Читать книгу The Second Family - Janice Carter - Страница 8

“TESS?” Carrie asked.

Their sister? Me? Dazed, Tess looked from the two youngsters to Carrie, standing behind them. Her secretary’s eyes were wide with surprise.

“I’ll take any calls,” Carrie said at once, backing out of the room and closing the door behind her.

The office was dead quiet. Tess’s labored breathing competed with the drumming at her temples. The little girl, clad in denim overalls and a nylon windbreaker, looked anxiously up at her brother, whose brown-eyed gaze never wavered from Tess’s face. He was a handsome boy on the verge of adolescence, his lanky frame awkwardly thin for the baggy jeans and jacket he wore. Without thinking, Tess released the hold button in time to hear Alec Malone drawling, “Somethin’ wrong at that end, Miss Wheaton?”

Tess moistened her dry lips and cleared her throat to ask, “Would those two kids be a teenaged boy and a little girl?”

A whistle of relief sounded from the other end. “They there?” His voice was low and urgent.

“They just walked into my office.” Tess caught the sharp glance sent from boy to girl. A reassuring signal, she wondered, or a warning?

“Thank God,” he said. “I’ve got foster parents on standby here, chomping at the bit to call the police. Those two put together one heck of a runaway plan and managed to bamboozle everyone.”

“I think you’ve got some explaining to do, Mr. Malone,” she said.

“Right you are. I’m getting to that. I don’t know if you’ve got to the introduction stage yet, but their names are Nick and Molly. He’s thirteen and she’s six. I’ve had their case file since they were placed in foster care right after the accident and—”

“Why was that?” Tess interrupted.

“No next of kin and no one close to the family able to take them. We didn’t know about you until several days ago.”

Before Tess could respond, an exchange of hissed whispers interceded.

“Excuse me,” the boy said, “but is there a washroom here? And a water fountain?”

Tess frowned, clamping her palm across the receiver. “Are you thirsty?”

He nodded. “And hungry, too. We only had some apples and crackers early this morning.”

“One minute, Mr. Malone,” she snapped into the phone, then put him on hold while pressing the intercom button. “Carrie? Could you come back in here for a sec?”

“She’ll take you to get some lunch…or dinner…or whatever it is for you,” Tess explained to the children. The door flew open as she was speaking. “Carrie, would you mind taking these two down to the concourse for a bite to eat? Hit the washrooms up here first—that may be the more urgent need.” She eyed the girl, hopping from one foot to the other.

“I’d love to take them. C’mon, kids. So, I’m Carrie and you are…”

“Nick,” the boy said. “She’s Molly.” A pause, then, “We’re Wheatons, too. Her brother and sister,” he added huskily, his voice trembling slightly.

In case Carrie missed that bit of information the first time around, Tess was thinking. As soon as they left the office, she released the hold button.

“Okay, Mr. Malone, how soon can you get here to pick up these kids and what am I supposed to do with them in the meantime?”

There was a slight pause, punctuated by a heavy sigh. “I was afraid you might say that.”

Tess felt the stirrings of a migraine. She closed her eyes, massaging her temples. “I don’t know what you mean by that, Mr. Malone, but obviously if people there are looking for the children, they have to be returned as soon as possible. You’re their social worker, surely you must have a plan. So what is it?”

She thought she heard a low chuckle before he said, “Maybe we’re not as busy down here, ma’am, as you seem to be up there. Guess I was half hoping you’d offer to come back with them or, at best, keep them till someone can get to Chicago.”

“What am I supposed to do with them? I’m at work right now and my day doesn’t usually end until eight at night. I don’t know much about kids, but I suspect that’s too long a day for them. Besides, I only have a one-bedroom condo here and—”

“I get the picture, Miss Wheaton,” he interjected. There was another sigh, followed by a low mumbling that Tess suspected was swearing. “Look, someone—most likely it’ll be me—will be there as soon as possible but it may not happen until tomorrow. You think you can handle those two youngsters till then?”

