping,” Chelsea said. “Just let me get some things and . . .” She gave Eli a look, then turned back to the teenagers. “Make yourselves at home. Kitchen is there, bathroom is to the left.”

  Seconds later, Chelsea and Eli were in the bedroom. “What did you find out?” Chelsea asked as she went to the bathroom to repair her makeup.

  “The kid is heartbroken about Abby going out with another guy. I know how he feels. You in that pink dress with Axel. I saw him a few years ago. He has a beer belly and he’s behind on his child support.”

  Chelsea glared at him in the mirror. “Could you stop with the guilt? I’m here now and if we ever get any time alone, I’m going to rip your clothes off. Isn’t that enough for you?”

  Eli gave a one-sided smile. “How about a quickie up against a wall?”

  Chelsea halted with the lipstick tube in her hand as she considered, but then applied it. “Tempting, but we can’t. Kids have no sense of time or privacy. Besides, I’m beginning to think all this is serious. Abby is afraid of Peterson. What have you heard from your dad?”

  “Just that nothing has been found out. But I don’t think Peterson would go to Grace if she didn’t have something he wanted. We just need to figure out what it is.”

  Chelsea stepped back into the bedroom. “You don’t think there’s more than money involved in this, do you?”

  Eli knew what she meant. He lowered his voice. “That maybe Abby’s father didn’t commit suicide? That maybe Peterson had a hand in his death? Yeah, I do. And I worry about Abby and Grace. I have Mike Newcomb looking into it.”

  “Who is he?”

  Quickly, Eli told her of his conversation with his mother.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “I would have, but you were in the kitchen wearing my underwear and flirting with Lanny.”

  “And I got a lot of information about Grace from him and his brother. You’d be amazed at what long, naked legs can accomplish.”

  “The same with shirtless men and women,” Eli shot back at her.

  For a moment they looked at each other, their eyes angry, but they soon turned to hot. Eli grabbed Chelsea’s arm and spun her around so her back was to the wall. His mouth was on hers before she hit.

  His tongue searched her mouth, his hands slid down to her round bottom, and he lifted her up. Her leg came up around his hip. As his kiss went deeper, he lifted her so both her long, slim legs were around his waist.

  Her hands slipped under his shirt, running over the muscles, feeling the strength of him, the very maleness of him.

  There was a knock on the bedroom door but they ignored it.

  Eli’s hand went to Chelsea’s breast.

  The knock came again, followed by a turning of the doorknob. If Eli hadn’t locked the door, it would have opened.

  “Hey!” Abby said from the other side of the door. “My mom just texted me that she’s on her way home. I don’t want her there alone with that man, so could we go?”

  Reluctantly, Eli removed his mouth from Chelsea’s skin. “Be there in a minute.” He set her to the floor and looked at her. His eyes were still fiery, but also full of regret. He stepped away from her. “You go. I’ll be out there when I’m presentable.”

  She glanced downward. He wasn’t in any condition to be seen. “I’ll take Abby home, then I’ll come back here. No. Actually, I have to talk to Pilar, but you and I will have dinner together and—”

  “I can’t. Jeff wants us to go out with him and Melissa. I think he wants to tell me that he’s going to quit working for me. He—”

  Again, Abby knocked on the door.

  With a sigh, Chelsea opened it.

  “What happened to your lipstick?” Abby asked.

  “It was kissed away.” Chelsea stepped into the hall, closing the door
behind her. “You ready to go?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Abby said. When she passed Scully, she gave a lift to her eyebrows and followed Chelsea to the front door. The two women left the house.

  A few minutes later, Eli entered the living room.

  Scully was holding a copy of the second Trafalgar game, the one that wasn’t on the stands yet. “Can I . . . ?”

  “Sure, take it,” Eli said and they went to the car.

  Once they were inside, Scully said, “So how did you get her? What did you do?”

  “If you mean Chelsea, she isn’t mine. She keeps telling me she’s going to leave.”

  “To do what?”

  “I don’t know. Travel around the world, I guess. Again.”

  “I like to do things and Abby does too, but right now she’s so dazzled by her football player that she can’t remember that.”

  “I know Chelsea is enjoying the adventure of trying to find out the truth about Peterson. But when that’s done, what will she do while I’m at work?”

  “Help other people?” Scully suggested.

  Eli glanced at the boy. “You have a brain, don’t you?”

  “Right now I’d trade it for your pecs and abs,” Scully said.

  Eli laughed. “I should introduce you to my cousin Raine. When we were kids he called me Toothpick.”

  “I hate bullies.”

  “Raine isn’t one. I called him Stump, as in tree stump. Actually, he was the best trainer in the gym. Listen, I don’t write these games alone. There’s an entire team that handles them. Maybe you’d like to have some input on the third game. Any interest?”

  Scully was staring at Eli in openmouthed astonishment.

  “I take it that means yes?”

  “My dad owns—”

  “I know,” Eli said. “He runs the local computer store and he’s a good programmer. You spend a lot of time in the back of the store with him. You’re better with software, while he takes on the hardware problems.”

  “If you know so much about us, why did you ask me?”