by Selena Kitt
The two men glared at each other, fury and stubbornness etched on matching faces.
And just like that, the storm blew over.
His face wreathed in smiles, Peppe asked, “I love chicken. Thanks. What’s in the jar?”
Emile groaned and held them out. “Your favourite – peanut butter.”
Chapter Twelve
Before Tony left, he pulled Jade aside in the hotel lobby. The heat from outside penetrated through the large double doors.
“If you are having trouble handling this project or staying focused on the job, I will pull you off. This isn’t a holiday, no matter what you think with your sightseeing tours and dates. We have a job to do and I want it done right. I’m not a fool. Just because I can’t be here all the time, realize that there is someone keeping an eye on you. I need to make sure you’re handling yourself here.”
He walked away leaving Jade staring at his retreating back in shock. “What the hell was that all about?”
“What?” Bruce walked in the other door. “Did you say something?”
“I’m not sure what just happened.” She motioned to the direction Tony disappeared. “Let me ask you something. Have I ever given you the impression that this job was too much for me mentally? Or that my social life is stopping me from doing my job?” At the astonished look on his face, some of the panic calmed and she added, shaking her head, “Anything at all that made you consider I don’t belong here?”
“No, of course not. Not a thing. Why?” An understanding settled into his eyes and he glanced out the empty door. “Was that Tony by any chance? Warning you? I am sorry. He’s a bit of an overkill kind of guy.”
“Ya think?” She studied his face. Would Bruce be honest? “He didn’t ask you to keep an eye on my mental state?”
Bruce shook his head. “Absolutely not. I don’t understand where he’d have gotten that idea in the first place.” Bruce frowned, scratching his chin.
“I do, unfortunately, and you’d have to have been there at the time to understand fully but…” She gave him a quick rundown on how she and Tony had met and the possible reasons behind his trepidation now. “The thing is, I’ve been here for over three weeks and I hardly think I’ve let anyone down.”
He patted her shoulder. “No, you haven’t. Tony is nothing if not thorough. But I wouldn’t let that worry you. There is always a team member assigned to keep an eye on the team – physically, emotionally and mentally. So let them, and just be your normal happy self. Don’t let Tony upset you.”
“Are you going to be as happy to see him leave as the rest of us will be?” She shouldn’t have asked. Bruce was the team leader. It wasn’t fair to put him on the spot like that.
Bruce laughed. “Have to remember that people like Tony make the money flow. Either to us or away from us. We need them and they need us. The partnership usually works.” He grinned, more relaxed than she’d seen him in days. “It’s still nice to see the boss leave for a while. Everyone will relax again and work that much better.”
“Unless we find another bunch of skeletons whose deaths appear a little suspicious.”
“But he doesn’t know about those, so it doesn’t matter.” He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Right?”
“I don’t know about what?” Tony stood in the doorway, his suitcases in his hand. “Are you taking about me?”
“No,” said Jade, a calm smile on her face. “We were talking about Dane and the fact that he doesn’t know any charters or tour guides in this town.”
Tony’s face lightened “Good. Well then I’m off. Should be back in a few weeks to a month depending on problems and progress.” He gave a perfunctory smile. “Good-bye and good luck.” Then he disappeared.
Jade stared at Bruce who stared back. Afraid Tony might be still around the corner, he mouthed back, Thank you.
“You’re welcome.”
They watched from the lobby as Stephen drove to the front of the hotel in a company SUV. Tony got in. While they watched, Tony was driven way.
“Thank God for that,” she said.
“Amen.”
When Dane finally made it back to his brother’s house the next day, he asked himself once again if it were time to leave Haiti. The sense of finality had been growing steadily. The hospital wing he was working on wasn’t complete, yet it wasn’t that far off. The interior finishing always took longer than expected. Much of the stuff they needed had to be ordered in. Dane’s Seattle office was handling most of that. Dane had a good foreman here. He might be able to go home and fly back and forth until the job was done. He’d originally hoped to remain long enough to see his niece or nephew born. Now he didn’t think he’d make it that long.
He wouldn’t mind being gone from this family scene. And as much as he enjoyed rustic living, he would appreciate running water again. He’d been told the property used to be a lively and profitable farm until the soil was overworked and the creek running through the property dried up. He didn’t think the property had provided Peppe’s family a living in a long time. He’d learned that Peppe had been employed as a builder at one time and unlike many other natives, his kids had gone to school – at least for a while.
John didn’t go into too much detail as to how he’d met Tasha or what they lived on. Tasha had worked in one of the bed and breakfasts in town and he suspected that had been the extent of their income. Except for stuff she made and sold to tourists. And since the earthquake a year ago, John’s business had failed. As much as he loved his brother, John didn’t appear to be bringing in much – if anything. And that was yet another area John wouldn’t discuss. His brother took on mostly small jobs now to pay the bills – not that he’d seen John go to work much.
At this point, Dane figured that the money he paid them to stay in the cabin at the back of the property was what the entire family was living on.
