Read MemoriesErasedTreachery Online

Authors: Charlie Richards

Tags: #GLBT, Gay, Suspense, Contemporary, Romance

MemoriesErasedTreachery (21 page)

BOOK: MemoriesErasedTreachery
3.82Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Ewyn heard the soft giggle and felt the jerk on the covers as his little bundle of energy scaled the side of the bed. Lips compressed to keep from smiling at the picture conjured up by that image, he kept his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, so he wouldn't ruin her fun. It had become their regular routine, her climbing out of her crib, and waddling down the hallway connecting her room with the master bedroom. She'd scramble up on the bed and pounce on him. He'd yell, act surprised then tickle her until they were both breathless from laughter.

If Devin were home, Kiera would tackle Devin, try to tickle him, and he would laugh and squirm, begging her to stop, letting baby-girl think she had control. At times, Devin would hide and take pictures of Ewyn and Kieki romping together.

"Gotcha, Ew," she squealed and pounced on him. Once their laughter died away, she looked around. "Daddy gone, Ew."

"Yeah, baby."

Kiera continued to surprise and impress Ewyn on a daily basis. Her speech skills, quite developed for an eighteen-month old, were the product of the family structure, according to her pediatrician. Up to this point in her life, Kiera interacted solely with adults and mimicked their speech patterns and mostly their repetitive phrases.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered against his ear, "Eat…Ew." She kissed his mouth, and rolled to the end of the bed. With her little feet dangling off its edge, she grabbed the sheet in her tiny fists and repelled down the side. Giggling, she darted for the door, shouting, "Exs…mulk, Ew."

Okay. Some of her words might need explaining to outsiders, but he knew she meant eggs and milk. Laughing, he jumped out of bed, grabbed his robe, and hurried to catch up with the little munchkin scooting through the doorway. Just as he entered the living room, Kiera screamed, "Daddy!" Strong hands reached out from the foyer and scooped up his jumping, giggling bundle of energy, seconds before Devin came into full view.

"Hey, baby-girl." Devin placed a loud smacking kiss on her smiling mouth. "Am I in time for breakfast?" He looked over at Ewyn.

"Brefas," Kiera repeated and shoved on Devin's chest. "Down, daddy. Now!"

"Hey." He lifted her up and blew air bubbles on her tummy. She laughed, pushed at his hands, and he set her on the floor. "So bossy, this early in the morning. Spending too much time alone with Ew, huh." Devin grinned at Ewyn, pulled him close, and gave him a quick kiss.

Ewyn felt a tug on his robe and looked down at Kiera, who glared up at him. Hands on her hips, she demanded, "Brefas, Ew."

"Hungry, huh?" Devin tapped the tip of her nose. "I'll join the two of you, after I take a shower. Is that okay with you, Kieki?"

Kiera pushed at Devin's legs. "Go." Headed for the kitchen, she stopped on the threshold and looked back over her shoulder. "Eat, Ew." She had the audacity to sigh and roll her eyes before proceeding on her way.

"How long have I been gone?" Eyes glinting with pleasure, Devin smiled at Ewyn. "Our little girl is developing skills," he teased.

"Oh yeah. You just don't know." Ewyn shook his head. "Besides your smoothie, do you want anything special for breakfast?"

"An omelet will work." Devin gave Ewyn another quick kiss and strolled toward the bedroom, shucking out of his clothes as he went.

Devin entered the kitchen as Ewyn put his smoothie on the table and Kiera's sippy cup on her high chair tray. He smiled at Kiera, who was tucking into her scrambled eggs, and he waited until Ewyn had settled down with his own meal before he started eating.

"How's it been going?" He picked up his smoothie and took several gulps before reaching for the newspaper. Pulling out the sports section, he laid it beside his plate and set the rest of the paper aside.

"Kieki had a checkup the other day. She's as healthy as ever." Ewyn picked up his coffee and took a few tentative sips. "Oh yeah. Kieki and I attended Jen and Kath's graduation."

"Hmm. I thought Kathleen was younger," Devin said.

"That's because she was Caro's roommate. But Niki, Jen, and Kath were the same age, in the same year," Ewyn explained. "And, by the way, the gifts I gave them were from the entire family."

Devin grinned. "Oh. What did
I
give them?"

"In appreciation of their caring friendship to Niki and Caro over the years, the Calderone family,
and
their significant others, gave each young lady ten thousand dollars in savings bonds. I'm sure those will serve them best for starting out in new careers."

"Good deal. What did you give Calabria?"

He ignored Devin's question. "I told Jen and Kath to contact us if they ever need anything."

