by Holly Rayner
He kissed a trail down her neck, thrilling at her quick intake of breath as he dipped his tongue just below the neckline of her dress. He kissed his way back up, lingering over her shoulder, pulling the strap of her dress aside so he could taste the skin there, too.
Jacqui pulled at his jacket, sliding it off his shoulders. With trembling hands, she unbuttoned his shirt so that she could touch him. Khizar hadn’t known that he could want someone’s touch so much, and he held himself still, barely breathing, while she caressed him.
She looked at him and smiled brilliantly, and Khizar caught his breath at the expression in her eyes. He let go of everything else, and kissed her deeply, laying her down on the blanket, losing himself in the moment.
Chapter 10
Khizar
Khizar absently brushed his fingers through Jacqui’s hair as they laid tangled together on the blanket. He hadn’t expected to feel this way. It was supposed to be all business, but he felt real emotion for this beautiful woman resting her head on his chest.
Jacqui was unusual, at least in his experience of women. She didn’t need constant reassurance or a lot of material things. Even though he showered her with gifts, she accepted them with a grace that said she would have been just as happy without them.
Khizar knew that Jacqui wanted him for him, and he felt guilty that he wanted something else from her. He cared for her, that much was true, but he still needed to find that diamond. He found himself even more committed to ensuring that, when he eventually left her alone, she would have everything she ever needed or wanted.
He had been so sure that what she needed couldn’t be him. But maybe, once he had the diamond, maybe he could change that.
“Thank you for the fireworks,” Jacqui murmured, tracing her fingers over his skin.
Khizar chuckled and Jacqui seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. She poked him in the side.
“Not those fireworks,” she blushed. “The sparkly ones.”
Khizar tried to sound offended. “I’m not sparkly enough for you?”
She poked him again. “You know what I mean.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t know. You got more than one sparkly thing tonight.”
Jacqui held up her left hand and admired the extravagant diamond ring. There was one large center diamond, with two almost as large diamonds on either side, set on a delicate platinum band.
“You’re right. This is definitely sparkly.” She sighed happily. “I rather like all my sparkly surprises tonight.”
He laughed. “I’m glad. I hated to be away from you for those days, but it took me some time to put everything together.”
Jacqui was quiet again. Khizar thought that she’d given him a good opening, and now was a good time to bring up William Bauer.
“I had to go make a special trip to one of my jewelers to get the ring, you know. And I had him make a few special changes to it.” He rubbed his finger over the ring, and her hand. “There’s not another ring like it in the world.”
“Thank you. It’s special and I love it.”
Khizar shifted a bit, like he had just thought of something.
“You know, it’s funny. He asked me who I was planning on giving the ring to, and I was telling him about you. I mentioned your name and that you were a baker living in Milwaukee. I was really surprised when he said he thought it was funny that I was proposing to William Bauer’s great-niece. I didn’t realize you were related to Bill.”
Jacqui twisted her head to look at him. “Who?”
“Bill Bauer. He mined diamonds—was one of the best ever at it, really. He actually owned a diamond mine in my home country.”
Khizar felt her head move against his chest as she shook her head.
“Sorry, Khizar, I don’t know who that is. He sounds interesting, though. Did you know him?”
Khizar’s head spun. How could she not know who Bill Bauer was?
“Yes, I met him several times. He was irascible, but he was one of the best miners out there. His workers swore that if he said a vein was good, it would pay out better than anything else out there. He was a good man too; I liked him.”
He was still confused. Jacqui sounded like she really didn’t know what he was talking about. But she had to have known him, even if she wasn’t in contact with him when he died.
“So, you’re not related to him?”
She shook her head again. “I don’t have any living relatives.”
His shock at not getting the answer he expected contributed to a far blunter response to that than he would normally have given.
“He’s not living, actually. He died a few months back.”
“Oh, Khizar, I’m so sorry. I know it’s hard to lose someone.”
She sounded completely sincere, concerned for him and sad for his friend.
Khizar didn’t know what to say next. James’ information had been solid, but maybe he had somehow managed to track down the wrong relative? Was there another Jacqueline Bauer in Milwaukee?
Or was Jacqui lying to him? The diamond was worth enough that people had done crazy things in a quest to buy or steal it from Bill; if she was aware of its value, she might have known exactly who he was the whole time and what his goal was. Maybe she’d been playing him all along?
He spared a moment to feel some guilt at his thought that Jacqui might have lied to him. Khizar had certainly concealed his intent in courting her, taking it to the extreme of proposing without any intention of marrying her. If she had done the same, it was only fair.
He tried one more time. “So you don’t have any idea who William Bauer is?”
Jacqui lifted her head, propping herself up on his chest.
“I don’t, I’m sorry. It’s funny that we have the same last name, but that’s all.”
The earnestness in her eyes convinced him that she was telling the truth. And now, Khizar didn’t know what to do. Jacqui was his only lead, and if she wasn’t related to Bill—or if she was but didn’t know—he wasn’t sure what to do next.
