The Second Family

“That’s the most unfair thing I’ve heard since—”

“Since what? Hearing your father was dead or finding out you had a brother and sister?”

Was her own face as red as his, she wondered? Was that why people were turning around to look at them? She strode ahead, making for the Starbucks around the corner. The familiarity of the place calmed her. This was her turf after all. She could be in charge again. By the time he caught up to her, she’d already placed her order at the counter.

She carried her cafe latte to her favorite table and watched him, secretly congratulating herself on avoiding a song and dance about who would pay. He was speaking pleasantly to the female counter clerk, laughing about something she’d said. Behaving as if he hadn’t been on the verge of exploding moments ago.

When he turned to walk toward her, Tess also realized for the first time how good-looking he was. Not her type, of course. Too athletic and rugged. But she noticed how the clerk’s eyes tracked him to where Tess was sitting, then shifted away in obvious disappointment as he took the seat across from her.

“First off,” he began once he’d set his mug of regular coffee down. “I apologize for what I said back there. I was out of line.”

Out of line? He must have been in the military.

“None of this is your fault—any more than it’s Nick or Molly’s.” His tawny eyes met hers briefly, then lowered to his coffee. He blew gently on the brew, sipped carefully and set it on the table.

Giving her time to come up with an opening line, she asked herself? Tess forced herself to outwait him, thinking she’d rather see where the talk was going to go.

“I can appreciate how your world’s kinda been flipped upside down the last twenty-four hours,” he said.

Kinda? I guess.

“Finding out your father’s dead and all.”

“As far as I’m concerned, my father died twenty-five years ago when he walked out of my life.”

His eyes flicked abruptly from the coffee mug to her face. “Sorry. I didn’t realize when I spoke with you yesterday that he’d basically abandoned you. I just assumed…you know…that your folks had divorced.”

“Well, they did eventually I suppose, because he went on to marry someone else.” She paused. “And don’t be sorry…please! I’ve managed to put all that out of my life.”

“Until yesterday.”

It was her turn to stare down at her coffee, still untouched.

After a moment, he said, “I guess that explains your reluctance to get involved.”

Reluctance? How does refusal sound?

He went on. “But unfortunately, the past has reared its ugly head, as the saying goes. Nick and Molly are your family now.”

Tess raised her head. “I haven’t had a family for several years, Mr. Malone. At least, not the family most people mean. My mother spent most of her life after my father left us in and out of psychiatric hospitals until her death. When I was fourteen my guardian applied for legal custody.”

“Call me Alec—please.” He reached across the table and placed his hand on hers.

Startled by the sudden contact, Tess quickly pulled hers away.

“Look, I’m sorry about what happened but it’s got nothing to do with Nick and Molly. They may not seem like family to you, but they’re your flesh and blood.”

“Half siblings,” she muttered.

“Half is more than enough,” he said, lowering his voice. “I think I should fill you in on some of what the kids have gone through these past few weeks. So, enjoy your latte and listen up.”

Not wanting to know, yet accepting that she needed to, Tess reached for her drink.

“I guess by now Walker has given you the details of the accident—hasn’t he?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t spoken to him directly yet. I just got the letter on Thursday and yesterday…”

Alec pursed his lips in disgust. “Yeah. The kids turned up on your doorstep. Walker could’ve handled the whole damn thing with a bit more sensitivity, but that’s not his style. Anyway, Richard and Gabriela—his wife—were killed when their car went off a mountain road outside Boulder. That was the end of March.”

“The twenty-eighth,” Tess said.

He nodded. “The police investigation didn’t turn up anything—you know, like drugs or alcohol—and concluded Richard had lost control of the car for some reason. Maybe to avoid an animal. It happened at night and it was snowing.”

Tess blew an audible sigh. She wished he’d get to the point, rather than dwell on an accident scene she’d rather not envision.

“Okay, sorry. I’m wandering. Bad habit of mine. Some trucker found the car the next morning and called the police. Apparently both kids had sleepovers that night and didn’t find out until afternoon, when police finally tracked them down. Boulder County Child Protective Services—where I work—got involved as soon as they learned there was no next of kin. Both kids went to the same foster home but that’s a temporary arrangement. I’ve done my damnedest to find a place that’ll take both of them, but so far haven’t been able to.” He hunched forward, wrapping two large hands around his half-empty mug of coffee.

