“So you settled for soft, cushy Pooh heads the size of baseballs.”
“Yeah.” A little melancholy, she grunted. “I can still kick ass, but I have to kick with compassion.”
“Nobly, eh?”
She nodded. “Otherwise, I’m just another steel-toe thug.”
Adam’s eyes glittered. “They’re safe, like Intel masks.”
Again she nodded., Giving the slippers a farewell look and a silent thank-you for helping her through ‘some really tough times, she let down the glass and dropped them through the window into the garbage can.
“Tracy? What are you doing?”
She turned back -to Adam. “I don’t need them any more. I have the tools. You told me to trust MY gut. Well, my gut is telling me to trust you, Adam. And I do, with each beat of my heart. We love myself.” or a mask. With you, I can just be d, his smile so tender He cupped her chin in his big han her eyes. “Thank you, honey.” He it brought tears to kissed her lips.
When they parted, she wrinkled her nose at him. “I’d ,better warn you. I have a penchant for lace and silk.”
,,I think I can live with it.”
“Good.” She smiled. “So, does this mean I can know where we’re going?”
“No.”
when he didn’t expound, she frowned at him. The man wasn’t-going to tell her a thing. “Whatever,” she said, seat beside him. Adjusting her seat belt, curling up on the ad against his shoulder. she rested her he much as he loved every adam loved her pouting as s fluttered, then touched thing else about her. Her lashe uncertainty her cheeks, and she dozed off. A flicker of stole through him.- She’d be thrilled to get Abby back, at him for not telling her sooner. and angry as he He passed an eighteen-wheeler, then steered back over into the right lane. She might as well get over it. She was - And he’d make sure she never regretted stuck with him it. et had given him, he exited Following the directions Jan - Ten minutes I-12, then drove east, out into the country later, he pulled the car to a stop outside a huge white plantation home, nestled in a grove of oaks. ‘
A flash of movement at the right of the house caught his eye. A child sat on a swing. She was muddy and leaves clung in her blond hair. it was a mess. A wild ,tangle, Just like her mother’s.
He looked down at the sleeping woman who had done captured his heart. He hadn’t dared to the impossible and c afraid he’d end up with one like want a family before, f your chest. his. Family could cut your heart right out.
Could be used against you on the job. It was a soft spot, vulnerable to attack. Family could hurt you, hate you, and make you feel there was nothing in you worth loving.
Tracy had a family. She had him and Abby. And soon, she’d know it. They’d make a good life together. He’d had so little practice at loving, at being a good husband, and none at being a father. He could hurt them both, learning how to love them.
But, oh, he wanted this woman. Risks, pain, dangers all of it. He wanted both -of them. Her and Abby. The child would always hold, a special place in his heart. She’d been robbed of five years of love. Knowing how those loveless years felt, he understood how desperately she needed love. And as sorry as Adam might be at giving it to her while learning how, he’d do his damnedest to make sure she always felt loved down to the tips of her toes.
Because even though fan-lily could encumber and cause pain, the people in it could also love. And he wanted their love. He craved it, needed it. He needed them.
“Tracy.” He touched her shoulder. “We’re here.”
She awakened, stretching and grunting, and seeing nothing but the plantation home, she gave him a puzzled frown. “Where exactly are we?”
“Look.” He pointed through the window at Abby.
Tracy turned her gaze, and saw a little tomboy. About six, the child stood on a swing, hanging by ropes from an oak limb. In the stillness, she could hear the child’s laughter. And from this distance, the little girl favored Matthew. Her heart felt a little tug, but she couldn’t seem to look away from the child. “Why are we here, Adam?”
Tracy made herself look at him.
His eyes were glossy, shining overly bright, and his voice went husky thick. “We’re here to get your daughter.”
Shock streaked through Tracy. Fury chased at its heels. “That’s not funny. Why are you being cruel? You know Abby is dead.”
“She’s not, honey.” Adam clasped Tracy’s cold hand, bent her rigid fingers in his. “Paul stole her from you. When you were in the hospital and you signed the papers for Paul to handle the funerals, you didn’t sign papers for Abby’s funeral. You signed papers for Paul to adopt her.”
“I would never do that!”
“No, you wouldn’t. Not if you’d known. You were medicated, injured, mourning. He deceived you, honey.”
” No.” She shook her head, stiffened, staring at the child. “He’s a bastard, but he wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t do it to Matthew.
“Paul did it, Tracy.”
“Why?” She cried out with all the anguish in her heart. “Why would he steal my baby?”
“Abby would have inherited Matthew’s half of Keener Chemical. That’s why Paul asked you to marry him, so he’d retain control. But you refused. So he adopted Abby to keep the family fortune.”
Tracy didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t want to believe Paul capable of this. But the evidence was there on the swing, laughing, right before her eyes.
Emotionally devastated, she stared longingly at the child. Five years. The first five years of Abby’s life, and Paul had stolen them from her and from her child.
The hunger in her eyes brought tears to Adam’s own. He blinked hard and fast. He’d refused to protect her, and she’d cried for him. Then he’d protected her, but shielded his heart. She’d shattered the shield, and he’d cared about her, and then he’d come to love her. And now he did what he hadn’t done since he was eight years old and his mother had told him he’d been a mistake and she hated him. He cried.
