Untraceable

by Lindsay Delagair

  “Bree!” I feigned shock.

  “Okay, maybe just singe his feathers and tarnish the halo; I really don’t want Daddy to kill him,” she giggled.

  “Kill who?” Mom asked as she gave me a hug.

  “Seth,” I stated.

  “Seth is a good boy,” Mom said, not getting the gist of Bree’s full statement.

  “Yes, but Bree wants to change all of that.”

  “Shhh,” Bree whispered as David approached.

  He didn’t say anything as he gave me a hug. I had my suspicions that he heard most of the conversation. “Did Gwen and your mom land yet?”

  David glanced at his watch, “Their plane came in about twenty to thirty minutes ago, so they should be here in a little while.”

  “I wish both of them would move down.”

  “I know, but Mom isn’t ready to sell the house in New Orleans. She says there is too much of Dad in that house to let it go.”

  I nodded; saddened to think how painful it had been when Giorgio passed away five years earlier. Everyone took it hard, but Micah especially struggled with the loss of his father. “I’m glad Gwen moved in. I hated thinking of her living alone in that big place.”

  I watched as an unfamiliar silver sedan pulled down the long, oak-lined drive. I could make out two dark haired men, so I knew it had to be Ryan and his oldest boy Seth.

  Ryan had changed so much since our wild beginnings. Once my world calmed, he took off on the adventure of his life and became a pilot in the Air Force. His love for his country, his father, and for flying had taken him all over the globe, and into many conflicts that caused all of us to spend time on our knees praying for his safety.

  He was now a Lieutenant Colonel and was temporarily training the upcoming generation of pilots at the base in Colorado Springs. His relationship with Candace had its ups and downs. She loved him, that was obvious, but at times his job was more stress on her than she could take. They were currently separated. She was living in the Tampa area after refusing to move when he left his assignment at MacDill for the training academy. Colorado may have been her home state, but she really liked Florida. Their youngest boy, Dylan, was thirteen and living with Candace. Seth made the tough choice to go with his dad to Colorado.

  Ryan was still so handsome, but he had evolved from that tender, heartthrob-type to a man with a more angular, and chiseled face, and his body went from the surfer physique to square-shoulders and carved arms. He no longer dyed his hair, but it was naturally black anyway. But one thing never changed; he still had the most stunning blue eyes, they just saw the world differently than they did from the days of our youth.

  Seth was his dad all over again. He was 6’2” with the black hair and blue eyes, although his were a little bit darker blue. I was torn in trying to decide if they were prettier than his father’s or simply more intense. Either way, all the girls fawned over him.

  I left the group crowded at the dock to greet them as they got out of the car. Seth was the first to emerge.

  “Hey there handsome,” I stated.

  He was grinning as he looked toward Leigh, Bree, and Brook. “Hey,” he said, but he was obviously distracted by the bevy of beauties. He watched Hunter place his arm around Leigh’s waist. “Crap, Aunt Leese, don’t tell me Leigh has a boyfriend!”

  I laughed; he’d had a crush on Leigh since they were twelve and thirteen years old. “Yes, I’m afraid you’ve got a little competition, Seth. But I’ll warn you; Bree has her sights set on you.”

  His eyes grew larger and he blushed slightly, “Cool.”

  “Don’t get in trouble,” Ryan told him—then he laughed and pushed Seth toward the group. “Ah, forget that; have fun. She’s a doll.”

  Ryan wrapped both arms around me and swayed me to and fro as he held me and he whispered in my ear, “Hey baby girl, thanks for inviting us.”

  I only backed away slightly, never letting go of him, “How are you doing? Any progress with Candace?”

  “She’s threatening divorce,” he said with a little choke.

  “Why, Ryan? Can’t you guys work it out?”

  “She said if I accept another mission then it’s over.”

  “I thought you were going to stick with training for a while.”

  “Cen com asked me to head up a mission over the Sudan, dropping supplies and providing air cover for a supposedly humanitarian mission.”

  “Why don’t you retire?”