“When I first met Nick and Molly, they still had that shocked appearance most trauma victims have. Ashen-faced with haunted eyes. They were passive, almost apathetic in their grief. Clutching one another and not really speaking to anyone else for the first week. Friends of the family and some neighbors made funeral arrangements on Walker’s instructions. He’s the family lawyer.”

An expression of such contempt crossed his face that Tess had to comment. “What is it between you and Jed Walker? On the phone yesterday you made some negative comment about him, too.”

“It’s a long story and it’s personal so I guess I’d better stick to the facts here. Until a week ago, Walker didn’t know you even existed.” He paused, adding, “Which means, of course, that you weren’t mentioned in the will.”

“I’d have been more than surprised if I had been.”

His eyes fixed on hers a moment longer before he continued. “Right. So when the kids learned about you, they saw you as a lifeline. Someone to keep them together.”

Dry-mouthed, Tess sipped the dregs of her latte and searched frantically for the response she knew he was waiting for. C’mon girl. Pretend you’re negotiating a price for an ad campaign. He’s a social worker from Colorado. How hard can it be to convince him the kids are better off where they are?

“You have to understand—”

“Oh, I do,” he interrupted. “For twenty-five years you’ve lived under the impression that Richard Wheaton was gone for good. In less than forty-eight hours you discover that not only has he just recently died, but he’s also left behind two children who happen to be your half brother and sister. Who also happen to be minors.”

Tess frowned. Was he implying she was legally bound? “I don’t think there’s a law, is there? That I have to take them in?”

Alec leaned back against his chair. Tess winced at the pitying look he flashed her.

“No,” he said, his voice so low she had to lean forward to hear. “I doubt it. Although I think there’s definitely a moral responsibility.”

“If they need money,” she rushed to say, “I can certainly help with that.”

He shook his head from side to side. The pitying look shifted to one of utter despair. As if, she thought, he’d given up on her.

“They have money, too. The estate is worth quite a lot. Another reason why they need family to supervise things, rather than some hotshot lawyer like Jed Walker.”

“Then…”

“They need a family, Tess. They need to feel part of something. Their whole lives have been blown apart. Molly’s only six years old.”

Tess stiffened. “I was barely eight when my father left. I know what it feels like.”

“But you had a mother.”

“A mentally ill mother. I practically raised myself.”

He blew out a mouthful of air and forked his fingers through his hair, making it stand up in thick clumps. “We’re getting off track here. The point of the matter is that unless you intervene—become their legal guardian—those two kids will be split up and could eventually lose each other completely. Molly has a good chance of being adopted, but Nick…few people are willing to take on a boy just entering his teens.”

Exactly what Nick had said, Tess realized. Still, she couldn’t let the fact influence her. The matter had to be settled. She straightened up, ready for the negotiation. “Look,” she began. “About six months ago I was promoted to Vice President of Marketing at the company where I work. It’s a demanding job. I work basically anywhere from ten to twelve hours a day. I take work home and spend most weekends working.”

She paused to let that register, but he didn’t look impressed. “I couldn’t physically be there for them, much less emotionally. Frankly, they’d be better off in a family context, even if an adoptive one.”

“Family context?” He sneered. “Sounds like something out of a sociology textbook.”

Tess felt her face heat up, but decided to play her next card. “I’d be willing to visit once or twice a year.”

“Wonderful. That should really keep the family context concept alive and kicking.”

“There’s no need for sarcasm. I thought we were trying to negotiate something here. To nail down a deal.”

Alec rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. “Omigod, you really do see it that way, don’t you?”

She had a sense of floundering in deep water. It was an unfamiliar feeling—that she might be handling the matter all wrong—and she couldn’t think of a smart comeback.

“Doesn’t it occur to you,” he went on, “that sometimes we have to give things up for the sake of others? That we have to put on hold our own dreams so that we can help out someone else?”

