The Daddy Gamble

by Debra Salonen

  It was nearly two o’clock in the afternoon when they got word that Ian was in custody. Maya was safe. Kate burst into tears after handing the phone to Grace. A cheer echoed through the house and neighborhood.

  Kate looked around for Rob, but he still wasn’t back. He’d phoned half a dozen times to check on her and had apologized profusely for his absence, explaining that he’d wound up going to his office after all and had been swamped with some sort of legal triage.

  She wandered from room to room, mostly trying to avoid conversations with extended family members who’d dropped by to see if they could help. She’d pleaded with Zeke to take her with him when he went to pick up Maya, but he’d been in Boulder City when the call came. Kate had agreed that the quickest way to get her daughter home was the best.

  She walked into the living room and found Liz curled up on the sofa. Her eyelids looked purplish. She appeared exhausted. “Hey, sis, are you okay?”

  Liz yawned and sat up. “Too many sleepless nights catching up with me. I think I’ll take a shower. Do you have a T-shirt or something I can borrow?”

  “Of course. My closet is your closet.” Kate held out a hand to help her stand.

  Liz popped lightly to her feet. She put on a pair of functional but, in Kate’s opinion, highly unattractive, clogs and started to leave. “Um, Liz, someone asked if I thought Ian’s illness might have played a factor in why he did this. What do you think?”

  “I have no idea. The couple of times I saw Ian he looked pretty sick. And weak. Frankly, I was shocked when I heard about this. It sounds like an act of desperation to me.”

  “Can Maya get it?”

  “Hep C?” Liz shook her head. “Not through casual contact. It’s not like a cold.”

  “Alex thinks Ian took Maya because he somehow found out about Rob and me. Do you think I was wrong to go to Mesquite with Rob?”

  Liz took a deep breath and let it out. “I’d never judge you, Kate. I don’t have the right.”

  Kate heard a quiver in her sister’s voice. She almost asked what the problem was, but Liz wasn’t one to share personal information—not with Kate, anyway. Alex might know what was going on with Liz, but Alex was at the Hippo at the moment.

  “When you saw him on Saturday, did he talk about the two of you getting back together?” Liz asked.

  “He mentioned it. I told him no way.”

  “Well, maybe that contributed to a sense of hopelessness. Perhaps he felt like had nothing to lose, and when opportunity arose….”

  Kate agreed. Ian was impulsive—spontaneous, he’d called it when they were married. What will happen now? Will he go back to jail? Or will he get a second…no, wait, a third chance to screw up my life?

  Rob sat down at his desk. He hadn’t planned to come into the office, but his secretary had called in a panic shortly after he’d left his mother at Romantique. Three of the senior partners were on their way to Vegas for a surprise visit.

  Or inquisition.

  The normally quiet, almost comatose office suddenly seemed to vibrate with a low hum. Desperation mixed with fear?

  Ever since Rob had taken over the leadership position at Ames, Beeker and Constantine, Las Vegas, he’d been quietly evaluating the lawyers working under him. He’d drawn conclusions—some favorable, some not so positive. What surprised him was how quickly and much he’d come to care for the people in this office.

  He unlocked his desk drawer and took out the two file folders he’d been studying yesterday before his mother suggested his and Kate’s spur-of-the-moment trip to Mesquite. Was that really just twenty-four hours ago?

  So much had changed. His feelings for Kate had jelled. He was in love. But new relationships were tricky. So many things could go wrong. And pivotal to his and Kate’s future was location. He needed to be here. Which meant he had to convince his bosses that he was in for the long haul and thoroughly committed to making this office a success. If that meant cutting someone who wasn’t pulling his or her own weight, then, damn it, that’s what he’d do.

  Eric? Or April? Those were his choices. Single father of three or sole provider and caregiver of a mother who was suffering from Alzheimer’s? Both were extremely capable lawyers, compassionate litigators and genuinely likable people, but neither seemed to have the time and energy required to do their best for their clients—or, from the partners’ point of view, the capacity to generate billable hours.

  “Damn.”