  “Leese, I’m too young to retire,” he stated sounding frustrated. “What am I gonna do?”

  “Do you still love her, Ryan?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Turn down the job. Spend some time watching Seth and Dylan grow.”

  He smiled, “Seth is pretty much grown.”

  “He still needs his dad. What would you give, Ryan, if your dad hadn’t taken that last mission?”

  “That’s not fair, Leese.”

  “Why not? It’s true, and I know you’ve had it in the back of your mind all this time that somehow you are living up to the life you think your dad would have wanted you to have. I guarantee he’d rather see you being a stellar husband and father, than a stellar pilot—which you already are—you’ve proven yourself over and over.”

  “Leese, how do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Make things seem so simple.”

  “Do you miss her?”

  He nodded.

  “Be sure you tell her.”

  He frowned, “She’s not speaking to me right now.”

  “Well I don’t think she’ll be quiet for the whole party.”

  “Did you invite her?” he asked with surprise.

  “They actually got here last night. They’re in the courtyard last I saw them. Dylan was swimming and Candace was falling asleep on a lounger. She misses you, you know.”

  “Then why does she hang up on me when I call?”

  “Let me guess. You want to talk about jets or being sent on a mission?”

  He got a sheepish look, “Damn, you’re annoying.”

  I laughed, “Micah tells me that all the time.” I paused and lowered my voice so no one would hear me, “She cried on my shoulder for about an hour last night.”

  He became teary-eyed, “I never meant to hurt her, Leese.”

  “Then show her that she owns your heart, not that freaking F-16 or whatever it is you’re flying right now.”

  “Currently it’s an F-30 Silver Specter, but they want me to test pilot a new prototype in—”

  “Ryan, hush!” I said, stopping him from continuing. “I get it. I really do—you love flying, but I also know you love Candace. You just have to decide which one you love most.”

  He leaned in and kissed my cheek, “Thank you. You have no idea how much I’ve missed her and Dylan.”

  “Oh, I think I do. Go on—go!” I said pushing him toward the house.

  He gave me that sweet grin I used to see on his face when he was nineteen, and then walked away.

  I felt warm hands sliding around my hips from behind. Micah kissed the back of my shoulder.

  “Did you make a dent?”

  “That boy has dents all over his heart. It’s his head that needed one.” I turned and cuddled my cheek against his broad chest, “I hope I did.”

  “Come on, baby. Let’s get this party started. David and I will work on the grill if you and your mom want to start bringing things out to the picnic tables.”

  “With all these kids to help,” I declared, “I don’t think mom and I should have to—”

  “Honey, the kids already have plans. Leigh and Hunter are going to ride double on one of the jet skis while Bree and Seth take the other.”

  “And David was okay with those two riding together?”

  He chuckled, “No. He told Brook and Caleb to take the pontoon boat out to the middle of the lake to keep an eye on them.”

  “Umm, having Brook watch her twin is like asking a felon to watch a bank vault. If anything she’ll
want a turn riding Seth off into the cypress line to ravish him!”

  “I thought it was a bad idea too, but I guess he’s got to start trusting them at some point.”

  “Yeah, just like tonight when you are going to start trusting your daughter by telling her she can go for a drive with Hunter.”

  “Leese,” he growled.

  “No, Micah. You stop right there. She’s a good girl. Having her daddy show some trust in her decision making is important to her. Besides, it’ll take all the fun out of thinking she has to tip-toe around you to get my permission. At that point, a drive becomes just a drive, not a chance to ‘get away before my dad stops us.’ She is eighteen,” I added as a final point.

  He drew a deep breath as he watched the kids stripping down to their swimsuits and preparing to launch, “All right, fine. I’ll give her my permission—but I get to have a talk with Hunter first.”

  “No threats,” I reminded him. “A nice, fatherly kind of talk about how you expect him to treat her with respect; no more of you and David talking to him about the way a bone sounds when it snaps!”

  He just laughed and pulled me toward the house.