Tess drew a blank. Was he talking about her or himself? “Are you asking me—”

“To give up some of that time. Yes! A good nanny can manage the daily routines, but take off one day a week and the weekends.”

Blood pounded in her ears. “I can’t possibly do that,” Tess said. “My job is all I have.”

The persuasion in his face vanished. He shook his head sadly. “God,” he said in a low voice. “I’m so very sorry for you. Your own childhood experience has obviously made it impossible for you to look at this situation another way.”

Tess bristled at the pity in his voice. “Apparently you are unable to view this in any other way yourself.” And that, Tess realized, pretty much ended the conversation.

NICK TURNED off the television as soon as they entered the condo. He took one look at them and slumped back into the couch cushions. Guessing, Alec figured, that no decision had been made. Or no deal, as Tess would have put it. He felt sick at the thought of breaking the news to the kids, but then realized at once that he wasn’t going to give up so easily. Their return flight to Denver wasn’t until four o’clock the next day. He still had a little more than twenty-four hours to convince Tess Wheaton it was in her best interests to basically rearrange her whole life.

Yeah, right. In spite of her damn good looks, she was definitely no pushover. Not as soft inside as she appeared on the out. And no wonder, given the childhood snapshot she’d shown him. Still, that was no excuse for shirking one’s duty to family. That was something he himself had finally learned, after a rocky adolescence and reality-checking career in the armed forces. The one thing you could count on at the end of a long hard day—whether your job was slugging it out in a factory or dropping bombs for NATO—was family. So maybe Tess Wheaton didn’t know that yet, but there was no reason why she couldn’t learn.

“Okay, guys,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t sound as hollow as it felt. “Ready to hit the arcades?” He saw Tess frown, not knowing what he meant. Maybe afraid she’d have to get involved in yet another project. Just itching to turn that laptop back on again. He felt a surge of anger, but stifled it. That wasn’t the way he’d win the battle.

“Before we went out for coffee,” he explained, “I told Nick I’d take him and Molly to play some games.”

She looked blank.

“You know,” Alec explained. “Computer games. Shoot-outs and all that.”

“Oh, those things,” she said, dismissing them with a slight upturning of lip.

For a second, Alec wondered if he was on the right track with his idea to get her back to Colorado. She didn’t know kids at all. Except for the offer of frozen strawberry yogurt, she’d struck out completely. And even that had been more of a walk than a real hit. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for the role of surrogate parent. She definitely didn’t look the part. Her slender, tall frame, jet hair and dramatic green eyes suggested a fashion model rather than the shrewd businesswoman she must be to make the executive echelon at her age.

Nick was on his feet and halfway to the door before Alec had a chance to remind him about returning his empty plate to the kitchen area. He went back to the couch and got Molly’s half-eaten sandwich and pop can, too. Eager to please, Alec realized. Wanting to get something out of the trip to Chicago, even if only a couple of hours in a games arcade. Before he had to go back to Boulder and face a bloody awful future. Resentment against Tess flowed through him. I’m not giving up yet.

“Coming, Molly?” Alec asked.

She was sprawled against the cushions. Her face, usually rosy-cheeked, was pale against the navy-blue-and-white-striped fabric. “I’m tired,” she said.

Alec glanced across at Tess, hovering near the kitchen counter. He passed her what he hoped was a meaningful look and finally she got it.

“Molly can stay and have a nap on my bed, if she wants.”

Generous of you. “Okay, Molly, catch forty winks. When we get back, there’s dinner out and maybe a movie.”

The small face broke into a heartbreaking smile. How could Tess not be moved by that wattage, he asked himself? But when he turned his head her way, he saw that she was raising the lid on her laptop. Alec sighed. Twenty-four hours. He hoped he was up to the job.

“WHAT ARE forty winks, Tess?” Molly asked as soon as the door closed behind Nick and Alec.

Tess pressed the On button of her computer. “It’s an old expression, meaning to take a short nap. People don’t say it very much anymore.”

“Except Alec,” giggled Molly. “He says lots of funny things.”

“I bet,” murmured Tess as she clicked open her file. Then she looked across the room. “I thought you were sleepy.”

“Aren’t you going to tuck me in?”

“For a nap?”

