Being Zolt (23 page)

“Agreed.” I kissed her ruby lips then pulled away. “We need to get going if we’re going to stop and visit Brody before we go to the Campbell’s.”

Irelyn frowned. “I sure hope we come up with some answers. I’m sick of our lives being on hold.”

“I know, baby. I have a good feeling about this. The info about Delaney is the key; I feel it in my gut. This is the one thing we’ve needed to force his hand.”

“That assumes we can get our hands on her.” Irelyn shrugged. “I’d imagine Marcus has her under lock and key much the same way he has Kenna. Though, he seems to trust Delaney, but I’m not sure the same can be said in the reverse.”

“This is all coming to a head. I suspect in the next several days it will all be over.” I kissed her again and gently pushed her off my lap. “Now let’s get going, wife; we don’t want to be late. T said he has only thirty minutes to video conference with us before Tamara puts him on daddy-duty.”

Irelyn grinned at me.

“What?” I asked.

“I can’t wait to see you holding our baby. I hope he has your eyes. I love your eyes.”

“He?”

“Yeah. T-bone’s son needs a quarterback to defend.” She leaned over me and ran her long fingers over my groin, making me groan. “I just know there’s another Hamil QB waiting to make his appearance in the world.”

I warmed at her words, liking the image they weaved. Loving Irelyn had opened me up to so many possibilities, and letting football back into my life was one of them.

Later that day, we left Brody in a foul mood; it really was true that doctors made the worst patients. He wanted to come home, but Dr. Fredricks wanted him to stay another day to make sure the brain-swelling and neurology tests came back positive.

I felt for my brother. I knew how awful being in the hospital could be, but I also knew I wouldn’t let him come home before it’s time.

The mood at the Campbell’s, however, was surprisingly upbeat and Irelyn and I shook off Brody’s bad mood.

Rachel rushed us at the door and thrust out her left hand, revealing a large diamond on her ring finger.

Irelyn and Rachel started squealing and jumping up and down like teenage girls. It hit me at that moment what getting married on the qt had taken from the two best friends.

“OMG, Rach, it’s beautiful. I’m so happy for you!” She made a show of examining her best friend’s hand and the ring on it.

Rachel punched Irelyn on the arm. “Don’t act like you haven’t seen it. I know you went with Cory to pick it out.”

“Yeah, I did,” Irelyn confessed. “I didn’t want you to be stuck with an ugly ring just like you didn’t want me stuck with one, either.”

Cory joined the girls and I shook his hand. “Congrats, Cory.”

“Thanks. I got tired of waiting. We needed something positive, and life is too fucking short to wait for the perfect time.” Cory smiled, but I could see the sadness underneath his happiness. I hated that we couldn’t just be happy and enjoy life’s important events.

Celia joined the women and they all hugged. It was the first time since Emmeline Wilkes’s death that they all had been together. I watched as the moment of joy turned into a protracted moment of grief.

My heart clenched as I watched the three women dry their eyes with tissues from a box being passed around.

“This is not how this should be,” Peter Campbell said as he ran his hand through his greying blond hair. “Jacob, Tom, and I had plans for our families, our lives. Somehow, Jacob lost his way. It kills me that neither Tom nor I saw what was happening with him. But it kills me more that our children are now paying the price for his decisions.”

I looked at the older man who clearly struggled to keep it together. His haunted green eyes and slumped shoulders spoke of his inner turmoil.

“We’re going to get Kenna back.” I squeezed his arm. “We’ll take Marcus down, and we’ll all get our lives back.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I should have kept them to myself because clearly, some of us wouldn’t get our lives back.

“Not all of us will,” Peter said, echoing my own thoughts. “And yes, Kenna will come home, but at what cost? Will I ever have my sweet, innocent girl back?”

Probably not,
I thought grimly.

“I’m glad Irelyn has you,” Peter said, changing the subject. “She’s been through more than any one person deserves. When this is all over, when it’s time to return to a more normal life, she’ll need you. Need you to help her figure out just what her life should be and how not to feel guilty that she survived.”

