Keeping Katie (A Mother's Heart Book 1)

by Patricia Keelyn

  “Forget Miami,” he said. “My Jeep is outside. Get Katie and we’ll leave.” Maura shook her head, but he kept talking. “We can be in Canada within a couple of hours. We’ll make a life for ourselves there.”

  Maura shook her head again. “No. I can’t hurt either of you like that anymore.”

  “I want it. I want you.”

  “What kind of life could we have?”

  “A good one. As long as we’re together. The three of us.”

  “No,” she repeated. “I thought that way, too. But I was wrong. We’d spend our lives looking over our shoulders. And soon, you’d come to resent me for taking you away from the people and places that you love. And Katie, she’d wonder …”

  “I love you. And Katie.”

  She closed her eyes and nodded. “Yes. And I love you.”

  He reached out and touched her, and she could no longer resist him. She melted into his arms, resting her head against his chest, where she could hear the beating of his heart through the fabric of his shirt. It was the same shirt he had worn that first night at Rita’s. That time seemed so long ago, so very far away.

  “I have to go back,” she said, wishing it wasn’t true.

  “Then I’ll go with you.”

  She pulled back, searching his face. “I can’t let you do that.”

  “You don’t have a choice.” He reached behind him and pulled a long airline envelope out of his back pocket. “I’ve already bought the ticket. I figured if you wouldn’t let me take you to Canada, I’d go with you to Miami.”

  She couldn’t let him make this sacrifice for her. “No, Alan, I was wrong—”

  He placed a finger against her lips. “We were both wrong. You for taking on the law alone. Me for being too bullheaded to see beyond my black-and-white world.” He leaned down and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. “But I don’t intend for either of us to spend the rest of our lives paying for our mistakes.”

  “Alan …” Her resolve weakened.

  “Hush.” His hands found her face and gently lifted it to his. Soft caramel-colored eyes, filled with love, bored into her soul, beckoning her. “I’m going with you. I’m going to help you fight for Katie.”

  “And your job?” She was desperate, knowing he should stay, yet wanting him to come with her. “What about Wyattville?”

  He brushed her lips with his, tempting her, pleading with her. “Wyattville will be here when we get back. And so will my job.”

  “When we get back?”

  “Yes,” he whispered. “When we get back. You see, I plan to marry you. And we’re going to go through this together.”

  For long moments, she stood in his arms, not knowing what to do. There was nothing she wanted more than to accept what he offered. It seemed a miracle that he was even here. But he was. Strong and warm, holding her within his arms, he gave her the comfort and support she longed for. And she loved him, more than she had ever thought herself capable of loving a man.

  With a sigh of resignation, she rested her head back on his chest. “I love you.”

  “Say it again,” he whispered against her hair. “And then keep on saying it for the rest of our lives.”

  “I love you.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The flight to Miami was both the longest and shortest Alan had ever known. On one hand, he was anxious, wanting to get there and face whatever lay ahead. There would be no life for the three of them until they got through the next few weeks. And more than anything, he wanted a life with Maura and Katie.

  On the other hand, he wished he could stop the clock. He didn’t know how long he would have either of them with him once they landed. When the authorities were notified, Maura would most likely be arrested, and Katie … He couldn’t bear to think of Katie handed over to the child services.

  Fortunately, it was late, and the plane was half-empty. After takeoff, he removed the armrest from between two seats and laid Katie down. With a pillow and a blanket tucked around her, the child fell instantly to sleep. Then, in his seat across the aisle from Katie, Alan gathered Maura close. She rested her head against his shoulder and spoke to him of all the things she’d never dared to speak of before.

  It was like a dam giving way.

  She told him about her father and the note she’d received from him. She relayed the conversation she had had with him a few hours ago and said that he would meet them in Miami. Then she talked about his practice and his unique skill in the courtroom, and how she hoped it wasn’t too late.

  “So why didn’t you go to him about Katie in the first place?” Alan asked.

  Maura sighed. “I didn’t think he’d help me.”

