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Helen lowered herself gingerly to the sofa. “My hip got so bad, I can’t travel.” To the others, she said, “I don’t mean to complain. Portia hired a limo to bring me for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“Big of her,” Rod muttered.
It seemed to Anya that everyone was avoiding the central question of why this child had run away. However, being a not-very-invited guest at a family crisis, she held her tongue.
“How’s your little sister?” Jack beamed at his niece, apparently as overjoyed to see her as she was to see him, Rod and her grandmother. “Amber must be ten now. She was a bold little thing. I’m surprised she didn’t come with you.”
“Don’t give them ideas,” Helen said tartly.
“Oh, she isn’t bold anymore,” Tiff said. “She’s shy.”
“Unlike somebody I know.” Rod quirked the girl a smile. “Sweetheart, as Jack said, I fought for both of you.”
“I figured you must have.” Tiffany lifted her chin proudly. “I kept remembering you reading us bedtime stories and cracking jokes, and the older I got, the weirder it seemed that you stopped caring about us.”
“I always cared!”
“How’d you get his phone number?” Helen asked. “I’m sure your parents don’t keep it around, although I guess kids can find anything on the internet these days.”
“Mom and Vince only let us use computers for schoolwork.” Tiffany made a face. “They won’t let me have a cell phone either. My friend’s big brother dug up Daddy’s phone number.”
Rod tweaked one of Tiffany’s braids. “You should have called before you left home, squirt. Taking the train by yourself, that’s scary.”
“It was fun,” the red-haired girl proclaimed. “And if I’d called, you might have said no.”
Jack regarded her sternly. “Tiff, what if he’d been out of town? Dangerous people hang around train and bus stations watching for runaways. Please don’t take a chance like that again.”
“Then you’d better give me your number, too,” she replied, then added mischievously, “just in case.”
“Sure.” Fishing a prescription pad from his pocket, Jack began writing on it. “Honey, call me before you put yourself into a potentially dangerous situation, okay?”
“I’ll try.”
“Don’t just try.” He also gave her a business card. “That’s my office number. If for any reason you can’t get through on my cell, make sure the receptionist understands it’s an emergency.”
He certainly was acting fatherly, or like an uncle, Anya thought. Another woman in her situation might be thrilled, but to her it raised a whole bramble bush of unwanted possibilities. If he cared this much about his nieces, how might he feel about his own child?
“I hate to bring this up, but I have to call your parents and let them know you’re safe,” Helen said.
“Not yet!” Tiffany begged. “I’ll go home on Sunday, okay?”
“It’s only Thursday, and you’ve already missed a day of school,” her grandmother chided.
With obvious reluctance, Rod backed Helen up. “They’ve probably notified the police. We’ll all be in trouble if we don’t report your whereabouts.”
“They’re mean.” Tiffany slouched down. “If my grades aren’t perfect, they ground me for a whole weekend. They make me play soccer because that was Vince’s sport. I had to drop dance class, which is my favorite.”
“Too many organized activities,” Helen commiserated. “It’s not healthy.”
Anya wondered how Tiffany would have responded to her family’s demands. At twelve, Anya had hurried home every day after school with her seven-year-old triplet sisters, assisted her disabled mother, cleaned the house and fixed dinner.
Her older brothers had spent their after-school hours assisting Dad in the feed store. The only escapee had been her older sister, Ruth, who’d married and moved out by then. But she’d soon had kids of her own to care for.
“Children deserve a chance to develop at their own pace,” Rod was telling Tiffany as Anya tuned back in. “But if you were still with me, you’d probably complain about how strict I am, too.”
Anya admired his effort to be fair. He could easily seize on this chance to whip up his daughter’s resentment toward her parents.
“No, I wouldn’t because I’d know you loved me.” The girl’s lips trembled. “When I asked them if I could visit you, Vince said if I ever mentioned you again, he’d send me to a boarding school in Switzerland.”
Rod looped an arm around his daughter’s shoulders. “Honey, I’d hate for that to happen. But after the court ruled in his favor, Vince adopted you. I have no legal rights.”
“He treats Amber and me like he owns us. Like we’re pretty objects for him to show off to his friends.”
We’re still missing something, Anya thought. The girl was unhappy, but why take action now? “Why did you run away today?” she ventured. “Did something happen?”