“I love her, Peter. I’d do anything for her.”

“Dad, they’re crying again,” Cory said, joining us. “Now there are three of them.”

I laughed at the horror in Cory’s voice.

“That’s what women do, Son,” Peter said and clapped his son on the back. “Let’s get this meeting started, shall we?”

I watched Peter walk to Celia and draw her into his side; she laid her head on his shoulder. I thought about the last time I’d seen Kenna. As I watched the couple together, it struck me how much Kenna resembled her mother. They had the same strawberry-blonde hair and scattering of freckles on their creamy skin. It made me think about how much Irelyn had looked like Emme, and it pissed me off that Marcus could ruin so many people is such a short period.

Looking at my watch, I cleared my voice and Irelyn came to my side. “We need to get started; T-bone is expecting our call.”

We took our seats on the large, sectional couches of the Campbell’s’ family room. T-bone’s associate, Glenn Patterson, set up a video conference by hooking up a computer to the large, flat-screen TV.

T’s smiling face popped on the screen; in his arms was his new son. The proud daddy beamed as he showed off his baby. Of course, the women cooed and simpered about how beautiful he was. And they were right; Junior was a very cute boy.

Tamara came into view and took the baby from T-bone’s arms. In an instant, T was all business.

“Okay,” T started. “Here’s what we know as of this minute. My contact received an email today announcing the auction would now be held over the internet instead of live. Marcus has vacated the ranch, which is both good and bad news for us. Personally, I liked knowing his location.”

“Thank God,” Irelyn murmured and squeezed my hand. But T was right; knowing where he conducted business made it easier for us to keep an eye on him.

“What’s not good news is since they found out Irelyn was at the ranch, they moved Kenna to an RV. According to Jackson, who’s still on the inside, the vehicle moves every few hours. He’s trying to convince Marcus to let him on the RV. We’ll see how that works out.”

“Has he seen Kenna? Is she all right?” Peter asked, his hand covering his wife’s shaking ones.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Campbell, but he hasn’t seen her. Zolt, I think we have no choice but to go with our other plan. To that end, I have some new information.”

“What’s the other plan,” Cory asked, sitting forward on the couch.

“Delaney Carmichael,” I said. “Marcus’s stepsister.”

“What about her?” Rachel asked. “Why would we care about her?”

“Because we think Marcus is in love with Delaney,” Irelyn answered, telling the rest of the group what we’d learned about Delaney and Marcus.

“Ew!” Rachel blurted out. “That’s, like, sick!”

“I know,” Irelyn agreed. A picture of Delaney appeared on the screen and gasps sounded around the room.

“Holy shit, Irelyn, she really does look like you.” Cory winced and his lip curled into a snarl.

“We know more now,” T-bone interjected. He rubbed his hand over his bald head which told me he was nervous. “Apparently, Delaney has a rare blood disorder—cancer, actually—that requires her to get weekly treatments.”

“Cancer?” I asked and crossed my leg over my other one to rub my knee.

“She has chronic eosinophilic leukemia,” T-bone said. “So, yeah, cancer.”

“Is she dying?” Irelyn asked. I could see the wheels turning in her head. “Is that why he wanted me? As a replacement?”

“She’s already lived longer than many with her condition. I’m guessing that’s why she lived in Europe for so long. That, and to be away from Marcus.”

“That’s why Marcus was always going there, to be with Delaney. It all makes sense now.”

“Or he was searching for her. There’s no way to know for sure. What we do know is where she’s getting her treatments in Scottsdale. The Northridge Cancer Treatment Center is the only place equipped to treat her. From what I was able to find out, Delaney goes every Tuesday.”

“Tomorrow,” I said, finally feeling like luck had joined our side.

“Tomorrow is our chance. I’ve arranged for us to be waiting for her when she arrives.”

“How the hell did you do that, T?” I asked, truly astonished at his abilities. Medical issues were supposed to be kept private.

