When We Found Home

Keira raced toward them. “You’re here! Did you bring Lizzy? Is she all right? Does she know I’m going to take good care of her?”

Delaney had only ever seen Keira in her school uniform. Out of the plaid skirt and white shirt, the preteen looked happier and younger. The healing bruise on the side of her face was the only reminder of the accident.

Impulsively Delaney set down her tote and packages and held out her arms. “I’m so glad to see you.”

Keira hesitated only a second before flinging herself at Delaney and hanging on so tight, it was difficult to breathe.

“You scared me,” Delaney whispered. “I was so afraid you were really hurt. You can never do that again!”

“I promise.”

“Good.” Delaney released her and smoothed her hair off her forehead. “You look good. A little battered, but otherwise healthy. Are you feeling all right?”

“I’m fine. Where’s Lizzy?”

Carmen handed over the carrier. “Here you go, little one. I’ll bring up some hot chocolate and cookies.”

“Thank you,” Keira said as she dropped to her knees and carefully opened the carrier. Her breath caught. “Lizzy, you’re real. I wondered if I dreamed you.”

She picked up the kitten who stretched and yawned before settling in Keira’s arms and meeting her gaze. Delaney sat on the floor next to them.

“She’s pretty friendly. A little skittish, but she’s warmed up over the past couple of days. I don’t think she was feral, but I’m not sure she had a lot of contact with people.”

“Thank you for taking care of her for me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m going to be a really good pet mom. I’ve been looking up stuff online.” She looked at Delaney, her expression serious. “Cats should only have canned food. They don’t have a strong instinct to drink water and dry food gives them kidney problems.” She gently petted Lizzy. “I’m going to clean the litter box twice a day. That’s what the articles say cats like.” Her voice lowered. “I know what it’s like to get used to a strange place, so I’m going to be with her all the time through the weekend. I’m not going back to school until Monday.”

There was so much information in those few sentences that Delaney didn’t know where to begin.

“Why don’t you show me where you want things set up?” she asked. “Have you decided where to put the litter box?”

“In the other room.”

Delaney stood, finally taking her attention from the girl and looking around at her bedroom. It was large, with plenty of windows and lots of light. She pointed to the built-in window seat with a comfortable cushion and lots of pillows.

“Lizzy’s going to love sitting there and watching birds.”

“I know. She can also climb around on my desk if she wants.”

The walls were a pale gray color, the trim was white. The furniture all looked new, which made sense. From what she’d been able to piece together, Keira had been a bit of a surprise.

They carried everything into the adjoining room. It had been decorated as a teen girl haven with two bright pink club chairs, a deep blue sofa and a multicolored upholstered ottoman that acted as a soft coffee table in between. There was an under-counter refrigerator, a big wall-mounted television and plenty of storage. A fun white shag rug sat on top of the more elegant Berber carpet.

Keira pointed to a small alcove near the corner. “There was a dresser here that got moved out. I’ll feed Lizzy on the other side of the room. You’re not supposed to have food and the litter box close together.” She wrinkled her nose. “No one wants to eat in the bathroom.”

It took only a few minutes to get everything set up. Once the litter box was filled and the water bowl put out, Keira set the kitten on the floor, then sat next to her while Lizzy began to sniff and explore.

Delaney split her attention between the girl and the cat. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Better. My headache is gone and it doesn’t hurt to read.” She held out her fingers for Lizzy to sniff. The black-and-white kitten rubbed against them and began to purr. “My teachers put my assignments online, so I’ve been keeping up.”

“I have homework, too,” Delaney said. “Biology is hard.”

“Have you done your dissection yet?”

“No. It got postponed. I didn’t ask why because I don’t want to know.”

Keira grinned. “Maybe it’s an inventory issue.”

“Don’t go there. Talk about gross.”

“How are you going to be a doctor if you can’t dissect something that’s been dead like forever?”

“I’m not sure. I’m still working on that problem.”

Leaving the world of finance to become a naturopath had made sense three months ago, but she was starting to have her doubts. She wasn’t sure she was passionate enough to dedicate the next four years of her life to full-time study.

