One Daddy Too Many

by Debra Salonen

  “Please tell him Kate called. Maya is on her way home.” Then she hung up. She wished he was here with her, but maybe this was for the best. Maya would need Kate’s full attention for some time to come.

  ROB KEPT THE MEETING short and sweet. He didn’t have time to answer a lot of questions, partly because he was winging this and partly because he was still waiting for Kate’s call. His secretary had been given strict orders to interrupt the meeting as soon as the call came from the Radonovic compound.

  “Gentlemen, you have two choices: cut and run or hunker down for the duration. If you want to give up the inroads this office has made in the Las Vegas market, then the first is your obvious choice. A bad one, in my opinion, but that’s for you to decide. The second is going to require some creative thinking—some reaching into those parts of our brains that don’t get used much—the human side.”

  He tried to keep his tone light, but only a few faces actually showed any sign of getting his joke. He pushed on. “Before you is a very rough sketch of my plan. The figures are tentative, but the bottom line is: you’ll still make money off this branch. Not a lot to start out, but you won’t be in the red, either.”

  He checked his watch. Again. Why hadn’t Kate called?

  “Are we keeping you from something?” a deep voice asked.

  Rob looked across the conference table at Jordon Ames, his near-miss father-in-law. Haughty. Powerful. Unapproachable. That was how Rob had always viewed him. In the past, Rob had dreaded any contact with the man, at work or on a social basis. Now, he just didn’t care.

  “My friend’s daughter was abducted by her father this morning. Our office bungled the original custody hearing. In fact, one of the two lawyers up for dismissal handled the case. Rather poorly. But I take full responsibility for that since I assigned her to the case and didn’t follow through.”

  “Could we be sued?”

  “Possibly, but I arranged for new representation with a lawyer who specializes in family law, so I don’t think that will be a problem.”

  Serena’s father whispered something to his neighbor, then winked knowingly at Rob. Did the man know Rob was seeing Kate? Did the creep think Rob was dating Kate just to avoid being sued?

  He stood up. “Gentlemen, you have the information you need to decide on the fate of this office. The black-and-white information. But if you want to make informed decisions, I suggest you walk into the hallway and talk to the staff. When I first got here, they seemed to share a sense of floating at sea, adrift and unaccountable. Now, I think you’ll see they’re committed to being part of a whole. I’m sorry I can’t stick around, but I’ve got important personal business.”

  He couldn’t believe his brass. He’d never walked out of a meeting before in his life. He hurried to his office. His secretary wasn’t at her desk. A temp he didn’t recognize was in her place. “Where’s Jill?”

  “She wasn’t feeling well. Bad sushi she thinks.”

  Rob got a sick feeling low in his gut—and he hadn’t eaten since the doughnut he shared with Kate on the road. “Did I get any calls when I was in the meeting?”

  She looked down. “Um…yes. One. Someone named Kate said to tell you Maya was home. Does that make sense?”

  It did. But his not being available probably wouldn’t. Not to Kate.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Mommy.”

  Kate had never heard a sweeter, more welcome sound in her life. She was out the door the second the unmarked patrol car rolled into the cul-de-sac. She’d seen that car before. It belonged to Zeke, who had brought her mother home hours earlier then disappeared.

  Zeke’s partner, the stocky bodybuilder type who came to the swimming lessons with his baby, got out of the passenger seat and opened the rear door. A woman in street clothes stood up, first, then held out her hand to another passenger. Maya.

  Kate’s knees nearly gave out when she saw her daughter, but somehow she managed to pick her up. “Maya. Oh, baby, I’m so glad to see you. Are you okay?”

  Maya wrapped her arms tightly around Kate’s neck and buried her face against her shoulder. Her little body shuddered with sobs. Kate did her best to comfort her, rubbing her back until the weeping eased.

  “Where did your daddy take you, honey?”

  Maya’s thin arm lifted as she pointed. Kate realized the foolishness of her question. Four-year olds didn’t know directions or maps. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” Scarred for life?

