A Daughter's Legacy

by Virginia Smith

  When they arrived at the commissary building, Kelli found a huge stack of newspapers, a white plastic bucket and a giant bag of flour set out on the worktable.

  She turned a surprised look on Jason. “When you said pi

  ñatas, I thought that was zoo jargon for something else. You mean piñatas?”

  “Absolutely.”

  From a shelf against the rear wall, he reached down a storage bin. When he set it on the worktable, Kelli saw several packages of balloons and pots of paint inside.

  “We have an enrichment program that encourages natural behaviors in our animals. It stimulates their physical and mental activity levels. That might include giving them toys, or introducing them to different objects.” Jason turned a grin on her. “Cameron sometimes blows bubbles into the spider monkey’s enclosure. You should see them trying to catch the bubbles.”

  Kelli resolutely ignored the thrill his grin caused. “So the piñatas are toys they play with?”

  “Sort of. We also put food inside, which makes them think and work for their meal as they would in the wild. We’ll make the piñatas in interesting shapes and fill them with whatever food each animal is permitted to have.” He picked up one of the jars. “This paint is environmentally safe and harmless to the animals.”

  Kelli examined a package of balloons in a variety of sizes exactly like you’d buy for a child’s party. “Interesting shapes, huh?”

  “It can be anything, really.” He returned the paint to the bin. “Some of the keepers get pretty creative, even make piñatas in the shape of the animals’ natural prey.”

  “No kidding?” This might be fun, sort of like art class in grade school. Kelli tore into the plastic and extracted a round balloon. “Like a beehive for the bears to find honey in?”

  He laughed. “Whatever you want.”

  Jason picked up a newspaper and a pair of scissors, and cut a long strand off with a smooth, practiced gesture. He nodded to indicate the empty place beside him, and Kelli slipped into it. She mimicked his actions, cutting paper strips and trying to ignore the fact that he stood just inches away.

  “I don’t see why everyone acted like this is such a terrible job.” She spoke mostly to distract herself, because she kept imagining that all she had to do was edge sideways a tiny bit and their shoulders would touch.

  Jason grinned down at her. “By the end of the day, you’ll understand.”

  He was right. By six-thirty that evening, Kelli’s arms felt like fifty-pound weights dragging on her poor, aching shoulders. Her hands had cramped around the scissors after an hour of cutting, and her fingers were raw from flour paste. But she had two dozen drying piñatas to show for her efforts.

  Jason, who had left after giving careful instructions for the construction of piñatas, returned as she was rinsing out the paste bucket.

  “Your workaholic tendencies are showing,” he teased. “Quitting time was over an hour ago.”

  “Look!” She pointed proudly at one of her creations. “Do you know what that is?” She didn’t wait for him to guess. “It’s a giant bunch of bananas!”

  Jason cast a skeptical eye toward the odd-looking shape in the center of the table. “It is?”

  She nodded and picked it up gingerly so he could get a better look. “I glued several long balloons together and wrapped them and created a stem. Here’s even some twine we can use to hang it from a tree branch.”

  His forehead wrinkled as he stared at her creation. “Aren’t bananas supposed to be curved?”

  Kelli thrust her nose into the air as she carefully set it back on the table. “Obviously you don’t appreciate fine art. This is an impressionist’s interpretation of bananas.”

  Humor twitched the corners of his mouth. “I’m sure Cocoa is much more of an art enthusiast than I. She’ll love ripping into that.” He glanced around the room and did a double-take at the trio of four-legged creatures standing in the corner. His eyebrows arched. “I’m impressed. Those deer are great, better than most efforts I’ve seen.”

  Kelli considered taking all the credit, but then admitted, “Erica came by right after you left and showed me how to make them. I’m particularly proud of the zebra.”

  He looked as though he was trying not to smile. “You know who’ll get the zebra, don’t you?”

  She knew. With every stroke of her paintbrush, she’d been aware that zebras were the natural prey of lions. Perhaps it was telling that the zebra was the only animal-shaped piñata that was not wearing a painted-on smile. In fact, she’d paid special attention to his frown.