“Good question,” Jack murmured.
“It’s because of last Sunday.” The girl sniffed. After a deep breath, she resumed. “They make me take piano lessons even though I’m terrible because their friends’ kids play instruments. I had a recital on Sunday and I messed up.”
“What do you mean ‘messed up’?” Helen asked.
Tiffany’s hands clenched. “I forgot part of my piece in front of all those people. It was embarrassing. As soon as it was over, Vince dragged me outside and yelled at me where everybody could hear. He called me stupid and lazy.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Daddy, no matter how hard I practice, I still suck. When I try to memorize music, it falls out of my brain.”
“It’s good to play an instrument, but not if it makes you miserable,” her grandmother noted.
“I was great in dance class!” Tiffany burst out. “And I enjoyed it.”
“That’s why you ran away?” Jack asked.
“I had to see Daddy,” the girl said. “I knew he’d love me for who I am.”
Rod drew her close. No question about it; those were definitely tears brightening his eyes.
Anya understood how it felt to long for the freedom to be oneself. In a sense, she, too, had run off, although she’d waited until she was an adult with a nursing degree.
Rod’s gaze met Helen’s, his frustration obvious. “I wish I had the power to intervene, but legally, I don’t.”
“I should get a choice about who I live with,” Tiffany insisted.
“When you’re older, you might,” her grandmother said.
“How much older?”
“Fourteen, I believe.” Jack recalled that information from the lecture about runaways. “But you’d need your parents’ consent and your own money.”
“That’ll never happen!” Tiffany flared. “And what about Amber? They’re mean to her, too.”
“In what way?” Rod asked sharply.
“Since she’s a good swimmer, Vince took her to this competitive coach. Now he and Vince both yell at her when she doesn’t do well at meets,” her sister said. “She hardly talks to anybody anymore except me. When I told her I was short on money to buy my ticket, she gave me her savings.”
“Amber knew about your plans?” Rod sighed. “They’ll squeeze the truth out of her. They could have me arrested if we don’t report right away that you’re here.”
“We love you guys,” Jack put in. “But nobody’s above the law.”
“If they stick me in boarding school, I’ll run away from there, too.” Fire flashed in Tiffany’s eyes. Anya shuddered at the prospect of the girl wandering alone in some foreign city, an easy target for a predator.
“Please don’t put yourself in danger,” Rod said.
“If I can’t live here, they ought to at least let me visit,” Tiffany responded. “I’m going to tell them that when I get home.”
“Oh, dear.” Helen’s shoulders slumped. “I heard Vince say to your mother...”
“What?” Tiffany demanded.
“That I’m a bad influence because I indulge you girls. And once Vince’s mind is made up, he’s a bulldozer. I’m afraid he’ll cut me off completely.”
Vince was clearly a control freak. He couldn’t stand sharing the girls with anyone.
“My opinion of that man isn’t fit for polite company,” Rod growled.
“I did talk to a lawyer in town,” Helen said. “I could file with the court for visitation rights. But they’d fight it, and you know how much money Vince has. He’d bankrupt me before he’d give in.”
Unless they found a solution, Tiffany faced a difficult and possibly disastrous adolescence, Anya thought. Although it wasn’t her place to interfere, she did have an idea. “May I make a suggestion?”
Mixed expressions greeted this remark. Rod spoke first. “I appreciate your concern, Anya, but you’re not familiar with any of the people involved.”
“She was a teenage girl herself not long ago. Let’s hear what she has to say.” Jack’s encouragement finally drew a nod from his uncle.
Anya addressed the girl. “They won’t let you visit your dad, but your grandmother isn’t getting any younger. You and your sister are old enough to spend a week or two with her during vacations. And then you can discreetly visit your dad.”
“Vince won’t let us do anything that isn’t his idea,” Tiffany replied bitterly.
“Surely your mom has some influence. Play the guilt card,” Anya persisted. “Grandmothers are precious, and I’m sure she could use two helpers for spring cleaning. It would give your parents a break, too, during vacation.”
“They already get a break. They stick us in camps, like music camp and swim camp and soccer camp.” Despite the objection, a note of hope brightened the girl’s voice.
