Lost But Not Forgotten (22 page)

Odella laughed. “Seems to me you just told her.”

“Not everything. I didn’t say you stopped at the pharmacy on your way here and bought a sable rinse. Mitch, can you go trade for the car by yourself? Odella and I will be undertaking Gilly’s next makeover in about half an hour. Those thugs won’t be looking for someone with brown hair.”

“At this rate,” Mitch grumbled, “we’ll never get to her hideout. But I learned months ago not to argue with Regan when she gets something in her head. Gilly, I’ll need the name and address of the guy who bought your car.”

“It’s in my purse. Oh, wait. What about my purse?”

“Trashed,” Odella supplied. “They dumped the contents, and cut up the lining. If you had any money, I’m afraid it’s gone. Otherwise, I brought the stuff that spilled.”

Tears speckled Gillian’s eyelashes. “That was everything I’d saved from working at the café. How will I replace my clothes? I have funds in an account at home. But I’ve been afraid to use my debit card or access any Noelle McGrath credit cards.”

Mitch gathered her and baby Mark into his arms. “God, Gilly, I’m sorry. Your life seems to go from bad to worse.”

“Good thing she has you,” Regan said staunchly.

“And us,” Odella added. “Although I’ve gotta run. Roger phoned. One of our sons came by the house. He’s taking us to dinner. I never turn down a free meal,” she said, laughing. She squeezed Gillian’s shoulder on her way out.

Gillian sniffed and snuggled tighter into the hollow of
Mitch’s shoulder. “I can’t believe I ever thought you were working with those men.” She drew from his warmth and his strength. “Thank goodness they didn’t get their hands on Katie’s suitcase.” Gilly lifted one of Mark’s pudgy fingers and kissed the dimpled knuckle. She wished she could kiss Mitch, but didn’t feel right doing so in front of Regan.

Regan’s eyes filled with tears. “Ethan told me you were the mother Mitch has been trying to locate. I can’t have children of my own, Gillian. So I identify with your loss. Although, with the babies and Ethan, my life is finally complete. This is as good a time as any to apologize for asking if you were pregnant the night Mitch brought you to dinner.”

“You did
what?
” Mitch stiffened. “Jeez, Regan.”

“So sue me. You said eating made her sick, and she denied having an eating disorder. Butt out, Valetti. It’s Gilly I’m apologizing to.”

“And I accept.” Gillian said, emerging from the circle of Mitch’s arms.

Mitch reluctantly let her go.

Regan pointed to the kitchen clock. “Hadn’t you better get going after that car? Otherwise, it’ll be too late to show up at anyone’s house to dicker.”

He automatically checked his watch and saw that time was getting away from them. He’d like to take Regan aside and subtly ask more about the signs and symptoms of pregnancy. Gilly had brushed his earlier concerns aside all too blithely. If, by some twist of fate, he’d created a baby with her, he wanted to know so he could do the right thing. He wasn’t a man to use a woman for personal pleasure, then walk away, leaving her to deal with consequences. Not only that, this was
Gillian.
She’d already taken up residence in his fantasies. Though, Lord
knew she hadn’t given him any reason to hope she felt the same. On that sour note, he strode past Regan and slammed out of the house.

“I wonder what’s bothering Mitch,” Regan mused, as she and Gillian watched him stalk off without so much as a goodbye.

Gillian suspected she knew what troubled him. Inadvertently, she sneaked a hand to her flat belly. If by some miracle, she carried Mitch Valetti’s baby, she would deem it a gift. Why couldn’t men be happy about such joyous news? she wondered sadly, remembering the fights she’d had with Daryl. Mitch’s reaction today had been only slightly milder. There was probably no reason for Mitch to worry—or for her to hope. Her chances of being pregnant weren’t very great.

“I’m afraid I blew into town, Regan, and disrupted poor Mitch’s entire life. I’ve told him time and again that he shouldn’t involve himself in my troubles. He won’t listen.”

“Mitch puts his heart and soul into everything he does. It’s not your fault…unless you’re stringing him along.”

Gillian’s face underwent such a profound and deep softening that Regan hugged her impulsively. Flinging an arm around Gilly in sisterly fashion, Regan turned her toward the master bath, where she and Odella had already set out everything to transform Noelle McGrath, now Gillian Stevens, from a redhead into a brunette.

