Matchmakers Box Set: Matchmakers, Encore, Finding Hope (64 page)

“Did they happen to steal your kitchen knives? I wouldn’t want any weapons in the house if I’m alone with your father.”

She shook her head and smiled. “You forget who you’re dealing with. David Kendal is the nicest, softest, and calmest man you’ll ever meet.”

“Right. I’m going to keep repeating those words to myself as I go back inside and hope that I come back out alive.”

“I love you. That’s reason enough for him to love you too.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think your family shares your view. But I welcome the optimism.”

Hope kissed him again. “Just be you. Everything is going to be okay.”

He watched Carissa drive away. Hope waved. Then he turned his attention back to the apartment and slowly climbed the steps.

David picked up the turned-over furniture and stacked items he found on the floor on the coffee table.

“They did a fine job on this.” He held up a broken picture frame, studied it, and then added it to a pile. “Maybe tomorrow you can help her sort through all this. I think half of it will have to be thrown away.”

Trevor moved farther into the room and picked up a few items himself. He’d taken the word tomorrow to mean he’d be alive and with Hope the next day.

“I’ll help her get this all put together and get the locks changed. It wouldn’t hurt to have some security added to the windows too. I know a lot of people…” he stopped when he realized David was ready to speak.

“You know who did this and you know what they’re looking for.” It wasn’t a question, Trevor quickly realized, and he had to hand it to David Kendal, he was straightforward.

He blew out a breath and gathered his courage. He laid the book he’d picked up from the floor on the end table. “I think I know who.”

“Delores Buchanan?”

“I don’t think she did this personally, but I’m sure she has people.”

David nodded, considering. “She knew who I was. I had no idea who she was. I don’t remember her at all. But then again I was twenty-two years old. I wasn’t paying attention to executive’s wives.” David picked up another frame and added it to the pile. “Isn’t it funny. I don’t think I ever thought to ask Mandy who Hope’s father was.”

“You’re her father,” he reminded him.

David smiled. “Yes, I am. That was the hardest and best decision I ever made. I was sure I would lose Sophia over it, but I could never have turned away Carissa’s blood.” He cleared a place and sat on the sofa. With weary eyes, he looked around and then leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and his hands clasped together.

“Did Donald send you to find Hope?”

Trevor moved and sat in the chair closest to him. If it had been that obvious, why hadn’t Hope asked him the same question?

Trevor cleared his throat. “A month ago he walked into my office. He set down half my fee on my desk, in cash, for finding a missing person. He was looking for Mandy Marlow and he hadn’t the first idea how to find her. It was just a case to me.”

He leaned back in the chair and raked his fingers through his hair. Though David was looking at his own hands, Trevor took solace in the fact that he was calm so he continued. “Ruth Marlow wasn’t any help. No one in New York seemed to know who she was. It took me two weeks to track down something solid. The solid lead was you.”

“Me?”

Trevor nodded. “Any records I could find of her were attached to you. You’re on Carissa’s birth certificate. Her last known address is your address. That’s when I began to look into Mandy Kendal.”

David sat back and scrubbed his hands over his face. “She always knew how to get to me.”

“It’s not really that hard to change your name anymore. Legally or illegally,” he assured him.

“So you know I never married her?”

“I know.” Trevor thought he looked grateful that someone believed him.

“After all these years, why did he want to find Mandy?”

“It seems he came into the knowledge that there was a child.”

“He didn’t know? For twenty-three years he had no idea?”

“That’s what I understand. So my job was to find Mandy Marlow and see if she had a child about twenty-three years old.”

“He must not have been too interested in meeting her.”

“I think he was in shock when he found out that Mandy was dead.”

“He didn’t know that?”

“No. He’s only ever asked me Hope’s first name. But he sent me more money and asked me to get to know her. The time wasn’t right for him to meet her and he was afraid of his wife. She wasn’t to know about Hope or about me looking for Mandy.”

The depth of color in David’s cheeks deepened. He squeezed together his fingers until his knuckles were white. David’s Adam’s apple bobbed slowly, and Trevor readied himself.

