Matchmakers Box Set: Matchmakers, Encore, Finding Hope (52 page)

“Now that’s a thank-you.” He smiled.

“I missed you.”

“I’ve only been away from you for twelve hours.”

“Too long.” She sat down across from him and opened the bag he’d brought in with him. “Cherry turnovers. My favorite!”

“Good guess on my part.” He popped the last bit of his into his mouth as he watched her take a bite of hers. Her eyes closed as she took her first bite. A purr came from her throat and his closed up. He cleared his throat and tried to clear his mind. “What are you doing after work?”

“I’m going to the recreation center for a swim. Come with me.” She shifted her eyes to him as she licked a piece of cherry from the turnover. He adjusted in his chair, finding it very uncomfortable as he watched her enjoy her pastry.

“I didn’t pack a suit for my trip.” But he was so turned on watching her eat, he wasn’t sure being near her in a public place half naked was a good idea.

“Well, you have time to go get one, or I can see if my dad or Thomas has one you could borrow.”

Trevor laughed. “I seriously do not think I’m ready to be borrowing clothes from your family members.” He reached his hand to her hair and slipped her blond curls through his fingers. Tracing the loop of a curl, he followed it to her jaw and let his finger slide toward her chin, enjoying the softness of her skin. “How about I meet you back at your place this evening and take you out to dinner.”

“Really, you won’t come swim with me?” She batted her eyelashes at him, lowering her head, and letting her bottom lip jut out in a pout.

Trevor cleared his throat again. “Doesn’t intrigue me.”

“Okay, well then, will you do me a favor?” Hope wrapped her fingers around his hand.

“Anything else.”

“Tomorrow at five o’clock go to dinner at my parents’ house with me.”

The two pastries he’d eaten fell into the pit of his stomach. This was not in his find-Mandy-Marlow-and-get-to-know-Hope-Kendal plan. “Your parents?”

“Yes. I want you to meet them. Besides, it’s tradition. We all have dinner at my parents’ house on Sunday evening. Thomas will be there. At least you’ll know one person.” She smiled as she stood and moved to sit on his lap. “It would mean a lot to me.”

He wasn’t sure he was ready for such a leap, but then again nothing about his week or this assignment seemed to be going the way he’d originally anticipated it.

“Okay. I’ll be there.”

“Thank you,” she squealed as the bell on the front door rang. “My mother is a fantastic cook,” she assured him as she started out into the store. “You won’t be sorry.”

He was already sorry. He took a sip of his coffee and scorched his tongue. As he held his hand over his mouth to ward off his curses, he wondered what he was doing. Meeting her parents involved more people in his quest to get to know her for Donald Buchanan. Once her family was involved, it was going to be even trickier to get her to understand why he hadn’t revealed his real intentions. He’d never had a case where his feelings got in the way, as they had with Hope.

Things always got personal, to some extent. As an investigator you usually worked for the person getting screwed over. It was hard, if you had a heart, not to feel a little something for your client. But in Hope’s case it was different. He’d never before wanted to stop the pursuit for his own selfish reasons. If he didn’t have an outside client wanting him to find Hope and he hadn’t agreed to let Hope hire him, he’d have a clear conscious about the relationship they were forming. The money and the pursuit didn’t matter anymore. Hope was the only thing that mattered.

This time he took her out for Chinese food. She ate. He considered it a successful date. They’d kissed good night on the front step of her apartment. It was a long good-night kiss too. He’d been a gentleman and declined the invitation into the house when she’d offered. Instead, he opted for the cold shower before bed and an hour of going over his documents pertaining to Mandy Marrow.

He’d decided to give her his information in tiny bits. Still, he needed to keep Hope’s discovery of her mother low key until Donald Buchanan wanted to meet her. He’d pulled out a few more copies of photos he’d obtained and a few of the cold leads. He’d give them to Hope on Monday, after he met her parents.

Sunday afternoon he arrived at five o’clock to the house on Cherry Street. According to the directions that Hope had written out for him, the modest home with the large front porch and pots of geraniums was the right place.

