“There’s always more. Lenny gave me another folder a few hours ago.” Her eyes widened. “With all that’s happened, I didn’t think to check if it’s a woman target, but I’ve never been that lucky about anything. Except for Nate.”
“We’re lucky about this.” He started to hold her more tightly before remembering the bruises. “I’d stake my life on it.”
“I tried to find out—that’s why I’ve been so eager to look into your mother’s past . . . I wanted to believe it wasn’t true.”
More words came tumbling from her lips—how she’d started working for Lenny, how his payments had helped her support Nate. How long she’d looked for her mother, a mother she now knew didn’t want to see her. Though Makay didn’t excuse her involvement, Harrison clearly saw her as a victim, preyed upon by the man she knew as Lenny Pagolino.
“I had no idea what you’ve been going through,” he whispered, running a finger along her jaw. “I’m so sorry. So sorry.” She was leaning more heavily on him now, and he realized she was weakening fast. He led her back to her car and settled her in the passenger seat. He sat on the curb in front of her. “There is something to consider,” he said. “For all we know, Lenny could be lying about finding your mother at all.”
A gasp escaped her lips, and he realized the thought hadn’t occurred to her. Maybe not all that surprising given that she’d depended on the man for survival and direction since she was hardly more than a child. After a moment, she shook her head. “I don’t see what he’d have to gain by telling me that unless it was true. He already has a way to keep me doing jobs for him.”
“That’s why you were planning to leave,” he prompted, remembering what Lily had said.
She nodded. “Well, that and I thought you were going to turn me over to the police.”
“Not a chance.” He felt remorse as he spoke because he had considered it. “And I won’t let you go.”
“You may not have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.” He stared at her, memorizing each feature of her face. “I choose you.”
One eyebrow arched. “That’s not the way it seemed on Tuesday.”
“As I said, I was an ass. I should have asked you to explain.” More guilt to add to his load that was already so huge it would take him months to make it up to her to his satisfaction.
“I tried before. But every time I opened my mouth—”
“I kissed you.”
Her lips curled into an expression that was almost a smile. “Something like that.”
They fell silent, the words between them having run their course. Harrison wondered if she was playing the same scenarios of their future in her head that he was in his—playing pool, taking Nate to the park, making love.
But Lenny still stood in their way. His thumb ran over a bruise on Makay’s left hand. “Who did this to you?”
“A target.” She stared at the ground. “Lenny sprang the job on me. That’s why we went out of town. But I was going to take the guy’s money and run.” She reached for her backpack and showed him a thick envelope of photocopied money. “I was going to replace it with this to try to fool Lenny. It was the only plan I could come up with. But the target turned on me. He’d never planned on giving us anything.”
“Never again.”
She nodded. “I know. Except I’m not sure I have enough information to get away from Lenny.” She frowned and added, “You understand that I can’t risk losing Nate.”
“I know.” Nate’s existence complicated things quite a bit; because of Makay’s involvement, going to the authorities meant risking him. No wonder she had been so cold to him when he’d confronted her. “I won’t let my mom pay, either,” he said. “We’ll have to come up with something to scare him off, something that will also set you free.”
Her eyes studied his for a long moment, and then she shook her head. “It’s not just your mom or my freedom, Harrison. It’s all of the mothers. And the fathers. He needs to be behind bars, not just scared off. I used to think maybe the birth parents deserved what Lenny and I took from them, but after meeting your mom”—she shook her head—“maybe life is all any child has the right to expect from a parent. I mean, whatever else those birth parents have done, they gave their babies a chance at life instead of the sharp end of a knife.”
He frowned. “I think food and shelter and happiness should be in there somewhere.”
“Well, yeah, but they tried doing the right thing by placing their babies with families who would take care of them.” Her smile was small but sure. “My birth mother didn’t abort me or leave me in a garbage can. I had a chance. It’s not her fault it didn’t work out. She couldn’t know that my adoptive mother would die and that my father would mourn her to the point of drinking himself to death.”
She had a point. “We need a plan,” he said. “Preferably one that doesn’t involve irate birth fathers.” That won him another smile that did all kinds of crazy things to his emotions.