  To put off the “kill” a moment longer, he turned on his computer to check his e-mail. The first message he clicked on had an attachment. The short note explained that his father had sent photos of his honeymoon. “Five days in paradise is not enough, dammit,” Adam wrote. “Hope all is well there. Best to your mom.”

  Mom. Despite her insistence of the contrary, Rob knew his mother was worried about her health. So many tests. Nothing conclusive. A longtime smoker with a cough? It didn’t take a specialist to think lung cancer.

  He pushed the thought away.

  “Photos. Cool.”

  Attached were seven individual shots. He double-clicked on the one named cheers. jpeg. A colorful image of Adam and Haley in swimsuits snuggled together in a blue-and-white striped cabana on a sugar sand beach. They were toasting each other with drinks served in coconut shells. Corny but kinda fun.

  “You look happy, Dad. Really truly happy,” he said, clicking on the second icon.

  Most of the photos were of Haley. She really was gorgeous, and her bright personality seemed to emote through the image on his screen. The only shot of Adam alone showed him standing beside a five-foot-long fish that he’d apparently caught. Rob guessed that Haley had taken the picture because Adam was grinning in a way that said, “You’re the reason I’m here.”

  He closed the file, which his father had titled: Dreams come true. Rob frowned. Was his father’s dream to go deep-sea fishing? Marry his soul mate? Or become a successful author?

  Before he could click on the final shot, the phone rang. Kate? Had they found Maya? Please God…

  “Rob, this is Bart Gravenstein from The Bay And More Realty. I’ve got good news, buddy. I found a buyer for your condo. It’s a sweet deal. Cash. Only stipulation is the people want to move in ASAP. Is there anyway you can fly up here and sign the papers tomorrow or the next day?”

  His real-estate agent. The property was the last string tying Rob to the life he’d left behind. His safety net, of sorts. “Hi, Bart. Things are a little hectic at the moment. I’ll check my schedule and get back to you.”

  They talked a while longer. The throbbing in Rob’s head started to feel like a time bomb. He grabbed the phone to punch in the numbers to Kate’s cell phone but changed his mind at the last minute. She’d promised to call the moment she heard something about Maya. Instead, he tried Gregor’s number.

  “Hey, man, I was just thinking about you. I wanted to thank you for the job referral. My new job is great, and the company’s human resources department is so in touch with the way people’s lives really are, it’s amazing. I mean, it’s only like my fifth day and I called this morning and told them what was happening with Maya and how upset Gemilla was and they said, ‘Stay home with your little girl. We have job-share people who are set up to fill in at a moment’s notice.’ Can you believe it?”

  “Um…no. That is amazing.”

  “I agree, but the big boss has this philosophy that employees can’t give a hundred percent if half of their heart is somewhere else. Makes sense, doesn’t it? So, anyway, what can I do for you, buddy?”

  Rob looked at the folders on his desk and started to smile. “I think you might have just done it, but the reason I called was to ask your advice. I’d like to get Maya something as a coming-home present. Something that might cheer her up and maybe distract her a bit. Any suggestions?”

  Gregor left the phone for a minute to consult an “expert.” Gemilla.

  “A video would be nice. Or anything Nemo-ish, like a new fish for her aquarium. Persona
lly, I’ve been thinking about getting the kids a puppy. Our dog died last year and life was so screwy we didn’t even try to replace her. But, I decided to wait until Mary Ann gets home. Taking care of a new pup might be more than she can handle on top of everything else, you know. So, I wouldn’t go that route unless I cleared it with Kate, if I were you.”

  Rob thanked him for the advice then turned off his computer and made two more calls. Job-sharing? Why not? Instead of firing one of them, he gave them both the opportunity to work part-time. This would save the company one salary and keep two excellent lawyers on staff. And when they were ready, they could expand their hours.

  If the big bosses didn’t like his plan? Well, I can always turn down the offer on my condo and go home. Right?

  He wished.

  “They’ll be here in ten minutes,” Alex said, rushing into the kitchen, cellphone in hand. “Maya’s fine. She’s asking for her mother, but she’s not hurt or anything.”

