* * *
A warm night breeze slipped through the bedroom window, brushing the bottom of the pink floral curtains. As Leo leaned over Eve’s bed to hug his daughter good-night, he felt her latch around his neck and squeeze so tightly he was surprised her young arms had that much strength.
“Don’t go away, Daddy,” she said. “Stay with us. Please.”
He swallowed hard and accepted the hug. It had been a long drive back to their home in Ottawa. The chaos at the parade meant that Leo hadn’t been approached by his contact, leaving the auction his last opportunity to meet the informant and receive the intel. He’d also talked to Josh, who in the light of the news had decided to abandon his honeymoon two days early and make up the time later. Josh and Samantha would now take the girls to Cedar Lake tomorrow.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “You and your sister are going to a cottage for one night without me—just one—while I go to my work event. You’ll get there with Josh and Samantha at nighttime, get tucked into bed, and then when you wake up in the morning I’ll be there. Then we’ll have a whole week together, just swimming and hiking, and having fun.”
“I wish you were coming with us,” Eve said in a quiet voice. She let go of his neck.
“I do, too,” Leo admitted. He sat back, on the edge of her bed, and looked down at her wrapped in blankets and surrounded by a herd of pastel stuffed animals. “But I’ll be there before you wake up in the morning. I promise.”
Ivy snorted loudly behind him. When did she learn to do that? Was that something all preteens suddenly woke up knowing how to do the moment they turned twelve? “Don’t bother trying to argue with him, Eve, or asking him to stay. It won’t work.”
He turned. Ivy was curled up on a mattress on the floor in the corner of Eve’s room. When he’d bought the beautiful family home in downtown Ottawa last year he’d hoped Ivy would be thrilled to finally have her own room. She’d spent days choosing paint and picking out furniture. Yet, in the middle of that first night, she’d dragged her bedding and mattress into her little sister’s much smaller room and set up camp near the end of her bed. He didn’t know why. But there’d been such a defiance in her eyes when he’d tried to ask about it that he’d decided to back off and let her tell him when she was ready. Now, keeping with tradition, Fluff had ignored his fancy dog bed on the landing and instead slept curled up on the mattress beside Ivy. “What makes you say that?”
Ivy was looking at her sister, and not at him. “Trust me, Eve, asking Daddy not to go away never works. He says he’ll stay, but he won’t.”
Ivy’s voice was serious, like she was trying to break bad news to her sister gently. Eve’s eyes went wide and filled with tears. Leo was torn between following his instinct to tell Ivy to shut it, and listening to hear what she was going to say. Zoe’s words from the parking lot echoed in his heart. Ivy had a reason for leaping in the river after Fluff without telling him. She had a reason for saying something so bizarre and worrying to Eve now. But he didn’t know what it was or how to get her to trust him.
Lord, what happened to close her heart this way? Help me know what to do.
“I promise you, it’s only for one night,” he said firmly, looking from Ivy to Eve. “I promise. One hundred percent. And you’ll have fun. You can take Fluff. Josh and Samantha are going with you—”
“Is Zoe coming up with you?” Ivy asked. “Or is she coming with us?”
“Yeah, can Zoe come to the cottage, too? Please?” Eve’s voice chimed in.
“No,” he said. “Neither. Zoe’s not coming to the cottage.”
Ivy sighed loudly, flopped back on the pillows and looked up at the ceiling. “Figures.”
What kind of response was that? What did it even mean? “What figures?”
“Why can’t Zoe come?” Eve asked again. “I saw her at the parade! I waved at her, but she didn’t see me. I told you I wanted to talk to her.”
In fact, Eve had practically tried to drag him across the grass to see her. But he’d hurried them out of the parade, to the car and home again, as soon as he’d spoken to police.
Ivy rolled over onto one elbow. “Eve, I’m sorry, but I think Daddy doesn’t want us to see Zoe anymore.”
Eve gasped. What was this? What was going on here?
“What do you mean?” he asked Ivy, his voice sharper than he meant it to be. “Why did you say that?”
Ivy sighed loudly and fell backward into the pillow. “Never mind.”
Don’t push her, said a quiet voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Zoe. She’ll tell you when she’s ready. But would she? Or would father and daughter just retreat to their quiet, stony corners, ignoring the weight of the unsaid words piled up between them? Suddenly, the thought of Zoe arguing toe to toe with him in the pizza parlor parking lot flashed in his mind, her eyes filled with fire and determination. He couldn’t imagine Zoe ever agreeing to a quiet, sad failure of a marriage like Marisa had. Zoe was a fighter, one who he imagined had never given up on anything that mattered to her without fighting for it with all she had.
His phone buzzed. He looked down. The picture of smiling, wholesome blonde Melody Young flashed on his screen. As much as he hated Zoe’s suggestion that what had happened could have anything to do with Marisa, he’d still sent her a message earlier in the hopes that she’d be able to help fill in some of the gaps about Marisa’s life without him.
“Is that Zoe?” Eve asked.
“No.” He slid his phone into his pocket. “It’s a friend of your mommy’s called Melody Young. She has twin boys. I was thinking I might invite them for a visit while we’re at the cottage.”
