“Yeah, but listen, I’ve got to get this girl home for Christmas. Come on. She hasn’t seen her mother in four months.”
Both brows lifted that time. The driver studied LiLi. “Maybe it is possible. It is still early. Traffic will be light.”
“Then step on it,” Zack urged, the leaden sky a harbinger of more wintery weather to come. He’d had enough of snow. This year had to be a record breaker for the East Coast. December usually meant mild temps. Not this one.
The cabbie grinned. Most likely from India judging by his accent and his soft-spoken demeanor, the man smiled tenderly at LiLi. “I do not need your twenty dollars, sir. There is no fare today. I do this for that baby hiding in your arms. This will be my privilege. It is my Christian Christmas present to you.”
She ducked, hiding inside the folds of Zack’s leather jacket. “Thanks, man. That means a lot.”
“Then let us get to it.” With a quick glance over his shoulder, the cabbie swung his car into traffic, and the final leg of LiLi’s long journey home began.
“Did you know you were in Paris, France?” Zack asked her quietly.
She nodded. “Uh huh. Marissa told me. I don’t like Paris.”
“Does Marissa have red hair?”
Another nod. “She was nice.” Her gaze strayed to the traffic outside. “He stealed me from my mommy, Zack. He said he was my daddy, but I don’t have a daddy. Mommy said.”
That discussion could wait. “Listen, honey. Don’t get mad, but I want you to know I’m not taking you to your old house. Your mommy’s waiting for you at another place, and all of your things are there. Two of my friends are there, too.”
“Why?” she asked, her bottom lip quivering.
“Because I had to keep your mother safe while we were looking for you. She’s in a nice home called a safe house. That’s why my friends are there with her. They’re keeping her safe, too. You’ll like them. Their names are Rory and Connor.”
The tears were shimmering again, but he kept going. “There’s another thing, LiLi. Your mommy is taking care of a tiny little baby girl named Song. She’s too tiny to walk yet, so she might need your help for a while.” He couldn’t tell LiLi about all the aspects of the operation to save her, but she needed to know she’d be sharing her mother. “Your mommy saved Song and now she’ll be staying with us.”
“Why?” she squeaked, her bottom lip quivering again.
Zack sighed. Maybe he was making this too difficult, but what do you say to a child who’s had her life torn away from her, to a little girl who’s been scared and missing her mom for the last four months? How do you prepare her for the reunion with her mother when everything in her world has changed?
He didn’t have a clue. Zack bowed his forehead to LiLi’s, bumping her just enough to make contact as he gave her all she needed to know. “Because your mommy said so, that’s why.”
Chapter Two
“Where are they?” Mei growled to herself. She’d taken up post at the front window, watching for Zack and LiLi’s arrival, her heart stuck high in her throat.
Rory Dennison had fixed pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast, enough to feed an army. Then he’d fixed a Christmas dinner. Connor Maher had gone out to check the perimeter, but Mei wasn’t sure why he did that any more. She’d been relocated so many times in the last month, from safe house to hotel and now to another safe house. Even she didn’t know for certain where she was. Someplace in Alexandria, that was all the guys would tell her.
The guys. Her guys. She’d grown close to these two. That was the problem with Alex Stewart’s men and women. They were all so likeable.
“Here you go,” Rory said as he offered her a refill of herbal tea. “There’s still a little left in this pot. If you’d like, I can make more.”
“No, thanks. I’m fine. Do you know how Ember is?” she asked, sipping the tea, wishing the LiLi was finally home, but attuned to the terrible cost of finding her daughter. Ember’s boyfriend, Todd Chandler, had been murdered while safeguarding her. Ember, the pretty blonde agent with stars in her eyes every time she’d looked at Todd. That death hurt.
Rory shook his head, his gaze lowered. “I thought I’d run by her place once Zack gets here. I just need to check on her. She’s alone and—”
A car door slammed, drawing Mei’s eyes back to the street. Rory went to open the door. Connor had already commandeered Zack’s bags, and there she was. Zack settled LiLi to her feet. The little girl flew, her arms outstretched and tears running down her face. “Mommy!”
