Broken Ties

by Gloria Davidson Marlow

  She was so spooked it took a moment for the implications of the picture to hit her. She had been going to the nursing home. Whoever was watching her knew she would be there. Did they know Carlotta was there, that she was more to Sidra than an elderly resident of the nursing home where Sidra volunteered? Would they try to make her tell them where Sidra was?

  “Who took this?” Levi asked Gabriel.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Bullshit.” Levi’s voice was deathly quiet, but it filled the space between them with thick distrust.

  Gabriel said nothing, only studied him like he was a bug under a microscope. A familiar lump of fear settled in her stomach as those cold eyes turned to her.

  “Cut the crap, Gabe,” Teddy told him. “Start from the beginning, and tell us exactly what you know.”

  Gabriel continued to stare at her, ignoring both of the glaring Tanner men. She met his eyes, hoping he couldn’t see the nausea that suddenly rolled through her or the uneasiness that followed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “You were born the crown princess of Medelia on December twelfth nearly twenty-seven years ago,” Gabriel began. “Your full name is Sidra Deleon Maria de Marin. Your mother was Princess Jeanne Maria Batiste de Marin. Your father was Prince Rupert Charles de Marin. You had one brother, Prince Andres Charles de Marin. All are deceased. Your mother’s mother, Queen Marie Elizabeth Batiste, is the only immediate member of the royal family still living, besides you.”

  “My grandmother?”

  “Yes, she is growing old and frail, but she is alive and looking forward to meeting you soon.”

  Sidra could imagine nothing past her recent memories, and after all the years of believing herself abandoned by her family, it was difficult for her to grasp the fact that someone still waited for her to return home.

  “You disappeared on December twenty-third, just after your sixth birthday. Medelia is a matriarchal kingdom. The crown is passed down from oldest daughter to oldest daughter. If there are no female offspring, the crown passes to the next linear female. Should you not return to Medelia, or should you have no daughters yourself, the crown will pass to Miriam and then to our daughter, Estella.”

  Sidra looked toward her cousin, who seemed untouched by the words or the thought of being queen. She held herself regally, her back straight, her face devoid of emotions, and Sidra deduced that Miriam’s wedding day wish had not come true. Love had never grown between her and the man she married. Judging from her own experience on the carousel, it wasn’t hard to deduce that her mother’s dire words about cruelty pertained to Gabriel. Had Miriam walled herself off from the world to protect herself from the man she married?

  “And that fact had nothing to do with Sidra’s disappearance or the attempts on her life?” Levi asked now, gaining her attention once more.

  “Of course not.” Gabriel sniffed. “With Queen Marie still alive, it would make no sense at all to kill Sidra.”

  “But with Sidra out of the picture, it would only be a waiting game for you.”

  “I have no interest in being queen,” Miriam told him, seeming so sincere that Sidra was surprised by Levi’s disbelieving scoff.

  “Maybe not, but I’m pretty sure Gabe here wouldn’t balk at the chance to be king. Would you, Gabe?”

  Gabriel simply stared down his nose, making no acknowledgment of Levi’s suspicions as he continued talking.

  “At the time you disappeared, there were three separate lines of suspicion. First, as my wife explained, was the belief that you were taken by a stranger, someone who had come to the palace to prepare it for your birthday or the approaching holidays, and a ransom note would be forthcoming. The second was that you were stolen away to be held until you were old enough to be forced to marry someone other than Philippe. Someone who would become King of Medelia someday.

  “The third was a little-held suspicion that you were taken by one of Medelia’s few enemies. During the autumn and winter of your disappearance, tensions were high between our country and several others due to international shipping disputes. However, as tensions died down and problems between us were solved, there was never any proof or reason to believe they had you. When your parents received what they feared was proof of your death, the suspicions did turn to us for a while. For the most part, those suspicions died down as your mother continued breathing.”

  Sidra cringed at the way he spoke the words, and Levi’s hand covered hers.

  “This photo was sent to her a year before her death, and she sent us to find someone who would keep you safe until it was time to make it known that you had been found. Because someone was obviously aware of your existence and your whereabouts, we felt we could take no chances by making contact with you or taking you home. We located Mr. Tanner, and he made contact with you. Once we had gathered enough information to ascertain your identity, we returned to Medelia.”

  “We believed you would be safer in America until the time came for you to be reintroduced as the Crown Princess and for your marriage to Philippe to take place. Once you were married and began to produce daughters, you would be safe enough.

  “Your mother feared telling the Queen about the picture might shock her badly and cause some harm to her health, so she put it off for nearly a year. At some time just before her death, she must have told her, because following Jeanne’s death Queen Marie was desperate to believe the girl in the picture truly was our princess. Because your time to marry is nearly upon us, she sent us back to the States to bring you home.”

  “Marry?”

  “You are to marry Philippe on your twenty-seventh birthday, less than a month from now. We will return to Medelia in three days’ time, and you will be with us.”

  “I can’t just pick up and leave. I have a life here.”

  “A life?” Gabriel sniffed. “You work as a secretary in a one-man business that is only slightly better than solvent.”

