The Housekeeper's Daughter (10 page)

T
he rain continued throughout the night and the next morning. Maya had little to say on the trip back to the Hacienda de Alegria, except to reflect that perhaps House of Joy was no longer an appropriate name for the estate.

“It's sad,” she began, then stopped.

Drake cast her a thoughtful glance as he drove carefully through the misty gloom. “What is?”

With the dawn, sense had returned and they had retreated from each other and from that place they'd reached during the night, the place where they were both so terribly vulnerable. Making love was only a temporary haven from the reality of life.

“That things have to change. Your parents—” She realized this might not be a good topic.

“I don't think their marriage is very happy right now.”

“There's been a lot of stress with the shootings and the kidnapping, then the police investigation.”

“Isn't trouble supposed to bring couples closer?”

Maya ignored the cynical undertone. “It can go either way, or so I've read. I think marriage must be hard in the best of times.”

He was quiet for a few minutes. “You wouldn't let me say this last night, but I think we should try it.”

“Marriage?”

“Yes. For Marissa's sake.”

“That isn't fair,” she murmured in protest.

“Life never is.”

The sardonic resignation in his voice troubled her. “A child needs a stable home. She would sense if we were unhappy. It would confuse her.”

“Would we be unhappy? Last night was pretty fantastic.”

Sparks shimmered inside her as she relived those moments of magic—his hands, so gentle as he stroked her, his lips, so enticing as he kissed her, his eyes…

Last night there had been moments when she'd felt close to him. With the dawn, the distance had returned. She wondered if he was thinking of his mother and father and the unhappiness that seemed to surround them.

That was the problem when morning came: all the problems came flooding back.

Maya wanted to offer comfort, but she didn't. The complications in their lives seemed insurmountable. She knew she had only to say the word and Drake
would make the necessary arrangements; they could be married by noon. And then what? Happily ever after?

Her heart set up a cacophonous beat. They had shared a wild, tender passion during the night. That and a child, were those enough to cement a marriage into one happy whole?

She didn't know, but it was a chance she was reluctant to take. “It's easier to dream of how wonderful it might have been than to know the reality of failure.”

“Yes.”

He sounded so sad. It broke her heart.

“My parents aren't a good example,” he continued. “Yours are. Why does their marriage work? I've never seen Inez or Marco even frown at each other, much less quarrel.”

She had to smile. “They do, though. Once Daddy complained about too much spice in the salsa. Mom dumped the entire batch in the garbage. Neither of them spoke during the whole meal. Later, after we went to bed, Lana and I heard them laughing like mad.”

Drake's eyes flicked to her. “Sounds as if they kissed and made up,” he suggested huskily.

Chills ran along her scalp and down her arms at the look in those golden depths. It was the way he'd studied her last night, as if he wanted to memorize every inch of her.

“Did we do that last night?”

The softly spoken question took her off-guard. “There's nothing to make up.”

“I think there is.”

“Guilt,” she murmured.

“Perhaps.” His manner was introspective. “I did leave you to face the music alone—your parents, mine, the town.”

“It doesn't matter.” She managed a laugh. “One thing I learned is that a person endures. One day at a time.”

“Does it ever become easier?” He sounded doubtful.

“Yes,” she said, realizing it was true. She studied him, sensing more to the question. “What troubles you, Drake? If it's me, you don't have to worry. I really can make it on my own, even with a baby. I've saved during the past ten years. With very few expenses, I've banked most of what I made. When I get my teaching certificate, I'll have a secure future. I won't be rich, but I'll be able to support Marissa without help.”

“What if I want to help?”

“How? By sending money?”

“That's one way,” he admitted.

“Money isn't a child's main need.”

“I've told you I'm willing to be a full-time parent. And husband.”

She swallowed as misery blocked her throat. “Then the baby and I would live with you? Go with you wherever you go?”

