The man’s eyes were dark brown, and his well-developed muscles beneath the jacket were obvious. He had a short beard that looked unshaved rather than intentionally grown.
“I’m Lucy Jameson,” the older sister told the man. “This is my sister, Brittany.”
He nodded. “I know.”
Lucy leaned closer to him and said something Ray couldn’t hear. Larry’s gaze flicked up to Ginger, then back at Lucy. “That’s right, I’m like a bodyguard.”
Lucy nodded, apparently satisfied. “Is that like a bouncer? I went to work with Mama sometimes, and she introduced me to the bouncer at the bar where she worked.”
Again, Larry nodded. “I’m the man to come to if you get scared of anything, okay?”
“Okay.”
Larry straightened and looked around. “Hey, boss,” he said to Graham, “where’re those trip escorts we’re supposed to have flying with us?”
“I just got a call from Helen Courtney,” Graham said. “She told me they had some car trouble and they’re running late, but they’ll be on the flight with us.”
Larry was close enough to Ray when he drew Graham aside that Ray could hear them. “You check ’em out? Are they legit?”
“One of my renters, Mrs. Engle, set us up with them. They’ve been on board with this plan for several weeks, coordinating our requests.”
Larry glanced in Ray’s direction and his eyes narrowed, as if some inner radar ignited his suspicion. “Can’t be too careful.”
Lucy grabbed her sister’s hand. “Brittany, you’ve got to stay with us, okay?” Lucy said. “No wandering off, and you can’t talk to strangers. I mean it.”
“Okay.” Brittany turned and smiled up at Larry Bager, even though she’d just met him. “My teacher says airplanes are as safe as riding a school bus.”
Lucy nudged Brittany. “School bus? Not even close. You aren’t with a bunch of kids on this flight. These are grown-ups, and you know what Mama always said about talking to strangers, especially grown-ups.”
Aunt Ginger gave Lucy one of her raised-eyebrow looks over her shoulder. “Stop with the fear tactics, my dear. It’ll only make things worse.” She gave a sharp nod.
Lucy knew what the nod meant. It meant: Especially after scaring Brittany to death last night.
But that hadn’t been a dream standing in the window, and Lucy knew it, no matter how much Aunt Ginger tried to convince her everything was okay.
Lucy had seen Rick Fenrow. She knew the difference between a dream and a real man. She could close her eyes and see that face. Shaggy black hair, shaggy black eyebrows that looked like caterpillars. White face.
Brittany probably didn’t even remember how scared everybody had been last night. Those kinds of things never bothered her much. Why should they? Lucy was always there to make sure nobody hurt her. Brittany didn’t know everything about Mama’s killer.
Last night, even with Blaze Farmer and Dane Gideon standing guard at opposite ends of the house until morning, Lucy hadn’t been able to sleep.
Why couldn’t Blaze come with them to Hawaii? Blaze was strong and kind, and he didn’t think he was too good to talk to little girls.
But Blaze had already agreed to take care of the farm for Graham while they were gone, so he couldn’t go with them.
Lucy kept a lookout for the man she’d seen last night. Once in the jet, settled in her seat by the window, she studied everyone who entered.
Aunt Ginger sat in the seat between Lucy and Brittany. Uncle Preston sat directly across the aisle from them, with Willow and Graham in front of him.
Once, Lucy had asked if Aunt Ginger and Uncle Preston were boyfriend and girlfriend. Aunt Ginger had laughed, saying that, biologically, she was old enough to be Uncle Preston’s mother.
Lucy didn’t know what biologically meant, but Uncle Preston had a girlfriend now. Her name was Sheila, and she was nice.
Aunt Ginger had said more than once that she wasn’t a romantic type. She said she knew better than to make that mistake again. Graham laughed at her, but she talked as if she meant it. She said, “Graham Vaughn, don’t you go trying to set me up with any of those friends of yours. I’m out of commission, and I like it that way.”
