Dakota Homecoming

by Lisa Mondello

  “I planned on stopping in Amarillo. From there it’s another full day’s ride though Colorado and Nebraska until we get to Rudolph. Is that okay?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  He didn’t say anything in response to her obvious irritation. She was tired. So was he. When they finally had a chance to stop it would be a relief. But he probably wanted to put as much time behind them as he could before they made the stop. She forced herself to remain calm and asked, “How much longer before we can stop for a bite to eat?”

  “We past Abilene about an hour ago. Can you wait until we get to Lubbock?”

  Her stomach grumbled with the thought of food. “I guess.”

  “It’s about another hour and a half from here. Amarillo will be about another two hours after that. Then we can stop.”

  She nodded and then smiled. “I’m picking the restaurant. I don’t care how famous Texas is for its beef. We’re not stopping for a burger off the highway. I want something good.”

  “Deal.”

  Chapter Two

  Julian didn’t know what he’d expected from Georgie. When he’d told her she could pick the restaurant, on Uncle Sam’s dime, he figured she’d go all out and find a fancy, overpriced restaurant just to give him a dig for making them drive the whole way to South Dakota. But after fiddling with the app on her phone, she chose a small Italian restaurant that reminded him of his aunt Kate’s diner in Rudolph. When he saw the neon sign from the road, he put on his blinker and pulled into the parking lot.

  “I don’t even care if the food isn’t as good as Aunt Kate’s place. I’m so hungry I’ll eat a leather boot,” he said, getting out of the car and then slamming the door shut. The smell of food coming from the circular exhaust vent on the roof was already assaulting his nostrils.

  Georgie got out of the car and took a good look at the place. “It got high stars. It shouldn’t be too bad.”

  “Italian, huh? I figured you’d want something different.”

  “What? Like Mexican?”

  He chuckled. “No. Maybe a steak. Texas is famous for that.”

  “I felt like Italian.”

  He shrugged. “Well, Italian it is. Let’s get in there and see what they have.”

  A few minutes later they were seated at a dimly lit table in the corner. Julian made sure to sit in the seat that gave him a good view of the entire restaurant. He didn’t really think there would be any trouble. As far as he knew, Eduardo Sanchez didn’t even know that Georgie had left Colombia.

  “You’re scared,” Julian said. “It’s okay to be scared. But you don’t have to be.”

  She sputtered, “I managed to escape Eduardo’s lair. I have nothing to be afraid of now.”

  “I don’t mean about Eduardo. I mean about meeting my family.”

  * * *

  “Of course not,” she lied. She wasn’t scared, she was terrified. She wasn’t exactly the kind of woman a man brought home to meet the family. In just the short time she’d known Julian, she knew their lives were so very different. She hadn’t grown up in a household where people did normal things. Her normal was so far removed from what she’d seen on TV and from other people. Who grew up living with men who thought of women as toys? She didn’t know anyone outside of the town where she’d lived most of her life. The fact that she’d managed to become educated and escape still amazed her.

  Her education had been the one thing that her mother had fought for with her stepfather. Georgie had never known her real father. And Diego made it clear that Georgie had been a burden to him since the day she and her mother moved into his house. He’d wanted Georgie to stay home from school and earn her keep working as a maid in one of the more exclusive homes of foreign businessmen.

  But her mother insisted Georgie get her education. Her mother had worked hard to help Georgie get good grades that enabled her to get a full scholarship to an American college when she was just sixteen years old. Those years at the university in Texas were the most normal years of her life. And yet, it only served to make her see just how abnormal her life really was.

  She’d been lost in thought. Lost in some faraway place that no longer existed for her because she’d managed to escape when no one else she knew ever did. She owed it to Angela to help her the way her mother had worked so hard for Georgie.

  When she lifted her gaze to Julian, she saw that he was staring at her. In her musing, she hadn’t even realized their food had been served. The aroma of the steaming hot plate of ravioli teased her nose.

  “It’s going to be okay, you know,” he said quietly.

  “You can’t know that for sure. But I’ll take your word for it today. Today will be okay. I’ll deal with tomorrow when it comes.”

  She picked up her fork and cut into a piece of ravioli. But rather than bring it to her mouth and devour it to satisfy her hunger, she waited. She knew it was hot and would burn her mouth.

  “This is a treat for you,” Julian said, watching as she scrutinized her plate and decided where to start.

  She chuckled, slightly embarrassed that he’d caught her reaction to the food. “It is. I’d never been to an Italian restaurant when I was in Colombia, although I know there are several in the cities.”

  “Did you develop this love of Italian food when you were in college?” he asked.

  “There was a small pizza shop near the university. I didn’t go often. I didn’t have the money. But I went sometimes. I was a few years younger than most of the people in my classes so I couldn’t go to some of the places they could go because I wasn’t old enough to drink. I started out just eating the pizza and pretty soon I couldn’t wait to sample everything they had on the menu. Ravioli was my favorite.”

  “That’s right. You started college at sixteen.”

  She frowned. “How did you know that?”

  “It was in your file.”

  “My file? I have a file?”

