Untraceable

by Lindsay Delagair

  “That was Lyle. He still wants to go after the tabloids about the baby story.” It was almost laughable that I was getting good at telling a lie, when my husband was learning how good it felt to tell the truth. But, I had reasoned that this fib was necessary and he’d learn the truth eventually.

  “You know they’re going to name Sadarius as the father,” he sighed.

  “Why?”

  “Because that way they force your hand to show the baby in public after he’s born.”

  I think he could see the steam rising off me as I contemplated the fact that he was most likely going to be right. He offered me his hand as I descended from the plane and then kissed my temple when I reached the asphalt. “It’s okay—like you said, the truth has a way of coming out.”

  I wanted to smile back at him for the kind words, but I was still so angry I couldn’t have pulled my lips upward using a crane. Fame really sucked.

  CHAPTER five

  Mom and Kimmy were both glad that we’d made it home because they were dying to show us a surprise. We’d only been gone two days, but, in that time, they (with the help of a hastily hired interior decorator) had transformed the bedroom next to our room into a nursery. It was complete from the baby furniture, to outfits and diapers, down to toys. I noticed that Kimmy had placed one of her baby dolls in the crib and told us to be quiet because she had Penelope asleep.

  I knew, in that moment, there was no way we were moving out of Mom’s before this baby came along—they would both be so disappointed. But, in reality, I didn’t want to be out of the house by then. I had only pretended that with Micah so I could distract him from the idea of buying the property.

  “I’m having a carpenter come in Monday and cut a door between the two rooms so you don’t have to go out into the hallway to get to the baby’s room.” Mom’s smile was infectious as it spread across our faces.

  I could tell Micah was getting ready to speak up, but I squeezed his hand to keep him silent. “It’s perfect, Mom. I love it.” I gave her and Kimmy both a hug. “Do you think Penelope would mind if we started looking around?” I asked Kimmy.

  “Nah, her nap is over with anyway,” she giggled.

  There were several outfits out on the changing table. I picked up a tiny, blue, one-piece tee-shirt from the table and inhaled the scent of its newness. The lump formed in my throat as I looked to Micah. His eyes were already getting misty as I let my tears fall. I opened his large hand and stretched the small piece of fabric across his palm. “This makes it so much more real,” I choked. “Our son is going to fit inside this.”

  Mom reached over and softly rubbed my back. “Happy early birthday,” she whispered.

  “Thanks,” I sobbed.

  “Come on, sweetheart,” Mom said, pulling Kimmy toward the door. “Let’s let your sister and Micah enjoy the room by themselves for a little while.”

  I could see Kimmy’s reluctance, but with a quick dash to the crib to grab her doll, she followed Mom out of the room and closed the door.

  “I take it we’re not moving before the baby gets here?” Micah lightly chuckled as he guided me to where a pair of glider rockers were arranged.

  I slipped down onto the softly cushioned chair and began to gently glide back and forth. I took a deep and needed breath. “No—I guess we’ll have time to build after all.”

  “I don’t want you to think I forgot, because I didn’t, but…” He smiled, “What do you want for your birthday?”

  I gave a satisfied smile and pulled his hand to my lips and kissed the back of it. “I have everything I want right here. But, since you mentioned it, what do you want for your birthday?”

  He leaned forward in the chair to look into my eyes with a quizzical expression, “Baby, my birthday was back in January.”

  “I know that, silly, but I missed it and I wanted to celebrate them together. I paused wondering if I should tell him how badly I felt over not getting to be with him that day. I finally decided, especially since I’d been telling him lies about what my attorney was up to, that a little truth would make my conscience feel better. “I spent January nineteenth in California crying my eyes out over you.”

  He squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “It wasn’t exactly your fault. I was convinced that you hated me at that point, yet all I wanted that day was to hold you in my arms and make love to you. I almost called you just to tell you happy birthday, but I didn’t want to tip you off to my hide-away.”

  He looked to be deep in thought as he studied my hand. “Do you want to know what I was doing January nineteenth?”

  I nodded.

  “I was in our honeymoon suite at the Acqualina, doing the exact same thing. I kept praying you’d have a change of heart and that my phone would ring.”

  “I know I shouldn’t say this, Micah, but I’m so glad D’Angelo is dead. I wanted so badly to share the experience of having this baby with you. If that man was still breathing, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

  I heard him trying to swallow down his emotions, when he squeezed my hand again. “So tell me what you want for your birthday. If you don’t get specific, I’ll have to go out and buy diamonds and chocolates.”

  I laughed. “I don’t need diamonds, but the chocolate… Mmm. I’ve got an idea. How about a day where I get to eat any weird food I want and you don’t remind me how big this baby is going to be?”

  “Done. I’ll even eat the weird food with you.”

  “Hey, this is your birthday celebration, too. You don’t have to eat anything weird. I was thinking some good New Orleans cuisine and then spice cake with cream cheese frosting and vanilla ice cream.”

  “How did you know that’s my favorite cake?”

  “Your mother, of course.”

  “I think that will be birthday present enough for me.”

