by Robyn Grady
Twelve
When the Maserati screeched to a stop outside the property Leeann had moved back into with Meg, and Jenna had once called home, Gage swung open his door.
With one leg out, he said over his shoulder, “Wait here.”
Her door was already open. “No way!”
His hot hand snared her arm like a bear trap. “There’s a restraining order pending against you. Don’t make matters worse.”
Jenna tensed. Gage had gone above and beyond the call of duty to try to secure guardianship of Meg. Marrying her, buying her that gorgeous house in the country, he’d even been willing to spend an obscene amount acquiring Darley Realty as an exchange tactic. But she couldn’t and wouldn’t sit back any longer.
She laid her hand over his. “I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I need to be more than a bystander now. This was my father’s house. This is my niece. It’s my battle. I need to face Tina, woman to woman, and see if it’s not too late to somehow save this situation.”
A muscle in his jaw flexed twice before he blinked and slowly released her arm. He shook his head as if to clear it. “I guess this whole guardianship thing has gotten under my skin.”
Jenna’s smile was wry.
What was the phrase he’d used when all this had started? Let the games begin. But this had turned into far more than a game for Gage. He truly cared about Meg and with whom she’d live. He’d been visibly shaken when he’d found out his exchange plan had failed. Later in the car he’d confessed that he’d needed Meg too.
The words burned on her tongue. I love you. I think you love me, too. With every passing day, it seemed more and more right that they should stay together—not in a mock marriage but as a real family. A family of three who loved one another, who were there every day and every night to support and to care.
People did change when they had a good enough reason. She’d come home, hadn’t she?
Why couldn’t he?
Gage helped her out of the car then fanned open one side of the iron gates. Ears pricked high, Shadow loped down the long drive. Gage hadn’t shut the gate before Shadow jumped up in welcome. After slobbering over Jenna’s hand, he sped off into the trees.
Gage brushed down his trousers. “At least someone’s happy to see us.”
Jenna’s smile faded as she surveyed the property and an eerie sensation crept up each vertebra. Leeann had never liked the man her father employed to maintain the grounds. She must have let him go because the lawn was unkempt, the garden lacked water, but the trees unsettled her the most. They seemed to be peering down, judging or, perhaps, pleading with her somehow.
Why did you leave? Why didn’t you come home sooner?
Jenna shuddered. No matter what transpired today, she would not return to this place. In a way she was glad her father hadn’t left her this house. She didn’t need it to remember her family. They would always live on in her heart.
Jenna’s adrenaline was pumping by the time they reached the double front doors. Gage grabbed the brass knocker and let it fall three times. After a long tense moment, he tried again then took a few steps back to peer up at the second story.
He shaded his eyes. “Doesn’t appear to be anyone home.”
She tried to distinguish any movement beyond a heavy drawn curtain. “Tina could be hiding.”
“Or she could be out.”
Joining Gage, she set her hands on her hips. It was hard to believe that Meg’s nanny had betrayed them. She’d had her doubts at first, but Tina had seemed sincere about her responsibilities toward Meg, and anyone who knew Leeann would surely see that woman could only love a child as an object, not a person. Leeann was too self-absorbed to put anyone’s feelings before her own.
Shadow reappeared with a heavy stick between his jaws. He wove around Gage, dropped the stick at his feet then corralled Gage closer to the stairs.
Gage ruffled his fur. “Not now, boy.”
But Shadow persisted, dropping the stick, running around, picking it up then trotting down the side of the house.
The hair on Jenna’s neck stood up and quivered. “He wants us to follow him.”
Gage held out his hand. “I just had the same thought.”
Shadow trotted off over the lawn toward the hothouse, then to where the pine trees formed a wall that separated this property from the next—from the house where Gage and his mother had once lived. As they passed the foggy walls of the hothouse, Jenna’s heart sank. The prize orchids were limp, beyond rescue. Her father would’ve cried.
Her chest ached when she saw a plant on the hothouse step that she couldn’t leave behind a second time. She collected the bonsai and brushed the brittle brown leaves. “Typical of Leeann to dump it out here.”
