“The hotel…” he blew a long, slow breath between his lips. “I’m working with three groups to establish it into a part hostel for people who have relatives under going cancer treatments and a hospice for those who can’t die at home.”
Hope pulled the blanket over her head and groaned into the pillow.
“Maggie had a great deal of money. Most left to her by parents and grandparents,” he began talking, explaining. “She died of cancer. She found out half way through the pregnancy and…and there was nothing that could be done to stop it or remove it. I bought this house a little over a year ago and was going to try it here, but…I’m doing the renovations myself and decided I liked it. Then the hotel came up for sale. Better location. Easily between all the hospitals in the Seattle area…local transport is convenient…it’s perfect. One of the groups working with me…very family oriented. Having a wife present for a few things would get me a good nod and less grief, let’s say. I need their capital and input for the non-profit. Which means, I need you…your help.”
Devon listened to her breathing, watching the blanket lower slowly. She turned on the pillow to stare at him, her hair a dark cloud around her face. He knew from his research that she was one quarter Native American from one of the tribes in the center of the country, which accounted for the tint to her skin and the large, dark eyes and high cheeks. He also knew that she’d never taken advantage of any of the free offerings for Native Americans. She owed money on a student loan, when she probably could have gotten her college free. She lived very frugally and had left home when she graduated high school.
Hope pushed herself to sit, her hands on the edge of the blanket in tight knotted fists. Negotiation, her mind said in a long drawn out word.
He watched her eyes narrow, her head tilted slightly to the side.
“I start my job on Monday,” she said quietly, looking up from her hands at him. “Mina goes with me to spend time at the day care.”
“Bargaining?” He said carefully.
“Bargaining.” Hope repeated the word clearly, meeting his eyes. She was positive they were glowing a gold kind of amber around the edges. “She needs to be with children and people with time to teach her. Isolating yourself is your choice, it’s not right to force it on a child so eager to learn.”
Devon didn’t want to admit he’d come to the same conclusion after watching the animation in Mina’s explanation of her day.
“I don’t know what you do…in your office thing…but it would also give you work time, which should be kept separate from time with her, as a person,” Hope pressed, confident in her argument.
“I’m a contractor for home and structural engineering,” he told her. “I buy homes, renovate them and either lease or sell them on the side. At least, I used to have a side before Mina came along. I also do outside contract work, evaluating structures for stability and life span. Now I’m relocating my office and usually send my crews out on their own. I used to go out more…I’ve been searching for a nanny, but haven’t been happy with the choices the agency has sent over. And Mina didn’t take to them, either.”
“Then having her in a pre-school type environment would be good for you both,” Hope pointed out, cautiously chewing on her lip. “Now it’s your turn to put what you want on the table.”
Devon worked to keep his laughter inside, his head nodding slowly and expression serious.
“You live here. We present a united front and you attend social functions with me as my wife,” he saw doubt in her eyes. “I’ll buy you the clothing you need for them, Hope. And it’s yours. I don’t want it back.”
“I mentioned that I don’t think I quite fit in your world,” she pointed out slowly.
“You seem to have decent enough manners,” he tossed back lightly, shrugging. “My world consists of ground breaking, wall demolishing and other grubby things. I think you’ll be fine. Until I got mixed up with Maggie, I lived in annoying apartments with neighbors you wanted to kill or at the very least, severely maim. I barely made payroll the first couple years and rarely had money left over for discretionary spending.”
“Fancy word…” She pulled her legs from the sides, sitting cross legged. “I guess maybe the house…and cars…give a different impression.”
Devon sighed and shrugged. “The cars are good, solid transportation with decent reputations behind them. The house…grew on me…most of the rooms are closed off and under renovation. That’s one of the things Matt helps with here. Jackie keeps things neat and cooks.”
“I want kitchen privileges,” she threw out quickly, lips pursed in thought.
“You cook?” He saw her nod. “Enjoy yourself. I can’t think it’d be a bad thing for Mina to learn. Use that card I gave you for whatever you need, Hope.” He had a feeling that one was going to be a hard push on his part. He grinned at the thoughtful frown on her face. “Trying to decide on other things for the bargaining table?” Her eyes flew to his, making him laugh. “Let’s consider it always open to adjustment. I need your help more than you need mine, so I’m a little vulnerable here, but I’m willing to risk it.”
Hope nodded, unfolding her legs and pulling them so her chin rested on her knees.
“You really think this is a good idea?”
“I think you’ll make a good shield for all the people trying to set me up,” he said with a casual shrug. “Yes, I think it’s a good idea. I’ll see you in the morning, Hope,” he walked to the hall door, closing it behind him.
Hope curled back against the pillows, lying awake a long time wondering how she’d become so easy to manipulate.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Like the previous morning, Devon wandered through Mina’s bedroom and to the connecting door, shaking his head at the two girls snuggled down in the array of thick blankets. Quilts he didn’t recognize had joined the pile, bright and colorful across the bed. He was up earlier than usual, going to his office and sorting through mail and having a long talk with an attorney about the property.
