Family (21 page)

They talked another few minutes; then Erin had to get two of her young daughters down for morning naps. Ashley silently prayed for her sister as she hung up the phone. If anyone would See it from their mother’s viewpoint, it was Erin. Not only because she had four adopted daughters, but because she and their mom had been so close. She was wrestling not only with 170

the truth her mother had hidden from them all but the fact that despite their closeness, Erin hadn’t known their mother as well as she had always thought.

Ashley dried her hands on a towel and looked at the clock. The painting was calling to her, while she still had time before lunch. It took her ten minutes to pack up Devin’s things and get him buckled into his car seat.

Fifteen minutes later she had him tucked into her parents’ old portable crib in a place where she could hear him if he woke up. She was about to head upstairs when she heard a cell phone ring. Funny, she thought. She checked the front pocket of Devin’s diaper bag where she kept her phone. It wasn’t hers. She looked around, and there on the counter was her father’s cell. He always had it with him, but he must’ve forgotten it today.

The phone was only a few feet away, and Ashley didn’t want Devin waking up.

Besides, maybe it was her dad, calling his own phone to figure out where he’d left it. She darted over to the counter and looked at the small caller ID

window. The number had a 310 area code, and the name below it read Dayne.

Ashley stared at it, confused. By the time she jolted back into motion, the ringing had stopped. One missed call, the window now read. Ashley picked up her father’s phone carefully, as if it might bite her. Dayne who? The area code was Los Angeles. Ashley knew because she’d been in touch with a few art galleries there. So what Dayne from Los Angeles would be calling her father?

Dayne Matthews?

There was only one way to find out. She held her breath. flipped open the phone, and pushed the Send button. Instantly the same name and number appeared. Again Ashley hit Send, and in a handful of seconds the phone was ringing.

“Hello?” There was noise in the background, but the voice sounded familiar.

“Hi … this is Ashley Blake.” She wasn’t sure what to say. “I.

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uh … I just missed a call from your number on my father’s phone. John Baxter.”

“Oh. Right.” The man on the other end chuckled. “Hi … I was calling for your brother Luke.”

Luke? But Luke was in LA’at the trial with- “Is this Dayne? Dayne Matthews?”

“Yes.” Another easy laugh. “Luke left his phone back at the hotel room. I was … he wanted to ask your dad something.”

“Wow.” Ashley felt her cheeks grow hot. “You’re a full-service celebrity.

Giving me a ride home from the theater that time and now helping my brother.”

She was rambling, and she steadied herself against the counter.

“It’s the last day of the hearing.” He didn’t seem fazed by her nervousness.

“Luke’s been a big help. The prosecutor feels good about the way things are going.”

Once she got over the shock of having Dayne Matthews on the phone, she felt her breathing return to normal. “How’s Katy doing? I’ve been praying for her.”

“The tabloids will hit the shelves by Monday.” His voice was kind, compassionate. “I guess we’ll know better then.”

“I guess.” She sucked in a quick breath. He was too busy to spend another minute chatting with Katy’s friend back in Bloomington. “Anyway, my dad forgot his phone at home. I’ll leave him a message to call Luke later.”

“Good. I’ll let Luke know.”

The call ended, and Ashley stared at the phone. Dayne Matthews calling her father? doing a favor for her brother? Who Would’ve ever guessed? She was about to set the phone back on the counter when it occurred to her that someday-for some reason-she might need Dayne Matthews’ number. Everyone in her family teased her about the size of her phone list and the fact that she felt the need to save every number she ever came across. And how often would she have the chance to capture the number of one of the nation’s biggest celebrities?

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She snatched her phone from the diaper bag, punched a few buttons on her father’s cell, and saw Dayne’s number fill the screen once more. On her own phone she popped up her address book, and in a matter of seconds Dayne’s number was added to the others in her storage file.

Ashley was still at her dad’s house painting-between feeding breaks and a nap with Devin-when he returned home that afternoon. She was downstairs in the rocking chair, Devin in her arms as he walked in. “Hi.” She gave him a sheepish grin. “You left your cell phone here.”

Her dad hesitated and set his bag down. “Let me guess; you’ve been answering it all day?”

