Max came to his feet and started pacing. “Patrick’s family?”
Ruby nodded. “Patrick’s family. I saw them, watching me in silence, and I knew. I opened the fence gate, and faced them. Some of them were angry, I could see it, and I knew that at least two of Patrick’s brothers had fought in the Pacific theater and might very well hate the Japanese. Hate me.”
Kellen felt her blood pressure rise as she pictured the scene. A peaceful working-class neighborhood, a white picket fence, a hostile family facing one lone Japanese-American woman.
“Mrs. Sullivan stepped forward, and she said, ‘Ye’re looking for Patrick, are ye, Ruby Morgade?’ I said yes, and she said, ‘Ye’ve come to the wrong place. He’s in the graveyard at the edge of town with a white cross planted at his head.’”
Kellen was aghast. “That was no way to tell you!”
“It was a test. I dropped to my knees and wept bitter tears.” Ruby’s voice choked.
Kellen teared up, too.
Verona sat with her hand over her heart.
“Aileen came to me, wrapped her arms around me, yelled at her sons to help me. I ended up on a lounge on the porch. The test was over, and they took me into their hearts.” Ruby sat quietly, gazing at a grave she’d seen long ago and far away. “Patrick had died in 1943, and why should anyone tell me?”
“The Sullivans should have told you!” Rae burned with outrage.
“He’d written them, said I no longer corresponded with him, and his heart was broken.”
“Your bastard of a father—” Rae said.
“Rae!” Verona said.
Rae subsided. “Well, he was,” she muttered.
Ruby fought a smile. “Yes, my father confiscated my letters, and Patrick’s. But Patrick also told his family he suspected foul play, and he feared for me and my fate. So the Sullivans were inclined to believe the best of me. They took me to Patrick’s grave, let me weep and place my flowers. They took me to their church and had another memorial service for him, so I could participate. When I told his mother about the baby—” Ruby developed a hitch in her voice “—she cried for me and wished we had that bit of Patrick in this world, and she prayed for the baby’s soul. I had never done that. I had cried, but never prayed. I had no surety of God or belief in another world. Turns out, I didn’t need it. Aileen Sullivan had enough for the two of us.” Ruby smiled with the remnants of lost hope. “All of her sons had gone to war. Patrick was the one who didn’t return. When I left, I had found a comfort of sorts, and a family. I corresponded with Mrs. Sullivan until her death in 1981. Then the Sullivans forgot me. As they should. That was a long time ago.”
That broke Rae’s heart, and Rae knew that Ruby, while putting on a brave face, was hurt, too. She hugged Ruby and looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry about your baby.”
“Thank you, darling girl.” Ruby pushed Rae’s bangs out of her eyes. “When you read about Patrick and Father and how I lost Aileen…it brought it all back. That’s good, to remember what the events of my life have been, the pains and the joys.” She looked up at Kellen, and her lips trembled as she smiled. “I look at you girls and think that Aileen would have grown up as brave and strong as you.”
“So none of it was true? The stuff my mom said? About you being a spy, and Patrick coming for you, and getting married on the ship, and the twins…?” Rae knew Kellen had made it up, but she clung to the happy ending she had demanded for Ruby.
“I’m afraid none of it is true.” Ruby allowed herself a dramatic pause. “Except for the part about being a spy.”
53
You know, it was funny. Afterward I thought Ruby’s words were like a hair dryer dropped into a full-of-water bathtub. We all jerked as if we’d been electrified.
The questions started, and everyone was asking.
“You were a spy?”
“You went to Japan?”
“You spied for the US?”
Ruby relaxed against her pillows and beamed at the fervor she’d caused, and for one moment, I caught a glimpse of the determined young woman she had been. “Yes. Yes. And yes. If you’ll recall, General Tempe did ask if I spoke Japanese.”
“He had a job for you.” Rae spread her arms wide. “Tell us everything.”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
Rae collapsed on the bed in despair.
Ruby laughed aloud and patted Rae’s ankle. “The information has been declassified, and I have a journal that I wrote about my adventures. When I’ve passed, the journal will be yours.”