  It was his turn to frown. “You must have known we’d have a file on you. How do you think I found you?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I…I didn’t think about it,” she said wearily. She took a bite of the ravioli and closed her eyes as she savored the flavor.

  “Good?”

  “No. Excellent. I’ve clearly missed my calling in life. I should have been a chef.” She took another bite and then swallowed. “So what else is in this file?”

  He finished chewing his bite of food and then took a sip of his beer. “The usual stuff. Where you born, your family, where you went to school. You graduated with honors with a degree in Physics. Quite a departure from culinary arts.”

  She shrugged. “True. But then I hadn’t tried Italian food before I started college. If I had, life could have been so different.”

  Julian chuckled and cut into his lasagna. “Your mother worked for a time at Eduardo Sanchez’s compound.”

  Her stomach dropped. He knew more than she wanted most people to know. She liked being in the United States and having a clean slate. Being invisible in a way. Of course, not all people treated her so warmly. There was still discrimination from some people who’d been angry about her scholarships, thinking she’d gotten a free ride just because she was a foreigner. They didn’t accept that she was also American. But Georgie learned not to pay those people any mind. Allowing their judgment to get to her would only stop her from her goals.

  “You must know then that I’m an American with dual citizenship.”

  He nodded. “It’s in there. There isn’t much information about your father though, but he was American and that makes you a natural born citizen.”

  “I don’t know much about him myself. He was in Colombia on business when he and my mother were together. I know she worked as a maid at the company home he was staying at while he was in the country. I also know the affair was over before I was born. But my mother made sure to name him on the birth certificate and I know she contacted him to register me as his child at the United States Embassy in Colombia when I was bor
n. She knew that because they weren’t married, she’d need proof of my parentage in order to for me to have dual citizenship. Sometimes I think she sought him out just because of his status.”

  “Because he was American.” It was a statement, not a question.

  Georgie nodded. “She was always looking for a way out. And then when I came along, she wanted that for me. Luckily, my father agreed to name me as his child in exchange for no responsibility for my upbringing.

  “Because I was American with dual citizenship in Colombia, my mother insisted I come to the United States for college. Most girls I knew growing up quit school before they graduated high school. They were married and had children. But my mother pushed me. She wanted more for me. And…”

  “What?”

  “And it killed her making sure that I got it,” Georgie said, feeling the guilt that had consumed her after learning of her mother’s death all over again.

  “She died while you were in college?”

  Georgie nodded. “My stepfather expected her to give over her entire paycheck to him. So she worked extra to make sure I had everything I needed. That’s how she got involved with Eduardo. She didn’t want to. She did it for me.”

  To her relief, Julian didn’t press her. They ate in uncomfortable silence for a while which gave her the opportunity to eat half of her ravioli which she forced herself to eat despite her meal tasting so good. The conversation had ruined her appetite, but she knew she had to eat something. She’d take the rest with her to the hotel in case her appetite returned later.

  Julian paid the check and they walked out to the car in silence. He unlocked the car door with a press of the remote button on his keychain and then opened the passenger door, waiting for her to get inside.

  She glanced at him hoping the surprise she felt didn’t show on her face. “Thank you,” she said.

  He nodded and waited for her to climb inside. When she was settled in her seat and grabbed the seat belt to buckle herself in, he stopped her hand. Confused, she glanced up at him.

  “It wasn’t your fault, you know,” he said.

  His face was serious and sympathetic. A lump formed in her throat that she couldn’t swallow down. She didn’t have to ask what he was talking about. She knew.

  “That’s an argument for another time.”

  “There’s no argument. It’s the truth. Your mother was special to you. You probably know every detail that made her who she was and that’s why you loved her. But the real truth is that there are tens of thousands of women just like her in countries like Colombia. She wanted you to have a better life, better choices than she had. She was determined to break the cycle with you. It’s the real reason why you contacted us to help you, Georgie. Your mother was brave. So are you.”

  She closed her eyes for a brief moment. “It’s true enough about my mother. But how is my running away brave? I’m a coward. After that awful day, I left Angela in Colombia. Every day she’s in Eduardo’s house, she’s in danger. I’m the one with FBI protection. I have nothing to complain about.”

  She thought of the hard time she’d given Julian about going to South Dakota. She was infinitely more safe with Julian than Angela was right now. She had no right to complain at all.

  “You’re right. This discussion is better left for another time.”

  He slammed the door shut and walked in front of the car to the driver’s door. She heard his cell phone ring. He answered it before opening the door.

  Thankful for the brief moment to collect her thoughts, Georgie slid a finger beneath her eyes to dry the moisture that had settled there. It was always hard to talk about her mother. It was even harder when someone like Julian gave her a pass for what went down in Colombia, as if she had nothing to do with it.

  But she knew different. Everyone paid a price of some sort down there when you dealt with Eduardo Sanchez. Nothing was free. And she’d pay a price for what she was about to do. She only hoped it was worth it in the end.

  The car door abruptly opened, jarring Georgie from her thoughts. Julian slid into the driver’s seat.

  “All set?”

