Slightly Imperfect (25 page)

"But he—"

"I'll take care of Coby. Trust me, Victoria, is all I ask."

Zac looked across a candlelit table in the staid Valdez dining room into Andrea Von Felsberg's classic face. They were alone. Victoria had gone upstairs to check on Alex, who hadn't felt well before dinner.

"Are you aware you've been staring at me all evening?" she asked.

"I'm sure that happens a lot. You're beautiful."

She smiled.

"Actually you remind me of someone. She had a lot of your characteristics. Red hair. Freckles. Tall, too." He smiled apologetically. "Looking at you is kind of painful."

"Carron."

He nodded. Andrea and Victoria were close, all right.

"And you remind Victoria and me of Tomas Cordera. If we worked it properly, perhaps we could experiment with a
menage a trois
, of a sort."

The arching of her brows seemed practiced, not inherent like Victoria's, but he got a little lost in her English accent. "Probably not. Victoria's pretty puritanical, in her own way."

"And
you
aren't puritanical?" Her smile went slightly off kilter.

"Yeah. Actually I am, because I've been the triangle route. I wasn't comfortable with having my heart ripped in half." He settled against his chair.

"Very good. I was testing, you know."

"Thanks for caring about Victoria enough to test me."

"Oh, I care, most assuredly." He could have listened all night, but the face and body haunted him. "She is my bequest from Tomas Macario Cordera. All I have left of him."

Zac nodded, surprised at how little curiosity he had for the volumes remaining to be understood concerning Andrea and Tommy. Understanding Victoria was the task at hand.

"I will take this opportunity, if you allow it, to share some insight with you.
Entres nous
."

"About Victoria?"

"Do you mind?"

He wasn't sure. She didn't seem to care.

"She's very lovable isn't she? She has a vulnerable quality that makes one want to protect her. Am I right, Zac?"

"That's part of it."

"She also has a tendency to lean in the direction toward which she suffers the most powerful pull. I have seen this, first hand. However, the direction she leans is not necessarily the one she truly advocates." Her amber eyes weighed the effect of her diatribe, thus far. "You may find it advisable to apply your own, more potent, pressure at times. I believe the local expression is,'the squeaky wheel is awarded the grease?"

He couldn't help smiling. "Something close to that."

"Along those lines, quickness is often of the essence. She detests contention or dissonance of any nature. She will often sacrifice her own well being, or desires, in order to conform and keep harmony." She took a deep breath and settled back in her own chair, contemplating him. Andrea was older than Carron had been, but softer, more seasoned. "What I think I saw pass between the two of you tonight is encouraging to me. I have been through two tragedies with her—Tomas and Los Niños." She raised her brows. "You do know about Los Niños?"

He nodded.

"Three tragedies, actually. For her, the most tragic of all was losing Coby. That in itself is a very long scenario, one which I hope is not about to become a sequel."

Zac had hoped to hear more about Coby, but she veered away.

"What I'm saying, I suppose, is to keep an open mind toward what I've told you, and if you suspect pressure from an opposing camp, simply raise enough hell to counteract what is influencing her."

"How did Tomas Cordera screw up? He let her walk away."

She appeared to have gotten a sudden headache. "Worshipping her as he did, he took a more subtle approach. Subtlety doesn't work with Victoria." She lapsed into silence, signaling for more coffee. They waited it out. She doctored the fresh cup, stirred, sipped and finally said, "Tomas was aware of the threat of Coby—the profundity of his hold on Victoria. Tomas was also gravely aware of her love for her
imagined
twin. Tomas chose to let her handle it in her own way." She put the cup down with a tiny clap. "I am here to tell you, Zac, that will not work with Victoria where Coby is concerned. I had hoped perhaps it would, after all these years, but after spending today with her and having her air her deepest concerns, I am not convinced. Her frailty cost Tomas his life, and cost her a vital part of her own life. I would urge you not to let that happen a second time."

"I'll try like hell."

"I assumed you would."

* * *

Victoria gazed at Zac's perfect profile from the passenger side of the Toyota SUV, as the road wound through lush Texas hill country toward Kerrville.