  The rest of the afternoon was wonderful. Joshua woke up and went to help his dad and uncle with the grilling of the steaks and chicken, and then Celeste and Gwen showed up and helped mom and me set everything out. Dylan was invited to join the older kids on the lake while his mom and dad disappeared for a ‘talk.’ Micah and I had been through those kinds of talks before; the wordless ones where you show the love instead of trying to say it. I was happy. Those two were so pitiful when they were apart.

  When they emerged they seemed as close as when they first fell in love. And, to make things even better, just before the fireworks over the lake, Lieutenant Colonel Faultz announced his retirement plans to the group. Seems he decided he loved the woman and children that made his heart soar more than anything the military had built to send him through the sky. Both of his boys were teary-eyed.

  It was a perfect ending for a perfect day.

  Leigh and Hunter received permission to go for a drive and, surprising everyone, David said that, if it was okay with Leigh and Hunter, Bree and Seth could go with them. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to show he trusted her or if he simply felt there was a degree of safety in numbers.

  Mom and David, and Kimmy and her husband told everyone goodbye, and they headed home. Brook and Bree would leave later (after the card game Ryan initiated), and everyone else was spending the night. Celeste and Gwen were in one guest house, while Ryan’s clan stayed in the other.

  My eyes fluttered open with the first rays of dawn. I never had been one to sleep in very late anyway, neither had Micah for that matter. I rolled out of bed stretching by the window and watching a flock of birds landing on the lake. I loved the view from our second floor bedroom. The rancher’s retreat on the other side of the lake we had torn down. There were too many bad memories over there, so we allowed that part of our property to be a habitat for the local wildlife.

  But the lake took on a special role in our hearts. Twenty years ago, when we first met Jeanie and Trent, Jeanie told me that the lake was one of the few left in the county that hadn’t been named. After a long tearful talk, we both agreed we owed a degree of homage to the man who stepped in front of a bullet to save Micah’s life. We filed the paperwork and Lake Jonathan was named. I considered calling it Lake Giovanni, but I know the man who made that perfect, selfless act was the ‘Jonathan’ who had always been under the mafia covering.

  “You okay?” Micah asked as he reached around me from behind and drew me against his bare chest.

  I only nodded; thinking about the last dramatic days of that horrible mess always left me speechless. Somehow I knew Micah could sense when I’d drifted off into a memory.

  “How about I make us some coffee and we go down to the dock to enjoy the sunrise?”

  I turned with tear-filled eyes, cupped his face in my hands, and kissed him, “I’m so grateful, every single day that I have you.”

  He kissed me back, “I love you, Annalisa. I’ll always love you. Come on, let’s go outside.”

  To our happy surprise, Joshua was standing in the kitchen. He had on a pair of board shorts, and an old, worn-out, Rip Curl tee-shirt. His thick, wavy brown hair had been obviously combed with his fingers, and his face had a sleepy-puzzled expression as he fooled with the coffee maker.

  “Morning,” Micah said, gripping the back of Joshua’s neck and then pulling him in for a hug. “Your mom and I were going to go out to the dock for coffee. Wanna join us?”

  “Love to,” he stated, “but how the hell do you make this new coffee maker work?”

  I laughed, “Move over sleepy and let me do that.”

  Fifteen minutes later we were seated on the quiet dock, sipping coffee, and dangling our feet in the cool water. We didn’t worry about alligators anymore. Trent came over on a regular basis, and when he and Micah weren’t fishing, they were looking for gators. Over the years, they trapped and removed several, but for the last two years they hadn’t found any. Both of them were happy about that because they’d been carefully selecting and stocking the hundred-plus-acre lake with all kinds of fish. We had some championship size bass growing as well as bluegill, specks, and some big catfish. It was a fisherman’s paradise.

  I was glad to have the quiet time with Micah and Joshua. I guessed we had at least another hour before everyone else started moving around. So we sat and discussed his classes for the fall and all the job opportunities he was exploring.

  “Did you want some help cooking breakfast for everyone, Mom?”