Keira reached for one of the feather-on-a-stick toys and waved it in front of Lizzy. The kitten immediately attacked.

“Have any of your friends been by?” Delaney asked.

Keira looked at her. “No, but we’ve texted. They wanted to know I was okay. I didn’t feel very good until yesterday and now I have Lizzy. I’m fine.”

“I worry about you.”

“I know.” Keira ducked her head.

Delaney wished she could be more sure about her friend. Keira’s home situation was unconventional at best. Not awful, but maybe not as nurturing as it could have been.

“Carmen seems nice.”

“She’s great. She’s fussing over me even more than usual and she’s really excited about Lizzy.”

At least Keira had someone watching over her.

“Okay, I’m going to let you and Lizzy get to know each other,” she said as she stood. “You have my number. Text me if you need anything. Even if it’s just more cat toys. I’m happy to bring them by.”

“I will.”

Keira carefully closed the door behind them so Lizzy wouldn’t get out. Carmen met them on the landing.

“Malcolm would like to speak with you,” she told Delaney. “If you have a minute.”

Delaney’s breath caught. He was home? Why hadn’t someone warned her before now? Not that it mattered, she told herself. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him. Annoyance and maybe a little outrage had replaced attraction.

“Of course,” she said, trying to sound neutral. She hugged Keira goodbye and reminded her to text or call if she needed anything, then followed the housekeeper down the long second-floor hallway.

Carmen knocked once before entering the suite of rooms. Delaney followed and saw his living space was very similar to Keira’s although instead of entering a bedroom, she found herself in a study/home office. There was a comfortable sofa, a good-sized desk and lots of bookcases. A door stood open and she caught sight of a king-size bed with a bathroom beyond. Malcolm looked up from his computer, smiled and rose when he saw her.

“Delaney, I’m glad you stopped by. I’ve wanted to talk to you.”

Carmen excused herself and shut the door as she left. Malcolm motioned to the sofa.

“Please. Have a seat.”

He looked different, she thought. Instead of a suit, he wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt that emphasized his broad shoulders. His eyes were dark blue, his jaw firm. Dammit, he looked good and she did not want to be sucked in by that. She hadn’t liked the way he’d been so clueless about his own sister. He wasn’t charming, she reminded herself. She wasn’t the least bit attracted to him.

But sitting only a few feet away on a very comfortable leather sofa, it was difficult not to notice how her chest seemed just a little tight and her nerves were slightly on edge. Annoyance, she reminded herself. With annoyance came energy.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, then handed it to her.

“Before I forget,” he said with a smile. “For the cat supplies.”

“I didn’t spend anywhere close to this.”

One shoulder rose. “You also took care of Lizzy. That can’t have been convenient.” The smile faded as he leaned toward her. “I also want to thank you for being there for Keira. I’m not sure I did at the hospital. Things were happening too fast. We all appreciate that you stayed with Keira until she got to the hospital. She must have been terrified. You were a comforting presence. Thank you.”

He seemed so genuine, so caring, she thought, more than a little perplexed. What had happened to the cold stranger who knew almost nothing about his sister?

“I’m confused,” she admitted. “At the hospital you were so distant and, um, stern.”

“The asshole brother?” he asked drily.

“Something like that.”

He sighed. “Yeah, it’s been hard with Keira.”

“She’s a good kid.” Delaney had a feeling her tone sounded fairly defensive.

“She is. I was talking more about myself than her. I’m not exactly a kid person.”

“She really just showed up two months ago?”

“Uh-huh. My father died a couple of years ago.” He hesitated. “There wasn’t a will so everything went to my grandfather and me. Around the first of the year, Alberto decided to get Jerry’s papers in order. He found information about two daughters no one knew about.”

He looked at her. “I should backtrack a little. My father was a salesman for the company and traveled all over. Apparently he liked women and they liked him. The three of us are the result of various relationships he had. Jerry wasn’t interested in his children or paying regular child support. I didn’t meet him until my mother brought me here when I was twelve. Alberto welcomed me right away, but Jerry resisted the connection. He and I were never close. I didn’t actually know him very well at all.”

