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by Fern Michaels

  Too tired to speak, Toots gave her the single-digit salute. It spoke volumes.

  “Fuck you, too,” Sophie replied, smiling.

  Thirty minutes later, they were pulling into the hospital’s patient pickup area. Toots called Chris to tell him their location.

  “I can’t wait to get Abby home. She is not going back to that house of hers, either. Nor am I allowing her to go to Chris’s apartment,” Toots stated, sounding like the mother of a runaway sixteen-year-old.

  “Like you can stop her. She’s thirty, not three,” Sophie reminded her, remembering that they had missed celebrating Abby’s thirtieth birthday in the immediate aftermath of Bernice’s open-heart surgery. “I’m sure the last thing Abby needs is to have you and the rest of us hovering over her like four old mother hens.”

  “Well, I am her mother. Abby has always listened to me. I am going to insist she stay at the beach house until she recuperates. If Chris wants to stay, too, that’s fine with me. I know they’re both adults, but sometimes there is nothing like a little bit of pampering. Look,” Toots said. “There they are now.”

  A nurse wheeled Abby outside, where she immediately flew out of the wheelchair as though her ass were on fire. Chris placed his arm across her shoulder and said something to her. Whatever it was made Abby laugh, and that was a good thing. After all her daughter had been through, she still had the ability to laugh, so Toots knew that this, too, would pass.

  Toots opened the door, and Sophie jumped out, insisting Abby ride in the front seat.

  “I’m fine. I’ll just crawl in the backseat with Chris and Mom. God, it’s good to be out of that place. I hate hospitals.”

  Toots hugged her daughter, then said, “Let’s get home, Goebel. I know Mavis and Ida can’t wait to see their favorite godchild.”

  “What do you mean, their favorite?” Abby asked in mock seriousness. “I thought I was their only godchild.”

  Sophie, ever the jokester, said, “Listen, kiddo, there are all kinds of things about us you don’t know. Give it a few years.”

  Toots reached over the front seat and yanked Sophie’s long hair. “Stop right now! I can’t have you ruining my motherly image at this late date!”

  “That’ll never happen, Mom. I promise. And before I get all teary-eyed, just let me say this. Thanks for being the kind of mom you are, and, Sophie, thank you for being the best, well, one of the best, godmothers a girl could ask for. Again, you have all bailed me out.” When Abby was finished, tears were streaming down her face.

  “I don’t know who’s a bigger bawl bag, you or your mother,” Sophie said, even though by then her own eyes were filled with unshed tears.

  As though on command, Toots, Abby, and Chris all flipped Sophie the bird.

  They all laughed, the atmosphere among them relaxed and happy.

  “I think you and Chris should stay at the beach house the next few days. That way, I’ll be able to watch you and keep you out of trouble,” Toots said, realizing her words were just that: words. Abby and Chris could do whatever they desired. Though she hoped they would take her up on her offer. They all needed some family time together, especially now.

  “Sure, Mom, if that makes you happy, I’ll stay. I just need a few things from the house,” Abby said.

  “Yeah, I suppose I could hang out with a houseful of women for a day or two. It’s not as though I have a long client list just waiting for my advice. Actually, I don’t have any clients, at least not in the entertainment area.”

  Abby appeared stunned. “Really? When did this take place?”

  “Since Laura Leighton’s last episode. I know you haven’t forgotten that little escapade,” Chris said. “After that, all the glitz and glamour seemed silly to me. These Hollywood people are here for two things. Fame and fortune. No one seems to have any morals here, no concern for what’s right or wrong. I guess you could say I’ve had my fill of the place. Maybe I’ll go work for a district attorney’s office somewhere. Though not in this city. I know most of the people I’d have to prosecute.”

  “They have a great district attorney’s office in Charleston,” Toots said, warming up to the idea.

  “I don’t know what my plans are at this point, but I’ll keep that in mind,” Chris assured her.

  Abby’s face brightened. Maybe she should consider this, too? A temporary leave of absence might be just what the doctor ordered. She didn’t know how her mother would take this, given all the millions she’d put into The Informer to make it the number two tabloid newspaper in the country. But still, it was something to think about.

