Someone had pulled off the mask of the motionless body on the ground. Blocking Eve’s view of the man, he turned Molly so she wouldn’t have to look at him, either, and asked what the situation was with the other kidnapper. As the syncopated whap-whap of helicopter blades grew louder, he was told that the driver of the sedan was as dead as his partner.
“Who ordered aerial assist?” one of the other officers called out.
“It’s not ours,” another replied.
Someone else swore. A heartbeat later, Eve saw a gray chopper appear over the tops of the trees and the order to head for cover had everyone darting for the woods. Like a giant mosquito, the aircraft started to descend into the clear-cut, only to change direction seconds later. As if the craft had just played out the give in a bungee cord, it suddenly shot upward, arced east and disappeared over the tops of the trees.
“Get them out of here before that chopper decides to come back,” a senior officer ordered, pointing to the wounded man and the two females holding on to him. “And radio for a meat wagon.”
* * *
The emergency room at Vanderbilt Memorial was not Eve’s favorite place. The last time she’d been there, her mother had been carried in on a stretcher and had died soon after. At least she, Rio and Molly, hugging the blue bear Rio had brought with him, had walked in under their own steam. That had been an hour ago.
Now, running on nothing but nerves but feeling a little more human since she and Molly had washed up in the rest room, Eve followed a nurse in green scrubs past rows of empty gurneys and curtained-off cubicles.
“He’s right here.” The nurse pulled back part of a curtain so she and Molly could enter. “Stay as long as you want.”
Thanking the woman, concern battling caution, Eve ushered Molly inside and pulled the curtain behind them. Rio sat on a narrow, sheet-covered gurney, naked to the waist and looking terribly impatient.
Pulling her eyes from the well-defined muscles of his chest and the blood leaking through the thick gauze pad on his arm, she saw his impatience turn to hesitation. They had ridden together in the back seat of the patrol car with Molly cuddled between them. But the ordeal had left them all too drained to do anything more than relish the fact that they were safe. Very little had been said that wasn’t necessary.
“The nurse said you wanted to see us.”
“I wanted to make sure you were still here.”
Molly, her feet encased in blue paper hospital slippers, moved to the edge of the silver gurney. Looking past Rio’s long, denim-clad legs, she frowned in distress at his wounded arm. “Does it hurt?”
“Not really,” he replied, soothing away the furrows in her brow with the tips of his fingers. “Did you eat?”
Molly told him she had, but that her mommy hadn’t wanted anything. Assuring her that her mommy would probably eat something later, he shifted his concern for her to her mother. “Did you finish giving the officer your statement?”
“Just a few minutes ago.” Not as convinced as Molly by his claim that he wasn’t in pain, she motioned to his shoulder. Around the temporary bandage, a wash of orange-brown antiseptic darkened his shoulder and upper arm. “The nurse said you need stitches.”
“That’s what I’m waiting for. Listen, if you and Molly don’t need to be here, the officer can take you home. I’ll be over as soon as they’re finished with me.” He touched the little girl’s hair again, the gesture seeming to seek assurance that she was really all right. “There was something we were going to do.”
They were going to tell Molly who he was. Eve hadn’t forgotten. Through all the uncertainty she’d experienced at the hands of her captors, she’d recalled a dozen times what she and Rio had planned to do two nights ago.
Knowing he’d been dealing with his own fears where Molly was concerned, she didn’t blame him for wanting to get their relationship straight as soon as possible.
“Why don’t we do it now?”
“Do what?” Molly wanted to know, her glance darting between the adults.
Neither one of them answered. For a moment, it didn’t appear to Eve that Rio even breathed. Still holding her glance, he finally gave her a tight nod. “Go ahead.”
He was looking to her to take the lead, something that made little sense to Eve. Not after the way he’d taken control and risked himself to save her and his daughter. That was the impression he gave her, though, and she was more than willing to supply whatever reinforcement he needed just then.
Picking up their little girl, she sat her next to him on the gurney.