She’d told Gage the story behind the bonsai late one night in bed. Now, as then, he brought her close and pressed a kiss to her temple. “You’ll make it well.”
She bit down against the ache in her throat. It might be too late for the others but she’d sure as hell save this one.
On the other side of the hedge she heard voices. Gage put his finger to his mouth and they crept closer. Through a hole in the hedge, the same space Gage had crawled through to see Jenna that summer, they saw them…Leeann and a surprise guest.
Leeann’s blond hair for once looked disarrayed. She swept it out of her face as she pleaded with the man. “I’ve told you, we need to be patient.”
Gage whispered to Jenna. “So much for being out of state. Obviously this is one meeting she couldn’t avoid. Do you know that man?”
Jenna shook her head. “But I’m betting on cold nights he wears a leather jacket.”
Gage nodded at the same time the man smashed his beer bottle onto the cracked concrete drive. Jenna and Leeann both jumped.
“I’m sick of waiting.” The man’s voice was low and desperate. “The authorities are still looking into the crash. They’ve already come around asking me questions. If they find out I reversed the main rotor belt, I can kiss the next twenty-five years goodbye.”
Prickling stars rushed over Jenna’s scalp. Her vision grew dark before she blinked back to fully comprehend what she’d just heard.
My God. These two had killed her father. Amy and Brad too.
As bile rose at the back of her throat the name came to her. Barry…? Barry Whitmore. She’d read it in the police accident report. This man had been her father’s helicopter mechanic. He did all the maintenance work on the Squirrel, Darley Realty’s six-seater Eurocopter. It seemed Barry’s last job hadn’t been about upkeep or repairs, but sabotage.
Barry walked a tight circle, his hand at his brow. Sweat stained his khaki collar and under his arms. “I have nightmares where the police break down my door and haul me away.”
Placating him, Leeann stroked his stubbled chin. “If they haven’t got any evidence now, they never will. When a helicopter suffers hydraulic failure doing 120 knots, nothing and no one lives to tell any tales.”
He knocked her hand away, self-disgust hanging on his face. “His daughter wasn’t supposed to be there. I felt bad enough about the son-in-law. Hell, that baby’s got no parents because of us.”
The mole on Leeann’s left eyebrow lifted. “And now she has a mother who waited a very long time for the privilege.”
Jenna fought the impulse to retch. That’s how much Leeann wanted Meg—enough to take away the most precious and irreplaceable things in her life. That wasn’t love. That was obsession.
Barry rubbed the back of his neck. “I only wanted to get rid of Darley. It was just a matter of time before he found out I was the one you were seeing. If he’d hit you again,” his fingers clenched together, “I’d’ve killed him with my own hands.”
Gage clamped a palm over Jenna’s mouth before she could blurt anything out. Leeann had played this man. Her father hadn’t hit anyone in his life.
While Barry kept ranting and sweating, Leeann examined the hedge as if she’d heard something.
“We need to
get out of here,” Barry said with a harried glance toward the road. “You’ve got that story going about your folks in the States.” He grabbed her upper arms, desperate love in his eyes. “We could fly out tonight.”
She shucked out of his hold. “You know I can’t do that. I need to make sure this W.A. deal goes through. Then we’ll be able to go anywhere we want for as long as we want.”
Movement beside her caught Jenna’s eye. Tears of rage turned into a vengeful smile. Gage had his high-tech cell up and activated. He was recording everything on video! She could’ve kissed that stupid phone.
Barry wiped a shaky hand down his face. “We committed murder, Leeann. Can’t you finish this business from somewhere safe, like South America? I did this so we could be together, but not in twin prison cells.”
Shadow brushed by Jenna’s legs and snarled out a growl. Hearing his growl, Leeann squinted at the hedge and muttered, “Bloody dog.” She swooped down on some broken glass and hurled it. “Choke on that, you dumb brute.”
Leeann’s jaw smacked the dirt when Gage stepped out into plain view.
