Last Night's Kiss (19 page)

And soon.

Rosa was silent on the trip back. Joel fell asleep. Even though he’d slept for hours, the short trip to the doctor’s office and shopping had tired him out. Adam knew the ordeal took a greater toll on his young body than he understood. He drove straight to the ranch. As the truck came to a stop in front of the house, Bailey rode up on his horse and dismounted.

Adam got out of the truck as his father opened the door for Rosa.

“Bailey, you’re riding,” she said.

He gave her a tight smile, then glanced at Adam, knowing his son wouldn’t approve. “I didn’t go far,” he explained, getting down. “Only around the building a couple of times. Medea has already lectured me.”

Joel chose that moment to sit up and look through the window.

“Ah, this must be the boy,” Bailey said. “Word has it he was asking how to get to the cabin.”

When Adam opened his door Joel scrambled out, awkward as he tried to get all four of his land legs in a balancing position.

“I’m Joel,” he volunteered.

“I see. I’m Bailey, Adam’s dad.”

Adam knew his father was aware of who Joel was. Adam had told him the circumstances involving the custody battle and its outcome.

Joel looked between the two men. Adam wondered if he was trying to find a resemblance. Adam favored his father more than his mother.

“Looks like you have a problem with your feet,” Bailey said.

“Oh, I’ll be all right,” he said. “Is that your horse?” Joel’s eyes were as big as saucers.

Bailey glanced at the horse. “Yep, this ole guy and I have spent many years together.”

“Wow! It must be great. I’ve never been on a horse.” He looked at Adam for confirmation.

“Well,” Bailey, said, “we’ll just have to get you up there.”

Rosa nudged Adam’s arm. “Put him on the horse,” she whispered.

“His feet. He can’t put them in the stirrups.”

“
Put
him on the horse,” she insisted. “Lift him up.”

Adam stepped forward. “How about right now, buddy?” He put his hands under Joel’s arms and hoisted him into the air. Joel swung his legs over the animal and settled into the saddle. Rosa grabbed the falling crutches.

“Wow, this is really high up.”

The stirrups were set for Bailey, a man with much longer legs than Joel’s. There was no way the boy could slip his feet in them and hurt his soles.

“Do you think I could ride him?” Joel was already moving back and forth the way he’d probably seen people on television ride. Bailey’s hold on the reins kept the horse steady.

“In time,” Adam said.

“How much time?” Medea asked as she joined the small gathering. “Who is this child?”

“This is Joel,” Adam answered.

“You the one,” she stated. “I expected you two years ago. Where have you been?” Her smile took out of her words any sting Joel might think was there. “I see you had a hard time getting here. Well, come on in. You can tell me all about it.”

“I’ll bring him in a moment,” Bailey said. “We’ll let him ride back to the stable.” He reached for the crutches Rosa held and took them from her.

They all went into the house. Joel and Bailey came in moments later. Without discussion Medea took over the care of Joel. Bailey, Rosa, and Adam went into the great room, where the two of them quickly recounted Joel’s story for Bailey.

“What now?” Bailey asked when they finished.

“Now I call his aunt and get her part of the story.”

Adam left them and went to his office. He dialed the number in his Rolodex for Lillian Reynolds. The recording said it had been disconnected. He dialed it again, sure he’d pressed the right keys, but there was the chance he’d dialed incorrectly. The same recording advised him the number was disconnected.

Returning to the kitchen where Joel sat talking to Medea and eating cookies and milk, Adam asked him for the phone number of his aunt.

“I’m not going back there,” he said.

“I still have to talk to her, Joel. What’s the phone number?”

Reluctantly, the boy gave him the number. It was different from the phone number Adam had. He tried it when he was alone again and it rang. On the second ring a man answered.

“This is Adam Osborne. Is Lillian Reynolds there?”

“You mean Lillian Clegg. This is her husband.”

“I’m calling about Joel.”

“He’s not here.”

Adam heard a second voice in the background and then Lillian came on the line.

“Hello, this is Lillian.”

“Lillian, Adam Osborne here.”

“Adam, it’s been a long time.”

“Over two years,” he said. “I hear congratulations are in order.” Adam hated small talk. He wanted to get right to the point, but like any good reporter, he wanted to give her the chance to tell him the story.

“Yes, I’ve married since the last time I saw you.”

“Congratulations again.”

“I suppose you’re calling to talk to Joel. He’s not here at the moment.”

“I know that. He’s here.”

“There? What’s he doing there?”

“Apparently, he doesn’t want to live with you any longer. He’s been gone for ten days and you’re telling me he simply isn’t there. Have you reported him missing?” Adam forced himself to keep control of his voice.

She stammered. “I sent him to camp.”

“What camp?”

“It’s a summer camp in…in Virginia. He’s supposed to be there. I drove him myself.”