Tess grit her teeth. Nothing ambiguous about the sarcasm in his voice. “I don’t think it’s fair to get short with me, Mr. Malone. It’s hardly my fault the children ran away.”

“Short? Would that be like short as in snotty? If so, then I apologize but I gotta admit, those kids took a helluva gamble to make that trip to Chicago on their own looking for a sister they just discovered they had. Kids who’ve never been outside Boulder, Colorado. I don’t have all the details yet, but I do know they got the whole thing together without any adult help and actually made it there in one piece. So if I sound a bit short as you put it, well yes, dammit all, that’s precisely what I am feeling.”

It wasn’t often that Tess found herself speechless. A hundred questions swarmed her mind about how the children learned her identity and why they came looking for her. Tess sensed that firing off a slew of defensive inquiries would fuel an already heated conversation with the presumptuous social worker. Her business experience had taught her that obvious anger only made your argument weaker.

“Still there?” he ventured after a pause.

“Unfortunately,” she said.

“Sorry if I seem a bit tetchy but I’m real worried about these kids. You haven’t had a chance to get to know them yet—”

“No,” she put in as icily as she could. “And I’m not likely to, either. Richard Wheaton—my father—walked out on my mother and me when I was eight years old, Mr. Malone, and I haven’t heard a word from him or about him since yesterday. So if I appear a tad cool to the notion of family and siblings, please forgive me. I’m not a callous person. If these children need a place to stay until tomorrow, I will provide them with one.” She hesitated, alarmed at the promise she’d just made. Too late now, she thought. But there’s always Mavis. Beyond her office door, she heard muted voices. They were back. “I’ll give you my home address and phone number. When might I expect you?”

There was a resigned exhalation from the other end. “I don’t imagine you’ve dealt much with government bureaucracies, Miss Wheaton—or maybe you have—” he quickly added “—but nothing in this office moves faster than a slug on a cabbage leaf. And when it comes to applying for air travel, I should’ve requested this trip months ago. So…”

Tess was beginning to think he didn’t move very fast either. “So?” she repeated, wanting him to get to the point. If he ever could.

“There’s a flight arriving in Chicago after noon.”

“Nothing sooner?”

“That’s the best I can do.”

Tess closed her eyes. “All right, Mr. Malone, I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

“There’s one more thing,” he said. “The kids are real upset about being split up. The accident has pretty much traumatized them, as you can imagine. I’d appreciate it if you avoided making any statements to them about their future.”

“How could I do that when I’ve no idea what future plans exist for them?”

His sigh suggested he was trying to be as patient as possible. “That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. If they bring up the subject about what’s going to happen to them, be as vague or evasive as possible. Please.”

“Of course I will, but why belabor your point, Mr. Malone? Obviously I don’t have any idea what the future holds for them.”

“You’re not getting it yet, are you Miss Wheaton? The kids headed to Chicago because you’re the only family they’ve got.”

Family. She’d never felt she had one. There was Mavis, who tried her best over the years to compensate for the real family Tess lacked. Tess tried to come up with a response but words failed her.

“Miss Wheaton? Sorry if all of this is overwhelming but that’s the situation. I’ll call you as soon as I get into town.” And he hung up before she had a chance to say anything more.

Tess replaced the receiver and sat, oblivious to the hushed chatter outside her office. Her office. How odd that at that very moment, nothing in the room was familiar. It suddenly seemed to belong to someone else. She peered down at her tailored, olive-green skirt with its matching, long-sleeved silk blouse. The delicate gold chain around her neck was a graduation present from Mavis and the titanium and gold watch, a gift to herself on her promotion. But the whole outfit might as well be trappings owned by a complete stranger. Tess sighed. The double whammy she’d just received—father dead and two half siblings on her doorstep—had instantly diminished all the rewards of her success.

So she instinctively turned to the one person who’d been her saving grace over the years and punched in Mavis’s phone number. After the tenth unanswered ring, Tess remembered that Mavis would be with her sister all weekend. She hung up, propped her elbows on the desk and lowered her head onto her hands. She didn’t have the faintest idea what to do—which was, for her, an almost frightening state of mind.

