by Anna Adams
“You mean because everyone just accepts Evan and me? I’ve noticed,” she said. “Your life is so different than mine.” She met his gaze again. “I always wondered why you didn’t ask me here.”
“We didn’t know each other a long time.”
“No, but you visited once after we were—” She stopped, a blush coloring her cheeks. She meant after they’d become lovers. She smiled, her mouth curving self-consciously. “You ignored all my most blatant hints that I’d like to come along.”
Was she flirting?
He had no time to find out. At that moment, Evan’s voice shouted, “Sister!”
Zach was on his feet, an urge to kill what or whomever had put fear in his son’s voice. Evan flew around the corner, towing Lily by her hand.
“Sister, come on. That was a bad girl.” He flung himself at his mom. She almost toppled as both children wrapped themselves around her waist.
“Cameras,” Evan said, heaving for breath. “And some lady who wanted to know Lily’s name.”
“Take them inside.” Zach was already on his way to confront them.
“You come inside, too. They’ll go away if they have no one to talk to.”
Rage had such a grip on him he couldn’t talk. Only the children, watching them as if they were Ping-Pong balls, kept him sane. At times like this, he believed his worst fears—that he could have killed Salva on his last mission, and that was why he’d chosen to forget.
Through a maze of guilt, one thought surfaced. He had to take care of his children and get rid of the reporters who’d dared frighten them. “Olivia, do as I say.”
Her frigid expression showed disdain for his tone and his suggestion. “Listen to me. I have experience.”
He didn’t give a damn about her skill with the scavengers who’d trespassed on his aunt’s property. “Take Evan and Lily inside.”
Waiting for no further argument, he pushed through his aunt’s flower beds and rounded the corner to find two cameramen and three reporters clinging to the brick wall. Anger swept him back to that day in the bank. In his head he saw cameras and bodies flying, and he began to plan the best way for making it come to pass.
How dare they interrogate his son? How dare they try to use his daughter to paint some story about Olivia Kendall’s family? Animals, feeding on babies.
“Get the hell out of here.”
“Are you Evan Kendall’s father?” the female reporter asked.
“I’m the man who’s going to—” snap your neck in two “—throw you all in jail for trespassing if you don’t get off this property.”
The woman opened her mouth as Zach flexed his fists. No one scared his children. No one.
The woman glanced from his hands, exposing barely controlled fury, to her colleagues. “Back to the easement, boys.”
Red hazed over Zach’s eyes, but he couldn’t legally push them any farther away. They slid off the wall, and he backed into the house.
His heart was trying to spring out of his chest. His reaction had been completely out of control, but his temper jacked up every time he thought of Evan’s sad cry of “sister.”
“God,” he muttered as sweat poured over him.
“Zach?”
He turned, still on the attack. Wariness flickered in Olivia’s eyes.
“Eliza has the children.”
“You shouldn’t have left them.”
“We’ll both go back as soon as you don’t look like a hired killer.”
“What?” But he knew what she meant because he felt like a killer who’d work for free.
“Actually, in the movies, the hired guns are always calmer than you.”
“I’m calm.”
“You’ve got death in your eyes.” She glanced toward the wall. “Are they all okay?”
“Setting up on the easement, probably with some good shots of me threatening them.”
“How often do you lose control?”
Now that accusation scared him. He stepped away from her. “Never. I said those idiots are all right.”
“I know you had to put the bank robber down, but these people are just doing their jobs.” A tremor of unease vibrated in her voice. Used to Helene’s methods, he steeled himself, but Olivia wasn’t looking for a reason to part him from her son. She really didn’t understand. And he couldn’t ease her concern because he had no idea why anger was leaking out of his bad dreams into his real life.
He forced himself to feel calm so that he’d sound calm when he spoke. “You understand those people because you work at the same job. I believe they were threatening my children. They’re too young to deal with tabloid writers.”
