Abandoned

by Allison Brennan

  “Do you really believe that?” Brian asked.

  “No. I think whoever he thought was chasing him found him and killed him. And if they learn he had a daughter, that could put Eve in danger. I don’t know what he was into, I don’t know what he stole or who he stole it from. But I know that I’m the only one who can protect her. I can’t let anyone find out that Eve is not my daughter. Brian, I have to find a way to force Maxine Revere out of town.”

  His friend, his partner, took a deep breath. “Okay. We’ll think of something, Gabriel, but listen to me: don’t do anything rash. Promise me, no more breaking into her cottage, no more confronting her. We’ll come up with a plan, and you have to be smart about it.”

  Gabriel nodded, released a long breath. “Thank you. I have no one else to turn to.”

  “I’ve always had your back, buddy. Nothing has changed.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  TEN YEARS AGO

  Winter was slow at the resort, and even slower for charter boats. Gabriel spent the morning with his staff securing the boathouse from the pending storm. The cabins had already been shut down for the season, though they kept the lodge open in the winter. They were only at twenty percent capacity and it cost them more to run the place than they were taking in, but Brian was working on turning that around. Gabriel had wanted to shut down for the season, but they managed to break even because of the restaurant. They’d made something special there, thanks to Brian’s cousin Jenna Cooper Smith who, with her husband, ran the kitchen like a well-oiled machine.

  It had been a dry, cold December, but the first flurries of snow had fallen last week, and they’d be getting two feet between now and the weekend. Gabriel didn’t care much for the snow. Maybe because he had always been the one responsible for taking care of the storm windows, of shoveling the walk, and jump-starting his mom’s car. It wasn’t that his dad was incapable or lazy, he was focused on his job—even when he couldn’t go out on the trawler—and nothing else really mattered to him. Gabriel would rather do the work himself than rely on his brother getting around to it, which would be never.

  Good riddance. Jimmy had been no good growing up, and he was no good now. Gabriel hoped he never saw him again.

  While Gabriel worried about the business, and he was concerned about the pending weather, he pushed everything aside because it was Eve’s birthday. The first birthday without her grandmother.

  When he returned home five years ago, the doctors told him that his mother had less than a year to live. But she agreed to have surgery to remove the lump in her breast, and that surgery coupled with a complex and expensive drug cocktail had helped prolong her life until last summer.

  But those last three months had been hell, and had taken its toll on him and Eve. Gabriel was grateful for the extra time he had with his mom, but he wished she hadn’t had to suffer in the end.

  He wanted to be home for Eve. Mrs. Dodd, their next-door neighbor, met her at the bus stop every afternoon and watched Eve until he got home. Mrs. Dodd was in her seventies, but said walking every day was good for her and the bus stop was only three blocks from their street.

  He pulled in to the long narrow driveway that led to the garage in the back of the house. Instead of going inside, he went to the detached garage and retrieved the wrapped box he’d left next to Eve’s “doll yacht.” He’d spent the better part of the last year building it after Eve informed him she didn’t want a dollhouse she wanted a doll boat. He’d never seen a kid take so naturally to the water as his Eve. She loved going sailing, was a fish in the water, and had no fear. It was the no fear part that worried him.

  The doll yacht was too big to effectively wrap, but the smaller box held the two miniature figures—a little blond girl and the tall, dark, and handsome skipper.

  Gabriel went inside and heard voices from the kitchen. Eve talking a mile a minute. And a male voice.

  His blood ran cold.

  Jimmy.

  He stopped in the doorway. Eve saw him a moment before Jimmy.

  “Daddy! It’s Uncle Jimmy! He came for my birthday!”

  “I see that,” Gabriel said calmly. “Pumpkin, can you go upstairs and wash up? I have a surprise, but I need to talk to Uncle Jimmy first.”

  Eve bounced up the stairs. She did nothing slow.

  “Mrs. Dodd, if you’ll excuse us. Thank you for bringing Eve home from school.”

  “No problem, Gabriel,” she said, looking from Gabriel to Jimmy, her smile uneasy. “I’ll see you Monday.” She slipped out the front door.

