by Glynna Kaye
Grayson would be arriving soon. In fact, he was late.
What would they find to talk about? Would they pretend nothing had happened between them last night? That the kiss was no more than a manifestation of the fear and stress of what they’d endured from the drive-by shooting?
And if he brought it up, how should she respond?
She’d followed his suggestion, explaining the situation to her employer and taking the day off. Same for Cory, who was not only over-the-top giddy about their temporary quarters, but repeatedly asked if Grayson would let them live there forever.
Billie Jean had picked her up midmorning and taken her back to the apartment to retrieve her beloved pink geranium from the front porch and the car she’d been too shaken to drive last night. Like Elise, her friend had been enamored with the apartment overlooking the city. “Like livin’ in a dollhouse in the sky,” she’d said.
Arms outstretched, Cory now stood by the broad expanse of glass where he’d spent much of the day. He’d endlessly oohed and aahed over the surrounding skyscrapers, the traffic surging below and the ever-changing play of light over the landscape.
Unfortunately, flashing lights from police cars were easily spotted from this elevation, which had triggered more cop talk throughout the day.
“This is the greatest, isn’t it, Mom?”
“It is.” A surge of happiness filled her as she joined him by the windows. But did that stem from the apartment itself—a haven of safety—or from the lingering effects of being held in Grayson’s strong arms and feeling his lips move gently on hers?
Neither had said anything when they’d pulled back from the prolonged kiss. They’d stood gazing into each other’s eyes, as if not quite sure how it had happened—or if it should happen again. Then she’d followed Grayson to the door as he’d quietly let himself out.
But he was a policeman...just like Duke. Surely God wouldn’t bring another one into her life. And yet... Her heart scampered again at a knock on the door. Where had she gotten the nerve to leave a message today, asking him to join them tonight?
Cory raced to the door and managed to get the locks unfastened. Then he threw himself into the arms of the startled, civilian-dressed officer of the law. As she approached to welcome him, she detected the faint scent of a spicy aftershave. He must have cleaned up at the division headquarters or swung by home first.
“Mom fixed chicken, Officer Grayson.” Cory clung to his friend, eyes dancing. His openness, his vulnerability, tugged at Elise’s heart.
“Mmm-mmm. I knew something smelled mighty good in here.” Gray sniffed the air as he lifted Cory up and settled him where he could wrap his legs around Grayson’s waist. He carried him past Elise to the breadth of windows, bestowing on her an appreciative smile and a wink as he passed by. “Maybe more than one something.”
A spark of awareness passed between them.
“I got to skip school,” Cory announced jubilantly. “We got our car back and we went to the grocery store. This place has a washer and dryer in a little room next to the kitchen, did you know that? And Billie Jean wants to move in with us.”
“Does she, now?”
“Uh-huh. Doesn’t she, Mom?”
Elise looked up from where she’d paused to check on the chicken. “She loves the view. Was thrilled that your sister used to work for Texas Today and had a place close to what Billie Jean calls ‘all the action.’ ”
Gray smiled. “Even though the layoff from the magazine was a blow, Maddie’s happy to trade it all for ranch life with her fiancé and a job at the local paper. Grasslands is a great town. You’d like it. It’s like stepping out of a whirlwind into a cocoon of calm. One of those places where people recognize each other on the street.”
“That’s the kind of place I come from, too. Cory? Wash your hands, please. It’s time to eat.”
Gray set the child down and directed him to the bathroom, then joined Elise in the kitchen. He leaned against the counter, eyes suddenly solemn, looking as if he wanted to say something, but not certain if this was the right time and place.
Elise’s fingers fumbled a fork and it clattered to the countertop. Was he going to broach the kiss? Admit it meant something to him—or would he confirm it had been a mistake?
Breath coming unevenly under Gray’s steady gaze, she gave him a hesitant smile.
Please, God, I’m confused. So scared. Take me baby step by baby step if this is the direction you want me to go.
Gray glanced around to ensure Cory wasn’t within earshot. Then he leaned in, his voice low.
Chapter Twelve
“I got a call from my sister Maddie on my way over here. She’s pretty upset.”
If I ever get my hands on the guy...
Elise gave her head a slight shake, as if coming out of fog. “Upset? About what?”
“The first kook has oozed out of the woodwork. Called the ranch claiming he knows where Dad is and wants to help the family find him. For a fee.”
She placed a hand on his arm. “Oh, Grayson, that’s terrible.”
“It was bound to happen once word got around.”
“But how can you be sure he’s a kook, that he doesn’t know where your father is?”
“You can’t.” He’d seen similar situations too many times in law enforcement. “That’s what turns a missing person’s heartbreak into a potential nightmare.”
“So what happens now?”
“I got Maddie calmed down. Called Sheriff Cole and filled him in. He’ll get details from my sister and take it from there.”
Elise gazed up at him with hope-filled eyes. “Can they trace the call if he phones again?”
