Leaving Annalise (Katie & Annalise Book 2)

by Pamela Fagan Hutchins

  My eyes met his. The shine in his blinded me to everything but him. He was simply gorgeous, and I wanted to drop my flowers and run the rest of the way to him. He had rolled up the sleeves of his white linen shirt, exposing the dark skin on his arms, the skin I loved to hold next to my own. Behind him, the arch framed the valley of mangoes and the western shoreline. It was so clear you could almost see to Vieques, Puerto Rico. I pictured my mother standing there. I know she would have approved. Of Nick, of the view, of everything.

  Words were spoken. Duke’s. Collin’s. Emily took my orchids and I put my hand through Nick’s arm. I wanted time to slow down, but it wouldn’t. The best I could do was savor it, so I tried to memorize every detail, from the sound of the macaws in the distance to the feel of the breeze lifting my hair and teasing my neck.

  LuLu carried Taylor forward with our rings and Nick slipped my mother’s ring onto my finger, for good this time. I put the gold band we’d chosen together in Town on his finger. And then he gathered my face in his hands and kissed me. I went up on my toes and threw my arms around him and buried my face in his chest. I let the tears come, and he rocked me back and forth.

  “I want to go back and do that all again,” I whispered to him.

  “I could relive the moment when you and Collin walked out the door over and over, myself.”

  I leaned back in the circle of his arms and he kissed me again.

  The steel pan band began to play and everyone surged in to hug us, one after another: Kurt and Julie, LuLu, Rashidi, Ava and her parents, Ruth, Emily, Crazy and Lotta, my old boss Gino from Dallas I’d had absolutely no idea was coming. Contractors. Musicians. Neighbors. Friends.

  Our biggest guest, Jacoby, waited patiently for his turn at the end of what had become a long line. He wrapped me in a bear hug and shook Nick’s hand.

  “I got news,” he said.

  “Good news only, tonight,” I said.

  He actually cracked a smile, which I’d never seen him do before. “How about good news first?”

  “Marginally acceptable,” I said. But I reminded myself that nothing would bring me down. Not tonight.

  “I post Morris at your gate to keep out bad man dem.”

  “That is good,” I said.

  “What’s the bad news?” Nick asked.

  “Derek check in with his parole officer. She say he had a timecard and pay stub for the whole week. She think we confused here in the islands, get the wrong guy.”

  Nick closed his eyes and sighed. I put my head against his shoulder.

  “I sorry about that. Least he not here to spoil the day,” Jacoby said.

  “True dat,” Nick said, and I laughed at his accent, which was worse than mine.

  “Go enjoy some food. We have a great mahimahi.” I glanced behind him and saw Julie standing in the midst of the steel pan band with a mallet in her hand. Nick claimed she had never met an instrument she couldn’t play.

  “What you trying to do, kill me? I allergic to fish dem.”

  “Shellfish, too?”

  “Nah, they no problem.”

  “Well, then stick to the whelk and lobster Rashidi brought.”

  Jacoby sauntered off to the buffet line. We left the subject of bad man dem and joined our party.

  But just after the sun went down, we heard a distant crack and all the lights went out, leaving us in sudden dusk. My pulse surged and I reached for Nick. I knew that sound well after Crazy’s stroke. It was a power transformer blowing out by the gate. Amused voices rose around us, but I was worried. What if someone was out there? What if they’d disabled the transformer on purpose?

  I heard the squawk of a radio, then Jacoby’s voice right in front of us in the dark. “Morris report everything fine.”

  “Thanks, Jacoby,” I said.

  Everything was fine except for the fact that we had fifty people in the growing dark at our wedding reception.

  Before I could even run for candles, though, all the lights came back on. Applause filled the air. Wow, WAPA’s fast tonight, I thought. Then I realized that was impossible. It wasn’t WAPA. And magic was the only other way I knew to fix a blown transformer.

  “Thank you, Annalise,” I whispered. “What a lovely wedding present.”

  The party continued, and it was fabulous. Nick and I slipped away just past midnight as everyone else danced and drank rum drinks on the patio.