“You’ve moved in on my daughter because Donald Buchanan paid you to do so?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“I approached your daughter because he asked me to.”

“She’s under the impression that you two have some kind of future together. But she’s ‘just another case?’”

“No, it’s not like that.”

“Really, it sounds like that’s exactly what it is.” David stood and Trevor followed, bracing for his shift in attitude.

He tried to swallow the lump of fear that had lodged itself in his throat. It wasn’t going down easily. “Sir, I’ve been in love with your daughter for a very long time.”

David’s eyes narrowed and Trevor moved behind the chair and gripped the back of it for support.

“This is going to sound very stupid to a man as smart as you. But I’ve seen her in my dreams. It was as if I was looking for this perfect woman all along and then there she was. I do love your daughter, and I don’t ever want to see her hurt.”

“You expect me to believe that this is all okay because you’ve dreamed about her?”

“And she’s dreamed about me too.” He raked his fingers through his hair again.

Every word he spoke made him sound like a complete idiot. But he couldn’t stop himself. He just had to keep talking.

“I know this is all very sudden and I don’t seem like the ideal man for her.”

“You’re a mind reader too,” David spat out.

“But I hope you can see past the circumstances and know that I truly care about your daughter.”

David paced the room. The color in his cheeks had returned to normal and Trevor was relieved by that, though he still kept his distance from David and blocked his entrance to the kitchen with his body.

“I may be an over-protective father, but I am a man. I fell in love once too. Hard and quick.” He sat back down on the sofa and smiled ruefully. “Mr. Investigator, did you know I proposed to my wife the first time we went out?”

“No.”

“I proposed to her for years. It took thirteen for us to finally get married. But I knew I loved her and always would. I never gave up on that, even though she did for a bit.”

“When she played for Pablo DiAngelo?”

David nodded. “You’ve done your homework. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.” Trevor tensed, but relaxed a bit as David turned and faced the windows. “She wanted children and couldn’t have them. When I agreed to take Hope I thought it would be her chance to have a baby, but I knew just how stupid it sounded.”

He stared out the window for a moment. “She wasn’t an easy sell, but when she realized what I was willing to lose to keep Carissa and her sister together, she knew it was our opportunity to have a family. She’s never thought of Hope as anyone else’s but her own.”

“Hope loves Sophia. She loves you both.”

“That’s why I don’t want to see her hurt. If Delores Buchanan wants those stocks, back then I say we hand the damn things over. This has gone too far.”

“You seem to be the only person who has talked to her. I can’t get her to answer her phone. She left her husband in the hospital.”

“Do you think she’ll hit Carissa’s house?”

“It’s completely possible. Especially if she knows they drove all the way to Jefferson City to a bank.”

David nodded. “Maybe you should get Hope out of town for a few days.”

Trevor thought it a good sign that David would consider him being with Hope again. “I asked her to go to New York with me to meet my mother. I want to give her the painting Hope did as a gift.”

Again, relief flooded him when David smiled. “She’s quite an artist, isn’t she?”

“I think so.”

“Can you make the trip earlier? I don’t want her here, where we know Delores Buchanan is.”

“We can leave tomorrow morning.”

“Okay. She’s staying with us tonight.”

Trevor nodded. “I’ll pick her up in the morning, then. I’ll make arrangements tonight.”

“Thank you for being a gentleman about it,” David said as he walked toward him and then patted him on the back. “I’d love to have you stay, but…”

“I wouldn’t even dream of it.”

CHAPTER TEN

Hope settled into bed with her nieces on either side of her. She’d hoped Trevor would stay with her parents too, but he’d called and explained that he felt more comfortable at a hotel. She couldn’t blame him, but when they went to New York to visit his parents he’d better not suggest she go to a hotel.

He’d told her the plans to take her to New York the next morning. When she’d voiced her concern, her father had laid his hand on her shoulder and comforted her.

“It’s best for you to go now. We’ll watch the store and take care of your apartment. Besides, the man who loves you wants to show you off,” he’d said with a smile, then leaned in closer to her. “He’ll also protect you if anything happens.”