  Kate managed to control her tears this time, but Grace pushed a tissue into her hand anyway. “She’s safe. I knew she would be.”

  “M…me, too. Deep down. But what if she’s been traumatized by this? She barely knows Ian, and Alex and Mom and I have stressed over and over about not getting into cars with strangers. She might think she did something wr…wrong.”

  Grace patted her back. “You’ll make her understand that this wasn’t her fault.”

  Kate wasn’t sure she was up to the task. “A part of me wants to pack a bag and leave, Grace. Start a new life somewhere where he can’t find us. If we disappeared, I’d never have to worry about this happening again.”

  “I know, Kate. I know. But running away isn’t the answer. I hate to say this. I know how you feel about Mom’s prophecy, but you really can’t avoid the past, sis. Ian is here. He’ll probably have to go back to jail after this, but he’ll be out eventually and you’ll have to face him again. If Maya doesn’t want to see him, it has to be her choice.”

  Kate couldn’t bring herself to agree, even though she recognized the truth in her sister’s words.

  “Let’s go freshen up. You look a little distraught.”

  I am distraught. My daughter has been missing for seven hours. And the man I think I’m in love with isn’t here.

  “Wait. I promised Rob I’d call.”

  When he didn’t answer his cell phone, she tried the office number. The receptionist answered. She put Kate through to Rob’s secretary. “I’m sorry. Mr. Brighten is in a meeting at the moment. Would you care to leave your number?”

  “Please tell him Kate called. Maya is on her way home.” Then she hung up. She wished he was here with her, but maybe this was for the best. Maya would need Kate’s full attention for some time to come.

  Rob kept the meeting short and sweet. He didn’t have time to answer a lot of questions, partly because he was winging this and partly because he was still waiting for Kate’s call. His secretary had been given strict orders to interrupt the meeting as soon as the call came from the Parlier compound.

  “Gentlemen, you have two choices: cut and run or hunker down for the duration. If you want to give up the inroads this office has made in the Las Vegas market, then the first is your obvious choice. A bad one, in my opinion, but that’s for you to decide. The second is going to require some creative thinking—some reaching into those parts of our brains that don’t get used much—the human side.”

  He tried to keep his tone light, but only a few faces actually showed any sign of getting his joke. He pushed on. “Before you is a very rough sketch of my plan. The figures are tentative, but the bottom line is: you’ll still make money off this branch. Not a lot to start out, but you won’t be in the red, either.”

  He checked his watch. Again. Why hasn’t Kate called?

  “Are we keeping you from something?” a deep voice asked.

  Rob looked across the conference table at Jordon Ames, his near-miss father-in-law. Haughty. Powerful. Unapproachable. That was how Rob had always viewed him. In the past, Rob had dreaded any contact with the man, at work or on a social basis. Now, he just didn’t care.

  “My friend’s daughter was abducted by her father this morning. Our office bungled the original custody hearing. In fact, one of the two lawyers up for dismissal handled the case. Rather poorly. But I take full responsibility for that since I assigned her to the case and didn’t follow through.”

  “Could we be sued?”

  “Possibly, but I arranged for new representation with a lawyer who specializes in family law, so I don’t think that will be a problem.”

  Serena’s father whispered something to his neighbor, then winked knowingly at Rob. Did the man know Rob was seeing Kate? Did the creep think Rob was dating Kate just to avoid being sued?

  He stood up. “Gentlemen, you have the information you need to decide on the fate of this office. The black-and-white information. But if you want to make informed decisions, I suggest you walk into the hallway and talk to the staff. When I first got here, they seemed to share a sense of floating at sea, adrift and unaccountable. Now, I think you’ll see they’re committed to being part of a whole. I’m sorry I can’t stick around, but I’ve got important personal business.”

  He couldn’t believe his brass. He’d never walked out of a meeting before in his life. He hurried to his office. His secretary wasn’t at her desk. A temp he didn’t recognize was in her place. “Where’s Jill?”

