by Neesa Hart
That won a sharp look from Zack. “Children, Seb,” he warned.
“Sorry.” He looked at Cora again. “So I cut out part of the jamb. I was going to head into town to get a new piece this morning.”
Liza wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I just wanted to see,” she wailed. “I didn’t want him to get losted.”
Rafael ruffled her hair. “Don’t give it another thought, Liza. We’ll get him out.”
“How?” she persisted.
He winked at her. “Have I failed Benedict Bunny yet?”
Kaitlin wrapped a comforting arm around her sister. “He’ll get him back, Liza. Don’t worry.”
“I don’t know,” Zack’s youngest son said. “It’s dark in that hole. I wouldn’t stick my arm in there.”
Liza turned tear-filled eyes to Rafael. “Do you think Benedict Bunny is scared in there?”
“No.” He went down on one knee. “Benedict Bunny isn’t scared of anything.”
Elena’s daughter, who still sat by the hole, pointed to the opening. “Your arm won’t fit in there, Uncle Rafael. You’re too big.”
“Think so?” he asked, and leaned down to look in the slot.
“Yeah,” his nephew assured him. “No way.”
Rafael grinned at him. “Have a little faith, Chip. I’m a pro at this.”
“You mean she did it before?” Chip asked, incredulous.
Molly nodded. “Lots of times.”
Liza pressed close to Rafael’s shoulder. “How you gonna do it, Rafael? You just gotta get him out of there.”
“Well—” he looked at the hole “—I think if we try the coat hanger, we might shove him farther in.”
Liza caught her breath. “You can’t do that.”
“Yeah,” Chip said. “Then you might never get him out.”
“Chip,” his father said.
Chip shot an apologetic look at Liza. “Uncle Rafael is smart, though. He’ll figure it out.”
Rafael laughed. “Thanks for your confidence.”
“Sure,” Chip said, and shrugged.
Elena tapped an impatient foot. “Okay, the suspense is killing me. What are we going to do?”
Rafael glanced at Seb. “Can you take the rest of the jamb off?”
“I could. I’m just not certain I can match the wood. This place is an historic landmark. I was trying to minimize the damage.” He looked at Cora. “Your call.”
She wiped a hand through her tangled hair. “Can you take it off carefully?”
He nodded. “I can try.”
An anxious three minutes passed while Seb painstakingly worked at the ancient square-head nails.
The kids grew restless. Liza shifted from one foot to the other and visibly tried not to ask questions. Elena chewed on her thumbnail. Zack braced one shoulder against the wall and watched the situation unfold with a benevolence Cora found fascinating in light of Rafael’s description of his unyielding older sibling.
“Almost,” Seb promised as he pried loose another nail.
“How much longer?” Liza asked.
Rafael pulled her onto his lap. “Just a few more minutes.”
Seb pried at the aged wood with gentle persistence until finally it slipped free with a groan. “Got it.”
Liza scrambled off Rafael’s lap and hurried toward the exposed hole. “Is he in there?”
Rafael grabbed her before she put her hand inside the opening. “Easy. No telling what’s in there.”
“I bet its got bugs,” Molly said.
Liza clutched at Rafael’s arms. “Can you get him out?”
Rafael looked in the opening, then gingerly extended his arm. “I can reach him,” he told her.
The crowd seemed to hold its collective breath. Rafael withdrew his arm. In his large hand, he held a dusty Benedict Bunny and a slender, leather-bound volume. He looked at Cora. “I think Benedict Bunny may be a hero, after all,” he said.
Cora gasped. “My God.”
“What is it?” Margie asked.
Kaitlin held one hand to her mouth. “It’s another of Abigail Conrad’s diaries.”
Rafael nodded, then looked at the opening. “And there are more,” he said. “A lot more.”
Chapter Eleven
The woman has cast her lot now, and I can only pray I reach her in time to keep her from doing something foolish.
