by Judy Duarte
Cade stood at the window of his office well before nine o’clock the next morning. He had the place to himself since the secretaries, clerks and law associates wouldn’t be in until nine and most of the senior partners didn’t arrive until ten o’clock or later.
It was a time for thinking, but his mind was curiously blank. He’d left word at his father’s office that he wanted a meeting and would be there at noon. Too bad his morning was filled with appointments. He wanted this day behind him.
He heard Steve in the next office. He needed to talk to him, too. He went next door. “Hey,” he said.
Steve hung his suit coat on a rack. “Good morning. You’re in early.” He picked up a container of coffee and blew across the surface before taking a sip.
Cade leaned against the door frame. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about your proposition.”
“And?”
“Let’s go for it.”
Steve looked comically surprised. “Damn, you mean it? You really will do it?”
Cade nodded and returned his friend’s grin. “How soon can we move on it?”
Steve clicked on his computer. “I’m printing out my resignation right now.”
“You’ve written it?” Cade asked.
“Yeah. You want a copy?”
Cade shook his head. “I’ll manage. What date are you making it effective?”
“The end of August. That’ll give me time to wrap up most of the crap, uh, I mean cases, that I have. What about you?”
“I’ll use the same. Have you spoken to Mark Banning?”
“Not yet. Let’s set up a lunch date, no, better make it dinner. This may take some planning.”
“Okay, then.”
Steve rose and held out his hand. “We may starve, but we’ll do it on our own.”
Cade nodded and shook his new partner’s hand. A few hours later, he left the law firm and walked to his father’s place of business. It was a day for change, he thought, going inside and up the stairs to the second floor.
The secretary’s office was empty. She’d probably gone to lunch. Cade tapped on his father’s door.
“Come in,” Walter said.
He was smiling when Cade entered. Cade crossed the expensive carpet and stopped before his father’s desk. He removed the plastic bag from his pocket and shook the contents out on the leather pad that protected the wood surface. “Let’s compare transmitters,” he said. “Are either of these like the one you said you found on your phone?”
He observed the mask that slid over his father’s face and the fact that his eyes darted to the wall of cabinets that housed a television and other electronic gear.
“Where did you get these?” Walter asked.
“Sara’s home line. And mine.” Cade crossed to the built-in cabinets and opened a door. Upon checking, he found a tape cassette in the player. He hit the play button.
Sara’s voice wafted into the room. She was talking to her friend, Rachel. The discussion was innocuous, girl talk about shopping, complaints about the school where Rachel still taught and plans to meet at lunch on Friday.
Cade turned the machine off when the women said goodbye. He removed the cassette and put it in the plastic bag. “Illegal wiretapping,” Cade murmured, counting up the charges that would ensue if his father was caught. “Invasion of privacy. Conspiracy—”
“Conspiracy to do what?” Walter snapped.
“To prevent the truth from coming out about what happened to Jeremy Carlton?” Cade returned to the front of the desk. He met his father’s glare. “Why, exactly, did you feel it necessary to bug my line, too?”
Walter’s lip curled in a sneer. “You’ve lost your head over the girl, that’s why. I needed to know what you were saying to her. You had a meeting at her place with her brother and his friends last week.”
“We had another one last night. That’s when Mark found the transmitters on our phone lines.”
Cade noted the hardening of his father’s features, the harshness of his expression and the coldly calculating gleam in his eyes. He wondered if, thirty years from now, he would look the same. He hoped not.
When Walter reached for the two transmitters, Cade scooped them up and replaced them in the bag, then stored the evidence in his pocket. “I’ll keep these in a safe place,” he said.
“You’re getting a little too big for your britches, boy,” Walter told him, his manner now threatening. “That can have serious consequences.”
“Such as?” Cade challenged. “You’ll get me fired? Too late. I turned in my resignation before I came over here.”
Walter exploded. “You young fool, you don’t know what you’re doing. Or who you’re dealing with. I can see that you don’t get another job in this city.”
Cade watched the pulse pound in his father’s temple for a couple of seconds before answering. “And I can see that you don’t do business with any reputable company in the state in the future. I know how to play that game. I’ve seen you do it often enough over the years when you wanted to get rid of a competitor.”
“That was business,” his father defended his actions.
“Yeah, but this is a felony.” Cade patted his pocket. “I saw you with the bounty hunter. Lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas. Isn’t that the way the saying goes?”
“Get out,” Walter snarled. “You’re no son of mine. I’m writing you out of my will. I never thought I would see the day when you, of all my children, would betray the family.”
Cade thought of his mother, of his missing brother, of Sara and her family. “No,” he said. “I guess you didn’t.”
He headed for the door.
“Just a minute,” Walter said in a different tone. “We need to talk this over. Let’s not go off halfcocked.”
Cade shook his head and kept walking, out of the office, out of the building. He’d canceled his afternoon appointments, so he was free for the day. On the street, he walked aimlessly until he stood at Pier 39, crowded with tourists and street mimes, shops and restaurants.