“I would love to have them here. They’re growing up so fast.” Helen gazed fondly at her granddaughter. “And it would be wonderful to do some spring cleaning together.”
“I’d like that. Amber would, too,” Tiffany replied. “Could we visit Daddy and Uncle Jack while we’re here?”
“Not officially,” Rod told her. “If your parents get wind that I’m involved, they’ll forbid you to come. They might even file a restraining order against me.”
Jack leaned forward. “I’ll bet we could arrange something if we’re careful, though.”
That was exactly what Anya had had in mind. She wondered if she should speak again or let the others carry the ball from here.
Helen clasped her hands in her lap. “But if Portia and that husband of hers found out I let you spend time with the girls, they’ll cut off all contact with me.”
“I suppose that’s a risk,” Jack conceded.
Anya cleared her throat. Everyone turned to her, with varying degrees of curiosity and skepticism.
“As I said, you have to be discreet,” she ventured. “But, Helen, surely you have friends who could take the girls on outings. It wouldn’t be your fault if they happen to run into their dad.”
“You’re a sneaky little thing,” Rod said appreciatively.
“I grew up in a family that tried to run my life even after I was grown,” she explained. “I learned the less I told them, the better.”
“Some of the hospital staff have school-age children,” Jack remarked. “There are lots of possibilities for playdates at a park or the beach.”
Rod grinned. “If I ran into them, naturally I’d offer to spring for lunch.”
“Thanks for the idea,” Helen told Anya. “I don’t suppose you have children, do you? You’d be a splendid parent.”
“Not yet.” With a twist of pain, she remembered the news she’d received this evening. I will have a child for about five minutes—until her forever mom claims her.
A dozen years from now, how would her child feel about being adopted? Anya supposed different kids had different responses. Tiffany had been torn up about Rod’s supposed abandonment, but that was because they’d formed a bond. A birth mother who relinquished her baby wasn’t rejecting her. Exactly the opposite. You had to do what was best for the child.
“I have another idea! Amber and I could go to the movies with Anya and Jack. Like a double date.” Tiffany clearly assumed they were a couple, despite their denials. “And he could cook dinner for us. Do you still cook, Uncle Jack?”
“Rumor has it,” he replied cheerfully.
More soberly, Rod said, “None of this is guaranteed. But you should make your case, Tiff. The fact that you ran away might show them they can’t keep you under lock and key. Let’s hope Amber hasn’t mentioned that you planned to contact me.”
“I swore her to secrecy.” The girl toyed with the end of her braid. “She knows Vince would go ballistic.”
“When you talk to them, don’t forget to lay on the guilt,” Anya reminded her. “Emphasize how unfair they’re being to your grandmother.”
“Their poor aging grandmother,” Helen said lightly. “Who can’t do a proper spring cleaning anymore.”
“Not that anyone could tell.” Anya wasn’t about to mention the spiderwebs on the front windows. Even if the detail reinforced Tiffany’s case, it would only embarrass her grandmother.
The girl bounced with excitement. “I’ll act totally pathetic. This is great! Thank you, Anya. I can’t wait till you’re my aunt.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. “Jack and I aren’t dating, sweetie. We just work together.”
Rod studied her. Anya hoped he hadn’t changed his mind about her so drastically that he might play matchmaker. She hadn’t meant to be that helpful.
“Now that we have a plan, I’ll go call your mother,” Helen said.
Taking that as her cue, Anya stood. “It’s been great meeting you and Tiffany.”
“Do you have to leave already?” the girl asked. “I like you.”
“I like you, too.” And truthfully, Anya hoped she’d see Rod’s daughter again. “But I have to hit the hay. Surgical nurses start work at 7:00 a.m. That means rolling out of bed by 5:30 a.m.”
“Does Uncle Jack roll out of bed by 5:30 a.m., too?” his niece asked mischievously.
Anya blushed. “I wouldn’t know.”
“You’re grown-ups. That means you can sleep together, right?” Tiffany teased.
“Where’d you pick up that idea?” Rod demanded. “I thought your parents monitored your media access.”
“Everybody knows about that stuff.” Tiffany patted his arm. “Don’t worry, Daddy. I don’t have a boyfriend yet.”
“That’s one thing I approve of,” he said with mock gruffness.