  She nodded, feeling more drained than she had when they’d arrived at the restaurant. Suddenly, she couldn’t wait to get to the hotel so she could curl up in her bed and pull the blankets over her head, something she’d done when she was a child and tried desperately to block out the fighting between her stepfather and her mother. But there was still two hours of road ahead of them before she could find solace there.

  Chapter Three

  Julian had realized in the middle of telling Georgie a story about him and his brother Gray that Georgie had fallen asleep. Her head was tilted back against the seat and her lips were slightly parted. He’d glanced over when she hadn’t responded to his question about rope swings over the lake and realized his story had gone unheard.

  It was just as well. He knew Georgie was stressed. There was so much information she had about Eduardo Sanchez that she probably didn’t realize was even important or could be useful to them. He couldn’t push her though. Kelly was clear about that. Cash’s life depended on it. But the fact that Georgie was still here with him, still willing to go through the charade of being his date for his brother Ian’s wedding, told Julian that she really did want out. She wanted to help her cousin and in return, she wanted to help Kelly find his son. And if that were the case, Julian would help her as much as he could to make sure she didn’t have to return to the dangerous life she’d grown up living.

  He’d learned a long time ago that many women didn’t stay in bad situations because they wanted to. There was usually something, or someone that compelled them to stay longer than what was safe. He saw firsthand how his sister stayed in an emotionally abusive marriage longer than she’d wanted to for the sake of his nephew Liam. But now Grace had met someone new and seemed happy again the last time he’d spoken to her on the phone. He couldn’t wait to meet the man who’d helped cause that happy turn for her.

  He glanced over at Georgie again and heard her rhythmic breathing. She was pretty. No, pretty was too mild a word. Georgie was beautiful in an exotic sort of way with her dark hair and hazel eyes that he could look into for hours and never tire of doing so. He couldn’t deny that. He could see how Eduardo Sanchez, or any other man, would be drawn to her. It had been just bad timing that Georgie had been at the compound at the wrong time and earned unwanted attention from Eduardo.

  They’d use that to their advantage. But it wouldn’t be easy. Julian had tremendous admiration for Georgie’s bravery and her strength in continuing to help Angela. You had to be strong to break out of a cycle of imprisonment that affected so many women in Colombia when their lives were entangled with criminals like Eduardo Sanchez.

  They arrived at the motel while Georgie was still asleep. He parked the car in front of a row of shrubs far from the neon sign that was flashing a vacancy sign in bright red. He glanced at Georgie. She looked so peaceful that he didn’t want to wake her.

  He put his hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle push to rouse her. “We’re here.”

  It took a few seconds, but her eyes fluttered open.

  “We’re here, ” he repeated. “At the motel.”

  Sitting up in the seat, she glanced around with a bewildered look on her face, as if she were confused that they’d time-traveled the last two hours.

  “Stay in the car,” he said. “I’ll get the keys.”

  She nodded and rubbed her face with her fingers.

  With one last look to make sure she was okay, he went inside the motel office. Julian paid for the room in cash and gave false information for the registry just in case they’d been followed. He’d also used a prepaid credit card for the deposit. He really didn’t think they were being followed by anyone. It was a precaution. Kelly had insisted on it given the man they were dealing with. Right now, Georgie’s life was not in danger. But if Eduardo Sanchez knew she was working with the FBI, that would all change in the blink of an eye
.

  She watched him walk back to the car with the keys in his hands. When he reached the car, he hit the button to release the trunk and it popped open. She got out of the car and joined him at the back of the car.

  “Two rooms?” she asked.

  “Yes, adjoining. I hope that doesn’t bother you.”

  “Would it matter?”

  “No.”

  He pulled both suitcases out of the trunk and slammed it shut. With both keys still in his hand, he picked up both bags and walked with her toward the building, checking the numbers on the door to find their rooms. When they got there, he dropped his bag on the ground to open the first door. But she clutched his hand and took both keys.

  His eyebrows pulled together. “I can do that.”

  “So can I,” she said, putting the card in the slot and waiting for the green light so she could open the door. When it pushed open, she grabbed his bag.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “You said the rooms were adjoining. You can bring your bags in through here.”

  “I need to unlock the door in the other room.”

  She nodded and handed him the other key. “Just for the record, I’m glad they’re adjoining rooms.”

  “Are you frightened?”

  “Not if I know I can run to you in the middle of the night if I need to. I’ll unlock the other door in here.”

  A slow burn brewed inside him as he watched her walk into her room. He shut the door and pulled on it to make sure it locked. He’d put the deadbolt on when he got inside. Then he took a few steps to reach the other door that would be his room for the night.

  He paused with his hand on the key. He was already feeling a stirring for the woman and their trip had only just begun. How in the hell was he going to last a week in close quarters with his family watching their every move without them catching wind of the truth? He was wildly attracted to Georgie Garcia. He only hoped he could sleep tonight with her just a few feet away in the next room. But he feared the fantasies that had been playing out in his mind for the past few hours would prevent him from sleeping. And if she did run to him in the middle of the night, out of fear, or something more, would he be able to hold back this need that had been building inside him?