  “She wasn’t feeling well. Bad sushi she thinks.”

  Rob got a sick feeling low in his gut—and he hadn’t eaten since the doughnut he shared with Kate on the road. “Did I get any calls when I was in the meeting?”

  She looked down. “Um…yes. One. Someone named Kate said to tell you Maya was home. Does that make sense?”

  It did. But his not being available probably wouldn’t. Not to Kate.

  Chapter 14

  “Mommy.”

  Kate had never heard a sweeter, more welcome sound in her life. She was out the door the second the unmarked patrol car rolled into the cul-de-sac. She’d seen that car before. It belonged to Zeke, who had brought her mother home hours earlier then disappeared.

  Zeke’s partner, the stocky bodybuilder type who came to the swimming lessons with his baby, got out of the passenger seat and opened the rear door. A woman in street clothes stood up, first, then held out her hand to another passenger. Maya.

  Kate’s knees nearly gave out when she saw her daughter, but somehow she managed to pick her up. “Maya. Oh, baby, I’m so glad to see you. Are you okay?”

  Maya wrapped her arms tightly around Kate’s neck and buried her face against her shoulder. Her little body shuddered with sobs. Kate did her best to comfort her, rubbing her back until the weeping eased.

  “Where did your daddy take you, honey?”

  Maya’s thin arm lifted as she pointed. Kate realized the foolishness of her question. Four-year olds didn’t know directions or maps. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” Scarred for life?

  “They were in a café just finishing lunch when a uniformed officer approached them,” Zeke said, standing a few steps to one side. “According to the arresting officer, Grant didn’t offer any kind of resistance and Maya seemed fine, although she put up a bit of a squawk over going in the patrol car because her mother taught her not to get in a car with strangers.”

  Kate smiled through her tears. “She did, did she? I’m proud that you remembered, sweetheart.”

  Maya lifted her chin. “Daddy told me it was okay to go with those policemen. He said they’d take me home because he had other business to do and couldn’t take me to the zoo like he wanted.”

  “The zoo?”

  She nodded seriously. “This morning when we left he said we were going to go somewhere that he liked a lot when he was a little boy and he’d never gotten a chance to show me. The zoo. A really big one with lots of animals.” She started rattling off the many species.

  Kate looked at Zeke. “Which zoo?”

>   He shrugged and shook his head. “They were in Quartzsite. Make a right turn and you’re headed to San Diego.”

  Kate pictured a map in her head. “Or keep going straight and you’re in Mexico,” she said softly.

  Zeke nodded.

  The rest of the family, who’d waited till she’d had some time alone with her daughter, suddenly surged around them. Kate felt safe and loved, but there was one person missing. Rob. And she felt that, too.

  “Maya’s taking a nap. All tuckered out,” Yetta told him, when Rob finally reached the Parlier house after what seemed like a fool’s quest. He’d had to go to three pet stores before he found one with a decent selection of fish.

  Stupidly, he held up his purchase: four individual plastic Baggies filled with water. “I wanted to get her something,” he said.

  Yetta smiled. “She’ll be pleased.”

  He looked around. “Is Kate here?”

  “No. She and her lawyer were meeting with someone to discuss what to do about Ian. Zeke tried to explain it to me, but frankly, I was too upset to follow. I felt as though I failed them both, you know.”

  Rob did know. Too well.

  He made a gesture with one of the bags. “What should I do with these little fellows? The guy at the pet store said they shouldn’t stay in these bags too long.”

  Yetta motioned for him to follow her. She carefully opened a door and walked into a darkened room. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he spotted the artificial brightness of the tropical aquarium. And a few feet away was Maya’s bed with the little girl curled up beneath a frilly pink spread.

  His heart compressed from the pressure on his chest. She looked like a curly-haired angel. Defenseless and fragile. Anger surged from some primal spot deep inside him. If he could have gotten his hands around Ian’s throat…

  “Let go,” a voice whispered.

  Rob blinked. Yetta’s hands were covering his. The water in the clear bags was sloshing from side to side. He let out a long harsh breath.