Olivia inhaled quickly and began to choke. “Is that how you see me?” she asked between coughs.
Great. “No.” Turning, he started back to the dining room. “Drop it. I want to see my son and daughter. We can discuss anger management later.”
“We’re going to.”
Fear did a little dance down his spinal column. Not fear of Olivia. Concern about skills he didn’t want, that taught him how to present a convincing calm facade, or take a man apart. He couldn’t trust them. They hadn’t saved his friend’s life.
BETH STARED through the window over her kitchen sink, searching as far down the driveway as she could see. Zach and the children and Olivia should have arrived by now.
Zach had asked if they could come by long enough to duck the reporters who’d picked the Dogwood as their only stop on a tour of Bardill’s Ridge.
Beth assembled her materials for the evening’s crocheting class, then she checked the toys she’d set up in the living room. Zach’s beloved Lincoln Logs and the race car and track that made the house smell like an electrical fire. She’d found two paint-chipped yoyos and a jump rope that must have been Molly’s or Sophie’s. Did kids play with toys that didn’t include video screens these days?
She’d do anything to help Evan feel at home here.
She bit her thumbnail, scanning two back copies of Relevance that stuck out above the other magazines in the rack beside her chair. Should she shove those into a drawer? Having the magazine’s top editor in for cookies felt odd.
The phone rang, and Beth left the magazines, breathing a sigh of relief. It had to be Zach, explaining where they were. He knew how she worried.
“Hello?”
“Zach Calvert, please,” said a man with no time for anything except business. Probably a reporter who thought she’d sprang stupid from the Smoky Mountains.
“He doesn’t live here.”
“I believe he’s brought my grandson to visit a Mrs. Beth Calvert? That would be you?”
“I’m Beth.” She considered cussing at the man who’d brought extra pressure to bear on her son.
“I need to talk to Zach. Now. Put him on, please.”
Who’d died and made this guy supreme being? “He hasn’t arrived yet. May I give him your message?”
“What do you mean he hasn’t arrived? My daughter and Evan are with him. They left their hotel half an hour ago according to another Ms. Calvert I spoke to.”
Eliza. “We’ve had some reporters in town,” she said pointedly. “He’s probably trying to shake them so they don’t follow him here.”
Silence and static came over the line. “Ms. Calvert, my daughter won’t take my calls or e-mails right now. Perhaps you’d also give her a message for me?”
“I might.” As long as it wasn’t some pompous order to call him the second Olivia stepped out of Zach’s car.
“Tell her I fired the butler.”
His officious attitude annoyed her, but Beth laughed in relief. “I’ll gladly tell her. And would you still like Zach to call?”
“Yes. His former commanding officer just placed a call to me, and I’m willing to entertain Zach’s thoughts on the information I should give the admiral.”
Her forehead knotted in an instant headache. “I’ll pass that message as well.”
“Thank you, Ms. Calvert.”
“Thank you. Beth.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Kendall.”
“Please call me James. Have you seen Evan?”
“He’s a bright, funny, loving little boy. He hauled his sister away from the reporters as if they were the hounds of hell.”
“Trust me, they most likely are. I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I told you how sorry I am that I’ve caused this problem for my daughter and your son.”
“For some reason, I do believe you, but I don’t much matter. You’ll have to make your peace with Olivia and Zach. And Evan. He was scared for his sister.”
“My daughter ignores my advice about hiring a bodyguard when she travels with Evan. I’m sure the guy who takes him to school would welcome the extra salary.”
The idea of Evan needing a bodyguard made her wish she’d hung up while they were ahead. “I’ll pass your messages along, James. Good afternoon.”
She thought he wished her a formal goodbye before she put the phone back in its cradle. She got scared, thinking of the lifestyle that demanded bodyguards. How would Evan be happy with Zach who couldn’t give him half as much excitement?
“DAD,” EVAN SAID, from the back seat, “Lily says you’re going to build her a tree house.”