From the backyard, he could hear the faint laughter of children playing. Such innocent joy brought a smile to his face as he neared the steps of the house. In his hand he carried daisies and a bottle of Italian wine. All complements of a phone call to Thomas, before he’d left the school on Saturday. Surely he’d have a half a chance with winning over her mother.

Trevor hadn’t even made it to the top step when the door flew open. Sophia stood before him, an enormous smile on her face. He’d studied her face from photographs he’d had in his file, and he’d have recognized her anywhere. She pushed open the screen door. “You must be the man we’ve heard so much about.”

“I’m Trevor, Mrs. Kendal. It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for having me.” He held out the flowers and the wine. “These are for you and this is for dinner. I was told it was your favorite.”

Sophia nodded, accepting the gifts. “It’s Sophia. I see you have been talking to an informant.”

“Guilty.”

“I’m impressed. Come in and meet the family,” she said as stepped aside to let him through. “Hope will be along in a few moments. She had something come up.” She shut the door behind them.

Panic flooded his body. Hope had invited him to dinner and he’d never thought to look for her car out front. He was alone in the house of the very people he’d studied, investigated, and consequently ended up admiring. However, he was facing them alone.

The moment Sophia showed Trevor into the living room, he recognized Hope’s father. David Kendal stood and crossed the room. He extended his hand, and Trevor reminded himself to extend his.

“Trevor, it’s nice to meet you. I’m David, Hope’s father.”

He couldn’t remember a time when his knees felt weak and his palms got sweaty in a room full of strangers. There had been cases when people had come after him with baseball bats and even one crazy wife with a gun, but meeting Hope’s parents seemed to be testing him as a man.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“She talked you into dinner at the folks’?” Thomas walked up behind David and held out his hand.

“She did.”

“She must like you a lot.” He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t even recall her inviting anyone before.”

“I think you’re right. Wait.” David turned to his son-in-law. “Oliver. Was that his name? Oliver?”

Trevor felt the pang of jealousy pierce his chest. He rubbed against it with his hand. There was no reason for him to be jealous over Hope brining another man home to meet her parents. Hadn’t he brought other women home to meet his mother?

He turned his attention to Thomas, who had begun to laugh.

“Oliver? Did you think they were dating?”

“Weren’t they?”

“Oliver is gay. He’s an artist who wanted her to help him paint.”

Trevor let out a quiet breath and the tension in his chest eased.

David shrugged. “Really? I guess I didn’t pay too much attention.”

“I sure as hell did,” Thomas added. “He asked me for my phone number and then wondered if maybe my wife knew I was gay.” He shook his head, and David stifled a laugh. “Just because I’m a pianist doesn’t mean I’m gay.”

“He did that? Was I here for all of this?” Sophia asked.

“I think I discreetly took care of the situation.” Carissa walked up behind them and smiled. “I’m Carissa. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She extended her hand and he shook it. “Why don’t you come on back? I’ll get you a glass of wine.”

She took Trevor by the hand and escorted him to the kitchen.

He leaned against the counter as Carissa reached for a glass in the cupboard. “So you’re Hope’s sister?”

“That’s me.”

“She’s very fond of you.”

“I hope so. I’m very fond of her too.” Carissa smiled as she handed him a glass of wine. “Dinner is almost done. Why don’t we sit out on the porch until she gets here.”

Trevor waited for her to take a seat and then sat in the chair next to hers overlooking the manicured yard. There were three children running in the grass, chasing a small dog. Another sat on a tree swing, earphones in his ears, trying his best to ignore his siblings.

“This is a wonderful house.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Carissa looked around. “My parents bought this house over thirty years ago. They fixed it up and then when mom moved to Europe, Dad sold it and he and I moved. Then when Mom moved back to Kansas City ten years later, my great-grandmother and great-aunt bought it for them as a wedding present. We brought Hope home here after she was born. This is where she grew up.”

“You didn’t grow up in this house?”

“I was here for a bit. I lived here from the time I was seven until the time I was about nine. Then during my senior year in high school and the first summer I was home from college. But that was about it. I lived with my great-grandmother and aunt as they got on in years. Now I live in that house with my family.”

