White Mountain (23 page)

“And for that he chose to die?”

“He knew I would take him back.
 
He chose not to go.
 
It is that simple.”

“When did this happen?”

“A week ago.
 
I am now in the town where he was living.
 
I have searched his home and found nothing that would lead me to believe he was anything but an old and dying man.”

“Dying?
 
I thought you said he was already dead.”

“I have reason to believe he was suffering from cancer.
 
I found medicine in his belongings that someone suffering from cancer might take.
 
It is why I think he chose to end his life here rather than in an interrogation center in Russia.”

“Was anyone living with him?”

Rostov’s heart skipped a beat.
 
This question could have meant anything, but something told him the man was not referring to a wife.

“There is an entire hotel full of people.
 
He had rooms alone on the top floor of a rather quaint hotel.
 
I’ve been in it.
 
There was nothing of consequence.”

“Then it is over.
 
You know what to do next?”

“Yes,” Rostov said.
 
“I know what to do next.”

“When you get back, come to my office.”

“When I get back,” Rostov repeated, knowing full well that would be never.
 
His failure to produce the desired results would not be looked upon with favor, which was another reason to proceed with his original plan.
 
He hung up the phone and then packed it away.
 
A man without a home, such as he was pretending to be, would have no use for such a thing, and for the time being, he needed to stay in his disguise.

David Schultz got up from the table where he’d been eating breakfast and went to the table where Isabella was sitting.
 
He leaned over and kissed the top of her head before sitting opposite her.
 
There were shadows on her face, and her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen.
 
Seeing her this way made him feel old and helpless.
 
Surely there was something he could say that would help her get past this grief.

“Good morning, dear.
 
We missed you earlier,” he said, indicating the other uncles, who were still finishing their meal.

Isabella shoved aside a piece of fruit on her plate and then laid down her fork.

“I know.
 
I’m sorry, I should have—“

“No apology necessary.
 
We were merely concerned.”

“I’m fine,” she said, and took a sip of her coffee.

He laid his hand on her arm and gave it a squeeze.

“You don’t look fine.”

He thought he saw her chin quiver, and when she suddenly looked away, he knew he’d been right.
 
Her eyes were swimming with unshed tear.

“Isabella…darling…you are breaking my heart.
 
I know you are missing Samuel, as well as you Uncle Frank, but you have to know they’re in a better place.
 
Samuel’s heart attack was sudden, but it was massive.
 
There was nothing that could have been done to save him, no matter where it happened.
 
As for Frank’s passing, it, too, was out of our control.
 
He became a victim of circumstance, didn’t her?”

Isabella sighed.
 
She was ashamed to admit that most of her tears were selfishly directed at her own disappointment and not for the loss of her father and Frank.

“Yes, Uncle David.
 
I know that, and truthfully, I’m getting better every day.”

He frowned.
 
“Then what’s all this about?”

She shrugged, then looked away.
 
At that moment she saw Jack walk into the dining room.
 
She flinched, and David saw it.
 
Suddenly her behavior was starting to make sense.

“How was your trip yesterday?”

She looked startled.
 
“What trip?”

“I was looking for you yesterday afternoon.
 
Delia said you were gone.
 
She also said that you’d taken that writer, Jack Dolan, on a sightseeing trip.
 
So how was it?
 
Did he get everything he needed…for his book?”

Isabella’s eyes flashed, but she stifled her anger.
 
It wasn’t Uncle David’s fault that she’d set herself up for disappointment.

“I suppose so.
 
I took him into the Lewis and Clark National Forest.”

David smiled.
 
“It must be beautiful up there this time of year.”

“It was cold,” she said, and poured some fresh coffee in her cup, then busied herself by stirring in a spoonful of sugar.

“It must have been late when you returned.
 
I didn’t see you at dinner.”

“It wasn’t all that late.
 
I just wasn’t hungry,” she said.

“Darling…”

She looked up.
 
The concern on his face was her undoing.
 
Besides, she’d never been able to lie.
 
She lowered her voice as she answered.

“He didn’t do anything, if that’s what you’re worrying about.”

“Then if he didn’t make a pass, why are you angry?”

Stunned by his perceptiveness, she struggled for an answer she didn’t have.

“Do you like him?” David asked.

“Of course.
 
He’s a likeable man, but I hardly know him,” Isabella muttered.

“Oh…love has been won and lost in less time than you’ve known Jack Dolan.”

She shrugged, refusing to comment.

At that moment David wished that Samuel were still alive.
 
This was something that a father should be dealing with, not an uncle—and only an honorary one, at that.

“You’ve never dated much.
 
The uncles and I have often worried that you’re too confined by this hotel to get out as much a young woman such as yourself should.”

“I’ve gone out as often as I wanted.
 
Besides, it’s not like there’s a huge gene pool of eligible males here.
 
There are only six thousand people in Braden, and more than half of them are senior citizens.
 
Most of the others are married or spoken for, and the few who aren’t, aren’t worth the dirt it would take to bury them.”

