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“You’re doing children’s books, right?”
“Yes. I started out illustrating other people’s books, but now I’m working on writing them as well. It’s a challenge.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Well, it’s not jumping out of airplanes or scaling Everest, but to me, it’s exciting and fulfilling.”
Already she was on the defensive. Why? There was nothing to defend. There was nothing wrong with enjoying a nice, quiet, calm, boring life. She wanted boredom. She craved boredom. She’d craved it practically from birth but been denied it far too long. She had no reason to make excuses for the way she chose to live her life.
But a part of her desperately wanted Eddie’s approval. Always had. His respect had been hard-won. Little girls generally had a tough time impressing older boys. It was for Eddie, more than for her parents, she’d struggled for so long, pretending to be another adrenaline junkie, although she hadn’t realized that until much later. But that was all in the past now. She had no reason to seek his approval. She didn’t need it.
“What are you working on now?”
She tossed her hair back and glanced toward the kitchen. She should probably go check if her parents had gotten lost inside the fridge or something. They could cook well enough, but they weren’t very good at practical things—indoor things. Like cleaning up after their gourmet cooking sessions. “Are you really interested?”
“Of course I’m interested.” He made that sound like a given. She relented, vowing to stop being so defensive.
“Well…it’s a fantasy story. You know, heroes and dragons and monsters and stuff.”
“Aha. You mean—an adventure.”
She scowled at him, then grinned. “Yeah. I guess. Adventures on paper—that’s excitement enough for me, thank you.”
“So you did discover your adventurer’s spirit after all.”
She stared at him, not sure if he was joking or not. Yes—that was one way of putting it. She liked working on adventures inside her head. As long as they didn’t involve actual heights or actual tarantulas or actual flame-breathing dragons, adventures were just fine.
She did have an adventurer’s spirit after all. One that was now pushing her relentlessly toward fictional journeys of danger and excitement.
Eddie had homed into that instantly, while nobody else had ever made the connection—not even she. How? She almost felt as if he’d invaded her private thoughts and feelings.
“How’s the book going?” Eddie asked, oblivious to her inner turmoil. She blinked, snapping back to reality.
“Okay. Not bad. Well, bad, but I know it will pass. It always does, eventually. I have most of the story down in my head, except for the very ending, and some minor issues.” She sighed. “Well, a huge issue, actually.”
“What’s the problem?”
“The hero. I can’t get him to materialize properly on the paper.” She looked at Eddie and frowned, trying again to picture Marius. Eddie raised an eyebrow in question and his face was superimposed on her mental picture of Marius.
Yes!
She clicked her fingers and frantically looked around for a pencil and paper. “That’s it!” She jumped to her feet and glanced around, as if a sketchpad were likely to materialize in her parents’ living room. She slapped a hand against the back of the sofa in frustration. “Oh, damn it, why didn’t I bring a sketchpad? Why don’t I ever have a sketchpad when I need one?”
Eddie chuckled. “Is this what a sudden burst of inspiration looks like?”
Her heart was actually beating faster in anticipation of finally getting Marius on the page. Didn’t she have a small sketchpad in her purse? “Oh, yes. Would you—?”
Her parents burst into the room, voices raised as always in an attempt to drown out each other, and it was too late to wrangle a promise out of Eddie.
Later, Maria promised herself. Even if she had to corner him after dinner and draw on paper towels with a ballpoint pen, she would take advantage of this. She was getting quite desperate for inspiration.
“Maria!” Mom said, hugging her. “Happy birthday, darling. Isn’t Eddie a nice birthday surprise?”
Oh, yes, Mom. Wrap him up in a bow and nothing else and he’ll do nicely….
Argh! What was wrong with her? Return of the Killer Hormones?
“Yes, it’s nice to see him again,” she muttered. She hoped she wasn’t blushing too much. It really wasn’t polite to picture old friends in their birthday suits, even on their birthdays.
“It’s been a while since the two of you celebrated your birthday together, hasn’t it?” Mom continued chattily. “Remember, Maria, when we mixed up the presents, and he got your Barbie doll and you got his model fighter jet?”
“Well, I haven’t forgotten,” Eddie drawled with a lopsided smile. “It was an extremely traumatic experience. I have buddies who still bring up my Nurse Barbie when they need to twist my arm.”