  When they arrived at the beach house, Mavis and Ida, along with Chester, greeted them at the front door.

  Abby was barely out of the vehicle when Chester came bounding down the steps. Standing on his hind legs, he placed both front paws on Abby’s shoulders and started licking her as though she were a giant beef stick.

  “Hey, boy, I hear you helped save my life,” Abby said as she wrapped her arms around the big dog’s neck. “It’s good to see you, too, my friend.” Chester dropped down on all fo n urs, allowing Mavis and Ida a chance to embrace Abby.

  “When your mother said you were coming home, I just started making everything I knew was a favorite of yours. I’m afraid there isn’t much left in the house right now, but we’ll worry about that later,” Mavis said, leading Abby to the kitchen, from which all kinds of delectable smells were emanating.

  “Smells good in here,” Abby said as she walked toward the doors leading out to the deck. Without saying another word to the others, she stepped outside and took a deep breath, grateful that she was able to do so. Thank God they’d found her in time. Drinking in the scene before her—the ocean, the beach, and all the sounds and smells that went along with it—made her realize she’d truly been given a second chance. Did she really want to spend the rest of her life writing articles, if you could even call them articles, about Hollywood’s screwed-up starlet of the moment or the latest actor to go into rehab one day and get arrested a week later for possession? Life here could turn on a dime. One day you’re at the top. Then the next, you come crashing down like a falling star. How important was any of it in the scheme of things? She decided then and there that, if one really understood the meaning of the word, it really wasn’t important at all. She supposed you could think of it as a game, but even that glorified it too much. Games had winners, yet all she saw in Hollywood, at least from the perspective of a tabloid, were the losers. She just didn’t know if she wanted to be a part of it anymore.

  “Hey,” Chris called. “Everyone is waiting for you. Come inside, have something to eat, and you’ll feel better.”

  Abby wasn’t sure food would cure what ailed her at the moment, but she was hungry. “Of course. I’m ravenous.”

  Mavis outdid herself. She’d made Abby’s favorite: shrimp scampi, a Greek salad, and the garlic rolls she knew Abby would eat one too many of; and then there was dessert. Abby eyed the kitchen table. Plates and cloth napkins. Hmm, this was new. Usually when she came for dinner, they ordered a pizza and used paper plates and napkins. But this was a special occasion, she realized. Her godmothers were just trying to show her how special she really was.

  “This all looks scrumptious. I know I’ll gain ten pounds at least,” she said as Mavis filled her plate.

  Chris sat on her left, and her mother to her right. Sophie and Goebel seated themselves directly across from her, and Ida and Mavis sat at either end of the table. For the moment nothing was said. The sounds of silver clicking against china were the only sounds to be heard for the next few minutes, as they all filled themselves with Mavis’s goodies.

  When they were finished, Toots and Sophie went to the deck for their usual after-dinner smoke. Abby and Chris joined them, though they stayed upwind of the smoke so as not to get a noseful of the nastiness.

  “I’m quitting soon, Abby. I promise,” Toots said as she puffed on her Marlboro Light.

  “Same here,” Sophie said. “
I’m just not sure when.”

  Abby just shook her head. “I guess it’s just like any other habit. Once you’re sick of it, you’ll decide it’s time to call it quits.” Which made Abby think about The Informer. Did she really want to call it quits, or was this just a typical survivor-like reaction to all she’d been through?

  “True,” her mother said. “But I want you to know that I am sincere. I know how much you dislike smoking. Phil said there was a prescription drug on the market that could help me give these up. I might take a look into it when I’m home.”

  Abby’s eyes twinkled, and suddenly she was more grateful to be alive than ever. “Uh, Mom, this Phil. Just how friendly are you two? Should I anticipate a number nine?”

  Oh, crud! Toots thought. Leave it to Abby to call an ace an ace and a spade a spade. No beating around the bush with her. Of course, she was her daughter. She’d expect nothing less. “For your information, young lady, I have had one measly date with Phil. So to answer your question, no, he is not, under any circumstances, being considere d as husband number nine. Remember, after Leland died, I swore off marriage?”