  “Daddy?” Jimmy said with a smirk. “Right.”

  “Get out.”

  “She’s mine, and I’m taking her.”

  “You will not touch her. You promised me four and a half years ago that you would never—never—come back. You put that kid in danger once, never again. She’s safe here.”

  Jimmy shrugged. “Well, she’s my kid, Gabriel.”

  “You promised.” Why had Gabriel even believed his brother? For nearly five years he’d stayed away—why had Gabriel been so stupid as to fall into complacency?

  “I need her.”

  “She’s six years old!”

  “It’s serious, Gabriel.”

  “Serious? And you want Eve at the center of it? Over my dead body.”

  “It might come to that, Gabe.”

  “Do not threaten me.”

  He laughed. “I’m her father. I have rights.”

  “You abandoned her years ago. You promised me you would never try to take her back, that she was better off here with me—you know she is!”

  “You’re barely getting by. I can make something of this mess, I just need my kid.”

  “Martha put ‘unknown’ on the birth certificate.”

  By the expression on Jimmy’s face, he hadn’t expected this.

  “She’s mine,” Jimmy insisted. “I’ll get a paternity test.”

  “That will take time, and I’ll fight you every step of the way.”

  “Either it’ll prove I’m her father or I’m not, but either way you have no rights. If Martha didn’t put my name on the birth certificate…”

  What the hell was his brother thinking?

  “You want to use her?”

  “She might not even be mine, and if she’s not mine, she’s even less yours.”

  “Get out right now.”

  “Martha gave Genevieve to Mom temporarily.”

  “Her name is Eve, and she’s not going anywhere with you.”

  “You have no say, Gabe! That kid’s a fucking heir. She’s worth a fortune.”

  That’s when Gabriel saw the desperation in Jimmy’s eyes, and took a closer look at him. He’d lost weight, his hair was turning gray, and he wasn’t dressed impeccably. Jimmy always looked good. It was one reason so many people fell for his lines. He could play any part, was clean-cut and handsome.

  Tonight, he wasn’t. Tonight, he was nervous.

  “What’s going on, Jimmy? Tell me the truth.”

  “Nothing I can’t handle. That kid—my kid—is a Revere. She’s worth a shitload of money, and Martha’s trust fund is just sitting there waiting for her.”

  “You want her for money? Nothing has changed with you, Jimmy. She’s your get-rich-quick game now?”

  Gabriel had known Martha had money, but he hadn’t wanted to know anything about her. He didn’t realize how much money Martha was worth. And now, Jimmy wanted to cash Eve in like she was a stack of poker chips. Gabriel would never allow it.

  “Get off your high horse, Gabriel. You’re no saint. You’ve been lying to that kid for years.”

  “We agreed, Jimmy. You promised me—”

  “Well, things change.”

  “Do not talk about this to Eve.”

  “You’d better tell her you’re not her father,” Jimmy said. “Or I will.”

  Gabriel felt his entire life crumbling under his feet. Eve was his child. She may not be his blood, but she was his daughter. He had raised her. He’d tau
ght her how to ride a bike and how to swim. He nursed her skinned knees when she fell, and soothed her when she had the flu. He learned how to braid hair and that kisses were just as important as Band-Aids to fix an “owie.”

  But if he pushed this now with Jimmy, his brother would cause a scene. And while Gabriel had never seen him violent, he could tell that Jimmy was desperate.

  “You want money—I can get you money.”

  “You don’t have what I need.”

  “Shit, Jimmy! She’s just a little girl.” His voice cracked, and that would do him no good. Jimmy would use his emotions against him.

  “If it’s any consolation to you, her family is totally loaded. She’ll have everything you can’t give her.”

  But she won’t have me. And I won’t have her.

  He heard footsteps running down the stairs. “Daddy, can we open presents yet?”

  “Two minutes, Eve,” Gabriel said, not taking his eyes off Jimmy. He had never wanted to hurt another human being before, not like this.

  She must have sensed the tension, because she ran back upstairs and left them.

  Jimmy cleared his throat. “I’m staying at your resort.”