“Molly,” she began, wondering at how much easier this was than she’d thought it would be. “Do you remember the other morning when you asked Rio if he would be your pretend daddy?”
Hugging Ted, Molly nodded.
“Well, it isn’t just pretend, honey. He really is your daddy.”
Molly’s little brow furrowed again. Lifting her chin from where it had rested on Ted’s head, she looked up at the big, half-naked man beside her. Seconds later, she looked to her mom. “He is?”
“He is.”
“Like you’re my real mommy?”
“Just like that.”
It seemed as if it had been forever since Eve had seen her little girl smile. Now Molly’s whole face brightened as she turned back to Rio. “Are you going to live with us?”
Eve felt her heart jerk as she caught Rio’s totally unreadable glance. But she’d scarcely opened her mouth to explain how the joint custody Rio wanted would work, when the curtain was whipped back.
Rio was promising a grinning Molly they’d talk later as Dr. Amanda Jennings walked in. With her short blond hair brushed back from her attractive features and her white lab coat starched and pressed, she gave the immediate impression of professionalism and efficiency. Since she had worked on Eve’s mother, Eve knew she was far more than that. Amanda Jennings was also one of the most sensitive people she’d ever met.
Right behind her was Stone Richardson, still wearing a dark blue baseball jacket and slacks.
“It’s only a flesh wound,” Dr. Jennings assured Eve, since she looked more worried than either the stoic, dark-haired man sitting on the gurney or the blond bear of a detective who’d stopped next to it. “The X ray shows it didn’t even nick bone.”
Rio scowled up at his friend. “Did I ever mention that I hate guns?”
“Several times,” Stone returned, using the excuse of handing Molly to her mother to avoid seeing what was under the gauze Dr. Jennings removed.
Stone looked rushed. He also looked extraordinarily sympathetic. But as Eve settled in the plastic chair at the head of the gurney with Molly on her lap, she figured that was probably because Rio’s wound wasn’t far from the same spot where he’d caught a bullet three weeks ago.
“You know, buddy, at the rate you’re going, you’ll never get the roof on your cabin before the winter. You won’t be able to use a hammer for another month.”
“You’re building a cabin?”
At Eve’s quiet question, Rio turned to her. He really wished Dr. Jennings would hurry up and get started with the stitches. Not because of any discomfort. With his arm already pumped full of anesthetic, the only place he hurt was where his ribs had hit the rocks after he’d made his flying tackle. He wanted to be alone with Eve. There were a few things he needed to tell her. But now that Stone had arrived he had the feeling that getting her alone wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
“It’s just a foundation at this point. But, yeah, I am.
“Have you learned anything?” he asked the detective, turning to him.
“Actually, we have.” Snagging the empty chair with his foot, Stone pulled it over and propped a size eleven on the marred gray plastic. “An officer at the scene recognized the driver as a low-level gun for the syndicate. He remembered him from a new batch of FBI posters. I have a feeling that the bearded guy was the same.” Since Rio was too numbed-up to wince, Stone did it for him as Dr. Jennings took the first stitch
. “I have someone running a picture of him over to the messenger service now to see if he’s the one the owner talked to.”
“You know,” he added, his voice low, though there was no way to keep any of the morning’s events quiet. Anyone with a police scanner would know what had happened on Logging Road 8. “These guys weren’t amateurs. Their car was a rental. We found the papers in the glove box. And we believe that chopper was coming in to pick them up. That was the only way to avoid encountering another car in daylight who could identify them as having been in the area.
“They weren’t going to risk Eve getting anywhere for help before they were long gone, either,” he continued. “Taking Molly’s shoes meant she had to carry her. That would have slowed her down in case she’d figured out where she was and tried to make it to the highway before her rescue arrived.”
He paused, glancing from the doctor to Eve and back to Rio. For different reasons, he knew he could trust them all. Still, dropping his foot, he moved closer to Rio and lowered his voice to a demanding whisper.
