His Lee. Let’s hope she’ll be mine, Rogan thought as he ended the call.
Through the open door across the hallway, he caught sight of the bed he and Lee had slept in on Monday night. The night she’d curled into him as if she were seeking shelter.
Oh, yeah, hope was all he had.
Hope shrouded in fear that he might be too late.
Friday morning Lee stood in the entranceway of her childhood home. The last few days with her mother made her realize how much she loved this old, drafty house with its cabbage rose welcome mat and its wooden bar of coat hooks on the wall. However, it was time to leave, time to return to her apartment and her life.
An hour ago, she’d been to the Burnt Bend Medical Clinic. Both she and the baby were healthy and stable, and as long as Lee didn’t lift objects over five pounds the pregnancy should stay on course. The doctor had given her permission to fly until her third trimester, at which time she would need to stay grounded and find some alternatives concerning Sky Dash.
The doctor’s warning hadn’t dampened her hopes. Already, the alternatives were in motion. Throughout the past three days, while convalescing on her mother’s couch, Lee had been busy making phone calls. By the first of June—in four weeks—Sky Dash would belong to a Bremerton buyer, and she’d hang up her wings.
“I can’t believe you’re going through with this sale,” Charmaine said, watching Lee shrug into her coat. “Flying has been your dream since you were ten years old.”
“Dreams are for fairy tales. Being married to Stuart told me that years ago.”
“Don’t judge everyone according to him, honey.”
Meaning Rogan. Lee hugged Charmaine and it felt good. “Thanks for looking after me, Mom. I’m glad we had these few days.”
The older woman touched Lee’s cheek. “Consider my offer to babysit—before you sign any papers, okay? It’s time I put away my scissors at the hair salon anyway.”
Lee smiled. “You’re too young to retire. Besides, I’ve got more than one plan in the works.” She had given a lot of thought to this new venture in her life. She had no idea where it would lead, only that it was the right thing to do for the baby.
Yes, she would miss Sky Dash. Terribly so. She’d miss touching the clouds, and seeing the sun glint off her wingtips. She would miss the sensation of reaching the top of the world, of…soaring. What she hadn’t told her mother yet was that once the sale money transferred into her account, she planned to open an antique shop. And she’d begin by selling her father’s teapot.
A vehicle sounded outside. Lee peered through the gauzy curtain covering the narrow side window. “What on earth would Lucien Duvall be wanting with you?” As the man climbed from his ancient pickup, she headed outside. “Hey, Lucien.”
“Lee.” A nod to the woman on the stoop. “Charmaine.”
“Lucien,” her mother said pleasantly. “To what do we owe this visit?”
“Came to see Lee.” He slid a large box from the truck seat. “Thought you might want to show the…the tyke this one day. It’s an album Oliver’s mother put together when he was a babe.”
She took the box from his bear-paw hands with their jagged fingernails. Hands of a hard-working man. Hands Oliver had inherited, and whose DNA may be forming tiny fingers and palms this instant. Lee’s eyes stung. “Thank you, Lucien.”
Charmaine walked forward. “That was a nice thing to do, Lu.” She touched the box, looked up at the man gazing down at her. Lee caught the exchange and felt something arc between them. An old history.
Suddenly, his smile changed his features. “Guess we’re gonna be related, after all, huh, Char?”
“Yeah,” she said reciprocating his delight. “Who woulda thought?”
“Well,” he said, nodding to Lee. “Take care.”
“You, too.”
They watched him return to his truck. With a lift of his fingers, he backed from the lane and drove away.
“What was that about?” Lee asked, as her mother stared down the road.
“A long time ago he wanted to marry me.”
“What?” Lee’s jaw fell. “But he’s been…” Such an ogre and grumpy old man.
“I know what he’s been, Lee. He wasn’t always. Once he was very sweet, a gentle giant.”
Lee studied her mother. “He loved you.”
“Yes. And I treated him very badly. All a long time ago, of course. But this is a small island and memories don’t fade well here.” She exhaled heavily. “I was in love with someone else.”