If Jacqui wasn’t his path to the diamond, was it time to leave? His heart gave a sudden, wild thump at that idea and his brain echoed it. Khizar didn’t like the idea of just leaving Jacqui anymore. He liked her, maybe even more than liked her.
What if he was meant to find Jacqui all along?
Khizar mulled that thought over for the rest of the night, long after he and Jacqui went back to her apartment. As he fell asleep, his arms wrapped around her, he couldn’t shake the thought that maybe, all this time, he’d been looking for the wrong thing.
Chapter 11
Jacqui
18 Years Before
It was her birthday! Her last birthday had gone mostly unnoticed, but this one was going to be different.
Her new mom and dad had promised her a party with cake and balloons and other kids. They’d filled the backyard of their modest suburban home with games like pin the tail on the donkey and a ring toss. There was even a little bouncy house!
Eight-year-old Jacqui ran around playing with the other kids, most of them from her neighborhood or in her class at school. She had stopped to get a drink of punch when her new mom called her over.
“Jacqui, you have a visitor. Come say hello.”
Jacqui ran over and saw her mom talking to an old man, with white hair and wrinkles. He was dressed funny, in pants with pockets all over them and a beat-up leather jacket. He looked kind of like the picture their teacher had showed them of somebody who dug in the dirt for old buildings and tombs and stuff.
He was carrying a big stuffed teddy bear, and when Jacqui stopped next to them, the man knelt down on one knee next to her and held the bear out.
“Hi, Jacqui. Thank you for letting me interrupt your party for a minute. I wanted to give you a birthday present.”
He held out the bear and Jacqui looked at her mom, who nodded. Jacqui took the bear in her arms; it was really heavy. But it was soft and brown and had giant sad eyes that made Jacqui wan
t to give it hugs. She decided she would call it Alexander Bear. Her real daddy’s name had been Alexander, and for some reason, this bear made her think of him.
Jacqui looked up at the old man. He looked nice and a little sad, like the bear.
She hugged the bear hard and said, “Thank you.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome. Keep the bear with you, Jacqui. Don’t ever lose him, okay?”
Jacqui nodded in the vigorous way of eight-year-olds. “Okay.”
“One day, when you’re older, you’ll learn that this bear has a very special secret. So you must take good care of him until then, okay?”
“I promise,” Jacqui said solemnly.
“Good. Will you do one more thing for me?”
Jacqui tilted her head and regarded him. She finally nodded, more slowly this time.
The old man smiled at her again. “Be good for your new parents, and be happy.”
Jacqui thought about that. “That’s two things.”
He laughed. “So it is. But I hope you’ll be both.”
He patted her on the head, his hand lingering for just a moment. “And whatever else happens, take care of that bear, Jacqui.”
Jacqui squeezed the bear again and nodded, quickly because she was done talking and wanted to go play with her new friends again. She ran off, looking over her shoulder once to see the old man walking away.
Chapter 12
Jacqui
Jacqui woke up slowly, half remembering her dream. It was her birthday and an old man gave her a present…a stuffed animal?
Resting on her side, Khizar’s arm wrapped around her stomach, fingers lightly resting on her skin, Jacqui was so happy. She knew she’d found the man she’d always hoped to find. All her doubts had been erased with his proposal—marrying Khizar was what she wanted more than anything.
But something about her dream kept poking at her memory, mixed with something Khizar had mentioned last night. She had a great-uncle. Or, rather, she’d had a great-uncle.
Losing another family member felt normal to Jacqui, but the weird thing was that she hadn’t known she had another family member. It was hard to miss someone she hadn’t been acquainted with, but she keenly felt the loss of another connection to her parents.
Who was Bill Bauer? An image flashed in Jacqui’s mind of a sad-eyed bear who looked like a sad-eyed man.
She slipped out of bed, not wanting to wake Khizar up just yet, as the sun was only just up. She threw on a robe, picked up her phone, and went into the kitchen to start coffee. Needing answers, she decided to call her adoptive mother; maybe Michelle would remember something about the old man.
“Hi, sweetie,” her mom answered, her voice thick with sleep.
“Hi, Mom. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Oh no, I just got up, actually. Is everything okay, hon?”
“Do you remember my eighth birthday? There was a party, with a bunch of kids, and a trampoline? I think?” Jacqui asked, trying to think of all the details from her dream.
Her mom thought about it.
“That was your first birthday with us, wasn’t it? I do remember. You were so excited, and so happy.”
“Do you remember an older man? I think he came to see me.”
“And he gave you a stuffed bear, right?”
Jacqui felt vindicated. “Yes! Who was he?”
“Err…I don’t remember his name. It’s a long time ago now,” Michelle said. Jacqui’s elation melted away, but then her mother said, “Hang on, sweetie. Let me ask your father.”
Jacqui heard her mother yell, “Alan?” and then her father answer, much closer, “What is it, Michelle?”
“Do you remember the man who came to visit Jacqui on her eighth birthday? He showed up during her party, but he didn’t stay.”
Her mom put the phone on speaker, and her dad said, “Hi, darlin’. I do remember him, yeah.”
