Ransomed Dreams (28 page)

“I talked with Eliot.” She gazed into her sister’s eyes.

Calissa winced. “No.”

“Yeah. I asked. And he said we would talk when I got home.”

“He didn’t answer you?”

“That was an answer, Liss. It’s a yes. He and Harrison met. Tell me again you had no clue.”

“Oh, hon. Dad never breathed a hint of it. When I told him you were marrying Eliot Montgomery, an ambassador-to-be, he said that life would suit you.”

“I’m having a little crisis of trust.”

“I would guess so. But you look fairly perky.”

She flashed a smile. “Thanks. I had a good day of killing dragons. I asked myself, what is it I’m afraid of? My husband is in about the worst shape he could be in. He has probably kept secrets from me. My father never was a dad to me and was a crook. My mother had stronger faith than anyone I’ve ever known and yet apparently lost all hope. I’ve suffered from PTSD, and it will probably always be there in some form. I don’t work in my field and have no hopes of ever doing so again. I live so far off the map you had to hire a spy to find me. I mean, how much worse can it get?”

Calissa blinked as if in surprise.

Sheridan smiled. “I just fell in love with the city all over again.”

“Chicago?”

“Chicago. Caracas. The city. Any big city.”

“You’re talking lifestyle.”

Sheridan cocked her head. “I guess so.”

Calissa smiled. “Welcome home, Sis.”

The afternoon faded into evening, the hours a whirl of visitors come to pay their respects to the departed and his daughters. To her surprise, the whole thing energized Sheridan.

Hours into it, Bram appeared at her elbow and waited for a break in her conversation. “Got a minute?” They stepped away from the long line. “Do you think,” he whispered, “that some of these people have come to make sure it’s him in the casket?” He winked. “You look great. New do. New duds.”

She grinned. “Thanks to Liss.”

“Yeah, she told me she dragged you out shopping like old times.”

“Not exactly like old times. I swear, I did not pout. At least not as much. So what happened in D.C.?” Bram had followed Luke there once Calissa got through those first days after the death.

“Not much to tell yet. The investigation is moving forward. Luke talked with his friends, so it’s official now. Government resources are at our disposal. This is big-time.”

She felt a shiver go through her. There was such a mix of positive and negative in that statement. “Is it wrong to honor a man today who might be the center of a scandal tomorrow?”

“Harrison accomplished a lot of good for this city, this state. Let’s not forget that. People are grateful for it and are here to pay respect to his role in their lives. It was no secret that he was a difficult person.”

“No one has greeted me with ‘He was such a lovely man.’”

Bram smiled.

“Is Luke back?”

“He’s here somewhere.” He smiled and stroked his thick beard. “You actually look as if you’re having a good time.”

“Well, actually I am. I haven’t talked with people in forever. I mean, not like this. This is like the good old embassy days. One of our favorite duties was entertaining so we could mingle with locals and foreigners from all over the world.”

“You’re sounding wistful now. I hope you and Eliot find that place again where you can participate in the world.” He gave her cheek a brotherly kiss. “I better let you get back to this duty at hand.”

As he strolled away, she watched her sister in the receiving line. Calissa held court like a queen, more elegant and efficient than ever. She would have to tease her about her tendency toward royalty.

Hopefully Calissa could move out from under the shadow of their father. She had her own career goals, but what would happen when the truth about him came out?

Sheridan looked around the spacious, crowded room, eager to see Luke.

Too eager?

Probably.

A moment later he stepped into view, about ten yards away, dozens of people between them. Dressed for the occasion, he wore a black sports coat and slacks, a pale green shirt unbuttoned at the collar.

Their eyes met. His, she knew, would be all green.

For a long moment they gazed at each other. Then she raised her eyebrows in question, indicating she was ready to hear the truth about Eliot. What had he learned in Washington?

Luke shrugged and shook his head. He hadn’t learned anything more.

