Gypsy Beach (17 page)

Chuckling to himself, Ryan lifted Evie from
her carseat and wrapped his arm around Sienna. She seemed thrilled
to be here, and he was thankful that she’d relaxed a little.

“Sienna Rosa!” rang from the cook, the
hostess, and several of the waiters and waitresses in a deep chorus
of Romani accents.

Sienna blushed violently but accepted hugs
from them all. They greeted Ryan and Evie with equal exuberance.
“If Sienna Rosa brings you, you family!” the cook, who’d come out
of the open kitchen to greet Sienna, declared loudly.

They were seated immediately, despite the
restaurant having numerous patrons, and Evie quickly became the
center of the attention and the affection from the staff.

“Look, Daddy!” Evie pointed to the large,
ancient kettle in the center of the table. The spout was missing as
was the handle, so it had been turned into a makeshift flower pot.
Inside the overflowing dirt that Ryan doubted would please anyone
from the Health Department sat several dozen dandelions. They were
fluffy white and ready to be blown. As making wishes was one of
Evie’s favorite things to do, she was ecstatic.

Ryan had never seen dandelions planted as
they were effectively a weed, and he was certain that she shouldn’t
blow the pedals all over the restaurant.

But as soon as Evie pointed to the flowers,
Rosamaria, the hostess, lifted a handful of the flowers from the
kettle. “You know baby girl, families of fairies live inside zee
wishpuffs! You can set zem free! Come with me!” She led Evie back
out front and let her blow to her heart’s content. Ryan and Sienna
grinned over her exuberance.

Not certain how exactly it had happened since
he hadn’t ordered anything for anyone, food appeared abundantly on
their table. Evie devoured the numerous helpings of macaroni and
cheese she was provided.

She wiggled in her seat after her second
helping and tugged on Ryan’s arm. “Daddy, I have to go potty.” She
announced somewhat discreetly.

He tried not to grimace, but he dreaded this
moment every time he took Evie Grace out anywhere. Most places
didn’t have family restrooms, and she was much too little to
navigate the Women’s rooms alone. His standard protocol had been to
ask the grown men in the Men’s room to leave so she wasn’t exposed
to anything, but that never went over well, and here at Zingarina’s
the cook and hostess may have been willing to overlook his glaring
lack of Gypsy heritage and declare he and Evie family, but several
of the patrons had given him the side-eye when he’d wrapped his arm
around Sienna and kissed the side of her head. The piercing fire in
their light gypsy-eyes had spoken volumes, ‘
You aren’t one of
us, and she isn’t yours.’
Ryan ordering men from the restroom
wasn’t likely to go over well.

Sienna studied him for a long moment. “Oh my
gosh! You can’t go with her to the Women’s room. I never even
thought of that!”

“It’s fine.” He stood and prayed that maybe
the Men’s room would be empty.

“No, I’ll take her. I can do it.” Being in
the midst of the ultimate acceptance and love that she’d been shown
seemed to have given Sienna confidence.

“You sure?”

“Yes,” her voice faltered, but she was
determined. “Is there anything special I need to do, or is it
fairly straight-forward?”

“You’ll have to set her on the toilet and
help her clean up.” It wasn’t that he didn’t think her capable, he
just felt bad that she was having to do this. She’d just met Evie,
after all.

With a resolute nod, Sienna took Evie’s hand
and led her to the restroom. When she’d disappeared, the wary eyes
narrowed. Shifting uncomfortably, Ryan tried not to notice. How
exactly could he prove himself to Gypsies? Marrying Sienna, never
trying to tie her down, making children with her, and allowing her
to be authentically her all the way down to her deep Gypsy roots
was the only way, and that would take a lifetime to accomplish.
More determined than ever, Ryan lifted his head and offered a kind,
accepting smile. A few turned away, but a few returned the
gesture.

“Daddy!” Evie announced loudly as she
returned to the table. “Sienna forgot to wear her panties! She can
use my Belle panties!”

Ryan doubled over laughing, but Sienna was
the color of the bright red patchwork tablecloth.

“I had to go, too. I didn’t know if she would
be okay out of the stall where I couldn’t see her, so I tried to
just go really quickly. I didn’t think she would notice. I’m so
sorry!”

