Untraceable (9 page)

“
I may have been the one
to convince your mother to join us, but someone else gave your dad
a nudge, literally,” I laughed.

He reached across to stroke my cheek
with his warm fingers, “Yes, but—”

“
What were you doing
smoking a cigar!” I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t too happy
when I had seen it in his mouth. “You don’t normally like those
things, do you?”

“
No, Annalisa,” he mused.
“Dad offered it to me as a congratulatory thing over the baby. It
was the first time he and I got to discuss my impending fatherhood,
so I couldn’t refuse—he would have been so
disappointed.”

“
Oh, I just… Well, they
aren’t good for you and they would completely ruin
kissing.”

He chuckled, “I don’t plan on ruining
that, but don’t be surprised if he shoves another one in my mouth
after the baby is born.”

“
As long as you don’t
light it around the baby, I’ll be happy.”

“
What’s in the
envelope?”

“
Pictures,” I simply
replied.

“
Of me?”

“
I have a baby picture of
you, one of you at about five years-old, and a family picture from
when you were still little.”

“
I’m surprised Mom didn’t
load you down.”

“
Oh, trust me, I’m going
to be getting lots more, but after we get our own
place.”

“
What do you think about
buying that property and building?” he suddenly asked.

I don’t think I have what a gambler
would call a poker-face and I was hoping that my expression wasn’t
going to give away that I had already made that decision. “I—I
don’t know, baby. I mean, wouldn’t it take a long time to build a
house? We could find something and be out of Mom’s place before the
baby is born, if we start looking right now.”

“
I know, but I really like
that piece of property and we could design the house ourselves.
And, if you want, we could go ahead and find something right now so
we don’t have to be at your Mom’s when the baby arrives, then we
could sell it when our house is finished.”

“
Maybe,” I feigned
indecision. “I suppose we could buy one of those house plan books
and see if we can agree on something.”

He seemed disappointed that I didn’t
have a lot of enthusiasm over his idea.

“
But let’s worry about
that piece of property after Sunday. I want that day to be
perfect.”

“
Me, too,” he said,
squeezing my hand and finding his smile.

“
I’d like to sing a song
before and after the baptism, if you don’t mind. I mean, it’s your
day—”

“
No, Annalisa.”

I thought for a moment he was saying
no to me singing, but then he continued.

“
It’s our day. God knows
without you, I wouldn’t be where I am right now. Of course I want
you to sing. Are you going to surprise me, or will you tell me what
you’re singing?”

“
There is one song that
reminds me so much of the struggle you’ve been going through to get
rid of your past and I wanted to sing it first. Have you heard the
song
East to West
?”

“
I wish I had. You’re
going to have to turn me on to some of this good music that you
love so much because I find myself going through the radio and
stopping on what I listened to before I met you, but I have
stumbled across some music that I’d like to sing for
you.”

“
Me? You want to sing for
me?” I knew Micah could sing. He’d done it for me on very specific
occasions, namely during our wedding and when he held me in his
arms the night of the big party for Remake, but for him to want to
sing for me was almost as good of a turn-on as having him speak
French to me during lovemaking, “When?”

“
I was toying with the
idea of singing to you when we renew our vows, but it’s one thing
to do it privately in your ear and another thing to do it with
people watching. Would you be upset if I just did it in the music
studio?”

“
Or in bed,” I quickly
added. “Depending on what kind of song it is—so is it a surprise or
are you going to tell me which song?” I asked mimicking his earlier
question.

“
It’s a surprise—but I
will tell you it’s a country song.”

“
You’ve been listening to
country?” I gave a light laugh; he just didn’t seem the
type.

“
Since Remake, I’ve been
listening to a lot of different music. It’s just hard to not keep
going back to what’s familiar to me.”

“
Oh, one more thing about
the visit to your parents,” I said, switching subjects. “You don’t
hate math!”

“
I never… Oh, yeah,” he
said as the year old memory hit him. “I guess I did say that to you
didn’t I? But, baby, you’ve got to remember I was Evan Lewis at the
time, and he had lousy grades in math. If I’d taken those math
problems and blew you away on them, you would have been a little
suspicious. And besides, I wasn’t in a very good mood at that
moment—you didn’t want to be my tutor.”

“
Actually, the problem was
that I wanted to be close to you, but I was afraid.”

“
Of me, or of being close
to me?”

“
Both. You were the only
guy I’d ever felt such an immediate attraction to, and I was afraid
of falling in love. That, and being afraid that Mom might decide to
call me to come home and then I would have had to tell you
goodbye.”

“
You honestly never felt
that way about a guy before we met? I know what you told me after
we left Skopelos, but I had a hard time believing it.”

“
You’re
special.”

“
I was
horrible.”

“
Not the person I saw—even
after I realized you weren’t Evan.”

“
That’s what we should
name the baby—Evan!”

“
NO! His name is Micah.
Why do you have such a problem with your son having your
name?”

“
Because.”

“
Because why?”

“
Because—because people in
the Family have learned to be afraid of that name. You saw the
files, Annalisa, you know how many there were. All you have to do
is hint to someone in the mafia that Micah Gavarreen has been given
their name and they lose it. I actually had three people—” He
stopped and gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles
lost color.

I could tell these old memories were
things better to be left in the dark, but the conversation was
already engaged, and I didn’t know if I should ask him to finish
his sentence or not.

“
Three of my marks
committed suicide when they heard I’d been given their names,” he
finished. “That, Annalisa, is why I don’t want my son to have my
name.”