“It’s not as easily done as what you see on TV.” How he wished it were. “The likelihood that guy will call back is slim. Probably a malicious prankster, not a genuine extortionist.”
“Either way, that’s sick.”
“Sad to say, there are a lot of people who get their kicks out of doing things like that.”
“I’m so sorry, Grayson.”
He hated dumping all this on her, but, just like the other night, it felt good to have someone to share it with. Not just chasing it endlessly around in his own head.
“I’m sorry, too—that I had to spoil your meal tonight with this kind of news. But if Maddie or the sheriff call while I’m here, I’ll need to take it. I wanted you to know why.”
“Of course. I understand.”
He continued to gaze down at her, suddenly remembering last night. How her arms had slipped around his neck...the soft sweetness of her lips on his... “You look mighty pretty tonight.”
“Thank you.” She dropped her gaze to turn back to the supper preparations and he couldn’t help but smile, knowing his words put that soft pink in her cheeks.
She opened a cabinet and pointed at a serving dish on the top shelf. “You’re worried about your dad, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.” He retrieved the dish for her. “We should have heard something by now. Found evidence of his whereabouts.”
“You said earlier it isn’t uncommon for him to be out of contact, though. That he’s devoted to his work.”
“Or running from life.”
She glanced at him as she rummaged in a drawer. “Why do you say that?”
“Think about it. I’ve told you a bit about the family situation. How we discovered our dad and mom had been married, had kids, then divorced. Split the two sets of twins and went off to live separate lives. What we don’t know is why.”
“Sometimes things don’t work out.”
“There’s more to it. It’s complicated.” But he wasn’t ready to share about the paternity issue yet.
She lifted the lid of the electric skillet and set it aside, a mouthwatering, lemony chicken aroma filling the
air. Then she turned to him, certainty in her eyes. “You suspect he may have disappeared intentionally and that’s why you can’t find him.”
This woman read him like the proverbial book. “It’s crossed my mind.”
“But he’s a well-respected citizen. A doctor.”
“Even well-respected citizens pull up roots and do their best to disappear. If not permanently, at least for a time.”
Pausing over the simmering entrée, fork in hand, her gaze appraised him. “Does your family agree with that theory?”
“I haven’t discussed it with them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the elephant in the room nobody’s willing to talk about. Or maybe it’s a cop’s naturally suspicious nature. But I’ve come to two conclusions—neither a pretty picture.”
“That he’s disappeared on purpose—or that he’s...dead.”
He nodded at her blunt assessment. “What other alternative is there?”
“He could be so busy with doctoring that it hasn’t dawned on him anyone is looking for him. Or maybe, like you’d heard, he isn’t well. Not bad enough to be hospitalized, but being nursed back to health in someone’s home.”
“Maybe.”
He held the rimmed dish as she transferred the plump chicken pieces to it, then scooped spoonfuls of the rice and fragrant sauce over them.
“You’re carrying a heavy load, Grayson. Don’t make it heavier than it has to be by dwelling on the negative. I wish there was something I could do to help.”
He gave her a rueful smile. “Listening to me rattle on is help enough, reminding me that there’s always hope.”
“There is. Always.”
Much to his disgust, he had grown more pessimistic than he used to be. Probably came with the cop territory. Always seeing people at their worst. “I’m concerned about Dad and his whereabouts, but in all honesty, I’m angry with him. I know I shouldn’t be but...”
“That’s understandable. All these years he’s kept your biological mother a secret.”
He’d always known his father sometimes seemed troubled. Sad. It didn’t go unnoticed that he went to great effort not to let it show for the kids’ sake. Grayson always put it down to the loss of his wife, the woman Grayson thought was his birth mother. But there had been so much more....
“Although we loved Rachel like one of the family, Elise, our mother figure was a nanny.” He shook his head as if in disbelief and lowered his voice further, aware that Cory was elsewhere in the apartment. “Dad could have respected me enough to tell me when I turned eighteen. Now it might be too late to get to know the mother Jack and Violet have always known. What kind of man would withhold that from a child he professed to love?”
And why was he dumping all this on Elise?
“He sounds like a confused and hurting man.” Her words came softly, the expression in her eyes tender. “But...you’re also angry with your...with Belle, aren’t you?”
He gave a bitter laugh at how quickly she zeroed in on that. “It sounds silly for a grown man to feel this way. But it’s kind of like a kid wandering off at the mall and his mom not coming back for him. I mean, you should hear how Jack and Violet go on about her. That she was such a great mom.”
He squared his shoulders, determined to stop sounding like a whiner. What had gotten into him?
“I’m sorry.” She lightly touched his arm. “I know it’s hard to understand. And it hurts. But you’re going to get your answers, Grayson. It’s all going to work out. You have to believe that.”
If only he could. But she didn’t know the worst of it yet. That Dad might not be his biological father.
He stared down at the dish in his hands, still held in a death grip. Then he gave her a sheepish look. “At the risk of sounding negative, I think supper’s getting cold.”
