“I’ve been a few places…I shouldn’t have been,” she answered carefully.
“Now there’s a surprise,” Ethan threw back coldly.
“They’re married and expecting their first child,” Gwen said simply, ignoring his sarcasm. “They work for the resort health center.”
“Them, too? What the hell is up with all this baby fever thing?” His head shook.
“You don’t have the paternal gene to understand,” she said.
“I don’t have a broken clock telling me to breed or else,” he ground flatly.
“No…you don’t, Mr. Collier. Good day to you,” Gwen ended the conversation, closing her phone and smiling at Zoe. “Let’s go inside and play.”
“That could have gone better,” Ethan slammed his phone closed. He shoved his desk chair back, surging to his feet and pacing the office. He spent fifteen minutes talking to Ian Sheffield, catching up and getting information about Zoe. He felt his jaw tense, almost black eyes staring out the large plate glass window, trying to analyze the clues he had. And nothing was adding up.
Chapter Four
Gwen set Zoe on the concrete and pointed to the elevator.
“Up,” Gwen said, watching her on the little toes, stretching and slapping at the buttons. Gwen put her foot over, winking as Zoe looked down and stood on the top of her boot, hitting the up key and grinning triumphantly. “Number 2.”
Zoe repeated the process, striking the number two and making a little hop to the floor. Gwen had her large tote on one shoulder and Zoe on her hip as she entered the large cafeteria and met the smiles and greetings. Each morning, the family gathered and they had a short meeting with everyone, chatting and trading short stories.
Gwen stepped up to the front, waiting patiently while people quieted down. “Good morning…I want you to meet the newest member of our family. Zoe,” she leaned next to her ear. “Wave and smile, Zoe.”
“Hi,” Zoe looked out curiously at all the people.
“Zoe is not to be signed out to anyone…to anyone,” she repeated firmly. “Anyone but me…on that note…let’s chatter,” Gwen carried Zoe around the room. “This is Uncle Kris…”
Zoe’s eyes went wide, her hand up when the older gentlemen offered his palm.
“How do you do, Miss Zoe? Have you been a good girl this year?”
Gwen bit her lip when Zoe nodded, her eyes on the white beard and red suit. “Zoe has been a really good girl this year, Uncle Kris.”
“I’ll be off to check on some lists,” Uncle Kris winked and wandered off.
“Mom…dad…” Gwen settled Zoe into a chair and set her tote on the floor. “You sit here and talk to granma and granpa, Zoe…I’ll be right back.”
Marion Paddington watched her daughter return with a plate of fruit, a glass of milk and a bottle of water. She absently slid the wayward curl behind her ear and exchanged a smile with her husband.
“You seem very happy this morning, dear,” Marion commented, helping Zoe climb to her feet on the chair. “I understand we’re doing quite well this season.”
“With the resort down the road, we have nothing but well, mother,” Gwen chuckled, biting down on her apples.
“I’ve heard rumors about our new addition,” Albert Paddington mentioned casually, watching the small child with a smile of approval.
“I’m sure you have, dad,” Gwen winced a little. “I wasn’t exactly at my best on Saturday afternoon. But the man deserved every word.”
“Since I know my daughter very well, I’m sure he did,” Albert stood up and tugged a little curl on Zoe’s head. “I have a book store to open. You come visit me, Zoe and we’ll read some stories, alright?”
“Yes…” Zoe grinned up at him and nodded rapidly.
“Bye, dad…” Gwen watched him go, the walking stick twirled absently.
“He worries about you, dear,” Marion smiled at the child. “She’s looking much better. I found several boxes from your cousins and had them taken to your quarters for her. Oh, and Eloise is having your second bedroom refitted as we speak. We found an amazing child’s bedroom set in storage.”
“Thank you…and I’ll send her a note when I get to my office,” Gwen kissed her cheek and lifted Zoe from the chair.
“You realize the gamble in what you’ve done.”