“Just once actually.” She gave him a starstruck grin. “It was Dayne Matthews.”

She gave a nonchalant shrug. “Calling to say hello.”

She expected her father to be curious or at the least to laugh. Instead something very serious came over his expression. “You talked to Dayne?”

“For a little while.” She giggled. “I mean, come on, Dad. The two of us go way back to that ride home he gave me from the theater that night. Remember?”

For the first time in half a minute, her father inhaled. He leaned against the entry wall. “So why … why’d he call?”

Luke must’ve used Dayne’s phone all the time. Otherwise why wasn’t her father acting more impressed? “Dad … Dayne Matthews calls on your cell phone and all you can ask is why d he call?”

Her dad looked away, pretending to busy himself with removing his sweater.

“Dayne’s working with Luke. I would assume that’s why he called.”

“It is.” She clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth- “You don’t even get excited, Dad. Come on, I’m talking about Dayne Matthews.”

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This time, when her dad faced her, there was teasing laughter in his eyes. “He puts his pants on same as anyone else.”

“I know … just having a little fun. It isn’t every day that Dayne Matthews and I have a phone chat.” She leaned down and kissed Devin’s forehead. “And, yes, his message was to call Luke. I guess you both forgot your cell phones today.”

“Fine.” He came closer and kissed first her cheek, then the baby’s. He looked more relaxed. “Was that the highlight of your day?”

“No.” She felt a softness fill her voice. “I worked on the painting, the one of our older brother.”

A fine layer of sweat beaded on her dad’s upper lip. “Good, honey.” He nodded toward the kitchen. “I’m making coffee if you want a cup.”

“No, thanks.” She stood and moved Devin to his car seat. “Landon’ll be home in a couple hours. I should get going.”

They talked a few more minutes about his day at work and the fact that Dayne thought the trial was going well. Then she was on her way. But even as she left, she had a funny feeling about the day’s events. First Dayne’s phone call and then her father’s reaction.

Maybe Dayne had taken to calling this week with messages from Luke. But the idea seemed sort of strange. After all, Dayne was the celebrity, the person who was supposed to be too busy to make a phone call. Luke was there to run errands for Dayne, not the other way around.

Ashley laughed and forgot about the strange call until later when she made a quick stop at the art gallery where she sold her work. She had Devin in his stroller, and it felt good to be out with him. She hadn’t been by the gallery since he was born, and it was time to take stock, see how many pieces had sold and how many new paintings the store owner had room for.

“I’m glad you came by.” The owner was an earthy sort, a woman who dressed in layered gauzy skirts and heavy brown

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sandals. She always had a pair of bifocals balanced on the end of her nose.

“Looks like the pieces I had out front are gone.” Ashley felt the familiar rush.

The fact that she was pulling in a decent income as an artist was still overwhelming. And every time she brought in a batch of paintings they were gone in a month.

The woman raised her finger in the air. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She made a puzzled face. “Some guy came in and bought all three-” she snapped her fingers-“just like that. Didn’t even blink at the price.”

“Maybe we’re not charging enough.” She smiled, teasing the woman. There were new candles on display near the register, and Ashley picked one up. The smell was a rich mix of pine and musk. When the store owner didn’t laugh, Ashley looked at her. “I’m just kidding.”

“No, it wasn’t the price, nothing like that.” The gallery owner’s look lacked any humor whatsoever. “It was something about your paintings. He seemed taken by them. Had them shipped back to some post office box in Los Angeles, California.”

Devin stirred in his stroller, and Ashley set the candle down. “Los Angeles?”

“Yes, and here’s the strangest thing.” She adjusted her bifocals. “I could’ve sworn the guy was that actor fellow Dayne Matthews. He told me he was in town visiting his kid brother, a student at the university.” The woman shook her finger. “But I know a face when I’ve seen it before, and his belonged to a Hollywood movie star if ever I’ve seen one.”

Ashley was glad she wasn’t holding the candle. Otherwise she would’ve dropped it. “Dayne Matthews?” She moved close to the counter. “Well, how did he pay? Did you see his name?”