“Steven Tait?”
In the morning sunlight, Charmaine’s eyes were a crystal blue. She touched Lee’s hair. “It’s so bright, just like his.”
“Like yours, you mean.” Her father had light brown hair. At least he did in the few photos Lee had viewed from the collection Charmaine kept in the shoebox stored in her closet. Suddenly, Lee narrowed her eyes. “Is Lucien Kat’s father?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? God, I’m sorry.” Lee looked away. “That came out wrong, Mom.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Charmaine’s lips curved. “Will you see Rogan today? He called this morning, you know.”
“Here?” Lee’s heart leaped. He hadn’t forgotten her. He hadn’t written her off. And then another thought invaded. It had taken three days for him to call.
“You were at the clinic,” Charmaine said. “He’s very worried.”
She had no comeback, except to say, “Why didn’t you tell me when I got home?”
“You were here barely ten minutes before Lucien showed up.”
Lee hugged the album to her chest. She wasn’t quite ready to get in her Jeep. “What did Rogan want?”
“To talk to you.”
“Did you tell him I’m fine?”
“I told him you’d see him when you got to your apartment. He’s at his office,” Charmaine added.
Lee closed her eyes, recalling the last moment at the farmhouse. Worried whether I’ll still marry you? he’d asked in that deep, quiet voice, and she’d wanted to shout, Yes!
But she was afraid—even now, even though she knew their relationship ended when she walked off that porch.
“I can’t see him,” she told Charmaine.
“Honey—”
“Mom, don’t interfere. Please.”
“All right.” Charmaine folded her arms. “But I will say this. Long ago I made a choice and my life took a different turn. One that was harder than I ever expected.” She gripped Lee’s hand. “Don’t do what I did, Lee. Make your choice from here.” She pressed a hand to her breastbone. “Your heart knows best. Always.” With that, her mother walked back into the house.
A slight wind rustled the evergreens and oaks bordering the driveway. Lee remained where she stood. She carried another man’s child, but loved a man whose past would haunt her forever. And she adored his child.
Don’t do what I did.
Charmaine’s words spurred her forward. The last thing she wanted was to follow her mother’s footsteps.
Chapter Thirteen
L ee checked her e-mail on the Sky Dash Web site the moment she returned to her apartment. While at her mother’s place, she’d reviewed upcoming flight inquiries from her laptop and scheduled three honeymoon tours for Memorial Day weekend. Today’s inquiries presented two bookings for June and four in July.
She was typing a reply to the last when a knock sounded.
Rogan stood on the other side of the peephole.
Her heart fluttered. He’s here.
Swinging the door open, she took in his impeccable pearl-gray shirt and dark tie, his trimmed black hair, those compelling gray eyes—Her breath staggered.
“Hey.” The mouth she’d kissed a hundred times last Monday night towed into a crooked smile. “I saw your car out back…”
Muscles limp, heart defenseless, she drank him in. “I came home an hour ago.”
“You went to the clinic this morning.”
His eyes brimm
ed with questions, and so she offered the only answer she could, the one he deserved. “We’re both fine.”
Relief had him exhaling slowly. “That’s good, Lee. Real good to hear.”
Still, she made no move to invite him in. What could she say that she hadn’t already told him, that they hadn’t discussed?
Five enormously long seconds passed before he stepped forward and tugged her to him, and she pressed her face against his shirt, drawing in his scent, one she’d recognize blindfolded.
“This week’s been hell,” he murmured into her hair. “I didn’t sleep, I thought about you all the time. I dialed your number a million times, then disconnected at the last second….”
Oh, God. Me, too, me, too. Her arms slid around his waist, her nose stung when his kisses rained her temple.
“Lee, please. Let’s—”
She stepped from the warmth of his body. She needed distance to say what she had rehearsed since she made her decision. “Rogan, our pasts are too intertwined, too volatile. Your wife and daughter…You’ll never look at me without thinking of them.” She shook her head, held up a hand when he wanted to interrupt. “I’ve given this a lot of thought.” And more often than not cried herself to sleep in the process. “It won’t work,” she said.