David frowned, remembering the incident with her tire.

“Bobby Joe Cage definitely falls into the latter category.”

“My point exactly,” Isabella said.

“Jack Dolan is not from here.”

“Which means he won’t be staying, doesn’t it?” she said, and then stood abruptly.
 
“I’m sorry, Uncle David, but I just remembered something I need to do.”

She left without waiting for him to tell her goodbye.
 
David stood, watching her sail past Jack Dolan’s table with her head held high.
 
And judging from Dolan’s expression, he was in no better mood than Isabella had been.

He sighed as he thought of what lay ahead.
 
The biggest relief they could know was that Isabella had found someone to love her when they were no longer around.
 
With one last glance in Jack Dolan’s direction, he went back to the table to gather the others.

It was time to set the last project in motion.

Isabella was already at the front desk, checking in new guests, when David exited the dining area.
 
Thomas and Jasper lingered behind to visit with an acquaintance from Braden, but John and Rufus were at David’s heels.
 
The two old men were head-to-head, talking animatedly with each other as they walked.
 
John Michaels’s thin, lanky body was a complete opposite to Rufus’s tall, portly figure.
 
Samuel Abbott had often lovingly referred to them as their very own Laurel and Hardy.

When Isabella saw them coming, she flinched.
 
The last thing she wanted was more of her Uncle David’s third degree.

“Miss?”

She quickly returned her attention to the couple who were just checking in.

“I’m sorry.
 
What did you ask?”

Leonardo Silvia repeated his question.

“Do you have a phone book we might borrow?
 
I need to look up the number to White Mountain Fertility Clinic.
 
We have an appointment there this afternoon, but I want to confirm the time.”

“There will be one in your room, but I know the number.
 
It’s 555-1212.”

“You are sure?” Leonardo asked.

Isabella smile.
 
“I’ve called it every day for most of my life.”

Maria Silvia leaned across the counter, fixing Isabella with a sympathetic stare.

“You, too, are trying to have a child?”

“No, nothing like that.
 
My father, Dr. Samuel Abbott, was one of the founders of the clinic.”

Maria’s eyes widened.
 
“Oh!
 
How proud you must be of him that he is devoting his life to helping people like my Leonardo and me.”

“Yes, I was very proud.
 
Unfortunately, he passed away recently.”

Maria gasped and then moaned.
 
“No…oh no!
 
We have come too late!”

The terror on the little woman’s face was evident.
 
Isabella quickly added, “Oh, no!
 
I didn’t mean to imply that there was no longer a clinic.
 
The clinic is run by a fully trained staff.”
 
Then she waved her Uncle David over to the desk, anxious that he help calm the woman before she went into hysterics.
 
“Uncle David, I want you to meet Leonardo and Maria Silvia.
 
They’ve come to visit the clinic.
 
In fact, they have an appointment this afternoon.
 
Maria, this is Doctor Schultz, another one of the founders.”

David Schultz saw desperation in the woman’s face and gently took her hand in his own.

“Maria, is it?”

She nodded quickly, but her heart was still pounding out an irregular rhythm.

“Yes, Doctor.
 
I am Maria Silvia.
 
This is my husband, Leonardo.
 
You can help me have a baby?”

David smiled.
 
“We can certainly try.”

She began to relax.
 
“Oh…it will be successful.
 
This I know.”

It was good to know that her confidence in their facility was high, but David worried that her expectations were even higher.
 
He didn’t want to dispel her hopes, but he also didn’t want to mislead her.

“Well, we do all that is humanly possible and then say a few prayers.
 
After that, it is up to a higher power.”

Maria’s smile widened.
 
“I have already prayed to God many times, but this time I know my prayers will come true.”

Leonardo put his arm around his wife and tried to pull her away.

“Please… Maria
mia
, don’t bother the doctor right now.
 
Leave all our explanations for our appointment this afternoon at the clinic.”

But Maria wasn’t through.
 
She couldn’t let go without being sure the doctor understood.
 
She patted Leonardo’s cheek, then turned to David once more.

“I do not wish to bother you,” she said.
 
“I only want you to know that I have promised my child to God.
 
This is how I know it will happen.”

The hair on the back of David’s neck suddenly stood on end as he looked down into the woman’s eyes.

“You promised a child to God?”

She nodded.
 
“Son or daughter…it does not matter.
 
What matters is that I have promised God that I will raise our child to serve others as His disciples served Him.”

“That’s a very noble thing to do,” he said.
 
“But what if your child chooses otherwise?”

Maria shook her head.
 
“It will not happen.”

Curious now, the other two uncles were also listening closely to this small, dark-headed woman’s unusual theory.

“How can you be so sure?” David asked.

“Because if God gives me the child, He will certainly also give the child the calling.”

He stared at her closely, seeing a faith that almost shamed him.
 
And knowing the last project that still lay ahead of them, David felt as if his meeting with this woman had been predetermined.