Maria shook her head. “I remember. Poor Nurse Barbie had been stripped naked when I got her back. I had to go on a dangerous excavation through the pile of wrapping paper to find her uniform. Typical.”
“Boys will be boys,” her mother said.
Her father laughed. “Remember what Maria used to retort whenever you said that after one of Eddie’s escapades?” He mimicked a little girl’s voice. “Well, boys just aren’t a good idea in the first place!”
Maria smiled wistfully at the proud way her father slapped Eddie on the back. Dad had always adored Eddie. She’d never doubted her father’s love for her, but they’d never been much in tune and had grown apart even more when Maria withdrew from the expeditions.
A familiar friend, jealousy, reared its ugly head. She firmly squashed it. Her parents were allowed to love Eddie. It didn’t take anything away from her, and it was childish and immature to begrudge him that. He’d been their dream son—and had grown up to follow in their footsteps. Of course they were proud of him.
If only they were proud of her, too.
She glanced toward the shelf where her illustrated books were displayed and bit her tongue in punishment for the self-pitying thought. They were proud of her. It just wasn’t quite as obvious as their pride in Eddie. That was only natural. He was working in their field, following up on what they’d taught him through the years.
She felt Eddie’s gaze through her thoughts, and broke free of her musings to glance at him. He was grinning. “Boys not a good idea? I hope you’ve changed your mind since then.”
“About boys in general or only about those who terrorize little girls?” she shot back, another horrid childhood memory zapping to mind. She shuddered—and didn’t even have to fake it. He’d better be sorry.
He winced. “Ouch. Are you still holding that tarantula against me?”
“Yes! I would have needed years of therapy to get over it! I didn’t get therapy, so I’m scarred for life, and it’s your fault.”
Eddie’s eyes twinkled in hurt innocence. “It was locked in a jar. It couldn’t have harmed you. It was just a nature lesson.”
“Just like old times,” Kara said. “Too bad your parents are so far away, Eddie. Still happy in Egypt, aren’t they?”
“Yup. They love it there. Dad has a new obsession with mummies and a secret fantasy of discovering a lost tomb. Mom just rolls her eyes and enjoys the sunshine.”
“Good for them. I did reach your sister on her cell phone, but she and Samuel are out of town for that workshop for a few more days, aren’t they?”
“Yes. I haven’t even seen Jenny since I got back. And I haven’t seen Samuel since he was a baby. Really looking forward to it.”
“We haven’t seen her in ages, either. She told me getting a competent sitter for Samuel is almost impossible so she rarely leaves the house these days. Well, sit down, kids. Birthday dinner coming up.”
Her parents and Eddie talked business over dinner, and as she had little to contribute to a discussion about rafting and gliding, Maria felt free to space out and think about Marius and his adventures.
Finally. Eddie was the perfect model for Marius. It would all come together now—and about time. Her deadline was approaching too rapidly. She stared at Eddie as much as she could without it looking weird, and hardly tasted the wonderful food as all the missing scenes came to life in her mind’s eye. Finally.
She woke up abruptly from her musings when her father started talking about Intrepid Adventurers, possibilities for the company’s future, the new things Eddie would bring to the business, expansion and all sorts of things she’d never heard about before.
She cleared her mind of Marius and his adventures and focused. There was no mistake: the conversation was sounding more and more as if they thought Eddie would one day take over Intrepid Adventurers. A lot of fatherly advice was being dished out—and then she caught her mother’s gaze, moving between her and Eddie with a secret smile.
It became terribly obvious and terribly embarrassing what they were thinking, and she felt like sinking under the table—or pouring gravy over their heads. She prayed that Eddie wasn’t catching on to their matchmaking scheme.
Eddie to take over Intrepid Adventurers one day—when they got married.
It had been a running joke when they were kids, but had faded away when Eddie got old enough to find the constant jokes about his promised child bride annoying and embarrassing.
Now, out of nowhere, it had resurfaced.
What were her parents thinking?
She did her best to steer the conversation in a safer direction, and succeeded, then cornered her mother off in the kitchen as dessert was about to be served. “Mom, have you and Dad lost your minds?”
