WindSwept Narrows: #16 Anna Carson & Catherine Jenkins

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “I do not want dinner or a soothing glass of wine. I do not want charmed and I do not want lied to. What do you want from me?” She demanded coldly.

  Carter looked down at his plate, sighing thickly and running one palm over his neck. This wasn’t in his plans. He wanted more time. He wanted to make sure what he was doing was not only in order, but right.

  “You found her,” was the breathless comment from the silver haired woman at the table, a slender hand shaking as she touched her lips.

  “Amelia…” The older gentlemen placed his palm over that of his wife.

  Anna blinked and took in the couple clearly for the first time since entering the room. Both in their sixties, she guessed and obviously enjoying a peaceful dinner. Until she stormed in like a lunatic.

  “Anna Carson…I’d like you to meet Amelia and Michael Austin. I believe they’re your grandparents on your mother’s side,” Carter had started moving toward her slowly, his gaze trapped on the myriad of expressions flooding her features. He swore softly, barely making it to the front door when her hand closed over the knob to pull it inward.

  “Don’t touch me,” her voice warned, whipping her palm free and stepping into the darkness outside.

  “Damn it, Anna, will you slow down and listen to me!”

  “You’ve made a mistake. A very big mistake and I’ve had about all of you I can manage for one day, thank you,” Anna wasn’t sure how she managed to get to the SUV, turn the engine over and slam her foot on the gas pedal before he could stop her. But she was grateful she did. Somehow she kept her eyes from blinking for a long time as she drove. Because the instant she blinked, the large tears fell unchecked.

  Aaron heard the SUV pull into the drive and he waited only a few minutes before going out to check on his sister. She wasn’t inside. He walked around the side of the house, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. He’d never quite got the hang of handling her. Her advice had always been keep your distance to stay unhurt. Anna had a tendency to swing first and ask questions later.

  He’d found the information on her computer and had guessed where she’d gone.

  “So should I start packing?” He asked, his voice mildly hinged with humor. She was sunk in the corner of the backyard. A place she’d taken as her own when they bought the house so many years ago. Knees were pulled to her chest, arms around them and head down, eyes staring out over the houses and shimmering water far below. He was relieved when he heard the little laugh from her. “I saw what you had pulled up on the computer. Is that where you went?”

  “Yes. I hate him.”

  Aaron let himself drop to the ground, sitting cross legged beside her, he sighed. “We never hid things very deep, Anna.”

  “That isn’t the point. No one looked for us when we were four or fourteen,” she said angrily.

  “Do you ever wonder…think about…that we block other people out of our lives because of each other?” Aaron watched her lift her head and slowly turn to face him.

  “Yes…yes…too much lately…” she whispered sadly. “I’d be really pissed if I found out you had a chance to be happy with someone and…and you screwed it up because of me.”

  “Oh, and I’m really scared of that happening,” he taunted with years of brotherly experience. “What about you, Anna? What about you being happy?”

  “I’m happy.”

  “Then why do you hate him? Seemed like an okay kind of guy to me,” he watched her eyes close. “What happened, Anna?” He reached over, grabbed her ankles and turned her to face him. “Talk to me.”

  “He had an old couple there for dinner,” she began slowly, their eyes locked in a stream that wasn’t broken. “He said they’re the mother’s parents.”

  Aaron let his head fall forward for a quiet minute before standing up and pulling her with him toward the house when the rain began dripping on them. She went to the wide, cushioned window seat while he locked the doors behind them.

  “Well…”

  “You should talk to him, Aaron,” she met the surprised look on his face with one finger up to stop his immediate protest. “You are much better at…at handling people than I am. You always were.”

  “You didn’t speak to them?” He leaned against the breakfast counter, arms crossed over his chest.

  “I…was lucky I could see straight. I wanted to hit something…and not stop,” she whispered angrily. “I…it was like the day the house blew up. Just…just nothing but anger inside me.”

  “We don’t know their story,” he reasoned logically.

  “I always hate when you use that line,” Anna glared at him, sulking.

  “You made a lousy blonde,” he recalled with a sigh. “And I’m not keen on relocating. I think I’m getting settled,” he grinned at the face she made. “So you’re pissed at Shipley?”

  “That’s a mild term for what I’m feeling at the moment,” she corrected flatly.

  “You think it’s possible…locating us and wanting landscaping just might be two separate paths?” Aaron winced at the glare. “Alrighty then…so you’re not in the right frame of mind to discuss it tonight.”

  “I wouldn’t bring it up tomorrow, either,” she advised, yawning and standing up. “I’ve got work tomorrow and I’m tired. G’night, Aaron.”

  “G’night, sis…take one of the pills, Anna…”

  “Don’t nag. I’m fine.”

  At two in the morning, she was grateful they had separate sections of the home. She hated the nightmares. They were too fragmented. Part of her was still a child; another part of her was lost for six long years while Aaron completed a tour with the military. She got up and went to the bathroom, damped down a small cloth with warm water and laid down with it over her eyes, forcing her mind to the quiet meditation she’d struggled with most of her life.

