“That chain could use some oil,” he advised, still following the little girl’s progress down the street. “Is there any in the garage?”
“There’s a can in the garden shed. I’ll get it.”
She started to turn, only to find her progress canceled by Rio’s hand closing around her upper arm. The contact was unexpected. So was the jolt of warmth racing inward from his gentle grip.
There were calluses at the base of his fingers; she felt them when he let his hand slide away. Her glance darted to his. He was a journalist, yet his hand was that of a man well accustomed to physical labor.
“I don’t need it right now.” Rio was aware of the curiosity in her expression, more aware of how soft her skin felt, how small-boned she was. He preferred to ignore both. “I’d rather talk while she’s occupied.”
He saw her nod, then wondered at the way she crossed her arms when she turned back to watch her daughter. Though she managed a smile before she told him that was probably a good idea, since Molly’s attention span could be rather short, her body language was definitely self-protective.
Molly’s was just the opposite. Turning the corner, the child waved madly and started back, legs pumping. Rio wasn’t sure why, but just looking at that kid could make him smile. Which was a little odd, considering that she also scared him half to death.
“How are things with you and Hal?”
“We’re doing all right.” She hesitated, seeming torn between reluctance and interest. “You said you discovered something interesting about him.”
Suspicious would have been a better word, Rio thought, but he didn’t want to say anything that would jeopardize his source. Since he couldn’t tell Eve how he’d obtained the information, he couldn’t mention that he’d researched her brother’s checking account. From the sudden coolness in her voice, it didn’t appear that she’d take too kindly to the information, anyway.
What Rio had actually discovered was that Hal had three accounts, none of which was particularly remarkable until they were put together. In addition to his twice monthly paycheck from the city, several deposits had been made over the past year from various local businesses; specifically, two laundromats, a restaurant, a couple of bars and an auto repair shop. There had also been significant deposits of cash.
Legitimate business earnings, however oddly managed, could be one explanation. “Has he bought into any of the businesses around here?” Rio asked.
“I have no idea. You’ll have to check with him.” The curiosity remained, but the coolness grew. “Why do want to know?”
“Because he seems to be tied in with several local establishments.”
Considering other options, such as the possibility that those businesses could be buying political favors, he overlooked the narrowing of Eve’s eyes.
“What about running for office?” Maybe the guy was collecting contributions already and diverting them to his personal accounts. Tapping campaign funds would be one way to support his life-style. “His seat on the city council isn’t up for two years, but his position as acting mayor is only temporary. Has he said anything about a political campaign?”
“Rio,” she began, her voice as flat as the bug Molly had rolled over in the driveway. “I have no idea what you’re getting at here. I said I’d answer any questions I could to help you with your investigation about Mom. But I’m not going to help you with an article that could hurt my brother.”
“What makes you think I’m working on an article about him?”
“Why else would you be interested in any of this?”
“I’m just trying to figure out where his money’s coming from.”
“That has nothing to do with what I agreed to help you with. If you want to know what Hal’s political plans are, or what he owns or doesn’t own, or whatever it is you’re getting at, you’ll have to ask him.”
Eve had that mother cat look about her; the one that he’d encountered when he’d hung the dream catcher for Molly and which, at the moment, he should have found more annoying than admirable. Something wasn’t right with Hal Stuart, and because his instincts wouldn’t let him drop it, Rio wanted answers. She was just the wrong person to provide them. As she kept reminding him, Hal was her brother.
More empathetic to her situation than she realized, Rio muttered a terse “I will.” He understood family ties all too well. Though his kin would dispute his own loyalty, he knew a person could still love, defend and respect family without agreeing with their philosophies or actions. Some bonds simply defied logic.
“One more question and I won’t mention him again.”
“Rio…”
“I just want to know if there were any repercussions from my being here the other night.”
The warning in Eve’s eyes turned to hesitation.
“He told you to stay away from me, didn’t he?”