  “They were in a café just finishing lunch when a uniformed officer approached them,” Zeke said, standing a few steps to one side. “According to the arresting officer, Grant didn’t offer any kind of resistance and Maya seemed fine, although she put up a bit of a squawk over going in the patrol car because her mother taught her not to get in a car with strangers.”

  Kate smiled through her tears. “She did, did she? I’m proud that you remembered, sweetheart.”

  Maya lifted her chin. “Daddy told me it was okay to go with those policemen. He said they’d take me home because he had other business to do and couldn’t take me to the zoo like he wanted.”

  “The zoo?”

  She nodded seriously. “This morning when we left he said we were going to go somewhere that he liked a lot when he was a little boy and he’d never gotten a chance to show me. The zoo. A really big one with lots of animals.” She started rattling off the many species.

  Kate looked at Zeke. “Which zoo?”

  He shrugged and shook his head. “They were in Quartz-site. Make a right turn and you’re headed to San Diego.”

  Kate pictured a map in her head. “Or keep going straight and you’re in Mexico,” she said softly.

  Zeke nodded.

  The rest of the family, who’d waited till she’d had some time alone with her daughter, suddenly surged around them. Kate felt safe and loved, but there was one person missing. Rob. And she felt that, too.

  “MAYA’S TAKING A NAP. All tuckered out,” Yetta told him, when Rob finally reached the Radonovic house after what seemed like a fool’s quest. He’d had to go to three pet stores before he found one with a decent selection of fish.

  Stupidly, he held up his purchase: four individual plastic Baggies filled with water. “I wanted to get her something,” he said.

  Yetta smiled. “She’ll be pleased.”

  He looked around. “Is Kate here?”

  “No. She and her lawyer were meeting with someone to discuss what to do about Ian. Zeke tried to explain it to me, but frankly, I was too upset to follow. I felt as though I failed them both, you know.”

  Rob did know. Too well.

  He made a gesture with one of the bags. “What should I do with these little fellows? The guy at the pet store said they shouldn’t stay in these bags too long.”

  Yetta motioned for him to follow her. She carefully opened a door and walked into a darkened room. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he spotted the artificial brightness of the tropical aquarium. And a few feet away was Maya’s bed with the little girl curled up beneath a frilly pink spread.

  His heart compressed from the pressure on his chest. She looked like a curly-haired angel. Defenseless and fragile. Anger surged from some primal spot deep inside him. If he could have gotten his hands around Ian’s throat…

  “Let go,” a voice whispered.

  Rob blinked. Yetta’s hands were covering his. The water in the clear bags was sloshing from side to side. He let out a long harsh breath.

  “She’s an amazingly resilient soul,” Yetta said softly. “Her mother was afraid this experience might scar her, but I think my granddaughter is able to discern a person’s true motives better than most adults can. Her father didn’t mean to hurt her or scare her. He simply got lost.”

  Lost?

  Rob didn’t actually ask the question until after they’d released the fish into the tank. He’d listened to the pet store clerk’s explicit directions on how to acclimate fish to a new environment, but his patience was lon
g gone. He untied the twist ties and dumped them in. If they made it, great. If not, well, this wouldn’t be his first bad move of the day.

  “What did you mean when you said Ian got lost?” he asked Yetta once they were seated at the kitchen table. She’d offered him coffee, but he’d turned it down. His stomach was a knot of nerves.

  “Ian’s mother was Romani. She was very beautiful and very troubled. When things turned sour, she’d take her son and leave. By bus, car, thumb—whatever means was convenient. Ian’s central point of his inner compass got mixed up, cross-wired. When he’s in one place for too long, he starts thinking he has to leave, and some unconscious force takes over. He does things to precipitate the need for a move.”

  Rob sat back in the chair and considered what she said. It made sense, but…“Does that excuse him?”