“Not recently,” Mom replied. “Why? You in the lost and found business now?”
“You know what I’m talking about, Mom! What do you think you’re doing?”
Mom looked innocent as ever, digging in the fridge for something. Maria hoped it involved chocolate. She needed chocolate. “What? What are we doing?”
“Eddie!”
“What about Eddie?”
“Come on! All this talk about the future of the company! I know this was funny when I was five, but now it sounds like you’re trying to sell me off! Arranged marriages went out of fashion quite a while ago, you know!”
Her mother just shook her head and stared at her in astonishment. “Arranged marriages? What in the world are you talking about?”
“Look, Mom, you can forget it. There’s never going to be anything between Eddie and me. Even if I were madly in love with the guy, I wouldn’t want him because he’s not good for me. I want a boring life, okay? I spent all my childhood with a couple of adventurers, I wouldn’t want another one if he came served on a silver platter.” Of course, on a silver platter in nothing but a bow…Maria bit hard on her lip. Brain, please cooperate, she ordered. What was with the sudden bow fetish, anyway?
“Wait, love. What did you just say? You saying you’re madly in love with Eddie?”
Mom had always had selective hearing. She was also looking joyfully surprised. Maria rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth at the same time. “No! I’m not in love with Eddie! I would never, ever, in a million years, get involved with someone like him. So forget it!”
“Ouch. You just broke my heart, kid.”
Eddie and her father were standing behind them, carrying piles of dishes. She didn’t care he’d heard. In fact, all the better. It would rid him of any misconceptions he had after that terribly embarrassing dinner conversation. “Don’t call me kid!” she snapped.
“Look, honey…” he said, and she gritted her teeth even harder because he’d called her honey and she liked that much more than kid. She held up a hand and cut him off.
“Eddie, I’m sorry about my parents’ nostalgia, but don’t worry. I’m not in on the plot. I don’t want you.” She smiled to show it was nothing personal. “No offense. If you’re ever the last man on earth, I promise to reconsider. You know, for the future of mankind.”
Eddie put the dishes away and clutched his chest in pretend pain. “Ow! That’s the only loophole? You’d only have me in order to save the human race from extinction?”
“You’re being silly, Maria. And you’ve got it all wrong,” her father said, frowning. “This has nothing to do with you. Eddie is buying Intrepid Adventurers. The deal should be final next month.”
CHAPTER TWO
OKAY.
Maria felt her face ignite. Then her lungs, as she’d forgotten to breathe. She wasn’t sure if it was with embarrassment or anger.
Of course her parents weren’t trying to sell her to Eddie, what a thought—but…
He was buying Intrepid Adventurers?
Her parents were selling Intrepid Adventurers?
She took a deep breath, not sure which issue to tackle first.
Eddie was buying Intrepid Adventurers.
Her parents were selling Intrepid Adventurers.
It shouldn’t have come as a shock. They’d talked about selling before—they’d talked about retirement. It had always seemed something in the far distant future—definitely not something to worry about. And after all, there weren’t many choices since they didn’t have a child interested in following in their footsteps. She certainly wasn’t the type to run an adventuring company. But…
This was the company her grandfather had founded and made work in a time when such things were almost unheard of. The company her parents had taken over and made flourish.
Her hackles rose. They were selling Intrepid Adventurers to Eddie. Passing it on to the man they’d always wanted as a son and heir.
As a child and teenager, he’d grabbed his share of her parents’ love and affection and the lion’s share of their time.
Now he was taking their company, too.
Her family company.
She turned to him and glared, but he was studying the ceiling carefully. She turned on her parents instead, fuming.
“What?” she bit out, as if getting them to repeat the information would somehow change the content. “Run this by me again. You’re selling Intrepid Adventurers—to Eddie?”
Her parents looked surprised at the vehemence in her voice. “You knew we would sell the company sooner or later,” her mother said. “It shouldn’t come as a shock to you.” She laughed, gesturing awkwardly. “It’s not like you’re interested in taking over.”
Of course not. She wasn’t Eddie. She wasn’t brave and strong, laughing in the face of danger, playing a combination of Indiana Jones and Spider-Man all over the world. She hadn’t been named after Sir Edmund Hillary, either.