“You know me better than that, I never gamble, Mom,” she held up her palm, their fingers linking for a quiet moment. “Let’s go visit the play center for awhile. I have appointments to keep. Later, mom…”
Marion met the little wave with one of her own, marveling at her daughter’s ability to not only grow the family fortune, but the family itself.
“Stop!” Came the little order shortly after they finished lunch.
Gwen came to an immediate stop, puzzled at Zoe’s little shout.
“We need one of those,” she announced, pointing at the photo’s decorating the window display.
“A picture?”
“Yes,” Zoe looked around when Gwen went into the quiet holiday portrait center in the Emporium. “Like that,” she pointed to the display with mother daughter photos.
“And what would we do with that portrait?” Gwen asked curiously, nodding to Molly Kim.
“Give it to Uncle Ethan,” she said with a smile. “Then he could put it on his desk, like that.”
“Miss Zoe…I sense a bit of mischief,” Gwen told her with a chuckle.
“Hi, Gwen…picture time?”
Gwen nodded, giving herself over to Molly and watching her assistant fluff Zoe’s hair while Molly used some clips and added some curls to the back of her reddish brown hair. She looked over the finished portrait, red-brown feathered bangs over her forehead and pinned up wide rings down the side seemed to easily fit them that afternoon.
“We’re pretty,” Zoe said with a satisfied nod.
“We are,” Gwen agreed, writing out an address. “Have an eleven by fifteen framed nicely and courier it to this address this afternoon, would you, Kim? Send me the invoice for it all. Email me the digital and thank you both for your expertise.”
****
His secretary stood in the doorway while he opened the box that had just arrived. Jenni knew her boss and loved the absolute surprise on his face when she carried the box into his office.
“Do I pay you enough for this?” Ethan asked as he untied the bow around the brown paper wrapping.
“After six years, I’ve earned every little pleasure I can grab,” she quipped with a laugh, fingers up and hooking the stray silver hair behind her ear. “Wow…I hope that’s someone you know.”
Ethan sat staring at the smiling faces peering back at him. One the oval cherub features surrounded with cute little girl curls and a couple pink bows holding the sides back. The other the copper brown colored bangs and draping curls framing an angular face with high cheeks and wide honey colored eyes that seemed to taunt and tease.
“So?” Jenni said curiously. “Who are they?”
“The little one is Zoe,” he said softly, a slight smile on his face.
“Your niece? She’s adorable,” she glimpsed an interesting spark in the dark eyes that hadn’t been there before. “The other one?”
“A new thorn in my ass,” he answered, shaking himself sternly and dropping the portrait back into the box, sitting it behind him on the cabinet.
“Hmm…good luck with that,” Jenni told him, closing the door before going back to her desk with a mild chuckle.
****
Gwen watched Zoe running along the corridors that were the outer ring of the Emporium, her eyes darting from one window display to another as if an whole new world had opened up for her. Tuesday morning had them dashing down the corridor, little ponytails bobbing until they came to a skidding halt.
“Here…” Gwen took her palm, walking into the quiet store scented with herbs. "Aunt Zora?”
“Right here, Geneviève,” the older woman stepped from behind a beaded curtain hanging over the employee portion
of the shop. “A new batch of bath oil has just finished…delicious scents,” she said with a confident nod.
“I need a favor,” Gwen looked down at the fascinated expression on Zoe’s face.
“Ahh…our newest daughter. It has been a very long time since we had such life and energy, Geneviève,” dark eyes smiled at the little girl, her palm out for the hand that rose without hesitation.
“I need a few hours,” Gwen said simply, vaguely aware of the nod from her Aunt. “Zoe…” She held up her palm flat, as she did with her own mother, Zoe’s little fingers twining with hers for a quiet few seconds. “Aunt Zora will take care of you for me, alright? I’ll be back in a little while, I promise.”
“I’ll be good,” Zoe promised, their fingers falling apart. “Where is she going?”