Barry looked taken aback and raised his fists. “Who the hell are you?”
Gage grinned. “The man who’s going to put you both in jail.”
Trembling with every conceivable emotion, Jenna joined Gage. “We’ve recorded your entire conversation, Leeann. All the tragedy you’ve caused my family…” She swallowed against the raw sting of pain. “At least I’ll see you rot in jail for it.”
Ready to attack, Barry lunged, but when Gage squared his shoulders and Shadow bared his teeth, the shorter man backed up then scrambled along the side of the weatherboard house.
Wary of the dog, Leeann inched forward, a guilty smile quaking on her lips. “You don’t need to go to the police. The baby will be home soon.” She held out supplicating hands to Jenna. “Take her. She’s yours. And I’ll give you everything from the W.A. contract, too.” Moisture shimmered in her coward’s eyes. “Just give me a day and I’ll be out of your lives for good.”
Had Leeann conspired with Barry to kill Raphael because she anticipated divorce and the subsequent dent in her financial security? Or had she planned to do away with all of Jenna’s family in order to obtain the baby she’d wanted for so long? Most likely it had been a deadly combination of both. Now Leeann was willing to throw Meg away in exchange for her own neck.
She was almost too pathetic to hate.
Almost.
Gage thumbed in a number and pressed the phone to his ear while Jenna held onto his arm.
“You’re right about one thing, Leeann. It is time for you to go away,” Jenna lifted her chin, “and never ever come back.”
An hour later, Jenna sat on the bench holding a sleeping Meg in her arms. Action was starting to die down all around them—police cars driving off, detectives milling around the house—but the baby was content to dream on.
Gazing down, Jenna was swamped by a deluge of emotions: gratitude that the nightmare was over, that Meg would now be safe with her; sadness knowing her sister and father would be alive today if not for two scum-of-the-earth people; love and respect for the man who’d stood by her during this whole ordeal…the man walking toward her now, his gait long and confident, a supportive smile on his handsome face.
Another man stopped his advance. Gage put his hands in his pockets, ready to answer whatever questions this particular officer asked. Jenna sighed. Just a little longer and they could be together—the three of them. After today’s events—their actions and confessions—she couldn’t imagine Gage leaving her and Meg now.
Beside Jenna, Tina visibly shuddered. She’d arrived with Meg fifteen minutes ago but her face was still pasty with shock.
“I had my suspicions about Mrs. Darley,” Tina said in a daze. “I thought she might be seeing someone. When she canceled her flight to Western Australia at the last minute then told me to take the baby out, I had the worst feeling. But it wasn’t my business to pry.” She cast a look around. “I can’t believe it was as bad as all this. That she was a criminal and planned to take Meg away for good.” Her brow wrinkled and she pushed the glasses back on her nose. “You believe that I had no idea about that restraining order, don’t you? I could see how much you loved this baby. I wouldn’t lie in a court and say anything else.”
When Tina had arrived, Jenna had taken the sleeping baby from the back car seat and asked Tina straight out about her part in Leeann’s allegations against her. The misunderstanding had been cleared up quickly. Seemed Leeann hadn’t even lodged a complaint. The story was just a manipulative ploy to gain her time and leverage.
Jenna stroked Meg’s dimpled hand and reassured Tina again. “I didn’t want to believe the worst. That’s why we came here to speak with you about it.”
Tina half smiled as she studied Meg. “I know she’ll be happy with you. It’s so important to have people who truly care.”
Jenna thought of her own mother, how she and Amy had had her for too brief a time. But she’d promised herself to hold onto the good memories and bury any regrets concerning her parents. Yes, her father had had his weaknesses; didn’t everyone? But she knew he had loved her. She only wished he was alive to tell her now.
She brought herself back. “Does your family come from Sydney, Tina? Do your parents live close by?”
Tina gripped the bench slats. She kept her eyes on Meg. “I lost my parents when I was young. I grew up with a friend of my mother’s. A lovely lady. She passed away last year.”