“What in the hell did you stumble onto, anyway, Redtree? Olivia Stuart’s murder just went big-time. We’re talking mob connections here.”
Rio held up his left hand, every bit as perplexed as his friend. “You know what I know. If you can figure it out, you tell me.”
Though he’d been over every note he’d taken in the investigation, Rio honestly didn’t know where he’d triggered the events of the past thirty-six hours. Once it had become apparent to him that Hal had nothing to do with the kidnapping, he’d drawn blanks. Unless Hal knew who…
With the force of a strong wind slamming a door, Rio shut his mind to that enticing bit of speculation. He wasn’t about to tease himself with possibilities he had no intention of pursuing. He’d mention the thought to Stone later and the detective could take it from there. He had other questions he wanted answered, anyway. Starting with what Stone was talking to Eve about at that very moment.
“I know you’ve already been through this with Detective Chang,” Stone was saying to her, “and I won’t ask you to go through all of it again. We’re just trying to figure out where it was that they held you.”
He flipped open a spiral-bound notebook much like the one the other officer had used, and his foot went back on the chair. “Give me times, if you can. Starting with when you first noticed their car behind you.”
Had it not been imperative that the police work quickly, Rio would have told his friend he could ask his questions later. Eve was holding up better than anyone would have expected, something Rio now realized was equal parts facade and backbone, but she looked exhausted. If they hoped to find anything that would lead them to the pilot of that helicopter, however, they had to move now.
Aware of Rio watching her, aware too of the faintly protective glint in his eyes, Eve smoothed her hand up and down Molly’s little back as she spoke.
“It had to be right around five o’clock,” she said, grateful that she didn’t have to repeat what she’d told the other officer about the awful hours she and Molly had spent blindfolded and huddled together on a bed in what she thought was a cabin. “We’d left the reservation at four-thirty, so it couldn’t have been too much later than that. They blindfolded us right away, so it was impossible to tell when it got dark or even what direction we went.”
She went on to recall what she could of how long they had driven in their captor’s car, the turns they had taken, the types of roads they’d been on. She knew that Rio’s attention had sharpened the moment she’d mentioned the reservation, but he said nothing. Nor did he move. Not that he could with Dr. Jennings sewing up his arm. She could tell he was itching to get up, though. She was beginning to sense impatience in him again.
Hoping that wasn’t because he was upset with her because of what she’d done, but knowing it could well be, since he’d made it clear that his mother was not her problem, Eve kept her focus on Stone. Mercifully, it took him only a couple of minutes to ask the rest of his questions. Wasting no time once he finished, he told Eve to call him if she remembered anything else, chucked Molly under the chin, then caught himself just before he could jog the doctor’s last stitch by giving Rio a friendly slap on the arm. Instead, he told him he’d be in touch and disappeared through the curtain.
That curtain was still swaying when Dr. Jennings snipped catgut from the suture and the scissors hit the metal tray with a quiet clatter. “These can come out in about a week,” she told Rio, ripping open a paper packet. A thick pad of sterile gauze went over the wound. Securing the six-inch squares with white paper tape, she gave him the rest of his instructions and told him the nurse would be in shortly to give him an injection for tetanus. She seemed very aware that, the entire time she was talking, her patient had been watching the woman uneasily watching him.
It was apparent to Amanda that Rio and Eve needed to be alone. What they didn’t know was that there were two reporters hovering in the waiting room. While it was entirely possible that they were friends of Rio’s wanting to see for themselves that he was all right, their presence meant he and Eve would have little peace for a while yet.
Stripping off her gloves, she dropped them on the tray and walked over to where Molly still sat on her mom’s lap. “Do you know what you look like you need?” she asked the little girl.
“Not a shot.”
“No,” she returned with a laugh. “Ice cream. Since I could use a break, and I happen to know where they serve chocolate sundaes around here, why don’t you and I go get one?” She looked at Eve. “Is that all right with you?”
“It’s all right with me,” Molly announced, already climbing off her mother’s lap.