“Along a very winding path to her destiny, Zoe,” Zora said quietly, leading the child to the area made safe for children. “We…are going to learn to make potions and pretty smelling salts. Come…”
Chapter Five
A loud squeal shot through the wide, flat apartment. Feet with fluffy socks sliding down the hallway at the same time the monitor sounded by the kitchen. Breathing heavily, Gwen pressed the button.
“Yes, cousin?”
“You running laps up there, Gwenny?” Came the rich chuckle from Thomas.
“I’m discovering that I am no longer twenty,” she declared, bending over with her hands on her knees.
“You have company, Gwen,” he pressed some buttons and sent her a video shot of the well lit, large front porch. “He’s not a happy camper.”
“I think he’s forgotten how to be happy, Thomas. I’ll be right there,” she promised, pressing another button. She straightened up slowly. “Greta…could you come to my quarters, please? I need…perhaps thirty minutes?”
“Zoe watch?” Greta looked up from the paper she was reading, glasses perched on the edge of her nose and pen set down. “I’ll be right there.”
Extended family was an amazing thing, Gwen thought, brushing the bangs from her eyes as she took the wide staircase to the main entrance. She flipped light switches inside the foyer and opened the door with a smile.
“Mr. Collier…please, come inside. It’s promising to be a wicked winter,” she told him, stepping to the side for him to sweep into the house. He was dressed in black cargo pants, a heavy black overcoat and t-shirt beneath. She wondered if he had other clothing or realized there were other colors in the rainbow.
Ethan dragged two heavy hands back over the short cropped deep brown hair, raindrops raked through his fingers. Almost black eyes surveyed the interior swiftly before landing on the woman waiting patiently at the bottom of the stairs. Dressed in jeans and a fitted girl t-shirt, she had socks on and flushed cheeks beneath a pair of amber eyes that watched him constantly.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Collier?” Gwen asked politely.
“I am not a happy man at the moment, Miss Paddington,” Ethan said flatly. He wasn’t prepared for the soft, lilting laughter.
“I’d be interested in knowing when was the last time you could honestly say you were a happy man, Mr. Collier,” Gwen sunk to the steps, watching him pace. He was tall. A few inches over six foot with boots that echoed loudly, betraying his emotions.
“It was long before I ran into you.”
“Perception is a funny thing, Mr. Collier,” she said softly. “It’s possible you’re much happier than you realize.”
“Perhaps you need to realize that I don’t do well with riddles and even less well with some pompous do-gooder involving herself in my life,” he ground the words out coldly.
“To business then, Mr. Collier. What can I do for you?” She asked politely, keeping the laughter inside at the stark disbelief capturing the angular features. Dark lashes first went wide and then narrowed considerably.
“I want my niece.” He said each word slowly and concisely.
“What was she like when you met her the first time? Did you spend time with her as a baby?” Gwen asked curiously.
“Did…I never met her before my…”
“Before your brother and his wife died,” Gwen filled in with a quiet nod. “I see. Then the first time you met her…what was she like?”
“A crying kid, what the hell’d you expect her to be like? She didn’t want anything but her mother and father…”
“Did you look alike? You and your brother?”
“I…” Ethan stared at her, his hands slowly coming out of the pockets. “I guess so…a little shorter, maybe. What exactly are you…”
“He was military, too, wasn’t he?”
Ethan stopped pacing, locking his gaze on her eyes. “Different field of choice, but military, yeah. What’s your point?”
“No point, really. Curious,” Gwen said with a casual shrug. “So here’s a crying child who just lost her parents…two and a half years old…and the only thing she has to cling to, is a man resembling her father. Who had never seen her before in his life and who doesn’t really want her,” she finished sadly.
“She’s family. I’ll take care of her,” he informed her tonelessly.
“What’d you get her for her birthday? Was there a cake?”
Ethan thought briefly to the money he deposited into her college fund, his lips clamped tight. “Where is Zoe?”