“It’ll be yours now, too,” Zach said. “Do you want to help us with the plans?”
Olivia turned in time to see her son arm-pumping in unison with his sister. Helene wouldn’t care for such an unladylike expression of excitement.
“You may have to come back for the tree house, Evan. I’m not sure how long we can stay.”
“We’ll start in a couple of days.” Zach kept his tone even, but his gaze reflected the plea on Lily and Evan’s faces.
Olivia could have kicked herself. At the talk of long-term building plans she’d panicked, but she shouldn’t have mentioned time frames in front of the children. “I have a job. I have to go back before Brian quits on me.”
“Who’s Brian?” Lily asked in a whisper Zach and Olivia couldn’t help hearing.
“This guy. He plays soccer with me sometimes.”
Remembering Zach’s apparent anxiety about sharing sports with Evan, Olivia glanced at him. He turned his head, meeting her gaze with a rueful smile.
“Yeah, it bugs me.” He whispered more proficiently than Lily. “But I can learn to play, too.”
“Brian’s a good guy. He just tried to—” She didn’t want to imply Zach had been deficient. A man couldn’t be lax in caring for a son he didn’t know about, but Zach’s conscience didn’t always seem to consider the circumstances.
“Brian took up the slack. I get it.” Zach veered onto a gravel road. “And I also get you’re not complaining because I wasn’t there. You don’t have to sift through every word before you talk to me.”
This wasn’t a conversation the children needed to hear either. But in the back seat, Lily claimed she could “run quicker than Grandma’s cat,” and Evan couldn’t resist claiming he was faster. The argument would keep them occupied.
“It’s a tense situation.” Olivia eased toward Zach, just far enough to speak, but not draw attention. “I don’t know how you feel about what happened before, and I don’t want you to think I’m holding a grudge.”
“I’m not sure why you’re so forgiving.”
She straightened. “You didn’t leave on purpose. I’m a reasonable woman.”
“More than.” While her heart pounded, Zach glanced into the rearview mirror again. The car brushed overhanging shrubbery as they took a curve on Olivia’s side. “Here we are, buddy,” he said. “That house on the hill was my mom’s when she was a little girl.”
“I want to see your house, Dad.”
“We’ll do that, too, but Grandma has some toys for you and Lily to play with, and Lily thought you might like to make cookies.”
Back at the B&B, Olivia had agreed with his real reason for visiting Beth. Once they’d escaped the reporters on a road too narrow for a dog sled to navigate, Zach’s house had to be the first place someone looking for them would go. He didn’t think anyone could find it, but he’d wanted to be sure before he took Evan and Lily to his home.
Olivia slid her hand into her coat pocket, touching the cell phone she hadn’t turned on in a day and a half. Her father would have flooded her voice mail by now with more of his rationale for sending the journalists after them.
At the top of his mom’s driveway, Zach parked behind a spreading green shrub that looked a lot like a spaceship in disguise.
“You should see this in the spring,” he said. “It’s honeysuckle, Evan.”
“You can drink it,” Lily added.
“Really?” Her son asked before Olivia could.
“Uh-huh. Grandma Greta showed me how.” Lily pointed at their father. “She’s Dad’s gran.”
“Do I know her, Dad?” Evan asked.
“You will.” The many Calvert faces were apparently already blurring.
Olivia got out of the car and opened Lily’s door. After she unfastened the booster seat, the little girl slid out and slipped her hand into Olivia’s. Olivia stared from the trusting little grip to Zach, but he only smiled with happiness that erased the usual strain in his face.
“Are we sneaking up on Grandma, Daddy? I didn’t know you liked to play hide-and-seek with cars.”
Zach laughed. “Why don’t you go ring the doorbell?”
She ran and Evan hurtled after her. Olivia rubbed her fingers together. “She held my hand.”
“I saw.”
“She’s a sweet girl, Zach. I know you and Helene have problems, but she shows no sign.”