“Tess?”

She raised her head enough to glare at the intercom, wanting desperately to simply tell everyone to go away and leave her alone. “Yes?”

There was a slight hesitation before Carrie continued by, saying, “The kids have had a bite to eat and gone to the washroom, but they’re tired. Do you know when you’ll be taking them home?”

Taking them home? Tess checked the time. Four o’clock. Leaving early two days in a row would raise more than a few eyebrows.

“Did you hear me?”

Tess swallowed. Taking them home. To a one-bedroom condo? “Uh, Carrie, can you come in here for a sec?”

The intercom fell silent and Carrie popped her head around the door an instant later. “Don’t ask,” Carrie forewarned.

“Ask?” Tess ran her tongue along her lips, trying to kick some life into the smile she was squeezing out.

“It’s all over your face so let me spare you the humiliation of a no. I’ve got big plans this weekend.” Carrie closed the door behind her.

“This is what comes of having a too familiar relationship with your staff,” Tess muttered to herself. She groaned and gently massaged her temples.

“I guess we’ve caused you a lot of trouble.”

Tess jerked her head up. She hadn’t heard anyone come in. The boy—Nick—stood in the open doorway. His face was pale, drawn with worry. Something in his expression tugged at her.

“Not a lot,” she began. “But—well, there are other issues here.”

He nodded. “Something to do with my father.”

He was quick, she thought. “Something like that.” It wasn’t the time or place to get into a lecture on parental responsibility. Besides, what Richard Wheaton had done was hardly his fault.

Nick’s sigh echoed in the silence of Tess’s office. “I thought there might be a problem. Otherwise Dad would have…well, we’d have known about you.”

She waited to see if his trail of logic would lead him where she hoped he’d go.

“At first it was weird thinking someone as old as you could be our sister. Then I started thinking maybe it was kinda good luck. But I knew when Molly and me decided to come here, it might turn out that…you know…you wouldn’t be able to take us.”

Tess forced her thoughts away from the old reference, focusing instead on how he’d said able instead of want. A face-saving gesture for them, she wondered, or giving her an out? Either way, she figured he’d gotten the message.

“I live in a one-bedroom condo….” she began, her voice falling off as she realized how lame that sounded. “Mr. Malone said he could be here tomorrow to…well, take you back to Boulder.” As soon as she uttered the words, Tess had a surge of guilt. She’d promised the social worker to be vague about their return to Boulder.

Nick’s face twisted in a grimace. “Yeah,” he said huskily, turning his back on Tess to head for the door.

“Where are you going?”

He stopped, but didn’t turn around. “To break the news to Molly. I don’t want her to freak out.” He pulled on the door and walked out of the office.

Tess was quick on his heels, anxious to hear exactly how he was going to tell his little sister. The last thing she needed was a hysterical child. She watched as Nick crouched down to whisper in Molly’s ear. The little girl stared at Tess the whole while, her eyes wide and unblinking in her pale face. When Nick finished and stood protectively behind his sister, he said, “Will it be all right if we stayed with you tonight? I’ve spent all our money.”

Carrie shot Tess a look that would have shriveled anyone else.

“Of course,” Tess quickly said, casting a so there glance at her secretary. “It’ll be like camping,” she added, catching the incredulous expression on Carrie’s face. “We’ll get videos and order in pizza,” she said, trying for a note of enthusiasm.

“Whoopee!” Carrie muttered as she brushed past Tess to get to her desk.

“Well then,” Tess said, “I guess I’ll be leaving for the day.” She saw Carrie raise an eyebrow, as if silently echoing the I guess. For the first time, Tess noticed a backpack and plastic shopping bag on the floor next to Carrie’s desk.

“I’ll get my coat,” she murmured and went back into her office, moving as if in a trance, trying to avoid the question she knew she’d be asking herself the instant they left the office. What now?