She didn’t need to answer. The way her glance flickered from his said it all.
“You know, Eve, you should never play poker. You’d have to fold after the first hand. How is he with Molly?” he continued before she could chafe at the observation. “Now that he knows she’s mine, does he have a problem with it?”
He could understand that the man would want his sister to stay away from him for professional reasons. Even as fair as Rio tried to be, as a reporter, he was a threat to Hal right now. But this was personal.
Molly wheeled into the driveway, waved and cut an arc toward the corner again. Eve uncrossed her arms long enough to wave back.
“If he does, he didn’t mention it. Molly is still his niece, no matter who her father is. Or what race he is,” she added, slanting him a glance. “I think he’s concerned with other things.”
“I’m not being defensive, Eve. I just want her to be accepted.”
There truly was no defense in his tone. A hint of impatience, maybe. But Eve supposed that was understandable. He was new to the concerns parents face with their offspring, so she could appreciate his need for reassurance. It was just that his concerns were so different from what her own had always been. Her worries had been about making sure Molly got her vitamins and that she was developing at the right pace. That she learned to share with her little friends and that she received enough hugs. But with her glance locked on Rio’s, she realized that her concerns had just expanded to include his. Only it wasn’t her side of the family she was worried about. Because of what his mother had said to her years ago, it was his. And, because of that, though the last thing she needed was something else to worry about, she was now worried about Rio.
“So what are you going to do?” he asked, before she could question the direction of her concern. “Are you going to listen to Hal and stay away from me?”
She wasn’t fooled by the mild tone of the question.
“We have an agreement. And we have Molly to consider. What anyone else thinks I should do doesn’t matter.”
“I’m hungry,” the child under discussion announced, rolling into the driveway. “When can we have dinner?”
Pulling her glance from Rio’s, far too aware of the tension in his body, Eve managed a smile for her daughter. “You can help me start it right after you put your bike in the garage.”
Rio watched Molly slide off the seat of her bike and pushed his hands into his pockets. He smiled at her, too, something he couldn’t seem to avoid, since the child was grinning at him. But Eve couldn’t help notice that the smile was gone long before he glanced back at her.
“Look, Eve, I don’t want to interrupt your routine. I just wanted to see her.” And to let her get to know me, he could have added, but she might point out that it would take more than a ten-minute visit to accomplish that and he already felt guilty about being late. “Let me help her put her bike away, and I’ll leave.”
“You don’t need to do that.” She paused. “Leave, I mean.”
Her self-protective instincts must have been at an all-time low. When she saw the question slip into his eyes, she hesitated only l
ong enough to tell herself that she was doing this for her daughter. “We’re not having much. I promised Molly hamburgers. If there’s enough gas for the grill,” she had to add, since she hadn’t yet checked it. “But you’re welcome to stay.”
* * *
There wasn’t enough propane. Eve shrugged the detail off and said a frying pan would work just as well, but Rio, being practical, pointed out that she still needed the tank filled if she planned to use it later. Unless she wanted to wrestle with it herself and haul it to the truck stop on the highway, since that was the nearest place that sold propane, they might as well do it now. If they all went together, they could grab hamburgers while they were out.
Molly thought that was a fine idea. Especially if they could go to the Burger Palace, because they gave prizes with their kiddie meals. So that was where they wound up after the tank had been filled. Eve wasn’t quite so sure how Rio and Molly talked her into feeding the ducks at the park, though. But she didn’t worry about it. All she let herself consider as late afternoon faded into evening was that Molly was having a wonderful time.
The child was clearly drawn to Rio, if for no other reason than the patient way he answered her endless questions. Molly wanted to know why so many trees around the pond had fallen over, so, as they walked, Rio explained that the wind from the storm had done it. When Molly couldn’t understand how wind, something she couldn’t see, could move anything, Rio stuck a fir twig in the dirt and had her blow it over. Two minutes later, having found a duck’s nest in the rocks and low rushes, she wanted to know why ducks didn’t build nests high up like robins did.
