The one-room house she’d shared with Nanni and Ema, the one that creaked whenever the wind blew from the ocean, swayed when the typhoon whipped the village dancing to its tune, was a haven she and Mom had found when she was just ten. Now, she left its confines to face what Mom had run away from eleven years ago. Would she find a place to watch the stars at night in Orcas Island where she would be staying? Would she find answers to the nagging questions that now filled her head? Was it too late to straighten what had been bent for such a long time?
Eleven years.
It had been that long since she’d left this country with her mother. Now she was back. The reason? To justify her mother’s action and to find answers about what happened that horrible night.
She focused her mind on what she needed to do and what she expected to happen, but her mind was so tired from too much thinking.
Alex slipped her feet off her shoes, then pushed them underneath her seat. Oh, it felt so good to wiggle her toes and feel the cold floor. She’d never been a fan of shoes. On the island, she walked barefoot all the time.
A middle-aged man walked by her. He smiled and she waved.
It seemed everyone had cell phones in hand. She wished she had one, too. An officer with a dog on a leash came close to where she sat.
“Hey, puppy.”
The black and tan dog with ears sticking out looked at her and sniffed her bag. She was about to pet it when the officer pulled him away quickly.
“Sorry.” The officer smiled. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“Yes.”
The officer looked around. “I’ll be here for another hour. If your ride doesn’t show up, let me know. I’m Connor Buchanan.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a business card.
“Thank you for your offer, Officer Buchanan.”
Officer Buchanan nodded, but he didn’t make a move to leave. He kept on staring until his dog pulled on the leash. Still, while the dog walked ahead of him, he kept looking back. Alex almost laughed aloud when he bumped into a loaded cart.
She thought of her dog, Keeko. He was a mixed breed that Ema had found left alone on one of the islands, skin and bones, weak and not trusting anyone. Alex kept Keeko until the dog learned to trust her and friendship bloomed. Now, he was a healthy and rambunctious dog that would eat anything they put in his coconut bowl. He slept beneath her bed every night and would stay there until she woke up. Keeko, however, wouldn’t go in her room unless she was there. He followed her everywhere like a protector. She would never forget how Keeko jumped into the water to follow the boat she was in when she left the island. Ema had to swim after him. Sweet banana, she missed him.
Alex rubbed her forehead. When she and her mom found out her Dad had died in a plane crash, sadness that she thought would never go away settled in her chest. Then, she lost her mother, too. It took a long time before she could finally wake up in the morning without feeling the pain of losing her. Now, being here felt like she had lost Nanni and Ema, too. And yes, her dog. She didn’t like the feeling. And she didn’t like waiting!
Come on Baskerville. Where are you?
The sooner she talked to Baskerville, the faster she’d be able tie all the loose ends she had left behind. Which meant, the quicker she could go back to the Philippines. Now, if only Baskerville would show up now.
Another announcement that a plane had landed made her sigh heavily.
She would be staying with her godfather, Ben Baskerville. She remembered Baskerville vividly. He looked like Santa Claus with thick white beard and a belly that shook whenever he laughed. His shiny bright eyes seemed able to see if she had been good or bad. As her godfather, he never missed her birthdays. In addition, if she remembered it right, he was also friends with Judge Arthur Knight, who was Gawain’s father.
Nanni had contacted Baskerville a month before she came here. When he replied, surprise was evident in his letter. He asked so many questions in his thick letter, but Nanni gave him just enough information to appease his curiosity. She also told Baskerville to keep Alex’s presence unknown to anyone.
When Mom was alive, she had told Nanni that she could trust Baskerville. He’d been a friend for years and could be trusted with the information about what happened in the years that she was gone. He must wait, however, until Alex arrived in the US. That part must come from her.
Baskerville understood. He instructed her to be careful and never share any information with anyone. No worries there. She had no friends here to talk to anyway. They’d all been gone since she left. What she’d been wondering, though, had been whether Baskerville shared the information about her arrival to Arthur Knight. They were friends, always meeting for lunch and sharing notes about their jobs. That was long time ago, though. Everyone changed.
Staying with Baskerville sounded cool, but she’d rather stay with her friend, Luke. She knew him—well, more than Baskerville. The idea about staying with him, though, didn’t sit well with Nanni. So old-fashioned in many ways, Nanni didn’t think that it was a good idea. A single woman, she said, shouldn’t live—even for a short time—with a single man under one roof. It wasn’t right, she added. Maybe in the olden days, she thought.
She’d met Luke when she was sixteen and he a high school graduate doing his mission for his church. Since then, they’d been friends and he had been the force behind her education, one who badgered her about online classes and demanded that she finish her course and come back to the US with a degree. He also filled the bookshelf in Nanni’s family room with books that didn’t go to waste.
Foreign languages, biography, geography, math, and Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home by Emily Post published in 1922—these had occupied her time on the island. The latter though, fascinated her. What the English thought of as good etiquette rules were foolish to her estimation. They were constricting. Believing that Alex should behave like a young woman should and never do anything that would ruin her name, Nanni had insisted that she follow Post’s teachings. Trust and respect, Nanni said, were easily earned if you showed others that you deserved them. And to do that was to act proper.