But the company was her birthright. Not Eddie’s. It had never been Eddie’s.
“Why not?” she blurted out. “Yes! I should take over. I should keep up the family tradition. This is a family company. Grandpa founded it. It’s natural for me to take over. Eddie is not family.”
“Maria,” her mother said, reaching out and patting her arm. “Don’t worry. We’re not expecting you to step in. We know you’re not an adventurer, let alone an intrepid one. The company is better off with Eddie. You don’t want it. You’ve never wanted it.”
“What are you talking about? True—I don’t like adventuring. But it doesn’t take an adventurer to run a company! It’s mostly paperwork, and I’m good with paper. I’m great with paper!”
“Maria—your mother and I are adventurers,” her father said. “Or at least we were, until middle age started to threaten us with old age. Your grandfather was one, too. That’s what this business is all about. It’s not just a company. It’s a vision. A dream.”
“Exactly! That’s my point. It was my grandfather’s dream. Our family’s dream. If you want to retire, I can take over. Granted, I’ll need some help getting started, but I know I can do it.”
Her father was shaking his head. “No, Maria.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“This company has to be led by an adventurer.” He paused, looking at his wife for support. Maria saw her squeeze his hand. No help there. “Else it has no soul.”
“No soul? No soul?” Great. On top of everything else, now she had to deal with metaphysics. “And Eddie is going to give the company soul?”
“Yes—”
“What can Eddie possibly give Intrepid Adventurers that I can’t?” Her mother and father both opened their mouths, but she charged on before they could start listing Eddie’s attributes. “Sure, he may be a good guide and hopeless adrenaline junkie and a real adventurer, but that has nothing to do with running a business! You can’t just give him Grandpa’s company!”
“Maria—listen!”
Maria sat down on a kitchen chair and crossed her arms, fuming. Emotionally fulfilling as a tantrum might be, it probably wouldn’t help her case. Real adventurers didn’t throw tantrums. “Listening.”
“We’re planning our schedule for next summer,” Harlan said. “You know what we always do when we’re adding something new—we try it out ourselves.” He looked down, and his wife put her arm around him. “But the doc says no. No extreme sports.” He cursed. “He’s quite insistent. I can’t even do calm relaxing things like skydiving.”
Skydiving—calm, relaxing?
Had she really gotten her genes from these people?
Then reality kicked in. The doctor was pulling the brakes. The doctor.
The anger drained from her in an instant. Oh, God. “Dad…”
Her father waved a hand irritably. “Don’t worry, Maria—it’s nothing serious. It’s just my blood pressure. It’s high and the medication doesn’t agree with me, and…Well, he insists I need to start taking it easy.”
“And you can’t take it easy in this business,” Mom continued. “It would be a contradiction in terms, wouldn’t it? So we’ve decided to retire. Not an easy decision, but we’re going to make the best of it.” She looked at her husband with a smile. “We’ll still travel. We can go on cruises with other old fogies.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She should have noticed something was wrong. “Dad…I didn’t know…”
“I’m not sick,” her father said, still sounding annoyed. He’d never liked being fussed over. “I’m fine. It’s just this pesky blood pressure. As the doctor put it: I need to start making allowances for my age. That’s all.”
That’s all?
Maria had a feeling it wouldn’t be quite that simple. What would her parents do now? For so long, they’d lived for the business. It was their entire life, their hobby as well as their job. And, thanks to her being their only child, they didn’t even have grandchildren to spend their newfound free time on, as several of their friends seemed to do.
Guilt, guilt, guilt and more guilt.
Great. Now she was feeling guilty about having failed to procreate.
“How long have you known this?” She gestured to Eddie, an almost childish petulance rising again, and she hated the whine she heard in her own voice. “I mean—if you’re selling to Eddie, obviously you told him all this before you told me. Why?”
“We didn’t want to cause worry or put pressure on you, Maria,” her mother said softly. “There was no reason to tell you anything until everything was settled. We were going to tell you tonight after dinner—but I guess we got carried away discussing the future with Eddie.”
“But…Damn it!” She shouldn’t stomp her foot. Not at her age.
But not only had they discussed the business with Eddie, not only were they selling the business to Eddie— they’d told Eddie about her father’s health problems.