Devon looked up wondering when boots on wooden stairs made so much noise. He met the two sets of wide eyes as they ran wildly around the corner, the little one launching herself at him, he swore, from three feet away with a squeal that rattled the windows.
“Daddy!”
Devon had to get a firmer hold of her or she would have scaled his chest, struggling with the little girl and watching the big one skid to a stop and try and look casual.
“You saved me, daddy!” Mina announced, throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a big hug. “She was gonna eat me,” she whispered with a giggle.
“With sugar and cinnamon,” Hope said with a growl that brought another giggle before she wiggled to get down. “Breakfast?” She held out her palm as if the last five minutes hadn’t happened.
Devon stared in baffled male amazement when they wandered off as if nothing had happened, chatting about animals in the zoo and the things they might eat for breakfast.
Forty-five minutes later, Devon looked up to his name being called. His vision immediately swept to the child playing quietly alone in her toy corner.
“Devon,” Matt rounded the hall with a nod to the main entrance. “You better handle this,” he suggested quietly, Jackie coming in the side and sitting down to chat with Mina.
“What…shit,” Devon took off at a run at the same time the microphone and camera came into Hope’s line of vision as she ran for the gate.
“Mrs. Alexander? My name is Kathy Golden and I’m with channel five now in Tacoma,” the young woman smiled brightly at the woman in black who came to a skidding halt.
Devon saw the wide eyes and grabbed Hope’s shoulders, spinning her and turning his best smile at the camera. “Off…give me a minute to talk to my wife if you want this interview.”
“I…interview…interview about what? That…oh my god…” Hope felt her feet trip over one another as she was hauled out of the range of the listening people.
“Hope…look at me,
” Devon held her firmly in place. “I’d prefer something a little less mayhem ridden…”
“They’re here about the…the break in thing, aren’t they?” She whispered hoarsely.
“Probably. But we know what happened, right?” He accepted her rapid nod. “We don’t want the press ticked off at us, Hope. How about…can you do something about the face…no, how about something a little less terrified…they’re working people, just like us. They just want to talk about the burglar…that’s all…how about we settle for a neutral kind of look…okay, that’ll work…” He put his hand at her waist, guiding her back to the woman watching them closely.
“We won’t take up much of your time, Mrs. Alexander, I promise. We received information about the break in and death…” she paused at the sharply inhaled breath. “I’m sure it was a traumatic event…could you just tell us what happened?”
Hope stood quietly, letting Devon answer questions.
“As you can tell, my wife isn’t quite over the incident. We’re only grateful our daughter was asleep and wasn’t exposed and scared because of it,” Devon continued the conversation for several more minutes before the woman thanked them and left the property and Devon sent Hope off for a long run through the hills.
Across town in a couple different condos, two women were staring, swallowing and choking, each reaching for their phone at the same time.
Charity got the number through first, choking and babbling at Faith.
“Since when…”
“Did you see…why didn’t she tell us…”
“She’s not answering her phone,” Charity growled, pacing the apartment.
“We are sure it was her, right?” Faith asked carefully, listening to the snort on the other end and wincing. “Okay, yeah…it was her…I’ll leave another message, bye.”
Hope stared at her phone when she wandered down from her shower, wincing and counting. She wondered if her friends watched much news. Now she knew the answer without even speaking to them. She tossed the phone on the desk near where Mina played in the large study, hands busy connecting her computer and getting things up and running with a happy sigh.
“What’re you doing?” Mina came over, arms resting on Hope’s thigh.
“Wanna see?” Hope lifted her to sit in front of the keyboard, her hands easily reaching around and working the game she was playing.
“Hey…you’re flying!” Came the excited squeal.
“We can see all kind of animals here…”
Devon sat in his bedroom a long time later, reflecting on a most unique Saturday. He’d just finished reading to Mina and felt restless. He winced at the number of calls going to voice mail when the news story made it from the morning news to the dinner shows. He wondered if Hope was getting the same kind of response, but hadn’t worked up the courage to ask. Until now.
Considering her comment of the night before, he tapped lightly on the door from the hall, stepping inside when she told him to enter. She was stretched out on the bed in her pajamas, feet bent behind her, elbows on a pillow and a paperback book spread open in front of her, the lamp on the night stand glowing down on the pages.
“Can I interrupt the book?” Devon pulled the chair to the side, sinking down and accepting her nod. “I’ve got over twenty voice mails…how about you?” He knew it sounded lame as opening lines went, but at the moment, it was all he had.
Hope reached for the phone with a long stretch, tipping it up and wincing. “Ten. Three different people…”
“Not sure what to tell them?”
“I’m still working on what to tell me, Devon,” she answered, eyes rolled dramatically. “What the heck did you think was going to happen with a camera in our faces?”
“I knew they’d be down on us eventually, Hope,” he said calmly. “You can’t have a home invasion where someone dies and not have it make the news,” he swore softly when the color drained from her face. “Are you concerned about your parents or relatives seeing the story?”