It was okay with Eve, too, though the moment she agreed, she wondered if being alone with Rio just then was all that wise. The way she was feeling, agitated, fatigued and desperately in need of his arms, she couldn’t handle it if he got upset with her. Thanking the doctor despite her second thoughts, Eve rose from the chair as soon as Molly and Ted shuffled off, led by the kind doctor’s hand.
“So,” Eve began, unwilling to let silence feed the attack of nerves. “Tell me about your cabin.”
Of all the subjects she could have raised just then, that one caught Rio totally unprepared.
“My cabin?”
“What’s it like?”
He watched her move to the head of the gurney, her attention seemingly on the blood pressure gauge and oxygen port on the wall. Wondering if she simply couldn’t handle talking about anything taxing just now, he decided to give her whatever space she needed.
“It’s not much. Just a place to come back to after I leave here. A couple of rooms. A porch.” He started to lift his shoulder in a shrug, then caught himself when the movement sent a jolt of pain from shoulder to rib. “If I don’t finish it this year, there’s always next summer.”
“You’re leaving?”
Something like disappointment shadowed her face. He didn’t question why he found that so encouraging. “I’d thought I would. Eventually.” He’d thought that for a long time. Getting as far from the reservation as he could had always been a goal. But he’d never made it any farther than Grand Springs. In the past hours, he’d come to realize that maybe there’d been a reason for that. “I can’t go anywhere yet. I’ve just taken a promotion.”
“You’ve been promoted?”
“To assistant editor. I got the offer a while ago, but I’ve just decided to accept it.”
He made it sound as if the decision had been made in the last minute. Too agitated to wonder why that was, Eve told him she was happy for him, that she knew he’d do well because he could do anything he put his mind to, then made herself say what she could no longer avoid.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“About what you were doing on the res?”
There was more curiosity than irritation in his expression. Encouraged by that, she unconsciously began twisting the edge of the sheet two feet away from where h
e sat, and gave him a nod.
“I had to go. For several reasons,” she admitted, hoping he would understand. “I’ll sign your custody agreement, Rio. And that will make everything legal, so you’ll know you always have access to your daughter. But I need you to believe that I want Molly to be part of your life without a court saying she is.
“I know you don’t trust me,” she told him, pulling back so she wouldn’t be so close to him. “And I know you can never feel about me the way I do about you. I accept that. But you need to accept that I really thought you meant it when you said you didn’t want children. Now I think I know you better.”
“I don’t think you do.”
Her glance flew to his.
“First,” he said flatly, “I do trust you. And second,” he added, looking as cautious as she felt, “I don’t blame you for not telling me. My pride was hurt, Eve. But I know the impressions I gave you, and you were right. I didn’t want children. I didn’t want to do to them what my father had done to me.”
“But you wouldn’t have,” she protested. “You’re a wonderful father.”
That meant more to him than she could possibly know. “All I knew was that my mother kept telling me I was just like him. I believed her.”
“She knows that. She knows how that hurt you, too.
“She does,” Eve insisted, because Rio’s scowl made it obvious that he doubted her. “And I think she feels awful about it, but that’s for the two of you to work through. You will, though. I’m sure of it. And I think she’s going to be all right with Molly, too.” Her arms tightened over the knot. “She and I don’t stand much of a chance, though. She wouldn’t even look me in the eye.”
“Eve.” His tone was utterly flat, the look on his face one of extreme patience as he snagged her arm to pull her closer. “The reason my mother wouldn’t hold your glance is strictly a cultural difference. We believe that the spirit is visible in a person’s eyes, and the spirit is private. It’s a sign of disrespect to invade another’s privacy. Those of us who’ve lived off the res had to learn that we weren’t being insulted when someone looked us in the eye when they spoke. Just like we had to learn not to insult them by looking away.” He smiled, some of the tension fading from him. “Those who’ve lived their entire lives on the res, like my mother, don’t understand the difference in customs.”
Father and Child Reunion Page 23