She grabbed her briefcase, stuffing inside it the files she knew she ought to be working on that very moment, and returned to the small reception area. “Let’s go,” she announced to no one in particular, thinking she might convince Carrie this unexpected turn of events was no big deal.

“Have fun,” Carrie said, adding to the children, “maybe you can persuade your sister to treat you to something more exciting than videos and pizza.”

Your sister? For a second Tess wondered who Carrie was talking about. Then it hit her all over again. She felt the air whoosh out of her, but covered up by asking, “What’s wrong with videos and pizza?”

Carrie shrugged, winking at the other two. “If you weren’t such a workaholic, you’d know. Anyway, I’ll take your messages. See you on Monday—maybe,” she said, giving the postscript a significant tone.

No one spoke all the way down to the ground floor. When they reached it, Molly said, “Carrie showed us the water fountain under the ground.”

Tess had to think for a second. “Oh? When she took you to get something to eat?” She led them through the lobby onto the sidewalk.

Catching up, Molly said breathlessly, “I had french fries, too.”

“Uh-huh,” Tess murmured, scanning the street for a taxi.

“With ketchup.”

“Molly, no one cares what you ate, okay?” Nick said.

“I’m just telling her,” she protested. There was a hint of a whine in her voice.

Tess glanced sharply at Nick. “What’s going on?” she asked, just clueing in to the tone of their voices.

He scowled. “We’re just arguing, that’s all. Don’t you know anything about kids?”

“No, frankly, I don’t. Anyway, what does arguing solve?”

“Jeez,” he muttered.

Tess frowned. He looked tired, too, she thought. Maybe that’s what the arguing was about. “Look, I know you two have been through a lot so we’ll just hop in a taxi and get to my place as soon as possible. Then you can shower and have a nap or something.”

“I’m six now. I don’t have naps,” Molly piped up.

Tess blew a strand of hair away from her mouth. “Whatever,” she mumbled and waved briskly to a taxi about to pull away from the curb. “Damn,” she muttered as the taxi kept on going. “Okay, want to take the subway?”

“What’s that?”

“A train, stupid. Underground.”

“Don’t call me stupid, Nick!”

Tess grit her teeth. Twenty-four hours of this? “Your case worker will be here tomorrow, hopefully right after lunch. So can we all agree to do our best to get along with each other until he arrives and…” she paused, noticing Molly’s stricken face, “well…you know.”

Two pairs of solemn eyes stared up at her. Tess noticed for the first time the cowlick poking up from the crown of Nick’s head. He was just about shoulder level with her and his slender frame, weighed down by his backpack, made him appear frail and vulnerable. They were both just kids, she thought. Though not just any kids. The reminder was sobering.

“Okay, so follow me and no more arguing. In fact, no more talking until we get home and you can tell me how you managed to get all the way from Boulder, Colorado, to Chicago without attracting any attention.” Tess turned sharply and led the way to the underground.

No one uttered a word until the train was halfway to Tess’s stop in Lincoln Park. Then Molly, her dark eyes wide with wonder, exclaimed, “I’ve never been on a train before,” and clamped a hand over her mouth when she realized she’d just broken the silence edict. Tess impulsively smiled but saw that Nick’s glower couldn’t be shifted. He sat half-turned toward the window and stared through it the whole way. Every once in a while, Tess caught his reflection in the glass and once, their eyes met. He lowered his first, but not before a hint of a sneer twisted his upper lip.

Inexplicably, that bothered Tess. Wasn’t it enough that she was giving up most of a weekend to look after two children who, in spite of biology, were basically strangers? Miffed, she averted her own face to stare out the other window and was soon so lost in thought she almost missed her stop. She realized at the last instant, jumping to her feet and hustling the kids from the car seconds before the doors closed. On the platform, Tess laughingly cried, “That was close!” and Molly laughed, too.

Nick trudged toward the exit. As Tess was about to follow, Molly reached for her hand, slipping it casually into Tess’s. When they reached the upper level, Nick was slouched against a wall waiting for them, looking as if he were the most bored kid on earth. Still, Tess noted how his eyes flickered with interest from left to right as they exited the station and walked along the street.