“I doubt they’d say anything,” she shrugged. “It’s not what you’d call a cozy family unit,” she turned her book over and pulled herself to sit up, wrapping the quilt around her. “What about you and Mina? No other relatives?”
“I doubt the story will make it to upper New York,” he said with a crooked grin. “My parents live there. No brothers or sisters.”
“I have friends who are closer to me than relatives…and that’s nice,” Hope wasn’t sure what to think about why he wanted to talk. “You were in the military for awhile…”
“I was…six years…the tee shirt kind of gives it away,” he noted it was still on her nightstand.
“You’ve…” She bit her lip and looked at him. “You’ve seen dead people before, haven’t you? I mean…bodies…”
“Yeah…it’s not something that leaves the memory real quick,” he admitted slowly. “It’s okay that it bothered you, Hope. I don’t think it’ll come up again, though.”
“Do you have…do you know when the dinner parties are? So I can put them in my calendar,” Hope asked.
“I have times and dates for two of them, I’ll send that to you in the morning,” Devon watched her hands shaking. “Are you nervous? Just think of it as a date, Hope. And I promise it won’t interfere with your new job. What will you be doing there?” Somehow he managed to relax her, the animation and excitement in her voice making him smile as he listened to her answers, not only about the job but about the resort itself.
An hour went by before he took a stifled yawn as a hint and told her good night, going quietly into the hall and closing her door.
He wandered through the connecting door shortly before six-thirty, his head shaking at the two of them cocooned beneath a pile of blankets and quilts. He continued on his way down to the room he’d set up as a gym, throwing a little more effort into his workout and trying to make sense of the conflict inside his head.
Devon looked up from the computer screen when he only heard one pair of feet moving more cautiously down the stairs. He knew those steps were Mina’s. He probably should have suspected something was up when he heard the whispers.
“Yep…it’s good…” was the last whisper from Mina before he heard the little squeal and then the very large thump. “I don’t think that was good…”
Devon stood in the doorway, one hand on his neck as he stared at the figure sitting on the floor at the bottom of the staircase. Suddenly Mina looked a little nervous and moved to stand behind Hope, her head down and whisper a little frantic.
“I’m going to tell you the same thing I told my daughter,” he said carefully, leaning down with a sense of satisfaction when she hastily scooted over the hardwood until she hit wall. “Do that again and you’ll get the paddling of your life. Clear?” He waited for the rapid nod before turning and going back to his office, his head shaking in amazement.
Hope let her head thunk back against the wall. She was positive his eyes glowed. She stood up slowly, rubbing her behind and accepting the smaller palm as they went in search of breakfast. Somehow it had worked out better in her mind, she thought with a little frown as they worked through their food. She dug around and found frozen fruit and the blender, mixing up a nice smoothie and sharing it with Mina.
They managed to have adult conversation at lunch in between the discussion of clothes to wear in the morning. They vanished after dinner and it wasn’t until almost eight he went in search of them. It was too quiet, the suspicious side of him warned.
Fifteen minutes of searching with no results led him frowning onto the smaller third floor. Jackie had locked down the house earlier. All the cars were accounted for and the gates were secured. He hadn’t gotten around to cleaning out the old trunks of clothing and bits of furniture yet. Devon stood in the doorway to one of the small rooms, staring down at the large old quilt that had been spread over the floor.
Lying in the center were Mina and Hope, each wearing an old flowered hat and holding hands, sound asleep. He be
nt down, carefully untangling them and taking the little one to her room first, tugging shoes free and deciding sleeping in clothes tonight would be alright for her. He tucked her in and dimmed the lights before going back for Hope.
He lifted her carefully from the floor, amazed at how light she was as he went down the stairs, laying her on the bed before pulling her shoes free. He had just dropped the second one when she stirred, blinking and leaning up to squint at him in the dimly lit room.
“What’s wrong?”
“Not a thing…just putting you and Mina to bed,” he said quietly, reaching up and brushing a bundle of dark hair from her forehead. “You fell asleep upstairs.”
“Oh…we were exploring…”
Devon straightened up in time to see her stretch a little before she burst upright and then surged to her feet, brushing wildly at something on her shoulder. He’d never seen an adult dance on a mattress before quite like that, her eyes wide and mouth open without noise coming out.
When she saw the spider on the bed, she bounced to the floor, grabbing his arm and shoving him toward it.
“Kill it!”
A series of more intangible words followed as he got a tissue from the nightstand, captured the creature and carried it into the bathroom, a flush heard next. He returned to the bedroom to see a shirt flying past his head and a pair of jeans shimmied out of and tossed to the direction of the chair. She came to stand in front of him, head bent.
“Are there more? I hate spiders! Are there more? Is it safe? Did you kill it?” Breathless and wide eyed, she stared up at him when his hands came to her shoulders. Before he could react she spun around, her head bent and hands up raking wildly through the dark layers. “Check! You have to make sure!”
WindSwept Narrows: #13 Charity, Faith & Hope Page 17