Two old people sat down next to Uncle Preston, introducing themselves as Helen and Steve Courtney, the travel coordinators and escorts. The woman immediately started talking to Brittany, who chattered away, as if they were old friends or something. The dummy! If Rick Fenrow himself ever tried to take Brittany’s hand and lead her away, she would probably go with him, chattering to him until he cut her throat.
Lucy and Larry Bager would have their hands full with Brittany.
Helen and Steve Courtney were even older than Aunt Ginger, who liked to brag that she “needed to be accorded respect because of her advanced age of fifty-three.” Lucy didn’t know what accorded meant, and she griped at Aunt Ginger for using big words without explaining them.
Helen Courtney had a camera, and she started taking pictures of everything and everybody, especially Graham and Willow, Lucy and Brittany, right there on the jet.
The Courtneys made Lucy nervous. Why did Helen Courtney have to take so many pictures?
“Honey, I’m going to be taking all the pictures you’ll ever want on this trip,” she explained, patting Willow’s hand. “I’ll even catch some shots you’ll want to erase, but not many! I know my stuff. I’m making memories for a lifetime, you know.”
Lucy studied the woman. She seemed to smile all the time. She had a lot of wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, and she wore more makeup than Aunt Ginger or Willow ever did.
“I love your hair,” Aunt Ginger told Helen. “It’s the perfect shade for you.”
Helen laughed. “Oopsie! You caught me there.” She patted her hair as if it might be out of place. “Fresh from the bottle.”
Lucy stared at the woman’s hair. Must be a big bottle. Was she bald under there?
Helen’s husband, Steve, had gray hair and lots of wrinkles around his eyes, too. He didn’t smile as much as Helen. Lucy was relieved that he didn’t look anything like the man at the window last night.
Larry Bager sat in the seat behind Helen. He didn’t say much, but he stared at every person who got on the airplane.
Brittany suddenly looked up from her unzipped backpack, eyes wide, mouth open with horror. “Oh no! Aunt Ginger, I forgot to pack Chuckles! You told me to be sure to pack him and I forgot! Did you pack him? You did, didn’t you Aunt Ginger? Huh?”
Ginger had realized last night that this wasn’t going to be an easy trip. With the lack of sleep and the fright the girls—and she and Graham—had endured, her mind hadn’t been as sharp as she’d have liked. But this? It was inexcusable.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry, but—”
“No!” Brittany wailed. “We can’t go without Chuckles! We’ve got to go back and get him, we’ve got to!”
It seemed the eye of every person in the aisles around them turned to see what Ginger was going to do about the panicky child. Some passengers were amused, some irritated.
Brittany started to cry.
Lucy tapped Ginger on the arm. “Aunt Ginger.” She held up her backpack, and slowly unzipped the largest compartment.
Two fuzzy golden ears popped up, and Lucy pulled the teddy bear out.
Brittany squealed with delight. Helen Courtney clapped, and several people around them laughed.
Ginger threw her arms around her little heroine and kissed her on the forehead. “Sweetheart, you’re the best big sister in the world.” She leaned back and enjoyed the glow of satisfaction she saw in Lucy’s dark eyes. “I’m so proud of you.”
A smile actually spread across Lucy’s face. Ginger wished she could see that smile more often. This quiet little girl had been through so much in the past nine months. The ordeal of her mother’s murder, living with strangers, and now being afraid of her mother’s killer, had matured her far beyond her years. Ginger grieved that tragic loss of innoc
ence.
At least the incident with Chuckles had distracted Lucy from her morbid search for Rick Fenrow—for the moment. That was Larry’s job, and from the looks of it, he would do it well.
Brittany held her teddy bear up for Helen’s inspection. “His name is Chuckles, because he used to laugh when I squeezed his paw.”
Helen reached out and squeezed the bear’s paw. Nothing happened.
“He doesn’t laugh anymore,” Brittany explained. “Lucy says he’s grieving because Mama died.”
“I’m sure he is.” Helen’s voice caught, and her face suddenly lined with sorrow.
Brittany nodded. “He stopped laughing the day Mama died.”
