Heaven Sent (23 page)

R
aul’s mood was ebullient when he emerged from his study to share dinner with the returning Joshua Kirkland. Things had gone quite well during the week Joshua had returned to the States. David Cole had sold his banana plantation, and now he was ready to negotiate with Markham Pharmaceutical for his prized Anneda pine trees.

He walked into the dining room, his smile widening when he spied his daughter talking to Joshua. It was the first glimpse of animation she’d exhibited in more than a week. It was unfortunate that Joshua Kirkland was a married man, because he appeared better suited to Serena than David Cole. Shaking his head, he dismissed David from his mind.

“Joshua,” he exclaimed, offering his hand in greeting. “Welcome back to
La Montaña
.”

“
¡Mil gracias!
Raul,” Joshua returned, giving the
man a warm smile. His penetrating gaze searched for his brother. He’d thought he would be joining them for dinner.

“Something to drink?”

“I’ll wait for dinner.”

Raul dropped an arm over his shoulder. “How was your flight?”

“Excellent.”

“I hope you’ll be able to spend more time with us this trip.”

Joshua stared at Raul, chilling him with his icy gaze. “I left my ticket open. I’ll stay as long as it’ll take me to conclude my business. Providing my visa doesn’t expire.”

He removed his arm. “Don’t worry about your visa. I’ll have someone take care of that.”

“
Gracias
,” Joshua said softly. He waited until Serena took her place at one end of the table, then sat down on the chair he’d occupied during his last visit.

Raul signaled to Isabel, and she rolled the cart in bearing the evening’s first course.

Joshua stared at the empty chair opposite him. He hadn’t realized how hard and fast his heart was pounding until he clenched his hands under the table. Where was his brother?

“Has David Cole returned home?”

Raul stared at Serena instead of Joshua. “Yes, he has. He left Costa Rica three days ago.

Joshua stared at his place setting rather than look at Raul Vega.
Stinking, filthy liar
, he ranted inwardly. Within seconds he’d composed himself. “I’d hoped to see him again.”

“Perhaps you will if he comes to visit New Mexico.”

“Yes, perhaps.”

The dinner continued with little or no conversation. Serena ate as if she were in a trance, not tasting any of what she’d swallowed. It was only when Rodrigo entered the room to whisper to Raul that he had an important telephone call and he left the room did she speak.

“He’s lying. David’s still here,” she whispered.

“Where is he?”

“Upstairs.”

Raul came back into the room, a deep frown settled into his forehead. “I’m sorry, Joshua. I must offer my apologies again. I just received a call from my president. I must return to San José immediately.”

Pushing back his chair, Joshua stood up. “No need to apologize.”

“I’m not certain how long I’ll be away. But it shouldn’t be long because the government is on holiday during July and August.”

Joshua stood up. “I’ll wait, Raul. Remember, I need your approval for the exportation of this drug.”

“
¡Mil gracias!
” He stared at Serena, then turned on his heel and rushed out of the room.

She watched Joshua staring at her stepfather’s departing figure. “Sit down, Mr. Kirkland, and finish your dinner. Luz Maria has outdone herself tonight.”

Joshua took his seat, his jaw tightening. He’d wanted Raul in attendance when he rescued David, but Matt disagreed, saying they were going to Costa Rica to bring his brother home, not torture his captor.

The two people ate in silence, neither wishing to intrude on the other’s thoughts. Joshua finished first, refusing dessert.

“I’m going for a walk before I retire for the night,” he informed Serena.

She gave him a polite smile. “Good night.”

“Good night,” he returned softly.

She sat at the table, watching Isabel clear the table. Then she made her way to the kitchen. She found Luz Maria sitting at the table writing furiously and pushing sheets of paper into an envelope.

“What are you writing?” she asked, sitting down beside her.

“The recipes of my teas. You will need them.”

Placing an arm around the older woman’s back, she laid her head on her shoulder. “It’s late, Doña Maria. You’ve prepared a wonderful dinner, and it’s time you went to bed.”

“I will go to bed when I finish this last one.”

“Why the rush?”

“You will need it tonight.”

“Why tonight?”

Luz Maria stopped writing, her eyes filling with tears. “I will not see you after tonight. Not for a long while.”

“Stop that.” Serena’s voice broke with emotion. “I’m going to be here for a while.”