“You can't,” he began, then stopped, a scowl on his handsome face. “I'm posted to danger zones, sometimes for months on end.”

“Don't families ever go to these places?”

“Sometimes, but—”

“But you wouldn't take yours there.”

He nodded. “One guy I worked with, his house was blown to bits by terrorists. It isn't a situation I'd recommend for women and children.”

“As you said in your note, there's no place for a wife and family in your life,” she said, not allowing herself to flinch from the hurtful truth.

He was silent for a mile. “I always thought that, but there's the child to think of.”

“Marissa is mine, Drake. Don't try to take her from me. I still have that note. I'll use it in court if I have to.”

Instead of anger, his expression changed to one of tenderness. “Mama tiger,” he said softly, “I'd never try to take your kitten. As far as I'm concerned, you and Marissa are a package deal.”

She wasn't sure what to say to that, so she kept silent and mulled over the conversation. She wondered if she was letting her ego stand in the way. Her mother had cautioned her about excessive pride often during her growing years.

But she wanted so much more than a marriage forced upon them because of the baby. She wanted love and sharing and laughter. Drake saw only the responsibility, but none of the joy of the union. That wasn't enough, not for her, and not for him in the long run.

They arrived at the ranch shortly after eleven, in time to see several people ride off in different directions through the drizzle.

“Something's happened,” Drake muttered.

Maya felt it, too. Icy fingers of dread ran along her neck as they went into the house. Joe appeared at the door of his den. “Drake, you're back. Good.”

“What's wrong?”

Ms. Meredith appeared from the living room. “Joe Junior has disappeared. He was gone this morning when Inez went to get him up for school.”

Her eyes, so like Drake's, flicked to Maya, the anger a palpable force in them, then to her husband. Maya steeled herself for a dressing-down.

“I see no reason to pay someone to watch over the boys if she isn't going to do her job,” Meredith said coldly.

“What happened?” Drake interrupted.

Joe returned his wife's frown with one equally ferocious before answering. “He was sent to his room last night for talking at the table.”

Meredith glared at her husband for a moment longer, then spun and returned to the living room.

The boys must have been called to the main table for a command performance, Maya surmised, and Joe Junior had gotten in trouble with his mother. She stared out the window at the rain while Drake and his father looked at a map of the area and discussed the areas already searched.

“I think I know where he might have gone,” she said.

The men turned to her.

“I showed the boys my old hiding place among the boulders, near the alcove on the beach, recently. A kid can crawl between the boulder shaped like a giant egg and the cliff. There's a clear area under the rocks,
roomy enough to sit up and move about. It was my secret castle when I was a child.”

“I'll go look,” Drake said at once.

“I'll go, too,” she said.

“No,” Drake and Joe said together.

“It's too dangerous,” Joe continued. “Visibility is nearly zero, and the steps are slippery.”

She knew the men were right. She nodded. “Be careful,” she said to Drake.

Drake swallowed against the lump that formed in his throat at the worry that darkened her eyes, not just for his little brother, but for him, too.

He'd never wanted anyone to be anxious about him, had never asked for it. With Maya, it wasn't necessary to ask. She was there, like the north star, steadfast in her faith in others. Warmth swept down to that cold dark spot within.

“I will,” he said huskily.

He threw on rain gear and headed for the stairs. The mist obscured the beach entirely as he made his way down the steps. Once on the damp sand, he jogged toward the alcove, his eyes on the waves beating against the shore. The storm surge might have reached the rocky area during the night.

With the rain softening the soil, whole hillsides had been known to let go in a mighty rumble and fall like an avalanche on those below.

“Joe,” he called when he reached the huge pile of boulders that had once been part of the cliff face.

There was no answer.

Drake lay flat on the sand and, using his elbows, worked his way through the V-shaped opening. Under
the boulders was a small room, just as Maya had described. Joe lay on a blanket, curled into a ball, blissfully asleep.

“Hey,” Drake said, shaking the boy's shoulder.