“Baby, it’s fine. Please don’t worry about
it. Thank you for doing that.”

“But….”

Ryan shook his head. “She notices most
everything, but I don’t want you to change one single thing about
yourself for me or for her. You’re perfect just the way you
are.”

“I’m really sorry. What if I corrupted her or
something? I told you I had no idea what to do with her.”

“Sienna Rose, stop. You’ve been perfect.
You’re already worried about her. You want to take care of her.
That’s all that matters. Panties do not make you a great
caretaker,” he whispered in her ear, but she was still approaching
panic.

After he paid the bill for their food, which
had to have cost the restaurant more than the total, he led them
back outside, determined to calm Sienna’s unnecessary worries.

As soon as he’d buckled Evie in her seat,
he’d climbed up in the Suburban, guided Sienna’s lips to his own,
and had quieted all of her ridiculous concerns about corrupting his
daughter with the heat of his mouth and the gentle caresses of his
tongue against hers.

After he’d gorged himself on those luscious
lips and his tongue made several promises to hers, his kisses had
travelled to her ear. “Knowing there is nothing under this dress,
that I could reach over and touch you at any moment, dip my fingers
deep inside of you, feel how wet you get for me, and have you
again, that you’re willing to be so open with me, drives me wild.
And I plan to show you just how crazy you’ve made me all damn day
as soon as I get you back in my bed.” Ratcheting up the lust that
flowed so readily between them, his tongue gave a quick stroke up
the curve of her ear. Taking it a step farther, he nipped her
earlobe. Her body trembled in his arms and her quiet moan said
she’d been thinking about the very same things.

When Evie started giggling, Ryan reached back
to tickle his baby girl until she was roaring with laughter. He’d
cranked the car and headed home. Home. The word had never sounded
so sweet.

Sienna was already perfect, and loving, and
worried about his baby girl. He couldn’t help but chuckle every
time he recalled Evie’s announcement in the diner, but panties did
not a mother make. Besides, Sienna’s capricious, free-spirited,
slightly untamed side is what he’d first fallen in love with. Her
Gypsy side, he supposed. He loved all of her and wanted her just
the way she was.

A few hours later, Ryan eased the Suburban
down the two-lane past Mac and Molly’s. When the salty air reached
his lungs and he heard the soft cries of the gulls seeking their
mates and a meal, he relaxed completely.

Contentment flowed through his veins. It had
been so long since he’d felt that sensation, it took him several
minutes to fully recognize the peace it afforded him.

Carefully guiding the Suburban towards the
Inn, Ryan glanced over at Sienna. She’d been sound asleep for the
last hour, safe and content right beside him. He’d wrapped her up
in one of the blankets he always kept in his Suburban for Evie.

He turned to check on his baby girl in the
back. She was sound asleep, tucked in her favorite blanket but
sucking her thumb again. She’d started that back when Alexa had
filed for divorce. He didn’t have the heart to try to make her
quit. Maybe later, when things settled down.

As he took the turn and slowed the truck to
keep from bouncing the girls awake, an icy chill crawled across his
body. The hair on the back of his neck stood. His heart gave
several rapid beats in his throat. The front door to the Inn, the
one he’d locked tight that morning, was standing wide open, as were
the two side kitchen windows, the only windows accessible from the
outside since he’d torn down the front porch. Panic churned in his
stomach. Keeping his girls safe was all that mattered. Every cell
in his body sought to protect them.

Sienna’s eyes blinked open hesitantly when
he’d halted the Suburban. “Are we there?” She yawned deeply.

“Yeah, baby, we’re here.”

Before he could continue, she stretched and
pulled the door handle.

“No!” Ryan grasped her arm before she could
get out. Startled, she woke fully and saw the open door. Fear
pained her tired eyes.

“It’s okay. I’m gonna take you and Evie to my
house. If you can stay with her, I’ll come back up here and talk to
the police.”

“Ryan, it’s my house. I have to be here.”

“All right, just sit tight. I’m gonna call
the cops. We’ll do whatever they say.”

“Won’t that scare Evie?”

Her only concern was his baby girl. Emotion
strangled his throat as he dialed 911. “She’ll be okay. We have to
know what happened.”