  “Actually your dad and I were thinking we’d take everyone out for brunch in town around ten. Does that sound okay?”

  “Sure. I—”

  We all heard the sound of a car approaching. We had a gate at the entrance to the property, but after many years of a ‘mafia free’ life, we stopped locking it at night.

  The car was a foreign beauty. I was guessing an Alfa Romeo, one of the Competizionie models, but we didn’t know anyone with one of those. An old and unwelcome feeling was gathering in my gut. The car was headed toward the house, but when Micah and Joshua stood up and started walking down the dock the car turned and headed toward us.

  I was hoping this would end up being my dad. We had invited him down for the holiday weekend, but he seldom accepted. I understood why he stayed out of our lives, even though I didn’t like it. He was someone I loved, and yet he was someone who had decided being separated from our family was in our best interest. He was still mafia and, by his own decree, we were not, and we were not to associate with such—he included himself in the ‘such’ category. But on very specific occasions, he would allow himself to be part of our lives. Those occasions were usually my birthday and Christmas—that was it.

  I couldn’t see the driver clearly, but I could tell he was youthful. My heart increased in speed. When the car stopped and the door opened, I knew something was about to change my world. The young man stepped out. All three of us froze in place.

  I was staring at my husband from twenty years ago. He was Micah—every inch, right down to the stare—only his hair was a deep, rich blond with highlights and he had a small cleft in his chin.

  “Oh my God,” I stated before I could contain it. One word stuck in my mind like a dagger: Sharon.

  “I have waited a long time to meet you,” the young man stated with an Italian accent, first looking at Micah and then to Joshua. “My mother told me I had a brother.”

  Micah stepped in front of both of us, ready to attack or shield, which ever this moment would require. “I’m assuming your mother is Sharon Moretti.”

  “Dad, what’s going on?” Joshua asked, thoroughly confused and shocked.

  Micah motioned for Joshua to keep silent, as the young man continued.

  “Was,” he said quietly, “She passed away three years ago.”

  “This place is off-limits to mafia,�
� Micah stated calmly.

  “Then I must ask you, as my father; is it off-limits to your son?”

  I stepped around the side of Micah, watching the young man’s gaze fall on me, “What’s your name?”

  “My mother envied you, Annalisa,” he breathed out my name, stretching the sound of it. “I often wondered what you would look like in person. I have seen you on internet clips from when you once sang on Remake. You are still very beautiful.”

  I didn’t detect any anger or hatred, only curiosity.

  “What is your name?” I repeated.

  “My name is Micah Moretti.”

  My knees wanted to come out from under me, but I couldn’t let them.

  “Dad,” Joshua spoke again, “Did—did you have an affair? Is he my brother?”

  Micah didn’t respond to Joshua’s question as he continued to stare at the young man in front of him, “I can understand why your mother never contacted me, but I don’t know if you truly understand that I didn’t know anything about you—nothing at all.”

  “She told me you were unaware of her pregnancy. I did not come here to cause harm. I wanted to meet the family I was never allowed to know.”

  “Is your grandfather still living?”

  “Poppa Vitale is eighty-one, and in good health. He left this country seven years ago when my mother became very ill. Poppa came and lived with us in Italy and helped raise me. He cared for her until she passed away.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I blurted. No matter how much I hated Sharon Moretti, she had been this nineteen-year-old boy’s mother. How cruel and unkind it would have been to hold my tongue when he obviously still felt the pain of losing her.

  He smiled slightly for the first time, “Somehow, I knew you would be the one who would care.” He looked past Micah to Joshua, “I am guessing you are my older brother?” He was reaching out his hand.

  It looked as if Micah was going to keep Joshua back, but Joshua avoided his father’s arm and reached out and accepted, “I guess I am, but I sure wish I knew what the hell was going on.”

  “It’s going to be a little hard to explain,” Micah stated honestly as he watched the boys shake hands.

  “The truth,” young Micah said, “often works the best. He did not love my mother. She was, by her own admission, manipulative and forced the relationship.”