  “I thought that you swore off men, too. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding on my part,” Sophie added, a wicked grin lighting up her dark brown eyes.

  “If you two don’t stop ganging up on me, I’m going inside,” Toots said.

  “Hmm, must have hit a nerve,” Sophie said as she blew out a giant puff of white smoke. “What do you think, Abby?”

  “I don’t think I’ve seen that look in Mom’s eyes for a long time, if ever. I know she had it for my father, but I was really too young to understand what all those gaga eyes were about then. Speaking of my dad, this is weird. When I was in that closet, I don’t know if I was sleeping or unconscious, but I had a kind of conversation with him, even though I know I couldn’t have actually been speaking since Rag had all that duct tape covering my mouth. Still, I would swear we spoke.”

  Sophie looked at Toots; then Toots looked at Abby.

  Hesitantly, Sophie asked, “What exactly did he say?”

  “This is the weird part. It was almost like he was trying to apologize for dying when I was so young. He said he was going to make it up to me.”

  No one uttered a word. The only sounds to be heard were those coming from the beach below. The occasional shout from a parent, a child’s cry, and the whooshing sounds as the water sloshed back and forth on the beach.

  “Did he say anything else?” Sophie asked, now on the edge of her seat. She lit another cigarette, her hands shaking like a leaf.

  “Yes, I believe he did.” Abby appeared to be struggling with the memory. “I think he was trying to tell me that he wanted Mother and me to be happy.”

  “That’s it?” Sophie inquired.

  “Yes, at least that’s all I remember. Sophie, what is it? You look weird.”

  Sophie shook her head. “There’s more to the story than we’ve told you. When Rag had you call asking for that ten million bucks, your mom had the money in cash. Dave, who I’m sure you know from his being the head of security at the paper, placed the money in a garbage can in the men’s room at the Santa Monica Pier, near the Marine Science Center.

  “Everything was coming together according to Goebel and Dave’s master plan. The next thing we know, and this is according to the police, two hoods from Venezuela showed up, looking for Rag. I guess he’d ripped off the wife of a wealthy man who has a few unsavory connections. They got to him, not knowing he was in the midst of a kidnapping. Before anyone knew who they were, or what their exact involvement was, Rag was facedown on the pier with a bullet hole in his back. Since he was the only one who knew your location, and he wasn’t talking, we . . . we asked your father.”

  Abby looked as though she’d seen a ghost, which around the beach house was quite normal. “I thought you picked up my hint when I was reading that note, you know, when I mentioned South Central LA. I guess I just assumed Chester sniffed me out.”

  Abby plopped down on one of the deck chairs, stunned at the revelation but intrigued since she, too, had had some sort of contact with her father. She’d shrugged it off as nothing more than a dream, or her subconscious desire, as she drifted in and out of consciousness. But now she wasn’t so sure.

  “Knowing there was no other way to find you, we hurried back here. We decided to try to speak to your father,” Toots explained.

  Amazed, Abby said, “You did this while Phil was here? The séance stuff, plus Dad?” She shook her head.

  “Actually, he was quite open to the idea. He’s from Charleston, remember?” Toots informed her daughter.

  “Wow! I think I like this guy already,” Abby said. “So what did my father say that led you to find me?”

  “Just a few words, and they didn’t make a lot of sense until Chris’s buddies in the LAPD located the pings from Rag’s cell phone. Yes, you were in South Central LA. That much we were pretty sure of, with what you’d said, plus the pings, but your father said, ‘Mr. Steve.’ We had no clue what that meant until Chris’s cop buddy contacted a local police officer whose beat was in South Central. Mr. Steve’s is a well-known pawnshop, which just so happens to have a few shitty apartments on the third floor. As soon as we located Mr. Steve’s, well, Chester took it from there,” Toots said.

  “Wow, this is news to me. What I’m not getting . . . Mom, you said you and Phil were in Naples on a date? How did you and my godmothers wind up here?”