  “Wait,” Nick said as we neared our room. He stopped me and swept me up into his arms. “I want to carry you across the threshold.”

  I felt light and incredibly feminine, and I raised my face to rub noses. “My husband. My gorgeous husband, with his erotic nose.”

  “It’s enormous, Katie.”

  “But your hair balances it out nicely,” I said. He bumped me into the doorframe on purpose, and I laughed.

  “Yeah, me and Lyle Lovett.”

  “No comparison, Nick, no comparison.”

  He settled me on the bed. Fresh hibiscus petals were scattered on the sheets around me. They reminded me of our first night together at the Reef. There was a chilled bottle of sparkling cider in an ice bucket and pieces of the bride’s and groom’s cakes on the nightstand by a ribbon-wrapped bottle of Nick’s fancy face cream and a pale purple bottle of my favorite perfume, Interlude.

  “Ah, flower petals and perfume. Nice touch,” I said.

  “And thank you for taking on the responsibility of keeping my complexion soft and creamy.”

  I laughed. “You’re welcome.”

  “I love you, my wife.”

  “I love you, my husband.”

  And, no surprise, we soon forgot about the cake, sparkling cider, and presents, and all the people gathered outside in our honor, and Taylor in the next room, and world peace, and starving children in India. We entered that special place we went to together, that wild river that we would ride, never knowing what was next, but only that it would catch us helplessly and willingly in its current. We drowned ourselves in each other until we reached that moment of ecstasy and the river threw us onto the beach, joined and panting and alive.

  Very, very much alive.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  At nine o’clock the next morning, someone was knocking on our bedroom door. I could not imagine what they were thinking. I kept my eyes firmly closed.

  Nick moaned, but his hand sneaked out and slipped down to a personal area of mine. I gasped. He pulled me to him and whispered, “Please ignore them.”

  “Just a minute,” I called to whoever was behind the door.

  “OK,” Nick’s mom called in her soft, lovely voice, “but Taylor has breakfast in bed for you two sleepyheads.”

  This announcement, made on the other side of a thin door with a flimsy thumb lock, did not seem to get through to my new husband. It seemed that a minute really would be all we would both need. I sank my teeth into his shoulder as the spasms ripped through me. He panted and held me so tight that I knew I would have fingerprints amidst the freckles on my pale white skin. Intense and wonderful.

  “Mom, can you stall Taylor long enough for us to get decent?” Nick pleaded.

  “Make it fast, or he’ll probably feed it all to the dog,” she said.

  Nick raised himself up and smiled at me. “Good morning, beautiful wife.”

  “Good morning, my love.”

  “We’ll have to save the rest of the indecency for St. John.”

  Kurt and Julie were staying with Taylor so we could leave for our honeymoon down island that afternoon. I got up and put on pajama pants and a tank top.

  Nick got dressed and went to the door. He looked at me and nodded as he called out, “We’re starving. I wonder if there’s any way to get some breakfast around here.”

  Giggles pealed behind the door. Nick threw it open, and Julie guided Taylor into the room. He was carrying a basket as big as he was, and Oso was on crumb patrol. Julie lifted Taylor and the basket up onto the bed.

  “Taylor, did you do this for us?” I asked.
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  He nodded proudly.

  “Thank you. You are such a sweet boy.”

  We pulled out a red-and-white-checked tablecloth, a thermos of fresh-squeezed orange juice and two cups, buttery biscuits, bacon, and two of Taylor’s plastic bowls with steamed-up snap-on tops that appeared to hold scrambled eggs. I smiled at Taylor, who pointed to his grandmother.

  Julie handed us two steaming cups of coffee and said, “We’re all out having our breakfast by the pool. Kurt’s guarding my food from the dogs until I get back, so I’d better hurry. We need to drop you at the seaplane at one, right?”

  “Right,” we said in unison.

  She picked Taylor back up. “Time for you and Oso to come play out by the pool.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Nick said.

