The Reluctant Bride (10 page)

“Not without me,” Anita said.

 

“Y
OU'RE
ARRESTING
ME
?” Margot's voice rose as she backed away from the uniformed couple, male and female park rangers, both armed.

“Yes, ma'am. We'll need to search you.”

“Mom?” Karinne said, confused.

“Leave her alone! She didn't do anything!” Jon protested.

The rangers assumed defensive positions. One passed the paperwork to Max and addressed him specifically. “Would you please take these two and wait outside?”

“Of course.” Max took Karinne's and Jon's arms and gently propelled them out the still-open front door.

“What are they doing to Mom?” Karinne asked.

“Let me go!” Jon demanded.

“We can't interfere. Let's just find out what's going on first. Then we'll be able to help.”

From outside on the porch, Karinne watched in horror as her mother was patted down for weapons, then cuffed, hands behind her back like a common criminal. Jon seemed close to tears, while Margot's face was blank, so expressionless it seemed almost unrecognizable.

One of the rangers handed her a card—her Miranda rights. Max took the copy of the arrest warrant.

“Where are you taking her?” Karinne asked as the trio stepped outside.

“Topside?” Max asked, folding the paper and shoving it in his shirt pocket.

“No, she'll be placed in a holding cell down here. She'll be arraigned and bail set. If it's posted, she could be out as early as tomorrow morning. If not, Mrs. Lazar will be choppered out to the Arizona State P.D. station in the village.”

“Grand Canyon Village,” the woman elaborated to Jon.

“Mom!” Jon hurried closer, but the two rangers barricaded his way.

“Say goodbye, but please don't touch the prisoner,” the man warned.

Karinne immediately took Jon's hand.

“It's okay, Jon,” Margot said, finally recovering her voice, her gaze not on Jon but Max. “You called them, didn't you?”

“No,” Max said honestly. “But I
will
call a lawyer.”

The officers walked Margot away while the crowd stared openly.

“Jon, it's okay. You stay with your sister,” Margot ordered. “Karinne, look after him.” Karinne's last glimpse of Margot was her turned head as she mouthed,
I love you.

Jon silently started to cry. Karinne hugged him to her side as the trio drove off.

“She's gone…” Jon whispered.

“She just came back, too…” Karinne managed to say.

“We'll get her out,” Max said. He placed a comforting hand on Jon's shoulder and an arm around Karinne's waist. “Let's go inside. Everyone's watching.”

Karinne suddenly realized the truth of his words. The door to her mother's cabin remained open, and other hikers and campers continued to stare. She hurried in with Jon, followed by Max, who firmly closed the door against prying eyes. Jon threw himself on the bed, facedown. Karinne gently patted his back, her own eyes teary as Max called his lawyer. Jon calmed down. He eventually sat up, his eyes red.

“Why don't you go in the bathroom and wash your face?” Max said. “Then we'll pack up your clothes, okay?”

Jon nodded and closed the bathroom door.

“We've got to contact the boy's father,” Karinne said, wiping her own face.

“Here.” Max grabbed some tissues off the nightstand and pressed them into her hand. “Thanks.”

“Since your mother lives in Mexico,” Max said, “I'm
assuming her address will be on the paperwork. We'll start there.”

Karinne retrieved and unfolded the arrest warrant. “You're right.”

Max picked up Margot's backpack and handed it to her. “Perhaps you should get your mother's things together?”

Karinne dropped the paperwork in her lap. “I wonder how the police found her so easily.” She looked suspiciously at Max.

“I thought you trusted me, Karinne.”

“I thought we were getting married,” she countered.

Max exhaled on a heavy sigh. “Those were rangers, Karinne. I didn't call them or the police.”

“Then your private detective did!”

“No. Margot's arresting officers were rangers—state agents, not federal. Mexico would have an international warrant, not a local one.”

“Then who called the authorities?”

Max's expression was grim. “I wonder if…” He paused. “What about your father?”

“Dad wouldn't…” Karinne's confusion grew. “Would he?”

“Read
why
your mother was arrested, Karinne.”

Karinne scanned the paperwork. Her mouth parted in shock, her fingers shaking.

“Bigamy?”

Karinne had finished packing up Margot's clothes by the time Cory and Anita arrived. She and Jon sat outside on the wooden porch steps in front of the cabin, while Max arranged for bail over the phone. Karinne had given Max her credit card, but felt unwilling to leave Jon or make the call herself. Cory and Anita waited inside the cabin with Max.

“When can I see Mom?” the boy asked Karinne.

“Probably tomorrow.”