“Playing…although, I believe she’s in the tub with some bubble bath she learned to make this afternoon,” Gwen said with a smile. “The house will smell like flowers when I get back. There was no cake, was there? No candles…no present…” She shook her head.
“I’m building her a college fund. She’ll be grateful…”
“I’m sure she will. You don’t have a place for Zoe, Mr. Collier. When you walked out, that told me you have another agenda. Something that required you put Zoe somewhere for a short time,” Gwen stood up and stepped to the door.
“I can call the cops and just take her,” he said flatly, moving into the open doorway when she pulled the large door wide.
“You could. But you won’t. Like I said…you don’t have a place for her,” Gwen repeated.
“The hell…we have a nice condo. It’s safe and…”
“When you have a place for her,” Gwen placed her palm on the t-shirt over his heart. “Here…she’ll be ready to come home with you. Good night, Mr. Collier,” she turned to go, suddenly aware of the changes around her.
Ethan Collier had never seen moves like the ones that slammed him against the door jamb. He reached to grab her arm when it was suddenly gone. Her body moved in a quiet flow, dropping, spinning and the flat palm of one hand out and against his chest with barely a touch that sent him reeling against the wood frame.
“It’s called chi, Mr. Collier,” Gwen said in answer to his unasked question. “Mine is rarely off and always potent,” she explained, thick lashes blinking thoughtfully as they stared at one another. “Dinner is at six tomorrow. If you would like to join us, please. I’m sure Zoe would love to spend time with you.”
Ethan watched the door close in his face, his palm still rubbing his chest. And he had been trained with the best a government had to offer.
****
The next night, Zoe stood before the mirror, watching Gwen straighten the baby blue ribbon in her hair and smiled. She put her hands into the pockets of the white lacey pinafore and twirled.
“I look like Alice in the book,” she said quietly, her grin a little broader when Gwen handed her the little rabbit for her pocket.
“That’s because you are magical,” Gwen whispered with a tight hug.
“I like your dress,” Zoe said as they walked slowly toward the front of the house. She looked over the smooth cinnamon colored skirt swirling at Gwen’s ankle boots.
At the bottom of the stairs, Gwen lifted Zoe and sat her on the banister for a few seconds. “Do you remember what we talked about?”
“Uncle Ethan doesn’t know how to be a daddy, so we have to teach him,” Zoe repeated
the words thoughtfully.
Gwen nodded and set her down, leaving her standing at the bottom of the stairs as she walked to the door, opening it at just the right moment. She was grateful the weather was co-operating, the rains stopped and winds down to nothing by the time Ethan Collier’s foot hit the bottom step outside. Gwen pulled the door open and peered out.
“Uncle Ethan!” Zoe took off at a run, just as Gwen had hoped.
Gwen caught the dark eyes of the man who hastened his steps when he realized Zoe’s intent. His hands went up reflexively, catching the little girl in his arms. He didn’t have time to do more than open his mouth before she flung her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
“I missed you! I missed you! Did you get my picture?” Zoe demanded at once, still hugging him tightly against her. Which in turn, gave him no choice but to hug back or let her hang there. “Did you think we were pretty?”
“I got your picture and it’s on my desk,” Ethan answered honestly, his gaze meeting the look Gwen was giving him. “I thought you were beautiful.”
Zoe beamed brighter than the stars.
“Welcome to our home, Mr. Collier,” Gwen said with a smile, one brow arched as he continued to approach. He was in the doorway when she saw his mind churning. He could simply turn and stride away with Zoe in his arms, and he knew there would be nothing she could do to stop him. “It’s about choices, Mr. Collier,” she told him mystically. “It’s always been about choices.”
Ethan entered the massive Victorian style house and heard the door close behind him.
“I hate riddles,” he said flatly.
“Zoe,” Gwen said quietly. “Remember to let him breathe,” she teased with a wink that actually brought a hint of color to his cheeks.
WindSwept Narrows: #9 Guinevere Paddington Page 3