Ginger glanced at Larry, then at the people coming on board. She, too, felt a compelling need to protect these children, at any cost.
Her gaze traveled down the queue, then stopped at a familiar face. She caught her breath as she studied the big man with black hair, dark blue eyes, and shoulders as broad as a linebacker’s.
“No,” she whispered. Ray Clyde. Of all people, what was her worst enemy on earth doing on this flight?
Ray grimaced when a teenager stepped backward onto his foot, but the pain wasn’t as sharp as the look in Ginger Carpenter’s eyes when she caught sight of him from her seat near the middle of the main cabin.
He hadn’t expected anything else. And how could he blame her? If he was in her position, he’d probably feel the same way.
He’d hoped for a meeting under better circumstances, however. Graham had warned him not to try to contact her in any way.
How had it come to this?
An elderly lady turned in the aisle to ask if someone could place her suitcase in the overhead compartment. Glad for the distraction, Ray hurried to her aid. This day had suddenly grown a lot more interesting…and a lot more volatile.
FOUR
Ginger steadied herself, sure she’d felt the jet shift, though the door remained open and people continued to enter.
She blinked and tried to refocus, but still he was there. No mistake about it. It was Dr. Ray Clyde. As usual, he stood taller than every other man by at least a couple of inches. His size, his voice, his rugged-but-attractive face and demeanor all drew attention to his commanding presence.
He’d been her director when she was on the mission field in Belarus. At one time, she’d believed they had a special relationship—not romantic, perhaps, but she’d thought they were the best of friends. He seemed to be such a caring man, and at one time she’d thought he’d cared deeply about her—at least as a friend.
Then came the betrayal.
The line of passengers entering the jet came to a standstill while an elderly woman asked for help placing her luggage in an overhead compartment. Ray helped her, of course. Ray was always jumping to someone’s aid. Everyone’s but Ginger’s.
After easily lifting the piece of luggage for the lady, he accepted her thanks with a silent nod, then looked up and caught Ginger’s gaze. Ginger could not look away. All the pain and fury of his betrayal surfaced, and her hands clenched at her sides.
She broke the connection at last, and unbuckled her seat belt. She stood and turned to glare at Graham across the aisle.
As if he’d been waiting for her to react, he looked up at her, then winced at the look on her face. Willow, seated beside him, saw her, too, and her blue-gray eyes filled with compassion—but not surprise.
Both of them had known Ray would be here.
Ginger felt doubly betrayed. Whatever was going on, Willow was obviously as involved as Graham.
Ginger could say nothing in this crowd, in front of the girls, with several strangers within earshot. She couldn’t protest, couldn’t threaten to take the girls and deplane, as much as the idea tempted her at this moment. But her anger continued to grow. How dare they?
Graham sighed, got up, and stepped across the aisle, leaning close to Ginger’s ear. “I gather there’s a problem.”
“How insightful of you,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “Don’t you try to tell me Ray Clyde’s presence on this jet is coincidence.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“What’s he doing here?”
There was a hesitation, then Graham said softly, “He’s going with us to Hawaii.”
Though she’d already guessed what her brother would say, she caught her breath sharply. Betrayal, indeed. “Did you tell him to wait and board at the last moment so I couldn’t change my mind about going?”
Graham winced again. “I knew the timing would be tight, since he had to drive down from Columbia after a meeting this morning.”
“I’m sure you counted on it.” A wave of heat spread over her face and neck, and for once, it wasn’t a hot flash. How dare he?
“Sorry, Ginger,” he said softly. “I wanted to discuss it with you, but I knew you would find some reason to back out if you discovered he was coming.”
“You’ve got that right.” She looked down at Brittany, who sat happily playing with her bear, and then glanced around at Lucy, who was watching her with curiosity.
She must not lose her temper further. Graham obviously had used the seating arrangements for his purpose, as well.
Ginger was going to have to torture her brother at a later date.
