Guardian (20 page)

Brice shuffled into the room, backpack slung over his shoulder and bulging with the cords of his video-game system.

She offered him a comforting smile. “You’re just going to stay in California for a week. Nanny’s looking forward to seeing her brother and showing you off. I’ll make sure you have all your schoolwork so you don’t fall behind.”

“Great…” He rolled his eyes, hefting his backpack more securely.

“I’m sorry I can’t go with you.” Her heart ached over letting him out of her sight for even a second.

“You have to work. I know that.” He sat on the edge of the bed.

Her hands shook as she refolded one of the shirts, then pressed it to her stomach so her son wouldn’t see her nerves. “What if I take some time off when you get back? You can choose what you want to do.”

“Sure, whatever.”

She sat next to him and wished he would let her just
hold him until he wasn’t scared anymore. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but I need to focus on finishing up this case.”

“Don’t lie to me, Mom.” His chin tipped, jutting just like…David’s? “I’m not a kid anymore. I know something’s wrong.”

“You
are
still a kid, Brice, and that’s okay.” She smoothed back his blond hair. “But you’re right that I should be honest with you. I’m a lawyer, and sometimes that means people get mad because I have to hold them accountable.”

“This is one of those times?”

“I think so, yes.” And she wished she had more choices for a safer life for her child, but she had to play the hand she’d been dealt the best she could. “I can’t let them scare me off, though. If I don’t find the truth, who knows how many other people could be hurt?”

“What if they kill you?”

She hauled her not-so-little boy to her chest and held him anyway. He held back for a second, then wrapped his arms around her and held on tightly. “I wish I could promise you nothing bad would ever happen to us again. But I can swear I will be very, very careful.”

“Dad wasn’t careful, was he?” He looked up with wide eyes full of too much wisdom for his age.

“No, son, he wasn’t.” Thinking about her charming but reckless husband hurt, but for the first time her son was opening up. “That doesn’t mean he
wanted
to leave us.”

“Whatever.” He shrugged, picking at the cord hanging from his backpack. “When I go, are you staying to be with Major Berg?”

Ah, so that’s where this was coming from. He’d picked up on her feelings for David, which forced the issue of
reconciling feelings about Lowell. She could identify with that.

She chose her words carefully since she didn’t know where things would go between them now. Their encounter in the desert had been explosive, but there was more to a relationship, something she’d learned all too well from her marriage to Lowell. “Major Berg works here, and I work here. We’re friends and he’s helping me with my case.”

“But we’re here, at his house.”

“Actually, we’re at his sister’s house,” she said evasively. What had happened to her world where she had so few friends to call on in an emergency? When she was married, all her friends had been from Lowell’s world, and after he’d died, those friends had fallen away.

She’d let them.

“If he’s your friend, how come I’ve never heard about him?” Brice pinned her with steady brown eyes and for once, he reminded her of herself. “I may only be nine, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

Forget letting Brice feel mature. She hugged him. The answer to his question, though, would have to wait, especially since she wasn’t so sure she knew, either. “I’m proud of how mature you are for your age. But, sweetie, I’m the adult and you’re the kid. I promise when there’s something you need to know, I’ll tell you. Okay?”

Scrubbing a wrist over suspiciously bright eyes, he nodded before an impish grin spread across his face. “Does this mean I can have a new video game?”

“We’ll see.” She kissed his cheek, so relieved when he allowed her the motherly indulgence. “Kiddo, I love you so much.”

“Love you, too, Mom.” He hugged her back, squeezing
hard for all of three precious seconds. Brice leapt to his feet and grabbed his ball cap.

She rubbed her arms. “Let’s get packed so you and Nanny can hit the road.”

Turning away so he wouldn’t see her sentimental tears, she lifted out the stack of Brice’s sleep shirts. Lowell’s shirts. A blast of sunshine across the front promised “Fun in the Sun” in Acapulco. She hadn’t gone with Lowell because of a big case. Lowell had flown with friends anyway.

“Hey, Mom?”

She glanced over her shoulder. “What, sweetie?”

“You can leave those shirts out.” He twisted his ball cap backward. “I’ll just sleep in my shorts like David does.”

She held the T-shirts Brice had refused to let go for nearly twelve months, shirts his father had worn. Just as she’d suspected, her son was ready to move forward. Something she hadn’t completely figured out for herself yet. “Are you sure?”

Brice studied the top of his gym shoes. “It’s not that I don’t remember my dad. I do, you know. The way he took me to air shows and out on Jet Skis. He wasn’t so great at helping with homework like you are, but he tried with other stuff. Trying counts, right? We had fun.”

She smoothed a hand along the worn cottony softness. Her own father lived in her memory, but somewhere along the line, she’d only remembered the sadness, not the happy times. She’d forgotten about the way her dad took her for ice cream on Saturdays, and sure it hadn’t been every Saturday—he’d been gone a lot—but as Brice had said, trying counted for something.

How strange to think of him at this particular moment.
She’d been so caught up in her grief for Lowell, she hadn’t thought about how losing her own dad could have played into her feelings.

It was too much to think through now. “Yes, it does matter. And he loved you.”

“Maybe I can stop wearing the T-shirts now, because I’m not scared anymore that I’ll forget him.”

Her world quieted. She would never forget her father, either, but when would she be able to forgive him for leaving? One risk too many and he’d died, just like Lowell. Certainly not as selfishly as Lowell, but the betrayal had felt as potent in her young mind.

Did she cloak herself in anger like her son had worn the shirts, to ensure she wouldn’t forget? Had that been the true focus of her tirade earlier? Push David away with anger before he had a chance to hurt her?

Brice zipped the small roll bag and tugged it off the bed. The handle gripped in both hands, he dragged it to the living room. She followed, her feet slowing.