“
Your name is beautiful,”
I rebutted. “It means ‘who resembles God,’” I added
softly.

That seemed to catch him off guard. He
loosened his grip on the wheel as he made the turn into the airport
and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Leese. I know you want this
baby to have my name, but it just feels like it would be like
keeping a part of the mafia on my son—I don’t want him to ever be
involved in that world. Nothing good can come out of the mob. It’s
bad enough he’s going to have my last name.”

“
Ah—Micah!”

“
I know, I know—Dad would
have a heart attack if he heard me say that.”

“
Well, no matter what you
think about your name—something good did come out of the mob, and
it’s you—and I love you, name and all. But,” I paused because I had
stood my ground concerning the name up until this point—I couldn’t
hurt him over this decision. “If you honestly don’t want him to
have your first name, then I’m going to leave our son’s name up to
you.”

His head wobbled as tears filled his
eyes, “I’m not trying to take naming him away from you.”

“
I know that, but I want
you to do it. Just promise me it won’t be something off the wall
like the celebrities do when they name their kids.”

He parked the rental car and wrapped
me in his strong arms, “Are you sure you want me to do this? I’ve
never named someone; who knows what I’ll pick.”

“
I trust you. And by the
way, I’ve never named anyone either—I’m calling dibs on baby number
two.”

“
So you’re actually going
to let me do this to you again?” he grinned.

“
I’m starting to think
Italian—you may have to do this to me quite a few times before I’ve
had enough.”

“
That idea is incredibly
appealing to me, but—and I’m almost afraid to say this out loud—I’d
like to wait a few years, before the next baby—just to give you
some time to be yourself.”

“
I’m still me, Micah—baby
and all.”

“
I know, but I feel like
I’m stealing away your youth if I tie you down with—”

I put my fingers to his mouth to stop
him from finishing the sentence. “If you only realize one thing
from all of this, I hope it’s that you know I am happier right
now—with your baby inside me— than I have been my whole
life.”

“
How did I ever deserve
someone like you?”

“
I guess you’ll just have
to discuss
that
with your Maker. Let’s go home so you can sing that song to
me.” I opened the car door and headed toward the small jet waiting
by the hanger.

“
I didn’t say I’d do it
tonight, Leese. If I’m going to sing to the top female singer from
Remake, I’m gonna have to practice a little,” he laughed as he
grabbed our bags.

I was getting ready to tease him about
how many days he would be allowed to practice, but at the moment my
cell phone was softly vibrating in my purse. I boarded the plane as
Micah talked with our pilot, giving me a moment to see who was
buzzing me. It was a text message from my attorney, Lyle Timmons.
The message was brief. It said: “442A 9.6M Y or N?”

Although it was more acreage than I
expected and the price was actually lower than I thought it would
be, it wouldn’t hurt to counter, especially with the nose-dive real
estate had taken over the last couple years. I quickly texted back
to counter with eight million and to let the owner know it would be
an immediate sale. We were landing in Florida when my phone went
off again, this time Micah heard the buzz. I lifted it out of my
bag, careful that he didn’t see the screen. This one said: “OK u
got it! Close Friday.” I typed my quick response and returned it to
my purse. I could tell Micah was waiting for me to let him know who
was on the phone.

“
That was Lyle. He still
wants to go after the tabloids about the baby story.” It was almost
laughable that I was getting good at telling a lie, when my husband
was learning how good it felt to tell the truth. But, I had
reasoned that this fib was necessary and he’d learn the truth
eventually.

“
You know they’re going to
name Sadarius as the father,” he sighed.

“
Why?”

“
Because that way they
force your hand to show the baby in public after he’s
born.”

I think he could see the steam rising
off me as I contemplated the fact that he was most likely going to
be right. He offered me his hand as I descended from the plane and
then kissed my temple when I reached the asphalt. “It’s okay—like
you said, the truth has a way of coming out.”

I wanted to smile back at him for the
kind words, but I was still so angry I couldn’t have pulled my lips
upward using a crane. Fame really sucked.

CHAPTER five

Mom and Kimmy were both glad that we’d
made it home because they were dying to show us a surprise. We’d
only been gone two days, but, in that time, they (with the help of
a hastily hired interior decorator) had transformed the bedroom
next to our room into a nursery. It was complete from the baby
furniture, to outfits and diapers, down to toys. I noticed that
Kimmy had placed one of her baby dolls in the crib and told us to
be quiet because she had Penelope asleep.

I knew, in that moment, there was no
way we were moving out of Mom’s before this baby came along—they
would both be so disappointed. But, in reality, I didn’t want to be
out of the house by then. I had only pretended that with Micah so I
could distract him from the idea of buying the property.

“
I’m having a carpenter
come in Monday and cut a door between the two rooms so you don’t
have to go out into the hallway to get to the baby’s room.” Mom’s
smile was infectious as it spread across our faces.

I could tell Micah was getting ready
to speak up, but I squeezed his hand to keep him silent. “It’s
perfect, Mom. I love it.” I gave her and Kimmy both a hug. “Do you
think Penelope would mind if we started looking around?” I asked
Kimmy.

“
Nah, her nap is over with
anyway,” she giggled.

There were several outfits out on the
changing table. I picked up a tiny, blue, one-piece tee-shirt from
the table and inhaled the scent of its newness. The lump formed in
my throat as I looked to Micah. His eyes were already getting misty
as I let my tears fall. I opened his large hand and stretched the
small piece of fabric across his palm. “This makes it so much more
real,” I choked. “Our son is going to fit inside this.”