“I have my ways and your checkbook, Zolt. Let’s just say you made a very sizable contribution to the center. Anonymously, of course.” T-bone grinned at me, all teeth.

“Of course I did.” I shuddered at the thought, wondering if anything was sacred anymore or if the right amount of money really could buy you anything.

“We’ll reimburse you,” Peter said.

“No, you won’t,” Irelyn objected, holding up her hand. “This is my father’s fault. I’m more than happy to spend my inheritance on getting Kenna back. So, no, Peter. You won’t.”

Peter nodded at Irelyn in acceptance.

“I don’t understand,” Celia said and smoothed back her short hair. “We’re going to trade Kenna for this Delaney?”

“Sort of. We won’t give her to him, but we’ll make him think we will. Unless, of course, she wants go to him. You have the major players from Chris’s list on board?” T asked Peter.

“We do. They’ve all agreed that Marcus’s reign needs to come to an end. According to some of the bigger players on the list, Marcus is still throwing his power around, which means he has no idea a list exists or that we have it,” Peter answered.

“If we can pull this off, we really will have Marcus by the balls,” I said with a smile.

“We can’t give Delaney to Marcus, Zolt.” Irelyn shook her head at me. “She doesn’t want to be with him; I’m sure of it.”

“We won’t, at least not for long. We’ll let him believe it was a fair exchange, and then we’ll drop our net.” I kissed Irelyn on the head and smoothed the worry line on her forehead with my thumb.

“I don’t like it. Marcus may be in love with Delaney, but I’m not so sure she’s the bargaining chip we think she is. Are you sure he doesn’t know about the list?”

“There’s no way to know, Irelyn,” T-bone said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because we acted like we didn’t know things we did in order to get Marcus to tip his hand. He could be doing the same to us.” She played with the edge of her navy summer dress. “I don’t know, I’m just so ready for this to be over with, and I wonder if it ever will be. I’m afraid Marcus will haunt me for the rest of my life no matter what I do.”

“Irelyn, you have to be on board with the Delaney plan for it to work. Without you, there’s no reason for her to trust us. We won’t force her into anything. The truth of the matter is we’re losing time now that he’s moving Kenna from place to place. With the auction listed on the internet, it opens up all kinds of possibilities, including international. If we don’t do this now, we’ll lose Kenna for good,” T-bone said. He looked pointedly at Irelyn then at me. I knew he wanted me to convince her we were doing the right thing.

“I get it. I do. It’s just…” She glanced at me and I saw it in her eyes. Fear. Unadulterated fear had turned her sable-browns nearly black. I got it then.

“Baby, this won’t be like Quebec. As long as you’re there, Delaney won’t hurt herself; we’ll make certain of it.” I held her hand tighter. “She said she wanted help, and we’ll get her whatever she needs. Brody can help her; we can all help her. This can work.”

Irelyn inhaled deeply and exhaled what I suspected was some of her reticence, but I could still see it in her eyes. Sold or not on our plan, she’d go along with it anyway.

“Okay, I’ll do it. Let’s save Kenna and Delaney.”

Zolt and I waited in the doctor’s office for Delaney to arrive. It disturbed me that her doctor had been more than willing to help us. How and when she decided to set aside her doctor/patient relationship to help Delaney felt like a slippery slope to me. On the other hand, she seemed to have Delaney’s best interest at heart, and I could only imagine the horrors Marcus had put Delaney through.

“I hope you can help Delaney,” Dr. Wilson said and smiled at us. Behind her weak smile, I could see the worry in her eyes and in the lines of her face. “Delaney deserves better. I have to think that providence is on your side, because this is the first time Marcus hasn’t come with her.”

The doctor stood and put on her white coat over her grey suit. Though she was an older woman—perhaps in her late fifties—she was very stylish, and I couldn’t help but think about my mother. The doctor had perfect hair, makeup, and clothes. I swear I even smelled a hint of Chanel, Emmeline’s favorite scent.

I straightened my spine and pushed the thought away.

Zolt gave me a questioning look, but I brushed him off.

“Are you okay?” he whispered in my ear.