Guardian (23 page)

With a startling flash, he realized he still wanted this life, not just for his daughter but for himself. He wanted to hook his arm around the shoulders of a woman who
could love him without reserve, who wouldn’t try to change him and would simply accept him as the man he needed to be.

He wanted the woman to be Sophie.

*    *    *

Sophie twirled her tongue around the
helado frito
. Fried ice cream. Ecstasy. Or as close as she could get since waking up today. Her gaze slid to David longingly.

But she couldn’t lose sight of why she was here. The supper had been designed to put the cousin at ease for the questioning…except Juan wasn’t around.

Setting her spoon on the saucer, Sophie turned to Angela Vasquez. “We need to go over your nephew Juan’s deposition before I put him on the stand.”

“He should be here soon,” Angela said, sitting at one end of the lengthy dining room table, her husband at the head bouncing a baby girl on his knee. “Juan had a date. Not much longer before your son will be dating,
hmmm
?”

“Too soon. I’m not quite ready for that parental hurdle.” She glanced at the silent hottie beside her. Strangely silent. Since they’d pulled up in the driveway behind the minivan, David had been staring at her with the most pensive expression. “What about you, David?”

“Excuse me?” His spoon clanked against the dish in front of him.

Sophie resisted the urge to check the mirror. “Just commenting that I doubt you’re ready for Haley Rose to start dating.”

That caught his attention. “Nuns don’t date.”

Dr. Vasquez and David shared a sympathetic chuckle, which was cut short by the front door slamming. The noise reverberated, startling the baby until her bottom
lip quivered while she seemed to be deciding whether or not to cry.

Dr. Vasquez frowned. “That should be Juan now.”

Footsteps echoed in the hall until Juan entered with his arm encircling the shoulders of a teenage girl wearing a purple dress one string shy of indecent.

Something about her looked familiar. Sophie struggled to remember. The girl’s three nose rings glinted in the light from the chandelier, and Sophie recognized the girl from the duck-shoot booth at the school fund-raiser night at the amusement park. Memories of cotton candy, pink kangaroos, and kisses swept over her.

Angela patted Juan’s shoulder. “You remember Major Campbell, don’t you? She talked to you when Ricky was injured.”

The teen went still, then strolled to a chair, his baggy jeans slipping low on his hips. “Hello, Major Campbell,” Juan said, nodding to her before leaning in to kiss his aunt’s cheek. “Hope you don’t mind,
Tia
Angela, but I brought Hannah with me.”

Hannah? The girl with three nose rings was named Hannah? Of course, Hannah didn’t have body piercing jewelry and magenta hair when her mama had named her.

Hannah dropped into a seat beside Juan. The duo looked like they would prefer a weeklong block of advanced algebra to answering her questions.

Sophie pulled an easy smile, one that guaranteed to soothe any antsy witness. “You probably don’t remember me, Hannah. We were at the amusement park this weekend. I won that crazy-big pink kangaroo at the duck-shoot booth.”

“Oh, yeah.” A weak grin, more of a grimace, fluttered over Hannah’s face. “You had a couple of kids with you.”

Conversation wilted like the leftover salad in the serving bowl. Dr. Vasquez stared at Hannah with ill-disguised disapproval. David focused on Dr. Vasquez bouncing his daughter on his knee.

That must be the reason for David’s bad mood. He must be preoccupied worrying about Haley Rose. She sympathized since her heart ached for the day she could safely bring her son home. Being a parent, knowing how to keep a child safe, was the toughest job. Entrusting her child to others was beyond frightening.

Her mind hitched back on the thought of Juan as a babysitter. Even though the kid wore baggy pants, he was a straight A student.

Angela circled to the teenage couple with two dishes of ice cream, placing one in front of her nephew’s girlfriend.

Ricky slurped drippy spoonfuls. “Hannah helped babysit me the night of the accident. They played smoochy face while I watched cartoons.” He gagged dramatically before scooping up more ice cream.

Hannah was there the night of the accident? No one had mentioned that before. And from the surprised look on Angela’s face, she hadn’t known, either. The original statement read that she and her husband had gone to a movie, taking the baby with them, leaving Ricky with Juan.

Sophie eased forward in her chair.

Follow the thread.

Unsure where it might lead, she didn’t want to put David in an awkward position based on what he might hear. She also hoped Juan might be more forthcoming without a looming guy in the room.

“Hey, Ricky, would you mind showing Major Berg
your video-game system while I talk to your cousin? Major Berg is a real pro at high-tech toys, but I bet you can beat him. David, maybe you could take the baby along, too?”

Hannah jumped to her feet, her smile glistening as brightly as her gold-plated nose rings. “I’ll take the baby.”

David’s eyes widened with ill-disguised horror at the mention of entrusting the baby to Hannah. Dr. Vasquez looked none too pleased, either.

Sophie rested a hand on the girl’s arm. “If you don’t mind, Hannah, I’d like you to stay. Since you were here, maybe you can help me with a few things.”

“Uh, sure.” Hannah resumed her seat with all the enthusiasm of a student facing finals.

Sophie moved her hand from Hannah’s arm to David’s. “David, do you mind?”

David looked from Hannah to Juan. “No problem, Counselor.”

He scooped the gurgling baby from Dr. Vasquez and tucked her in the corner of his arm. The chubby little girl studied him with wide eyes. Her bottom lip quivered. Her eyes swam with big fat baby tears. David stroked the back of his fingers over her cheek until she turned her head and latched on to his knuckle.

David grinned.

Sophie melted.

He cradled the baby while he leaned forward to snag the bottle from the edge of the table. “Ricky, come show me all those video-game moves you’ve been bragging about.”

Ricky eased to his feet. Sophie couldn’t help but notice the wince of pain, the slow pace so different from the healthy gallop she took for granted in her son.