Anya said her goodbyes. “Back in a sec,” Jack told the others, then followed her outside.
“We have something to discuss,” she began as they walked toward her car.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
She’d prefer to get this over with. “It’s important.”
He didn’t seem to hear her, though. “What was my aunt thinking, shutting Rod out of the girls’ lives? Rod’s their father in every sense that counts. You can’t sever a bond like that, no matter how many lawyers you hire.”
In this state, Jack wouldn’t take her news well, Anya conceded. “Tomorrow night, then. Let’s find a moment to talk, okay?”
“I remember flying home from college right after Tiffany was born,” he continued, oblivious. “Holding her in my arms... She was a little cutie with her red hair. I got this wild rush, like it was my job to protect her from the world. Isn’t that nuts? I was twenty years old.”
“Kind of a strong reaction.” In the glow of a streetlamp, Anya clicked open her car lock. “You’re only their uncle. Or cousin. Or whatever.”
“Yes, whatever,” he said dourly. “But it doesn’t matter that we aren’t genetically related. We’re family. And families mean more to me than to most people.”
She stopped. “Why?”
“Because for most of my childhood, I missed out on having one.” Jack dug his hands into his pockets.
He hardly struck Anya as the product of a deprived upbringing. “You grew up in foster homes?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“My dad was a firefighter who died in a fire when I was three.” Jack stared down the dark street. “My mother wasn’t the domestic type, and after Dad died, she stopped trying to be. She adopted one cause after another and travels all over the world, saving the subjugated women of India and Africa. And South America. And Central America. And probably the South Pole.”
“Surely she took you along.” Anya had no idea how anyone could raise a child under those circumstances, but it might be exciting and educational.
“She dragged me here and there until I reached kindergarten. Then she dumped me on my grandparents.” Bitterness underscored his words.
At five years old, his mother had left him? That was harsh. With a shiver, Anya tried to relate his mother’s actions to her own situation. To her, it seemed an entirely different matter. But Jack might not see it that way.
“Grandparents are family, too,” she said.
“Mine weren’t even prepared to have Rod, a surprise midlife baby. He’s thirteen years younger than my mom, and they certainly weren’t eager to add a grandchild to the mix.” Jack seemed lost in his painful past. “Physically, they took care of me, but I grew up feeling as if I wasn’t wanted there. It was lonely.”
The opposite of me. Anya had often longed for less family. “Wasn’t your uncle like a brother?”
“A much older brother. He was a teenager when I was in grade school,” Jack said. “It was later that we got close.”
She shook her head. “I had no idea. Are your grandparents still around?”
“They died a few months apart while I was in high school.” A hurt look shadowed his face. “It felt like the end of the world to me. They may not have been perfect, but at least I had a home.”
“What about your mom?” Surely the woman had stepped up to the plate at such a critical point.
“After the funeral, she offered to fly me to Central America, where she was living in a jungle hut or something like that,” Jack said tightly. “She was vague about her circumstances, which I took to mean she’d rather I stayed here.”
“What did you do?” Anya wished she could soothe his sadness. She’d always pictured Jack as a secure person from a solid, supportive background.
“I moved in with Rod. He was in medical school by then and too busy to spend much time with me, but we got along. I received my father’s survivor benefits from Social Security, so that covered my share of expenses, and I did my best to be useful.”
“That’s why you learned to cook?”
“Along with other household skills.” He shrugged. “That’s how my childhood went. Better than for a lot of kids, but not exactly storybook.” Jack glanced toward the house. “That’s why it tears me apart to see Tiffany and Amber growing up like this. Being rich doesn’t compensate for feeling unloved and unvalued.”
“Surely their mother loves them.”
“Not enough to put their interests ahead of hers,” he said grimly.
Anya had no intention of discussing that subject. Instead, she sent forth a small feeler. “I don’t suppose you want children of your own, considering how unhappy you were.”
Deep green eyes bored into hers. “If I’m ever lucky enough to have them, I’ll be there for them one hundred percent. They’ll be the most important things in my life.”
What a devoted father he’d make, Anya thought, but how realistic was his promise? As a surgeon, he had to work long hours. The person who’d really be there morning, noon and night was the mother.