There was something about the way he said the words, she thought. As if there was more to the story.

“Where’s the other sister?” she asked instead.

“Arriving tomorrow. That’s going to be interesting. She’s older—twenty-six. I don’t know that much about her. Keira was easier to locate. As she told you, she’d been living in foster care. Once we established paternity, I went and got her. She’s lived here ever since.”

She couldn’t imagine finding out about a sibling after so many years. Maybe Malcolm wasn’t as awful as she’d feared. Maybe he was just unprepared.

“And now what?” she asked.

“Now we make it work.” He raised a shoulder. “What I mean is I make it work. The accident showed me I haven’t been involved enough in Keira’s life. She seems to have it all together, but the truth is she’s a kid. I was her age when my mom brought me here. I remember how lost I felt and I had my mother with me. She might feel as if she doesn’t have anyone and that’s not right.”

Delaney relaxed a little more. “It’s her air of competence. It’s a great disguise, but you’re right. She’s just twelve. She needs to know people care about her and that this is her home. Having Lizzy will help.”

“I know nothing about cats.”

“Keira’s been doing research on the internet. You can ask her all about it.”

“I will.”

They smiled at each other. Tension seemed to swirl between them—the boy-girl kind, which was kind of nice and strange, all at the same time. Or maybe not. Maybe she was the only one feeling it and wouldn’t that be both awkward and pathetic?

What was wrong with her? He was just a guy. Except she knew the problem—there hadn’t been anyone since Tim and before Tim, she’d been a kid. All she knew about men and love and dating had been learned with Tim. What if they’d done it all wrong?

“Delaney?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I got distracted by something. What were you saying?”

“That I owe you.”

If only, she thought wistfully. “Not really. I like Keira. Helping out with her was easy.”

“Still. I’d offer to buy you coffee but that wouldn’t be very exciting for you. How about dinner?”

D-dinner? As in...dinner?

She felt herself flushing and hoped her light makeup kept him from being able to tell. “That would be nice,” she said, trying to sound casual, as if this sort of thing happened all the time.

“How about Saturday night? If you’re available.”

“Saturday would be perfect.”

They agreed on the Metropolitan Grill at seven. Malcolm said he would make reservations.

“I look forward to it,” he told her as he walked out of his room and down the stairs. “Do you want me to pick you up or meet you there?”

“I’ll meet you there,” she murmured, thinking it would be too uncomfortable to have him pick her up. Too much like a date. Not that it was a date. Or maybe it was, she wasn’t sure. Nor would she ask. It was a step forward, she told herself. Right now that was enough.

At the front door, she turned and said, “Keira said she’s going back to school on Monday. Please tell her I look forward to seeing her that morning.”

“I will.” He lightly touched her arm. “You were right at the hospital. I should tell her goodbye, because it’s the little things, right?”

“It is. I’ll see you Saturday.”

He smiled. “You will. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me, too.”

She managed to get to her car without stumbling or shrieking or grinning like a fool, then started the engine and sedately drove down the long driveway. It was only when she was on the main road heading for home that she allowed herself a small shriek and a little shimmy in her seat before settling in for a long internal discussion about what on earth she was going to wear.

chapter seven

Callie planned to work on not feeling terrified just as soon as she stopped shaking. She supposed she should give herself a break—so much had happened so fast. Monday she’d been approached by a lawyer about her late father and some mystery family that wanted to meet her. Wednesday she’d heard from Shari on the results of the DNA test. They’d met and Callie had gotten a plane ticket to Seattle. Here it was Friday morning and she was on her way to a city she’d never been to so she could meet a family she knew nothing about.

Shari had been great—taking plenty of time to talk through the details. The family wanted Callie to relocate to Seattle. Callie hadn’t known what to do, but in the end she’d decided to quit both her jobs and pack up her meager belongings and fly west.

Disrupting her life had been uncomfortably simple. Janice had been sad but understanding. At her cleaning job, her supervisor had barely said anything beyond “Good luck.” Callie rented her room furnished, so she didn’t have to worry about getting rid of anything big and she paid month to month, so there wasn’t even a lease. A quick trip to the local thrift store had produced a second battered suitcase. In a matter of an hour, she’d uprooted her life.

