Untraceable (10 page)

Mom reached over and softly rubbed my
back. “Happy early birthday,” she whispered.

“
Thanks,” I
sobbed.

“
Come on, sweetheart,” Mom
said, pulling Kimmy toward the door. “Let’s let your sister and
Micah enjoy the room by themselves for a little while.”

I could see Kimmy’s reluctance, but
with a quick dash to the crib to grab her doll, she followed Mom
out of the room and closed the door.

“
I take it we’re
not
moving before the
baby gets here?” Micah lightly chuckled as he guided me to where a
pair of glider rockers were arranged.

I slipped down onto the softly
cushioned chair and began to gently glide back and forth. I took a
deep and needed breath. “No—I guess we’ll have time to build after
all.”

“
I don’t want you to think
I forgot, because I didn’t, but…” He smiled, “What do you want for
your birthday?”

I gave a satisfied smile and pulled
his hand to my lips and kissed the back of it. “I have everything I
want right here. But, since you mentioned it, what do you want for
your birthday?”

He leaned forward in the chair to look
into my eyes with a quizzical expression, “Baby, my birthday was
back in January.”

“
I know that, silly, but I
missed it and I wanted to celebrate them together. I paused
wondering if I should tell him how badly I felt over not getting to
be with him that day. I finally decided, especially since I’d been
telling him lies about what my attorney was up to, that a little
truth would make my conscience feel better. “I spent January
nineteenth in California crying my eyes out over you.”

He squeezed my hand. “I’m
sorry.”

“
It wasn’t exactly your
fault. I was convinced that you hated me at that point, yet all I
wanted that day was to hold you in my arms and make love to you. I
almost called you just to tell you happy birthday, but I didn’t
want to tip you off to my hide-away.”

He looked to be deep in thought as he
studied my hand. “Do you want to know what I was doing January
nineteenth?”

I nodded.

“
I was in our honeymoon
suite at the Acqualina, doing the exact same thing. I kept praying
you’d have a change of heart and that my phone would
ring.”

“
I know I shouldn’t say
this, Micah, but I’m so glad D’Angelo is dead. I wanted so badly to
share the experience of having this baby with you. If that man was
still breathing, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

I heard him trying to swallow down his
emotions, when he squeezed my hand again. “So tell me what you want
for your birthday. If you don’t get specific, I’ll have to go out
and buy diamonds and chocolates.”

I laughed. “I don’t need diamonds, but
the chocolate… Mmm. I’ve got an idea. How about a day where I get
to eat any weird food I want and you don’t remind me how big this
baby is going to be?”

“
Done. I’ll even eat the
weird food with you.”

“
Hey, this is your
birthday celebration, too. You don’t have to eat anything weird. I
was thinking some good New Orleans cuisine and then spice cake with
cream cheese frosting and vanilla ice cream.”

“
How did you know that’s
my favorite cake?”

“
Your mother, of
course.”

“
I think that will be
birthday present enough for me.”

“
But I already have a
present for you,” I blurted. “I just wondered if you wanted
anything specifically.”

He suddenly had that sly
hitman look on his face, “You know my mother hated me at Christmas
and my birthday because I could
always
figure out what my gift was
going to be.”

“
Fat chance on this one,
big guy. I’ve got it well hidden from you, and this is a big
house.” I actually pulled that lie off very smoothly, but I
couldn’t help the wave of panic that washed through me when he said
he was great at figuring out this sort of thing.

“
You are telling this to
the man who tracked you down in California.”

“
Yes, but that took months
and you have less than three weeks to find what I’ve hidden. And,”
I added for a pinch more credibility, “It’s already wrapped so if
you do find it, you won’t be able to see what it is unless you
peek—and trust me, with the paper I used, I’ll know you
peeked.”

The challenge had been laid down and I
knew he was going to be snooping around the house from now until
June eighteenth.

What became totally comical was that
several days later he was on the computer looking up the
information on that piece of property. I had just closed on it that
morning and I knew it was too soon for any information about the
sale to be in the computer. My attorney purchased it in a corporate
name that he had set up for me so that nosy people (namely the
press) wouldn’t know my dealings.

Saturday he was about to
pitch a fit when Bill called him and explained that the property
had sold the day before. “I don’t care,” I heard him say. “Find out
who bought it and offer them what they paid plus thirty
percent.
I want that
property
.”

Celeste and Giorgio were due in around
eight in the morning, but David flew in Saturday night. His family
still had no clue why he visited us so much. Micah and I were
keeping Kimmy entertained for the night so that they could go out
to dinner and a movie. They came home late enough that we had
already put her to bed, so they could enjoy a little private time.
But tonight they actually wanted to sit up with us and
talk.

It was still so odd for me to see Mom
in his arms. Not that she didn’t seem young enough for him, they
seemed perfectly matched in that respect, but she was a different
person when she was with him. She acted more like my sister than my
mother. And David? Well, he was funny and witty and tender
and—yeah, who was this guy again? But one thing was obvious: they
were so very, very much in love with each other. I had wondered, at
first, if it was just the sex that put them together, but I had a
whole different picture of them this evening; they were lovers, but
they had also become friends and very bonded to each other. I could
tell that David would step in front of a bullet rather than to see
anything happen to her and that, especially since the last man she
cared for had betrayed her in the worst possible way, made this
more special than anyone else had ever been in her life, including
my father.

“
I don’t see why you two
don’t just go ahead and get married,” I blurted.

We were sitting in the living room,
Mom in David’s arms on the loveseat and me in Micah’s arms on the
couch. We had been laughing about some corny story that David had
just told, and all the laughing stopped.