  Levi remained still and silent behind her, showing no reaction to the man’s barbs or Teddy’s quick glance his way.

  “You fancy yourself in love with Levi Tanner, but after four years, you are still not sure how he feels about you. He may well abandon you the way he abandoned his own brother.” He waved Teddy’s anger away. “You have little holding you here, Princess.”

  “Will she be safe in Medelia?”

  Sidra swung her gaze to Levi. “Why are you asking that? I am not leaving.”

  Gabriel acted as if she hadn’t spoken. “Until we know who is behind the attempts on her, we can’t guarantee her safety. It will be easy to sniff them out in Medelia, simply because it is a small, close-knit country with few places to hide for long.”

  “I find that hard to believe, since she was abducted from Medelia to begin with.”

  “You must understand that we were unaware of any threat.” Miriam argued, leaning forward a little. “Sidra was nothing but a child. We could hardly fathom someone would harm her! Even once she was gone, we thought at first she must have wandered off and gotten lost. We were certain we would find her somewhere.”

  “My wife is right. Since Sidra was taken, security has increased in the palace, as well as elsewhere when the royal family travels.”

  “We’re getting nowhere here,” Levi complained. “You’ve told us a lot of history but nothing that can lead us to the person who is trying to kill her now. And until we find that person, she will not be going anywhere without me.”

  “You must tell them, Gabriel.” Miriam placed a hand on her husband’s arm.

  “Quiet!” he hissed, staring at her hand in what Sidra feared was disgust.

  “It can’t be helped.” Miriam pulled her hand away. “They must know everything if they are to help us.”

  “Tell us what you know, Gabe.” Levi leaned forward. “Now.”

  He was silent for so long, Sidra doubted he would answer Levi’s command or his wife’s plea. Finally, he turned those ice-cold eyes back to her.

  She closed her eyes against his f
rosty glare, but it was there behind her lids, and she wanted to cry out at the memory that followed it.

  She wanted to run, but her legs were shaking too badly, her breath frozen in her chest as she huddled on the ground. Her eyes darted to the man lying behind him, his body sprawled on the path as blood pooled around him.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Gabriel growled. His eyes were afire in his pale face, and she scooted back away from him. “Tell no one what you saw here, Sidra. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Then, run!”

  She did as he told her, scrambling across the yard on her hands and knees before making it to her feet and running the rest of the way home.

  “Before Sidra was bound to Philippe Beauchene, she was the fiancée of a distant cousin of her mother and Miriam. Jerald was only a boy when he began exhibiting signs of insanity, and Sidra was barely more than an infant. For a while, the family believed that a serious illness accompanied by a high fever had ravaged his mind and he would recover in time. But as time passed, his mental state only deteriorated more and more.”

  “Do you believe he might be the person trying to hurt Sidra now?”

  “No. Jerald killed himself on the palace grounds before Sidra was abducted. He was seventeen. Rupert betrothed her to Philippe within the week so that the boy’s family could not stake a claim on her, and they have been enraged ever since. They are a cruel and ruthless people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child or anyone else. The photograph Jeanne received was sent by them, along with a promise that Sidra would die very soon.”

  “You should have told me how much danger she was in,” Teddy said. Until now, he had been mostly silent, but his voice burned with anger now. “You let me think I was just acting as a sort of bodyguard in case an enemy found out where she was. You never mentioned that you were certain someone still wanted her dead and knew exactly where to find her.”

  “We weren’t sure how you would react to that. We couldn’t have an overzealous protector call attention to her, but we wanted someone who wasn’t apathetic regarding her danger. You more than met those requirements without our telling you the whole truth.”

  “What would have happened to her had Levi and I been taken out of the picture? We couldn’t force her to remain at Tanner and Tanner. What if she had quit, or moved away? How was I to really keep her safe with only part of the story?”

  “You did an excellent job, Mr. Tanner, and you more than earned your pay. I assure you, we are prepared to compensate you well over the negotiated amount, once Sidra is safely home.”

  Sidra couldn’t escape the gasp of dismay that escaped her. Even when Teddy told her these people had hired him to keep her safe, it hadn’t fully hit her that they had paid him to care. A familiar, hollow pit formed in her stomach, and her hand moved to her chest, as if to hold her heart in place. All this time she’d thought his acceptance was real, genuine emotion, but, like it had been in every family she could remember, it had been bought and paid for by someone else.

  “It isn’t about the money, damn it,” Teddy swore. “It’s about what could have happened and why we should believe your lies and half-truths this time around.”

  The woman stood slowly, smoothing her slender, manicured hands over her dress.

  “Sidra, darling,” she said, “I know this is a lot to absorb at one time. We will give you some time to ponder what you’ve learned before making your travel arrangements.”

  When Sidra just stared at her blankly, she continued. “Gabriel and I will be leaving for Medelia the day after tomorrow. We hope you will be with us when we do.”

  “I will think about it,” Sidra agreed as the woman turned to her husband.

  “It’s time for us to leave, Gabriel.”

