farmhouse and might begin conjecturing about why Kane would bring Eli there.
To his relief, a tow truck pulled up beside the SUV and a gray-haired man got out. “Howdy. Maggie around?”
“She’s inside.”
“Glad to hear it. I nearly had a coronary when I got to her car and she wasn’t in it. Weather’s not good for taking a hike.”
“I gave her a lift.”
“Looks like her Ford isn’t damaged, so you can tell Maggie that she’s fine to drive it. Needs to put chains on the tires, though. Better yet, she should get new tires. Hers are looking threadbare, and that’s not good for driving in the winter around these parts,” he said almost absently as he unhooked the Ford.
“I’ll let her know.”
“Appreciate it. Tell her I’ll bill her, or she can just drop into the shop and pay when she’s got time.” He finished the job and turned to face Kane again, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of Eli peering out the window of the SUV. There was no doubt the driver recognized him. There probably wasn’t a person in Deer Park who wouldn’t have. Eli’s image had been plastered across the front page of the local newspaper and featured on local and national news.
Kane braced himself for the comments and questions, the well wishes and speculations that he’d been hearing since he had arrived in town late the previous night.
Instead, the driver smiled at Eli, offered Kane a brief nod, got into his truck and drove away.
Would he spread the word that Kane and Eli had been visiting Maggie?
For her sake, Kane hoped not.
“Let’s go give her the message, Dad.” Eli climbed out of the car, brushing against Kane as he started walking toward the old farmhouse Maggie had disappeared into.
Kane wanted to put a hand on his son’s shoulder, connect with him in that small way, but he knew what Eli would do. He’d stiffen, holding himself tense and tight until Kane backed off. He wouldn’t verbally protest the contact, but he wouldn’t relax into it, either.
Give it time.
That’s what the counselor who’d accompanied Kane to his first meeting with Eli had said. But Kane had already lost five years of his son’s life. In that time, the bubbly four-year-old had turned into an anxious, unhappy little boy. It was a reality Kane had expected. One he’d thought he’d prepared for.
But how did a father prepare to meet a child he hadn’t seen in five years? How did he reconcile memories with reality and balance his own need to connect with Eli’s need to hold back and wait things out?
Kane didn’t know, so he was simply going with the flow, taking it a minute at a time and praying he’d figure things out along the way.
He followed Eli up rickety porch steps and waited as he rang a doorbell that didn’t seem to work.
Maggie must have been watching from one of the narrow windows that bracketed the door. Old wood creaked as it swung open, and she hovered at the threshold, smiling at Eli. “I thought you two were heading back to town.”
Despite the smile, there was a nervousness about her, a tension in her muscles and her mouth that Kane didn’t miss.
“We have a message for you, Ms. Tennyson. We came to deliver it,” Eli replied in the overly formal way of his that Kane found both amusing and unsettling. Nine-year-old boys were supposed to be full of mischief and jokes. They were not supposed to speak like aged gentlemen.
“Well, then I guess you’d better come in and tell me what it is.” Maggie motioned for them to enter the house and quickly closed the door.
She’d taken off her coat, and the faded jeans and oversize flannel shirt she wore were as easy and comfortable as her smile. Golden-blond hair fell around her face in tangled waves that she brushed behind her ear, and Kane caught a whiff of a subtle, flowery perfume as she leaned a shoulder against the wall. She had an effortless beauty. The kind that didn’t need makeup and fancy clothes to enhance it.
The kind that Kane had always found alluring.
“So, let’s have it. What’s the message?” she asked.
“Your car is back, and it’s not damaged. You can drive it. And you’ll get a bill for it, or you can go and pay for it next week.”
“I always knew you had a good memory, Eli. Now, if you can just use it to memorize your multiplication facts while you’re waiting to go back to school, you’ll be all set.” Her tone was gentle, her eyes a soft blue, her lips deep rose. All her attention was focused on Eli, and Kane suddenly understood why his son had been so desperate to visit Maggie. The combination of beauty and attentiveness would be a hard one for a kid like Eli to resist. It would be a hard one for anyone to resist.
“Maybe you could help me get them memorized,” Eli said hopefully, and Maggie smiled again.
“I’m sure your father and aunt will want to do that.”
“They’re going to be busy getting the new house ready. They won’t have time to help me.”
“We’ll always have time for you, Eli.” Kane broke in, hoping he didn’t look as disheartened as he felt. The transition into being a family again was going to be a rough one. He’d known that going into it. He’d hoped, though. Hoped that Eli would be more eager to rebuild what they’d once had.
“I guess so.” But Eli didn’t look like he believed it.
“Guess so? Of course they will. You’re the only reason they’re in Deer Park, and I’m sure they’d much rather help you with math than get some stuffy old house ready.”
Maggie’s response was light and easy, but Kane didn’t miss the concern in her eyes.
“Maybe. But you could help me, too. If I had three people helping, I’d be the best at multiplication in the whole school.”
“You’re quite a negotiator, aren’t you? Maybe you’ll grow up to be a lawyer.” A lawyer?
That’s what Kane had been before he’d opened his P.I. firm, and it’s what had nearly cost him his son. Prosecuting Lee Peyton and getting him convicted of murder had been the catalyst that sent Peyton’s mother, Susannah, over the edge. Deprived of her only son, she’d decided to take Kane’s. At least that’s what the FBI agents working the case were speculating. Susannah Peyton wasn’t talking. Whether she ever would was something Kane wouldn’t speculate on.
“I want to be a detective. Like my father.”
The comment surprised Kane, and he had to resist the urge to put a hand on Eli’s shoulder, tell him how proud that made him feel. There was no sense in ruining the moment, and he knew from experience that physical contact with Eli would do just that.
“Sounds like an interesting career choice.” Maggie glanced at Kane again, her expression guarded. Was she bothered by the fact that he was a private investigator? Or was she simply wishing he’d take Eli and leave?
“It has been,” he offered, not nearly as anxious