  She inclined her head to Jason, but didn’t answer.

  “Well, excellent work. Really.”

  Despite herself, she preened at his compliment. “Thank you.”

  “And now do you understand why nobody wants to do piñatas?”

  “Oh, I sure do.” Kelli stretched her aching back. “I’ve never been so sore in my life.” She rolled her shoulders in an effort to relieve the pressure.

  “Here, let me help.”

  Jason had come up behind her, and before she knew what he intended, his hands were on her shoulders. Kelli froze. She should step away, put a stop to this right now. But before she could force herself to move, strong fingers began kneading the tension from her stiff muscles. A sigh of relief escaped her parted lips.

  A faint voice whispered in her head. This is exactly the kind of situation you should avoid. She chose to ignore the warning and focused instead on Jason’s hands coaxing the soreness away.

  He’s a zookeeper, just like Daddy.

  Stiffening, she stepped forward, and his hands instantly dropped away. What was she thinking? She turned, her mouth open to say something to dispel the energy that seemed to vibrate in the air around them, though what she might say, she had no clue. She looked up, into Jason’s eyes—

  And in the next moment she was in his arms. Her traitorous lips rose to meet his, and the room dimmed around her at the touch of his feather-light kiss. The warning alarms sounding in her head receded to an easy-to-ignore whisper. Thank goodness for the sturdy worktable behind her; her wobbly knees would have dumped her on the floor for sure if she weren’t leaning against it.

  When he raised his head, his eyes danced. “From now on, piñatas will be my favorite job.”

  A battle raged in Kelli’s heart. At this moment, with his arms wrapped around her and the masculine smell of him filling her nostrils, she felt like Jason could be the one she’d waited her whole life for. His lips had left hers only moments before, and already she longed for another kiss.

  But he was a risk she couldn’t take.

  With a tremendous effort, she sidestepped away. “I can’t do this, Jason.”

  His arms dropped to his side. “I don’t understand. I’m attracted to you, Kelli, and unless I’m very much mistaken, you feel the same.”

  Not a word about love. Of course not. Nana was the only person who really loved her, the only one she could trust not to leave her. Everybody else abandoned her.

  Kelli wrapped her arms around her middle and squeezed. “You’re my boss. You’ll probably lose your job if they find out you’re—” she swallowed and lowered her eyes “—interested in one of your employees.”

  “Actually, I won’t.” He leaned a hip against the worktable. “I checked. There are no policies against employees dating. I guess that’s because Cougar Bay was originally a private zoo, owned by a family. Everybody was related to everybody back then, so they never established any rules against it.” He ducked his head in an attempt to catch her eye with a grin. “Though I’m sure we’ll take a bit of ribbing from the others.”

  Kelli refused to look up. “I can’t go out with you, Jason. I—I won’t.”

  “Why?” His voice was soft. “It’s because of whatever happened between you and Lil, isn’t it?”

  An invisible fist squeezed her throat shut. When she didn’t answer, he went on.

  “You mentioned you’d been traumatized. What happene
d, Kelli?” He placed a finger beneath her chin and gently lifted her face until she was looking into his eyes. “You can tell me.”

  Staring into those green-brown pools of compassion, Kelli felt that maybe she could. She opened her mouth, but no words came. Tears blurred her vision, and she looked away, shaking her head.

  “I—I’ve got to go.” Before he could stop her, Kelli whirled and ran from the building. She needed to get out of there, to get home.

  And she didn’t mean Lillian’s house either.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The door slammed behind her, leaving Jason alone in a room full of paper-and-paste animals. The turmoil in his stomach kept his feet in place. Sure, he was attracted to her, but when he kissed her he wasn’t expecting such a tidal wave of emotion to sweep over him. Over them both, judging by the way Kelli responded.

  I don’t need this, Lord. I’ve made one major mistake in my life already, and look what happened.