Julie rolled over, pulling the blankets with her and uncovering her sister. Becky, sound asleep, wiggled closer to Hope for warmth. Hope chuckled quietly and adjusted the blankets over all of them. It would prove to be an interesting night, she thought. She closed her eyes and quickly drifted to sleep.

Since she’d met Trevor, he hadn’t filled her dreams. He was her reality now. But tonight she dreamed of him. She swam in and out of sleep, tossing and turning as she tried to shake the image of him standing with Delores Buchanan, laughing at her. She told herself she loved him, but there were so many things that didn’t line up quite right.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t wake up, and he continued to laugh at her.

“Hope, be careful.” Katie’s voice broke through Trevor’s laughter.

“I am careful, Grandma,” Hope said. She rested her head on her grandmother’s shoulder, their hands clasped together as they walked through clouds.

“He’s here to protect you and love you. But things don’t seem to be going smoothly.”

“Oh, Grandma, you worry too much.”

“That’s my job. I’m supposed to worry about you. I didn’t get to spend enough time with you. I only want you happy like your mother and your sister are.”

“I am happy.” Hope stopped and looked at her grandmother, whose face shimmered and glowed. “I love Trevor. I want to marry him.”

Katie nodded and smiled. “Be careful, Hope,” she said again before she faded away.

The girls were gone when Hope awoke. The room had filled with sunlight and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, trying to wake fully.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” her mother said as she opened the door to her childhood room.

“What time is it?”

“Nine thirty.”

Hope sat straight up and ran her fingers through her hair. “I guess yesterday took more out of me than I thought. That or sleeping with those girls.” She shook her head, thinking about the war that had continued throughout the night with legs and arms flailing.

“They adore you.”

“I love them so much. It’s funny to think I was my nephew’s age when he was born. I’ve been an auntie half my life.”

Sophia walked into the room and sat down on the bed. She rested her hand on Hope’s leg over the covers.

“Your father had a lot to say about Trevor.”

Hope winced and then let out a sigh. “He doesn’t like him, does he?”

“On the contrary, he only had nice things to say about him.”

“Really?” She was completely shocked and it resonated in her voice.

“Why do you seem so surprised?”

“Because it’s only been a few weeks since we met. Because most of the time I’ve spent with him has revolved around Mandy.” She dropped her shoulders. “Because when I asked him to help me find out more about my birth parents, it hurt you.” Hope reached for Sophia’s hand and held it. “I’m still very sorry about that.”

Sophia smiled. “You never would have made that decision if you thought it would hurt me. I’ll admit my feelings were hurt. But that’s all. You deserve to know everything you can. They can’t take you away from me now.”

“They never could have, Mom. You are my mother. You’re the only mother I know.”

Sophia raised her hand to Hope’s cheek and caressed it as she had when she was a child. “I’m glad I didn’t walk away when your father chose to keep you. Now you’re all grown up and it looks like you’ve fallen in love too.”

“I have.”

Sophia nodded and replaced her hand within Hope’s. “I’m your mother. I’m supposed to tell you to be careful.”

“Grandma already told me.”

Sophia opened her mouth to speak and then reconsidered. “You’re dreaming about her again?”

“Yes.”

Sophia shook her head. “Leave it to my grandmother to still meddle in people’s lives thirteen years after she died.”

“Do you believe in things like that?” Hope asked, already knowing the answer.

“My parents used to come to me in dreams. It gave me comfort to think they were still with me after they died. I felt like they watched me grow up.”

“I miss her.”

“I do too.” Sophia blew out a breath, and Hope watched as she batted away a tear. “Well, you’d better get some things together. That man that makes your eyes sparkle will be here in an hour to take you to meet his mother.”

Hope felt the blood drain from her face. “I’m scared to death.”

“Don’t be,” Sophia laughed. “She will love you.”

“Do you really think so?”

She patted her hand. “I know so.”

Trevor rang the doorbell after having stood on the front porch of the house for almost five minutes collecting his thoughts. He heard the young voice announce that she’d answer the door moments before it flung open.