Ten minutes later, a grumpy Pender county
sheriff’s deputy walked through the house. “It’s a mess, but I’m
gonna need whichever’s one of you own this place to tell me if
anything’s missin’. I ain’t got no ways of knowing that, and to be
frank, all this old Gypsy land, I’m not sure we got
jurisdiction.”

Ryan scoffed. “Gypsy Beach was incorporated
in the seventies. This is Pender county, is it not?”

His gruff snipe seemed to shake the deputy
from his willingness to brush off the Inn due to Gypsy
heritage.

“If you want me to fingerprint everything, I
guess I can. Have to get a team out here from Raleigh. If I was a
betting man, I’d say some teenagers was looking for cash. Might’a
used one of the rooms to mess around. Been reports of that in the
rental properties that aren’t lived in until the Season.” He
shrugged his indifference.

“May I please go inside and see if anything
is missing?” Sienna was fit to be tied. She’d warned Ryan that the
police didn’t like Nana and didn’t like having to deal with Gypsy
Beach, but he hadn’t really believed her.

“Sure, there’s nobody inside. I checked the
closets.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “How thoughtful.”

He lifted Evie from her seat and handed her
to Sienna. She was slowly waking up. Sienna cradled her tenderly on
her shoulder, and with a few whispered chords of an old Gypsy hymn,
Evie was out once again.

Turning to the deputy, Ryan narrowed his
eyes. “You stay right here with them. Do not move more than ten
feet away from either of them. Do you understand me? I’m going to
check the house. I’ll be right back.”

After a thorough search of the Inn that
included every single place that someone might consider hiding,
Ryan returned and guided Sienna and Evie back inside.

Sienna’s horrified gasp awoke Evie, who
rubbed her eyes and reached for Ryan. The Inn was a disaster.
Pillows overturned, drawers hanging out, cabinets standing open
with their contents spilled, furniture open and rifled through.

Squeezing her eyes shut for just a moment,
Sienna willed this to be some kind of horrible dream. That had been
a bad idea. The only thing she could see in her mind’s eye was
Ian’s wrath as he destroyed his own apartment because someone had
sent a dish of food back that night at the restaurant.

She shook herself. Surely he couldn’t have
followed her here. Surely he no longer cared where she’d gone, but
who would have done this?

She tried to touch each piece of Nana’s
furniture as if to reassure it that it would be okay. She moved to
the jewelry box, but everything appeared to be there. “I don’t
think there’s anything missing. All of my jewelry is here, but none
of it is really worth any money, I guess.”

“Someone was looking for something, baby. Do
you have any idea what they might be after?” Ryan’s voice soothed
her. It always had.

With an exhausted sigh, she settled on her
bed. Her clothes were scattered all over the room. Evie, now fully
awake, studied the space from Ryan’s arms. With a few slow blinks
of her dark brown eyes she pointed to the floor beside one of
Sienna’s suitcases. “There are your panties, Sienna. They must’ve
been lost. Do you want me to help you with clean-up time? I know
the song.”

Sienna’s cheeks blazed a deep crimson, and
Ryan tried hard not to laugh again. There were indeed a few pairs
of cotton panties that he suspected didn’t get a lot of use wadded
in a ball on the floor. Whoever went through the suitcase clearly
didn’t care as they were tossed just as haphazardly as the rest of
her clothes.

I have to keep it together. I can’t freak
out or I’ll scare Evie!
She tried so hard to order herself to
think logically. All she wanted to do was cry. She was almost
certain that horrible man, Roby, had something to do with this, but
why? He wanted money, or… She shuddered to think about what else he
seemed to be willing to accept. Why on earth would he want
something in the Inn? She didn’t have anything she could sell that
would bring any money. She hadn’t even purchased a television set.
She couldn’t afford that. He clearly didn’t want the structure
itself. He just wanted the money for it.

“Sienna, baby, let’s just get out of here. We
can deal with this tomorrow.” Ryan guided her up into his arms. At
that moment she didn’t care if she was running away again. Running
to Ryan was the only thing she had any interest in. She wanted
everything else to go away.

Sienna stood and began tossing a few outfits,
some jewelry, a couple of books, a journal, and her toothbrush in a
duffle bag. “It’s really weird. What were they looking for? I don’t
have any money.”