That was all we could get out of her, and by that time, she was worn out.
We left her to rest, stayed overnight and returned to the attic the next day. Ruby filled in some of the gaps.
After Ruby’s father died and she had returned from her search for Patrick, she realized she couldn’t care for the house and the island, and she needed to sell them. But she’d been confined to her attic for so long, she wouldn’t, or couldn’t, leave. She found a buyer in Elia Di Luca and worked out an agreement that she could remain on the island in her attic for as long as she lived. “Of course,” she said with a smile, “I don’t think he believed I would live so long.”
Inevitably, servants became impossible to find. Hermione had left to get married and returned after her children were grown, to be Ruby’s dear friend and companion. The island caretakers were instructed to care for them. First Olof, then Jamie Conkle, provided them with meals and services.
And that was why I saw Jamie in the mansion. Even after we arrived, she continued to try to care for Ruby.
When Hermione died, her family gave Ruby permission to bury her in the Morgade family plot, and Ruby’s life went on as before, albeit lonelier. It was only when Olympia arrived that the system got fouled up.
“So the Di Lucas knew you were here?” Max asked.
Ruby hesitated. “Perhaps one or two of them. The older ones. I think, for the most part, I was forgotten.”
Max shot a look at Kellen that promised trouble for someone.
After Ruby finished her story, Max left to talk to the construction crew. They told him they had been speaking with Ruby. On her death, she wanted the house torn down and all trace of the past erased. She said the ghosts needed to be laid to rest…which made us wonder if Olympia had been crazy after all.
We flew out the next afternoon. Rae offered to leave Luna behind as Ruby’s companion and assistance dog, and Ruby gratefully accepted. She promised not to keep Luna too long; only as much time as it took Luna to heal from her injuries. Ruby said a girl and her dog should be together, and we left them resting on the bed.
After we were away from the island, I asked Rae what Ruby had whispered in her ear. Rae said, “She told me when I wanted to confront you with a grievance, I should do it without an audience, and she told me to think about how I’d feel if you yelled at me in front of my friends.”
Ruby made it so easy for Max and me to be parents to Rae.
The Di Luca family gave Isla Paraíso to the state of California to be used as a wildlife refuge and funded all future research conducted there by UC San Diego. I knew we wouldn’t be visiting again, yet Max, Rae and I would never forget our time there, the bad and the good, the horrors and the glories. There we had become a family.
Back at Yearning Sands Resort, Rae rejoined her friends, went to her camps, got a new phone, declared her life was complete, and on being told in September that Max and I were going to Italy on our honeymoon, threw a massive adolescent tantrum which ended with her being grounded from her friends, her camp and her phone.
As Max said, “I hardly feel like a grown-up. I’ve got this kid, and I don’t know the right way to parent.”
Me, too, sweetheart. Me, too.
“But we are going on our honeymoon!”
Most definitely.
Three weeks afte
r we left Isla Paraíso, Luna returned home with a package addressed to Rae. Rae opened it and cried.
Ruby’s journal was inside, and told of operations in the Philippines and Japan, dangerous operations that Ruby survived through guile, cleverness and luck. She had saved many US troops with the intelligence she provided.
We—the Di Luca family—remember and honor Ruby Morgade.
54
Washington’s Pacific Coast
Yearning Sands Resort
October of This Year
Kellen came out of the bathroom in her nightgown. She looked at Max, naked and sprawled on the bed pillows, doing his sexy beckoning smile. “Close your eyes and put out your hand,” she told him.
Max grinned—he obviously thought she had been swept away by his sexiness and they were galloping off on some fabulous bedtime adventure—and stuck out his hand.
She dropped the small plastic piece into his palm.
He opened his eyes, glanced at it, and dropped it on the sheets. “What is that?”
“Something I just peed on.”
He scowled at the plastic strip. “Peed on? But…” He wasn’t a stupid man. He knew what she was saying. “But…we never had unprotected sex.”
She started to speak, sighed and shook her head in disgust.
He admitted, “Once.”
She made the exasperated face at him.
“Only once!” he insisted.
“How many times does it take?”
His voice rose. “You’re pregnant?”