The story seemed nicely tucked into a tidy package, but he knew there was so much more to Carissa’s life. Mandy Marlow had all but screwed up all of that, he knew. She’d had Carissa in miscellaneous homes for the first seven years of her life before dumping her on David. Knowing the man now, he was sure it wasn’t dumping her on him. But he knew that was why Carissa’s mother had moved to Europe for ten years. And to think they’d brought Hope to that very house to grow up. He sipped his drink. Hope, who had been born to a dying woman and taken in by the man she claimed as her father. They could make a movie about how Mandy Marlow’s children turned out normal. Thank God for people like David Kendal and his wife, Sophia. Carissa and Hope had normal and loving lives.

Carissa set her glass on the small table between the chairs.

“So, Trevor, where are you from?”

“Oh, I was raised in upstate New York.” He sipped his wine again. What was he doing? He was now answering personal questions about himself. Did he need a reminder that no matter what was happening to his heart, Hope Kendal was still an assignment and now a client?

“And you moved out to Kansas City for work?”

“Well, I actually am here on work. I don’t live here.”

“Oh.” Carissa picked up her wine and he could feel the air thicken.

“Are you quizzing my date? Did he pass?” He’d never been more grateful to hear a voice in his life. He turned to see Hope standing a mere three feet away looking as angelic as he’d remembered her on her birthday.

“Yeah, you can keep him,” Carissa said coolly as Trevor stood to greet Hope.

“I’m sorry I was late.”

“Everything okay?” He kissed her cheek.

“Yeah, remind me to tell you later.” She smiled and there was a sparkle in her eye. He wondered what she was up to.

Thomas poked his head out of the back door and motioned for them to come back into the house. “Now that everyone is here, let’s eat.”

“Thomas is our timekeeper.” Hope hugged to Trevor’s arm. “Sunday night is his special time with his kids. He gets them their baths and reads them a special story. Most of the time Carissa will stay here for a bit just so she doesn’t get in their way. There’s a weekly chess game to be had between Dad and me, and then I take her home when she’s sure they’re ready to be tucked in.”

“You all work together to make everything meld, don’t you?”

“That’s what family is about.”

He was glad to hear her say that. He’d seen too many people chase down parents they’d never known only to give up the security of what they’d had—a loving home.

Seated around the table, Trevor realized it had been too long since he’d been home. The last time he’d sat at a table with someone under the age of twenty had been Thanksgiving, and that was coming up on a year. Hope had at least one meal a week with her family. Trevor began missing his.

His family had always been tight-knit. Or so he’d thought. His parents were in love, and still married to each other. His sister and her husband had a happy family. He’d always assumed the day would come and he’d find the right woman and they’d fit their tidy little family in with the others. Now he was thirty and he’d yet to find that one woman who understood that.

He glanced at Hope.

Perhaps he had found her.

She’d haunted his dreams. She’d been handed to him as an assignment. She’d worked her way into his heart in a matter of a week. Now he sat at the dining room table of her parents, and he felt at home.

Right then and there, he knew he had to come clean. He had to tell Donald Buchanan that he had to come forward or he’d let Hope know all about him. He had to tell her the truth about everything so that she wouldn’t think he was deceiving her. If she really wanted to learn about Mandy Marlow, he could tell her. He could take her to meet the people she wanted to meet, but he didn’t think she should. He thought she should leave it all alone.

Then again, he knew that was selfish.

The reason he got into investigation was that he couldn’t leave well enough alone. If there was a question of doubt, he was the one to find the answer. What bigger doubt could you have than not to know who’d given you life?

“So, Trevor, how long have you been in insurance investigation?” Sophia asked as she began helping Carissa fill the children’s plates.

“For about eight years. My mother is in insurance. She’s had her own company for most of my life. So I guess you could say I’ve always been in it.”

“And what does your father do?”

“He’s a corporate lawyer.”

Sophia nodded as she took her seat. “And siblings?”

“I have one sister. She’s married with two kids and one on the way.”

“Oh, how wonderful.” Sophia sighed. “Being a grandmother is so wonderful.” She gave her grandson’s head a gentle rub. “You think you love all you can when you become a parent, but when they hand you a grandchild to love…” She dabbed at her eye as a tear formed. “Well, it only gets better.”