When Rio began explaining that it was because ducks weren’t built like robins, Eve caught her best glimpse of the man she’d once known. Rio seemed so indomitable to her now, and as impenetrable as any person she’d ever encountered. Yet, with Molly, his guard and reserve were scarcely evident at all. He seemed so much more accessible, so open, and as he and Molly talked, Eve couldn’t help but notice how intently he watched the child. Quietly, unobtrusively, he simply took in what others probably wouldn’t notice at all. Little things, such as how Molly was more drawn to pink flowers than to red ones. How she tipped her head when she listened. How her mouth hitched to one side when she was thinking.
Yet, as interested as he clearly was in his daughter, Eve couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t ask any questions about his little girl. He didn’t want to know what Molly had been like when she was younger. Nor did he seek out the milestones he’d missed. He seemed to be getting to know her his own way, and in his own time.
The fact that he wasn’t pushing to accelerate the process actually allowed Eve to relax a little—until she began to suspect that the reason he wasn’t asking her about Molly was because he figured she’d just get all defensive on him. Every single time he’d been around, her insecurities about his presence in Molly’s life had surfaced in one way or another.
By the time they got back to the house, the stars had come out, Molly had fallen asleep in the back seat and Eve was struggling between protectiveness and practicality. There was no doubt that Rio intended to have a real relationship with his daughter. And even though Eve worried about how that would affect Molly if Molly became attached to him, since they would ultimately be leaving Grand Springs, she knew the situation was going to take more than token cooperation on her part to make it work. At the very least, she needed to let Rio know he was free to ask anything he needed to know about his little girl. As soon as she got Molly into bed, she planned to tell him that.
It was with that thought in mind that Eve unlocked the front door by the glow of the porch light, while Rio, carrying Molly, stood behind her with their child’s head resting on his shoulder. Anyone driving by would think they looked very much like a family coming home for the evening. For reasons Eve didn’t trust herself to consider, she refused to carry the fleeting thought any further than that. She would cooperate with Rio, and she would hope she was doing the right thing for Molly, but she would not tease herself with dead dreams.
Entering the dark foyer, she switched on the entry table lamp and turned to ask Rio if he’d mind taking Molly upstairs. The request wasn’t necessary. He was already heading there, looking very much as if he’d carried his little girl to bed a hundred times before.
“Her bed isn’t made,” Eve whispered, preferring to focus on the sheets she’d left in the washer, rather than how natural he looked with a sleeping child in his arms. “Put her in mine. Okay?”
He gave her a nod and continued on before she could tell him where her room was. She didn’t have to do that, either. Molly had pointed it out when he’d been up there the other day, and he headed straight for it, stopping outside the door so Eve could go ahead of him and turn down the blankets.
They moved silently around each other in the dim room, she pulling back the sheets on the daybed and Rio coming up behind her to take the extra pillows. Neither said a word, until she started to take Molly from him.
In the shadows, she saw him shake his head. “I can do it,” he said, his voice low. “Just get her shoes.”
Thinking only to get the task done, Eve reached for a dangling foot. The smell of fresh air clung to Molly. It clung to Rio, too, along with the clean scent of his soap and something indefinably male. Trying to ignore how the tension in her body changed quality when she breathed in that scent, she carefully pulled off little white sneakers and lace-trimmed socks. She slipped off Molly’s dusty shorts, too, and when Rio bent to settle the sleeping child on the bed, Eve bent with him to pull the sheet from under Molly’s legs. But when she felt his arm pressed the length of hers and glanced over to find his mouth inches away, she pulled back to let him finish on his own.
Her heart was beating faster than she liked as she watched Rio pull the sheet to the middle of Molly’s chest, his big hands amazingly gentle. He didn’t kiss the child as Eve thought he might. After the exhausted little girl curled up on her side, then settled down again, all Rio did was touch his fingers to her hair. A moment later, he stepped away, looking as if he wasn’t sure he should have indulged himself even that much.