“Well, he’s here.”

“Is he all right?”

At least she was concerned about him. Adam gave her credit for that. “Only a little worse for wear. He hitchhiked across the country.”

“Oh my God,” she said. “Send him back.”

“He doesn’t want to come back. He’s very adamant about that. He says you and your new husband don’t want him around.”

“That’s not true. We love Joel.”

Adam didn’t hear the sincerity in her voice that he wanted to know was there. “Then why is he saying he doesn’t want to return?”

“Adam, you know how boys are at his age.”

“How are they, Lillian?”

Ignoring his question, she tried a different tactic. “Adam, I have a court order. You put him on the fastest plane back here.”

“I don’t think so. You might have a court order, but he’s twelve now and I’m sure the court will be interested in what he has to say about what his life has been like for the past two years.”

Silence followed his statement. Then Lillian said, “Adam, we don’t need to bring courts into this. I’m sure we can work this out ourselves.”

“I don’t think so, Lillian. Joel is going to stay here until we work things out. I suggest you get a lawyer because I’m taking you back to court.”

“Adam—” she started.

“I don’t think we should discuss this anymore.” He cut her off. “I’ll have my lawyer contact you later this week.”

Adam said good-bye and broke the connection. He wasn’t a compulsive man, but seeing Joel so thin and worn angered him. Maureen had not intended for her son to be unhappy. Adam had made her a promise and no court was going to keep him from honoring it.

Rosa’s life changed in the space of time it took Adam to make a single phone call. She’d known what he was going through, the moment she found him sitting vigil over the sleeping child. And now she was back where she’d begun the day, yet it was a different Rosa who entered her house from the one who’d left it seven hours earlier. When Adam returned to the kitchen after making his phone call to Joel’s aunt, he only asked Joel one question. What was the name of his camp?

The boy clearly looked guilty. He confessed that Lillian
had
sent him to camp. It was from there that he left to find Adam. And it was possibly why Lillian didn’t know he’d been missing for ten days.

“Do you think his aunt knew he was gone?” Rosa asked Adam when he closed the door. She needed to fill the air with conversation. The house felt hollow and she was sure their budding relationship had taken a gunshot wound in the last twenty-four hours.

“I do.” Adam walked to the refrigerator and got a bottle of water. He twisted the top off and drained the bottle as if he hadn’t had anything to drink in days. Tossing the empty container in the recyclables bin, he absently took a second bottle and handed it to Rosa. “After Joel gave me the name of the camp, I called them. I spoke to the director and told them Joel had run away and he was here. He told me Joel was no longer registered at the camp, that his aunt had been notified when he ran away from there the second time.”

“He’d done it before?”

“Yes, they found him and returned him to the camp. They’d notified Lillian and she’d told them he would return there.”

“He’d returned home as far as they knew. The man on the phone suggested I call Lillian and let her know Joel had run away again.”

“So she knew. How could she not report him missing? Anything could have happened to him. There has to be another explanation.”

“I’m sure there is.”

The finality with which he spoke the words told Rosa he’d made a decision. She knew without asking what it was, but she asked anyway.

“You’re going to go back to court and fight for custody again,” she stated, holding the unopened bottle of water.

Adam stared at her for a long moment before nodding.

“Before you jump to conclusions, why don’t you hire an investigator to check out what’s really going on in Joel’s household? You already know he didn’t tell the whole truth. Maybe there’s some explanation that needs a clearer head and less emotion behind the decision.”

Adam sat down. “You’re right,” he sighed.

Rosa went to him. “Stop thinking of what could have happened to him. He’s here. He’s all right.”

Adam put his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. The day had been tiring. Rosa felt a surge of love for him that she’d never felt before. Her arms went around his neck and she kissed the top of his head.

Rosa knew Adam was doing the right thing. It was what Maureen had asked him to do. He was honoring her final wish. And she could tell he was attached to Joel more than he wanted anyone to know. She had fallen in love with Adam and now his priorities had changed. He wasn’t in love with her, but she thought he could be—in time. But they didn’t have much of that. She had to return to jobs that took her around the world.

And Adam now had Joel.

The day was perfect, clear sky, comfortable temperatures. There would be no delay. The camera crew, makeup artists, hair designers, sweepers, and a miscellaneous group of other people were all assembled. Rosa looked at Tommie, who was awed by all the activity. Rosa, Tommie, and Vida sat in director’s chairs—waiting. It was normal for Vida and her, but new for Tommie.

“Ready,” the photographer called. “Let’s try you first.” Tommie pointed a finger at herself and he nodded. She looked at Vida and Rosa.

“You’ll be fine,” Rosa said. “He’ll tell you what to do.”

Vida and Rosa watched Tommie for a moment. She was awkward and scared at first, but the photographer was first-rate and after a while she relaxed.