  “What?”

  “Brian gave me a key to one of the places being renovated. You might really come into some money down the road, I can see it’s going to be nice, but right now that resort is a big fat money pit.”

  He was staying at Havenly? For how long?

  “If you skip town, I will hunt you down,” Jimmy said. “I’ll be back in the morning. Tell her the truth, Gabriel. Tonight.”

  Gabriel made sure Jimmy drove off. He didn’t trust him.

  Not. One. Bit.

  Eve ran down the stairs. “Where’s Uncle Jimmy?”

  “He had to go.”

  “Where’s my surprise? You said I had a surprise. It’s my birthday! I’m six, Daddy!”

  “I know, sweetheart. A big girl.”

  “Well? Is it about my birthday party tomorrow? Everyone is coming, Daddy! They don’t care if there’s snow, they’re going to come and play games and have cake. Did you get the cake? Is it at Mrs. Dodd’s? She said it wasn’t, but she was teasing, because it’s not here.”

  “Yes, it is, you little monkey. You’re too smart for me.”

  He handed her the small box. He wasn’t going to tell Eve he wasn’t her biological father; not on her birthday.

  Jimmy didn’t deserve her. He didn’t deserve anything but a bullet in the back of the head.

  Eve ripped open the package, her blue eyes wide and sparkling. “Oh! A skipper and his mate! This is me and you, right? Right?”

  “There’s a boat that goes with them.”

  She was so excited she couldn’t stop shaking. “A doll boat? You found a doll boat?”

  “I made a doll boat.”

  She wrapped her little arms around his neck and jumped up and down. “I love you, Daddy! Can I see it? Before dinner? Please?”

  “Of course. It’s your birthday, we can do anything you want.”

  * * *

  Gabriel didn’t tell Eve he wasn’t her father. He had to convince Jimmy that he would break the little girl’s heart to take her away from everyone and everything she knew. He would call the sheriff if Jimmy showed up, have him arrested. Buy some time. But he realized that he would have to leave town. Leave Cape Haven and the life he had built for Eve. To protect her, he would do it. But it was the last option.

  He couldn’t sleep all night. The next day his house was filled with five- and six-year-olds running everywhere. It had snowed overnight, but the afternoon was cold and clear. They had snowball fights, made snow angels, and played push the carrot nose on the snowman.

  Jimmy didn’t show.

  Eve fell to sleep almost as soon as the last child left, and Gabriel cleaned up. And still, Jimmy didn’t arrive.

  He sat on the cold front porch, waiting, with a shotgun in his lap.

  He waited, and still Jimmy didn’t show.

  Finally, Gabriel went to bed. He didn’t sleep more than an hour or two, because every sound, every car, every creak in the house had him wide-awake and alert, expecting Jimmy.

  The next morning, he took Eve to the resort and asked Jenna to watch her for a few minutes. He went to the cottage that Jimmy was staying in.

  No one was there. Someone had been staying here, and he had every reason to believe it was Jimmy, but he wasn’t here now, and neither were his things.

  Gabriel tracked Brian down in his office. His partner worked seven days a week, without fail.

  “Was there someone in the far cottage? The one we’re almost done renovating?”

  Brian nodded solemnly, got up and closed the door behind Gabriel. “I didn’t want to tell you, but Jimmy came by a couple of days ago, said he needed a place to crash.”

  “Dammit, you should have told me!”

  “I’m sure he’s mixed up in something again. I made sure he didn’t rip us off, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  I’m only worried about my daughter.

  “Is he still here?”

  “I told him he had to clear out yesterday. The work crew is coming in tomorrow to finish painting and laying the floors. I didn’t see him yesterday, not since Friday night, but I was going to double-check. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But—you know—it’s Jimmy.”

  Yeah, it was, and Brian didn’t have to explain any further.

  “If you see him, let me know, okay?”

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah. I just—where Jimmy goes, trouble and heartbreak follow.”

  “I’m sure he’s back on the road. But I’ll call you first thing if I see him.”

  “Thanks, buddy.”