  Alan shifted away from her just enough to see the expression on her face. “He’s your father. Why wouldn’t he help you?”

  She shook her head. “It’s a long story.”

  “It’s a long flight.” Alan settled her back against his side. “We’ve got time.”

  Maura paused as if gathering her thoughts. “You know that my father raised me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, we clashed the entire time I was growing up.” She idly picked up the cocktail napkin that had been sitting under the soda she’d had earlier. She toyed with it for a moment, folding it and then unfolding it before dropping it on her lap. “It seemed we could never agree on anything, and neither one of us was willing to give an inch. He’d want one thing, so I’d do the opposite.”

  “On purpose?”

  Maura nodded. “Sometimes.”

  She picked up the napkin again, creasing the fold sharply between her fingers. “He would have preferred a docile, obedient daughter. Not a strong-willed female who wanted her own way as much as he wanted his. And I would have preferred …” She paused and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I would have been independent and rebellious no matter what kind of father I had.”

  Alan chuckled softly. “You? Independent?”

  Maura smiled slightly and gave him a gentle jab in the ribs. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

  “Oh, I am.” He kissed the top of her head. “Go on.”

  “Anyway …” She tossed the napkin aside once again. “Growing up with him was one fight after the other. But the confrontations turned into a major battle when I refused to go to law school.” She carefully folded her hands in her lap as if trying to stop their wanderings. “He wanted me to take my place at his side, and of course, I wanted nothing to do with the law.”

  “So you had a falling-out over careers.” Alan reached over and slipped his hand between her entwined fingers. “That’s not unusual.”

  “Don’t defend him.” Maura glanced at him and shook her head. “He does that very well all by himself. Besides—” she turned back to look straight ahead “—that’s not why I didn’t go to him.” She hesitated for a moment before going on. “As for my career, he probably figured I’d eventually come to my senses, forget nursing and go to law school. Then I met David.”

  Alan tightened his hold on her hand. “And he didn’t approve.”

  “Hardly. Dad and I had a knockdown-drag-out fight. That is, he gave me one of the infamous Jacob Anderson expressions of disappointment, while I screamed and cried.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “I married David anyway, and Dad refused to come to the wedding. He sent legal papers instead, disowning me.”

  She sat for a few moments without speaking, and then added, “I’m not sure at the time whether I didn’t believe him or I just didn’t care. Anyway, I thought he would eventually come around.”

  Alan pulled her a little closer, offering silent comfort.

  Maura acknowledged the gesture with a smile and, after a few seconds of silence, continued with her story.

  “David and I moved to Miami, and we didn’t have much contact with Dad for a few years. Then when I found out that I couldn’t …” Her voice broke, but she took another deep breath and went on. “When I found out I couldn’t have children, I went to him and asked if he’d help u
s adopt. That’s when I found out just how serious he was about disowning me.”

  She pulled away from Alan then, sitting upright in her seat while slipping her hands from his. “He refused my call,” she said in a stoic voice that defied the strong emotions Alan heard in her words. “Not once, but several times. I tried him at his office and at home. Finally, his secretary asked me to stop bothering them. I didn’t call again.”

  She didn’t say anything else for a few moments, and Alan sensed the pain in her silence. He suspected her father had hurt her deeply. Despite her talk about their disagreements, all her brave words about how she’d defied him, Alan guessed that she loved the older man more than she would care to admit. When he’d refused to help her, it must have broken her apart.

  “Anyway,” Maura said, interrupting his thoughts. “That’s why I didn’t call him when Katie’s birth mother sued for custody. I thought he’d refuse me again, and I couldn’t …” She didn’t finish her sentence, but Alan heard the words she didn’t say. She couldn’t handle another rejection from her father, a man she obviously loved deeply, so she hadn’t even called him.

  Alan pulled Maura back against him, pressing her head down on his shoulder. She didn’t resist. She remained silent after that, her words obviously dried up. After a while, she fell into a restless slumber.

  Alan couldn’t sleep. Not at first.