"Calabria didn't get so much as a handshake and a smile, huh." Devin held up his hands in mock surrender when Ewyn glared at him, and he changed the subject. "No news from the group."

"Nothing. We're spinning our wheels. Mick and Gem work on it full time, the rest of us have other commitments. Are we overreacting?"

Devin frowned. "About what…Kieki's safety?" He shook his head. "Doubtful. Until we find her father, or whoever is responsible for Nicole's death, Kieki will have a safety net around her for as long as it takes."

"It's been almost two years, why hasn't anyone made a move?"

"For the kind of money involved, people can do patience for a
long
time. Trust me. There is someone out there waiting for us to drop our guard," Devin retorted. "You do recall how that works, right?"

"Yeah. I remember all too well."

"I'll call Tim after breakfast and let him know I'm back," Devin said. "Is Tag in town?"

"Yeah. He took Kieki to the park yesterday."

"Good. I'll ask Tim to call Patterson. Maybe we can get together today or tomorrow and light a fire under the investigation, come up with some fresh ideas. We're overlooking something."

"Like what?"

Devin shrugged. "Something about the husband, Kieki's father, some elusive memory--I don't know."

"I hear you. My first talk with Patterson left me with the feeling everything he told me was just smoke, concealing some truth I couldn't put my finger on."

"We should go over the journal again."

Chapter 14

Kiera climbed onto her old high chair. Devin had removed the tray so she could sit at the table with the adults like a big girl. Once she settled, her busy hands knocked over her cup, spilling orange juice on the table.

"Chit, Dev…Kieki's juice spill," she grumbled, her tone a good imitation of an irritated Ewyn.

Devin lowered his paper and looked over at baby-girl who glared back at him. With her bottom lip puffed out, her little brow knitted, and her eyes sparkling with temper, she was so Ewyn's double.

Eyebrow-arched, he glanced over her head and stared at Ewyn, who stood poised in the middle of the kitchen with the proverbial caught-in-the-headlights look. Devin moved to the sink to retrieve the dishcloth, giving Ewyn the I-told-you-so stare as he passed.

"What!" Ewyn snapped.

Not bothering to respond, Devin proceeded to clean up the mess. It wasn't much because she knocked over her old sippy cup and they never filled it over halfway. A few days shy of three years old, Kiera insisted on using her baby cup,
just
because it was hers.

Ewyn sighed, walked over to the table, and stood next to Kiera. He brushed a stray curl from her forehead and said, "Baby-girl, I've told you not to say those words."

Tears welled up in those big gray eyes and she slid from her chair. With her little hands balled into fists and resting on her hips, she fixed Ewyn with a defiant stare. "No, Ew…" She stamped her little foot. "You say!"

"I know, but I'm wrong, Kieki. Okay?"

"No!"

Kiera scooted around Ewyn and launched herself at Devin, who scooped her up onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered against his ear, "Daddy, Ew yelled."

Devin did his damnedest not to laugh at the shocked expression on Ewyn's face. "Yes, Kieki, I know, but Ew is right. You shouldn't use those words. They're not nice." He and Ewyn discussed cussing in front of Kiera, on a regular basis. Devin had trimmed his cussing to nil in her presence, but for Ewyn, cussing was reflexive, and too much a part of his personality. Yet Devin had to give baby-boy props for toning it down quite a bit, but he expected Ewyn's occasional lapse.

They hadn't counted on Kiera's overuse of the word
no
, which
she
used like a cuss word. The pediatrician categorized it as a phase, one she'd grow out of soon. Devin had his doubts. Baby-girl seemed to relish using the word, enjoying the affect it had on the adults.

Kiera sat back in Devin's arms. With her small legs still encased in her footy pajamas, she toyed with the padded feet and kept peeking up at Devin through her thick coal-black lashes. Brow wrinkled as if giving his words serious consideration…he knew better. Suddenly, she grinned and winked. Devin hooted.

Oh yeah, baby-girl was good. Now, for days, Ewyn would worry about having hurt her feelings. Hell. Kiera was as tough as nails, but Ewyn refused to see it. He continued to pamper her and treat her like a delicate little princess. Devin had asked Ewyn to stop doing to Kiera what his family had done to him.

To balance out Ewyn's over-protective tendencies, Devin and Taggart took Kiera out whenever they could. They let her run free, roughhouse, and get as dirty as she wanted. Devin had had to insist Ewyn buy her the appropriate clothing--jeans, tennis shoes, sandals, shorts--casual and sporty clothes. If he had left dressing Kiera solely to Ewyn's discretion, Kiera would be wearing velvet dresses with ruffles, patent leather Mary Jane shoes, and little anklet socks with lace trim. The picture of Kiera dressed that way still made Devin cringe. Ewyn was so over the top with anything concerning Kiera, even Gemma had to step in and tell him to back off.