Or at least not anything he wanted to tell her. But maybe there was nothing more to learn. Eliot’s and Harrison’s paths crossed. They met twenty-seven years ago, an innocuous event. Maybe. And neither her father nor Eliot had mentioned it because it was innocuous. No big deal. But it all came down to the fact that, innocuous or not, Eliot knew who Harrison was years before he met Sheridan Cole. Which raised the question, then, did he already know who she was when they met?

Stop,
she told herself.
Stop, stop, stop!
No way could she possibly figure that one out. No way was an explanation going to be found in a government file. She would simply have to ask her husband at some future point, whenever it was she might feel up to hearing if there was any reason on the face of the earth they should stay married.

Luke came into view again. “You okay?” he mouthed.

Her skin tingled. Her angel still watched over her.

Except he wasn’t a heavenly being. He was a man, and she tingled for two reasons. Because one, she was a woman. And two, she knew that if she asked, he would postpone the flight he’d booked for that night to Caracas. He would walk across the room and wrap her in his strong arms and hold her for as long as it took to forget they didn’t belong together. This time, he would stay.

But it wouldn’t make things right with Eliot or Harrison or Sheridan’s sad childhood or the current messy situations.

She took a deep breath, released it, and nodded. Yes, she was okay. She mouthed, “Thank you, Gabe.”

The corner of his mouth twitched, his virtual smile. He gave a thumbs-up.

People moved, blocking him from view again. When they parted, Luke was gone.

Sheridan understood that he was gone because he knew it was time. At a deep level where words were unnecessary, he knew that she no longer needed him.

And he knew that granting her desire for him was not an option.

Chapter 46

Topala

A very interesting three weeks and two days after burying their father, Calissa sat in the passenger seat of a rented car.

Her sister braked and turned off the engine. “Welcome to Topala.”

“That’s what I was afraid you were going to say. You are, without a doubt, utterly nuts.” Calissa had spotted the town sign a ways back at some point, at some curve in the hill, about the time the asphalt ended and the road became dirt.

Dirt. Her sister lived in a village at the end of a dirt road.
Podunk
didn’t exactly fit Topala in the flesh.
Dark Side of the Moon, Mexico,
on the other hand, was perfect.

Sheridan pointed ahead to their right. “This is Davy’s restaurant.”

“
Davy
sounds American.”

“It is. Davy came here decades ago from California and stayed. His son-in-law still runs the restaurant. We’ll come for lunch tomorrow. Their specialty is banana cream pie.”

Calissa eyed her with suspicion. Was she joking?

“Let’s go.” Sheridan got out of the car.

Calissa followed, immediately struck with the abundance of plants and the humming cacophony of insects. “We’re parked in the restaurant’s lot.”

“Can’t get a thing by you, Liss. You are one of the sharpest knives in the drawer.” She grinned.

If not for that grin, Calissa might have wrestled the keys from Sheridan and hightailed it back to the Mazatlán airport. Well, perhaps it was the grin and the vision of driving by herself along a lonely Mexican highway in the dark.

She had watched her sister’s smile emerge a little more each day, except when the subject was Eliot. Just twenty-four hours ago she and Sheridan realized that all the loose ends they could tie up in three weeks were tied and knotted. Crazy exhausted, they brainstormed crazy plans.

Sheridan declared it was time her sister saw Topala. “And,” she had said, “it’s time I talked to Eliot. I . . . I need you for that, Lissy, and I don’t think I’m going to get him to Chicago.”

It was the first time her sister had said she needed her. How could Calissa say no? And so they crazy brainstormed a spontaneous trip south of the border. They found cheap seats online for the next day and booked them. Sheridan said God was watching over them. Calissa thought it remarkable that their mother could speak through Sheridan without an accent.

Since Harrison’s funeral, they had worked around the clock with attorneys, real estate agents, and the estate sale people. They had packed up a few mementos and stored them at Calissa’s condo. There was no word from Luke Traynor. No media hinted at a possible scandal involving the late Harrison Cole.