The twins occupied their bulky carriers on each side of the back seat. Their heads bobbed listlessly in midmorning sun invading the cool interior of the truck; two sets of eyes heavily fixed. Buckled in the seat between the twins, Marcus read his Spanish textbook in rapt silence.

"This is wonderful, Zac. It's like playing house."

"I like playing house. Especially the warm, damp aspects."

Her middle contracted. The sensation moved downward, showing on her face, she imagined. His brilliant smile mirrored her reaction. She glanced at the back seat, narrowing her eyes, chastising him. When she leaned to briefly touch her lips to his, she caught her reflection in his dark aviator glasses. She would rather see his eyes, as she often saw them in her mind, during odd intervals of her days now. When he looked back to the road, she kissed the corner of his full lips.

"Cool," Marcus murmured, provoking Zac's laughter.

Smiling, he adjusted the rearview mirror to make eye contact with Marcus. "Aren't you sleepy too,
compadre
?"

"No,
amigo
. I'm hungry, and I have to go to the bathroom."

"See? It's just
like
playing house." Zac reset the mirror. "I have a distinct memory of that phase."

"I don't hear grief," Victoria said softly. "Concerning Allie. Is it still there, but I'm getting conditioned? If it isn't, that's wonderful."

"It's still there. I have a better perspective now."

"How much longer?" From the back seat. In Spanish.

"Darling, do you really need to stop?" She peered back at him with a placating smile, then glanced at Zac. "Christian never wanted to stop for him."

Zac signaled and jerked the wheel. Gravel pinged beneath the truck as the tires gripped an instant halt beside the sparsely traveled road. "Well, hell," he said, putting the truck in park, turning toward her and the back seat, smiling his defeat. "I don't want you two telling the next guy
I
wouldn't stop. How do you feel about the woods, Marcus?"

"He feels like you should go with him."

"Do you?"

Marcus shrugged, unbuckling his seat belt.

"Because if you feel brave, I'd like to stay here and make out with your mother."

Marcus grinned, edging toward the door behind the passenger seat.

"But if you don't, just say the word, and I'll continue to suffer."

Marcus pulled the door handle, inched the door open.

"See that tree?" Zac motioned to one near by. "Once you've done business behind a tree, all by yourself, marble bathrooms will never be the same."

Marcus slipped down to the pebbly, sandy shoulder.

"Remember you heard that wisdom from me, Macario."

Marcus closed the door and made his way, with confident strides, through knee high grass, and disappeared behind the tree.

"Zac... "

He reached for her. "Trust me. Wetting down a tree builds character in a boy's life." He kissed her, running his tongue across her lips, teasing, his eyes open, gaze glued to the tree.

"I love you," she whispered. "Every day, more and more."

"Do you
trust
me?"

"I worship you."

"Do you trust me to do what I believe is best for you? For all of us?"

"Yes," she said warily. "Is this a test? Are you and Marcus colluding?"

"Then trust me enough to let me talk to Coby first, without you."

"No."

"Why?"

"I have to be there to cushion the blow." "That didn't work with Tommy."

She pulled away. "Jesus, Zac. Sometimes you're—"

"Abrupt?"

She nodded; arms wrapping her breasts as apprehension crowded her consciousness.

"Let Marcus in," he said softly.

She unwound, strained backward to push the door open.

"How was it,
niño
? Did I lie?"

"Cool."

Some of her dread ran tranquil as she watched Zac extend himself to her son.

"Buckle up." Zac reached into his inside jacket pocket, producing a pack of Gummy Bears and passing them over the seat back. "Maybe this will hold you until Taco Bell." He put the truck in gear and pulled onto the empty highway.

After a while she announced, "He's sleeping too. Thank you, Zac. You're very kind— wonderful with him."

"He's wonderful for me."

"You have a deep affection for children. It's really out of the ordinary, judging from what I've seen in life."

"I have a lot to make up for."

"Allie. I know."

"There's more you don't know."

Her head jerked toward him, her chest constricting a little, yet something in his dark eyes quelled her dread. "Tell me."