“No,
Chica
. You will leave here. You must.” She scribbled another two lines, then pushed the sheet of paper into the envelope with a stack of others. “Here. I have written down everything.”

Serena stared at the envelope as if it were a snake. David had given her an envelope the day before. Its contents had changed her life, and she knew the contents of Luz Maria’s would also change her life.

She took it, blinking back tears. “Thank you.”

Luz Maria smiled a sad smile. “Thank you for being the daughter I never had.”

Serena stood up and fled the kitchen as fat, hot tears rolled down her face. She hated herself for crying, but somehow crying came so easily now that she was pregnant.

She made it to the sanctuary of her room, closed the door, and fell across the bed—fully clothed.

A large, dark shape moved silently along the veranda. The man found the room he sought, then forced the lock to the French doors. They opened easily, quietly. He spotted his target. David Cole lay on the bed, asleep. He smiled. At least he didn’t have to wait for him to get dressed.

Clapping a hand over his mouth, he pulled him up as if he weighed two pounds instead of two hundred. “Don’t move, David. It’s me, Matt. I’m going to take my hand away slowly. What I want you to do is take only what you need and what you can carry with you. Don’t bother with a passport. I have one for you. I’ll give you a minute.
Comprende
, Friend?”

David nodded, trying to slow down his runaway heart. How did Matt Sterling get into the room without making a sound? Moving quickly, he headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”

Matt’s voice stopped him. “I have to bring Serena.”

“Serena?”

The door opened and Joshua stepped into the room. There was enough light from a half moon to make out his dark clothing. “What the hell is going on here? We have to leave—now!”

“Who is Serena?” Matt whispered.

“The girl.” Joshua groaned.

“We can’t take her. We don’t have enough room in the chopper,” Matt argued softly.

“You can’t leave her.” There was no mistaking the panic in David’s voice. “She’s pregnant.” There was a stunned silence. “She’s carrying my baby.”

Joshua whispered a vulgar curse about what David had found time to do while in captivity.

“We’ve got less than fifteen minutes,” Matt warned, glancing at the glowing numbers on his watch.

“Take the girl,” Joshua ordered. “I’ll come later.”

“No!” David’s voice echoed loudly in the dark.

“Get him the hell out of here,” Joshua ordered Matt. He turned and disappeared, silent as a whisper lingering on a breath of wind.

Matt grabbed David and pulled him to the veranda. He showed him a cord attached to a grappling hook. “Lower yourself to the ground and wait for me.”

David obeyed, sliding down the nylon cable until his feet touched solid ground. He refused to think of how Matt Sterling had made it past the armed men guarding the property. Glancing up, he waited for Serena. His heart raced wildly when he saw Matt lead her to the area of the veranda where he’d climbed down. She couldn’t climb down by herself. What if she fell?

His fears were allayed when he saw her clinging to Matt’s back as he made his way down the rope with the agility of a mountain goat.

Serena clutched Luz Maria’s recipes to her chest, her eyes wide with fright. She wasn’t given much time to react when Matt swung her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and raced across the lawn. David followed, listening for footsteps that would signal that one of the guards had spotted them.

Matt led them to an area that had been cleared for the planting of trees, where a helicopter sat, its blades whirring in preparation for a liftoff.

Serena was settled on one of the rear seats. Matt motioned for David to sit beside her. Then he hopped in beside the pilot moments before it rose horizontally above the ground.

David cradled Serena at his side, trying to calm her quaking. “It’s okay,” he crooned over and over until she stopped shaking long enough to realize what had just happened.

“David.” She sighed.

“I’ll explain everything later.”

Serena lost track of time once they transferred from the helicopter to the sleek confines of a private jet. She slept, clutching her chest, as David held her gently.

It was over. He was free. She was free. Both were free to live and share a love that promised forever.

The ColeDiz jet touched down at a private airfield in West Palm Beach. The three passengers deplaned, and an hour later found themselves speeding away from the airport in a car that was parked in a lot awaiting their arrival.

David and Serena dozed while Matt sat watching the attractive couple. He nodded his approval. They would make beautiful babies.

The driver maneuvered into the curving driveway leading to a mansion overlooking a lake. A small crowd had gathered in the bright early morning sun. Matt stepped out first, a grin creasing his sun-browned face.

Eve rushed into his arms, holding tightly to his neck. “Welcome home, my love.”