As usual, the neighborhood was bustling on a Friday afternoon. Rush hour had already begun and Tess knew the expressways would be packed. She’d decided long ago to save herself the expense of a car in the city, especially since most of her waking hours were devoted to work.

They walked north along the lake and the outer edge of Lincoln Park. Tess glanced down at Molly, still clutching her hand, and saw her eyes grow bigger and bigger at each new sight. The park and zoo might be an option for tomorrow morning, she thought. Unless they slept in, though from what Tess had gathered about kids from the parents in her department, that wasn’t a likely occurrence.

The appearance of the six-story building where Tess lived elicited another gasp from Molly and, though Nick remained silent, Tess saw that his eyes widened, too. It had been renovated by a well-known architect when the area was undergoing a transformation from its more humble origins.

“You live here?”

Tess almost smiled at the wobble in Nick’s voice. She guessed what he was thinking. “Yes, but don’t worry. It’s not really a factory—just looks a bit like one from the outside.”

She unlocked the exterior door and led them into a foyer festooned with thick, multicolored tubular pipes that ran back and forth along the ceiling.

“I feel like I’m in Legoland,” Molly gasped.

“Yeah, right,” Nick scoffed. Still, his eyes gleamed as they scanned the foyer.

“Neat, isn’t it?” Tess remarked.

“Neat?”

There was a hint of disdain in his voice. “Well, whatever kids say these days,” she said.

“Yeah, whatever,” he mumbled.

When they were on the elevator going up to Tess’s sixth-floor loft, Molly unexpectedly asked, “Do you have any other brothers or sisters?”

“God,” muttered Nick. “She didn’t even know she had us.”

“That’s not her fault,” Molly put in. “Anyway, we didn’t know about her either, until after the…”

Her unspoken word—accident—boomed in the silence. Tess struggled to find something to say, but was saved by the elevator reaching her floor. She stepped out first, noticing that now both kids were pale-faced and red-eyed. If Mavis were here, she thought, she’d feed them and send them to bed.

They didn’t utter a word when she unlocked her door, but Nick’s jaw dropped slightly and Molly gasped. The ten-foot ceiling-to-floor windows facing east afforded an impressive view of Lake Michigan. Since Tess spent most of her time at the office, she’d devoted little effort to furnishings. The sparseness of the condo added to the effect of space and light created by the unadorned windows.

The children stood in the doorway until Tess herded them inside. “The kitchen’s at the end of this main room and the bathroom’s off that hall there,” she said, pointing to her right, “just before the bedroom.”

“Is there a door on the bathroom?” Molly asked.

Tess smiled. “For sure. And on my bedroom, too.”

“Where will we sleep?”

“We’ll work that out. Just put your stuff anywhere. Are you two hungry? I know you just ate something but I can order pizza.”

“We just had french fries,” Molly said. “But by the time the pizza comes, I know I’ll be ready for it.”

Tess smiled. “What about you, Nick? Pizza?”

He shrugged. “Sure.”

Tess hesitated. Did he want her to persuade him some more? Or was he really so indifferent?

“I only like pepperoni on mine,” said Molly, advancing farther into the living room.

“Oh?” Tess paused. She hadn’t given a thought to preferences. “And what about you, Nick?”

“Same,” he mumbled, letting his pack fall to the floor.

“Okay,” Tess murmured, mentally bidding goodbye to her usual feta, spinach and roasted red peppers. She headed for the galley kitchen at the opposite end of the room and used the telephone on the counter there to order. When she finished, she opened the refrigerator and took out the half bottle of Chardonnay she’d been sipping on that week. She’d just finished pouring a glass when she glanced up to see Molly watching her from the other side of the counter. “Uh, thirsty?”

Molly nodded. “But I don’t drink wine,” she said.

“I’ve got some cranberry juice and mineral water.”

Molly’s face screwed up in thought. “No milk?”