Molly struggled up and perched on the edge of the couch. “Someone always tucked me in whenever I got into bed.” Her voice trembled.

Tess had a sudden flash who that someone must have been. Her mother or father. Personally, she couldn’t recall either one of her parents doing that for her. But Mavis had, when she’d moved in with her. For at least the whole first year. “All right,” she said, minimizing the window on the laptop screen. “Tuck-in time!”

Molly giggled again. “Is that like nap time?”

Tess shrugged. “I guess.”

“You say funny things, too. Like Alec.”

That name overrode the mild pleasure at being called funny. Tess motioned toward the bedroom. “C’mon, then.”

Molly followed her into the bedroom and was on the bed before Tess had the comforter pulled back. When the small dark head hit the pillow, Tess said, “Okay, how does tuck-in go?”

Molly grinned. “You really don’t know anything about kids, do you?”

“Who said that?”

“Alec did, at the sub place. He said we had to give you some time and space ’cause you didn’t know anything about kids.”

Tess sniffed. “Huh. And I suppose he’s an expert, having a hundred of them at home himself.”

Molly’s laugh rang out. “He’s not even married, silly!”

“That’s not surprising,” Tess muttered under her breath. “So now you’re tucked in, I’ll go do some work.”

“Wait!” Molly’s smile disappeared. “You’re not finished yet.”

“I’m not?”

A shake of raven curls. “Nope. First you kiss me, then you sit for a few minutes until I feel sleepy.”

Okay, Tess. You can do this. Shouldn’t take more than another five minutes.

She sat on the side of the bed and leaned over to kiss Molly on the cheek. The girl’s eyelids fluttered as she popped a thumb into her mouth. She must have taken in Tess’s expression for she pulled it out long enough to say, “It’s okay. I’m giving it up later, when things are back to normal.”

Tess couldn’t help but smile. “A good idea,” she murmured.

Molly nodded. She withdrew the thumb again. “It was Alec’s. He said as long as I’m not sucking it when I’m walking down the aisle, I’ll be okay. I don’t know what he means but if he says it’s okay—”

“It must be,” Tess agreed. In spite of the reminder that Alec was, once again, proven to be such a superhero, she had to admit he obviously knew more about kids than she did.

The thumb was returned and Molly closed her eyes. Tess stared down at the heart-shaped face, small and delicate against the oversized pillow. She was a beautiful little girl, she thought. They both had Richard Wheaton’s thick, dark and curly hair and bright-green eyes. For a moment, she wondered what else they shared in common.

Tess waited while Molly fidgeted restlessly, getting comfortable. She reached out a hand to brush back a tendril of hair from Molly’s forehead and began to gently stroke the smooth skin in a circular pattern. When she pulled her hand away before getting up to leave, Molly’s eyes fluttered open.

She withdrew her thumb just enough to be able to say, “Daddy does that, too.”

Tess froze. She had a sudden memory of lying in a bed herself, someone bending over and stroking her brow. Had that been Richard? Or was her memory playing tricks on her?

Molly fidgeted some more, then Tess resumed the stroking until the girl was fast asleep.

“I’M STUFFED,” announced Molly, plunking her fork onto the plate of half-eaten pasta. She leaned forward to ask, in a dramatic whisper, “Do they do doggie bags here?”

Tess laughed, catching Alec’s startled expression out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to make some gibe about having a sense of humor after all, but sensed it might spoil the neutral ambience of the evening so far.

Dinner at the funky Italian restaurant she and Mavis had discovered years ago had been a success. Her first of the day, she thought, and was surprised how that pleased her. Even Nick had shown—though not verbally—obvious enjoyment of the noisy restaurant as waitstaff and cooks hollered orders back and forth. The eclectic array of items decorating the walls, along with the clotheslines strung from wall to wall and festooned with photographs of various celebrities who’d dined there, had been the subject of most of the dinner talk.

“They do doggie bags,” Tess replied. “Believe me. I’ve taken many home from here.”

When the bill arrived she and Alec had a brief debate over who was paying. He insisted that his expense account would cover it, but Tess was skeptical.

Nick and Molly were busily examining some of the decor on their way to the door when the waitress returned with change.