“Glad to be back,
Preciosa
.”

Martin walked slowly toward the car, the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes fanning out when he saw his brother. David had changed. There was a lot more gray in his longer hair. The sun glinted off the gold earring in his left ear. And in that instant he knew David the businessman was gone forever, replaced by David the musician.

Holding out his arms, he embraced his youngest brother roughly, kissing both cheeks. Pulling back, he surveyed his face, examining the scar.

“You were always a little too pretty for your own good.”

David laughed, patting his older brother’s back. “Jealous, brother?”

“I don’t think so, brother.” His obsidian gaze noted the tiny woman standing behind David. “Who have you brought home?”

David reached out and pulled Serena in front of him. “Serena Morris, my future wife and the mother of my children.”

Leaning down, Martin kissed her cheek. “Welcome to the family.”

She lost track of names and faces as she was kissed and hugged by people who fussed over her as if she were an ancient relic.

She noticed one woman standing off by herself, staring out at the car that had backed out of the driveway.

“Where’s Joshua?” Vanessa Kirkland questioned.

David walked over to his sister-in-law and folded her to his chest. “We left him behind, Vanessa.”

“No!” she screamed hysterically, pulling away from him. She continued to scream as everyone stared at her, shocked.

Three-year-old Emily Kirkland’s chin quivered when she heard her mother screaming. “Mommie. I want my Mommie.”

Matt Sterling swept Vanessa up in his arms before she collapsed to the ground and carried her into the house.

Martin turned to his wife. “Call a doctor. She has to be sedated before she upsets all of the children.”

Serena pressed closer to David, her questioning gaze meeting his. “Who is Joshua to you?”

“He’s my brother.” Her round eyes widened until he could see into their clear-gold depths. “He’ll be back. And when he does, then we can plan our wedding.”

Everyone turned to walk into the house, their joy temporarily dampened by the knowledge that Joshua hadn’t returned with the others.

David kissed Serena, then went upstairs to see his mother and father. He would reunite with them before introducing Samuel and M.J. to their latest daughter-in-law. He would wait until later to tell everyone that he was to become a father.

S
erena stared at her reflection in the mirror. She could not believe the vision that stared back at her.

Turning, she smiled at her mother. “I think this is the happiest day of my life.”

Juanita returned her smile. “Wait until you give birth. That will be the happiest day.”

Cradling her slightly rounded belly, Serena closed her eyes. She was beginning the third month of her first trimester, and it was only the second day that she hadn’t experienced a bout of nausea. It was as if the baby decided to cooperate for her mother’s wedding.

Joshua returned from Costa Rica two days after she, David, and Matt returned. Vanessa Kirkland had alternated between fits of tears and rage when she told him that if he ever left for another mission she would divorce him.

She’d met her future mother- and father-in-law as
well as her brothers- and sisters-in-law. She lost track of all of the names of their children and grandchildren, deciding it would be years before she would call them by their correct names.

Gabriel was released from prison in a special plea bargain. Guillermo Barranda’s father offered to turn himself over to the American authorities in exchange for his son and his son’s friend.

It was only after Gabriel was safely back in Costa Rica that he told his mother that the U.S. Government had approached him to help them force the elder Barranda from his Colombian sanctuary. The drugs were smuggled onto the boat without Guillermo’s knowledge, and the death of the DEA agent was also staged. Juanita got her son back, the U.S. imprisoned the Western Hemisphere’s most powerful drug lord, and Raul Vega was asked by his government to resign his position as Interior Minister.

Raul had become a recluse. He sent his love and his regrets, refusing to attend her wedding. Serena was relieved, because she knew it would take a long time, perhaps even a lifetime, for her to forgive him for the pain he’d caused her and David.

Sara Sterling and Emily Kirkland skipped into the room, giggling excitedly. Both girls were dressed in pale pink with garlands of tiny pink rosebuds entwined in their dark, curling hair.

“My princesses are here.” Serena smiled at the grinning little girls.

“Are you ready to get married now?” asked Emily.

Serena noted the child’s exquisite, delicate beauty. She was her mother’s child, with the exception of her eyes. They were green—a darker green than her father’s—but
they had the same penetrating stare, and that sometimes seemed too wise for a child.