“Sorry. I drink my coffee black.”

“Apple juice?”

“Only cranberry. But if you want, I can call the pizza place back and get them to bring some pop with the order.”

The face brightened. “Okay! Coke, please.”

Tess reached for the phone. “Nick?” she asked.

He was standing in front of one of the windows, staring out. There was something about the slump of his shoulders. Maybe he wasn’t as tough as he was trying to be. “Sure,” he finally said.

“What kind?” Tess asked, impatience edging her voice.

Molly whispered, “He likes Coke, too.”

That settled it as far as Tess was concerned and she quickly made the phone call before there could be any more changes. Once the pizza arrived and had been devoured in what Tess considered an alarmingly short time, the two kids were sagging into the pillows on the sofa, mesmerized by a television show Tess had never seen before in her life. She glanced across the room at the clock in the kitchen nook. Not quite seven o’clock. Normally she wouldn’t be home for another hour. Perhaps she could do some work after they went to bed. The problem was, where was bed going to be?

“Does this couch pull out?” Nick asked some time later. “Molly’s fallen asleep.”

Tess glanced up from the newspaper she was reading. Molly was slumped over in a corner of the sofa. “No, it doesn’t pull out, but one of you can sleep there.”

“Then it’ll have to be me,” he said, “so Molly can sleep with you.”

Tess wasn’t sure whether to marvel at the way he took charge of the situation or his omission at seeking her approval of the plan. Without waiting for a reply, Nick shook Molly awake. Tess headed for the bedroom, followed by Nick dragging Molly behind him. As soon as Tess drew back the bedcover, Molly flopped onto the bed.

“She can sleep in her underwear,” Nick said. “You take off her clothes while I set up the couch.”

Tess watched him leave the room. Obviously, he’d had plenty of experience at looking after Molly. In spite of his constant bickering with her on the way home, Nick really cared for his sister. Tess figured that, except for providing a place to stay and paying for dinner, the two didn’t really need her at all.

Which was good, she thought, considering that after tomorrow they’d be gone and she could get on with her life. Encouraged by that, she tucked Molly under the covers and headed for the linen closet to get some bedding for Nick.

He’d changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants and was watching a baseball game on television. He hurriedly flicked off the set when she entered the room.

“Go ahead and watch it if you want. I’ve some work to do anyway. I can set up my laptop on the kitchen counter,” she said, setting a comforter and pillow on the sofa next to him.

He mumbled something inaudible, but turned the set back on as he sank farther into the cushions. His hair was spiked up from pulling the T-shirt over his head and, against the bulky frame of the couch, he appeared much younger than his thirteen years. Tess suddenly recalled what Alec Malone had said about the kids reaching Chicago all on their own, despite never having been outside Boulder.

“How did you manage to get all the way to Chicago?”

His answer was nonchalant, as if he’d made the journey many times. “Bus to Denver and airplane here. We took a taxi from the airport to your office ’cause I couldn’t figure out the transit map.”

Welcome to the club, she was thinking. “And how did you pay for the tickets?”

The look he gave her was a blend of embarrassment and pride. He hesitated for a moment, then admitted, “I used my dad’s credit card for the airfare. I was at our house getting some things with Alec. There was a stack of mail and Alec asked me to go through it to separate out the junk. One of the envelopes was my dad’s new credit card and when Alec wasn’t looking, I…well, I kinda kept it in case I might need it.”

“Some airline clerk let you use a credit card?”

“I bought the tickets over the Internet. It wasn’t hard.”

Tess let that register a moment. “So when you took the credit card, you obviously were planning to run away.”

His head turned sharply away from her gaze.

“Weren’t you?”

The face that swung back to her was red, contorted with anger. “They were gonna separate us, put us in different foster homes. And then Molly’d probably be adopted because she’s little and cute and I’m a teenager. No one wants teenagers.” Nick swiped a hand across his eyes. “And I’d lose my sister.”