Now at the airport gate, she tried to look as if she knew what she was doing. She’d never flown before. Until a couple of years ago, she’d never been outside Oklahoma. She’d ridden the bus to Houston and hadn’t ever taken a vacation anywhere. It wasn’t as if being in prison came with field trips. She was so unprepared, she thought, wondering if it was too late to bolt.

The morning had started with a town car arriving to take her to the airport. Shari had said everything was paid for but had suggested Callie might want to tip the drivers on each end. She had no idea how much, so had handed the older guy ten dollars. She wasn’t supposed to tip anyone on the plane, was she? She’d read a couple of articles online and none of them had mentioned that.

The gate agent started the boarding process. Callie checked the seat number on her boarding pass again. It hadn’t changed. She was in seat 3A. According to what she’d found out from her research, that could mean she was in first class. But how was that possible? Who would be ridiculous enough to pay extra to get her to Seattle? She would arrive at exactly the same time flying in the back of the plane. Still, when the agent said first class was boarding, Callie slowly walked up and handed over her boarding pass.

“Welcome aboard, Ms. Smith,” the young woman said with a smile. “Have a great flight.”

Callie nodded without speaking and started down the long, sloping hallway. As she got closer to the plane, her shaking increased. She couldn’t do this, she thought frantically. She could not get on that flying coffin. They were all going to die.

At least then you won’t have to deal with meeting your family.

The voice and the words came so unexpectedly, she laughed out loud. Her tension eased and she stepped onto the plane.

She figured out the numbering system and found her seat, then watched everyone else get on board. Her seatmate was a well-dressed, middle-aged woman who gave her an absent smile before pulling out a stack of fashion and gossip magazines and starting to read. Callie tried not to notice how threadbare her long-sleeved T-shirt looked next to the other woman’s expensive knit jacket. The woman’s wedding band was a row of diamonds and the center stone on her engagement ring was huge.

Once the plane was loaded, the flight attendants started the safety announcements. Callie checked her seat belt about sixteen times, then listened to every word of the safety demonstration. Before she was ready, the plane was racing toward certain death only to unexpectedly take off into the air.

She gripped both armrests, digging in her fingers until her knuckles went white, but the plane didn’t plummet. Instead it went higher and higher, causing her ears to pop a little and the earth to seem to fall away.

“What can I get you two ladies to drink?”

Callie turned and saw the flight attendant standing by their row. The woman next to her ordered a glass of white wine. Callie asked for water.

“We’ll be serving lunch today. A chicken pasta salad. Would either of you like to join us?”

The other woman nodded. Callie said she would like lunch, then wondered if she had to pay for it. All the articles she’d read had sworn first class tickets got a free meal, but she wasn’t sure. Still, she’d taken a hundred dollars out of the bank, so she had cash with her, and her ATM card. She didn’t own a credit card. They’d always seemed too risky.

The flight attendant returned with their drinks. A few minutes later, the captain came on the loudspeaker and gave them the details of the flight. Callie couldn’t believe they would get from Houston to Seattle in only four and a half hours. It took almost that long just to drive to Dallas!

The woman next to her finished her InStyle magazine and offered it to Callie. “If you haven’t read this one...”

Callie looked from the magazine to her, then smiled. “Thank you. That’s very nice of you.”

She smoothed the front of the cover, trying to remember the last time she’d read a new magazine. In prison she’d spent her free time reading books and studying for her GED. Her conviction had interrupted her senior year. Once she was out, she hadn’t had the extra money for something so frivolous. Now she leaned back in her seat and opened the magazine to the first page. It was an ad for hair color. She studied the glossy photograph, read all the text, and wondered if she would ever get to feel normal again and take things like magazines for granted.

* * *

Four hours and forty-two minutes after they had pushed back from the gate in Houston, their plane arrived in Seattle. Callie pulled her backpack from under the seat in front of her and waited to walk out into a scary and unknown future. In that brief moment as she stepped onto the Jetway, she felt the cool damp air and shivered slightly. Her light jacket was nowhere warm enough for whatever the temperature was outside.