“Agreed. Do you have any ideas?”
“Let’s look at the new folder first.”
A shadow passed over Makay’s face. “Right.” She reached for her backpack and when her fingers fumbled with the zipper, he undid it for her and drew out the folders. “It’s the top one.” Her voice was scarcely a whisper.
His own fingers felt fat and clumsy as he opened the folder. He swallowed hard as he scanned the papers, taking in details. Finally, his eyes caught on a phrase. “It’s a woman.”
Her breath rushed out in an abrupt
whoosh,
and once again tears glittered in her dark eyes. “So two women. That’s promising. What now?”
He wanted to take her home, put his arms around her, and make sure no one ever hurt her again, but first he needed to wipe away the doubt and fear regarding their relationship. “This girl was born in December. Your birthday is when?”
“August.”
Right. He remembered Nate saying something about them going to a lake to swim on her last birthday. “We have to talk to my mother.”
Makay’s face blanched. “Your mother?”
He knew exactly how she felt. Once they talked to his mother, there would be no going back, no pretending if things didn’t go their way. “Yes.” Laying the folder open on the sidewalk, he took her left hand, holding it gently but firmly. With his heart thumping and his chest so tight something inside felt close to bursting, he took out his cell phone with his free hand and called his mother. What would he do if Makay’s fears were right?
I can’t lose her now.
His mother picked up the phone. He could hear the television in the background and knew that she and Eli were probably watching one of their shows.
“It’s Harrison. We have to talk. Mom, when was my sister born?”
“Tianna or Rhonda?”
“Neither.”
A brief silence. “Now’s not a good time, sweetie. We’re in the middle of a movie. I’ll call you back tomorrow and we’ll talk.”
“No!” The loud response made Makay jerk slightly, and Harrison rubbed his thumb over her hand, giving her an apologetic smile. “It has to be now. I need to know. Please.” His voice broke on the last word, but the noise on her end was so loud, he doubted she would notice.
“Why on earth? Sweetie I—”
“Mom. When was she born? If you don’t tell me, I’m coming over right now.”
“Just a minute.” Her voice drew away from the phone as she spoke to Eli. “Harrison needs a date that I’ve got in my planner. I’ll be right back.” The noise from the television faded.
“Harrison, you can’t call when he’s home,” his mother whispered urgently. “He always has to know everything. Now I’m going to have to invent a date for his benefit.”
“Tell him it’s Rhonda or Tianna’s birthday. Don’t you know the month? Do you really have to look it up?
He heard a door close and then her soft voice. “No. I don’t have to look it up. She was born in December. December thirteenth. But even if that’s not the date that person is telling you, I have to—”
Harrison sagged, gripping Makay’s hand probably far too tightly. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you in the morning. I’ll explain everything.” He slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked into Makay’s waiting eyes.
“My sister was born in December. Not August. We’re not related.”
Her face whitened, and her eyes looked bottomless and empty. For a moment he wondered if she would have preferred that his sister’s birthday matched hers. Had she hoped to be a part of his family and that somehow his mother would accept her? Maybe deep down in her heart, he was her second choice.
“Makayla?” he asked, going to his knees on the curb in front of her, the pressure in his chest growing.
All at once the happiness he’d hoped to see filled her face, and she leaned forward into his embrace. Her chest heaved, but there were no audible sobs as she clung to him. They stayed that way until his knees protested and her shuddering had long stopped. He pulled gently away and stood, drawing Makay to her feet.
“What now?” she asked, repeating her earlier question. He really had no idea. Short of convincing his mother to go to the police, he wasn’t sure how even the folder would help them get rid of Lenny.
“We’ll figure something out,” he promised. “But not tonight. Tonight you are going to get some rest. And I know just the place.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
M
akay awoke to the smell of bacon. It was a heady aroma that brought back memories of a certain park near a fast food restaurant. Each morning the summer she was fifteen, she’d awakened with that smell and dreamed that she was at home and her mother was in the next room cooking. A bitter winter had brought an end to that blissful fantasy, but by then she had earned enough money from Lenny to pay to crash at someone’s house.