“It wasn’t Dayne Matthews.” She made a suspicious face. “Something similar, though. If you ask me, it was him. I’m convinced.”

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The conversation shifted. Ashley and the woman talked about what sort of paintings had done the best over the past year. Ashley agreed to bring in another two featuring the Baxter house, one of the old people from Sunset Hills Adult Care Home, and two with a little blond boy as the main subject.

Sometimes she enjoyed painting the same type of scene more than once. It gave her a chance to find ways to make each one unique, even if the subject was similar. But as she pushed Devin’s stroller back to her van, she wasn’t thinking about which paintings she might bring to the shop in the next few days.

She was thinking about the guy who had walked in and bought everything she had for sale. Could it have been Dayne? And if so, why would he want her paintings?

Maybe he’d bought them as a gift for Katy, or because Katy had suggested them.

Or maybe the guy only looked like Dayne, and he really was visiting his kid brother at the university.

She mentioned something about it to Landon that night, but he only smiled at her. “Maybe your dad’s been giving Dayne advice about decorating his house.”

The idea was ludicrous, and Ashley realized Landon was only teasing her. She gave him a playful shove on the arm.

“Come on, Ash. I don’t want to talk about Dayne Matthews.” He pulled her close and kissed her. “Tell me about my little boys and all I missed while I was waiting for the fire bell to go off.”

And just like that, the whole strange day-the call on her father’s cell phone, the purchase of her paintings, and every odd mention of Dayne Matthews-was forgotten. Her father was right. The actor put his pants on the same as anyone else, and with the discussions among her siblings about their older brother, she hardly had time to waste thinking about a movie star. Even one as nice as Dayne Matthews.

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Friday morning Dayne arrived at the courthouse an hour before Katy. From everything Joe had told him, the press conference seemed to have worked. Joe staged it outside on the front steps at nine that morning, just as the media was arriving for what looked like the final day of testimony.

“Katy Hart hasn’t left her hotel room since late Tuesday,” Joe told them. “I must reiterate that she is not a celebrity. She deserves her space and privacy.”

Now as he and Joe Morris sat in the small waiting area adjacent to the courtroom, Joe had to chuckle at the plan. “Brilliant, Matthews.” He kicked one leg over the other knee. “Nothing those creeps don’t deserve.”

Of course, the paparazzi, the people who had hunted them down on the beach and pounded on the door, wouldn’t have attended the press conference. But the respectable members of the media-the major networks and newspapers-had all been there. They would report the story, and it would create a reality that would later make the tabloid stories look like nothing more than trashy lies.

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Which Dayne was pretty sure they would be. The tabloids would guess that whatever was happening between Katy and him, their relationship was apparently hot and steamy and forbidden. He prayed hourly that whatever they churned out for Monday’s editions, the lies wouldn’t damage Katy’s reputation, at least not for long.

Joe was telling him what to expect this afternoon. “Testimony should wrap up by eleven, and we’d like you and Katy both in the courtroom for closing arguments, all of which should come before lunch.” As usual, Joe had an open file in his hands. He was a copious note taker, part of why he was so successful no doubt.

“The jury’ll take one look at the two of you, and all the boring medical testimony will be forgotten. They’ll be right back where you had them Tuesday afternoon, horrified by the details of the attack.”

“You think they’ll deliver a verdict today?”

“Yes.” Joe gave a firm nod. “Tara thinks it’ll be an easy decision.”

Dayne understood the importance of their presence in the courtroom, but he had so much to talk to Katy about, so many pieces of their future to work through.

He’d meant what he told her yesterday. If she ran he would follow her. He didn’t want her to leave, didn’t want her running back to Bloomington until he’d told her how he felt. That he loved her and that he was willing to make whatever changes were necessary to be with her.

Instead, the day figured to be another frenzy of drama and media attention. Katy had called him from her hotel room early this morning. Since the case was expected to end today, shed gotten permission from Tara to book her flight home by Saturday. Katy had sounded distant, anxious to get home.

Great, he wanted to tell her. Where did that leave them? He had felt this way before, trapped by his fame. Every time he longed to meet with the Baxter family. But never mind the trap. Somehow after they were finished at court today, he and Katy