  No, it was better to let her go. No matter what, he couldn’t risk having another woman end up hating him. His glance fell on the yellow blob that was supposed to be a bunch of bananas. She’d sure been proud of that silly thing. He ran a finger over the still-wet paint and looked absently at the yellow stain on his skin.

  But I’m not a wild college kid anymore. And Kelli is nothing like Aimee. She’s determined, and professional, and smart, and beautiful and…

  And he couldn’t let her go.

  What was he doing, standing here while she ran away? Like a shot, Jason was out the door, shouting.

  “Kelli! Kelli, wait.”

  No sight of her in either direction. Which way had she run? She was heading for home, obviously. The shortest route to the back gate would have taken her right past the lion exhibit, so she would have chosen the long way. Maybe he could cut her off.

  Sprinting like a runner, he dashed down the neat path, past the bears and the cougars, and didn’t even spare a glance toward Samson. The trails were empty, because the zoo closed at six-thirty, but he did zip by Michael performing his end-of-day check on the bobcat.

  “Hey, Jason, what’s going on?”

  Jason lifted a hand in response, but didn’t waste breath to answer. When he turned the corner, he scanned the path ahead of him without slowing. At the sight of Kelli, just turning from the trail that led to the Small Animal building, he kicked into high speed.

  “Kelli, stop!”

  She ignored him, and for a moment he thought he’d have to chase her all the way to her house. But when she reached the back gate, she finally came to a halt. Jason skidded to a stop beside her, panting.

  Disheveled brown hair fluttered around her shoulders like a glossy curtain. Her gaze fixed on the padlock, she lifted a hand to wipe a tear from her cheek. “I forgot my purse with the key in it.”

  Jason was torn between the desire to grab her and shake her for running away, or brush the tear from the other cheek. To keep from touching her, he shoved his hands into his pocket and pulled out his own key ring.

  “I have one. But first, you have to tell me why you ran.”

  Her shoulders deflated and she half turned toward the direction she’d just come from. “I’ll go get my purse.”

  He stepped in front of her to block her escape. “Please don’t go. Talk to me, Kelli.”

  She didn’t answer, but at least she didn’t run away from him. Encouraged, he pressed his advantage. “Look at me.” Hesitantly, her chin lifted. The delicate skin around her eyes was puffy from crying. “You can trust me.”

  Clear gray eyes searched his, probing more deeply than a blade. When she gave a slow, single nod, Jason expelled the breath he’d been holding. He gestured toward a bench nestled among the thick flowering hedge. When they were seated, she kept her head facing straight ahead, into the kangaroo yard, although from her unspoken stare her thoughts were far away from the napping marsupials. Jason resisted the temptation to drape his arm across the back of the bench. Instead, he sat beside her, not touching her, his body turned so he could watch her profile as she talked.

  “I don’t really know where to start. How much did my mother tell you about her past?”

  Jason shook his head. “Almost nothing.”

  A shadowy smile flashed onto her face and disappeared just as quickly. “I figured that, since nobody here even knew I existed. She met my father right after she got out of college, when she took her first job as a zookeeper.” Her gaze flickered toward him. “He trained her.”

  Just like Jason was training Kelli. He nodded, but held his tongue.

  “They dated for five years before they got married.” She stopped, shook her head. “No, I doubt if they ever really dated. They worked together. The zoo was their life, their focus. Daddy’s specialty was exotic cats, and Mother’s was primates.” A real smile, small but genuine, curved her lips. “When I came along, I was raised right alongside the chimpanzees. After I was in school, I was the envy of all my classmates because I got to go to the zoo every day.” The smile turned sour. “I had to, if I wanted to see either of my parents.”

  Jason shifted his weight and propped a leg across his knee. She’d just answered one of his questions. Since Kelli’s last name was different from her mother’s, he’d wondered if maybe Lil and Kelli’s father had not been married. Now that he thought about it, Lil was independent in the extreme. It would be natural for her to keep her maiden name.