“What?” Joe sat up and looked around wildly. “Oh, Drake, it's you,” he said in relief.

“Yeah. Time to go home.”

Joe shrank back. “I don't want to.”

“I know, old man, but you have to face the music sooner or later. Maya's worried about you.”

“She should have been home last night,” Joe said in accusing tones. His lip trembled and tears filled his eyes.

“She's waiting for you,” Drake said kindly. “Come on.”

He eased outside and brushed the sand off. Joe followed. Drake laid a hand on the boy's neck. Joe threw his arms around him and held on for a second before screwing up his courage and stepping back.

Drake was surprised at how touched he was by this simple gesture. He'd never been around the youngest kids much, but he felt a bond with them. He thought his own childhood had been happier and easier than theirs, although he couldn't say why. So much seemed to have changed in the past ten years.

The two returned to the house. There their mother—if she was their real mother—grabbed the boy and kissed and cried over him, almost hysterical in her relief.

Drake observed her actions with some concern and a bit of cynicism. Maybe he would ask Maya if she'd read anything about split-personality types. Or he
could buy Rand's and Em's evil twin theory. It was beginning to seem plausible.

When Meredith at last let him go, Joe went to Maya. “I'm sorry,” he said, misery in the droop of his shoulders.

She brushed the hair off his forehead. “I think you need to apologize to your parents for the worry you caused them,” she suggested softly.

Drake smiled slightly when Joe faced the parents. In spite of a skewed family life, Joe and Teddy would be okay, he decided. Because of Maya. She was honest and loving and giving, and they trusted her.

Emptiness grew in him, pushing at the warmth that lingered from the night of passion. A man would miss a woman like her….

“I'm sorry, Mom, Dad,” Joe said dutifully.

“You should be,” Meredith said, anger surfacing. “That was a thoughtless and stupid thing to do. You worried us half to death.”

“I think the boy realizes that,” Joe Senior said. “Joe, you'd better go shower, then have lunch. I'll drive you in for the afternoon session at school.”

The boy bounded out of the room.

“I'd better go see about him.” Maya, too, hurried out.

Drake watched Maya flee. His mother was rather formidable when she got started.

“I have some news from Thaddeus Law,” Joe continued to his wife, including Drake with a glance.

“What?” his mother demanded. “Is it about Patsy?”

Joe nodded. “There was a fire at the clinic, set by
one of the inmates. All the records were destroyed. The present head of the clinic wasn't there when Patsy was, but he thought the letter you received was authentic. I suppose we'll have to accept that Patsy is dead and her ashes scattered in the Pacific.”

“She could hardly fake her own death,” Meredith said as if questioned on the matter.

Drake studied his mother. She was tense. Her eyes, the same color as his, held a feverish glint.

Her manner worried him. Once he'd worked with a guy, a bomb defuser, who had been the soul of quiet competence, then one day the man had exploded in the officer's mess, threatened to blow up everyone and had to be taken away.

The human mind could be a dangerous thing.

His father spoke. “I didn't mean to imply she did. It just makes things a little more complicated.”

“Nothing is complicated! If the police would leave things alone, there would be no problem!”

Puzzled, Drake watched as his mother paced the floor, her hands clenched in rage. He sighed. He no longer understood this woman who had been a tender, nurturing mother in the past. He didn't doubt that her joy had been real when he brought Joe Junior home, but everything after that didn't make sense.

“I'm afraid two shootings and a kidnapping add up to more than a spot of trouble in the eyes of the law,” Joe said wryly.

With an infuriated little cry, Meredith walked out. Drake listened until the sound of her footsteps was drowned by the slamming of her bedroom door.

His father stared out the window for a few minutes while Drake wondered if he should quietly disappear.

“Thanks for getting Joe,” his dad said.

“It was no problem. He was where Maya said.”

Joe smiled. “She's good with the boys. How did she do on the test?”