A lot of the things he’d done in his life had been for his father’s approval, Cade realized. Good grades, a position with a prestigious law firm, marriage to the daughter of a prominent family. Children wanted to please the most important people in their world.
An utter weariness seeped into his soul. He and Em had known the happier days in their family’s history. They’d tried to uphold the illusion that that family still existed.
Rowan and Jessica had never been fooled into thinking all was well in their household. At nearly thirty, it was time he, too, recognized their father for the ruthless, ambitious man he was, one who would destroy others who got in the way of his plans.
Murder?
Cade didn’t know about that. He was getting off the merry-go-round of his father’s schemes for his own reasons. He and Stacy were going to have a life separate and different from the usual Parks family strife.
His daughter had good instincts when it came to people. Stacy had never been comfortable around her grandfather. While he wouldn’t deny all contact, he would see to it that his child wasn’t subjected to Walter’s vitriol or verbal attacks on the people he didn’t like. Otherwise, he would make it clear there would be no visits at all.
At last his anger ebbed. Noting it was nearly three o’clock, he returned to his car and drove home. Tai and Stacy were surprised by his appearance. He told Tai she could take the rest of the day off. He and Stacy were going to the zoo.
“Let’s go,” Stacy said enthusiastically after she’d put on shoes and washed her face and hands. When they were on their way, she sighed loudly.
“What?” he asked.
“I wish Sara could go with us,” she said. “The zoo is her abs’lutely favorite thing.”
His insides clenched as if preparing for a sucker punch to the gut. “She’s at work.”
“I know, but it would be nice if she could be with us, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he said. “It wou
ld be nice.”
That was the one thing he hadn’t faced yet—his feelings about Sara. What was real between them, and what was simply her using him and Stacy for her own ends? Were she and his father two of a kind?
Good question, he admitted with a cynicism that was new to him. Too bad there wasn’t an answer.
Chapter Thirteen
Sara set up her easel on the deck Saturday morning and began sketching the view of the ocean from there. After seeing Cade and Stacy leave, probably for the ranch, she’d decided to do a watercolor of the scene. Anything to keep busy so she wouldn’t have to think.
Yesterday the principal at Lakeside had called and asked her to return to her teaching post. Since it was the one thing she loved without reservation, she decided it was foolish to let pride prevent her from continuing her chosen profession. She’d told Mrs. Ling later that afternoon.
The ice-cream shop owner had approved the decision wholeheartedly. She informed Sara that her grandson missed Miss Carlton and wanted her back as his teacher.
It was nice to be wanted, Sara mused, putting a bright face on the situation. The false cheer lasted but a moment, then she was in the doldrums again.
She missed Cade and his daughter. She wanted to go to the ranch with them. She also wanted to show the world what Walter Parks had done to her father. She couldn’t have it both ways. They were mutually exclusive actions.
Choices. Did she have any?
Not really. Her loyalty lay with her family just as Cade’s belonged to his. This path, the one seeking justice, had been chosen when she and Tyler had decided to leave Denver and come to San Francisco. She couldn’t hate Walter Parks and love the son. It didn’t make sense.
A sigh escaped her. She was angry with herself, with Cade and with the fate that had put her in this position.
When was life going to smooth out and be easy for the children of Marla Carlton?
“Yoo-hoo,” a voice called from the side of the mansion.
Sara recognized Rachel’s voice and went to open the gate. “Come in. I’m glad to see you. I need a distraction from my own thoughts, which are driving me insane.”
“I rang the doorbell but got no answer. Since your car was here, I wasn’t sure if you were being reclusive or were out on the deck,” Rachel told her. “Oh, you’re painting. I’ve never seen any of your stuff. That’s very good.”
Her friend stood on the deck and gazed at the drawing, then at the scene it depicted.
“Thanks,” Sara said. “I needed something to do today.”
Rachel studied her. “I understand you’re coming back to school and your job there.”
“Yes. Cade got it straightened out.”
“How?”
Sara told her as much as she knew.
“He must have put it rather strongly to his father,” Rachel said. Her eyes narrowed as she gazed at Sara.
“What?” Sara demanded, brushing a pale blue wash on the sky portion of the canvas.
“I think he must care for you a lot.”
“I think he convinced his father that putting a bug on my phone line wasn’t the wisest thing to do.”
Rachel’s eyes went wide. “Are you kidding?”
“I wish,” Sara said. “First, Cade accused me and Tyler of doing the same to his father’s telephone, then he decided his father may have reciprocated. Mark Banning found the transmitters on my line…and on Cade’s.”
“His father listened in on Cade’s conversations?” Rachel was astounded. “What is going on in that family?”
Sara swished the brush in a glass of water, wiped it on a towel and stuck it in another glass, bristles up to dry. “I don’t know. Cade and I haven’t spoken in a couple of days.”
“Is it all off between you two?”
Sara shrugged. “When was it ever on?” she asked sardonically. “I was a fool to get mixed up with him.”
Rachel nodded. “It’s hard, but you get over it.”
Sara wondered if her friend was thinking of her former husband and his behavior, bringing her to a strange city, then leaving one day without a word. Luckily Rachel had her teaching credentials and the job at Lakeside.