“I’m dropping the suit against Abner.”
Surprise caught her. “What on earth for?”
“I won’t lose you over it.”
“No.” She moved farther away, gripped the door with both hands. “Don’t do this. You deserve compensation. I wish—”
“You were never at fault.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
She started to close the door, but he laid a palm against the wood. “I need to know, Lee. Are you selling Sky Dash?”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“As you once said, it’s a small island. Are you selling so Hershel can’t take the plane from you in a resettlement?”
“I don’t give a damn about my ex. I’m selling so I can buy a business that lets me stay home with my baby.” A little antique shop Charmaine could manage during Lee’s maternity leave. A shop housing a nursery in the back room while she worked. “Besides, it’s a done deal.” She looked askance, unwilling to meet his gaze. “I’m meeting the buyer Monday.”
There was a moment’s interlude. “A child and a seaplane can mix, Lee.”
Her breath caught. Was he aware what he’d voiced? A child and a seaplane can mix…? She wanted to burst into tears.
He touched her cheek. “We can work this out. I know we can.”
We. If he didn’t leave soon, she’d be a puddle on the floor. “I need you to go,” she whispered, ushering him out.
“Lee, please…”
“Go.”
Alone again, she set her forehead against the door, and listened to his footsteps descend the stairs. When quiet returned, she slid down the wood until her rump hit the floor. Hugging her knees, she put her face into her arms and cried. For him, for her, for the mess life had tossed them, a mess she couldn’t seem to see beyond.
From his office window the following Monday morning, Rogan viewed the clouds stockpiling beyond the cove. Dockside, Lee readied her plane. Now or never, he thought, snatching a black windbreaker from the coat tree. On the landing, he flipped the sign to Closed, and hurried down the stairs.
Outside, a breeze carried the cold smell of rain. As always, seagulls navigated the air currents, seeking whatever marine life swam the dark waters lapping the wharf. May had arrived with barely a hint of sunshine or warmth.
A small shiver traveled Rogan’s skin. He didn’t care for Lee flying in weather that could change in a heartbeat.
Except she’d done it a thousand times. Reminding himself of that, he broke into a jog when he saw Fitz store the last of the packages into the cargo hold and Lee give a “See you later” wave.
“Lee,” Rogan called, sprinting the last hundred feet.
Her head snapped in his direction.
He halted in front of her. She looked wonderful. Green eyes sparking fire, freckles gold as sugar granules. “We need to talk.”
“Aren’t you working today?” she asked, peering over his shoulder toward the marine walkway.
“Office is closed until tomorrow.” He attempted a grin. “CEOs can take time off any day.”
“Well,” she said, storing the anchor rope on the floor behind the pilot’s chair. “I can’t.” With two nimble steps, she ascended into the cockpit. “Call me tonight if you still need to talk.”
He couldn’t wait until then. Today, she meant to see the Bremerton buyer interested in Sky Dash.
A raindrop struck Rogan’s face. At anchor, the seaplane bobbed on the water. Before he reconsidered his options, he stepped across the narrow strip of water, onto the pontoon, squeezed behind her chair, and settled in the passenger’s seat beside Lee.
“What are you doing?” Her eyes flashed irritation.
“Coming with you,” he replied as he reached for the second headset—and grinned at her.
“You can’t come along. I have work to do.”
Leaning across the space between their seats, he gave her a smacking kiss on the mouth. “So do I. Now crank that damn propeller and let’s get the show on the road.”
She made a gesture at the windscreen where rain had started to spit. “Look at the weather, Rogan. You have enough trouble flying when conditions are perfect. This is not a good idea.”
His eyes held hers for an extended moment. “I’ll be fine, Lee. Besides, I listened to the forecast. They’re expecting a few showers. Nothing major.”