Juan Rodriguez del Flores
Captain’s Log, 1 October 1862
Elena was the first to break the story. They all watched it together that afternoon on the national news channel. Elena had called in a camera crew and put together a hastily edited piece that explained the significance of Rafael’s find and Cora’s research.
More than twenty volumes had been stashed in the wall. Cora and Rafael had taken them to the lab for an initial inspection. Two of the diaries, they discovered, were dated the same month and year of Abigail’s purported death and del Flores’s disappearance. Cora felt confident that further study would yield information confirming Rafael’s suspicions about the possible location of the Isabela. The temptation was strong, but she resisted the urge to search through the volumes without first taking the precaution to preserve the moisture-damaged pages. The process would take several days, she knew, so they’d left the lab to report their discovery to his family.
With Cora’s permission, Elena released the story.
Her report had a predictable effect. Rafael’s PR firm had three representatives on site in Cora’s home by nightfall. The phone rang constantly. Cora lost count of how many quotes she gave. Rafael, she noted, watched her carefully throughout the day, as if he was unsure how she would handle the pressure.
By midday, most of his family was making plans to leave. Cora found herself reluctant to let them go. She’d never enjoyed the support of a large family, and especially not during times of personal chaos. Their presence and their unbounded optimism bolstered her courage. She didn’t have the time or energy to ask herself why. Despite her insistence that she wanted them there, they seemed determined.
Cora rubbed a knot at the back of her neck as she watched Seb toss Margie’s suitcase into her car for her. “All packed,” Margie told Cora with a bright smile. “That’s the advantage of traveling solo. No kids and no husband to corral.”
“Do you really have to leave?” Cora asked her. “You said you could stay until Monday.”
Margie hesitated. Seb was striding toward them. “I think things are crazy enough around here without us around.”
Cora’s impatience had been steadily building since the lunchtime announcement that the Adriano clan was deserting. “It’s my house, Margie. Don’t I get to decide who stays and who goes?”
Margie looked at her closely. “You’re just being polite.”
Cora gritted her teeth. “I never do things I don’t want to do just to be polite. Ask your brother.”
“Cora…” Margie looked worried. Seb had reached them now, and she looked to him for support.
“I’m serious.” Cora indicated the house with a sweep of her hand. “It’s becoming painfully obvious that within the next several hours, there are going to be reporters and God knows who else crawling all over this place. I’d at least like to have my friends around when it happens. If nothing else, I could post one of you in all the rooms to watch my stuff.”
Seb put an arm around his sister’s shoulders. He looked carefully at Cora. “With all the kids—” he shrugged “—it’s too much for you to deal with. We’re not leaving Cape Marr—we’re just going to a hotel.”
“And I have no say at all in this?”
Seb shrugged. “Zack felt—”
Cora frowned. “Zack? Zack did this?”
Margie shook her head. “You’re reading this wrong, Cora. We all talked it over, and Zack pointed out that—”
She clenched her hands at her sides. “That’s it,” she muttered, and reached for the screen door. Maybe it was the effects of a mostly sleepless night coupled with the adrena
line surge from finding Abigail’s diaries. More likely, it was the fear she’d been battling that this insane happiness she felt was slipping inexorably through her fingers. Whatever was causing her current agitation, Cora had finally found a focus for it.
She located Zack in her living room. He had a pile of luggage and was issuing quiet instructions to two of his sons. When she stormed into the room, he halted midsentence and looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Cora. Is something wrong?”
“Yes,” she fumed. “Sit down.”
Zack’s two boys looked at her openmouthed. Zack tapped them both on the head to get their attention. “Sam, go find your mother and see if she needs help. Teddy, check on your brothers.”
The two gave Cora a wide berth as they raced from the room.
“What’s on your mind, Cora?” Zack asked.
He didn’t sit, she noted. He was used to giving orders, not taking them. “It was your idea to run everyone out of here today.”
“You don’t need us underfoot.”