  “Well, it didn’t start out that way. Phil came to the house in Charleston to take me to dinner, and while Bernice was spying on the Patterson place, she heard something that turned out to be Frankie’s whimpering. Phil and the rest of us got to the dog. Phil switched into doctor mode right away because he knew that Frankie had a serious spinal injury. He said there was only a short window of time until his injuries became permanent. So it was then he called a friend with access to a Learjet, and we flew Frankie to Naples to see Dr. Michelle Carnes. He had gone to medical school with her father. Knowing it would be a while before Frankie was out of surgery, Phil suggested we spend the night at DiamondHead, his condo on Fort Myers Beach. Then Chris called, and we immediately caught a flight to LA.”

  “That was your first date?” Abby was so stunned, she could hardly get the words out of her mouth. “I would say he’s definitely a keeper. Loves dogs, wanted to come and support you, a doctor. Plus, he didn’t think Sophie was nuts. This is the kind of stuff fairy tales are made of. Are you sure you all are telling me the whole truth and nothing but?”

  “So help me God,” Toots and Sophie said at the same time.

  For a few minutes, no one spoke. This was turning out to be way more than a simple abduction, if you could even call it that.

  Chapter 36

  Goebel followed Mavis and Ida out to the deck, carrying a large tray with a pot of coffee and a strawberry cheesecake, one of Abby’s favorites. He placed the dessert on the outdoor table, where Mavis proceeded to slice the cake.

  “Now, I know this isn’t on Goebel’s and my diets, but since we’re celebrating Abby’s safe return, I think it’s okay to indulge,” Mavis said. “Toots, you want a slice of cake? I know how much you love sweets,” Mavis asked her.

  Toots didn’t answer. Abby’s words were still reverberating around in her head, and Toots wondered if the virtual wall she’d mentally built against another man in her life was on the verge of crumbling.

  “Toots!” Sophie yelled. “Mavis is talking to you.”

  “Sorry. I was woolgathering,” Toots said abstractedly. “Sure, I’ll take a piece of cake. When have you ever known me to turn down dessert?”

  Mavis cut a giant slice and gave it to her, together with a mug of coffee doused with cream and sugar. “If those cigarettes don’t kill you, all this sugar is bound to, but we’ll discuss it at another time,” Mavis said.

  Toots wondered if now was the time to speak to Abby, then decided there was no time like the present. “Abby, have you given any thoug
ht about taking a leave of absence from the paper and coming back to Charleston?” Toots asked. “After what you have been through, it might be a good time to come home. Josh can run the paper. You said so yourself. You could stay in touch by phone and e-mail. Remember, I was CEO for two years, and not even once did you know this. I’m not asking you to give up your job, Abby. But I think we need to reevaluate our decisions. This paper has been a godsend in one sense, but after what Rag pulled, I’m not sure it’s worth all the heartache we’ve had to deal with the past forty-eight hours. Your safety is more important to me than anything in the world.”

  “Me too,” Chris added.

  “And you could come, too, Chris. It would give you a chance to see your father’s plantation house. You might even find a position in the district attorney’s office.” The more Toots talked about the idea, the more excited she became.

  “This is a lot to take in right now. I’m not sure of anything yet, but I would like to take some time off. LA is my home now, and I can’t just walk away from everything you and I worked so hard to build.”

  What Abby didn’t want to admit to was, she agreed with her mother. This movie-star nonsense was becoming as dull as an old nickel to her now. But could she completely walk away from it? She didn’t know. Later, when she was alone, she would truly give it some serious thought. If not forever, then at least until she had some kind of epiphany about some other profession she might want to pursue. Tabloid news was in her blood, and she didn’t know if she could give it up completely, but a leave of absence wasn’t out of the question at this point.

  “You were never a quitter, Abby. I just wanted you to think about this. It’s certainly not written in stone,” Toots said, though she had to admit she was hoping Abby would be a bit more receptive to the idea. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to get rid of the paper, perhaps try another media outlet. Maybe Ida’s new venture would direct her on another path. And she was half owner of the bakery, though she couldn’t bake if her life depended on it. All she could do in that business was act as taste tester.