  It took Gabriel months before he was comfortable letting Eve out of his sight for more than two minutes. He’d talked to the school, told them that his brother wasn’t allowed to pick her up. He hired a former navy buddy of his who was down on his luck to escort Eve home every afternoon, instead of Mrs. Dodd, when Gabriel couldn’t do it himself.

  But the fear that Jimmy Truman, his low-life brother, would one day return kept Gabriel diligent.

  Chapter Seventeen

  PRESENT DAY

  Gabriel was up at dawn, as usual. The sun was already breaking through the thin clouds. The storm was over, and it would be a beautiful weekend. The winds were sporadic, and sailing tomorrow would be a challenge, but Eve loved challenges.

  He made coffee and stared at the pot as the dark, caffeinated liquid dripped.

  The Christmas before Eve’s second birthday Jimmy had come to the house. He looked like shit and he was scared. He’d promised Gabriel, if he gave Jimmy money to disappear, that he’d never return. For one night, Christmas Day dinner, his mother had been happy that her family was under the same roof. She was doing amazing, the cancer was gone (only to return three years later with a vengeance), and Eve was a bundle of toddler activity. Gabriel was surprisingly content, for the first time in his life.

  And then Jimmy showed up.

  Gabriel gave him every dime in his savings and Jimmy promised never to come back, that he was going to Canada.

  “I think Martha is dead,” Jimmy had said.

  “Why?”

  He wouldn’t say, not directly. “We screwed up.” Jimmy must have screwed up big, because never once in his miserable life had he ever admitted to doing anything wrong.

  “Who did you cross?”

  “It’s complicated. But the kid is better off with you. I heard her call you Daddy.”

  “I didn’t think you were ever coming back.”

  “It’s better this way.”

  “Is Eve in danger?”

  “No.”

  But Gabriel didn’t believe him.

  “Jimmy, tell me the damn truth for once in your life.”

  “It’s probably best if no one knows I had a kid, you know? Just in case they think I still have everything.”

  “Still hav
e what?”

  “Martha and I had fun for a long time,” he said, his old mischievous sparkle shining in his eyes. “We … well, let’s just say we took something from someone. And he figured out it was us and wants it back. Only Martha was stubborn. She didn’t like, um, leave anything with you other than the kid?”

  “No.”

  “Well, okay, just take care of the girl.”

  When Jimmy left the next day—after Gabriel gave him the money—Gabriel searched the entire house. His mom had her memory intact, she didn’t remember Martha leaving anything except Eve’s suitcase and diaper bag. But Martha was as sneaky as Jimmy and could easily have hidden something in the old house.

  Gabriel hadn’t found anything he didn’t expect, though he didn’t know what he was looking for. Now, discovering that Martha’s car had been found, that she had been using an assumed name, that people had been after her and Jimmy because they stole something—coupled with the fact that the FBI had been seeking information about Jimmy for nearly ten years—told Gabriel that they had both gotten themselves killed and if anyone knew that Eve was their daughter, she was in danger, too. Gabriel was right to protect her ten years ago, and right to protect her now.

  Logically, he couldn’t imagine that anyone would think a child would be a threat, but what if they thought Gabriel knew where their goods were? Whatever it was.

  Would that reporter listen to reason? Could Gabriel trust her enough to tell her about Jimmy’s visit and explain that if anyone knew that Eve was not his daughter, that she might be in danger? Did she care enough about a sister she didn’t know to walk away?

  Eve walked in, her long braid messy from sleep. She yawned, put her arms around Gabriel. “Morning, Dad.”

  “Morning, monkey.”

  “Want me to make breakfast?” She reached over and poured herself a cup of coffee.

  “I have some errands this morning.”

  “Breakfast—the most important meal of the day. And I have to go to the boathouse and help Jason prepare for the race tomorrow. He has a problem with one of his sails and can’t figure it out.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  He wanted to grab Eve and run away. But that wouldn’t solve their problems.

  He poured himself a cup of coffee and said, “Breakfast is great. I’ll cut up a cantaloupe and you do the cooking, then I’ll drop you off at the club.”