David sat on the sofa, Haley Rose on the floor in front of him as he brushed her hair. Strange how she’d just assumed Madison braided Haley Rose’s hair every day. She’d never once considered David might take on the job himself.

The little girl smiled, her blue eyes bright with excitement. “I’m going to my mom’s. She said it was okay and we would watch movies together and eat popcorn with tons of butter.”

Sophie’s heart squeezed for Haley Rose. “That’s great, sweetie.”

What kind of woman had David chosen to spend his life with?

“Sophie, know what else?” Haley Rose wiggled, but
somehow David never lost a strand of hair. “She has a really neat new condo in Denver with a media room and an indoor pool.”

David grasped the three clumps of hair between his fingers and layered one over the other. Slowly, large hands that held a gun wove together a symmetrical plait.

What was he thinking right now? She’d shouted some awful things at him, a total lack of control she regretted. Lowell would have walked out. Her father would have just stood there quietly, knowing he would leave soon. Gramps would have hollered back at Nanny. David didn’t leave or shout. He’d got quiet.

Haley Rose waved a pale blue ribbon over her shoulder. “Here ya go, Dad. This matches best, don’t ya think?”

David didn’t look up from Haley Rose’s braid, his hands moving at an even pace.

Sophie answered for him. “Perfect choice.”

With the braid clutched in one hand and the hair band twined around his other, David hooked the ribbon on his finger. He caught the end of the ribbon between his teeth to free his hands while he finished.

Sophie stared at the blue strip trailing down either side of David’s chin. The ribbon looked so incongruous between his teeth, contrasting with the ruggedly masculine face.

Regardless of all the logical parts of her brain reminding her of her vow to stay single, keep men at arm’s length, her heart softened.

David gave the blue ribbon a solid tug, knotting the bow at the end of Haley Rose’s braid. As his daughter leapt to her feet, he slumped back on the sofa. Sophie was right in one thing. He was abdicating his responsibility as a parent to the nearest female.

Part of him rebelled at the thought of letting his daughter out of his sight. But he also knew Sophie and those in her life would be at risk until he found the people responsible for these attacks. Which meant he needed to make sure his daughter was far away from him.

Hopefully he would have answers soon. This latest accident only added more confirmation that she was under attack because of a case. Caleb’s case.

Which raised the stakes all the more for David.

And what about Sophie? Legally, she wasn’t able to leave town. How could he convince her she needed to stay with him? He was putting a lot on the line for her.

If she dug her heels so deep in the sand they disappeared, it wouldn’t matter. He was going to win this one.

He couldn’t deny the need to stay with her went far beyond just protecting a neighbor or a friend, or even a regular girlfriend. Sure, he’d thought about trying a low-commitment relationship with her, but things were different now. Being with her in the desert meant something to him.

And he wanted to see where that could take them.

Haley Rose turned around fast, tugging her braid forward to check out the bow. Smiling, she flipped it back in place and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks, Dad.”

“No problem, runt.” He patted her shoulder and looked at Sophie with her son. “Ready to pick up the rest of your things from your house?”

One look at her eyes sucker punched him. Unshed tears hovered, waiting for a blink to set them free. She held a stack of T-shirts clutched to her breasts. From across the room, David made out the logo on one of those damned nightshirts her son wore to bed.

Lowell Campbell’s old clothes. The man she admitted to loving in spite of all
their
differences.

He didn’t even bother dodging the second sucker punch.

Why couldn’t he have met her first, while she still knew how to trust? While he was still stupid enough to believe in forever…

The ringing phone broke into his thoughts. Before David could stop her, Haley Rose plowed toward the hall to answer.

Brice shuffled across the room toward David, hands buried in his pockets. When Sophie decided to drop out
of his life, she would take her son along, just as Leslie had robbed him of seeing Hunter again.

Damn it all, he’d known better than to wade into these waters. “Did you get everything packed?”

“Yes, sir.” Brice swiped a wrist across his nose and leaned forward, close enough to whisper, “Watch out for my mom, okay?”

David tugged the bill of Brice’s ball cap. “Will do, pal. I promise.”

“Thanks, Major.” Trust shone in brown eyes so like Sophie’s.

Sophie cleared her throat. “Uh, David?”

“Yeah?”

She nodded toward the hall toward his daughter. Pale and dry-eyed, Haley Rose wavered in the entryway. The blue ribbon dangled from her hand.

“Dad, Mom wants to talk to you. She says something came up.”

*    *    *

Coming home should have felt better than this.

Sophie stood outside her house, chilled in spite of the summer night. Of course, that could have more to do with watching her child leave than the breeze blowing in off the lake. David’s friend Chuck Tanaka was driving her grandmother, Brice, and Haley Rose to Los Angeles to stay with Nanny’s brother.

Taillights faded down the dark street. If only she could will away the three-hour wait to hear they had arrived safely in L.A.

If only Haley Rose’s mother had come through for her.

Sophie pressed her palm against the ache in her heart.
She could still feel the tentative farewell hug from David’s daughter, the two tears that had burned her arm. She wanted to make a Leslie Berg voodoo doll and turn the woman into a pincushion.

David had gone to great lengths to explain away Leslie’s behavior for Haley Rose, how her mother loved her in her own way. She was just going through a tough time. That Leslie wanted to be a good mom and was working hard to get her life together.

Bottom line, the woman hadn’t felt capable of dealing with her daughter in such a traumatic situation. But that didn’t erase the pain reflected in a young girl’s eyes as she realized her mother couldn’t be there for her.

Through the whole careful explanation that no one really bought into, David’s jaw had tensed. Tendons strained along his neck, a tic twitching at the corner of one eye. When had she become so adept at reading his body language? The sense of familiarity unsettled her.