Mei ran to her daughter. “LiLi!” They crashed together somewhere between the cab and the front door, and God—Oh, God, thank you for bringing her back to me.
Mei dropped to her knees in the icy snow, cradling her baby girl, not so much a baby, yet always her baby. Crying. Sobbing. Choking out the long months of anguish and fear and missing this little girl. Her fingers searched over LiLi’s face before she crushed her daughter to her heart, needing to feel every last inch of the tiny body she’d craved. Needing to count her toes, to trace her sweet face, and to smooth those lines away from the corners of her eyes. To breathe her in and to never let her out of her sight again. To kiss her from the depths of her broken mother’s heart.
“I missed you so much, Mommy,” LiLi cried, hiccupping as she burrowed into Mei’s arms, her legs wrapped tightly around her mother’s waist like a little chimpanzee.
Mei rocked LiLi. Zack and Rory were murmuring in low men’s voices, something about Ember, and that was okay. The stifling burden of too many lost days lifted just a little. It would take time, but Zack had proved the goodness of strangers to Mei.
“Bring Ember here,” she told Rory, finally lifting her gaze to where he stood somberly, his arms crossed over his wide muscular chest.
Rory shook his head. “I doubt she’ll come. She may not even answer her door. She’s got a brother. Maybe for once he’ll be there. Maybe I can talk to him.”
Mei swallowed hard, tears shining in her eyes. “I don’t want her to be alone today. I want her to meet LiLi. Ask her, please. For me. Tell her I need her.”
Zack took his bag from Connor. “Tell her I’m making chocolate mousse, her favorite. You guys got any brandy in the place?”
Connor leveled a fist to Zack’s wide bicep. “Its’ a safe house, not a pub.”
“Yeah, but it’s Christmas, and we’ve got something to celebrate. I’m going to light that mousse up. Mei’s baby girl is finally home.” Zack turned his gaze to Rory. “Don’t take no for an answer. Ember needs us, especially now.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Walking around the house to the side garage, Rory waved a hand behind his back. “Later guys.”
“Let’s go inside,” Zack suggested. “Come on, LiLi.”
“No,” she whined, her arms still shackling Mei’s neck. “Mommy. I want Mommy, not you.”
Zack cupped Mei’s elbow to help her up off the ground. “And you shall have her,” he reassured. “Is Song still sleeping?”
Mei caught the tender question. Her big, tough bruiser of a man was in love with a tiny baby girl named Song Chang, one of the orphans caught up in the Black Dragon child-smuggling scheme. Ah, Zack. So big. So tough. With crème filling.
“Yes, she’s still asleep, but once she hears your voice, I’m sure she’ll want out of her crib. She’s started climbing while you were gone, Zack. She’s going to need a toddler bed soon.”
“Good, let her climb,” Zack boomed loud enough at the front door Song had to have heard him. “I’ll buy my girls the moon if they want it. Wow, you bought a Christmas tree.”
Connor’s hand landed on Zack’s shoulders as he closed and locked the safe house behind him. “And look. Santa’s been here.”
Mei and Connor had talked a lot over the last intense days. He’d already called his mother in Boston to wish her Merry Christmas, then talked with several of his younger brothers. His mother had to be a very patient woman to have raised seven boys on her own. Mei
had seen the family pictures on Connor’s cell phone. She knew his story, how his father had been killed in the line of duty on the Boston police force. How much Connor, the oldest son, adored his father. How close he was to his mother.
Rory was another story. Todd’s death had hurt every one of Alex’s agents, but it was Rory who’d kept reaching out to Ember. Most of the time she didn’t answer his phone calls, and Mei didn’t miss the distance in his gaze when he’d failed to connect. Like Connor, he’d been forthcoming anytime Mei asked a question, but he’d kept his personal life to himself. And yet he had all the makings of a good father. She could tell. He was a lot like Zack. So why wasn’t he married with a couple of kids by now?
Mei let the mystery that was Rory go. She and LiLi had a lot of catching up to do.
Chapter Three
“Look at you, baby girl,” Zack crooned. When he’d left for Paris, Song was barely speaking, but now she babbled, her eyes suddenly bright with a toddler’s zest for life. He hadn’t been gone that long, but whatever Mei, Rory, and Connor had done, it worked. She’d changed from a too-serious little orphan into a happy little girl.