Parris rushed into the room, stopping short when she saw the bride. “You look beautiful, Serena.” She wore a simple, pale pink, silk gown with long sleeves and a rounded neckline. She had opted for a garland of flowers in lieu of a veil.

“David says it’s bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony, so he gave me these to give to you.”

Serena took the small box and opened it. A pair of brilliant diamond studs lay on a bed of white velvet.

Parris peered at David’s gift, wincing. She estimated each stone was at least two carats. “They’re breathtaking.”

“Help me put them in, Parris.”

Juanita glanced at her watch. They were late. “It’s not good to keep the groom waiting.”

“He’ll wait, Mother. He’s confessed to being a patient man.”

“I know you’re not talking about David Claridge Cole,” Parris sputtered. “He’s the most impatient man I’ve ever met.”

Serena shrugged. “Well, that’s what he told me.”

“Cole men will tell you anything until they hook you.”

“But is it worth it, Girlfriend?”

“Hell, yeah.”

“Oo-oo,” Emily said, putting a hand over her tiny mouth. “You said a bad word, Auntie Parris.”

“Let’s go, ladies,” Parris said, shooing the little girls from the room. “Take your places. We have a wedding to go to.”

Juanita stood up and extended her hand to her daughter.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to give you away to a man who will love you forever.”

“I’ve been waiting, too, Mother.”

Serena stood beside David in the coolness of the loggia at the West Palm Beach house where he’d grown up, exchanging vows. He’d elected not to cut his hair, replaced her gold hoop with a small diamond stud, and transferred his shares in ColeDiz International Ltd. to Joshua. He was in the preliminary stages of starting up his own recording company—Serenity Records—but most of all he looked forward to beginning his life anew with a woman who was sent from heaven to show him how to love.

They exchanged rings and kisses, then turned to receive the good wishes of everyone who’d come to celebrate another generation of Coles who dared to risk everything for love.

“Uncle David!”

He glanced up to find his niece rushing into the loggia. He’d sent Regina Cole an invitation, but she’d called to say that she hadn’t completed her latest film, and that she would not be able to attend his wedding.

She had blossomed into an incredible woman, her beauty eliciting gasps when her image filled the screen. Her first role at seventeen had garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and now at nineteen she was one of the most sought after actresses in the film industry.

Holding out his arms, he folded her against his body. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“You know I wouldn’t have missed this for all of the money in Tinseltown. I still can’t believe you married. Not Mr. Player, Player.”

“Shh-hhh,” he whispered, placing a finger over his
mouth. The bright Florida sunlight glinted off a band of diamonds on her left hand. “What’s this?” he questioned, raising her hand.

“A wedding band,” she replied, flashing her trademark dimpled smile.

“I can see that. But who did you marry?”

Regina turned and pointed to an elderly man standing a few feet away. “Him.”

“What!” The word exploded from David’s mouth before he had a chance to censor himself. He recognized the man immediately. He was the award-winning director Oscar Spencer. He was well-known, and he was fifty years older than David’s nineteen-year-old niece.

Martin Cole turned slowly, unable to believe his ears. His oldest daughter married—and to a man older than he was. “The S.O.B. is old enough to be her grandfather.”

“Careful, Buddy,” Joshua said, his eyes narrowing. “Let me handle this.”

“No, let me,” Matt Sterling interrupted. “I’m not her father or her uncle. I’ll cut him up in so many little pieces that they’ll have to blot him up to find his DNA.”

Parris clutched her chest, hoping to slow down her heart. Quickly regaining her composure, she extended her arms to her daughter. “Darling. Why didn’t you tell us you were getting married?”

“I wanted to surprise everyone. You are surprised, aren’t you, Mommy?”

“Yes, I am,” she replied slowly. “Very surprised.” She waved to her husband. “Martin, come meet your daughter’s husband.”

“Careful, brother,” David whispered as Martin stalked past him.

Everyone held their breath as Martin Cole extended
his hand to his daughter’s husband. He slapped the older man on the back, knocking the breath out of him.

“Welcome to the family.”

Oscar Spencer’s dark eyes brightened in the network of lines crisscrossing his face. “Thank you for accepting me.”

“I told you the Coles were extraordinary,” David whispered to Serena.

She nodded, touching her belly, knowing that the child she carried beneath her heart would also be extraordinary.

Rising on tiptoe, she kissed her new husband, then whispered what she wanted him to do to her later—much later.

* * * * *