“I didn’t realize how much I miss this,” Vida said. “The smell of hair spray, clothes rustling, the sound of cameras being loaded with film, or shutters opening and closing, the slap of equipment falling, sitting still in a chair while someone pampers me, doing my hair and makeup, and bringing me bottles of cold water.”

“I thought you said you didn’t miss it.”

“I lied.” Vida smiled. “I can’t do it any longer, and I suppose it’s true that we miss what we used to do when we can no longer do it.”

Vida’s condition prevented her from vigorous activities. Her rare form of osteoporosis meant she could break a leg running through an airport. When she fell off the runway, it was the final straw for her career. She had to quit the road. She tried doing small jobs that required little in the way of movement, but they weren’t satisfying. Luckily, she discovered designing. She’d thrown her heart into it.

“Vida, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She looked directly at Rosa. “It’s only because this is going on here. I probably wouldn’t have thought about it if I weren’t here to see it. And there are other compensations.”

Rosa watched her closely. Vida looked as if she had a secret.

“What?” Rosa asked.

“Mike asked me to marry him last night.”

Rosa jumped up and turned to her friend. “Vida, that’s wonderful.” A strange array of feelings went through Rosa as she bent down and hugged her friend. “I can’t believe this.”

“It’s hard for me to believe, too. I’ve been in love with him since puberty. I suppose he finally figured out he was in love with me, too.”

“Have you made any plans? Set a date?”

Vida shook her head. “We both want a short engagement, so I suppose we’ll be doing something fairly soon.”

“You have to let me know. No matter where I am I’ll come back for the wedding.”

“You bet your boots you will,” she agreed. “You’re going to be my maid of honor.”

“Great,” Rosa said. “I’d be hurt if you hadn’t asked me.”

“After all the time we’ve spent together, who else could I choose?”

“Rosa, I’m ready for you now.” The photographer interrupted them.

Both women turned to face the photographer. Rosa gave Vida a smile and moved to the spot where she was to stand. She wore a white gown made of an elasticized material. It clung to every curve of her body. Over it was a red lace coat that billowed out as she walked. The photographer took note of the way the material moved and snapped several frames as she walked.

Rosa raised her arms and let the breeze flow freely through the fabric. When she reached the center where Tommie stood, she turned the girl around and the two stood back to back. Photo after photo was taken.

“All right, let’s have Rosa alone,” he said.

The gallery of people around the shoot watched as she moved forward, backward, lifted her arms, sat down, stood up, twirled around. As she moved, the photographer moved, too. Like a fencing match, they parlayed about each other, stepping in and out of sword range, as he angled his camera at her and she performed her routine in front of him.

“She is so good,” Tommie said to Vida, who had left her chair and was standing on the edge of the photographer’s space.

“These two have worked together a long time. Don’t worry. It will come to you.”

“I feel good in the dress.” She turned all the way around as if she were modeling for Vida.

Tommie wore a royal blue ball gown made of satin. The lines were simple, a fitted bodice with small straps that crisscrossed in the back and continued down the wide skirt to the hem. It was one of Vida’s designs for her new fledgling company. The only adornment to the dress was a row of semiprecious stones that followed the shoulder straps and the path to the floor of the gown. It retailed for a small fortune.

“You look wonderful,” Vida told Tommie. At the same time, the makeup artist came over and repaired a little of Tommie’s makeup.

“You’re doing fine,” Vida assured Tommie. “But you better go and change. They’ll be ready for you again soon.”

Rosa watched what was going on beyond the photo area. She saw Tommie and Vida smiling at her before Tommie turned and went into the small trailer that was brought in as a changing room. Rosa wondered where Adam was. When Vida told her she was engaged, Rosa’s thoughts immediately flew to him. She envied her friend. For the outside world, Rosa’s life looked glamorous. And it was, but lately she hadn’t felt fulfilled by her work.

Vida basked in her design work. Rosa loved her camera. They were both growing older. It was time for people like Tommie to take over. Rosa’s contracts were still the highest, but she had enough money to last a lifetime. And then there was Adam. He changed her life, too. When she left the Valley, she’d take regrets with her. Regrets that she wasn’t able to pursue their relationship to its natural end. She admitted that end was somewhere around fifty or sixty years in the future.

“Rosa, what are you doing?”

She snapped back to the present. She hadn’t been paying attention to instructions. “Sorry, I was thinking of the mountains.” It wasn’t a total lie. Adam was a metaphorical mountain. There was so much about him she didn’t understand, yet so much she knew.

“It’s time for the next outfit. And I need Tommie now.”

Rosa moved toward the trailer. Tommie came out as if on cue. She’d changed into a casual pair of tan safari shorts that came to her knees, where they were met by a long pair of sheer white stockings. Her top was sleeveless, an over-the-head concoction of ruffled material. The contrast worked and looked great on the young girl. Her youthful exuberance would surely be captured on the film.