“Did he say who he was? Or why he was there?”
“Uh…well, he mentioned he was related to your family, but that he didn’t want to intrude. He didn’t say how he was related to you, but it sounded like he was a very distant relation. Your mom and I invited him to stay.”
“That’s right,” Jacqui heard her mom jump in. “We asked him to stay for the party and for dinner. We thought you might like to get to know him, but he said he couldn’t.”
“Do you remember his name?” Jacqui asked.
“I don’t know if he ever gave us his full name…or maybe I just can’t remember. Sorry, sweetheart,” Alan said. “It seemed like he really didn’t want to interfere.”
Jacqui tried to hide her disappointment. “Okay, thanks you guys.”
“What’s brought this on, honey?” Michelle asked.
“Khizar mentioned that he ran into a business partner; they were talking about another man in the mining business who passed away recently. The gentleman’s name was William Bauer. Khizar’s colleague mentioned that he’d just learned Bill Bauer had a relative. Khizar wondered, and I just thought…I don’t know, maybe. Then, I dreamt about the party and didn’t know if it was something or not.”
There was silence from the other end of the phone, and then her mother said, “After your parents died, the state couldn’t find any other living relatives. We thought maybe this gentleman was an old friend of the family, or a very distant cousin. He didn’t ever ask to see you again, so we didn’t think anything else of it.”
“If you want to look into it, we’ll do you everything we can to help,” her father added.
Jacqui almost cried. Her adoptive parents were so amazing.
“Thank you, both of you. I’m going to see what I can find out, but I’ll let you know if I need help.”
“Okay, sweetheart.”
“Hey, um, I know after all that, this next bit of news is going to seem like a bit of a shock.”
“Well, that’s a lead in. What is it, sweetie?”
“Khizar proposed last night and I said yes!” The excitement she’d felt the night before rushed back to her. “We’re getting married!”
“Oh, Jacqui. That’s wonderful.”
In her excitement, Jacqui missed the note of concern in her mother’s voice.
“No specific plans yet, but only because we haven’t had time to make any.”
“Why don’t you two come over for dinner again soon and you can tell us what you decide?”
“We’d love that. I’ll figure out a good time and let you know. I gotta go. Love you both!”
“Love you, too, sweetheart.”
Jacqui hung up the phone and thought some more. Her mother had remembered the stuffed bear the old man had given her, too. Alexander Bear, Jacqui suddenly thought. That was his name.
She still had the bear, of course. She’d made a promise, and even if she hadn’t known why, she’d kept it.
When she’d moved out of her parents’ house, Jacqui had carefully stored her childhood things until she had enough space to unpack all the boxes. She’d never had a chance to find a place to put them all, so everything was still stored away.
Wondering if she could find anything else out about William Bauer, Jacqui sat down at her desk and opened her computer. She did a search on “William Bauer” and found several stories that mentioned a Bauer diamond mine, along with an obituary for William Bauer.
Jacqui read over the obituary, noting that it didn’t mention any family members. She traced the computer screen, tears pricking her eyes for this man who didn’t seem to have any relatives. She knew what that felt like, and so regardless of their relation, Jacqui felt a kinship with him.
There were a few pictures of the mine—in Nudushan, as Khizar had said— and of William Bauer, one with an older story and one with the obituary. Jacqui studied the pictures. She thought he looked a little like her father, especially around the eyes and chin.
She had a few pictures of her parents, so she pulled an old photo album out of the bookshelf and looked through it until she found the one sh
e wanted.
Jacqui held the photo next to the screen. The two men did look alike, even though her father was younger. Jacqui was almost sure that if he had lived to William’s age, her dad would look exactly like the older man.
It seemed likely that she and William Bauer could indeed be related. That was interesting, but it didn’t really matter except for the fact of knowing.
She didn’t know why he’d come to visit and give her the bear, but not tell her who he was. She could understand him not wanting to adopt her; that fact might have stung when she was younger, but this far removed, it made sense.
Jacqui didn’t understand why he hadn’t shared the fact that they were family. That hurt more than a little. They could have comforted each other, been each other’s family, even if she hadn’t lived with him.
But all he’d left her was the bear.
Unless…he had told her that the bear he gave her had a secret. And that she had to take care of him until that day came.
She’d kept Alexander Bear close until she left for culinary school, at which point she’d moved out of her parents’ house, putting things into storage. Including Alexander Bear. Which meant he was somewhere in her attic.
Maybe the secret had something to do with the mine? Jacqui hadn’t held Alexander Bear in a long time, but she remembered how heavy he was—far heavier than all her other stuffed animals.
She needed to look in the attic.
Still in a thoughtful daze, Jacqui walked into her bedroom. Khizar was still asleep, and she admired him for a moment. He looked so peaceful.
He stirred as Jacqui sat down on the edge of the bed.
She put a hand lightly on his shoulder and said, “Hey, good morning.”
Khizar frowned like he couldn’t remember where he was, then his expression cleared. “Good morning, darling.”