For the sake of avoiding arguments, Alex tried to act as proper as she could be. But when Nanni was away, she often let her spirit run free. She frolicked, swam, ran, climbed trees, and flirted with boys a handful of times—until Ema put a stop to it.
Molly wanted you to grow up to be a respectable lady, with education and good background. She didn’t want you to grow up to be like her. Those were Nanni’s words. Almost like a mantra she had to listen to everyday.
Grow up like her mother? Of course she wanted to be like Mom. Her mom, after all, had been nothing but great. Then of course, she knew why Nanni instilled in her brain that she shouldn’t follow her mother’s footsteps. Mom had traversed a muddy path. People whispered her name with disgust and mockery. She bet Reina’s mother, Mrs. Adams, had been one of those people.
Alex sighed. She would never do anything considered inappropriate. If she had to act and speak like a lady to earn everyone’s high opinion, then she must. Even though her mind rebelled against it. She didn’t want to be anything but herself, living on the island with Ema and Nanni and their friends, frolicking in the water, laughing without care about what other people would think, walking barefoot and without worries, hanging out with her Filipina friends at the beach singing and dancing. Yeah, that would be wonderful if she could live like that.
Holy coconut. She’d been here only an hour and she suffered from homesickness already. Once she was settled, she’d call Luke. She missed him, too.
Ema believed Luke had a thing for her. She laughed at that. Mormons were naturally friendly to anyone. And it was nice to know that she had a friend that she could call in this big country. She chewed her lower lip and thought about Baskerville. He must be eager to see her, too.
Alex straightened her back and let out a groan Nanni would call unladylike. Sitting on a cramped seat in the plane had worsened her alread
y tensed back. And her feet! They ached so much. She stood up, imagining she was still in Nanni’s house walking on the smooth bamboo floor and digging her feet on the hot sandy beach. Sadness gripped her heart. She wanted to go home.
Feeling the homesickness envelop her, she sat down and quickly diverted her attention to the family struggling to push their overloaded cart. Whatever they had packed in those travelling bags could fill Nanni’s house! She looked down at her own bag. She’d brought enough clothes for few weeks.
Few weeks. She could handle that. It would be tough, though.
Come on Baskerville. Where are you?
She wished she still had the sign Ema made for her. The darn thing had disappeared somewhere between here and Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Well, she’d just have to keep her eyes open.
With little information as to why she would be in town, in their last letter, Baskerville insisted that she stay with him and his wife. No questions asked.
You are going to stay with us. Those were his words written with big smiley faces at the bottom of the paper. As a postscript, he asked for a cell phone number that he could use to contact her, or email address. She had neither one of those. Baskerville knew she’d be arriving today, but if anything changed with the plans, she wouldn’t have a way of finding out. Lord, he didn’t forget she’d be here today, did he?
Well, Ema said to use the payphone if necessary. Nanni had neatly placed a five-dollar bill in her purse to be used in case of an emergency. She didn’t know where and how Nanni got the money, but it looked like the bill had been in someone’s wallet for years because its crease looked permanent. Right now, she wasn’t facing an emergency situation yet. She’d give Baskerville another half hour and then she’d make the call.
Alex thought about her dad. Three weeks after they left their home, her mom found out online that her dad died on a plane crash. It was a hard blow. Mom’s spirit went down and stayed low. No amount of island hopping or activities helped to cheer her up. And she died that way—sad, with a broken heart.
How come Dad hadn’t followed them to Palawan? No notes, no letters, no telegrams? He simply poofed out of their lives.
What happened to the letter Mom said she’d left for Dad to find? Did he ever find it and just threw away? Oh, she would find out why a man so loving like her father simply turned this back on them. Or had he? Gah, she really wanted to start finding out the answers now.
“Dad loved us, Alex. I know it. Something happened. When the right time comes, go home. Learn the truth for yourself and then whisper it to me. Dad loved us. I know.” Those were her mom’s words.
It wasn’t her mother’s fault that she did what she did that horrible night, that it was imperative that they flee and wait for Dad on the island away from the authorities so he could hear everything first—to make him understand.
God, she would never forget that night.
Alex had been having a tea party with her Barbie dolls and Tully, wearing her mom’s jewelry, when she heard voices. Thinking that her dad was home early from his business trip, she jumped out of her bed and went downstairs. Instead, she found a half-naked man sprawled at the bottom of the steps. Blood pooled around his head and her mom stood beside him with a poker on her hand. Scared, she ran back to her room and hid under the sheets. She promised to tell her dad what she saw, but she didn’t get a chance. Her mom dragged her out of the house in a hurry.
At the time, she didn’t understand what had happened. Only when she turned eighteen did she find out why the man was lying on the floor. Still, she had no idea who he was or why he had come to their house. Even Mom was clueless as to why.
Now, Alex was here, to find answers to so many questions that had plagued her mom for years. It would be hard, for sure, and this trip might be a failure, but she would try.