“We have to pay to get her out?”

“Sort of.” Karinne didn't think the boy needed the details of posting bond.

“Do you have enough money? 'Cause I've got some, too.”

At Jon's innocence, Karinne almost lost her resolve to stay calm. “We have enough, sweetheart. It won't cost much.”

The lawyer had informed them that Margot would be arraigned in the morning, and bail was usually a thousand dollars or less. Although illegal in the state of Arizona, bigamy was a class-five felony, as opposed to murder, class one.

“Why is she in jail?” Jon asked. “What's bigamy?”

Karinne thought carefully. “Mom has a…paperwork
problem. The court records say your father and my father are both her husbands.”

“But Mom married
my
dad,” Jon said.

“I believe you,” Karinne assured him.

“What if… What if the police don't?”

“That's why we have to straighten out the paperwork. Once that's done, everything will be fine,” she said, not knowing if that was the truth or not. “I'll take care of it—the money part.”

“Why?”

“I'm your sister.”

“But you don't know me. Mom never told you about me.”

“I wish she had.”

“I knew about you. She's always talking about
you
.”

“We'll talk more. And maybe I'll see you at my wedding.”

“I'd like to come, maybe Dad could, too, if you invite him.”

“Dad?”

“Stephan Lazar. He works on oil rigs,” Jon said proudly. “Mostly Central America. In the summer, when school's out, Mom and I go where he goes.”

“The casino lets her take summers off?” Karinne asked curiously.

“Sure. Mom's a good worker. They always want her back. She's been there almost twenty years.”

Since she left me and Dad,
Karinne realized with a pang.

“Do you have his number?”

“His cell keeps changing, but I know his company's phone number.”

“Do you have any other relatives we could call? Uncles, aunts, friends?”

“They're all in Mexico. I don't have their numbers. Mom does.”

Karinne saw that Max had hung up. “I'll be right back,” she said. She hurried inside the cabin. “What's up?”

“We'll arrange bail tomorrow. We can't get her out until then. I'll call first thing in the morning. Margot won't be transported to a topside facility.”

“Thanks, Max. Jon said his father's out of the country. He has a work number for him, but no cell. If service there is as iffy as it is here, I don't know if we can reach him. I'd try, but I understand more Spanish than I speak. You?”

“Not enough for legal matters.”

“Maybe your detective could help?”

“I've already contacted him,” Max assured her. “Just as I predicted.” He shook his head. “Your family takes priority again.”

“We'll go down the Colorado again, just you and me,” Karinne vowed. “As soon as this is over. With Mom, I mean,” she added quickly.

Max didn't reply.

“I'd say the rafting trip is over,” Karinne said. “Can we walk Mom and Jon up to the rim tomorrow?”

“The day after. We're not prepared for an eighteen-mile hike. It's uphill, and we haven't packed enough bottled water. We've been filtering and treating river water at camp.”

Anita joined them. “Cory told me there are no spare mules. He didn't think there would be, but he checked, anyway.”

“Where is Cory?” Max asked.

“Back at the canteen phones. He was hoping to rent a chopper,” Anita said. “But no luck there, either. The terminal said it looks pretty nasty. Their forecast says heavy rains tonight and tomorrow.”

“If it storms, we're not hiking, either,” Max said in a low voice. “I need to talk to Cory about the food supplies. Karinne?”

“Go ahead. I'm going to call my father.”

“I'll stay outside with Jon,” Anita volunteered.

Karinne crossed the cabin and closed the door for privacy. Her father's phone rang once, twice, then was picked up before the third ring.

“Dad?”

“Hello, Karinne.”

“I have some news I need to share.”

“If it's about your mother, don't bother. I already heard about it.” The tone of his voice told Karinne all she needed to know.

“Dad, you didn't call the police, did you?”

“I most certainly did.”

“Why?”

Jeff didn't pretend to misunderstand. “You, of all people, should know the answer to that. Your mother didn't divorce me. Instead, she pretended to die, and put us both through hell. Did the police find her?”

“They had the rangers arrest her. She's in a holding facility here at the bottom of the canyon.”

“Good. I hope she spends a year there for every sleepless night we've had.”

Karinne flinched at the bitterness in his voice. “Dad…how can you be so cruel?”

“Your mother taught me. At least I've found her, and she'll be in one place long enough for me to divorce her before she disappears again.”

Karinne took in a deep breath, the fingers clasping the phone curled tightly. “It's not just about you or me anymore. Margot has a son.”

Jeff snorted into the phone. “I don't believe it.”

“His name is Jon. He swears Mom and his father are married.”