T
HEY DIDN’T
lay eyes on Mitch again for almost two weeks. The car had been resold into Mexico. He went after it because Ethan thought it was of paramount importance. Gillian stayed with Regan and Ethan. She kept a low profile. Mitch, who worried constantly about her situation, drove them crazy with phone calls.

The men in the blue car managed to stay two steps ahead of Ethan. However, Ethan had several good leads to follow by the time Mitch slipped into town again under the cover of darkness and knocked at the Knights’ door.

He was admitted by Gilly and stared at her in shock. Someone, Regan presumably, had cut Gilly’s hair as short as a boy’s. The fall of red bangs he’d found so attractive now kissed her forehead in feathery brown curls. There was no hair to speak of in back—at least, not enough to run his fingers through. Only wisps touched her cheeks; the rest had been clipped close to her head above her ears. Even the blue eyes he’d counted on to read her moods had turned brown as a doe’s.

“Well,” she said, pirouetting under his nose. “Say something, darn it. Regan worked hard to create this masterpiece.”

Swallowing the curse he’d been about to utter, Mitch gained control of his roiling senses. She was still pretty, but in a different way.
Cute
was the word, he supposed. Pixie-ish. “I li-ike it,” he stammered. “I understand why you ladies changed the hair from red to brown. But…I’m not hallucinating…your eyes were blue?”

“Designer contacts, silly,” Regan sang out from the kitchen. “Nonprescription.”

“She’s feeding the kids,” Gillian confided. “I know that when you phoned from the station, you said we needed to leave right away. But if we can spare a few minutes, I’d like to finish helping. The kids all have sniffles. And Regan’s had a tough few days.”

“Uh, we can leave whenever you want. You’ve been okay here for two weeks. I was about ready to say to heck with finding the car. When I finally tracked it down in Hermosillo, the owner was tickled to trade up. He didn’t even question when I said you wanted it back out
of sentimentality. I tell you, some people are too gullible for words.”

Gillian led the way down the hall. Mitch hung back to savor the sway of her hips. He flinched when she turned short of the door and smacked into the wall.

“For God’s sake, Gilly, can’t you see? A disguise is one thing, putting yourself at risk is something else entirely.”

“Odella bought plain glass lenses. I’ve experienced some distortion. Not much, but having a foreign object in your eye takes some getting used to.”

“So what do you think?” Regan asked the minute Mitch entered her kitchen. “Isn’t she adorable?”

“She was adorable before.”

“You don’t like the makeover?” Regan frowned.

“Back off, Regan. Did I say I didn’t like it? Sheesh. Women!” He bent over and wiped green beans off Rick’s chin. “Take my word on this, guy. Don’t venture any opinions on how a woman looks until you’re a hundred and five. By then you’ll both be farsighted enough that she can’t argue your point.”

“Mitch, you’re bad.” Regan popped another spoonful of beans into Rick’s mouth. “Tell Uncle Mitch he’ll never go wrong if he learns to say
Honey, you’re beautiful.
”

“And get my face slapped? Forget it, kid. Listen to me.”

Gillian finished feeding Cara. She cleaned the baby’s face and hands with a damp washcloth, then lifted her out of the high chair. “You and Ethan are so lucky,” Gillian declared, kissing Cara’s silky hair. “Even though they’ll always have a special bond, all four kids will develop uniquely as you encourage them to form their own opinions.”

She blushed profusely when it became apparent that Regan and Mitch had stopped their banter to stare at her. “I—I read a lot of books on child-rearing when I was pregnant.”

“A miracle in itself, what with old Daryl staying up nights to play with his numbers,” Mitch breathed testily.

“Don’t make me sorry I told you that, Mitch. We’ve already established I was at fault. Look, the kids are done eating. If we’re going to Sedona tonight, hadn’t we better head out?”

“Yes,” Regan said. “Gillian, I put together some knock-around outfits, a nightie I’ve never worn and a package of new panties. And Mitch, Ethan brought over some of your long-sleeved shirts and two pairs of jeans. They’re in a duffel I put in the hall. He thinks it’s better if you don’t go out to the ranch. So he had your pickup brought here, too.”

Mitch nodded. “Yeah. He told me. I agree.”

“Then you know his brothers are helping Dave look after your horses. Oh, and Jeremy’s looking after Trooper. That dog will come back to you spoiled rotten.”

“Thanks, Regan. Tell Ethan I’ll be in touch as planned.”

“Is that all?”

“One more thing. Inform Gilly that she can’t take Cara.”