For her mom. And then she’d go back to Palawan—to Nanni, Ema, to her friends and neighbors, to her home. Then she’d move on.
She took the piece of paper from her pocket and read it again for the hundredth time. Her mom had made her memorize the address when she was little. Mom said every child should know it so they could find their way home. Based on their address, Baskerville lived not too far from her old house.
Despite what Baskerville had told them, she decided to clue-in Luke about her trip and her past. He’d been a good friend and an American like her. Luke had given her his phone number. It was good to have it, kind of like holding a lifeline. For sure he wouldn’t hesitate to help if she asked.
Alex closed her eyes. With her fingers, she made circling motions on her temple. Lack of sleep, anxiety, and nervousness contributed to her now worsening headache.
It had been eleven years since she and her mom left. She might have been born in US, but she grew up in the Philippines. Technically, she was a stranger in this strange place. Pretty scary thought.
Alex’s mind was so preoccupied, she didn’t hear the man approach her. She barely caught his last words.
“…if you are. I’m here to pick you up.”
Alex looked up. She blinked. Her mouth went slack. The man was so beautiful, he looked like a mannequin she once saw at the mall. His light brown wavy short hair was neatly cut, but still long enough to touch his collar. Clean shaven, teeth shiny white, and most of all he looked so breathtakingly handsome in his blue long-sleeved shirt with its front tucked in his faded blue jeans. To top his eye-candy image, he had the friendliest pale blue eyes she’d ever seen.
“Are you?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I asked if you are Alexandria Rose.”
“Oh,” she said, embarrassed at having been caught musing. The man grinned at her. Alex tried to smile back. Remembering her manners, she stood up, adjusted her hat, smoothed her wrinkled skirt, and then clasped her hands. “I am Alexandria Rose. Did you say you’re here to pick me up?”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“No. Not really.” What about Baskerville? She looked around the man and scanned the waiting area for Baskerville, but did not see him.
“Expecting someone else?” he asked.
“No. Well, yes. Someone is coming to pick me up. Bearded man, with big belly, and jolly smiling eyes.”
“You’re waiting for Santa Claus?”
Alex was almost blinded by the man’s sly smile. “He does look like Santa.”
“You’re talking about Baskerville.”
“Yes. I’m sure you’re not him.”
“No. I’m not him. But I am your ride.”
* * * *
Edmund raised a brow. He was told that Alexandria—Alex, an American, would be coming in from the flight in the Philippines. Yes, she looked Caucasian with her gold hair, amazing sun kissed skin, straight nose, and well, he couldn’t quite see her eyes because of her hat, but her sexy accent told him differently. She spoke as if English was her second language.
So this was Alex Rose. The skinny girl who’d followed Gawain like a shadow, with skinned knees, running around like a wild creature, the one who sent him a marriage proposal, and the girl he called Imp. Edmund laughed to himself. The Knights were in for a big surprise.
Alex stood in front of him with her hands clasped and feet together. She looked so demure except…her shoes were missing. Edmund took a second look. What the fuck! Where were her shoes? He wanted to ask but unsure how to say it without embarrassing her.
The fuck! Did she come here without shoes? No, no. Airlines will not allow that. He made a quick sweep behind her and spotted a pair of old shoes under the chair. Good. “Sorry, I’m a few minutes late.”
Alex nodded. She’d been pulling down her brown hat on her head three times until now he could hardly see her eyes.
Instead of asking her about the accent, which so intrigued him, he offered his hand. “My name is Edmund McAbee.” He waited for Alex to take his hand, but her mind seemed to be preoccupied. He could see that she was thinking of something—no, debating, maybe.
“It’s a pleas
ure to meet you, Mr. McAbee.”
Clasping Alex’s hand, he said, “You can call me Edmund.”
“And you can call me Alex. It is nice meeting you, Edmund, but what happened with Baskerville?”
“Ben and his wife, Susan, came down with a flu.”
“Flu?”
“Yes. The couple are sick, so they are not here.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She laced her fingers together again.
“Baskerville would have told you himself, but he has no way of contacting you.”
“I had thought of that, but I don’t have a cell phone.”
“It’s no biggie.”
“Am I still going to stay with him?”
“No.” He noticed how her shoulders sagged, though he couldn’t tell if she was relieved or sad by it. “They didn’t want you to catch whatever they got.”
“I see.”
“How was the flight?”
“Long and very tiring. I sat by a nice gentleman. His name is Lars. He’s funny. He gave me his home address and cell number. He said to just give him a call and he’ll come and get me.”
With a face like Alex’s, Edmund was sure she’d receive more offers like that. “At least you didn’t get bored. Anyway, I didn’t really talk to Baskerville. Three hands passed you down on me. Welcome back to the US.”
“Thank you.” Alex smiled.
Damn. Edmund couldn’t stop staring at her. “Airline food is horrible. You must be hungry. I know a place close by. It’s called The Flying Dragon.”
“Flying Dragon? I remember a Chinese restaurant with that name. Mom and Dad took me there when we came home from our trip to Europe. That was long time ago.”
Seductive Knight Page 2