Tess tried to think of something to say but found she couldn’t speak at all. When she finally managed to, she knew she had blundered the instant the words came out. “Well, I’m sure you’ll still be able to see one another.”

She didn’t know when she’d last felt so intimidated by a look. He flicked off the television, tossed the remote aside, got up from the couch and headed for the bathroom. She noted the square set of his adolescent shoulders, somehow more adultlike from behind, and oddly familiar.

Tess closed her eyes, forcing herself to stay calm when the bathroom door slammed shut. She began cleaning up plates, glasses and leftover pizza crusts and was just setting up her laptop on the diner-style eating counter at the kitchen end of the room when Nick returned. Without a word, he placed some of the couch cushions onto the coffee table, turned off the lamp next to it and lay down, his back to Tess.

She watched him for a bit, then slipped her disk into the computer and logged into her file. After a long silence, she said, “I’m sorry, Nick, I didn’t mean to sound so unfeeling. But really…this Alec Malone sounds like he has your best interests at heart. I’m sure he’d see that you and Molly would keep in touch.” Her voice trailed off into the room.

Nick didn’t say a word. He was either asleep, she decided, or pretending to be. She turned her attention back to her work but after ten minutes, gave it up. On her way into her bedroom, she pulled the comforter over him and quietly said good-night.

Molly was sprawled in the middle of the bed. Tess stared down at her small face, flushed with sleep, then gently rolled her over until there was enough room for herself. She took her nightwear—designer T-shirt and boxer shorts—out of a drawer and went to the bathroom to change. The silent and shapeless lump that was Nick didn’t move as Tess walked back and forth to the bathroom and the kitchen for her nightly glass of water.

By the time Tess got back to the bedroom, Molly had reclaimed the bed’s center. She repeated the rollover, climbed in and automatically reached for her bedside reading, the latest literary prize winner. But after several attempts at the first paragraph of a new chapter, Tess set the book aside, extinguished the light and sat, propped against her pillows to think. Snippets of unrelated and varied events whose only connecting strand was her father overwhelmed her.

English Leather aftershave and the patch of toilet paper on his cheek or neck. Battle wounds, he’d tease. You’ll have them someday, but on your legs. Tess never understood what he’d meant until she was a teenager and by then, she’d made herself stop thinking about her father anyway. She recalled how he’d swing her up into the air or let her climb onto his back while he rode her around their tiny living room. And last of all, the way he’d marched down the sidewalk that day, his shoulders ramrod straight.

Like Nick’s, Tess thought. She expelled a mouthful of the day’s emotion, held in check the way she’d taught herself so many years ago, and sank under the covers. Eventually, she fell asleep until cries in the night shook her awake.

“I want my mommy,” wailed Molly, over and over.

Tess turned over to find the girl sitting upright, in the middle of the bed again. Using her elbows to push herself up, Tess wrapped her arm across Molly’s trembling shoulders and drew her closer.

“Shhh! It’s okay, Molly.”

Molly tucked herself into the crook of Tess’s arm and sobbed for a few more minutes before dropping off to sleep once more. Wide-eyed and soggy from Molly’s tears, Tess lay perfectly still and awake until the break of day.

BY THE TIME the taxi pulled up in front of her condo building, Tess was ready to call it a day. The problem was, it was barely past one o’clock. She’d gotten out of bed at six-thirty when a pert and lively Molly, unscathed by the night’s tearful episode, insisted on watching the Saturday morning cartoon shows. Tess had reluctantly joined her, offering her now empty bed to Nick whose adolescent sleep patterns demanded extra time.

Two hours later, when Nick finally arose, Tess staggered zombielike to the street below in search of supplies for breakfast and lunch.

“I said I wanted Corn Pops,” Molly had whined at her return.

Nick had merely eyed the health food store granola that Tess was holding and had grumbled, “Even Cheerios would’ve been better.”

