A Very Daring Christmas (The Tavonesi Series Book 8) (27 page)

Jake clasped Aderro in a bear hug.

“They run you out of the country?” Jake said in a quiet, teasing tone as he released his friend.

“If I didn’t make it back in time to help Maria cook up enough chile rellenos and mole for the forty relatives descending on us today, she’d lock me out of the house.”

Jake turned a cool glance to her. “Cameron, you’re back from your date in town?”

His question barely registered as it wound through the shock of Aderro’s revelation about the boy in the car. “It wasn’t a date.” Had he thought she’d spent the night in the city with Dimitri? If he had, maybe she’d hidden her feelings deeper than she’d imagined. Maybe even from herself.

Aderro looked from Jake to her. A person didn’t have to be a genius baseball player to pick up on the energy flying between them.

Jake pointed toward the car with the sleeping boy. “You picking up new recruits along the way?”

Aderro crossed his arms. “You didn’t return my calls. Did you at least listen to my messages?”

“Sorry, man. I left the phone at my place in the city. Did I miss anything earthshaking?”

Aderro pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket. “I think you should read this.”

Jake took the envelope. “Can it wait? I need a shower. And you look like you could use a drink.”

Aderro tapped the envelope. “I think you should read that first.”

“So serious. Bad flight?” Jake ran a finger under the flap, pulled out a sheaf of papers and began to read. His face flushed, and Cameron saw the telltale muscle flinch in his jaw. Suddenly she felt like an interloper.

“I could get you something to drink,” she said to Aderro.

Jake reached out a hand to her arm. “No, stay. Please. I think I’m going to need you.”

“I told her he’s your brother’s son,” Aderro admitted. “But I figured the rest is up to you, what you say, what you do about Dylan.”

There was no mistaking Aderro’s message. Jake would have his hands full with the boy.

“Did you meet his mother?” Jake asked.

Cameron’s heart cracked at the raspy sound that signaled Jake was choking back emotion. His hand still rested on her forearm. Of course she’d stay, but what help could she provide? It wasn’t every day someone showed up to land a child on your doorstep. She hoped the others would return from Napa early. Matt and Alana had experience with children; they could help. She glanced at her watch. Five thirty. The caroling didn’t start until six. And then there would be wassail and socializing. They wouldn’t be back for hours.

“No, I didn’t meet her. His mother’s research colleague was a close friend of my sister’s.” Aderro clapped a hand to Jake’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I tried calling your cell as soon as I found out. I should’ve thought to call Alex. It was just a mad rush to get Dylan’s papers sorted and get here. Get him to you like his mother wanted. I’m sorry it’s so close to Christmas. Holidays make everything so much more complicated.”

Jake tilted his head toward the sleeping boy. “Does he know about me?”

“Dylan has his own letter, written by his mother. He let me read it. He knows I’m bringing him to his uncle, his dad’s brother. And he knows his mother has passed on. She gave me firm instructions in my letter to tell him that she had died.”

Aderro’s eyes misted, and Cameron had to look away to keep from tearing up.

“Her ashes will be sent to you. Some of them. He doesn’t need to know all that. Not yet.”

Jake tapped a finger to the letter. “Peter never knew he had a son.”

“No.”

Jake slipped his arm around Cameron’s waist. As he leaned into her, she felt the tension in his body. He was like a string so taut that if you plucked it the wrong way, it would fray and snap.

“Peter never knew,” Jake repeated. “And he was the one who wanted a family. He wanted kids. The whole shebang. How could she not have told him?”

“Peter’s gone, Jake. Dylan’s here. And he needs you. I can tell you, the kid never meets a stranger. Probably from growing up traveling and then the last few years living in jungle villages. He’ll adapt here.”

“Here?”

“With you. You’re going to take him in, aren’t you? That was his mother’s assumption. Her intention.”

Jake pulled his arm from around Cameron’s waist and smacked the letter against his open palm. “That was
her
plan.” He glanced down at the letter. “
Alia’s
plan. It’s not—”

“You should sleep on this,” Aderro said in a firm tone. “Get through Christmas. Don’t make any of your famous snap decisions. What about your parents?”

