by Becki Willis
The doorbell buzzed once, twice, before it penetrated into their private world. Travis was slow in releasing his hold on her as Kenzie pulled away to stare up at him. Her arms fell away from his shoulders as a sharp rap on the door finally brought her to her senses.
She stepped toward the door, making the mistake of putting her full weight on her left leg. A sharp gasp escaped her lips and Travis moved to catch her by the waist, but Kenzie shook him away. She refused to meet his eyes as she took a brief moment to collect herself, then pulled the door open.
“I was beginning to think I had the wrong apartment!” the man on the other side of the door said with a smile. He stepped forward, his gaze skimming over her with pleasure. “You look gorgeous.” A teasing tone came into his voice as he said, “I’ve never seen you in clothes before.”
Behind her, Kenzie heard Travis’s sharp intake of breath. She ignored the tall lawman as the intern dipped his head to kiss her in greeting. At the last second, she turned her face, offering him her cheek.
This time, it was the doctor’s frown she ignored as she moved a step back to invite him inside. The tuxedo-clad doctor faltered when he saw the other man standing just feet away, wearing an expression like thunder. The air was thick with tension as Kenzie hastily made introductions.
“Robert, this is Texas Ranger Travis Merka. Travis, Doctor Robert Bradford. He was one of my doctors while I was in the hospital.” She turned a sunny smile to the physician, trying to drum up the enthusiasm to go through with tonight’s date. Even though they had hit it off at the hospital and spoken several times on the phone since then, seeing him again in person did not thrill her the way she thought it would. With a slight sense of panic, she hurriedly recalled his great personality and his sense of humor, reminding herself that he was not all staid and disapproving, like someone else in the room.
If the situation had not been so embarrassing, it would have been humorous. The two men sized each other up as if they were taking measurements for a customized coffin. When it took longer than necessary to shake hands, Kenzie babbled nervously to fill the uncomfortable silence. “What Robert meant is that he’s never seen me dressed. I’ve always been in bed. In the hospital bed, I mean. I was never wearing clothes. Street clothes, that is.” Could this situation get any more awkward?
Apparently so. As Travis extended his hand to the doctor, his eyes drifted past the man to Kenzie. His dark gaze went to the telltale signs of her smudged lipstick. Lifting a thumb to his own mouth, he swiped it beneath his lip to clear away any corresponding smears on his own face. Not only was the gesture obvious, but it carried a sensual weight that settled deep in Kenzie’s belly and caused her face to burn even hotter than it already did.
To his credit, the doctor handled the situation gracefully. There was no denying the sexual tension between his date and the lawman. “Kenzie, if tonight doesn’t work for you…”
“No, no, don’t be silly! I’ve been looking forward to this all week!” Kenzie deliberately turned away from Travis, so that she could not see that tiny smudge of red lipstick, still lingering there is the corner of his mouth. She was sorely tempted to reach up and wipe it away, so she busied her hands by clasping them around Robert’s arm. “In fact, I’m ready if you are.”
The doctor glanced at Travis. “You’re staying?” he asked uncertainly, his tone a bit wary.
Travis was slow in answering. No doubt it was a method of intimidation, as if a reply was inconsequential. Kenzie released a shaky breath of relief when he finally offered a response. “I have something I wanted to discuss with Kenzie’s sister.”
“Oh. Oh, I see.” The doctor sounded relieved, then surprised. “Sister?” He gave Kenzie a quizzical look. “I thought you said you were an only child?”
“Long story. Come on, I’ll tell you about it on the way.” Kenzie pulled him toward the door, eager to escape the disastrous situation. She grabbed the silver handbag from the entry table and practically pushed Robert ahead of her and out the door. Just before stepping over the threshold, she paused long enough to glance back at Travis. Her step faltered, right along with her heart.
When she could think of nothing to say, he came to her rescue. “I just came over to say thank you. So, thank you.”
“It was-” She stopped short of saying ‘nothing’. Of course it was something. She had helped save his life. It was everything. Her voice was soft as she said instead, “- my pleasure.” She stared at him across the room, wondering if he could hear the thundering of her heart from there.
When Robert gently cleared his throat in the hallway, Kenzie knew it was time to go. “Goodbye, Travis,” she whispered, pulling the door firmly shut behind her.
Chapter Two
Three days passed before Makenna confronted her sister.
“All right. You’ve been moping around here since the night you went out. Are you ready to talk about it?”
Kenzie peered into the bowl of ice cream her sister proffered. Rocky Mountain Road, the kind that always accompanied a heavy conversation. “Do we have pretzel chips to go with it?” Kenzie asked hopefully. Properly fueled, the women could broach the most difficult of subjects.
Makenna grinned, pulling the bag from behind her. “I would never come to such an important conversation unless fully stocked,” she said in mock seriousness. She took the seat on the couch next to her sister, settled comfortably among the cushions, and instructed, “Talk.”