Ivy went white. “We don’t like her.”
It seemed Ivy didn’t like a lot of things these days.
“I don’t remember her,” Eve said.
“She took you for ice cream,” Ivy said. “Remember?”
“No.” Eve shook her head.
“Well, I haven’t invited her yet and I won’t invite anyone without telling you.” He could see Ivy’s mouth about to open again. He didn’t have time for another argument. “But right now, it’s late and you need to sleep. It’s been a very long day.”
He gave Eve a second hug, told both girls he loved them, then slipped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him, being careful to leave it open a crack so the light still got in. He heard them whispering quietly as he walked down the stairs to the main floor. Thankfully, whatever they were whispering about was making Eve giggle.
His heart ached.
Lord, I love them so much. But I miss Marisa. She knew how to talk to them. She knew how to mother them. Help me be the parent they need me to be.
Hot summer air was seeping in through the crack in the living room window, smelling like the promise of rain. He’d have to go upstairs and close the girls’ windows when he went to bed, so they wouldn’t be scared or get wet when the thunderstorm hit. But for now, it could wait.
He slipped the front door open and stepped out into the night. The huge, wooden porch of his Ottawa home was one of his favorite things about living in Canada’s capital city. He crossed the porch barefoot, in an old battered pair of jeans and a loose white T-shirt. His phone started ringing again. It was Melody. He answered. “Hello?”
“Commander Darius?” Her voice was cheerful, friendly and a bit breathless, as if talking to him rattled her nerves. “It’s Melody Young.”
“Hi, Melody.” He smiled. “You can call me Leo.”
“Oh. Okay. Thank you, Leo.”
He dropped into a chair and took another look at the picture of Melody and Eve on his phone. Eve was probably about two in the picture, he guessed, maybe younger. Melody’s hair was blond, too, a slightly lighter shade than Eve’s and Marisa’s natural gold. There was something very girl-next-door about
Melody, from the blue jean skirt and flowered top she wore in the picture to the wide, cheerful smile. Everything about her reminded him of Marisa.
She was nothing like Zoe.
“Thank you for calling me back,” he said.
“Oh, no problem! I just missed the girls so much. They’re really beautiful. I was so sorry to hear about Marisa’s passing.”
“Thank you,” he said. “How did you know Marisa?”
“We were next-door neighbors,” she said. “I used to see the girls after school or bring over meals sometimes when I knew Marisa was working late. Sometimes she had me babysit. I was like a part of the family.”
“And you have sons?” he asked.
“Two,” she said. “Twins. They loved your girls. Especially Eve.”
The sky was a deep blue above his head. The wide tree-lined street was silent. He closed his eyes and could hear the faint rumble of traffic in the distance, mingling with the roar of the Ottawa River not far away. How was he going to ask this woman if Marisa had enemies or addictions? Let alone if she’d had any relationships she hadn’t told him about? It felt like a betrayal to her memory even to ask. Zoe’s questions still burned in his mind, and he was no closer to having answers. Melody was cheerfully babbling on about her boys and his girls, the topic of conversation so very far away from the ugly questions he had to ask.
“We’re actually moving to Ottawa this September,” Melody went on, “so the boys can be closer to their father. I can’t remember if I told you, but I work in child care. I don’t know what your situation’s like, but if you need any extra help, I’d be happy to pick your girls up from school, sort them dinner and be with them at your house until you get home from work. If that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for. Right now I work for a single mother in Winnipeg, and I’m sure she’d be happy to provide references.”
She had no idea how tempting an idea that was. A caregiver for his girls would make it so much easier to shield them from the more dangerous parts of his work. If Ivy was able to get over her jealousy, or whatever it was that had added Melody onto her list of people she wasn’t impressed with. There was something appealing about knowing the girls had another motherly figure in their lives who’d pick them up from school, care for them, make meals and share the burden.
Melody launched into a story about baking with his daughters, but he was only half listening, as an intense and sudden sorrow for the loss of Marisa swept over him like a wave. He missed Marisa. Yes, she hadn’t been in love with him. Yes, their relationship had missed the kind of romance that marriages were supposed to be founded on. But she’d been stable. She’d been caring. She’d been real. At least that’s how she’d always seemed to be. Would it be so wrong to create that kind of life again? To find someone who he wasn’t romantically involved with, and would never pursue a relationship with, who’d nevertheless be a caregiver for his girls?
Can Zoe come with us?
Eve’s innocent question suddenly floated in the back of his mind. A long sigh left his body that seemed to come from the depths of some cavern deep inside. Zoe was the opposite of either a Marisa or a Melody. Zoe tackled life with a fight, intensity and passion that was both exhilarating and exhausting to watch. It was like Zoe’s energy had infected him, making him leap off a parade float and sprint toward armed criminals to save her. He’d risked his mission over her. He’d come so close to kissing her. He’d been tempted to break his promise to Marisa. He’d put himself in danger. He’d put his heart in danger.
What’s more, something deep inside him had enjoyed every moment of it—like he’d been thirsty for years and Zoe was offering him his first drink of water.