“We both love her, and even Helene professes to want the best for her.”
“You don’t think she does?”
“In most things, maybe.”
“Helene’s still angry about your marriage.”
“My mom said she was rude to you last night.”
The children banged on Beth Calvert’s door. As Olivia debated how much to tell Zach about his ex-wife’s accusations, Beth came out and scooped both children into her arms.
“Helene said what she thought.” Olivia watched Evan swing in his grandmother’s embrace. “He’s going to be spoiled after all this attention.”
“My mom likes having another grandchild better than Christmas. And what does Helene think?”
“We should go inside. Hiding the car won’t do any good if someone sees us out here.”
“They’d have to come up the driveway to that last curve, and we’d hear them before they caught sight of us.”
Playing spy games came too easily to him. Did he realize? When she tried to talk about the past, he tended to be defensive, so she didn’t ask. Today was for family, not for explanations Zach couldn’t provide. Olivia climbed the porch steps to the door that had closed behind her son.
Zach’s body heat startled her as he reached past her and turned the doorknob. “You don’t have to knock.”
“It’s not my house.”
“I remember that much.” He touched the small of her back, urging her inside.
The scent of apples and fresh baking wrapped her in homey warmth that surely didn’t exist outside the movies. They entered a living room filled with chintz furniture and so many family pictures she didn’t have time to take them all in. This was the kind of home she’d always wanted.
She was most drawn to the photos. “Evan couldn’t look more like you.”
“I knew he was mine the second I saw his face.” Movement across the room attracted his eye. “Lily, Evan, let Spike off the television.”
Olivia followed Zach’s glance. A huge gray cat stood on a wide console TV, arching and hissing at Evan and Lily.
“Evan.” He’d never cornered a cat before. “You love animals. Leave the kitty alone.”
Zach’s mother came out of a tiny kitchen, two mugs in her hands. “He doesn’t like
to be patted,” she said. “If you two drink your chocolate and play quietly, he’ll jump down and sit near you.”
“That’s not much fun.” Evan sounded just a touch spoiled in his disappointment. He turned to his sister. “How can you run with him?”
“Maybe I chase him.” Lily grabbed her grandma’s pant leg. “But only a little, Grandma Beth, and sometimes I let him get away.”
“As long as you don’t scare him, it’s exercise. But don’t scare him, okay?” Beth herded the children toward a stack of toys. “I don’t have any video games.”
“My mom hates ’em,” Evan said. He tapped the top of a tin of wooden logs. “What’s this?”
“You build stuff with ’em.” Lily copied her big brother’s lax pronunciation. Olivia turned away to hide a smile.
“Can we,” Evan asked, “Grandma Beth?”
The name sounded sweet on his lips. She’d never thought he’d have a grandmother.
“Absolutely,” Beth said. “Your mom’s been preparing you to visit me so you wouldn’t be bored.”
Evan’s smile made him look exactly like the boy in pictures all over this room. “I’m not bored. Everyone likes me in Tennessee.”
Less than comforting words to a mother’s ears. Olivia moved toward him. “Evan, does someone dislike you in Chicago?”
He looked as if he wished she’d stop embarrassing him. “No, Mom, but you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, Mr. Grown-Up, I guess I do.” She ruffled his hair in a small head lock. “You’re a gift to everyone you meet here.”
“Mo-o-m.” He tried to flop his hair back into place, looking anywhere except at his sister.
“Olivia, I need to talk to you and Zach.”
Beth made the chat sound serious. Olivia peeked back at her son. “Can you open the logs?”
“I’ll help,” Lily said.
Zach just popped the lid. “We guys have to stick together.” He also ruffled Evan’s hair, but their boy grinned at his dad and left his hair on end.
Olivia tried not to grimace. She’d anticipated at least eight more years before her son decided she was too humiliating to keep. Trying not to mind Evan’s minor switch of allegiance, she followed Beth into the kitchen.