Remaining silent, Kenzie studied the chocolate ice cream, swirled thick and chunky with walnuts and three more kinds of nuts covered in dark, milk and white chocolate, then doused with marshmallow crème. Her life right now seemed a lot like the ice cream; a bit rocky, swirling around her in chunks of darkness and light, but sweet, nonetheless. In lieu of a spoon, she dug into the frozen mixture with a flat pretzel chip and scooped up a bite of sweet and salty.
“So what’s going on?” Makenna pressed. “I usually know your moods so well, but this one is a toughie. I’m torn, trying to decide which of three things it could be.” She eyed her sister a bit longer. They could read the other’s moods and mind, but Kenzie’s current state of mind was so unsettled, even Makenna was having trouble identifying with it.
“Since you think you know me so well,” - which of course, she did - “you tell me.”
“It could be restlessness,” she surmised. “You’ve been cooped up in this apartment for a month, plus you were in the hospital for a week before that. Being the social butterfly that you are, there’s a good chance you’ve got cabin fever.”
“I can hardly wait to get back to work.” The statement neither confirmed nor denied her theory.
“I know exactly how you feel. I’m excited to be working again, too.” A few weeks ago, Makenna had abruptly lost her job as a reporter with a local newspaper, which was one of the reasons she had taken Kenzie’s place in New Hampshire. While posing as the photographer for Now Magazine, she had gathered enough information to write an accompanying article and had submitted it as a free-lance project, which the magazine happily snapped up. Last week they had hired her to do a series of articles that would run over the course of the next year.
“You did a great job, Kenna, on both the article and the pictures. Next thing I know, you’ll be taking my place at the magazine!” Her voice held too much pride to be serious.
“All I did was take the photos,” Makenna protested. “You did all the magical stuff with editing and touching up and weaving random images into a cohesive visual story.”
“Your story may have been edited down to a couple of sidebars, but getting anything published with Now is quite prestigious.”
Makenna nibbled on her lower lip, a sure sign that she was worried. “I hope I did the right thing by not revealing the real story behind NorthWind.”
“I know it was a hard decision for you. As a reporter, you felt you should expose them for their part in scamming the government, even if it happened over twenty years ago and was done by their par
ent company.”
Makenna bobbed her head. “NorthWind seems to be a legitimate company now. I really couldn’t see punishing them for something Modern Power had done, especially since the conglomerate is no longer in business.”
After a few moments of contemplation, Makenna shook her head. “I know you miss your job and are ready to get back to work. But I don’t think that’s what is bothering you, at least not all of it.”
“So what’s your next theory?”
“I think you’re in love with Travis.”
“What?” Her surprised outburst, spoken around a mouthful of ice cream, nearly choked her. As Makenna beat on her back, Kenzie sputtered and coughed, all the time shaking her head in avid denial. The tears that glistened in her green eyes may or may not have been attributed to the choking episode. “Why on earth would you think that?” she finally managed, but the words did not come out sounding as indignant as she hoped.
“I saw the way the two of you looked at each other.”
“What you saw was barely contained disdain, on both our parts,” Kenzie denied. “I still can’t believe the man had been following me for weeks and I never knew it!”
“You can’t hold that against him, Kenzie. He was just doing his job. He was trying to keep you safe.”
“He was spying on me! It was his car that rammed into mine, causing me to break my leg.” Never mind that it had been a chain reaction, a result of the mafia hitting his car and pushing it into hers. “And even after that, when he was assigned to keep us under close surveillance here in our apartment, he always had that look of disapproval on his face. Like everything I did was wrong.”
“Meaning on his very handsome face,” Makenna teased.
“Okay, so the man is sexy as sin,” Kenzie said in exasperation. There was no sense in pretending otherwise, not to the sister who knew her so well. “You shouldn’t even be noticing how handsome he is,” she grumbled. “You’re in love with his partner.”
“I may be in love, but I’m not blind. I still recognize a handsome man when I see one.”
“And I recognize an irritating man when I see one. Something about Travis Merka just rubs me the wrong way.”
“Friction,” her sister agreed, bobbing her auburn curls with a vigorous nod. “That’s what causes sparks. Sparks are good.” She waited a full two seconds before asking, “Is he a good kisser?”
Kenzie did not bother asking how she knew about the kiss. She merely played with her ice cream and let out a deep, resigned sigh. “From now own, my life is divided into two distinct categories. Before Travis’s kiss, and after.”
A knowing smile played along the curves of Makenna’s lips. She had felt the very same way, just five short weeks ago, the first time Hardin kissed her. “So how did Robert take the news?”
“That’s what makes the entire thing even worse. He was a true gentleman. He was the perfect date - polite and attentive, funny, easy to talk to, nice looking, the whole package. But when he held my hand, there was simply no spark. He didn’t even try to kiss me goodnight. And of course I haven’t heard another word from him since,” she said glumly.
“Which is actually a good thing, since there’s no chance of a relationship going anywhere with him,” Makenna nodded in full understanding. “But you feel bad because you wanted to like him.”
“Exactly! And I did like him, right up until that arrogant Ranger had to butt in and kiss me and mess with my head.” Kenzie sounded like a petulant three-year-old.