His brother seemed happy enough, at least on the surface – only Dane didn’t know how he could be. Was it the pregnancy that had turned his sister-in-law into a crazy shrew or something else – like this damn grave thing? He didn’t know. At this point, Dane made a habit of staying late at work and leaving again early in the morning. And ate out often and showered at the hospital. He’d made arrangements to shower there, to avoid going home. Money bought almost anything here. Dane would have spent a lot more to minimize the time he spent listening to her berate his brother.
Tasha’s appearance had started to slip as well. Her hair was unkempt instead of contained in the long braid she’d worn when he first arrived. Her face was unwashed, more often than not. And her clothes… Had she changed them in the last week?
He immediately felt guilty for not being more understanding. He’d heard pregnancy could do things to families and that pregnancies could be incredibly stressful. Dane just didn’t understand why, because, according to John, she’d been fine for the first three and even four months. These days it was as if whatever control she’d had over herself, had come loose. He felt sorry for her. But even sorrier for his brother.
Dane shook his head as he walked to the kitchen door. She was at it again. Their argument carried easily in the clear air.
“Damn it, John. Emile says he can’t look after Peppe. I need you to go and give him his food. Emile did it yesterday.”
“And why can’t Emile give him his meal today? Peppe’s his father.”
“I’m sure he has a reason. What’s your reason for not wanting to help out? I do all the cooking here, as it is. You don’t work anymore… You could start doing that again, too. When was the last time you cooked a meal?”
John’s long-suffering sigh didn’t go unnoticed. She started in on him again. “Oh don’t start that again. I hardly ask you to do anything around here and the minute I do, you start complaining. Well stop. Emile isn’t home and Peppe needs food.”
Dane opened the door, wondering when Tasha was due? Another six to eight weeks? Dane shook his head as he studied the beaten look on his brother’s f
ace through the open door.
“I’ll tell you what, Tasha. I’ll go with you and you can introduce me to your father,” Dane offered, stepping through the doorway.
Horror flicked across her face. “What? No. No. I can’t. I mean I’m not feeling well.” She dropped the tray onto the table beside John and fled.
Dane stared, open-mouthed at the empty doorway. He turned to face his brother who looked equally surprised. “Well that didn’t go as expected.”
John stood. “That’s the story of my life right now. Nothing I say is received the way I expect it to.” He glared down at the tray. “This Peppe – Emile thing is driving me nuts. Emile is Peppe’s son. He should be the one to do this.”
Dane didn’t have an argument for that. He didn’t know how bad the situation really was. He’d only seen Peppe a couple of times since he’d been here and the old man appeared more or less normal each time. Apparently things had deteriorated. “True enough. There has to be something going on here if neither child wants to help the parent.”
“I want him in a home. I haven’t been able to find a place and Tasha fights the idea, but neither will she deal with him.” John ran a weary hand down his face. “You even suggest that she should go see her father, and she bursts into tears.”
“Perhaps she can’t stand to see how badly he’s deteriorating?”
“I don’t know what the problem is. She won’t tell me.” His hands fisted, then relaxed on his hips.
Dane looked around the small kitchen. Pots sat on the table. He didn’t know if there was food in them or not. He was glad he was taking Jade out tonight.
He glanced down at the plate prepared for Peppe. It looked like rice and beans. Looking around the kitchen he realized how old and faded everything was. Definitely in need of a new coat of paint and new flooring. Another sign their financial troubles might be bigger than he’d initially believe. There’d been money here at one time. Not for a while though. Probably not since the death of Tasha’s mother. They weren’t at the level of poverty he saw rampant all over the rest of the country but things hadn’t been good here in a long time.
How had John made a living here before? And as much as Dane would love to help, how could he? He given his brother money when he’d first arrived to help him rebuild his business and help out when the baby came. He gave them money for room and board – and didn’t eat here.
So, if things were that tight, there’d be no money for Peppe’s care either. “How expensive would it be to hire a local to care for him? Surely that would be a minor cost, given the economy right now?”
John’s mouth twisted. He walked over to stare out the window. “I don’t know. I mentioned something about hiring a woman to come and help out, only Tasha just got a weird look on her face and said, ‘No women.’ Now I’ve seen for myself that Peppe can be in tough shape from one day to the next and I know that Emile has lost his temper more than a couple of times when he found his father had soiled himself – apparently his father hadn’t even noticed. Some furniture had to be thrown out one time.”
Dane tried hard but couldn’t quite contain the wrinkle of disgust. It wasn’t Peppe’s fault. He needed help and shouldn’t be living alone. Usually in a case like this, the job fell to the family members, but if they wouldn’t or couldn’t then someone had to be hired to do the job.
“I don’t think you have much choice. You can’t leave him like that. If Emile and Tasha won’t do it, then hire a man. Let him go there once a day and clean Peppe – give him a shave and a hot meal. I don’t know what all else he needs. Surely, with so many out of work, you could find a brawny man with the right disposition to help out?”
John turned to face him. Dane hated his brother’s whipped-puppy look and the glimmer of hope sliding into the back of his eyes. He could understand the situation John faced but sometimes hard decisions had to be made. John was going to be a father soon. He needed to step forward and be a man.