“They’re in Rome. With my sister.”

“I’ll be down at my place until after the first of the year. You call me if you need help. And Maria has offered to help too.”

A sprinkle of cold rain landed on Cameron’s hand. The weather front the meteorologists had been predicting was moving in.

“Let’s get him inside, get him something warm to drink,” Cameron said as she found her voice. “Or should one of you carry him up to bed?”

“No,” Aderro said firmly. “I think waking up in a strange bed would be a shock. I’ll wake him. By now he’s used to my mug.” Aderro chuckled. “He’s seen a lot of it for the past week.” He put a hand to Jake’s forearm. “You’ll figure it out. Just don’t overthink it.”

Jake grimaced. “See why I miss this guy? That’s the same brilliant advice he used to give me about hitting. Sort of one size fits all.”

Aderro shot Cameron a wink. “He hit three seventy-eight when
I
was giving him advice.”

Cameron felt Jake stiffen beside her as they watched Aderro walk over to the car and gently shake Dylan. Aderro put his head next to Dylan’s and whispered in his ear. The boy’s head shot up, and his eyes went wide as he took in Trovare Castle.

Dylan’s exclamations of surprise drowned out Jake’s quieter “Oh, boy.”

But when Jake turned to her, his expression said he was just as shocked as Dylan was.

If Dylan was disturbed about Aderro going off to be with his family and leaving him with Jake, he didn’t show it. Jake couldn’t answer even half the rapid-fire questions Dylan asked about Trovare Castle as they made their way across the drawbridge. When Dylan saw the gargoyles, he stopped, and Cameron ran into him from behind.

“Oh, sorry. But that statue looks just like one in my mom’s books. She had stacks of books. I got to order as many as I liked. But when we moved to Alacenya—that’s the deepest of the deep-jungle villages—it took
forever
for my books to come. Do
you
have lots of books?”

“Me?” Jake was hoping he’d fire a few questions at Cameron.

She raised a brow. “
Do
you have lots of books?”

She wasn’t going to save him. But he sure as hell was glad she hadn’t gone off caroling with the others. He needed her more than he wanted to admit.

“Some. Mostly baseball. And history.” And a few old bound volumes of poetry. But he didn’t cop to them. The collection had been Peter’s. That and a bat were all he had left of his brother. Until now.

“
You
hit three seventy-eight last year!”

“What?” He was concentrating on holding the huge main doors of Trovare open so that Dylan and Cameron could pass through.

“Mom gave me a letter. Mine’s not as long as yours. And Aderro wouldn’t let me read yours. I read really good. But—”

“Really well.” God, he was correcting the kid’s English? According to the letter he’d read, Dylan spoke three languages fluently.

“Right. I read really
well
. So Mom made me a list of the things I might like about you. At the top was that you hit three seventy-eight last year.”

Cameron sniggered.

The kid liked baseball; he was saved. Must be genetic. He doubted there’d been much access to games in the deep jungle.

Though Jake wanted to know what else was on the list, Cameron’s wry smile kept him from asking.

Dylan pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. “Here’s Mom’s list.”

It was very short.

His lifetime batting average was at the top.

There was a note about his interest in kids baseball camps. That one was probably compliments of Aderro’s sister.

He liked zip-lining.

And ending the list was a single line that stopped his breath.

Your father, Peter, loved Jake with all his heart. He’ll be a great uncle.

Jake raised his gaze from the wrinkled paper and caught Cameron watching him. He shrugged.

Dylan yawned, and his stomach let out a loud growl.

“Are you hungry, Dylan?” Cameron asked.

“Yeah.” He looked to Jake. “I mean
yes
.”

Jake’s heart did a little flip as his stomach sank to his knees. The kid wanted his approval. Wanted to do things right. Say things right.

He knelt down to Dylan’s eye level. “You can just be you, okay?”