Lenny.
She sat up a little too quickly, and her ribs screamed with discomfort despite the double dose of painkillers she’d taken in the middle of the night. For a moment she felt a sense of disorientation, though she knew exactly where she was. At Harrison’s. Last night, he’d insisted on driving her and Nate here, feeding them dinner and putting her to bed early. Brette had agreed with Harrison that someone should take care of her and promised to look after Snoop while she and Nate were gone.
Nate was nowhere to be seen, but Makay could hear his voice coming in from the open door. Makay lay back down on the bed. It was the most comfortable mattress she’d ever slept on. Harrison told her it was only a few weeks old, that he’d bought it after moving back to Arizona. She stretched out, her eyes scanning the comfortable room. There was enough space for a love seat and a TV, and from what little she could see of the walk-in closet, it was nearly as big as her old room at the apartment. There were no pictures or anything on the walls, though one frame stood on the floor against the wall behind two packing boxes. The connecting bathroom, one of two in the apartment, had the largest tub she’d ever seen, and she’d made use of it last night while Nate had gone to the swimming pool with Harrison. Later, when she and Nate were snuggled up in the queen bed, ready to doze off, Nate had suggested that instead of moving in with Brette, they could stay at Harrison’s. Forever.
Makay closed her eyes and breathed deeply, turning her head to relieve the pressure in the staples on the back of her head. She’d slept with a towel over the pillow in case there was more blood—a good idea, it turned out. She’d need to wash her hair again, but she’d do it later when the unsteadiness left her knees.
I can have Harrison!
Gladness filled her at the thought.
With last night’s revelation and Harrison’s confidence about setting her free from Lenny, she dared hope again. Yet underneath her hope was a horrible fear, one that had filled her dreams with faceless bogeymen and the sound of furious heartbeats. The only way she’d made it through the night was by clinging to the knowledge that she had a chance with Harrison, and whatever else happened, Nate would benefit by having Harrison in his life.
“Hello, sleepyhead!” Harrison came in holding a tray. He looked rested, though a line of concern marred his forehead. Nate followed in Harrison’s wake, carrying a bowl of large strawberries, one of which he’d just put in his mouth.
Makay smiled. “Can’t be that late. Don’t you have work?”
“Yep. Will you two be all right today?”
“Sure. But you should probably take us back to Brette’s. I have a funeral to attend.” Had she told him that last night? She couldn’t remember.
He sat on the edge of the bed, placing the tray on her other side. “What you need is to rest. I think your friend would understand, don’t you? Anyway, I’ll leave you my car just in case. I have another one here I can drive.”
“All right.”
“Hope you slept well. You seemed to be asleep every time I checked on you during the night.”
“You checked on me?”
Harrison shrugged. “Brette said I should make sure you were breathing. Fortunately, you were.”
Makay couldn’t remember a time in her life when anyone checked on her. Ever. She did it constantly with Nate, though, and figured her adoptive mother must have done the same thing for her when she was a baby.
“Aren’t you going to eat one of these?” Nate offered her the bowl of strawberries. “They’re really good. And if I’m not going to school, can I watch cartoons? Harrison has a huge TV out there.” He hesitated before confessing, “I’ve already been watching a little bit.” He held out his thumb and forefinger with a fourth-inch space between them to show just how little.
“Sure. But not too loud, okay?” Nate nodded, grabbed another strawberry, and ran from the room.
“Look,” Harrison continued, “I’ll be leaving in a minute, but I want you to talk with my mom first. She’s here in the kitchen.”
Makay sat up, ignoring the pain in her ribs. “Shouldn’t that wait? Might take too long if you’re wanting to head out.” Makay certainly didn’t plan on talking to the woman alone.
He leaned over and kissed her, slowly and deeply. A warmth spread from her lips to her entire body that had nothing to do with his pressure on the bruising there. The sensation made her feel happy and relaxed. “I’ve gone over and over this in my mind. We need her help, and I think talking to you will help her realize what we’re up against. She’s deathly afraid of what my stepfather will do if he ever finds out, and I’m not sure that will change, but at least we’ll have tried.”