She followed the signs to baggage claim and took a steep escalator down two floors. As she stepped off, she saw several men in suits holding paper signs or iPads with names on them. Shari had told her car service would be provided in Seattle, so Callie looked at several of them before spotting one that said C. Smith.

She walked over to the driver. “I’m Callie Smith.”

The older man smiled at her. “Nice to meet you. I’m Hal. Do you have checked luggage?”

“Two bags.”

He led the way to the carousel. “Coming home from a trip or visiting?” he asked.

“Visiting. My first time in the city.”

“It’s been raining, which is pretty typical for this time of year.” He chuckled. “Or any time of the year, except for summer. Never come here in late July and think it’s going to be that nice all the time. And when they say it’s just a light misty rain, they’re lying. It rains a lot.”

The suitcases began to appear. Callie couldn’t believe how quickly they moved on the conveyor belt, going in a huge oval. She spotted hers fairly quickly—mostly because they were so shabby. She pointed them out to Hal, who collected them. Then they took the escalator up one floor and started for the parking garage.

The second they stepped out of the airport, Callie began to shiver. It wasn’t that it was all that cold—although it was—what she really noticed was the dampness. It was as if the chill could get right inside her body.

Hal walked briskly along a skybridge toward the parking garage. He bypassed a pay station and a bank of elevators, then they went down another escalator to where there were rows and rows of large black SUVs and town cars. Hal led her to an SUV and held open the back door. She slid inside.

They drove onto a freeway and headed for the city.

“I’ll point out a few things as we drive,” Hal told her. “You’ll see the Seattle skyline in a few minutes. We’re on the wrong side for you to see the Space Needle—that’s north of downtown. See that tall, black high-rise?”

She peered out the front window. “Uh-huh.”

“That’s the Columbia Center. It’s seventy stories high. People around here joke it’s the box the Space Needle shipped in.” He chuckled. “All right, little lady, there on your left is Safeco Field—home of the Seattle Mariners. Right next to it is CenturyLink Field, where the Seahawks play. Go Hawks!”

Callie smiled. No point in mentioning she wasn’t that into sports. She figured it was a guy thing.

After a few more minutes, they got off the freeway and entered a residential neighborhood. She was relieved to see average-looking homes with pretty yards. The rain had stopped, leaving gray skies. The car thermometer said it was forty-seven outside. How was that possible? It was April!

Hal turned and drove and turned some more. The houses got bigger and farther apart and Callie’s nerves returned. They made another turn.

“Look out the passenger window,” Hal told her. “You should catch a glimpse of Lake Washington. This is a real nice neighborhood. Who did you say you were visiting?”

“Some, ah, friends.”

He winked at her. “Friends with money. The best kind.”

Sooner than she would have liked, they turned down a long driveway. Hal stopped in front of a huge, three-story house that looked bigger than a hotel. Callie wanted to crawl under the seat and never be seen, but it was too late. Hal had already opened her door and was taking out her suitcases.

She grabbed her backpack and stepped onto the wet driveway. She pulled ten dollars from her front jeans pocket and offered it to him.

I can’t do this. Please take me back to the airport. But what she said instead was, “Thank you, Hal.”

“You’re welcome, young lady.”

The front doors opened and a brown-haired woman in her fifties smiled at her. “Callie? I’m Carmen, the family housekeeper. Welcome to Seattle.”

Carmen insisted on carrying one of the suitcases. Callie had a brief impression of a giant foyer with a two-story ceiling and lots of rooms filled with expensive-looking furniture. She couldn’t seem to focus on anything but the fact that she couldn’t breathe or stop shaking. What had she been thinking? She didn’t belong here. So what if they were family—she wasn’t one of them.

Before she could bolt, Carmen grabbed her hand and squeezed her fingers. “Alberto is so happy you’re here. He’s been waiting to find you.” She hesitated. “Your grandfather is a wonderful man. I hope you’ll grow to love him.”