No wonder Raphael found him so irritating, she thought. He had an implacable calm that made her itch to penetrate it. “I’m a thirty-year-old, highly educated, self-sufficient person, thank you very much. I think I’m perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”
His eyebrows lifted higher. “Cora—”
“If I wanted you to leave, I’d tell you. Where do you get off making a decision like that?”
“I didn’t think—”
“No, you didn’t.” Her anger was gathering steam, and she wasn’t sure why. “You didn’t think that the next few days are going to be challenging and difficult for both your brother and for me. You didn’t think that his entire professional reputation might be riding on what we discover in those books. You didn’t think that depending on what we find, he could either realize his dream or become the subject of unfair ridicule by a bunch of intellectual egomaniacs who would love to take him down a notch. Do you think he wants to be alone right now? Do you think he wants to know that not even his family is willing to stand by him and see this through to the end?”
Zack dropped onto the couch. “This isn’t—”
Cora made an impatient gesture with her hands. “You know, from the moment I met you, I’ve been trying to figure out just what it is about the two of you that makes it impossible for you to get along.”
“We get along,” he insisted.
“Sure. Like oil and water—you get along just fine until somebody shakes the bottle. Then both of you start struggling for distance.”
“I think you’re reading this the wrong way.”
“Am I? Then tell me why you’ve issued marching orders to your entire family.”
He looked stung. “I did not issue orders.”
“You don’t have to. All you have to do is express a preference, and everyone falls into step.”
“You don’t—”
“Except for Rafael. He’s the only one who stands his ground, and you can’t stand it, can you?”
Zack’s gaze darted beyond her shoulder to the door. Contemplating escape? she wondered. “I think you’re reading this the wrong way.”
“Well, I don’t,” she said. “And you might be able to get away with this patriarchal dictatorship on your own turf, but you’re not doing it on mine. Your brother deserves to know he has the support of his family, and frankly, so do I. So you can just go out there—” she jabbed an angry finger at the door “—and tell them all to get their bags back in here. Because nobody’s leaving this house until I say so.”
His eyes sparkled with amusement as he looked at the doorway again. “I can see why you like her.”
Cora glanced at the door. Rafael stood with one shoulder propped against the frame, his expression frank and admiring. “My thoughts exactly.”
“Hi,” she muttered irritably.
He sauntered into the room. “Hi. What’s going on?”
“Cora was just telling me that I’m behaving like an autocrat.”
With a laugh, Rafael eased an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “No kidding?”
Cora frowned at Zack. “I don’t think this is funny.”
Rafael nuzzled her neck. “Really? I think it’s hilarious.”
She elbowed his ribs. “Stop. I’m serious.”
Raising his head, he gave her an inquiring look. “I can see that.”
She looked from one man to the other. “I just think that the next couple of days are going to be extremely stressful for both of us. We have no idea what we’re going to find in those diaries.” She examined his expression closely. “You realize—”
“That they could invalidate every theory I have. Sure.”
“And if that happens…”
“I’ll have to deal with all the Jerry Heaths of the world who are yearning to take me down a peg or two? Honey, I know that.” He placed his hands on her waist, then turned her to face him. “All I ever wanted was the truth. I’d like us to find out that I’ve been right all along, but if we don’t, we don’t.”
“Aren’t you worried at all?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “I hate to eat crow. It tastes like hell.”
She gave Zack a meaningful glance. “It’s easier to stomach if someone else eats it with you.”
Rafael caught her chin and made her look at him. “I think he’s trying to be considerate.”
“Thanks for that, at least,” his brother drawled sarcastically.
Cora frowned. “I don’t want them to leave.”
“We’re going to have reporters everywhere,” Rafael said. “You sure you want all this company?”
“Absolutely sure,” she said with such conviction it surprised her. There had been a time when she couldn’t imagine having to share herself with so many people. Yet Rafael’s family—in stark contrast to any memory she had of her own—seemed to make burdens lighter. She didn’t stop to consider why. She looked at Zack. “Please,” she said simply.