“On the ground, yes. Up a half mile, it’s a whole other ballgame. If you’re trying to prove something—”
“I trust you,” he said quietly. “Always have.”
He watched her swallow. Finally, she pushed the Start button, initiated the engine and spoke to the Seattle tower. Guiding the craft out into the cove, she recited her instrument check.
With a conscious effort, Rogan kept his hands loose on his thighs. The seaplane picked up speed against the wind and bounced across the chop before lifting into the air. When his gut dropped to his toes, he forced back the constriction in his throat.
While he told himself the flight was no different than the others he’d taken, it didn’t settle his insides any less. There was more at stake. Along with Danny, there was Lee. And with Lee came a love, a passion, beyond anything Rogan had previously known.
As the plane climbed, he looked over at the woman manning the controls. This morning, she’d bundled her red hair into a captivating mess atop her head. Strands poked from a big white clip, and straggled down her nape. More than anything, he wanted to twist a kinky lock around his finger—the way he’d done when they lay in bed. When she lay above him.
“So.” Her voice sluiced through his memories. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Dan wants a puppy.”
She let out a half laugh, half snort. “That is not why you boarded this plane.”
“Maybe it isn’t the exact reason, but Dan does want to know if you’ll help pick from this litter he knows about.” Rogan looked at Lee. “I had hoped we’d go this past weekend, but…”
“I wasn’t available.”
Below his window, shoreline and hills fell steadily away. His stomach wanted to fall with them. “Maybe we could go tonight.”
She studied the instrument panel. “Why else are you paying for this trip?”
“You’re hoping to sell Sky Dash today.”
A frown etched her brow. “Did I say that?”
“When you were angry with me last Friday.”
“Oh.” She checked her side window. “Well, I’m still mad at you.”
Except she didn’t sound mad. He took heart. “I told you then, and I’ll say it again, we can work this out.” The aircraft dipped, suspending his stomach somewhere in the stratosphere. “Unghhh,” he groaned. “I don’t believe selling
is—” another dip “—the answer.”
“It’ll get me the money I require for my child’s future,” she said reasonably.
They were out of the cove, aiming for the Sound when the plane suddenly plunged twenty feet. In the next instant, a gust of wind caught its underbelly and rocked the craft like a ghastly cradle.
“Whoa!” Rogan forgot to breathe, forgot to close his eyes or look at the floor-well between his feet. Too late he shot a peek out the side window separating him from three thousand feet of air and a cold black surface of water.
The coffee he’d bought at Coffee Sense thirty minutes ago flirted with the base of his tongue.
“Don’t be afraid.” Lee’s voice, a soft murmur, a lifeline in his ear. “It’s only a bit of air turbulence. Normal with this cloud cover.”
Above the roar and sway of the plane, he noticed how easily her hands maintained the controls, the quiet in her voice, the composure on her features.
Lee Tait was a consummate pilot. The thought of her giving up her profession tore a hole through Rogan.
He recalled her determination the morning of Addie’s leg cramp, her composure the day Danny broke through the hayloft floor.
Thanks for saving me, his son had told her.
She’d done more than that, Rogan realized. She’s saved me. She’d hauled him from the void of his life, freed him of his guilt and heartbreak in the wake of Darby’s and Sophie’s tragedy.
“We’re almost through it.” Her melodic voice sang into the headset.
He tried to chuckle and instead tasted his breakfast. “Well, I can’t say you didn’t warn me. As usual, I should’ve listened.”
Her fingers closed briefly over his left fist. “Don’t beat yourself up over hindsight.”
The plane dipped and shuddered and creaked. “Seems I’ve been doing that for three years.” When the plane leveled again, he turned to catch her gaze. “I’m tired of it.”
She was about to respond when the aircraft plunged fast as a bucket of bricks from a five-story building.
Flung back in the seat, Rogan seized the armrests. Danny would be an orphan after all. Rogan could see it plain as the dark foggy cloud mass they traveled through. OhGodohGod.
And Baby Makes Four Page 16