Or maybe, Eve made herself consider, it was her presence that held him back.
Prodded by the possibility, she tightened her fingers around Molly’s bear. A moment later, she held it out. “She needs Ted.”
His face seemed harder, hungrier, in the dim gray light. The shadows sharpened the angles and planes, and made his dark eyes glitter as he glanced from the stuffed animal and back to her. “Where do I put him?”
His uncertainty caused something inside her to soften, weakening the reluctance she still fought. “Just tuck him in beside her.”
It was a moment before he pulled his glance from the encouragement in hers. But when he did, he took the toy for the concession it was and placed the stuffed bear in the crook of Molly’s elbow.
“Like that?” he whispered.
He was actually looking to her for reassurance. More touched than she would have believed possible by his unprotected need to get it right, she gave him a tenuous nod, then bent to kiss her sleeping child’s forehead before he could do anything else to complicate her feelings about him. Her feelings were confused enough as it was.
When she straightened, it was to find him quietly watching her.
Eve had no idea what was going through his mind. But she didn’t think it wise to stand so close to him while she tried to figure it out. Ducking her head, she started for the door, thinking to wait for him there. Rio was right behind her, closing the door halfway as they stepped into the hall.
“I’ll bring the tank around back.”
The propane tank was still in his SUV. She’d forgotten all about it.
“I’ll get the garage door for you.”
“I’ll get it. I only need a few minutes to hook it up.”
Rio was halfway down the steps when she realized that all he wanted just then was to get away from her. She wasn’t sure what she’d said or
done, but there was no mistaking his desire for distance when she saw his dark head disappear at the landing and heard the front door open.
So much for trying to cooperate. Desperate for distraction herself, she grabbed an extra set of sheets from the linen closet and headed for Molly’s unmade bed.
Ten minutes later, the bed was made, the sheets from the washer were in the dryer, the blanket on presoak, and she was wondering how to get past Rio’s insulating wall when she found him in the kitchen. He was washing up at the sink.
He must have caught her reflection in the window. Like a wolf on a scent, his head came up as she moved toward him. He was turning off the water when she caught sight of the furrows between his eyebrows.
She held out a towel. “Thank you,” she said, because she really did need to let him know she appreciated all he’d done. “For taking care of the tank. And for the evening. Molly had a great time.”
Seeming distracted, he took the towel from her. “No thanks necessary.”
She would have liked to tell him that she’d had a nice time, too. As caught up as she’d been with the interaction between him and their daughter, she hadn’t given a single thought to the pending estate sale, her brother or the murder investigation. But she doubted he’d be interested in knowing that, so she kept the thought to herself. His interest was in his daughter. And there was something else she had to say to him, anyway.
“I’m sure you have questions, Rio. You can ask me anything you want about her.”
“No need.”
Eve’s eyebrows arched at the laconic response.
“Molly is what she is. An innocent, curious five-year-old. I can see that for myself.” He handed the towel back to her, the reason for his preoccupation coming into focus. “I’d be more interested in hearing about you.”
The smoothly delivered statement caught her as she looped the yellow terry cloth halfway through the handle of the fridge. “Me?” she returned, confused. “Why?”
She would have to ask, Rio thought, hoping he could explain what he wanted without offending her. Awkward as it seemed at times, and as resistant as she had to feel, Eve was truly trying to let him know his child. And while no one could be more amazed than he was himself, the little imp was definitely getting under his skin. But ever since they’d spoken about the conversation she’d had with her brother, a new concern had nagged at him with the consistency of a toothache. Despite Eve’s reassurance that she wasn’t going to avoid him, should she change her mind, a little more information could come in mighty handy.
Father And Child Reunion Part 2 (36 Hours Serieal Book 6.2) Page 5