Dane couldn’t resist pushing the point home. Not that John would listen. “John if they aren’t capable of making a decision, then you have to step in and make it for them.”
Straightening his back, John sighed. “I know that. Really. It’s just not that simple. I need the pregnancy to be over and have my Tasha back. I don’t know what’s eating away at her. It’s most likely just hormones, but she’s so volatile right now.”
“Be that as it may, you can’t leave Peppe like this. If it were our father, how would you feel?”
John snorted. “That old soldier boy would have walked off a bridge before ending up like Peppe.”
“I highly doubt any of us would choose to live Peppe’s not-so-golden years. I do know that we all deserve respect and to keep our dignity at times like this – and Peppe, if he really knew and understood, would be horrified.”
John stared down at the tray and then back at his brother. “Do you want to come with me? Let’s take a look and see how bad it really is.”
“Hell no. I don’t want to. But I will.” Dane grinned at the dark look shooting his way. “Come on. Let’s go face the Devil himself.”
Susan cornered Jade in the computer room in the late afternoon. Jade had barely managed to get back to her charts after the relief she felt after Tony’s departure. Still the work had to be done and now that she didn’t have anyone watching over her – at least no one sitting there in the room watching over her – she wanted to plow through the charts.
“Hey. How is the paperwork going?”
Susan dropped her bag on her computer station and took a tissue out of her pocket. It seemed she’d brought dozens of small packets with her from home.
“Are you getting sick?”
“I’d better not be. Tony asked me the same question.” Susan grimaced as Jade twisted her face. “Yeah, he made a good impression on all of us, huh? Anyway he reminded me that there were no sick days negotiated into the contract and if I wasn’t capable of working because of an illness he’d be forced to replace me.”
Jade gasped. “What an asshole.” She slapped the chart down on the desk beside her and turned to face Susan. “Did he just come here to upset everyone? ’Cause he succeeded. I am so glad he’s gone.”
“I second that. What did he do to you?” Susan asked curiously, pulling back her chair and sitting down heavily.
“He made a similar comment about my mental health, afraid that all these deaths were going to send me off the deep end…or some such bullshit.”
Susan snorted. “Isn’t this a fine time to worry about that?”
“I know. We’re almost a month into this. If I were going to lose it, I’d have done so when we first found those bones and chains.”
Susan shivered and then sneezed. After a moment, Susan added, “Maybe I should go lie down. I’d hate to have this get any worse.”
“Yes, you should. It’s Friday. We’ve put in lots of overtime already. Go. Rest and come back on Monday happy and healthy.”
With a watery grin, the woman picked up her bag again. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Besides, it’s not as if we haven’t worked on this every weekend so far.”
“True enough. And this weekend won’t be any different.” Jade watched as Susan made a hasty exit, sneezing several times on the way. She returned to her workload.
Meg walked in five minutes later.
“So are you excited?”
“Hmmm.” Jade stared at her. “What did you say?”
“I asked if you were excited. About tonight? Your hot date with Dane?”
Jade flushed. She’d been trying to keep the date out of her mind all day. She found it a little hard to function with the butterflies rolling around inside. She didn’t know what to expect and her clothing choices were beyond limited. But then she didn’t want to get hung up on that either.
“I’m happy to be going out. Just not so secure in the whole ‘date’ thing.”
“Aha. If you haven’t been dating for a while I can see that might be a little daunting. Still y
ou must get a lot of male attention. You’re gorgeous.”
Jade stared at her. Then laughed. “Aren’t you a comic?”
Meg walked over and sat down beside her. “You, my dear, need to work on your self-esteem. What happened to knock that down?”
The question caught Jade sideways. She leaned back to look at the woman she’d come to view as a friend. “I’m not so sure that it’s been knocked down as much as knocked back a pace or two. I had a bad breakup close to year ago and haven’t ventured into that realm since.”
Tilting her head sideways, Meg smiled compassionately. “That’s a decent amount of time. You don’t appear to be too upset over it now.”
Was she? Not heartbroken, at least not now. In fact, she could honestly say that she’d had a lucky escape – at least from him. Other things that happened at the same time were more painful.
“No. I was angry for a long time, but that’s dissipated.” She shrugged. “I’m saddened at the way everything ended.”
“And now there’s Dane in your life.”
Jade grinned. “Right. At least for tonight.”
“Hey, he lives in Seattle and he packs a load of sex appeal into that lean rangy body, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, he does that.” She’d had a hell of a time going to sleep last night because of it. Damn he looked good. That just brought back another worry. “Sex isn’t an issue on a first date, is it?”
Meg raised her eyebrows. “Sex should never be an issue. It happens on some first dates if everything is hot, hot and hotter. If that’s the case, then go for it. Otherwise, it shouldn’t even come up.” She grinned. “Although, it’s a good sign if it does.”
Jade grinned. “It’s been a few years since my last relationship started. I’d forgotten the initial heat of attraction.”
“That should have been a sign about the relationship if the heat didn’t last long. So Dane has got your juices flowing, has he?”
“Hell, he’s probably gotten every female in Haiti paying attention to him.” Jade said it with humor but didn’t know how she felt about that.