With a short nod he rose and started for the door. He laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder as he passed. “I’ll go see if August tries to kill me when I tell her to unpack all those suitcases again.”
“Good luck,” Rafael said with a chuckle.
Zack made it to the foyer when a sudden and demanding knock on the door arrested his progress. He shot Cora a quizzical look. “Expecting anyone else?”
Cora shook her head. “No.”
Rafael scowled. “It’s either Jerry Heath, Henry Willers or a reporter.”
“Already?” Cora asked.
“Vultures start circling the minute they see blood.”
Cora drew a deep breath and moved toward the door. “If it’s Jerry,” she warned, casting Rafael an amused look, “don’t bother trying to stop me. This time, I’m slugging him.”
“I’ll hold him down for you,” he promised.
“And if it’s a reporter—” she reached for the knob “—Benedict Bunny is unavailable. So you’re in charge.”
She pulled open the door, then stood still in utter shock when a visibly fuming Lauren stormed into the foyer like a ship in full sail. Seb and Margie were standing on the porch where Cora had left them. They watched Cora’s sister warily. Lauren, who always had reveled in playing an audience, dramatically waved a newspaper in front of Cora and announced in a shrill voice, “I have come for my children.”
ZACK LEANED BACK on the sofa next to his wife. “I’m not sure what you want me to say,” he told his brother.
Rafael stopped pacing and looked at him. “Are you kidding? I want you to say that since it’s obviously in the best interest of those three girls to stay here with Cora, the law understands that and is on their side.”
Cora held out her hand to him. “Rafael—”
“Dammit,” he swore, and resumed his pacing. It had been a harrowing afternoon. Lauren’s untimely appearance and melodramatic announcement had brought the children running from all over the house. At the sound of her mother’s voice, Liza ha
d raced down the stairs, clutching her bunny, exuberant at the thought of seeing Lauren again. A wary Molly and an openly hostile Kaitlin had followed. As had most of Rafael’s nephews and nieces. The small crowd in the foyer witnessed an ugly and demoralizing scene where Lauren had brushed past Liza’s outstretched arms to hurl angry accusations at Cora.
Within moments Liza and Molly were in tears, and Kaitlin had stepped forward to confront her mother. Rafael could still feel the impact of Cora’s wounded look when Lauren had turned a venomous gaze on her and accused her of stealing the loyalty of her children. Bad turned to worse when Zack’s adopted sons, several of whom bore scars of similar confrontations, had joined the fray to defend their new friends.
“Stop yelling, lady,” an angry Lucas had declared. “You’re scaring the kid.” He’d picked up Liza, who had begun to sob.
“Yeah,” added Sam, crossing to Molly’s side. “You’re screeching.”
“It’s unbecoming,” Beau announced with a derisive snort.
Kaitlin had turned her teary gaze to Cora. “I don’t want to go,” she’d said. “Please don’t make me.”
Lauren looked first at Rafael, then at Cora. “I can’t believe this,” she yelled. “I can’t believe my own sister would try to turn my children against me.”
Cora shook her head. “Lauren, it’s not like—”
“I leave them with you so I can enjoy a small vacation from all the stress of being a single parent, and not only do I find my private life flaunted in the pages of a scandal sheet…” She paused to histrionically wave the newspaper article Cora had shown him weeks ago. Rafael scowled. Lauren gathered steam for another barrage. “But I come back here to find that you’ve poisoned my children’s minds. There’s no telling what’s been going on—”
“Shut up, Lauren,” Cora snapped. She’d seemed to have lost her composure. The abrupt command left a speechless Lauren with her mouth hanging open in shock. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cora snapped as she took a step closer to her sister. “And now is not the time to discuss this.”
“I’m here for my children,” Lauren declared again, her voice rising even higher. “Are you going to deny my right to them?”