  “But I already have a present for you,” I blurted. “I just wondered if you wanted anything specifically.”

  He suddenly had that sly hitman look on his face, “You know my mother hated me at Christmas and my birthday because I could always figure out what my gift was going to be.”

  “Fat chance on this one, big guy. I’ve got it well hidden from you, and this is a big house.” I actually pulled that lie off very smoothly, but I couldn’t help the wave of panic that washed through me when he said he was great at figuring out this sort of thing.

  “You are telling this to the man who tracked you down in California.”

  “Yes, but that took months and you have less than three weeks to find what I’ve hidden. And,” I added for a pinch more credibility, “It’s already wrapped so if you do find it, you won’t be able to see what it is unless you peek—and trust me, with the paper I used, I’ll know you peeked.”

  The challenge had been laid down and I knew he was going to be snooping around the house from now until June eighteenth.

  What became totally comical was that several days later he was on the computer looking up the information on that piece of property. I had just closed on it that morning and I knew it was too soon for any information about the sale to be in the computer. My attorney purchased it in a corporate name that he had set up for me so that nosy people (namely the press) wouldn’t know my dealings.

  Saturday he was about to pitch a fit when Bill called him and explained that the property had sold the day before. “I don’t care,” I heard him say. “Find out who bought it and offer them what they paid plus thirty percent. I want that property.”

  Celeste and Giorgio were due in around eight in the morning, but David flew in Saturday night. His family still had no clue why he visited us so much. Micah and I were keeping Kimmy entertained for the night so that they could go out to dinner and a movie. They came home late enough that we had already put her to bed, so they could enjoy a little private time. But tonight they actually wanted to sit up with us and talk.

  It was still so odd for me to see Mom in his arms. Not that she didn’t seem young enough for him, they
seemed perfectly matched in that respect, but she was a different person when she was with him. She acted more like my sister than my mother. And David? Well, he was funny and witty and tender and—yeah, who was this guy again? But one thing was obvious: they were so very, very much in love with each other. I had wondered, at first, if it was just the sex that put them together, but I had a whole different picture of them this evening; they were lovers, but they had also become friends and very bonded to each other. I could tell that David would step in front of a bullet rather than to see anything happen to her and that, especially since the last man she cared for had betrayed her in the worst possible way, made this more special than anyone else had ever been in her life, including my father.

  “I don’t see why you two don’t just go ahead and get married,” I blurted.

  We were sitting in the living room, Mom in David’s arms on the loveseat and me in Micah’s arms on the couch. We had been laughing about some corny story that David had just told, and all the laughing stopped.

  “Trust me,” David said, “I’ve tried to talk her into it.”

  “It—it just wouldn’t be fair to—”

  “Mom it doesn’t matter if we become mother-daughter-sister-in-laws,” I added with a small laugh.

  “It’s not that. It’s just that he deserves someone who can—”

  “I told you that doesn’t matter,” David cut her off. “I love Kimmy. She and I have already talked about this and she said she’d like me to be her—her dad.”

  “That’s not the same thing,” Mom rebutted. “You need someone younger than me. You need to have a woman who can give you your own children.”

  “I don’t need my own children. And you need to realize that if you don’t marry me then I’m going to die a lonely bachelor.”

  I could tell immediately that this was an argument they had been in many times.

  “I agree with David,” I spoke up. “If you can’t be with the one you love, then nothing else matters. And I know how much you love him; you’ve already told me that.”

  David got a look of total surprise on his face.

  Mom’s eyes went wide, and in that moment I knew she had been careful not to reveal her true feelings to him. I had let the proverbial cat out of the bag.

  “Oh, she did, did she?”

  Evidently their marriage conversations had been centered around David’s feelings for her. I guessed that keeping him at bay was easier for her if she didn’t actually tell him what was in her heart.

  “Nadia,” David began, leaning to the side so he could see her face. “What exactly did you tell Annalisa?”

  Micah was squeezing my arm as the two of them began looking into each other’s eyes. I didn’t know if he was signaling that we should leave the room or if he was simply caught up in the tension of the moment.

  I could see her eyes filling with tears and, though I felt bad for putting her in this position before she was ready, he needed to know the love he had wasn’t one-sided.

  “I—I told her that I never thought I’d fall in love so deeply again—as I have with you. I love you with my whole heart, David.”

  His mouth was covering hers and I was almost embarrassed to be witnessing their private passion for each other, but it was beautiful. Micah’s arm squeeze was turning into a warm hug as he embraced me within his steel bands.

  “Then, please, marry me,” David whispered as his eyes became watery. “I’ve carried around a ring for your finger for months. Please, Nadia—I want to be your husband. Children are unimportant, but you mean the world to me. Say yes or you’re going to break my heart.”

  By this point I was crying and I had a feeling so was Micah, but he was holding me so tightly from behind that I couldn’t turn to look at him.

  “I always thought December weddings were beautiful—would you be willing to wait that long?”

  “Whatever you want—I just want to hear you say it, Nadia; will you marry me?