The trip to Lincoln Park Zoo had been more successful. Molly seemed enchanted by everything she saw while Nick’s mood grudgingly improved at the familiar presence of junk food. But Tess quickly realized that the delights of the zoo and the warm, sunny day couldn’t compensate for lack of sleep or the strain of strangers being thrust together. She found herself checking her watch at frequent intervals, all the while wondering exactly when Alec Malone would arrive. At one point, after breaking up a noisy exchange between brother and sister, Tess had an alarming thought— What if he doesn’t even come?

When the taxi rounded the corner of her street, Tess almost swooned in relief at the sight of her building. She longed for her weekly routine of reading the Saturday papers ensconced in the downy comfort of her new armchair, a cup of freshly brewed coffee at hand and the latest Dave Matthews CD pulsing softly in the background.

Then Molly dug her elbow into Nick’s ribs because he’d accidentally stepped on her foot and Tess’s mental replay of her typical Saturday morning unspooled. Tess thrust a handful of bills at the taxi driver and marched around the front of the cab to yank open the rear passenger door.

“Enough already!” she cried, her voice a notch louder than she’d intended.

As a pinch-faced Molly struggled out, her foot caught on part of the released seat belt and she tumbled out of the cab. Tess rushed to catch her before she hit the pavement, but, frightened by the near accident, Molly began to sob.

Nick slid from the car and, realizing his sister hadn’t been hurt, berated her for being such a baby. That set off another round of sobs. Tess stood helplessly beside them and, aware that her morning fantasy was never going to happen, raised her palms to her face.

“Long morning?” a deep, male voice drawled from behind.

Lowering her hands, Tess whirled around, registering Nick’s grin and Molly’s shriek of delight all in the same instant. They rushed to the man’s side, Molly wrapping herself around a solid frame well over Tess’s own height of five-eight and standing, legs astride a canvas duffel bag, a few feet away. Nick gave him a friendly tap on the shoulder.

“Alec! Alec!” cried Molly, her tumble completely forgotten as she danced around the man and his luggage. Nick, now the image of benign tolerance, moved farther apart so she could squeeze in closer, latching on to Malone mid-thigh.

“Hey, hey. Let me say hello to your sister,” he said, laughing as he pried his leg loose from Molly’s clutch and gently clasped her hand in his. Then, taking a big step forward, he extended his free hand to Tess and said, “Miss Wheaton, I presume?” at which Molly giggled and Nick snorted.

Tess, still tuning in to the fact that the word sister had meant her, merely stared dumbly. His big hand touched hers briefly, then let go. He took off the baseball cap he was wearing, releasing a shock of thick, sandy-red hair. His hazel eyes, swirled with bits of green and amber, swept over Tess from head to toe. When they returned to her face, their expression shifted ever so slightly, she thought.

“Looks like everyone—including you—is ready to call it a day,” he said.

On cue, Molly complained, “I’m hungry and Tess doesn’t have any good food.”

Nick, however, got straight to the point. “When are you taking us back, Alec?”

Without taking his eyes off Tess, Malone replied, “Guess that’s up to Miss Wheaton here, Nick. How about if we go inside and talk things over?”

Knowing she was being put on the spot, Tess felt a rush of annoyance. She glanced at the children, their faces turned expectantly toward hers. As if she would be announcing a decision about their future that very instant, she thought. She decided the man was as impossible in real life as he’d been on the telephone.

“Of course,” she mumbled and made for the front door of her building.

“What about lunch?” cried Molly.

Her back to them, Tess paused long enough to hear Alec Malone say, “There’s a submarine sandwich place just around the corner. I’ll go get some while you go inside with your sister.”

“I’m coming with you,” Nick quickly said.

“Me, too,” added Molly.

Tess half turned to catch an expression of helpless amusement from Malone. “Do you mind?” he asked her.

“Why should I?”

His smile vanished. “Just asking. Would you like a sandwich?”

“No, thank you. I’m in number 601,” she murmured and turned her back again to insert her key into the front door. She heard them chatting happily as they walked away and, stepping into the foyer, had the distinct sensation of being cut right out of the picture. Though why that bothered her, she couldn’t explain.