Someone would pay for what had happened, damn it.

Even if that implicated David?

She didn’t have a choice.

Juan fidgeted in his chair. “I’ve been thinking about everything, and I, uh, was wondering, do I really have to testify?”

His aunt leaned forward to touch his arm. “Of course you do. No cold feet, Juan. We need you.”

“Will they even believe what I say about that night?” The teen stared at the top of his shoes.

“Why shouldn’t they?”

“What if the jury just thinks I’m another illegal?”

Sophie blinked back her surprise. Anger rumbled deep inside her.

Angela’s eye glinted with anger she quickly covered, keeping her face smoothly controlled in front of her nephew. “But you are not. You were born in the States, just like Ricky. My brother and I came here legally. Your uncle’s family has been here for nearly a century.”

Sophie reassured Angela with a touch to the arm. “I promise that won’t be an issue. I’ll do my best to protect you on the stand. We’ll trot out those great grades of yours and your volunteer work up at the animal shelter. You need to tell the truth about what you saw for your cousin.”

Hannah looked overly complacent since Sophie’s attention had focused elsewhere. Time to play her hunch, all the while she prayed her instincts stunk.

“But you two weren’t watching Ricky that night, were you, Juan? You didn’t see the impact because you weren’t in the room.”

Guilt flared on both teenage faces.

Damn.

The foundation under her already borderline case crumbled. “Where were you, Juan?”

Juan looked at his aunt, his brow furrowed with fear. “I’m so sorry, Aunt Angela. Ricky fell asleep on the couch watching cartoons, and if he woke up, we didn’t want him to see us, uh, making out. So we went to another room. I’m really sorry,” he repeated, his words tumbling faster over themselves. “I heard all the noise and found out Ricky was hurt.”

His voice choked off. He dropped his head into his hands.

Angela shifted to sit beside him. “If you’d been sitting there with him, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome.”

Juan looked up, his eyes tortured. “But if we’d made him go to bed, we would have been on the sofa. We should have been the ones hurt.”

The teenager scrubbed his wrist over his tear-filled eyes, and his aunt hauled him in close.

Her heart hurt for the boy, even as frustration stirred. Coming here hadn’t given her anything new to work with. No doubt, Tate’s lawyer would use this to discredit anything coming from Ricky’s family. And in the ensuing mayhem, the truth would be buried even deeper.

Although had she been any better in sending David from the room so she would hear everything first in hopes of strengthening her case and to hell with the consequences for him or Caleb? She’d been so busy immersing herself in work to push back her feelings over Lowell’s death that she’d only thought about winning, not realizing the grief was still there, perhaps even clouding her judgment. But the best way to win justice for Ricky was by finding the truth, so he could pursue his quest for justice. Not that any amount of money would make up for what
he’d lost, but at least things would be eased for him and for his family.

Had she buried other feelings because they were too frightening to face? She’d never considered herself a coward. She was a uniformed warrior, for heaven’s sake.

A warrior who wasn’t afraid of a gun but was terrified of getting her heart broken again.

Damn straight she’d been hiding from her feelings for David for a very long time. She was attracted to him, intrigued by him, drawn to him. She’d been so busy demanding David to live up to her expectations, she hadn’t given a thought to being the kind of woman he deserved.

There wasn’t anything more she could do for Ricky tonight. But she could meet David halfway, be an equal partner in this affair they’d started. No more hiding behind her fears.

She was all in.

*    *    *

David downshifted the Scout as he turned into his driveway, wind and music whipping through the open-air ride.

The streetlamps over the highway flashed by.

The family life at the Vasquez home still left him feeling raw. And then for Sophie to shuttle him off while she questioned the teenagers? She was blocking him out on all levels. Sure, she’d briefed him afterward, but he wasn’t sure that was enough for him. Ever since that day when he’d been on the witness stand, she’d been throwing barriers up between them, keeping him from getting too close.

“David?” When he didn’t answer, she tipped her head to look into his eyes. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, why?” He shut off the engine, night sounds swelling around them.

“You’re quiet.”

“Just have a lot on my mind.” He reached into the back for the grocery bag. Sophie had insisted they stop on the way home to restock his refrigerator. He stayed a step ahead of Sophie on his way up the steps.

Just to be on the safe side, David eased his gun from the holster and unlocked the door. He stepped to the side, shielding her. Aided by a tap of his toe, the door creaked open. After a quick sweep of the living area, he motioned her inside.

She entered the guesthouse. “What a day.”

David leaned forward, his cheek just beside hers. “Hold tight while I make sure we didn’t have any ‘visitors.’”

“Did I get booted out of the military today and someone forgot to tell me?”

She had a point. But damn it, he couldn’t stem the protective urges. “Fine, look along with me.”

In sync, they swept the apartment, his daughter’s room and his bedroom. No signs of anyone or anything disturbed. One look at his daughter’s ribbons tangled up in a bowl threatened to knock his knees out from under him.

He forced himself to turn away and return to the living room. He placed his 9 mm on the counter by the grocery sack. “All clear.”

Sophie prowled restlessly, browsing his music collection and popping in a CD. New Orleans jazz pumped through the air. She met him in the kitchen.

He followed her, pulling groceries from the sack and trying to decide how to confront her about the way she’d handled questioning Juan.

Groceries?

He double-checked the contents, paying attention now in a way he obviously hadn’t at the supermarket.

David reached into the sack. “Do you think you got enough ice cream?”

He tucked the third carton into the freezer.

She slid in front of him, holding a fourth container—rocky road—the fire in her eyes so hot it could have melted the whole batch. “I wasn’t sure what flavor I would want after we have sex.”

The blast from the freezer frosted over his face. Music filled the silence since David couldn’t manage to put two words together.