Devin would never forget the first time Kiera fell down and skinned her knee. Able to walk on her own, Ewyn had taken her to the park, damn it! What happened remained indelibly imprinted in Devin's mind because it scared the holy hell out of him.

In a meeting all that morning, when he had a chance, he checked his cell phone, because it vibrated during the entire meeting. Five voicemails and six text messages, all prefaced with 9-1-1, and he had found two handwritten messages on his desk. All the messages read--
Kieki fell, bleeding won't stop--hospital, Ewyn.

Heart thundering, Devin rushed to Saint Bernadine's and found Kiera calmly sitting at the nurses' station amusing the personnel on duty. Poised on the counter with the stem of a lollipop protruding from the corner of her mouth, she chattered non-stop in her baby gibberish. Basking in all the attention, she brandished a small, cartoon character Band-Aid on her knee like a badge of honor.

Satisfied Kiera wasn't in eminent danger, Devin went looking for Ewyn. Hospital personnel were still trying to calm him down. The trauma resident on duty had been effusively grateful when Devin took Ewyn in hand.

Devin never let Ewyn live the incident down and often used it as an example whenever Ewyn became overbearing with his concern for Kiera's welfare. Hell. If Ewyn knew Devin and Taggart were teaching Kiera self-defense tactics, Ewyn would need sedating. Devin didn't think it too early to prepare Kiera for the realities of life, since her mother's death remained unresolved.

That day at the hospital also redefined how much baby-girl meant to Devin. Before she came into his life, the love he and Ewyn shared, from the moment they met, had satisfied both. But baby-girl's invasion, and Ewyn's single-minded devotion to her, worried Devin. At times, he felt left out, until he realized nothing had changed. Ewyn's affection for Kiera took nothing away from what he and Ewyn shared. In fact, Kiera's arrival forced them to recognize they were capable of sharing their love with another person without diminishing its strength.

Devin stood and put Kiera back on her highchair. "Be good, Kieki. Ew has breakfast ready. I'll get more juice."

He smiled at Ewyn, who had his wounded-worried expression on, and he winked at Kiera, who giggled and started eating, head bobbing to her own imaginary beat. With her soft, crinkly hair parted down the middle and pulled up into two ponytail puffs, the little spirals jiggled and bounced with her every move. Always a happy child, even as an infant, she didn't stay irritated for more than a moment or two.

An independent little person, Kiera had adjusted to an environment of two fathers and an assortment of caretakers quite easily. Besides Gemma and Timothy, she had Mick and Taggart hovering over her as if she was their own, and she called them Uncle. All of the Calderone staff treated her like royalty and guarded her with loyal determination. She played well with the children on the estate, but she didn't take crap from any of them, which resulted in a few physical skirmishes.

Proudly showing off what she called her boo-boos, she enjoyed regaling Devin and Ewyn with her account of what happened. She never blamed the other children and never held a grudge. Her ability to take care of herself had Devin convinced, he and Taggart were right to begin her instructions in self-defense. Conversely, Ewyn's reaction to Kiera's first fight had been off the charts. He had wanted to fire anyone on the estate who had children. Gemma resolved the issue by reminding him of his, Nicole, and Carolyn's exploits with estate children. Ewyn had been the holy terror.

"Considering the isolation of the Calderone children, how else can they learn the realities of life in the outside world," Gemma had pointed out.

Devin continued watching Kiera while she ate. She was a feminine little person, and with age, her ethnic heritage became more obvious. Damn, if she didn't remind him of someone, but that didn't make sense. He wasn't familiar with any of Nicole's circle.

"How come you're Daddy, and I'm Ew?" Ewyn's voice sliced into Devin's thoughts, and he looked from Kiera to Ewyn, who glared and sat down next to Kiera. "Well," Ewyn snapped.

Kiera stopped eating and looked at Ewyn. A warm smile lit up her little heart-shaped face as she reached over and patted Ewyn's cheek. "Sorry, Ew." She giggled, resumed eating and humming, while Ewyn's disgruntled expression morphed into one of incredulity.

BOOK: MemoriesErasedTreachery
3.82Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Safe with You by Shelby Reeves
Perfect Killer by Lewis Perdue
Darkling by Rice, K.M.
Spider's Lullaby by James R Tuck
Ravishing in Red by Madeline Hunter
Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan