A Daughter's Legacy

by Virginia Smith

  The man’s expression became contrite. “I guess Ms. Mitchell’s death has left a big hole over there.” He gulped. “I know you’ll miss her. She was well thought of. A fine animal advocate.”

  Jason opened his mouth to inform Tony who Kelli was, but she caught his eye and gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head.

  Now, why doesn’t she want him to know Lil was her mother?

  Jason understood almost nothing about the relationship between his former boss and her daughter, but after their conversation in the van he was beginning to see just how deep Kelli’s wounds went. When she’d been sitting ramrod straight in the seat beside him with pain etched on her face, he’d had the oddest urge to pull over to the side of the road and wrap his arms around her. He knew instinctively that she would reject that kind of comfort from him. The least he could do was comply with her wishes and keep his mouth shut.

  To Tony, he simply agreed. “Yes, she was.”

  The new tamarin exhibit was even bigger than the one at Cougar Bay, Jason noted with approval. The indoor area, with thick safety glass for zoo visitors to look through, held a variety of cage furniture. Trees, poles, a vine, artificial rock outcroppings, along with enough space for at least a dozen tamarins to swing and scamper. Jason also noted a panel, shut at the moment, leading to an outdoor yard.

  A small crowd had followed them, and one of the zoo employees instructed everyone to please stand back while they introduced the tamarins to their new home. Jason joined Kelli at one side of the glass and stood close to her as they watched the staff lift the cage from the cart, through the access area, and place it on the floor inside the exhibit. Tony waited until everyone else had left. As he knelt in front of the cage to unlatch the door, Jason saw his lips moving as he spoke in calm tones to the pair of frightened monkeys inside. As soon as the cage was opened, he stepped out of the exhibit and into the access area. A hush fell over the watching crowd as they waited for the tamarins to move.

  This was a good opportunity to instruct Kelli on some of the procedures involved in transferring an animal. Jason kept his voice low. “When we receive a new animal, it’s quarantined for thirty days before we introduce it into the exhibit. They probably have a similar procedure here, but since these are their first tamarins and there are no other species nearby—” he glanced at the nearest exhibit, which was at least fifty feet away “—there’s no reason not to put them in their new home immediately.”

  Kelli gave a slight nod, her eyes fixed on the huddled pair in the cage. “They’re not coming out.” She sounded worried.

  Jason smiled down at her. “They will.”

  Tony approached and gestured toward the folder Jason held. “Are the vet records in there? Our veterinarian will be here soon.”

  Jason tapped the folder against his palm. “Everything’s right here. And I need your signature on a couple of forms.”

  Jason left Kelli with the Wildlife Park staff while he and Tony stepped into a small workroom to deal with the paperwork. When he returned, she had not moved.

  She looked up at him, a wide smile lighting her features. “They like it!”

  Jason’s heart did a flip-flop at that smile, the first genuine one he’d seen her wear. He spared a glance at the tamarins, who had exited the metal cage and were in the process of climbing branches of the artificial smooth-sided tree, but he couldn’t look away from Kelli for long. Delight transformed her face, and the sight made his breath catch in his chest.

  At that moment, he would have gone into a cage and climbed a tree himself if he could just make her smile like that at him.

  When the part-time veterinarian employed by Wildlife Park Zoo arrived, she gave the tamarins a quick inspection and assured everyone that the pair weren’t suffering any ill effects from the trip. Jason and Kelli bade goodbye to Tony and the rest of the staff. They loaded the empty cage in the back of the van and took off. Because it was past lunchtime, Jason pulled into the first fast-food restaurant he saw and parked.

  He glanced at her before turning off the engine. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. This okay?”

  Kelli looked through the windshield at the sign and shrugged. “Anything’s fine with me.”

  The enchanting smile had disappeared from her face when they left the tamarin exhibit, and Jason found himself wanting to do something to bring it back. He leaned forward and held the glass door open for her to enter ahead of him. She passed by close enough for him to smell the clean, fresh scent that clung to her hair. It reminded him of spring breezes blowing through blooming lilac bushes.

  Carrying the tray with their lunch piled on it, he followed Kelli to a table against the rear wall and slid into a molded plastic chair.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t want to stick around and scope out the zoo,” she said as she unwrapped her burger. “I would have thought, being a zoo guy, you’d want to check out the competition.”

  “Oh, we’re not in competition with each other. The way we look at it, what’s good for one zoo is good for animals everywhere.” He peeled the paper off his straw and shoved it in his cup. “Actually, I didn’t want to let on in front of Tony or his staff, but I drove up there a few weeks ago to check out the place, back when we first got the notice of the transfer.”

  Her lips twitched sideways. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  She peeled off the top bun and removed two pickles. With arched eyebrows, she extended them in his direction.

  “Sure.” He opened his burger and let her arrange the pickles on the melted cheese. She didn’t just toss them on, he noted, but carefully placed them so they were evenly spaced with his other two. For some reason, that made him bite back a smile. She was certainly organized.

  He searched for a safe topic of conversation, something that might draw out that smile again.

  “Tell me about your grandmother.”

  Her head tilted sideways as she considered. A wave of dark hair dangled in her face, and she tucked it behind her ear with an absent gesture. “Nana’s almost eighty-two years old, but don’t let that fool you. She refuses to act her age and she stays busy all the time. Quilting, knitting, cooking. She’s always got some project going on.”

  “Since she didn’t come to Lil’s memorial service, I assume she’s your father’s mother.”

  “That’s right.”

  The clipped words and closed expression as she bit into her sandwich stopped him from asking any of the other questions that pressed on him, like who her father was and if he was still living. She obviously didn’t want to discuss him.

  He picked up a fry. “You know, I think our church has a group of women who quilt. I’ve seen it mentioned in the bulletin.”

  He shoved the fry into his mouth. What was he doing? Just two days ago he’d decided to discourage her from attending his church.

  She nodded as she chewed and swallowed. “I saw it Sunday. It’ll be good for her to get involved. She needs to meet people, since I’ll be working so much. And the church is close enough to the house that maybe someone would be willing to give her a ride.” Her eyes rolled upward. “She’s stubborn enough to want to drive herself, but she doesn’t see as well as she used to. I definitely don’t want her behind the wheel in the traffic down here.”

  Well, okay. If her grandmother needed something to keep her busy, where was the harm? Besides, he was having trouble remembering why he’d decided in the first place that Kelli shouldn’t go to his church. “We have a lot of older people in our congregation, so I’m sure there are rides available. This is Florida, you know, the retirement capital of the world.”

  To prove his point, he slid his eyes around the room, where at least half of the other diners were elderly. Kelli followed his gaze and nodded, his point taken.

  “I’m sure she’ll make friends in no time,” Jason told her. “Are you driving back, so you can bring some furniture with you?”

  “For six months?” Kelli shook her head. “We’ll make do with wh
at my mother had. Nana will take the bedroom. I found a furniture rental place in the phone book, so I’ll probably just get a twin bed or something after I get back. Until then—” She shrugged. “The sofa’s pretty comfortable.”

  They ate in silence for a moment.

  “Your mother seems nice,” Kelli said.

  “Thanks. She said the same about you.”

  Kelli kept her eyes down, staring at her sandwich. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Did she lose someone recently?”

  Jason set down his cup. How in the world did she know that? “Yes, actually, we both did. My dad died right before Christmas, after a long illness.”

  She dragged a French fry through a mound of ketchup on the spread-out sandwich wrapper. “I thought so. She looked like someone who was familiar with grief.” She glanced up. “I’m sorry about your father.”

  “Thanks.”

  For a moment, he considered pointing out that they’d both lost a parent recently, that they shared that in common. But given the estranged relationship between Kelli and Lil, their situations didn’t seem all that similar.