"Maggie was pregnant when I left her for Carron, but I didn't know. Carron had gotten pregnant the first time we were together. I didn't know that, either." He took his eyes off the road, gazed out the side window for a moment, his throat moving as though he had swallowed something jagged. He seemed to regroup, glancing at her, then back at the blacktop. "Maggie carried Angel in grief and confusion because of what I'd done. She took Allie and moved away. Carron couldn't carry a baby because of her illness, but she didn't want me to know she was dying. She had an abortion and didn't tell me until it was over." His brown hands paled on the wheel. "I created two lives, Victoria, within the space of a few days. Carron destroyed one and I lost claim to the other—Angel—in the same amount of time. I'll spend the rest of my life making up for it."

"So sad." She fell quiet for a moment. "Most men would have been glad to be free of a complicated situation."

"Yeah. Maybe." He kept his eyes straight ahead. His hands tightened on the wheel, throat pumping. "God is good, though. He forgives and lets you try again. I want to try with you. Think about that."

"I am. It's all I'm thinking of."

"Do you trust me? Do you know how much I want to take care of you and your children?"

"I think I know, but I hope it's even more." They rode in silence as she contemplated his petition concerning Coby. She thought of Coby's request that she bring Zac, clung to the hope she dared to have. "All right. You can talk to him first."

"You're sure?"

"I have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

* * *

Coby Chandler was the most attractive Anglo man Zac had ever encountered. His blondness, tanned, angular stature, and appraising eyes the color or Ari's and Alex's, permeated the compact room. The striking resemblance between Victoria and Christian came to mind. The likeness between Coby and Christian, however, proved astounding. Sudden awareness of how significant that must have been when Victoria met Christian nagged.

Coby eyed him, a tiny, crooked smile never quite touching glacial eyes. He had been staring out the undraped window of the private reception room Victoria had requested. He came toward Zac, keeping his hands in the pockets of his tennis shorts, exuding the aroma of a vigorous game played in the hot, hill-country afternoon.

"Hi, Coby. I'm Zac Abriendo." He decided to give him both barrels. "The current Tommy Cordera in your life."

Coby's smile erupted into a quiet, natural sounding laugh. "Where's Tori?" The paramount priority.

"She took the children for a walk, by the lake."

Coby lowered his frame into one of four chairs surrounding a round table. He shifted to the side a bit, accommodating his long, muscular legs.

Zac remained standing.

"They've seen the lake before," Coby said.

"Right. I convinced her you and I should talk. Alone."

"How easy was that?" His smile was definitely diabolical.

"Easier than you might have wanted. Victoria and I have great communication."

A frown line mirroring Victoria's appeared in that exact spot above the bridge of Coby's perfect nose.

Zac wished circumstances were different. Getting acquainted, watching similarities emerge between Victoria and her surrogate twin, could have been fun. "I know you want to see her, and since I'm a whole man only in her presence, you and I have a lot in common." He shrugged. "So this won't take long."

The frown line deepened, brackets forming about his mouth. One brow arched. Zac could have been addressing Victoria.

He took Coby's place at the window. The lake was visible from there, and he wished he could see their subject. He'd just wait here until he saw her, make this worthwhile. "I had an interesting conversation with Andrea Von Felsberg last night." He glanced back at Coby.

His eyes quickened. One Reebok reared off the carpet.

"According to her, Tommy Cordera was diplomatic. I'm not. I believe in offense. Apparently, Tommy was so obsessed with Victoria he let her handle the situation between the two of you, and the way it involved him. He hoped for the best, I guess." He thought about Tommy for a minute, how out of his element he must have been. "I hope for the best, too, Coby, but I'm smart enough to know she can't handle you, and I love her too much to
chance
it all coming out right."

He gazed out the window again, turning his back on Coby. His spine tingled as he gave in to the verbal pictures Victoria had painted of Coby on that boat that day, brandishing the silver derringer, pointing it at Tommy. And her.

Through a willow tree half obscuring his view, he saw her now, coming into the curve of the lake. Marcus held Ari's hand. Victoria held Alex's. Straightening with a sudden surge of determination, Zac faced Coby.