“You have a nice family,” she remarked.

Tess felt her face redden but Alec acted as though he hadn’t heard. As they walked out behind the kids, she had the odd sensation of being part of a group. Although the feeling didn’t take long to evaporate.

Out on the sidewalk, Molly and Nick were already bickering. Tess grit her teeth. She didn’t have the faintest idea how to get them to stop and suspected her impulse to scream would be deemed totally inappropriate.

“It’s been a long day for them,” Alec said in her right ear.

“Hasn’t it for all of us?”

“Yes, but they’re only kids. This is how they deal with stress.” He paused a beat before asking, “What do you do about it?”

She shot him a questioning look.

“Stress,” he repeated.

“Sometimes I go for a run—if the weather’s good.”

“Never felt inclined to snap at people?”

She stiffened at the indulgent smile in his face.

“No. Why should I? Sometimes the orders I give out are a bit more…brusque.”

“Ah, well. I suppose when you’re at the top of the heap, there’s no objection to…orders.”

Tess found his grin irritating. Why was he always trying to bait her? What had she ever done to him? Self-pity surged through her. She knew what it felt like to be abandoned.

“What time will you be picking up the children tomorrow?”

The grin vanished. “I…uh…I thought maybe I’d come round early. Bring breakfast with me.”

“If you like,” she said and, turning her back to walk up the steps to the condo, heard him say good-night to Nick and Molly.

“I’ll see you two at breakfast, okay?”

“Aren’t you staying here, too, Alec? We were supposed to watch videos.”

For a tense second Tess froze on the steps, afraid one of the children would ask if he could, but fortunately Alec quickly said, “No, I’ve got a hotel room near the airport. And I think everyone’s far too tired for videos tonight, Molly.”

Relieved, Tess continued on inside, holding the door open while the children waved to Alec as he climbed into a taxi. Then they turned and walked, slump-shouldered with disappointment, toward Tess.

Once upstairs, Nick sullenly set to making up his bed on the couch. Molly didn’t ask to be tucked in, but lay silently staring up at Tess, her unblinking eyes tracking her every move until Tess switched off the light. She made for the bathroom and a hot shower, happy to have the day come to an end at last. She just wished she felt better about their leaving the next day.

CHAPTER FOUR

SOBS TORE INTO the quiet night, wrenching Tess from sleep. She sat up, disoriented, searching the darkness for a familiar landmark. She found one almost at once—the pale marine glow from her laptop monitor on the table beside her.

She’d fallen asleep in the easy chair opposite the couch. The draft of a report lay strewn on the floor at her feet and the shape now rising from the dark space occupied by the couch must be Nick.

They both hit the bedroom door at the same time. Tess had left one of the bedside lamps on when she’d said good-night to Molly and was glad she had. Otherwise, she and Nick could have crashed into the bed, frightening even more an already distraught Molly.

“I want my mommy and daddy,” she cried. She was sitting huddled in the center of the bed, wiping at her eyes with both fists.

Tess reached Molly’s side first and bent over to wrap an arm around her shoulders. But Molly pushed her arm away with a strength belying her delicate frame. “I want Nick,” she wailed, her voice pitching to near hysteria.

Nick crawled up the bed from the end where he’d been standing and pulled Molly against him. Tess stood back, watching brother and sister in a scene that must have occurred many times since their parents’ death.

“Shhh! It’s okay Molly. Just another bad dream. I’m here.”

“Don’t leave me, Nick. Promise you won’t leave me,” she sobbed, tucking her head into the crook of his shoulder.

He lowered his face to the top of her head and murmured, “I won’t leave you, I promise.”

He was still comforting her, repeating those words over and over, when Tess left the room, softly closing the door behind them. She returned to the chair and sagged into it, covering her face with her hands. Thinking. Remembering again the day her father walked out, leaving her behind. Did she seriously think she could do the same?

AS SOON as he walked in the door, Alec sensed that a change had taken place. He couldn’t put his finger on it, because everyone seemed just as subdued as they’d been when he’d left last night. Molly didn’t rush to greet him and Nick was blasé about the box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts Alec was holding, along with two large coffees and a bottle of orange juice.