Still, seeing his hurt, feeling his unhappiness, Anya couldn’t help wanting to fix things for him. But she knew where that path led. She had the best of intentions but eventually her patience wore out, and she made dangerous mistakes.
She’d tried to be the perfect substitute for her mom with her younger siblings and to help at home as her mother’s rheumatoid arthritis grew progressively worse. Molly had put on a cheerful face for her husband and the triplets, but Anya had noticed the swollen joints and profound fatigue, the weight loss and the discouragement as one promising medication after another proved disappointing.
Anya had been exhausted by the extra work and—much as she regretted it—sometimes resentful. During her senior year in college, she was studying for exams one weekend and had decided to ignore her mother’s call for assistance from downstairs, just for a few minutes. Please, let someone else help her this once, Anya had thought. Unaware that everyone else had gone out, she’d concentrated on her textbook until she heard a sickening crash.
Trying to go to the bathroom alone, Molly had fallen and sprained her hip. Aching for her mother and filled with guilt, Anya had spent the next few days sleeping in her mother’s hospital room to make sure no such accident happened again. She’d also endured furious lectures from her father about failing those who relied on her yet again.
Then on the exams she’d received her lowest grades ever, losing a chance at a grant for a graduate program. Anya had given up her goal of becoming a nurse practitioner with her own practice. Instead, she’d taken a job at a hospital in Denver, continuing to make the hour-long commute from her small town until she’d gained enough experience and enough self-confidence to move out of state.
It was only two years later, and Anya wasn’t ready to tackle a lifelong commitment to a child or a man. Her baby would have as close to an ideal childhood as she could arrange, though—with an adoptive family. As for how Jack might react when he learned about her pregnancy, she’d rather not be there.
She’d learned the hard way that avoidance was often a wiser tactic than blunt honesty. She’d admitted to Dad what had happened that day with her mother and had received a tongue-lashing.
Yes, she’d let Jack calm down on his own rather than lash out at her out of shock. In fact, the more distance she put between them, the better. Suddenly, Karen’s house seemed like a haven.
“It was great meeting your niece,” she told him.
The tension eased from his body. “You were great. Thank you.”
“Glad to do it.” As she slid into the car, Anya added, “By the way, my roommate and I are moving.”
“Moving?” Dismay replaced his warmth. “What about your lease?”
“It’s up for renewal, and this will be cheaper,” she said. “We’re only going a few miles, to Karen Wiggins’s house. See you at work!”
Quick escape: turn on the ignition, pull out from the curb, wave blithely and go! In the rearview mirror, she saw Jack staring after her, openmouthed.
As she drove home, Anya processed the fact that she’d just committed to living with four other people, including Lucky, who was annoyingly nosy. And she still had to deal with informing Jack about his impending fatherhood.
Look on the bright side. Literally. In Karen’s airy house, her African violet had a better shot at survival.
And so did Anya’s hard-won peace of mind.
Chapter Four
“Manager or police?” Jack asked.
His uncle studied the dented blue van blocking their carport spaces. “I’m guessing the driver hasn’t gone far. It’ll be faster if we wait.”
“I’d rather call someone, but you’re probably right.” At 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, Jack’s stomach was growling for brunch at Waffle Heaven. “I figured now that you have your car back, we’d be bulletproof. If one doesn’t start, we could take the other. Then this jerk blocked us both.”
“Shall we punch him when he shows up?” Rod asked drily.
“You do the punching,” Jack said. “A surgeon’s hands have to be protected.”
“It takes dexterity to insert my tubes and syringes,” his uncle replied. “How about I sit on him while you administer the beating?”
“What if he is a she?” Jack asked.
“Let’s do rock paper scissors,” his uncle proposed.
“To decide whether we call the police or to decide which of us messes up our hands?”
They broke off their nonsensical discussion when they heard voices from around the corner of the nearest apartment unit.
“Angle it to your left! No, your other left,” a man ordered.
“It’s tilting!” squawked a woman.
“Hang in there, Anya. Zora, get over here!”
Shoes shuffled on the sidewalk. “Okay, I have it.”
They came into view on the walkway, navigating the narrow path between low-growing palms and bushes. With Anya and Zora was the male nurse Jack had met a few days earlier. Even though the temperature had barely reached the low sixties, he was wearing a sleeveless undershirt, displaying his expansive tattoos.