  “For taking Maya? Heavens, no. I don’t believe he planned to take Maya this morning, but he’s an opportunist. When he found out Kate was gone, he acted out of spite.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she was with you. A clear signal that she’d started to rebuild her life—one that didn’t include him.”

  “How could he have known she was with me? Hell, I didn’t even know last night was going to happen until it did.”

  Yetta gave an inward smile that made him shiver. “Ian is a very clever man. Maybe he had somebody spying on Kate—looking for something to use in their custody battle.”

  Damn. Not once had Rob checked to see if anyone was following them. Heck, he was so infatuated with Kate, the guy could have tailgated him and Rob wouldn’t have noticed.

  “But surely he didn’t think he could get away with kidnapping Maya.”

  Yetta took a sip from the cup she was holding. “I doubt if he thought past the taking. That’s how he is—impulsive. But as I told Katherine, even if they put him back in jail, he’s not going to disappear. And now that Maya’s older and they’ve established a relationship, it will be impossible for Kate to ignore him the way she’s done in the past.”

  Rob agreed. The last time he and Maya talked, the little girl had been adamant about Ian’s role as her daddy. If Maya had her way, there wouldn’t be room for any other man in her life, not for a long, long time.

  “I DIDN’T DO IT on purpose, Katie. I just acted. You weren’t there. Maya was. And I thought if I took a drive in the desert I’d be able to think clearly. You know that’s what I used to do. Remember?”

  Kate was sitting across the table from her ex-husband in some kind of interrogation room. She had the uncomfortable feeling there might be someone observing them, although she didn’t see anything that looked like a two-way mirror on the wall. Ian was wearing street clothes—denim jeans, a lilac polo shirt that she never would have bought for him and expensive-looking sneakers.

  They were alone. Their respective lawyers were elsewhere, probably hammering out some kind of plea bargain with the police or D.A. She didn’t know or care.

  “So, I was gone and you thought, ‘Hey, it’s a nice day for a drive. I’ll just steal my ex-mother-in-law’s car and take my daughter for a little road trip’—even though it’s against the law, the provisions of your parole and our custody agreement.”

  His chin dropped to his chest. “I didn’t really stop to think. That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

  She didn’t answer.

  He looked up. “I had a dream last night. I saw you in bed with another guy. You told him you loved him. I kept shouting, ‘No. No. You can’t love him. You’re my wife.’”

  Kate felt her face heat up. Had he guessed where she’d been and with whom or was this some kind of Rom mind game? “But I’m not your wife, Ian,” she said firmly. “We’re divorced.”

  “That’s just paperwork, Katie. We said vows.”

  “Which you broke.”

  “I made some really lousy decisions and took risks that didn’t work out the way I thought they would, but I never stopped loving you.”

  She crossed her arms. “Really? And where was the keep-yourself-solely-unto-each-other part when you ran off to Mexico with the blond bimbette?”

  He took a deep breath and let it out. “I didn’t cheat on you.” She snorted skeptically. “Tell that to the woman you were arrested with.”

  “Her name is Cara. Her brother owed me money. A lot of money. He was one of the reasons I got caught short when the auditors came down on me. He was afraid I was going to use my Mafia connections to put a hit on him if he didn’t pay up.”

  “What Mafia connections?”

  He grinned. “Exactly. I didn’t have any, but he didn’t know that. So, he begged me to think of some other kind of payback. I told him I needed a woman to play the part of my mistress.”

  Kate blew out a breath of frustration. “This is pathetic, Ian. Did you spend the last two years thinking this up? I’ve never heard such a crock. I’m leaving.”

  He reached out with his hand, but stopped short of actually touching her arm. “Katie, please. You have to listen. This is the truth. Ask my lawyer, she’ll tell you.”

  “She’s your lawyer. She’s paid to believe you.”

  “Then ask Cara. She’s married now and living in Boulder City. She visited me a couple of times in jail. She’s a good person. She just wanted to help her brother.”

  Kate heard a sincerity that couldn’t be denied. “Why would you do such a thing?”