Zack couldn’t have been more pleased. Connor and Rory already had a small turkey stuffed with cornbread, cranberries, chestnuts, and granny smith apple in the oven. Sweet potatoes, still in their jackets, baked alongside the turkey, along with a chocolate bread pudding, a Connor Maher specialty. Mei had nothing to do but hold her daughter and be a mother again. For the moment, she and LiLi were ensconced in the front room in the recliner, murmuring to each other, singing softly, rocking, and just being together. LiLi had yet to smile, but that was okay. She was safe. She was home. It would come.
Song was close to walking, no big surprise there. She was, after all, Zack’s soon-to-be-adopted daughter. The tiny thing was downright adventurous the way she took tentative, but determined baby-steps from one kitchen chair to another. Not once did she cry or fuss when she slipped to her well-cushioned diapered backside, just picked herself up and tried again. He liked that about her. What proud father wouldn’t? She was also forming syllables, as in actual English-sounding words like ‘da’ and ‘mmm’ and ‘grr.’
Her beautiful smile melted his heart. The first time he’d seen Song, she was one of many, warehoused in a filthy playpen with several other baby girls, all smelling from lack of proper care and nutrition. But now? Her big brown almond eyes sparkled. Her cute little face cracked into a big smile whenever she heard his voice. Her skin was clear and sweet smelling, her hair clean and glossy black like a raven’s wing.
So far LiLi had resisted answering Connor, and Rory wasn’t back yet with Ember. None of the Christmas presents the guys had bought for LiLi were opened. She didn’t want them. She just wanted to sit on her mom’s lap and be left alone, and that was okay. Christmas wasn’t about presents, anyway. LiLi kept an eye on Song, though. An evil eye, if that spiked brow of hers meant anything.
Zack did what his Irish mother had always done on Christmas Eve. He dug out the Bible he’d carried with him on every deployment from his bag, settled his butt to the floor and his back to the couch. He licked his thumb and leafed through the Good Book until he found the dog-eared pages of the gospel of Luke. He took a deep breath and let the spirit of the season take up residence in his heart. It was time to get real.
Right away, Song dropped to her backside in the kitchen, watching him, her hands on her ankles and her eyes round with curiosity. A tiny string of baby drool slipped off her bottom lip.
Zack patted his thigh. “Come here, little one. Let me tell you a story. LiLi, would you like to join us?”
“No,” came her quick reply. LiLi snuggled into her mother, keeping Mei’s arms wrapped around her, her eyes still sharp, her brows pointy, and her world still shattered.
But Song was daddy’s girl. She put her head down and crawled to Zack. There was that determination again. Of course he smiled. She’d aimed straight for him, then climbed up to his hip and made herself comfortable, leaning into him while she teetered. He put his arm around her to steady her and drew in a deep breath of baby powder.
Zack related the story of Christmas the way his mother did, reverently and quietly. “Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus…”
Connor listened from his post at the living room window. Somehow, the pistol under his arm and the double stack that Zack had placed safely on top of the fridge lent an eerie reality to the dangerous world Baby Jesus was born into. It really wasn’t much different than modern-day times, only the faces had changed.
Zack read about the evil King Herod, the angels and the shepherds, the sheep on the hillside, and Mary and Joseph. He related the inn keeper’s sad dismissal of a family in dire need, but how faithful Joseph had found something better, a lowly stable amongst the humblest animals. It was a lovely story, but children will be children. Song chose that moment before Baby Jesus’ to wiggle away. She teetered on the cushiony carpet, then righted herself, all of her fingers in her mouth. Still drooling. Probably teething. That’s what Mei said.
Song stood by herself for a long moment. The room stilled. Even Connor noticed. “Look LiLi. She’s going to take her first step,” he whispered.
Zack lifted his brows at Mei seated across from him. “She’s too young to be walking, right?” Song was a brilliant child, but walking this early probably meant she was a genius, right?
Mei shot him down. She scrunched her nose, barely shaking her head. “No, Zack. She’s old enough.”