  Aaron was knotting his tie when he walked in on her mixing something in the blender that was pink and swirly. She didn’t hide the nightmares well. He doubted she realized how much it showed. “Looks like sunshine today…”

  “Good. I got dirt to dig and trees to plant,” she returned, poured the yogurt smoothie into a travel cup, grabbed up her pack from the back of the chair. Keys jangled when she went to the door. “See you later.”

  She hadn’t slept. But then, neither had he. They were well past the age where being uncovered would be a problem for them. But that didn’t stop the emotional background that hung like Christmas icicles around them both.

  Anna went directly to the site her crew was working, a very nice business complex being completed to the north. High dollar, she noted, checking her drawings and wandering to help where she was needed.

  Carter Shipley leaned against the front fender of the sports car. He’d never given much thought to the people who created the landscaping. And he couldn’t recall seeing so many women working on one crew before. He knew that Anna Carson worked with schools, vo-techs and local junior colleges to find people interested in botanicals. One of the many things he found fascinating about her and how she operated not only her business but her life.

  It was the first week of April and the sun was doing a wonderful job making people believe it was really spring time in the Pacific Northwest. Carter had a pair of sunglasses covering his green eyes and he found watching Anna Carson wield a shovel an interesting new past time. She wore dirt smudged khaki pants today with a brilliant lime colored tank top, and small, hiking boots with thick soles.

  A brief parade of the types of women he’d dated through his thirty-six years flashed in slide show format through his mind. For some odd reason, they no longer held any appeal to him.

  He knew as soon as the shrill whistle ripped through the air that he’d been made. Her body straightened slowly, the mirrors on her glasses reflecting the green and bright colors of spring flowers even as sunlight glistened off the moisture coating her arms and face.

  He watched her motion to one of the others, hand her the shovel and give instructions before she headed tow
ard him. Each of the fitted leather gloves was slowly pulled free as she moved quickly to the sidewalk. Long legged with attitude, he thought, the firm set of her jaw telling him it wasn’t going to be a pleasant encounter.

  Carter Shipley remained leaning, his gaze guarded. He didn’t know her well enough to know if she was going to cry or hit him. He honestly wasn’t sure which he would have preferred at this point. He’d hoped for more time. Time to get to know her, not just the file he’d created from a month of digging and gathering.

  “I don’t suppose there’s the smallest chance we can keep this civil,” Carter asked politely, neither of them removing their glasses.

  “You dove head first into my privacy,” she hissed coldly, stopping in front of him, feet solidly planted slightly apart and hands shoved into the wide pockets of her khakis to keep from waving them about in anger.

  “I did,” he sighed. “If I say I’m sorry, I’d be lying, Anna. I’m sorry if it ends up hurting you. That is the truth.”

  She felt the sound of her own pulse, lashes down to keep the moisture inside. “Would you give me a complete copy of the file you have on us?”

  Carter wasn’t prepared for that one. He reached out, not surprised that she didn’t move a muscle as he pulled her glasses free. He swore at the tear she hastily swiped with a dirt streaked palm.

  “No one else will ever see that file, Anna, I promise you that. But yes, I’ll make you a copy of everything I found,” he assured her, handing her the glasses and watching her nod.

  “Thank you.”

  “I spoke to your brother this morning for a long time,” he told her, his head shaking when there wasn’t a hint of movement in her features at his comment.

  “I’ll expect the file as soon as you can prepare it for me, Mr. Shipley. Thank you,” she turned until her palm was gripped, stopping her in place. “It would really be best if you left.”

  “My wanting to have lunch with you had nothing to do with the job I took for…” He stopped when she spun on him furiously, dark lashes narrowed. “From your grand-parents, Anna. They continue to be two totally separate issues.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, Mr. Shipley, you have one issue. That’s the job you took. If it’s complete, then there is no further need for us to speak. And to show you what a good sport I am about the whole deal, I’ll ship you the drawings I did for you and recommend another landscaper,” she pulled her hand free and walked away, head high and holding her breath.

  “They want to have dinner with you, Anna,” he called out, straightening up and deciding his full height might intimidate some but it had no effect on the woman who spun and paced quickly back to stand in front of him.

  “Maybe there are big…gaping holes in your file,” she said coldly, hands clenched into fists at her sides. “I don’t care what they want. Is there a word in there you can’t seem to grasp?”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “Well, kids…looks like I got here just in time,” Aaron Carson announced breathlessly as he jogged lightly over the concrete, carefully taking his sisters shoulders and turning her toward her people.

  “I do not need you here right now, Aaron,” she told him rigidly.

  “I’m here to protect him,” her brother tossed back, shrugging at the wild look he’d grown up with.

  “What you do with him and his job, is your business. Keep him away from me,” she poked one finger at his chest before striding off to rejoin her workers, throwing herself and all the pent up anger into digging and hauling.

  “You like living dangerously, Shipley,” Aaron joined him at the side of the sports car, leaning back and shaking his head.

  “She asked for a copy of the file,” he said quietly.

  “She wants to block holes and find out what information you have.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s private. Because it’s our life. Because we lived it and she wants it kept in a nice little box,” Aaron dragged one hand over his neck.