Dylan nodded.

“I mean, when it’s important, I’ll clue you in, I promise. And you do the same for me. Deal?”

“I go to bed at eight thirty,” Dylan said with a long face. “I mean, you said I should clue you in. Mom always said to be honest, that honesty is the most important thing next to kindness. Kindness is number one.”

They hadn’t even reached the kitchen and already the kid was breaking his heart.

“I don’t like to go to bed early,” Dylan rattled on. “But Mom always said I had to. Except for Carnival and Christmas Eve. For those I got to stay up until midnight. For the parties. Can I stay up late for Christmas Eve here?”

“Sure, sport.”

They’d have to stay here until Christmas; he sure couldn’t take Dylan back to his condo. He didn’t even know which unpacked box held his toaster. His condo wouldn’t be a fun place to spend a first holiday as an orphan.

“Food, Dylan,” Cameron said in her warmest, richest voice. She opened the fridge. “Let’s see what’s in here. Do you like peanut butter and jelly?”

“Umm... I’m not sure.” He sniffed the jar Cameron opened, then looked up at her, adoration written all over his face. “Aderro says you’re a big movie star.”

“We’re talking food here, Dylan.”

“
Are
you?”

Jake smiled. Peter had been persistent. He wouldn’t stop with questions until he was satisfied he had the best answer. He wondered what other traits Dylan had inherited from his dad.

“Truth,” Jake said, crossing his arms and waiting for Cameron’s answer.

Cameron pulled out a jar of blackberry jam and a loaf of bread. “Right now I am, yes.”

Dylan yelped. “Wait till I tell Nonna!”

“Who’s Nonna?” Jake and Cameron asked in unison.

“She’s the elder of Alacenya. She
loves
movies. Do you think she’s ever seen one of your movies?”

Jake had to smile. He could see the wheels in Cameron’s mind spinning. Neither one of them was cut out for orienting a kid to a foreign land.

“I really can’t say.”

“I’m going to email her. But sometimes email takes weeks. Sometimes the Internet goes down, and Nonna has to go all the way to Manaus to get someone to come back and fix it. It drove my mom crazy.”

Dylan didn’t seem like a six-year-old. And if he hadn’t been the spitting image of Peter, Jake would have thought that someone was trying to foist a kid on him. But he had Peter’s eyes. And his gestures. The smile he must’ve gotten from his mom. The woman must’ve been a beauty.

“How old did you say you are?”

“Six. My birthday’s August nineteenth. How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-seven.”

“Nonna is a hundred and one.”

Cameron raised a brow. But Jake was inclined to believe this Nonna probably was the age Dylan claimed she was. God only knew what other jungle oddities they’d hear about before the week was over.

The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a big hit, and Cameron fixed them all frothy cups of hot cocoa too. The cheers that went up when Jake told them both that he’d be staying with the Giants only added to the chaos in the kitchen. He’d intended to tell Cameron in private, but even with the consternation ricocheting in his brain as he dealt with Dylan, he’d found he couldn’t wait. In the buzz of celebration that followed, Jake answered more questions than he’d known could be asked in such a short period of time. But Dylan’s yawns were coming closer together, and his eyelids were beginning to droop.

“Would you like to see the Christmas tree?” Cameron asked as she rounded up their cups from the massive granite counter and placed them in the kitchen sink.

“We got lights for our tree last year, first time ever,” Dylan said as he walked with Jake and Cameron into the foyer. “Nonna made the ornaments out of some of her old dresses. Do you celebrate Yemaya? Most of the people in the village like that holiday better than Christmas. Mom did. We got to travel to the sea.”

“I have a girlfriend who celebrates Yemaya,” Cameron said.

“Can I meet her?”

Cameron looked to Jake, uncertainty clouding her eyes.

“We’ll see,” she said. She pushed open the heavy doors leading to the Great Hall.

Dylan stopped. Stared.

“That’s a whole tree!” He ran the length of the room in a flash. He’d gotten his father’s speed, no doubt about that.