“Wouldn’t I love to.” Gillian’s voice sounded so full of longing, Mitch pursed his lips and did some yearning himself. Something seemed to shift inside him as he watched her bestow tender kisses on each of the four babies. He was dog tired, and he’d missed her a lot. He wondered what she’d say if he admitted it. Probably nothing. She seemed to have made herself right at home here.

“Do you want to shower and shave before taking off?” Regan asked Mitch.

He passed a hand over a stubbled jaw. “I drove all night. Since I was driving a car I didn’t own, I wanted to get it back on U.S. soil as quickly as possible.” He grimaced. “The motel I booked in Hermosillo boasted very few of the comforts of home. So, yeah, I’ll grab a shower if Gilly doesn’t mind waiting another half-hour.”

“I don’t mind. Frankly, after a two-week delay, I’m not sure we really need to go to Sedona.”

“Ethan thinks you should,” Regan said, casting a worried glance between them. They both nodded.

Stars had popped out overhead before Mitch and a very subdued Gillian ultimately drove onto the freeway. She seemed melancholy, lost in private thoughts. Mitch shoved a disc in the player and leaned back, prepared to enjoy a quiet drive.

“Is country music all you have?” she asked when the song ended and switched to another mournful tune.

“Uh-oh. We’re in trouble if you hate country-and-western music.”

“I don’t
hate
it.”

“Good, because up to now I’ve thought we were pretty compatible.”

Gillian turned despite the seat belt, angling to face him. “A couple of weeks ago, when we were at the station, it didn’t sound as if you thought that. When you sided with Daryl after I admitted I’d gone off the pill without telling him.”

Mitch drummed his fingers in time to the background beat. “I can’t judge you, Gilly. Not after seeing you with the babies. You love kids. It shows.”

“So, you don’t think I acted selfishly?”

He glanced at her quickly, then away again. “Are you
looking for someone to say unequivocally that you were wrong? Is this self-flagellation?”

She inspected her fingernails in the light that flashed inside the cab from passing cars. “Maybe. It was the beginning of the end of my marriage. Yes, I feel guilty. Daryl might still be alive and we wouldn’t be skulking through the night if I hadn’t expressly gone against a wish he’d made quite clear.”

“The bad thing about playing
if only,
Gilly, is that you can play the blame game until hell freezes over and the outcome doesn’t change. I know. I spent weeks after my surgery trying to figure out what would’ve happened if Tony DeSalvo hadn’t heard me climbing in Ethan’s front window. Maybe he wouldn’t have shot up Ethan’s house and knocked Regan around. Then again, if I hadn’t drawn his fire, he might have killed us all. Things happen for a reason.”

“I guess.”

They sank again into silence until they’d traveled beyond the outskirts of Phoenix. Mitch stopped to gas the truck at a well-lit truck stop. Gillian went inside to find a ladies’ room and buy him the peanut-butter crackers and bottled water he requested.

“Find everything okay?” he asked when she crawled back into the cab.

“I never realized how many kinds of crackers there are on the market. I ended up buying three varieties,” she said, dumping the sack between them. “It’s a good thing water is water,” she added, unscrewing the lid on a bottle she handed Mitch.

“Well, no,” he said, grinning. “There’s mineral water and soda water and spring water—ouch!”

She’d swatted his arm.

Their mood continued to lighten as they left the city
lights behind. Traffic thinned once they entered open country and entered the first switchback of a winding highway.

“Is it my imagination, or have you lost even more weight while I was off chasing your car?” Mitch asked her.

She looked surprised. “I haven’t weighed myself, but I’ve been eating. In fact, this week I’ve been ravenous.”

“Huh. Good. I’ve been worried about you.”

“Mitch, will you tell me something honestly?” Gillian asked when she’d crumpled his snack wrappers and stowed them in the empty sack.

“If I can. I’ve found that whenever people start a question by asking that, they usually want an answer to the impossible.”

She swallowed a big dose of guilty conscience along with her gulp of water.

“So, shoot. What were you going to ask?”

“The impossible,” she admitted, her lips twitching.

They both laughed. “I’ll bet I can guess what you were going to ask,” Mitch teased. “You’re wondering if Ethan will arrest Capputo and Turbin, and if they’ll sing their rotten heads off so someone can nail the bastard at the top and you’ll be free.”

“How did you know?”

He reached across the empty space and stroked her trembling hand. “It’s natural. I felt the same way until a jury handed down its verdict, putting DeSalvo behind bars for life.”