Unexpected Superhero (Adventures of Lewis and Clarke Book 1)

by Kitty Bucholtz

  “Can she come over here after school sometimes? Maybe spend an occasional weekend? She needs someone who understands. And…” Carl looked embarrassed. He spoke to his shoes, his voice even lower. “Brenda and I need a break.”

  Joe rubbed his head even as he promised his brother to help. He and Tori really needed to talk. How was he going to explain a niece who could do, well, whatever it was she was beginning to do? He kept his voice low. “You know Tori and her folks still don’t know anything.”

  Carl chuckled a little. “I can’t figure out how you’ve managed to keep her in the dark, man.” Then he got Joe’s point. “Oh. So Katie would…”

  “I’m just saying I have to talk to Tori first. Katie is not to say anything to Tori until I tell her it’s okay.” How had life gotten so complicated? His dad was right, he should’ve told Tori when they met. “I’m serious. I won’t even take her back to your place. She’ll go straight to an orphanage!”

  Carl laughed and hugged him again, pounding him on the back. “You got it! I really appreciate this. And if you need anything, you know, anything at all! Thanks, Joe!” Carl lowered his voice once more. “Oh, and uh, just…be careful.”

  Carl walked over to his wife and kissed her cheek. He looked happier than he had all day. Joe felt the weight of additional anxiety.

  Bull chuckled beside him and slapped his shoulder. “Good luck, dude. You’ll need it.”

  Joe laughed with him and forced the anxiety away. It wouldn’t be so bad. Occasional visits from a niece he loved, hanging out with her sometimes and helping her to understand what was happening. Actually, it’d be fun. He’d never mentored a young person coming into their power.

  Then Joe stopped. Be careful? What did that mean?

  CHAPTER 7

  THE events of the last week had Tori feeling weird and fearful and irritable when she wasn’t excited and curious and eager to find out more about her power. The wedding reception Saturday had been a successful meshing of the two families. Thank you, God!

  Sunday, she and Joe spent a quiet relaxing day together after doing a little cleaning up. The peaceful feeling persisted today, and walking now in the fresh crisp air the few blocks from her house to Lexie’s apartment re-energized her.

  Tori thought about what it would be like to return to Half TV tomorrow. Pam in HR had called this morning to say they needed one more day to get a temporary replacement in for Evan. Tori wondered if she would have to sit at the same desk. She hoped not. Janice at Totally Temps assured her that if it was too weird, to let her know and she’d look for a new assignment.

  Joe had been great about the whole thing, telling her not to go back until she was ready. Considering that she needed a job to help pay the bills, he acted completely unperturbed about all the time she’d been off work. Three days was over half a paycheck. Maybe he didn’t want her to worry, but she was determined to pull her weight in their marriage, including financially.

  She’d been asking God for career guidance for a while now, but the events of the past week weren’t helping her make any decisions. She’d helped stop an armed robbery, found out she had a super power (as hard as that was to believe), and she’d found her dead boss under her desk. What was she supposed to be getting out of all these horrible experiences? Become a police officer? A superhero? A private detective? Leave town?

  No matter how much she prayed about it, she kept getting the feeling that everything was under control. She wanted to trust that God had a plan for her life, but she wasn’t sure yet if she would like it.

  Tori knocked and walked into Lexie’s apartment to the smell of pot roast and potatoes. “Mmm, I’ll babysit for you anytime,” she said when she joined her sister in the kitchen.

  Lexie grinned and put the food on the table. While she poured two glasses of lemonade, she asked Tori if she’d told Joe yet.

  Tori didn’t have to ask about what. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a good answer.

  “How’d he take it? You’re not in tears, so I assume it went well.”

  Tori hedged. “The party went till late Saturday and we spent most of Sunday cleaning up, so…”

  Her sister put her hands on her hips and put on her “mom” face. “You have got to be the most anti-conflict person I know. Heaven forbid you should have an argument with someone.”

  “I argue with you all the time,” Tori shot back. “I’m not anti-conflict. I just like it when everyone gets along and life is going smoothly.”