  “At least you have your mother. And she has you.” The fry was thoroughly covered with ketchup now, but she made no move to lift it to her lips, just kept dragging it back and forth, spreading out the thick red puddle. “It’s important to have the support of those you love.”

  A shadow passed over her features, leaving behind such a deep sadness that Jason wanted to reach across the table and wipe it away. Oh, Kelli, what happened between you and Lil to hurt you so deeply?

  In the next instant, her face cleared and she looked up with a determined smile that held none of the warmth of the one he’d witnessed earlier. “Change of subject. Since your mom is involved in a matchmaking group, how is it you’ve escaped unscathed?”

  Since her sadness faded as she introduced a new topic, Jason welcomed her question. His lunch finished, he wadded up his burger wrapper, shoved it in the fry container and pushed the trash to one side. “Who says I’m unscathed?” He assumed a mock-serious frown. “Trust me, I’ve been caught in their snares a time or two and I have the scars to prove it.”

  She laughed. “You don’t expect me to believe that the man who handles wild animals on a daily basis has been wounded by a pack of wily women?”

  “It’s true. I narrowly escaped with my bachelorhood intact.”

  She folded her arms on the table and leaned forward to catch his gaze with her clear one. “Seriously. You’re probably a few years older than me, which means you’re close to thirty. I’ll bet most of your friends are married by now. Why not you? And don’t tell me you haven’t found the right woman.” Her eyes narrowed. “If I’m right, not only are you not looking, you probably run in the other direction whenever a woman bats her eyelashes at you.”

  Memories flooded his mind, of Aimee’s fluttering eyelashes. He broke away from Kelli’s gaze and stared at the trio of teenagers seated at the table behind her. “You’re right. But trust me, I wasn’t always a workaholic. Not too many years ago I dated quite a bit.”

  She leaned back and gave a nod. “I thought so. What happened? No, let me guess.” Her voice took on a trace of bitterness. “You took a job with my mother at Cougar Bay, and she turned you into a workaholic.”

  “I can’t blame that on Lil.” He dropped his head forward to stare at the table. “I used to be pretty wild. Made some major mistakes and hurt someone who didn’t deserve it.” He shook his head. “She’s never forgiven me.”

  After a moment of silence, Kelli’s hand snaked across the table to cover his. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried.”

  The skin of her palm was soft on the back of his hand, her touch featherlight. Jason almost turned his hand over to entwine those slender fingers in his, but before he could react, she jerked away. She leaned back and dropped both hands into her lap.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “That whole mess is what made me finally give in to Mom’s begging and start going to church. I became a believer because of it.”

  “Have you explained that to—her?” Kelli paused. “The girl?”

  Jason thought of the time when he’d sat down with Aimee to share his newfound faith. His attempts were met with the same derision as his previous apologies. She’d thrown his words back in his face and let him know in no uncertain terms that she wanted to have as little to do with him as possible, and she wished with all her heart that she never had to see him again.

  To Kelli, he said, “Oh, yeah.” Then he reached for her trash and piled it on the plastic tray. “My turn to change the subject. When you get back from Denver, I’ll have your schedule laid out for you.”

  They stood, and Kelli fell in beside him as he headed for the trash can to dump their garbage.

  “Won’t I be working with Raul?” She sounded hopeful, at which he hid a smile. At least she’d gotten over the disdain he’d seen that first morning.

  “Some,” he promised as they exited the restaurant. “But I want you to go through the same training program as any other keeper, which means you’ll learn to care for every animal in the collection. That way if we have an unexpected absence, like the other day when Raul was hurt, you’ll be able to pitch in and help.”

  He had almost reached the van when he realized she was no longer at his side. He turned to find her standing on the sidewalk, staring at him with wide eyes.

  “All of the animals?” Her voice squeaked on the last word.

  “That’s right.”

  “Even the—” her gulp was obvious “—lion?”