  “So both your parents were workaholics.” He teased her with their ongoing joke to coax the smile back to her face.

  It didn’t work. Her throat moved as she swallowed before continuing. “I went to work with them on the weekends, too. One Saturday when I was eight years old, I was following Daddy around while he worked. It was early in the morning, so the zoo wasn’t open yet. He went into the lion’s cage to clean it.”

  The change in her tone made Jason’s stomach tense. This was it, the trauma she’d hinted at. Horror stole over Jason. He knew what was coming. Oh, Lord, that poor little girl.

  Her head tilted forward as she stared at her tightly clasped hands, tormented by a long-ago memory. “I don’t know what happened. Somehow the door the lion was behind came open while Daddy was inside. He—” She squeezed her eyes shut, and Jason watched a tear slide from between her eyelids. “He was killed.”

  Automatically, Jason leaned over and pulled her toward him with a protective arm around her shoulders. “While you watched.”

  She didn’t resist his embrace, but leaned into it. Her head nodded against his shoulder. “It was…horrible. I screamed and screamed, but by the time anybody heard me it was too late to save him.” A shudder ripped through her body, and Jason pulled her tighter. “My mother was the first person to get there.”

  Jason shut his eyes, but couldn’t block out the scene that unfolded in his imagination. It was one he’d pictured before. Several years ago, when he was still in school. “Was your father David Jackson?”

  “You’ve heard of him?”

  “I have.” He’d never connected the names, but every person associated with the care of exotic animals had heard of David Jackson and the horrible lion attack that took his life. Even though the incident had occurred sixteen years ago, one of Jason’s university professors had described it in detail as a somber warning to her students who planned to pursue a career caring for exotic animals. Of course, there had been no mention of David Jackson’s young daughter’s presence during the attack.

  No wonder Lil had never mentioned her husband. A private person like Lil would hate the sort of attention that would bring.

  Kelli straightened, pulling away from him, and scrubbed at her wet eyes with a sniff. “I had nightmares for years.” Her shoulders jerked with a humorless laugh. “Still do, every so often.”

  “I can understand that. It was a horrible thing for a child to witness.”

  “Of course I had counseling, years of it. But I could never go back to the zoo.” She wiped her hands on her slacks. “You can imagine how my
mother felt about that.”

  Disbelief stole over Jason, stiffening his spine. “Do you mean she stayed at that zoo? Even after her husband was killed there?”

  Kelli’s lips twisted. “Not only that, but a few months later she insisted on being transferred to the cats. Of course, the lion that killed my father was put down after the attack, but she took care of the one that replaced him.”

  Jason could only stare at Kelli, speechless. Every day Lil had gone into the cage where her husband died, cleaned the floor, refreshed the water. Performed the same actions he’d performed moments before his death. What kind of twisted person would do that?

  Kelli must have seen the question on his face. Her expression softened and she placed a hand on his arm. “It took me years to understand why. Exotic cats were his passion, so maybe caring for them made her feel closer to him. Plus, I think that was her therapy, in a way. Sort of like people who forgive someone who murdered their loved one. She found some sort of personal healing in forgiving the animal who killed her husband.”

  That made sense. Suddenly Lil’s request made sense, too. “I suppose she wanted you to find that same healing. That’s the reason for the six months working here.”

  “I suppose so.” Her expression became hard again. “Frankly, at times I think it would be easier to forgive that lion than the mother who sent me away when I needed her the most.”

  Everything became clear as the last tumbler slipped into place. “She sent you to live with your grandmother because she couldn’t stand to leave the zoo, and you couldn’t stand to stay there.”

  Kelli nodded. “Her job was more important to her than her daughter.” She turned on the bench so she was facing him, and her chin thrust forward. “So now you know why I can’t fall in love with a zookeeper.”

  His pulse stuttered. Was Kelli falling in love with him? Sudden joy ballooned inside him with the thought. Was it possible? With an intensity that almost robbed him of breath, he wished for that to be true.