  He looked ready to argue, but she stared down her regal nose at him until he got to his feet and followed her silently to the door. Sidra wondered about the sudden change in dynamics, but she supposed in every relationship the person with the upper hand was the one who led. And obviously, when it came to getting her to return to Medelia, the two of them had chosen Miriam to do so.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sidra stood in the doorway and watched them drive away, grateful they were leaving, but disappointed she still had no idea who was trying to kill her.

  She felt Levi come to stand behind her, followed by the soft clip of Teddy’s cane on the hardwood floors. She had no desire to speak to either of them. She needed time to think, to come to terms with the thought she couldn’t seem to push away. Like every other relationship she could remember, her friendship with Teddy had been bought and paid for.

  “Sid,” Teddy and Levi said at the same time, but she held up her hand.

  “Not now,” she said. “I need time to think. I can’t talk about any of it now.”

  “We learned a lot, Sid,” Teddy told her.

  Her voice was icy. “Yes, we did, didn’t we? But there was one thing we didn’t learn, Teddy. I never did hear anyone say exactly what the going rate for your friendship is.”

  His face reddened, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he spoke again.

  “It wasn’t like that, Sidra,” he argued.

  “How was it then, Teddy? Explain to me which part of it I have wrong. I was raised by people who were paid to care, so I’m not unfamiliar with the idea. I just never thought it pertained to us.”

  She couldn’t keep the hurt out of her voice or stop the tears that sprang to her eyes. Before either Teddy or Levi could say another word, she growled with frustration and pushed past them. She rushed up the stairs to the playroom, where she plopped on the end of the bed and surveyed the room. It was obvious Betty Tanner doted on her grandchildren. From the three-foot-tall doll house in one corner to the dump truck full of colorful blocks in the other, every item in the room said so. What was it like to have grandparents who loved you? If she went to Medelia, would she find out?

  Over the years, she had witnessed a variety of relationships and family dynamics in the homes where she lived. There was one that stood out above all the rest, and it came to her as clearly now as it had when she realized she wanted it.

  When she was twelve, she’d lived in a home where the foster parents had biological children. They were kind people who tried to make her feel at ease, included her in family functions, and attempted to help her adjust to a normal life. The endeavor had been unsuccessful, of course, because in less than a year Carlotta showed up at the door and told her to pack for another move. During her time there, though, she had met the family’s extended relatives, including the children’s grandparents.

  Of all the things she envied, that relationship between grandparents and grandchildren was very near the top of the list. From a distance, she watched the relationship, saw the unconditional love, the unending acceptance the grandparents offered, and the joy they all found in each others’ presence.

  Until a few years ago, she’d had a mother and brother in Medelia. Even now, she had a grandmother and cousins. How could she pass up the chance to know them? But what if going home cost her Levi?

  Home. The word repeated itself in her head, embedded itself in her heart, and she knew the truth. She was going home. Until she did, there was no future for her here. If Levi couldn’t accept that, then she would deal with it as best she could.

  ****

  Levi sat at the boy-sized desk in front of his bedroom window. He’d done his homework here, written notes to the girls he liked, and filled out his first job application. Now, here he was mulling over everything he’d learned about Sidra in the last few days and trying to put it all together in some semblance of order in his mind.

  So far, the only real conclusion he had come to was that Sidra was leaving him. The knowledge pounded through his head, overriding every other thought and rendering him nearly useless.

  He wouldn’t let her go to Medelia alone until he knew she was out of danger. If the danger was following her ther
e, so was he. And when the danger had passed, he would do everything in his power to talk her into returning home with him.

  Home. For the first time he could remember, the word didn’t conjure up thoughts of his parents’ home but of his own. His and Sidra’s, he corrected, thinking again of the Lawrences’ Dutch colonial. He wasn’t crazy, and he would never buy a house without her seeing it first, but he was certain she would think it was perfect.

  A thought occurred to him suddenly, and he pushed himself to his feet, stretching his aching back before heading downstairs to find his brother.

  He found the canes first, lying against the front porch steps. Panic rushed through him, as his eyes scanned the yard for any sign of Teddy lying on the ground. Had he fallen or been injured in some way? Had someone found them? Had they taken Philippe and now Teddy?

  “Teddy!” he yelled, leaping off the porch. “Ted!”

  “Where is he?” Sidra called from upstairs. Although she might be mad as hell at the guy, she obviously still cared what happened to him.

  “Calm down, dude, I’m right here.”

  Levi could do nothing but stare as Teddy came around the corner, his arm resting across the neck and back of a fluffy black-and-white alpaca while Coda waddled sedately behind them. They walked slowly, Teddy concentrating to move each leg forward and the animal matching his pace.

  “What the hell is that?” Levi asked.

  “This is Merilee. She’s an alpaca.”

  “I see she’s an alpaca, but what’s she doing here?”

  “She’s a service animal. She helps me exercise, keeps me steady while I walk, and keeps me company when I’m too far up my own ass.”

  Levi burst out laughing. “She must be a busy girl.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve never known anyone who is perpetually sticking his own head where the sun doesn’t shine like you do, brother. Maybe you should think about getting an alpaca, too.” He shook his head. “On second thought, the poor thing would probably kick up its heels from exhaustion within a week’s time.”