“Leo?” Zoe’s voice floated to him, on the hot summer’s night’s air, cutting through Melody’s voice in his ear. He jerked upright and opened his eyes. There Zoe stood, on his sidewalk in front of his house, in a flowing white sundress that stopped just below the knees. She walked toward him, slowly, like something out of a dream. He stood. Her dark hair was wild and loose around her heart-shaped face. Wind brushed the trees around her, sending the dark leaves clattering and tossing her skirt around her strong slender legs.
She was beautiful. And captivating. And inaccessible. And perfect.
He knew in that moment, without the shadow of a doubt, that he’d never seen anything more gorgeous in his entire life than Zoe walking slowly up the grass lawn toward him in the fading summer light.
“I’m so sorry, Melody,” he said. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to be at a friend’s cottage for a few days. But I’m hoping we can get together to talk more about Marisa soon and maybe even have you and your sons come up to visit us at the cottage. I’m really glad we connected.”
Melody said that she understood and they exchanged goodbyes, but his mind barely registered it as he hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket. His eyes stayed locked on Zoe, and hers on him as if, if either of them blinked, the other would suddenly be gone. Zoe reached the porch. He stood. “When did you guys get back?”
“Not too long ago,” she said. She walked up the steps toward him. Golden light of his front porch light drenched her limbs. “I’m sorry to drop by so late and unannounced, but Alex and I needed to talk to you urgently. He’s just parking the Ash Security van now. We have reason to think you’re under surveillance.”
“Surveillance?” The word washed over him like a bucket of cold water. He’d worked so hard, jumped through every hoop and taken every precaution to make sure his work remained a secret. The idea that someone had been watching, following him, even photographing, destroyed all that in an instant. If he didn’t find out who had him under surveillance and why, his work with internal intelligence would be over.
She looked up at the thick canopy of trees shielding them from view.
“We don’t know how far spread it is,” she said. “Or what was involved. But we have to assume that whoever’s been watching you knows about the informant and that you’re after the intel.”
Just moments ago, as he’d watched Zoe walk up the drive, he’d almost felt like he was in a dream. Now it seemed his worst nightmare might be coming true.
NINE
“How did you find out?” Leo asked.
“Killian Lynch.” Zoe stepped back against the privacy of the overhang. “He published pictures of us on his media website tonight.” There was something off about her voice. Something odd. Almost strained. She held out her phone “They were taken today. He said they were emailed to him from an anonymous source. He’s no doubt going to be adding some sensationalist story to go with them later.”
He took the phone from her hand. His eyes scanned the screen. Heat rose to his neck. They were just hugging. Their lips hadn’t even touched and yet...yet he looked like a man holding a woman he wanted to sweep into his arms and surrender his heart to.
“So, have you filled him in on the new plan?” Alex’s voice wafted over the lawn.
Leo looked up. Zoe’s brother was walking up his front walk.
“What plan?” he asked.
“Alex and Josh think that we should take advantage of the distraction this offers us,” Zoe said. “They think I should go with you to the bachelor auction, as your date, and make sure I win the bid on you.”
“Bachelor auction? What bachelor auction?” He laughed reflexively, even though it wasn’t funny. He didn’t know which part of that sentence was more ridiculous—the idea that he’d let random women bid on a date with him, or that Ash Private Security’s solution was to take the one woman he was battling a romantic attraction to with every breath in his body, and toss her directly into his arms. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I still haven’t received that package I was supposed to receive this week. I still have no idea who my contact is or what they look like. Tomorrow’s auction is my last opportunity to get that int
el. Now you’re telling me tomorrow’s event is actually a bachelor auction, I’m under surveillance, there are pictures of me and Zoe online, and your suggestion for how to handle all that is for Zoe to come to the auction and compete for me, like some kind of arm candy?”
“You think flitting around a boring, snobby event, bidding for you against other women is my idea of a good time?” Zoe said. The chill in her voice cut the laughter from his tongue. “Trust me, I have no desire to be arm candy or to fight other women for you. And while I might not be a spy, I do value my privacy and don’t like being watched or having my photos online, either. But you said this is your last opportunity to meet your contact and get the intel you need. We promised to have your back and I will do my job, whether I feel like it or not.”
He stepped back. Well, there was a blow to the ego if he’d ever had one. When she’d practically crumpled into his arms in the alleyway, he’d presumed that she was every bit as attracted to him as he was to her. He didn’t answer. She didn’t say anything more. Alex didn’t speak, either, and for a moment the air around them seemed to crackle with tension. Then he ran his hand over his face and tried to wipe the memory of her in his arms as far out of his mind as he could. His phone buzzed. He looked down. It was Killian.
“Why don’t you both head into the living room, then we can sit down and talk this out? I have something to sort quickly.” He waited until they’d gone inside, then looked at his phone.
Hey! Sorry about the online picture blast but I’ve been trying to meet up with you to go over this stuff I’ve got and you weren’t around.
So the Irishman had given up on playing nice and was now trying to get his attention by posting surveillance photos of him and writing scandalous things about his personal life?
He texted back: I’m here now and I’m listening. What do you want?
A pause, then Killian wrote: I want to make a deal.
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