  “I figured getting away was a long shot, but when you’re desperate you’ll try anything. If I would have made it across the border, I’d have contacted you as soon as it was safe for you and Maya to join me.”

  “Life on the run,” she said. Did he really believe she’d have taken an infant across the border to live on money he’d stolen from her family? “There’s a great way to raise a child.”

  He grimaced. “You’re right. I knew that, too, but I panicked. Everything was crashing down around me. I couldn’t tell you the truth, so I lied. To protect you.”

  Something in his tone made her stifle her automatic response. Ian had always insisted that his role in the family was to keep his wife and daughter safe. He’d been neurotic about alarm systems, air bags in cars and child-protective locks.

  “So running away was your way of protecting us?”

  “Yes. It was the best I could do. And just in case I got caught, I figured I needed something to keep you from wasting any more time and money on me.”

  A lump formed in Kate’s throat making it impossible to ask what needed to be asked.

  “Cara was a front. A prop. The police let her go after questioning, but by then you’d already assumed the worst. Like I knew you would. You saw her and said, ‘Hang the bastard.’”

  “Not in so many words,” she said softly.

  “I know you, Katie. I know how much value you place on trust and integrity. I didn’t know how long I’d be in jail, but I didn’t want you and Maya wasting time worrying about me, visiting me.”

  “So you set me up to hate you?”

  He nodded.

  “Well, congratulations. It worked. I do.”

  “No, you wish you could. But you don’t.”

  Kate wanted to deny the allegation, but her emotions were too jumbled. She hung on to anger. It was much safer than sympathy. “It doesn’t matter whether or not you actually slept with that woman, Ian. If you think what you did somehow makes you noble, you’re sadly mistaken. You destroyed the life we’d built together and shattered any illusion I held dear about love and trust. I know you’re Maya’s father. There’s nothing I can do to change that, but if I have my way, you will never spend time alone with her again. Do you understand?”

  He didn’t say a word, but Kate could see the answer in his eyes. He believed her.

  “Now, I have to go. I still have a business to run, and thanks to you, a traumatized daughter to worry about. I hope they toss you back in jail and throw away the key.”

  “You don’t mean that, Katie.”

  “Oh, believe me, Ian. I do.
I sincerely do.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The minute Kate escaped from the meeting with her lawyer, she called Jo.

  “Good news, sweetie,” Jo said. “We finally caught a break.”

  “What kind of break and how much is it going to cost?”

  Her partner laughed. “Oh, quit being so cynical. This is a good thing. I just hired an old friend to cook tonight. He’s wonderful. We worked together for a couple of years. He and his wife split and he’s sort of between jobs. He pitched in during lunch and I think he’s going to be perfect. Nothing long-term. Just a few days to give you time to regroup and be with Maya.”

  Kate’s brain struggled to process the information. She’d thought seriously about closing the restaurant for the night because she’d had practically no sleep the night before and was emotionally drained. “Are you sure?”

  “Hey, this is my place, too, remember? I wouldn’t let just anyone stand at this stove.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry I…I’m a little wiped out.”

  Jo made a sympathetic sound. “I know, dear. Rob told me. He’s pretty upset, too. And then this thing at work came up.” Thing at work? “I know it’s killing him not to be with you, but a person can’t be two places at once, right?”

  Kate didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t talked to Rob since he left, except for voice messages on their cell phones. She was alone. Like always. That’s all she knew for sure.

  “Listen, Jo, how ’bout I ask Grace to hostess tonight? That way if this new guy has any questions, she can help.”

  “Great idea. Anything to keep you at home with your little girl. Now, I gotta run. We still have to nail down tonight’s specials. Talk to you later.” She hung up.

  After calling her sister, who wasn’t going back to Detroit until Monday, Kate took her time driving home. She’d checked in with her mother and learned that Maya was still napping. That was good. Maya was happy at Yetta’s. Content. Living in Kate’s childhood home was convenient. But one thought that had jelled in Kate’s mind over the course of the day was: Maya and I need a place of our own.