  His thoughts stayed with Jacob Anderson. Anger built inside him as he considered what Maura had told him about her father. Alan wanted to throttle the man for hurting her, but he pushed the pointless emotion aside. Anger wouldn’t do them any good. He had a fair idea what lay ahead of them in Miami and knew it could get rough. And as much as he wanted to protect Maura and Katie, there would be little he could do. Unfortunately, their fate rested in the hands of Jacob Anderson and his skill at negotiating the legal system. Still, Alan wasn’t at all sure they could trust the man. And he sure as hell didn’t like him.

  He shifted in his seat, and Maura murmured sleepily against his chest. He touched her cheek gently with his free hand and kissed the top of her head. With a sigh, he leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes.

  He couldn’t lose her.

  As the plane headed east into the rising sun, Alan slept fitfully. He dreamed of cold, impersonal courtrooms and a tall thin stranger with hawk eyes and silver-tipped hair. His head dropped forward and he woke with a start, relieved that he still sat on the plane, with Maura tucked against him. Then he fell again into a light slumber, and he was back in that courtroom, searching for Katie, hearing her cries but unable to find her in the crowd of people, all with blank gray eyes and hard faces.

  Both he and Maura awoke as the pilot announced their final descent into Miami. Maura moved over to sit next to Katie for the landing. Once they were on the ground, Alan set Katie on his lap, and the three of them waited for the rest of the passengers to disembark. When everyone was off, Maura met his gaze and there was no mistaking the fear in her eyes.

  Neither of them knew for sure what lay at the other end of the jetway. Would there be child welfare people waiting to take Katie away from them? Would the police be waiting to arrest Maura? Or would there just be Jacob Anderson?

  Alan reached over and took Maura’s hand. “Whatever happens,” he tried to reassure her, “we’re in this together.”

  She nodded, but he could see the effort it cost her to keep her fear under control. “Promise me you’ll make sure Katie’s okay,” she said. “Don’t let them put her just anywhere.”

  “She’ll be fine.”

  “Promise me.” She squeezed his hand tight to emphasize her words. “I might not be in any position—”

  “Hush.” He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “It will be all right. I promise.” With Katie balanced against his chest and Maura’s hand in his, he stood. “Come on, we’ve got to go now.”

  Maura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she nodded and let him lead her off the plane. They walked silently down the jetway, hand in hand, and came to a halt as they stepped inside the terminal building.

  The gate area was almost empty of the plane’s other passengers, and no police or officials waited for them, waving legal papers in their faces. They made their way to baggage claim, and there Alan spotted a tall, blond, muscularly built man leaning against a wall. Alan recognized him immediately. Wrapping his free arm about Maura’s shoulders, he maneuvered her toward the other man.

  “Cooper,” Alan said. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find you here.”

  “No more than I am to see you.” Cooper met his gaze for a moment, and then turned to Maura. Alan instinctively tightened his hold on her. “The name’s Sam Cooper, ma’am. Your father sent me to fetch you.”

  Maura glanced quickly at Alan, then turned back to the other man. “Where is he?”

  “Taking care of some legal matters.” Cooper smiled knowingly. Then, reaching over, he relieved Maura of her suitcase, leaving her to carry Katie’s stuffed elephant. “Now, if you’ll come with me …” With a gesture for them to follow, he turned and started toward the exit.

  Alan hesitated only a second before saying to Maura, “It’s okay. We’ve met before. Let’s see where he takes us.” Releasing his hold on her, Alan adjusted Katie in his arms as they started walking.

  When they caught up to Cooper, Maura asked, “Where are we going?”

  “Your father’s arranged a place for you to stay.” Then, with a quick glance at Alan, he added, “But I don’t think he was counting on the sheriff here.”

  “I guess he’s in for a surprise then,” Alan said.

  Cooper chuckled softly. “Can’t wait.”

  By the time Cooper loaded the three of them into a waiting limo, Maura felt ready to collapse.

  They drove north.