LiLi’s brows narrowed. Her chin clenched. She’d gotten meaner looking. Sadder.
Song stood still, possibly aware she wasn’t holding onto anything or anyone for the first time in her life. She turned back to Zack, a big crooked grin dripping off her cute little face.
“Look at you,” he purred. “You’re such a big girl.”
“She’s not a big girl,” LiLi corrected him, a bite to her tone. “I’m a big girl. Not her. She’s just a baby.”
He winked at LiLi, glad she’d at least spoken. “You’re right, she’s a baby, but this is really cool. Song might just take her first step on Christmas day.”
The little tease giggled as if she knew what he wanted, but wasn’t certain she wanted to give him the satisfaction of being right. She bobbed back and forth. Still standing. Still teasing.
LiLi wiggled out of her mother’s arms to the edge of the recliner. She leaned forward, her shoulders tense. Poised.
Song turned, and, with a sideways lurch of her shoulders that almost put her on her butt, she took her first step. To LiLi.
LiLi’s head lowered, her dark eyes gleaming beneath her knitted brows. Her lips pursed. She growled.
Song hiccupped, her palms spread forward as she took another lurching step. Then another until…
LiLi leapt off the recliner and crashed into the little girl, hugging Song to her and sobbing. “I’ve got you now, baby sister. I won’t let you fall.” She turned on Zack, her eyes ablaze. “She was gonna fall! She coulda got hurt! You’re supposed to help her!”
He would’ve laughed if his eyes hadn’t brimmed at that vehement burst of sisterly love.
“LiLi,” Mei scolded. “It’s okay. This is exactly how you learned to walk.”
“No, it’s not. I remember. You never let me fall. You always loved me. You always took care of me... and… and…” Tearful hiccups replaced her anger. “We hafta... we hafta take care of Baby Song. We can’t let anyone scare her ever again!”
LiLi sounded just like her mother. Fierce. Mean. So much a tiny protector. So much a tiny mother in the making. So much the perfect big sister for Song.
Zack ran a quick hand over his face at the truest love on earth, the love of one lost child for another. Both found and both needing each other more than they could possibly know. He knew right then and there. He’d just gotten his Christmas present and it was glorious.
Did God plan this? Was He behind this? Did he know what he was doing
when he’d sent Zack to rescue that first little Chinese orphan, Chai Yenn, the one whose deplorable condition had started this whole child smuggling operation rolling? Zack liked to think so.
Mei sank to the carpet with her daughter, enfolding both girls in her arms. “I’m proud of you, LiLi.” Her voice choked tight with emotion. “Yes, we have to take care of Baby Song now. She doesn’t have a mommy or a daddy. That’s what Zack and I are doing. We’ve been taking care of her, and Zack’s going to adopt her, and…” Her brown eyes sought his, and damn. It was finally time.
He couldn’t live without Mei. Didn’t want to try. Couldn’t imagine it, not after what they’d been through together. She knew he loved her, but she didn’t yet know this.
“Will you marry me?” he asked, his heart as calm and as sure as it had ever been. “We’ve got a good start on our family, Mei. LiLi needs a real father, and Song needs a good mother, and I…” He swallowed hard, afraid she’d shove back just when he’d least expect it. Mei was known to do crazy stuff like that. “I don’t want to waste another day without you in it. Take a chance. Marry me, Mei.”
He could feel Connor’s stare drilling into the side of his head, but Zack only had eyes for Mei. He’d just put everything on the line. The world stopped revolving, waiting. His heart thudded. The timer dinged from the kitchen, it’s message loud and worrisome that the turkey was done. Would she take it as a sign that she was saved by the bell?
Zack wished he knew how to keep his big mouth shut.
But then it was Mei crashing into him, clutching his head in her hands, kneeling between his knees with tears in her eyes. He set the Bible aside. Shit, this could go either way. Was she going to kiss him or kill him? For a heart stopping second, he honestly didn’t know.
“Yes, Zack,” she finally breathed, and he released the deep breath he’d been holding. Her head bobbed with her answer. “Yes, I’ll marry you, and I’ll make you proud, and I’ll keep your house for you, and I’ll…”
Christmas Hearts: In the Company of Snipers Page 5