“Shh!” Rae was right down the corridor, and yes, sometimes she still had nightmares. “So it would appear.”
“Pregnant?” He kept getting louder. “You’re going to have a baby? We’re going to have a baby?”
Kellen gave up. “That’s what pregnant means.”
He stood on the bed, bounced on the mattress and crowed, “I am the most potent man in the world.”
She leaned against the wall, put her hand on her belly, and laughed at him. “You are such a tool.”
“A big, hard, long, potent tool!” Undeterred, he kept jumping.
“Is this as good as your very own F-100 to fix up?”
“Better!” He paused. “An F-100 would be a great Christmas present, though.” He leaped onto the floor and hugged her. “You’re healthy. I mean, you are healthy now, right? Your hand is healed, and your other hand is improving.”
“Because I play the piano every day.”
“God help us all, yes.”
She pinched him.
“Your brain is completely healed and normal, so you can carry a baby, right?”
“I’ll call the doctor in the morning, but yes. I’m fine.” She sighed. “I’m nauseated. That’s how I knew. I was nauseated with Rae, too. I didn’t understand then. But I recognize it now.”
“A baby. A baby.” She didn’t have a pregnant glow, but he did. “We’re going to have a baby together.”
His excitement began to percolate in her bloodstream. “We are!”
“With this baby, you can enjoy every queasy moment.” He was sincere.
“You make it sound so appealing.”
His smile became sadder, yet more eager. “To do this together, to bear the burdens of pregnancy and childbirth together… I’ll help you every step of the way.”
“I know you will.” She clutched his shoulders. He was so warm, so strong. So potent. “I trust you.”
“You’re happy?” It was more than a question. It was a concern, a need for reassurance.
“I’m happy.”
He kissed her. And kissed her. “From now on, everything is smooth sailing.”
* * *
Two hours later, Kellen woke with a start. Someone was standing over her in the dark. This time, she wasn’t afraid. She knew now who it was. “Rae?”
“Mommy…” Rae’s voice was only a breath.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart? A nightmare?”
“No…”
She sounded so miserable, Kellen came up on one elbow, and beside her, she felt Max tense. “Are you sick?”
“No,” Rae’s voice was barely a breath. “I think I’ve started my period.”
* * *
New York Times bestselling author
CHRISTINA DODD
Brings readers a nail-biting suspense
THE WRONG ALIBI
WRONG JOB
Eighteen-year-old Evelyn Jones lands a job in small town Alaska, working for a man in his isolated mountain home. But her bright hopes for the future are shattered when Donald White disappears, leaving her to face charges of theft, embezzlement — and a brutal double murder. Her protestations of innocence count for nothing. Convicted, she faces life in prison…until fate sends her on the run.
WRONG NAME
Evelyn’s escape leaves her scarred and in hiding, isolated from her family, working under an alias at a wilderness camp. Bent on vengeance, intent on recovering her life, she bides her time, patiently searching for the man who took everything from her.
WRONG ALIBI
At last, the day comes. Donald White has returned. Evelyn emerges from hiding–the fugitive becomes the hunter. But in her mind, she hears the whisper of other forces at work. Now Evelyn must untangle the threads of evidence before she’s once again found with blood on her hands…the blood of her own family…
Watch for THE WRONG ALIBI, coming August 2020,
from New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd
Photo credit: Marc von Borstel
CHRISTINA DODD
New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd writes “edge-of-the-seat suspense” (Iris Johansen) with “brilliantly etched characters, polished writing, and unexpected flashes of sharp humor that are pure Dodd” (Booklist). Her books have been called “scary, sexy, and smartly written" by Booklist, and much to her mother’s delight, Dodd was once a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle. With more than fifteen million copies of her books in print, Dodd’s fans know that when they pick one up they’ve found, as Karen Robards writes, “an absolute thrill ride of a book!” Enter Christina’s worlds and join her mailing list for humor, book news and entertainment (yes, she’s the proud author with the infamous three-armed cover) at christinadodd.com.
ISBN-13: 9781488085963
Strangers She Knows
Copyright © 2019 by Christina Dodd
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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