Life went on.
Putting on a cheerful front, Sara spent the rest of the day with the other teacher. Rachel told her all the gossip from school and Sara related all that had happened on the search for the missing uncle.
“So far, no luck,” she finished the tale. “But I have great faith in Mark after seeing him in action when he found the transmitters.”
“Until your investigation is finished, there’s not much hope for you and Cade, is there?”
Sara didn’t speak for a second, then she said, “There’s no hope at all.” She even managed a smile.
Cade hit the garage door opener, then pulled into the narrow space and cut off the engine. He’d planned to stay at the ranch until the next day as usual, but a restlessness he couldn’t control had seized him after dinner that evening and wouldn’t let go.
Stacy had fallen asleep while watching her favorite video. He’d decided to return to town. She was now asleep in the child safety seat behind him. He unbuckled and climbed out, then carried his daughter up to her bedroom.
After changing her into pajamas over her objections, he put her to bed and started to leave. “Wait, Daddy,” Stacy said, then gave a big yawn. “I haven’t said my prayers.”
He recognized the delaying tactic for what it was. Schooling himself to patience, he sat on the side of the bed. “Okay, I’m listening.”
She went through the usual list of “God bless Daddy and Mary Blue-eyes and Grandpa Parks and Grandpa and Grandma Limbini and Aunt Emily and Aunt Jessica and Uncle Rowan—”
“Wrap it up,” he murmured.
She nodded and spoke faster. “And Wheelie and Sara,” she finished.
He started to rise.
“And please, God, give me and my daddy a fam’bly—”
“Family,” he corrected, frowning as the prayer grew unexpectedly longer.
“A fam’ly that plays and has fun like we did with Sara and Teddy and Rufus at the lighthouse and beach, and a baby brother we can teach to ride like we did Sara, and we’ll all be nice and always do the right thing because we love each other. And please, please make Sara like us again. Amen.”
Cade felt as if he’d been hit with a sledgehammer as the prayer ended and Stacy turned over on her back so he could rub her.
“Are you going to rub my back?” she asked when he didn’t move.
“Yes,” he managed to say past the mangled lump of pain and longing and a lot of other emotions that had gathered in his throat.
After tucking the sheet around her shoulders, he rubbed up and down her back in gentle strokes. His daughter seemed suddenly tiny and fragile to him. She was still a very young child with a child’s dreams and hopes.
Stacy had never complained to him about a lack of family. She’d never cried because she didn’t have a mother like the other kids in her class. She seemed happy and confident, so he’d thought having him and Tai was enough.
He’d thought wrong.
The quiet earnestness in her voice during the prayer caused an ache inside him that he couldn’t explain. Her request for a baby brother had touched him deeply, as had her promise that they would all be nice and love one another.
He wondered how much she remembered of the quarrels between him and her mother, how much she knew of the tension between him and her grandfather.
“Ah, Stace,” he said on a low groan of sorrow.
His child had never had the loving home she’d prayed for. Neither had he, not after his mother had been sent away. He realized he still missed her. Her laughter. Her gentleness and kindness, her kisses when he’d scraped his knees. Stacy had missed those things, too.
He’d provided them as best he could, but it hadn’t been enough. That was evident by the request to have Sara in their lives once more. Sara had supplied the one thing he couldn’t—a woman�
�s touch. A girl needed a woman as a role model as much as a boy needed a father to teach him to be an honorable man.
A family. Another child. Love. Sara.
The words flowed over him, through him. He closed his eyes as light dawned inside him, as warm and real as the rising of the sun. He and Stacy wanted the same things, and he could give them to her…and to any other children he might have, that Sara might give him.
Sara.
All he had to do was convince her to marry the son of her family’s sworn enemy. Could any marriage work based on that premise? It was a chance he was willing to take.
After he was sure Stacy was asleep, Cade quietly left the room, went downstairs and out on the deck. A night-light was on in the den at Sara’s place, but she wasn’t visible in the room.
He couldn’t recall if her car had been in its usual spot. Was she out for the evening? Or was she gone for good?
A jolt of fear went right down his spine and lodged in the innermost part of his body. If she’d left, he could find her. He knew where her brother worked.
At that moment, the foyer light came on in her side of the house as she entered the front door. He saw her lock the dead bolt, place her purse on the hall table, flick the light off, then come toward him.
She stopped in the kitchen. When she appeared again, she carried a cup and was dunking a tea bag up and down in it as she settled on the sofa, then kicked off her shoes.
Emotion erupted in his chest. Joy, relief and apprehension jostled for position. Taking a calming breath, he knocked on her door and tried to compose an opening line that would make sense.
Sara was startled at the tap on the back door and sloshed a few drops of hot tea on her jeans. She and Rachel had been out to dinner, then had taken in a movie of murder and dark deeds in a small town where everyone thought they knew everyone else. They’d been in for a shock.
Which was the way she felt as she rose and unlocked the door. She cleared her throat and ordered her heart to slow down and beat steadily. “Yes?”
“May I come in?”