“That’s what microwaves are for.” She smiled, standing on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek as she relieved him of the serving dish. A sweet blush stained her cheeks.
He smiled back, a comforting warmth surging through him as a glimmer of hope flickered somewhere in the recesses of his heart.
Elise.
Surely God hadn’t brought her into his life only to let her abandon him, too.
* * *
Once seated in front of the windows where last night Grayson had thoroughly kissed her, Elise nodded to Cory to lead the prayer. Eager to eat, he made embarrassingly short work of it. Despite a less than promising start to the evening, Grayson rallied to regale them with stories of his boyhood, omitting any of the anguish she knew his life had held. But his hauntingly sad situation involving his father and birth mother lingered in her mind.
God, please bring some good from all this bad.
When they’d cleaned up after the meal, she sent Cory off to bed early, reminding him that tomorrow would be a school day. He’d have to get up earlier in the morning for the longer drive. To her surprise, Grayson volunteered to tuck him in.
He soon joined her in the living room, sinking into one of the armchairs. From the smile that sent her insides dancing, she sensed the tension from their earlier conversation had eased. Was he now thinking about how they’d held each other last night? Would he say anything about it at all or continue the discussion about his family situation?
“You’ve got a good kid there, Elise.”
“Thank you.” She snuggled into the cushioned love seat, thankful that he hadn’t gotten a call from Grasslands after all, that they’d have time this evening to talk. “You seem to have a real rapport with little boys.”
His eyes twinkled. “Used to be one myself.”
“True. But all men were boys once, yet don’t always form a bond with children, especially those that aren’t their own.”
“It’s risky.”
“Risky?” She laughed. “How do you mean?”
He shrugged. “So it’s back to work and school tomorrow?”
“Yes. I dropped off Cory’s homework today and picked up what he needed to have done for tomorrow. He’s decided living in a high-rise and being homeschooled is the life for him. But I suspect he’d quickly tire of me and miss his friends.”
“It’s an adventure now.”
“Totally.” She motioned to the apartment’s upscale interior. “I can’t thank you enough, Grayson, for arranging a safe haven for us to come to.”
“Thank my sister, it’s her place.”
“But it was your doing. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
He sank farther back in the chair, looking quite at home. “I don’t need to be repaid. But if I was of that inclination, I’d say that incredible meal tonight evened the score.”
“I assure you, we won’t take advantage of your sister’s generosity indefinitely. I’ll begin looking at other properties as soon as possible. Strategize how I can move forward on my degree.”
“This place is available until the end of the year, so take advantage of it. I don’t want you and Cory moving back into that apartment.”
She didn’t either—if she could help it.
“I also want to apologize for the way I behaved toward you Friday night. For the way I dismissed you as if you’d served your purpose once the source of Cory’s misbehavior was brought to light.”
He dipped his head slightly in acceptance. “You were upset. I’d forced you to relive that encounter with street hooligans and pushed you about a situation you weren’t ready to discuss.”
She ran a finger along the upholstery’s soft surface. “I’d never told anyone about Duke. I know now I desperately needed to talk to someone about it, but explaining the situation felt as if I was betraying him. I panicked.”
“I understand.”
All day she’d planned to ask him if he’d be willing to again spend time with Cory. But he’d mentioned something t
onight that brought her up short, made her think that he might not want to.
“A few minutes ago, you said forming a bond with little kids is risky. What did you mean by that?”
The startled light in his eyes confirmed she’d caught him off guard with her question.
“Come on now, you already know it’s risky to let Cory get attached to someone who’s not a family member. My single friends with youngsters are super cautious about that.”
“It’s only natural.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You don’t want someone waltzing into your life and the life of your child only to waltz back out again. Kids don’t understand that behavior. They take it personally. It’s instinctive to want to protect them.”
“Which is exactly why I say it’s risky.”
“But that’s not solely what you were referring to earlier, was it?”
Gray tensed. “No...I guess not.”
“A child isn’t the only one who’s at risk of getting hurt.”
He met her gaze evenly. “No. If a strong bond develops, it can rip a guy’s heart out when the mother decides he’s not her cup of tea after all.”
“That’s happened to you.”
“Once.”
He rose from the chair to look out at the surrounding skyscrapers, their windows aglow. Who had done that to him and how long ago?
“It was my own fault,” he said at last as he turned toward her and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “I let myself get attached to a girlfriend’s four-year-old son. I should have known better.”
So that’s how he knew about things near and dear to a little boy’s heart.
“She’d been antsy from the beginning about my job,” he continued, his tone impersonal as if he could divorce himself from the lingering emotion of it. “About the fact I carried a gun. I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. When I told her early last summer that I’d be heading into several months of an undercover assignment she didn’t bat an eye. Just showed me the door.”
Pain etched his eyes, and her heart ached as she recognized how much it must have cost him to agree to spend time with Cory. “I’m sorry.”