  “It should have been busted loose years ago, Aaron, and you know it,” he didn’t know where the anger came from. He’d investigated and found dozens of people for lost relatives. Some with stories a lot worse than they’d lived through. “A hell of a lot of people should have lost jobs for what happened.”

  “Well, it didn’t happen that way. It happened the way it was and we’ve grown up with it and dealt with it,” he met the shaded eyes with the same stubborn glare that his sister held in hers. “I’ll deal with the people who hired you. You did what you were hired to do, you found us for them. Now I’ll do the big brother thing and keep her shielded, any way I can.”

  “And she can’t see me without seeing them,” Carter said tiredly.

  “Do all your jobs end happy ever after?” Aaron asked, working to keep the sour taste from his words.

  “No. No they don’t,” he stood up and pulled keys from his pocket. “But this is different. This is like being hit by a damn bus. Call me when you decide you want to speak with them. I’ll set up the meeting for you when you get back.”

  “I appreciate it,” Aaron watched him drive off before going to his own car and heading for the airport. Swearing softly as he drove, he tapped in Carter’s number before he boarded the plane.

  Chapter Five

  A sealed envelope was sitting on her desk when she returned to her office. The scent of freshly washed hands and face filled the area, the door locked and the office quiet. By the time she was finished with it, a long breath of relief sifted through the silence around her. He hadn’t gone into the past. He’d started with names and worked his way to her and Aaron. His last notes had been a recommendation to Amelia and Michael Austin that standard DNA testing be accomplished before anything further was undertaken.

  Anna slowly fed the papers into the shredder before sinking down on her sofa, head back and eyes closed. She pulled the blanket off the back and curled into a tight bundle. It was dark and the office warm when she fell asleep.

  The voice wasn’t always there.

  It waited in the dark like a viper.

  Her mind drifted to the journal she’d kept for many years. The words she had begun writing when she was barely four.

  They never knew where the learning toys came from. They never really knew where anything came from. Later, they guessed most of it was provided by their father’s parents. The man and woman who were their parents didn’t want them and made no effort to hide that fact.

  Anna knew later on that they had been more than lucky. The twins discovered and began teaching themselves things when they were just past eighteen months old. They listened. They watched. Few adults noticed small children as long as they were quiet.

  They learned words, played with toys and picked up books. They printed and read and printed more. No one noticed. They had been taught to get their own food and clothing and spent their very early years in a large room that had once been part of a very nice home. Books of all kinds lined the shelves; a large television was always available and the desk had paper and pencils. Toys appeared on a regular basis that included small computers. They had each other and used everything else to learn.

  ****

  Carter had parts of the information he’d learned from Aaron pounding inside his head when he drove to her office shortly before seven. Specks of sunshine streaked the sky, glinting off the key he used to open the front door and disarm the alarm. He’d done nothing but think about the information and still knew he barely had a spoonful of the whole story. Two hands raked through the straight dark blond hair. And how had he come by the information that wasn’t in his report? Because he’d caved and gone to her brother to find out how to get her to let him inside.

  Aaron had looked at the man he was calling a new friend and shook his head as they sat at the airport bar sharing a drink.

  “Anna always says inviting someone in would never be fair to them. We’re not kids and we know there are thousands of kids who had it a hundred times worse tha
n what we lived through. Except for the occasional scare…no one touched us. No one…bothered with us. They kept us fed and clothed mostly to avoid child protective services from becoming involved,” he recalled.

  Carter stood in the center of the reception area, silent and listening. He knew she was here somewhere, her SUV was outside. Then he heard the small whimper. A sound that was a mix between a child and a puppy hiding out of reach.

  He stepped into her office and knew immediately where she was. Aaron had warned him. Carter pulled a small bottle of chocolate soy milk from her fridge, shaking it before opening the bottle. He crushed the two small pills Aaron had given him, dropped them into the bottle and recapped it with a couple shakes before sitting it on the table next to the empty sofa.

  Carter shoved aside the warning he’d been given and quietly pulled the door to the closet wide. He dropped to his heels and felt his insides turn upside down and be ripped to shreds. The eruption was violent and filled with anger that the child had never been granted even as he heard Aaron’s voice firmly telling him that she’d never been molested. But the voice, the threat or promise that she had heard was enough to haunt her.

  “Oh, Anna…” he felt the hard pull on his heart. He had no idea such a tall, willowy woman could curl into such a tiny space. She had pulled her body into the shape of a large egg, her arms around her knees and knees hugged tightly to her chest. She’d pushed herself as far into the back of the closet as she could, a jacket dropped over her to add to the cover.

  She was asleep, or at least, as asleep as the nightmare would allow. His hand shook as he reached to stroke gently over her head. He couldn’t reconcile the strong, vibrant women he’d encountered the last few days with the vulnerable bundle hiding in the closet.

  *****

  Anna heard them talking. She was only four but her and Aaron were much, much smarter than anyone ever imagined. She listened. Later, when she was older, she realized they were drug dealers. And the people who visited the suburban home were less than safe to be around. She’d been sitting in the center of the floor of their room, reading a book when the door opened. She’d learned early on not to speak and never to move. Just sit still and they went away. She kept her room tidy and in order, an opposite from the rest of the house.