His office went chaotic. Calissa did what she could to help but lost the emotional battle. She had been easing out for the past year and easing into her own campaign to run for city council. None of it appealed to her now. Recognizing the need for a break, she delegated what she could and put other duties and plans on hold.

And with her eyes, her tone, and her body language, she put Bram on hold as well.

He was such a patient man.

“Liss.” Sheridan smiled now across the car roof in the evening dusk. “Are you ready to go back in time?”

“Then we haven’t landed on the moon?”

“No. The time machine dropped us off here.”

“Okay, let’s do it. Are you ready?”

“Sure.” Sheridan’s smile faded. “Maybe.”

Calissa groaned to herself and hauled out Big Sister. “Listen up. Last night you invited me to your secret hideaway. Last night you swore that if you didn’t air things with Eliot in person, you would pop. Last night you said you felt confident and like your old self. I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if you think I’m letting you toss out all that progress.”

“I should have called him.” She had left messages for Eliot every few days or so with whoever her phone contact was, letting him know about the post-funeral progress. They had not personally talked, though, and she had not informed him of their plans to arrive in Topala that night.

Calissa said, “Yes, you should have called him.”

“Not that he would’ve necessarily gotten the message before we arrived.”

Calissa rolled her eyes. “Procrastination will not change things.”

“The cell phone doesn’t work here.”

“It doesn’t work anywhere, Sher. I’m not paying for it any longer. The mission was accomplished.”

“You just came because you want to hide from Bram.”

What did that have to do with anything? Calissa glowered at her. “Hey, you promised me food and music in the town square if we got here by now. News flash: we are here!”

Sheridan pursed her lips. “Are you sure you don’t want to put on one of my skirts? You’re going to stick out like a sore thumb in black.”

She looked down at her black travel dress. All she owned was black.

Sheridan snickered. “But then you are five-nine and have blonde hair—short and spiky at that.” She giggled. “You’ll be sticking out like a sore thumb no matter what.”

“Ha, ha. Back to my original, brilliant observation. We’re parked in a lot. Where’s your house?”

“Life is complicated here, Liss. There is no parking space at the house. It’s not very far, though. Maybe three city blocks. We hike from here.”

“With all this luggage?” She nearly shouted. “Are you kidding?”

“No. We’ll drive to the house and drop it off later and—well, you’ll see.” She paused and squared her shoulders. “Eliot and I have never been to this weekly fiesta. He’s not interested and usually in bed by the time it gets going. And I . . . Well, I’ve just stayed home with him.”

Calissa walked around the car and looped her arm with Sheridan’s. “That was B.C.E.”

“Huh?”

“Before the
Chicago
Episode.” She winked. “Before you got your big-girl boots back on.”

Sheridan smiled.

“Okay. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“It’s uphill. On cobblestones.”

“Sheridan.” She sighed. “I’m wearing heels.”

“You’re always wearing heels. And you think
I’m
utterly nuts.”

Calissa laughed with her and clung more tightly to her sister’s arm, not eager to start her vacation with a sprained ankle.

* * *

“You weren’t kidding. We did just go through a time warp.” Calissa stood at the top of an impossibly steep cobblestone hill and tried to catch her breath, neither a simple feat. Her ankles wobbled, reduced to jelly in the heeled shoes. Her lungs felt like they’d been rubbed with sandpaper.

“That’s what I said the first time I climbed that hill. Do you believe I agreed to stay? Now you have proof of how scared and confused I was.”

“I’ll say.” Calissa pointed toward the town square, about a block away at the end of a slight incline. “That scene is sort of enchanting, though. Lights strung all around and crisscrossing over the square. Mariachis in a band shell.” She swung her hips to the upbeat music. “Everyone in bright colors, dancing and laughing. Shops and covered walkways. Kids playing in the street. No traffic except for those parked donkeys. Enchanting and unbelievable.”