  “Yes, David. I love you so much.”

  Okay, I don’t drink, but I was ready to yell out for champagne so we could toast to the newly engaged couple. Micah kissed the side of my head and slipped out from behind me to go over and shake his brother’s hand and hug my mother.

  “So go get the ring, ya big idiot,” Micah stated, pulling David to his feet with the handshake.

  A long grin hit David’s face as he told us he’d be right back.

  I stood up, but Mom had already crossed the short distance before I put one foot in front of the other. “Thank you, baby,” she whispered, holding me securely. “I needed that nudge and you’re right; without the one you love, nothing else matters.”

  “I’m happy for you, Mom—and I know he loves you so much that you won’t be hurt this time.”

  She was flooded with fresh tears and I knew the memories of my dad abandoning her and Robert’s betrayal were being put away in her mind as she considered that I was right; David Gavarreen would be the happily-ever-after she’d always dreamed about.

  He was back with a velvet box in his hand and a smile on his face. “I can’t believe I finally get to put this on your finger,” he laughed with a quiver that told us all how nervous, but happy he was to be in this position. “Do I get on my knees?” he asked, looking to Micah, but Mom answered first.

  “No. I want us to be equals in this and I’ve already said yes.” She held out her hand to him as he opened the box to reveal a stunning trillion-cut diamond set in white gold with two thin ribbons of gold curved over the stone and smaller cuts of diamonds around the base and embedded in the band. “Oh, David, it’s beautiful,” she gasped.

  I could see, as he lifted it from the box and slid it onto her finger, his hand was trembling.

  “It is—now that it’s on your finger. It was just a ring before, now it’s beautiful.”

  She held out her hand to admire the token of his affection as I placed my left hand beside hers. “These Gavarreen boys certainly have good taste in jewelry,” I laughed. My engagement ring was a five carat Asscher cut solitaire with a diamond wedding band that was curved to fit the engagement ring. The brilliance of putting our rings next to each other’s was incredible.

  “No, you’re wrong about that, baby,” Micah spoke up as he pulled me to his chest. “It’s not just jewelry; we have an eye for what’s beautiful, that includes the women who wear the jewelry.”

  David picked Mom up off the floor and spun her in a small circle, “I can’t believe you finally said yes. We’ve got a lot of things to discuss. Are you ready for bed?”

  Apparently the discussion was going to be pillow talk, but that was okay because I was ready to tell them goodnight anyway. Tomorrow would be a busy day.

  We were excusing ourselves to leave them alone when David asked me to wait. He pulled me in for a tender hug as he kissed my temple. “Thank you—for everything. I think I’m going to like the sound of you being my daughter.”

  I gave a small laugh; there was no way I was going to start calling him ‘Dad.’ But I couldn’t resist just a little teasing. “All right grandpa, let me go I’ve got to get your grandson to settle down.”

  “Hey, it’s brother-in-law-step-father-uncle-grandpa, remember? Goodnight.”

  Micah and I were up early the next morning. We offered to pick up Celeste and Giorgio, but they insisted they would take a rental car to the house. I was getting a little nervous that David and Mom weren’t up yet. Typically, when David stayed over he would only stay in her room long enough to make love and enjoy a little time together and then he would go to a guest bedroom, but Micah informed me that when he checked David’s room this morning it was empty. He was still in with Mom. I didn’t have a problem with it, but what would his parents think about the two of them coming out of the same room? I didn’t know if that was the best way for them to find out they were getting a new daughter-in-law.

  Fortunately, about five minutes before the car pulled into the driveway, they emerged. What was surprising was that
Kimmy was with them. Evidently, they had gotten up before we did and invited her into their room and spent the last hour or so discussing the new family that they would become in roughly six months. Kimmy was smiling broadly as she looked at me and proudly told me that David was going to become our dad very soon.

  I wanted to talk to her some more about it, but apparently Mom and David had done a very good job of making sure she was comfortable with the addition to our family.

  “But it’s a secret,” she said, putting a finger to her lips and making a shushing noise. “We’re getting new grandparents, too, but they don’t know it, yet.”

  “Oh, I have a feeling they’re going to find out pretty soon.”

  “Yes, but we’re not allowed to tell,” she giggled and then charged upstairs to get dressed for church.

  David appeared to be excited, but Mom was clearly nervous.

  Everyone went into the dining room while Mom and I gathered the carafe of hot coffee and a tray of Danishes for breakfast. Micah set out the coffee cups and dessert plates on the buffet, while David made small talk with his parents. By the time we were all ready to sit down and enjoy a bite to eat, Kimmy had come downstairs. She was in a daisy patterned sundress with her flat sandals, a hairbrush in one hand, a hair-tie on her wrist, and a yellow hair ribbon in her other hand.

  “There’s my pretty girl,” David said as she skipped into the room.

  I noticed the look on Celeste’s face as her eyes cut quickly from David to me. I don’t know why she chose me to be the person who would explain David’s odd statement, but I was keeping my mouth shut.

  “Can you tie this in my hair?” she asked David.