“Ray has been a good friend of mine for many years.” Graham kept his voice low. “I couldn’t exclude him from this wedding. It’s too important. He was there for me when I needed a friend after the divorce.”
Ginger gritted her teeth. “I was there for you, too. Just because I was halfway around the world—”
“I know you were there in spirit. Ray let me stay at his place until I could find my own. Ray gave me references when I needed a new job. He’s been supportive from the—”
“Please stop.” Ginger closed her eyes. It hurt to hear her beloved brother singing the praises of a manipulative, hard hearted…
“He isn’t the jerk you believe him to be,” Graham said.
For Ginger, two nightmares were coming true in a few short hours. Rick Fenrow was out of prison, and her backstabbing ex-director was undermining her relationship with her brother. How could Graham do this to her?
“So he’s in the wedding party,” she said.
Graham nodded.
“And what part does he play?”
Graham looked over his shoulder at Willow, then back at Ginger. “He’s going to be best man.”
Ginger caught her breath. Of course. She was going to be matron of honor, and Ray would be best man. “What a wonderful way to begin a marriage, when the main witnesses to the wedding hate each other.”
“That isn’t true, Ginger. Ray holds no animosity toward you at all. In fact, he’s eager to make amends.”
“I thought Preston was going to be best man,” she said. After all, Willow’s brother should hold that place of honor.
“I had initially asked Ray to do the honors, and then there was a glitch, and he thought he was going to have to fly to Africa. That was when I asked Preston. The situation changed, and Ray was able to join us, after all. I think Preston was glad to be relieved of any responsibility.”
“You’d better find yourself another matron of honor, then, Graham.”
“Please, sis, don’t be this way.”
Ginger turned to look at Ray once more. He was advancing slowly down the aisle, waiting patiently as people in front of him took their time stowing their carry-on luggage.
He caught her gaze again, his dark blue eyes probing—perhaps to gauge the force of her reaction? How could he not know what it would be? Did he expect her to welcome him with open arms?
“Ginger,” Willow called, patting the seat beside her. “Come sit with me a minute. We need to talk.”
Ginger hesitated. She didn’t want to talk, she wanted to scream. If it were anyone but Willow…
She crossed the aisle and sat in the seat Graham had vacated. “Don’t you think this is an awkward time to be explaining things? Am I a child wh
o has to be manipulated?”
Willow spread her hands. “Well, in this instance—”
“Don’t you start with me, too. Graham is bad enough, but I know he’s a control freak. I’d have thought better of you.”
“Give it some time, okay?” Willow said. “Preston’s been willing to stand in as best man for Graham, but he knew Graham had asked Ray. Believe me, I know my brother. Preston wasn’t disappointed to be given the chance to step down.”
“No one thought about giving me the chance to step down.”
“I wanted you to be there for me.”
Ginger didn’t want to argue, especially with Willow. Graham and Willow deserved their wedding trip to go smoothly. After all the suffering they had gone through in the past years, Willow and Graham needed something to go right.
But this…this was far from acceptable.
“This was what you and Graham and Preston were talking about on Christmas Day when I walked into the room and everyone fell silent,” Ginger said.
“Sorry. I really hated keeping it from you.”
“Then you shouldn’t have.”
“That remains to be seen.”
Again, irritation prickled along Ginger’s skin. “You know, my brother hasn’t changed as much as he wants to believe. Unfortunately, I think his tactics are rubbing off on you. Now both of you are controlling the lives of others.”
“Then I guess that’s a trait that runs in the family,” Willow said drily. “I seem to remember a lady who refused to take no for an answer when I needed a place to stay after the cabin burned last spring. I was a complete stranger to you, and you took me in.”
“Don’t change the subject,” Ginger said. “Don’t you think a fifty-three-year-old woman should be given the option to choose with whom she spends her time?”
Willow finally had the grace to look abashed. “Of course.”
“Except when it comes to me, is that right?” Ginger asked.
“I think we all tend to take extra liberties when it comes to close family members, who we know will have to forgive us, because they have such a forgiving nature.”
Death Benefits Page 3