Jenna’s heart contracted. Meg, Tina as well as herself were all without their parents.
She put her hand over the younger woman’s. “We’d love to have you come and stay with us.”
Tina’s attention kicked up, her eyes wide behind their lenses. “Really?”
“You can help me with all the things I need to learn about—” Jenna’s voice broke and she tried again. “About being a mother.”
She felt Amy’s presence at that moment more powerfully than ever before. Twins shared a certain energy, were bound in ways other people couldn’t comprehend. She and her sister had an even stronger bond now—one that Jenna would make her priority all the days of her life.
Gage joined them and Tina stood. “Perhaps I should put the baby in her room. She’ll sleep for another hour yet.” She blinked down at Jenna. “Unless you want to carry her up.”
Jenna pushed to her feet and carefully handed Meg over. “I’ll put her down later tonight.” She’d dreamed so often of saying those words. Now it wasn’t merely tonight, but every night from now on.
Tina took the baby and began to move off. But Gage put up a hand. “Just a minute.”
With a pulse leaping in his firm shadowed jaw, he concentrated on Meg for the longest time. Then he lowered his head and gently kissed her brow. “God bless, little one.”
As Tina left, Jenna moved forward and set her palms on Gage’s shirt. She tugged his loosened tie. “Big day.”
“One of the biggest.” He brought her near, his linked hands resting low on her back. “You’ll be okay now.”
A wonderfully warm feeling seeped through her veins. She smiled. “We’ll be more than okay.”
He glanced behind at the last police car leaving. “They’ve searched the grounds and neighborhood for signs of dear Barry. No luck so far.”
Jenna knew to her bones the authorities would catch him. It was only a matter of time. Putting those two on trial wouldn’t bring her family back but at least justice would be served.
“You’re staying here the night?”
She nodded. One last night. “Then I thought we could drive out to the country house, reintroduce Meg to that cubby house and slide. She might be a little young for them now, but it won’t be long.”
His eyes crinkled above a warm but somehow wistful smile, and his hands pressed on her back. “But you know this house will revert back to you, as will Darley Realty. Murderers don’t get to benefit from their crimes.”
She
didn’t want to talk about that now. She wanted to go inside and stand with Gage over Meg’s cot, as they’d done that night in the country house. Lord, she couldn’t believe this was over!
Shivering with the ecstasy of relief, she pushed up on tiptoe to kiss him, but he spoke before their lips could meet.
“Would you like me to look after the negotiations for the W.A. deal? There’ll be a delay until the trial ends and Leeann is convicted.”
Couldn’t he read her eyes? She’d had a belly-full of Darley Realty’s twists and turns for one day. Besides, the answer was obvious. “Why wouldn’t you handle it?”
His jaw shifted and the brightness in his eyes seemed to fade. “Then I’ll make some initial phone calls on your behalf and have Nick follow it up for you.”
Time screeched to a halt then folded in on itself as a horrible dizzy feeling flashed through her. She tried to smile but her quivering mouth didn’t want to play. “You’re going somewhere?”
His lips thinned. “Dubai. Tomorrow. I may have enough time to salvage some aspect of the deal if I get over there now.” His smile looked forced. “No rest for the wicked.”
She searched his eyes. “I hear they’re busy people.”
“You heard right.”
All Jenna’s energy seemed to drain from her body. Earlier today she’d wanted to confess how she’d felt about him and their future. She’d all but convinced herself that he’d fallen in love with her, perhaps as deeply as she’d fallen back in love with him. Despite his philosophy that children needed a stable home life—a life Gage Cameron the loner tycoon couldn’t provide—she’d begun to believe that he’d come around.
That he’d come home to stay.
But it seemed her prayers for one more miracle wouldn’t be answered. Gage was pulling away. And there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing she should do about it…other than accept and be grateful for the time they’d shared. No regrets—even if it tore her heart out, she had to let him go and do it gracefully. It wasn’t only her well-being at stake, but Meg’s. That baby deserved her guardian’s strength and total commitment, and a whole lot more besides.