  The next few hours rushed by as we enjoyed our guests, showered, packed, and took Kurt and Julie through the hurricane checklist Rashidi had helped us put together. Running the Annalise household presented a test anytime, but even more so during hurricane season. Nick taught Kurt how to operate the critical systems: the cisterns and pump, the generator, and the solar-powered gate. I took Julie through maps to the gas station, hospital, and grocery store.

  It was soon time to leave. Our wedding party walked us to the truck and Collin slapped Nick on the shoulder. “If you ever need anything at all, call.”

  Emily kissed us both. “I’m taking credit for this, you know. Without me, you guys wouldn’t be here. I would accept, as a token of your appreciation, lifetime vacation privileges up here at Annalise.”

  LuLu chimed in, “Me, too.”

  “Done!” Nick said. “Collin, can I talk to you a minute?”

  “She’s already giving you trouble?” Collin asked. I didn’t bother to sock him, but I gave him my best eye roll.

  The others wandered off, leaving Nick’s parents with us and Collin.

  Nick leaned toward Collin and said, “Listen, it’s really unlikely, but there’s a possibility Taylor’s father is on island.”

  “He’s on the no-no list,” I said.

  “My parents are already on the lookout, but I wanted to let you know, since you’ll be staying here a few more hours, and my parents will be gone.” Nick described Derek to my brother.

  “No problem. Might be fun if he does show up while I’m here.” Collin grinned. No one will ever accuse him of hiding his light under a bushel basket.

  We piled into the truck approximately on time, Kurt behind the wheel to familiarize himself with the route and Nick riding shotgun to issue manly instructions. We pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the seaplane base twenty-five minutes later. After we checked in, Nick’s parents hung around to have a snack with us at the café on the dock.

  “That’s weird,” Nick said as we stood in line for beef patties.

  “What’s weird?” I asked.

  He thumbed his phone screen. “I have two missed calls. No voice mails.”

  “Who from?”

  “It says unknown. Maybe a well-wisher. Or a client.”

  Or maybe it was Derek. There had been time enough for him to fly back to the island after meeting with his parole officer. Could he be calling on his way up to Annalise? But he wouldn’t call. Would he?

  “They’ll call back if it’s important,” I said.

  We settled at a table close to the water with our spicy beef patties and Nick’s phone rang again.

  “Hello? Hello? Hello?” He shook his head. “The call dropped. Whoever it is, they’re persistent.”

  Nick’s parents were talking about their own honeymoon sailing through the islands in Acadia National Park off the coast of Maine. Well, Julie was talking about it, anyway. Kurt mostly nodded, with an occasional “yup.” I kept one eye on Nick and his phone.

  Our boarding call came over the loudspeaker and Nick’s phone rang again at the same time. I hugged and kissed his parents goodbye while he answered it. And then the hair stood up on the back of my neck and tiny prickles of shock raced up my scalp.

  I turned to look at my husband. I couldn’t read his expression, but he put his hand over his free ear and walked away from us. His body was radiating anguish and channeling it straight to me.

  “Katie? Are you all right?” Julie asked.

  But I was moving toward Nick. I reached out to touch his back and my hand froze in midair, fearful of what it would receive when it closed our circuit. I laid my hand on him anyway.

  He hung up, turned around, and slumped over into me. His face was pale.

  “Derek? Taylor?”

  “No,” he croaked.

  “Your sister?”

  He nodded into my shoulder.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Two Marines are at Annalise,” Nick said hoarsely. “They asked us to come back up there and if I knew where to find my parents.” He raised his eyes to mine. “We’re listed as next of kin, Katie. This is very bad. Teresa told us anything short of death is handled with a phone call.”

  “Oh my God,” I whispered. “I’m sorry, Nick, so sorry.”

  “They said that they weren’t authorized to release information to me over the phone.”

  I struggled to process the news. The timing was gruesome. It seemed to be hovering right outside the bounds of my reality, and if I didn’t let it be real, then it might not. But I knew it was.

  “Your parents,” I said gently.