“
Trust me,” David said,
“I’ve tried to talk her into it.”

“
It—it just wouldn’t be
fair to—”

“
Mom it doesn’t matter if
we become mother-daughter-sister-in-laws,” I added with a small
laugh.

“
It’s not that. It’s just
that he deserves someone who can—”

“
I told you that doesn’t
matter,” David cut her off. “I love Kimmy. She and I have already
talked about this and she said she’d like me to be her—her
dad.”

“
That’s not the same
thing,” Mom rebutted. “You need someone younger than me. You need
to have a woman who can give you your own children.”

“
I don’t need my own
children. And you need to realize that if you don’t marry me then
I’m going to die a lonely bachelor.”

I could tell immediately that this was
an argument they had been in many times.

“
I agree with David,” I
spoke up. “If you can’t be with the one you love, then nothing else
matters. And I know how much you love him; you’ve already told me
that.”

David got a look of total surprise on
his face.

Mom’s eyes went wide, and in that
moment I knew she had been careful not to reveal her true feelings
to him. I had let the proverbial cat out of the bag.

“
Oh, she did, did
she?”

Evidently their marriage conversations
had been centered around David’s feelings for her. I guessed that
keeping him at bay was easier for her if she didn’t actually tell
him what was in her heart.

“
Nadia,” David began,
leaning to the side so he could see her face. “What exactly did you
tell Annalisa?”

Micah was squeezing my arm as the two
of them began looking into each other’s eyes. I didn’t know if he
was signaling that we should leave the room or if he was simply
caught up in the tension of the moment.

I could see her eyes filling with
tears and, though I felt bad for putting her in this position
before she was ready, he needed to know the love he had wasn’t
one-sided.

“
I—I told her that I never
thought I’d fall in love so deeply again—as I have with you. I love
you with my whole heart, David.”

His mouth was covering hers and I was
almost embarrassed to be witnessing their private passion for each
other, but it was beautiful. Micah’s arm squeeze was turning into a
warm hug as he embraced me within his steel bands.

“
Then,
please
, marry me,” David whispered
as his eyes became watery. “I’ve carried around a ring for your
finger for months. Please, Nadia—I want to be your husband.
Children are unimportant, but you mean the world to me. Say yes or
you’re going to break my heart.”

By this point I was crying and I had a
feeling so was Micah, but he was holding me so tightly from behind
that I couldn’t turn to look at him.

“
I always thought December
weddings were beautiful—would you be willing to wait that
long?”

“
Whatever you want—I just
want to hear you say it, Nadia; will you marry me?
“Yes, David. I love you so much.”

Okay, I don’t drink, but I was ready
to yell out for champagne so we could toast to the newly engaged
couple. Micah kissed the side of my head and slipped out from
behind me to go over and shake his brother’s hand and hug my
mother.

“
So go get the ring, ya
big idiot,” Micah stated, pulling David to his feet with the
handshake.

A long grin hit David’s face as he
told us he’d be right back.

I stood up, but Mom had already
crossed the short distance before I put one foot in front of the
other. “Thank you, baby,” she whispered, holding me securely. “I
needed that nudge and you’re right; without the one you love,
nothing else matters.”

“
I’m happy for you,
Mom—and I know he loves you so much that you won’t be hurt this
time.”

She was flooded with fresh tears and I
knew the memories of my dad abandoning her and Robert’s betrayal
were being put away in her mind as she considered that I was right;
David Gavarreen would be the happily-ever-after she’d always
dreamed about.

He was back with a velvet box in his
hand and a smile on his face. “I can’t believe I finally get to put
this on your finger,” he laughed with a quiver that told us all how
nervous, but happy he was to be in this position. “Do I get on my
knees?” he asked, looking to Micah, but Mom answered
first.

“
No. I want us to be
equals in this and I’ve already said yes.” She held out her hand to
him as he opened the box to reveal a stunning trillion-cut diamond
set in white gold with two thin ribbons of gold curved over the
stone and smaller cuts of diamonds around the base and embedded in
the band. “Oh, David, it’s beautiful,” she gasped.

I could see, as he lifted it from the
box and slid it onto her finger, his hand was trembling.

“
It is—now that it’s on
your finger. It was just a ring before, now it’s
beautiful.”

She held out her hand to admire the
token of his affection as I placed my left hand beside hers. “These
Gavarreen boys certainly have good taste in jewelry,” I laughed. My
engagement ring was a five carat Asscher cut solitaire with a
diamond wedding band that was curved to fit the engagement ring.
The brilliance of putting our rings next to each other’s was
incredible.

“
No, you’re wrong about
that, baby,” Micah spoke up as he pulled me to his chest. “It’s not
just jewelry; we have an eye for what’s beautiful, that includes
the women who wear the jewelry.”

David picked Mom up off the floor and
spun her in a small circle, “I can’t believe you finally said yes.
We’ve got a lot of things to discuss. Are you ready for
bed?”

Apparently the discussion was going to
be pillow talk, but that was okay because I was ready to tell them
goodnight anyway. Tomorrow would be a busy day.

We were excusing ourselves to leave
them alone when David asked me to wait. He pulled me in for a
tender hug as he kissed my temple. “Thank you—for everything. I
think I’m going to like the sound of you being my
daughter.”

I gave a small laugh; there was no way
I was going to start calling him ‘Dad.’ But I couldn’t resist just
a little teasing. “All right grandpa, let me go I’ve got to get
your grandson to settle down.”