“She’s alive, honey,” Adam said softly, pressing his lips to her hand. “She’s alive and we’ll have the rest of our lives together. Mark Mitchell, the general’s special counsel, has gotten the adoption set aside and the judge has frozen all Keener assets. Mark’s also contacted the Keener Chemical board of directors. They’ve ousted Paul from the chair and their number two man is filling in until they receive orders from the court. Mark checked him out, Tracy. This interim chair is a good man. Keener’s looking at life in Leavenworth for conspiracy, attempted murder, and murdering my men, aside from the charges regarding Abby. Mark Says you and Abby will end up with all of the Keener Chemical assets-at least the run of the trusts, which holds the bulk of the assets, and everything that would have belonged to Matthew.”
Jolted by his words, Tracy swiveled her gaze to him. She would have the rest of her life with Abby. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath, to take it all in. “You’ve known about this for some time.”
“Not long. I would have told you sooner, but you didn’t need the added pressure.”
“You didn’t want me to kill Paul Keener.”
“That, too,” Adam confessed. “Or for you to be killed, trying to kill Paul.”
“I can’t tell you what this Means to me. She squeezed his hand. All those years Of regret and would-have-beens. Now Abby would be walking, talking, getting her first tooth. Now, she’d be learning her colors, her numbers, drawing Pictures for the fridge. Now, she’d be taking swimming lessons, baking cookies, getting on the bus for her first day at school … Years of what she would have been doing, and Tracy would have been doing with her. Years of hearing Abby ask, “Mom, how big am I now?”
And Tracy marking the frame of the kitchen wall with a pencil, then measuring with the tape to show how much she’d grown. Years of memories of the big things, and the millions of little ones that Abby had experienced without her. All because of Paul. Oh, God, all because of Paul. “I’ve missed so much.”
Adam gently squeezed her hand. “She’s alive and in your life, Tracy. You’ll do new things. Look ahead, not behind. The past can’t be changed. You’ve got a whole future.”
“Yes. Abby Is alive. Alive and in my life.” She gasped, and . looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. “Oh, Adam. It’s … a miracle. Just the greatest miracle.”
“For both of us.” Worry shadowed his eyes. “I know I won’t be the best father, but I promise you, I’ll try.” Father. Abby. That’s why Adam had solicited Tracy’s promise to marry him right away. He didn’t want to be separated from her or Abby. He wanted to live by example. Her heart swelled. “You will be the very best kind of father because you know what it’s like to need one. You have the tools, Adam. A loving heart. A protective spirit. The desire to make a child and a woman feel cherished.” Joy bubbled inside her. Poor Adam never before had had a family, but he wanted one. And they’d build one together. A strong, full one.
He gave her that special smile. “You really think so?”
“I know it.” She cocked her head. “But if you need a written contract, I know a good lawyer.”
He laughed. “No, I trust you, counselor.”
She opened the door, and stepped out into the sun. Nestler would correct the misconceptions about Adam, Command would know the truth. The guilty would be charged, tried, and convicted-Tracy would see to that. Their professional lives would go on, and their personal ones, too-together, with Abby.
“She’s seen us.” Adam clasped hands with Tracy.
She squeezed his hand hard and gulped. “How am I going to tell her this?”
“The words will come,” Adam promised. “You’re good with words.”
He had so much faith in her. She hoped a little would rub off, and she’d feel it herself.
The child ran to them, coming to a stop about three feet away. Squinting up against the sun, she studied Tracy’s face, her hair. “He told me you would come. But I didn’t believe him.”
Tracy dropped down to her knees, bent in the . grass. “Who, darling?”
“Uncle Paul. He called this morning and said my mom wasn’t dead. That she was coming to get me today. But I thought he was telling me a story again. He tells lots Of stories.”
Tears clogged Tracy’s throat. “This one is true, darling. I am your mom, and I’ve come to take you home with me.”
Delight shimmered in the child’s eyes, and she flew into Tracy’s arms. Tracy hugged Abby long and hard, and didn’t fight against the tears sliding down her cheeks.
“Is he my daddy?” Abby whispered against Tracy’s chest. “Uncle Paul said he was dead, too, but you weren’t.”
Adam smiled at her. “No, honey. Your daddy died in a car wreck. But I’m going to marry Your mother, and I’d like to be a dad to you.” He touched her cheek. “Is your heart big enough to love both your real dad and me?”
“Maybe.” She slid him a measuring look just like Tracy’s. “Do you tell stories?”
“He tells the truth,” Tracy said, her heart full. “Only the truth.”
“Oh.” Abby swiveled her gaze from Tracy back to Adam. “Then I guess it’s probably big enough. We’ll have to see.” She cocked her head. “Do you give?, I His heart slammed into his ribs, stuck in his throat. He’d never hugged a kid in his life, or been hugged as a kid. But he remembered how much he’d needed to be hugged. “Yeah. Yeah, I give hugs.”
Abby swung an arm around Adam’s neck, pulling him into the circle she shared with her mother. Adam let his eyes drift closed, gently rubbed Abby’s narrow back. After all these year,-, of being alone, he now had a family. His own family. His.
Tracy couldn’t bring herself to let go of either of them. It was too new. Tears glistening in her eyes, she locked gazes with Adam. “I love you both very much.”
She accepted Adam’s kiss, and then Abby’s, dreaming of a new beginning with her daughter and the man she loved. And in her mind, she saw the familiar mirror and, in it, the eighty-year-old woman she would become… and she smiled, free of guilt, free of regret.
Free of duplicity.