  Kurt and Julie had moved in close to us, and they looked frightened. Nick started talking to them. I saw their lips moving, but I didn’t hear a word. It was like I’d tuned into a silent movie halfway through. I had just met Kurt and Julie and I didn’t know Teresa at all. I was sad for them, especially Nick, but I wasn’t part of their grief. They huddled together on the dock, holding each other as they sobbed. I gripped Nick’s hand.

  It was a grim drive back to Annalise. When we got there, the Marines delivered the news officially to the Kovacs. Ruth took Taylor to her house and Rashidi shuttled Collin, Emily, and LuLu to the airport. Julie and Kurt retreated upstairs to lie down. I stuck close to Nick, trying to help. His pain was visceral to me. It carried me back to the loss of my parents. He didn’t say a word and I just kept holding tight to his hand.

  That evening, I sat in the great room with Nick and his parents as they talked about what would happen next. We didn’t know much, only that Teresa had died after she stepped on a landmine on the night before our wedding. Obviously, there would be no honeymoon now.

  Nick spoke. “One thing is for certain. We can’t let Derek get his hands on Taylor.”

  Kurt responded in his broad Maine accent. “Can’t imagine he wants him.”

  “It would sure cramp his lifestyle,” Nick said.

  I wasn’t so sure they were right, but I stayed out of it. I was too new to the family to make waves.

  Julie joined in. Her soft voice was weak, and grief had drawn her face in. “Don’t underestimate the influence of his parents. Taylor is their grandbaby.” She turned to me. “Katie, you’re a lawyer, what do you think?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I only learned enough about family law to pass the Texas bar exam. I have no idea, but I can look into it and research anything you guys need me to.” I was practically worthless in this. A total legal loser.

  “Teresa named me Taylor’s godfather. That has to count for something,” Nick said.

  This was news to me, and a game changer. Nick was Taylor’s godfather—not just his uncle, his godfather. In my mind, parents took care of children, so I had assumed until that very moment that Teresa’s parents would take Teresa’s child. But they wouldn’t. Nick would. We would. My mind whirled with the impact on our lives, on me. On forever.

  I swallowed hard and tried to contribute, pulling from the little family law I knew. “Derek is Taylor’s father, so unless he signed away his parental rights, then his status as father may count more than Teresa’s wishes.”

  Nick turned toward me. His eyes said, “Whose side are you on?” but his lips didn’t move. />
  I yanked my eyes away. My mind raced back to me, me, me. I hadn’t even had my time alone with Nick yet. When I married him, I hadn’t imagined myself driving Taylor to kindergarten and packing his car to send him off to college. I had pictured big family Christmas gatherings where I was the special Aunt Katie, and Teresa was grateful and looked up to me like the big sister she never had.

  It was a lot to take in.

  The room was spinning around me. I tried to nod, but it came out as a jerk. I knew that I should put my arms around Nick and promise him I would love and support him no matter what, that I would gladly raise Taylor as my own. I felt peevish and small. I opened my mouth like a fish out of water, and a silent distance stretched between Nick and me. It grew wider with every second, and when I looked into the gap between us, the water was roiling with wide-mouthed sharks, their teeth gnashing. Wider, wider, wider it stretched. I braved looking up again and Nick’s eyes bore into me.

  And then the moment passed. The fish closed its mouth. My hands felt icy cold in my lap. Nick looked out the dark window at nothing.

  I would tell him what he needed to hear soon. I would. But I couldn’t do it now.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  The trip to Port Aransas, Texas, was an ordeal in a situation that was already difficult. Nick and Taylor, Kurt and Julie and I took one plane to San Juan, another to Dallas, another to Corpus Christi, then a ferry from the Texas mainland over to the island of Port A. It was a good warm-up for the next two difficult days of preparation, visitors, and Teresa’s funeral itself. Not to mention the trip to D.C. we would make almost immediately afterwards for the burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

  People poured into Nick’s childhood home after the funeral to honor Teresa and her family. I was working in the kitchen, which overflowed with tuna casseroles, homemade breads, and jello-mold desserts we likely would never eat. I lifted a platter of deviled eggs off the yellowish-gold Formica counter and headed for the dining room.