Who was their flesh and blood here?
“What’s the problem, Maria?” her father asked. “You’ve never been interested in our business. You hate everything about it. You don’t want this company.”
“I do!”
“You don’t,” the three of them said in unison, and for lack of a better option Maria chose Eddie to glare at.
“I do! You don’t know anything about what I want!”
“This way is much better, Maria,” Kara said soothingly. “Eddie is willing to take over. It’s a relief not having to sell to a stranger.” She patted Maria’s shoulder. “The company is worth quite a bit, you know. We’ve decided to give you your share. You’ll have enough to support yourself while you work on your books.”
Was this supposed to be good news? Money? They were giving her part of the money Eddie would pay them for the company? That was supposed to help? “What?”
“Yes. Isn’t it wonderful? You can quit your library job and focus on your art without worrying about putting bread on the table.” Her mother was beaming now. “See? This is best for all of us.”
“I don’t need any charity,” Maria muttered. “My work supports itself.” It wasn’t accurate, of course. Her books weren’t even keeping her in paints and paper yet, but they would. Someday.
It wasn’t a hobby. It was a career. An embryonic one, but still a career.
“Grandpa built up Intrepid Adventurers. We can’t let it go to…” She waved a hand in Eddie’s direction. “To a total stranger!” What else would she lose? Would Eddie take her parents’ affections along with the company? Would she have nothing left? She bit her lip, realizing she was being overly melodramatic. But this was serious, damn it!
Her mother cast an apologetic look to Eddie and reached out to pat his arm. “You know she doesn’t mean that, Eddie. You’ve always been like a part of the family.” She looked at Maria, face stern now, and Maria felt her heart sink. They were serious about this. Very serious. “Maria—if we’re selling to anyone, we want it to be to Eddie.”
“Then don’t sell to anyone at all!”
Her parents stared at her. Finally she seemed to be getting through to them. “I can do it,” she said softly. “I can take over the company. I can make it work. I know I can. Will you let me try?”
“Look—maybe I should leave,” Eddie said, and about time, too, Maria thought grumpily. “This is a family discussion.”
“No!” her father said. He looked relieved at the interruption, glad to escape the question Maria had just asked. “As Kara says, you’re almost a part of the family anyway.” He looked at Maria and winked. “Even if our daughter refuses to make it official.” He snapped his fingers as if a brilliant thought had occurred to him and Maria groaned, knowing what was coming. “That would be the perfect solution of course. How about it, kids? Get married? It would solve all our problems in one strike, and might give us grandchildren, too.”
Great. Dad the jokester, with terrific timing as usual. Maria rolled her eyes, noticing that Eddie just smiled. Obviously he was over the acute embarrassment this joke had caused him at twelve. “Very funny, Dad. Hilarious. I can’t stop laughing.”
Dad chuckled. “Ah, well. Can’t blame a man for trying. But what’s done is done. Eddie’s taking over.”
Her mind was blazing with thought. There had to be a way to stop this from happening. Some way. “Done? Is the sale official yet?”
“Not yet. There’s no hurry. Eddie’s already working for us—we’ll get the details settled soon. There’s an avalanche of paperwork to go through first.”
“So the sale is not final yet?”
Dad glanced at Eddie. “Well, no, if you mean the legal aspects, nothing’s final yet…”
“Good.” She took a deep breath, as if preparing to dive into the deep end. Yes. It was the only way.
“Why is that good, Maria?”
Eddie had asked the question, sounding rather suspicious, but Maria stared at her parents as she answered. “Because I’m going to show you that there’s no need to sell to Eddie. I’m going to show you that I can give the company soul.”
Her father sighed. “Just how do you intend to do that?”
Maria got the notepad and pencil from beside the telephone and plopped back down into her seat. Her feet weren’t altogether certain they wanted to carry her through this. “Watch me. What’s the name of your top private instructor?”
“Maria?” Her mother was staring at her, looking almost frightened. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m going to do it,” Maria said through gritted teeth. “If that’s what it takes to prove to you I can give Intrepid Adventurers a soul, I’ll go through all the extreme sports. Skydiving, rafting, bungee-jumping, hang gliding—whatever. I’ll do it all.”
There was stunned silence in the room.