“We both know that's a lie. She's married to me.”

“That doesn't mean Mom isn't his mother. Jon has a father somewhere, but he's away and Jon's scared to death.”

“Let the police sort it out. He's not my family.”

“All the more reason he should be with his mother—and you're forgetting
I'm
his family.”

“If she's just the boy's stepmother, you're not.”

“She says she's his natural mother, Dad.”

“You have no proof. How could you know that for sure?”

“Jon needs me. Mom asked me to take care of him. I said I would.”

“My God! She's in jail, and you're stuck with her bastard?”

“She's in jail because of you!”

“She's in jail because of her own actions. Either way, she should've thought of that before. Put him on a plane and send him home, Karinne. Don't let Margot's problems become ours.”

“I can't put a child on a plane all by himself! I don't even know where to send him. His father works on oil drills in Central America. We can't reach him. I don't have any idea who the rest of Jon's family is. There's no one to meet him at the airport—no one to take care of him.”

“Then turn the boy over to the courts. They'll arrange for care.”

“Dad!”

“You might as well know I've contacted the insurance company, too. They're swearing out a civil suit against Margot.”

Karinne was horrified. “Mom could end up staying in jail.”

“Better her than me. I was the one who cashed your mother's life insurance check, remember? I used it to pay off the mortgage and for your college. I'm not going to jail for insurance fraud.”

“But if Mom does, her son will suffer.”

“If he's even her son. Either way, I have a clean conscience.”

“This will only make things worse,” Karinne argued. “I know Mom hurt you—hurt us both—but think of Jon. He's just a kid. At least delay the civil suit until we can track down his father or until Mom's out of the country again.”

“Why?” Jeff asked angrily. “So I can risk being held liable for my wife's fraud?”

“No! So her son doesn't go through what I did! Growing up without a mother is hard. Dad, we have to forgive her.”

Jeff paused. When he spoke again, he sounded more like the father she'd always known and loved. “Have you, Karinne?”

“I'm trying. Revenge won't bring back the past. We're adults. Jon isn't.”

“As adults, we're bound by the law. I have to protect myself, Karinne. Be like me. Draw the line.”

Karinne drew in a breath. “I intend to post Mom's bail.”

“Then you're as bad as she is. She belongs in prison. Leave her where she is. If she does her disappearing act again before this insurance mess is straightened out, I'm holding you personally responsible.”

“Dad, I can't just—”

It was too late. Jeff abruptly hung up, and Karinne re
placed the receiver. The irony of the situation was as harsh as Jeff's words.

I've finally found my mother—only to lose my father.

 

M
AX'S HEART ACHED
for Karinne as she ended the conversation. She looked almost as pale as the young boy on the cabin steps. Margot's past was wreaking havoc in the present and, he suspected, would continue to do so in the future. For what? Another child's happiness destroyed? Karinne wouldn't walk away from Jon. How could Jeff expect her to? But the only alternative, keeping a guilty woman out of jail, wasn't feasible, either.

“Karinne, are you all right?” Anita asked.

“I've been better.”

“Cory, let's go for a walk,” Max said to his brother. “Ladies, we won't be long,” he told them.

Both men walked away from the cabin, out of earshot of Jon and the women.

“What's up?” Cory asked curiously.

Max quickly explained.

“Margot remarried without a divorce? And Jeff's pressing charges?” Cory exhaled on a slow whistle.

“It gets worse,” Max said. “He's already called the insurance company and reported her for fraud. They'll probably be filing civil charges in the next few days.”

“How much does she owe?” Cory asked bluntly.

Max told him. Cory whistled again.

“Plus interest and penalties and court fees. Worst-case scenario—Margot goes to jail. Best-case scenario—probation in this country. Either way, she won't be going to Mexico anytime soon.”

“What can I do to help?” Cory asked.

“There's no reason you and Anita need to go through this. You could take Anita safely up to the rim. We can
spare enough bottled water for that. I'll have to buy more for the rest of us.”

Cory crossed his arms. “Then what? Raft Margot down the Colorado and smuggle her into Mexico?”

“Very funny,” Max said irritably.

“Well…” Cory paused significantly. “Once she's free tomorrow, what's to stop her from skipping bail and disappearing again?”

“She has to get back to civilization first. Karinne and I can get her and Jon topside later and get them to the lawyer. You and Anita should go on ahead now.”

“Anita won't agree once she knows what's going on. She'll want to be there for Karinne. And I can't just leave, either,” Cory insisted. “You might need me. I'll stick around.”

“Thanks,” Max said.