  Lexie raised one eyebrow. “Your life is going smoothly?”

  Well, no, not really. But it would be worse if she were fighting with her brand-new husband. They were so happy. She didn’t want to ruin it.

  “Okay, well, what about work then? Has the temp agency found you someplace else?” Lexie sat down and gave Ben his rubber-covered spoon.

  “I’m going back to the TV station tomorrow.” Tori took a slice of steaming meat and a few small red potatoes. She needed to learn to cook better now that she was married.

  “What? You can’t be serious!” Lexie mashed some potato on Ben’s plate with unnecessary force. “You’re done there, Tori. It isn’t safe. Call them back and tell them you’re not coming.”

  Tori noticed Ben watching his mother with unease. “It’ll be fine, Lex. Won’t it, Benji? Aunt Tori is going to have a totally nice day tomorrow.” She tapped his nose to try to get him to smile. He didn’t.

  “Tori, someone D-I-E-D and no one knows who did it! You already told me the parking lot is huge and half-lit. It’s not safe!” Lexie attacked Ben’s meat with the sharp knife she held, cutting it into smaller and smaller pieces, her emotions taking over.

  The air swirled with fear and what Tori called Lexie’s Mother Bear Quality. But now Tori was beginning to believe that Lexie’s emotional energy was more than extraordinary empathy. She’d bet Lexie had a power, too. She wanted to ask her about it, but right now Mother Bear was scaring her cub.

  Tori cleared her throat loudly.

  Lexie glanced at Tori, then noticed her son’s expression. Only Ben’s quivering chin forced her to calm down. She ruffled his hair and smiled at him, getting the tiniest smile in return.

  “I’m sure it’s never been safer now that the police have been there, and with it being on the news and all,” Tori said. She tried to think of anything to make the situation seem not so bad. “Besides, now that everyone is on high alert, nothing else can happen. Everyone will be watching.” That actually sounded like a good argument. Tori decided to believe it.

  The heated expression on her sister’s face could boil water. Lex glanced at her son and tried to speak calmly – through clenched teeth. “Generally speaking, the argument for safety because the police are looking for a K-I-L-L-E-R is not a solid one.”

  Tori wondered how they would have adult discussions when Ben learned to spell. Maybe they’d use Pig Latin. That could be fun. She smiled a little, then caught her sister’s frown as Lexie waited for a response.

  Lex raised her eyebrows and tilted her head. That look reminded Tori of their mom. “Am I right?”

  Tori sighed and took a bite of her food, talking around it after a moment. “Let’s just see how tomorrow goes.” She took another bite. “This is so delicious. It never turns out this way when I make it.”

  “Meat!” Ben cried out, tired of being left out of the conversation. “Meat an’ ’tatoes!” He scooped some onto his spoon and held onto it with one hand while he pushed the spoon into his mouth. He watched Tori to make sure she noticed his accomplishment. Some of the potatoes fell off, and Ben turned his focus to trying to pick them up with his fingers.

  Lexie sighed and lowered her voice. “You don’t really know any of them. You don’t have any reason to trust them. Or feel any loyalty,” she added. “Someone killed that guy and until the police know who and why, you can’t know who you can trust.”

  “I promise to be careful, okay?” Tori covered her sister’s hand with her own and focused calming thoughts her way. �
�Meanwhile, you should get to your class before you’re late. I’ll take care of the dishes.”

  An hour later, Lexie was gone, Ben was in bed, and Tori sat on the couch reading the back of a DVD. Beside her sat a few more movies and several paperback novels. A whole night alone. Bliss. Tonight she would lose herself in another world, totally ignoring the troubling issues in the real world. But would it be a romantic comedy where the boy gets the girl? Tori liked those even more now that she was living her own romance. Or would it be a thriller where the monsters were either genetic mutations or lawyers?

  She couldn’t decide what she wanted, but she had the entire night to make up her mind. Ahh, thank you, God. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a whole evening to herself. She closed her eyes and smiled in delight. Oh! She’d watch a romantic comedy and then read a thriller! Giggling to herself, she popped open a Hugh Jackman DVD and slipped it into the player.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  Tori frowned at the clock above the TV. Seven-fifteen. She hoped it wasn’t Angela next door asking her to babysit. Tori hated to say no to people but, cute as Angela’s kids were, she needed one night alone. She paused, considering not answering at all. But with all the lights on and a movie starting, whoever it was would know she was home.

  She moaned and tramped to the door, working up an excuse to send whoever it was away. She flipped on the outside light and opened the door partway, trying not to let all the warm air out. A man she didn’t know stood there. He smiled.

  “Yes?” she said. She took in his expensive clothes, his well-groomed appearance, and decided he was lost. This was so not his neighborhood. She’d send him back to the west side of town where he belonged and get back to her movie. “Are you lost?”

  He chuckled. “Hello, Victoria.”

  Tori blinked, taken aback. He didn’t look at all familiar. She mentally ran through all the temp jobs she’d had lately but couldn’t place him at any of them. He didn’t look a bit like a mugger or a rapist, but Tori closed the door a little more anyway. She couldn’t help it. She had a funny feeling, but she couldn’t say what exactly she felt. She wished Joe had come over to babysit with her, but he’d decided to work late when she told him she’d be out.

  “Do I know you?” She gave him a cautious half-smile, but inside she was praying for safety. She didn’t want to know if she could handle one more over-the-top experience right now.

  “I can see you don’t remember me,” he said with a smooth smile, “but yes, you know me. I’m your father.”

  Shock glued Tori in place. Her father? As in, “Luke, I am your father”? But she hadn’t seen him since her pre-memory toddler days. Why would he show up now? If it was really him.

  Tori glanced around the courtyard of the apartment complex. Empty. It was dark and freezing cold, having snowed a few inches earlier in the day. No one wanted to be out. And Tori wasn’t so sure she wanted to invite this man in.

  “Can I see your ID?” Tori felt as surprised by her question as the man now looked. It had just popped out. She reached for his proffered wallet. Kane Curtis, 21 Matrix Court, Green Hills, Michigan. Like she’d thought, the rich area of town. Well, that fit with what little she knew about her biological father, that and his name.

  Looking up to compare the picture on the driver license with the man in front of her, Tori saw he was quietly laughing. She frowned.

  “I’m not laughing at you,” he said kindly. “I’m trying to decide whether I should be impressed with your safety standards or worried that you have to be so concerned with your surroundings.” He looked around the courtyard and the street and raised an eyebrow.

  That’s when Tori knew he was telling the truth. Lexie had that exact same look.

  “Please, come in,” she said reluctantly, moving away from the door. She tried to smile on the outside while running through a hundred possible why scenarios on the inside. Why was he here? And how did he know her when she didn’t even live here anymore?

  Should she call her dad? He’d tell her what to do, probably even come over. Years of secrets and unanswered questions battled inside until Tori didn’t know if she was more curious or uneasy. She braced herself. She was twenty-seven years old, plenty old enough to handle things on her own.

  She watched this man, her father, as he wiped his feet on the mat and shrugged carefully out of his winter-weight overcoat. Silk probably, or perhaps some kind of micro-fiber, something expensive. She noticed that he glanced at their overcrowded and somewhat dirty coat closet and didn’t hand her his coat. Tori didn’t offer to take it.

  She waved him toward the kitchen. “Can I get you something to drink?” She couldn’t get over how tall he was, well over six feet. He looked like he worked out in the gym, too. His hair was quite stylish, graying around the temples. Tori did some quick math and decided he looked pretty good for a man nearing sixty. She could imagine why her mother found him attractive when they were young. Of course, that would be the problem. The women in her family and their choice of men.

  Not that the family curse was going to affect her. She refused to allow it. She didn’t make a mistake. Joe was perfect.

  “Coffee would be fine,” he said, looking around their small kitchen, moving his head to catch part of the living room in his gaze.

  “Sorry, we don’t drink coffee.” She opened the fridge. “We have Diet Coke, apple juice, milk, hot chocolate…” She looked up and tried not to look apologetic. This was her home, well, Lexie and Ben’s home. That he made her feel she should apologize made her determined not to.

  “If you’re having hot chocolate, that would be nice,” he said. He looked at the kitchen table and chairs, painted in a rainbow of colors by Lexie last year, complete with tiny Ben-prints. He wiped a crumb or two from a chair and sat down, carefully folding his coat on his lap.

  “Is your nephew here? Ben, right?”

  A man like Kane Curtis should not be inspiring such dread. He was rich, handsome, and somewhat charming. But Tori absolutely, positively did not want him near Ben. “He’s asleep.”

  Tori microwaved two mugs of milk and tried to think of something to say. Should she launch right into twenty questions, or let him begin by telling her why he came?

  “Did you choose to live here?” he asked.

  Tori could hear the confusion in his voice. She turned to him with a frown as the microwave beeped. Maybe he didn’t know that she’d moved out. But how could he not hear that his question was insulting?

  “Your mother lives in a nice part of town,” he said. “Why don’t you live there?”

  Tori pulled out the mugs and added the hot cocoa powder and spoons. “It’s an expensive part of town.”

  Could he really be such a naïve rich boy? Mom talked about him so infrequently, and usually with a good deal of venom in her voice, Tori wasn’t sure how to take his odd, somewhat rude, comments.

  She set a mug on the table in front of him and sat down, moving a coloring book aside to put her own mug on the table. She watched him look around the kitchen. Two sinks, no dishwasher, the microwave and some other appliances taking up most of the counter space, a small butcher-block island where most of their meal prep took place.

  Tori felt embarrassed as she saw her life from this man’s view. And her embarrassment made her angry. Their home – and their life – was warm and cozy and full of a great deal of love. She and her sister had created a haven for themselves and Ben. They’d never felt safer than they did living here together. Even though she’d moved out a couple months ago, it was still a haven for her. She didn’t expect other people to understand, but she didn’t expect the man who dared refer to himself as her father to make her feel small.

  Danny, her real dad, had never in all her life made her feel embarrassed or ashamed. Tori suddenly felt the need to call him and thank him for that.

  Turning to Kane, that’s what she would call him, she decided, she said, “Why are you here?” Ruining my perfect evening. She left t
hat unsaid. For now.

  Kane met her gaze, measuring and making mental notes. Tori could see it in his eyes.

  “I came to find you and take you home, Victoria.” He flicked his wrist at the apartment. “You deserve so much more than this. You and Alexia and my grandson. Your heritage demands it. It’s time I became a proper father to you.”

  Tori laughed. In disbelief, not good humor. “Really?”

  Kane looked surprised.

  Tori searched his face, tried to read his eyes, to figure out what he was thinking. She decided not to correct him about where she lived. “We have everything we need here, thank you,” she said firmly, using all her willpower not to succumb to his level of rudeness. “We’re warm and dry and well-fed and perfectly happy.” She couldn’t help herself. “And we already have a dad.”

  She’d often wondered why her biological father had left them, why he had allowed Danny to adopt her and Lexie, why he hadn’t made an appearance since then, even though they lived in the same city. But now she saw what good fortune that had been.

  Kane took a deep breath and stirred his heretofore untouched hot chocolate. “I can see I haven’t approached this correctly,” he said. He met Tori’s gaze with a sad look that made him look older. “I don’t want you to feel I’m belittling what you have. But I can give you more than you ever dreamed. And I want to.”

  Tori leaned back in her chair a little and stirred her hot chocolate as well. She took a calming breath and watched him stir his drink. He had a manicure. She tried not to roll her eyes. A manicure. She didn’t know a single man in her life with a manicure. There was something…ostentatious about it.

  “Your grandmother died a few months ago,” Kane said, his voice filled with quiet sadness.

  Tori glanced up in surprise. Now that was something she hadn’t thought of, that she had another family besides her mother’s side and Danny’s side. It had never occurred to her. She wondered if any of them had ever wanted to meet her.