“So what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m going to get back to work and forget all about that brooding, ornery man. Just because you’ve met the man of your dreams and fallen hopelessly in love in less than a month doesn’t mean I’ve done the same,” Kenzie insisted. She took another bite of ice cream and waved her spoon with an air of dismissal, eager to change the subject. “Next theory.”
Slow to turn loose of her hypothesis, Makenna studied her sister so long that she began to squirm under her knowing gaze. A faint blush stained Kenzie’s cheeks as she examined her ice cream, a telltale sign that Makenna’s suspicions were not totally absurd. Makenna finally took mercy on her twin and dropped the subject, but her third and final theory was harder to broach. She, too, played with her ice cream as she tackled the one topic the sisters had yet to discuss.
“I think you’re worried about your father.”
“I have no doubt he can take care of himself,” Kenzie was quick to say. “He’s been successfully hiding from the government - and the mafia - for the past twenty three years.”
“I didn’t say you were worried for him. I think you’re worried about what he did. Even though it’s totally irrational, you can’t help but feel guilty. But you aren’t responsible, Kenzie,” Makenna said firmly. “No matter what Joseph Mandarino did, you had nothing to do with it. We were babies, for heaven’s sake. He created those bogus corporations and pulled the strings for all those companies, including NorthWind, to scam the government. We aren’t to blame for what our father did, any more than the employees of NorthWind are to blame for what Modern Power did.”
“I guess none of us are responsible for what our parents do, businesses included.” Kenzie tilted her head to the right; Makenna tilted hers left, until they were leaning into the other with heads touching. After a long moment, Kenzie spoke in a voice soft with reason. “I know that. I do. But Ray Foto made it so personal, coming after me the way he did.”
“It wasn’t really you he was after. He thought you could lead them to your father.”
Kenzie snorted out a grim chuckle. “The trick was on him. Little did he know what a screwed up, dysfunctional family I come from!”
With identical rueful smiles, the sisters fell silent, their heads still touching as they each stirred their ice cream without tasting it. Makenna finally spoke, her voice so soft it was little more than a whisper. “Tell me about them.”
It was the first time she had expressed an interest in knowing more about their parents. In her heart, and in her soul, Madeline and Kenneth Reagan were the only parents she had ever had, the only ones she would ever need. But another couple had given her life and, more importantly, they had given her a twin. For this reason alone, she could not deny their existence.
“You may not want to hear what I have to say.” Sadness made Kenzie’s voice heavy. “I wish I could share all sorts of wonderful stories with you, telling you about our family traditions, silly songs we used to sing, funny stories of things we did. I wish I could tell you about our mother’s laugh.” Her words came out low and filled with pain. “But the truth is, we had no traditions, no silly songs, no fun outings. No laughter.”
There was a far-away look in Kenzie’s eyes as she visited the past. “I have one vague memory of a picnic on a sunny day. I can picture our father picking me up in the air and swinging me around and I can hear the happy sounds of laughter from a woman and a child. I always assumed I was picturing the scene in my mind as it happened, but now I know it was you I was watching. That’s why I can hear myself saying ‘My turn, my turn!’ It was when we were all still together, and it is the only time I can remember hearing our mother laugh. It’s the only truly happy memory I have from childhood.”
“Aw, Kenzie.” Makenna’s heartache reflected in her voice.
“Our mother was always so … stiff.” Kenzie searched for the right description before settling upon the word. “I always wondered if it hurt, holding herself so straight and rigid. She wasn’t like most moms. There were no hugs and kisses, no milk and cookies, no drawings on the refrigerator. Even when I was a little girl and would fall and scrape my knee, she didn’t bend over and kiss it and make it better. She would just look down her nose at me, tell me to get up and stop making a fuss, and then she would turn away indifferently.” Kenzie played with the ends of her hair as she finished in a heavy voice, “She was always so cold and aloof. Stiff.”
“I’m sorry, Kenzie,” Makenna whispered. Not for the firs
t time, she said, “I’m sorry I was the one they gave away, the one with the wonderful parents and the perfect childhood. I’m sorry you were the one they kept and made so miserable.”
“I’m sure I was happy those first three years, before they gave you away, and I plan to live to be a ripe old age, so fifteen years isn’t so long in the overall scheme of things.” Kenzie shrugged as if it did not matter, even though they both knew it did.
Allowing her glib lie to slide, Makenna hesitated another moment before asking, “And Joseph?”
Kenzie was slow in answering. “If I had to find one word to describe him, it would be distracted. He would ask me a question, start a conversation, but before I could answer, he would start to drift away. He would get this far-away look in his eyes, and I knew he wasn’t really listening. There were times when he actually tried to be a father. He even took me to the zoo once, one of our very rare outings. I lost him four times that day. He would just walk away, or forget that I had stopped to feed the giraffes or go to the restroom. Another time he left me at a gas station, because he forgot I was with him. I think part of that came from being a true genius. His mind was always in motion, always searching, always wandering. He really was a brilliant man.” Kenzie sighed. “And of course now, knowing what we know, maybe part of the distraction was worry. Maybe he was always looking over his shoulder, expecting the mafia or the police to show up at any moment.”
“Do you realize you refer to them in the past tense?” Makenna asked gently.