  He cocked his head to stare at her. She’d gone pale.

  “Of course. And the cougars and the other cats. But don’t worry, Samson is—”

  He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Kelli wavered as though she would pass out, and he rushed forward to support her. She leaned heavily against his arm, and he felt her body tremble as she clung to him.

  “Kelli, what is it? Are you sick?”

  She turned, his arm still around her, and placed both hands on his shoulders. Her fingers bit into his flesh as her eyes pierced his.

  “I won’t work with the lion.” Each word was punctuated by a shake. “Do you understand? No amount of money can make me do it. Promise me right now, Jason, or I won’t come back from Denver.”

  Naked fear lashed at him from her eyes. No, this went deeper than fear. She was shaking violently, clearly panic-stricken at the idea of working with a lion.

  What happened to her?

  Undoubtedly, this was the fear Lil wanted her to face. But looking down into Kelli’s terror-stricken expression, he knew he couldn’t force her to do it against her will. Did Lil have any idea how deep Kelli’s fear went? What kind of mother would ask him to torture her child like that?

  He held her gaze. “I promise, Kelli. If you don’t want to work with the lion, I won’t make you.”

  Sorry, Lil. I know you trusted me, but it’s wrong. I can’t do that to her.

  He pulled her forward and wrapped both arms around her shivering body. She didn’t resist, but buried her face in his shoulder.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kelli spent the afternoon in the commissary, elbow-deep in rotting fruit. They’d arrived back at Cougar Bay in time to help unload a truckload of fresh fruits and vegetables, donated from a local grocery store. The outdated produce had been removed from the store’s shelves, and somebody needed to separate the truly inedible from the bruised or partially rotten.

  “Everybody else has animals to take care of.” Jason had told her with an apologetic grimace. “We’re short-handed, you know.”

  Kelli had heaved a sigh loud enough to make her point. “So I’ve heard.”

  After sorting through more rotten strawberries and oozing tomatoes than she could count, she finally finished. The edible berries piled in a plastic bin went into the walk-in cooler. She slid it onto a chilly metal shelf beside a pile of kale l
eaves and exited the cooler to find Jason waiting for her beside the work table.

  “You got it done,” he said, glancing at the empty wooden surface.

  She screwed up her face into a scowl. “I may never eat fruit again after some of the stuff I’ve handled today. And the smell.” She made a show of gagging.

  One of Jason’s eyebrows rose. “Worse than the Small Animal building?”

  She conceded his point with a tilt of her head. “Okay, maybe there are worse smells than rotten potatoes.”

  Sticky strawberry juice had stained her fingers pink and stood in puddles on the worktable. She went to the sink and ran hot water over a ragged dishcloth. When she turned back toward the table, Jason was leaning against it, arms folded across his chest, his expression thoughtful. Her heart launched into an imitation of African bongo drums. What thoughts were going through that oh-so-handsome head of his? Was he remembering her breakdown at lunch?

  Embarrassment at her outburst washed over her and she busied herself with wiping off the table. So much for all those expensive therapy sessions. She still fell apart at the idea of going near a lion.

  Or was she more embarrassed by the way she’d clung to Jason, nestled within the safety of his arms?

  He broke into her thoughts with a welcome interruption. “What time is your flight tomorrow?”

  “Nine-twenty.”

  “So you’ll need to be at the airport by eight. You should leave around seven-fifteen.”

  The worktable was clean. She nodded as she shook the cloth out over the trash can. “Even earlier, I figure, because of the traffic.”

  He bent over to pick up a piece of cellophane that had fallen on the floor. “I was wondering if you need a ride.”

  Startled, her grip loosened and she dropped the rag into the can on top of a pile of fragrant rotten fruit. A nice offer, and it would save her the cost of the taxi she’d already reserved. It was a forty-minute ride from here to the airport, so the fare would be expensive. Forty minutes of silence with a cab-driving stranger.