  Maura wanted to close her eyes, but fear and uncertainty wouldn’t allow it. Not to mention Katie, who had come fully awake as they made their way through the Miami airport. First, she explored the inside of the limo with all its various buttons and compartments. Then she discovered a new audience in Sam Cooper. She happily scrambled from one window to the other, from Maura’s lap to Alan’s, just to see Cooper’s response. To Maura’s surprise, Sam Cooper didn’t let the little girl down. He laughed and talked to her while pointing out sights the child couldn’t possibly understand. And Katie would ooh and aah and giggle, and Sam would laugh with her.

  Maura suspected that Cooper was the man who had delivered her father’s note to Rita. Possibly, he was responsible for finding her. She knew her father often employed an assortment of nontraditional individuals to assist with his cases. Men with unique skills. She’d never met any of them, but she would have pictured them much differently than Sam Cooper. She would have thought them harder, more remote. And she never would have imagined one of them enjoying the company of a child.

  Along with her surprise at Cooper, the sight and sounds of her daughter’s happiness did strange things to Maura. She knew she should be enjoying this time with Katie. Yet the thought that Katie might soon be taken from her was a weight about her heart.

  Forty-five minutes later, the limo pulled up to the guard gate of one of Miami’s more exclusive neighborhoods. The driver lowered his window and nodded to the guard. The gate opened immediately.

  “Your father doesn’t mess around,” Alan commented, taking Maura’s hand in his.

  Maura shot him a shaky grin, but it was Cooper who answered. “The man has a way about him.”

  Leave it to her father to put them up in an estate, Maura thought a little bitterly. No hotel room or small apartment for Jacob Anderson. He’d rented a million-dollar showplace right on the Intracoastal Waterway.

  It didn’t take long, however, for Maura to forget her disgruntled thoughts about her father. The house offered cool refuge from the thick Florida heat and a welcoming housekeeper, Mrs. Berd, who took immediate charge of Maura’s energetic three-year-old. Then Maura caught sigh
t of the large bed in the room made ready for her and wanted nothing more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. She knew it would work wonders for the way she saw the world.

  After making sure Katie would be properly fed and looked after, Maura left the men on the patio, retreated to her bedroom and collapsed on the bed. It felt like heaven. Even so, at first she thought she wouldn’t be able to shut off her thoughts and fears. But her exhaustion, the comfortable bed, and the soft hum of the air conditioner combined to prove her wrong. It only took a few moments for her to fall into a deep sleep.

  Hours later, Maura awoke slowly to the feel of a hard thigh pressed against her side. Gentle fingers caressed her cheek. Opening her eyes, she warmed to the love reflected in Alan’s features.

  “Hi,” she said shyly.

  He answered her with the lightest brushing of his lips against hers. “Feel better?” he asked softly.

  “I do now.” She lifted her hands to his face and deepened the kiss, wishing the moment could last forever. But the tendrils of reality crept back into her thoughts even before their lips parted.

  “Where’s Katie?” she asked.

  “In the living room. With your father.”

  Maura pulled herself to a sitting position. “He’s here?”

  Alan nodded. She glanced toward the door and then back to Alan.

  “It’s okay,” he said.

  Maura swung her legs off the bed. “I need a few minutes to get cleaned up.”

  “Sure.” Alan stood and headed for the door. Then he stopped and seemed to study her before asking, “Are you all right?”

  Maura forced a smile. “Sure. I’m fine.”

  “Okay.” He hesitated a moment longer before opening the door. “I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”

  Maura waited until he’d closed the door before dragging herself to her feet. Catching sight of herself in the vanity mirror, she almost moaned out loud. She quickly grabbed a brush out of her purse and ran it through her short dark hair.

  What would her father think when he saw her? What would he say about her hair? Shaking her head, she turned away from the mirror. Funny—after all they’d been through and all that lay ahead of them—she still cared about her father’s opinion. The thought irritated her for reasons she didn’t bother to dissect, and she tossed the brush back into her purse.