Rosa had just pulled the door of the trailer open when she saw the truck coming up the road. Immediately she recognized it as Adam’s. Instead of doing what she should, changing clothes for the next segment, she went running off toward the approaching vehicle.

The truck led a dust trail. Adam stopped and got out as she made her way to him. He opened his arms and Rosa flew into them. Her mouth found his and he kissed her as if he were a man returning from war. He’d been away, speaking to a private investigator and setting in motion his plan to verify Joel’s story.

“I missed you,” Rosa said, unguarded.

“I missed you, too.” He pushed her back but didn’t release her. He looked her up and down. “You look good enough to eat,” he said with a leering smile on his face.

“Well, don’t. It would be a three-thousand-dollar meal.”

“Ouch,” he laughed.

“How did you like Simon?”

“I think he’s competent. I gather your family has used his services several times.”

Rosa nodded. “He found the birth mother of two of my brothers and our adoptive mother’s biological daughter.”

“That’s a mouthful. Want to run that by me again?”

They started walking toward the changing trailer. Adam kept his arm around Rosa. She liked the way she felt with him holding her.

“Two of my brothers are really brothers.”

He looked at her with a frown.

“That means they are biological brothers. Same parents. One of them never gave up on finding his birth mother. He searched for her for over thirty years. Then he hired Simon Thalberg and several months later Simon found her in a nursing home.”

“That’s wonderful. What a story.”

“That wasn’t the story. Finding Stephanie made the news, but you know about her.”

“Simon found her, too?”

She nodded. “In a very short time. She’d registered at the center for missing children and he found her. She’s now married to one of my brothers.”

“One of the two biologicals?”

Rosa laughed. “I know it’s weird language. Most people who are not adopted never use the terms biological or adoptive, but we need to somehow distinguish between them when we’re talking.”

They had reached the trailer.

“I have to change now.”

“How’s Tommie doing?”

Rosa had one foot on the bottom step of the trailer. She turned and looked at Tommie in the limelight of the camera. “Just look at her. She’s having fun. And from the way the photographer is continually snapping pictures without giving instruction, he likes what she’s doing.”

Tommie had a big smile on her face. She was running and jumping, acting like a playful teenager. The pictures were going to look great and Rosa was sure Crawford would get them into a high-end teen magazine. After that Tommie would be on her way. And it wouldn’t hurt Vida’s design company, either.

Rosa kissed Adam and disappeared into the trailer. Ten people must have grabbed her, dressed her, repaired her makeup, found her shoes, and got her back onto the spot where the cameras would snap picture after picture of her in a new outfit.

Rosa couldn’t wait for the day to be over. Adam watched from the director’s chair. Her thoughts were on him. She smiled at the camera, but her happiness was due to the man watching her. Temporarily Rosa had put leaving out of her mind. The morning after Joel’s arrival, when Adam had brought her home, she’d been depressed at the change in their circumstances. Yet his lovemaking that morning had told her he wanted her around for a long time. The words didn’t come from his mouth and Rosa refused to think further than one day at a time.

She turned around, glancing over her shoulder as the camera snapped. She wasn’t looking at it, however. Her eyes had just captured Adam’s. She read the look on his face and wondered if it matched her own. The shutter clicked and her image was recorded for posterity.

No modeling job Rosa had ever worked on went as smoothly as the one today. Even when everyone was a professional, there were screwups, people who weren’t in the mood that day, people who didn’t like the way they looked or were dressed, or even personality clashes between crew members. And of course there were the prima donna models. Rosa was glad Tommie’s initiation into what she thought would be her career was an easy one.

“All done,” Vida called, standing up as Tommie came running over and hugged her.

“This was great,” she said. “I had a wonderful time. Is it always this much fun?”

“Not always,” Vida answered honestly. “But you can always make it fun for yourself.” Tommie was too enamored from her first day to hear the underlying warning in Vida’s words.

While every job had its drawbacks, Rosa wouldn’t have made another choice of a career if she could go back. She would still be an engineering major in school. She’d thought she might be able to do something with it when she finished modeling, but she didn’t think that way any longer. She had enough money to last her if she never worked again. So modeling had freed her to do whatever she wanted to do in the future.

“Rosa, I can’t thank you enough for letting me do this.” Tommie hugged Rosa, too. “If nothing happens with the pictures, I appreciate what you did for me.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about continuing,” Rosa told her. “Crawford thinks you’re going to be a good model.” They both glanced at Rosa’s agent, who didn’t often attend her shoots, but had come to this one.

“I better change clothes,” Tommie said. “These are beautiful.” She looked down at herself. “But I have to give them back.”

“Don’t worry, Tommie.” Adam spoke for the first time since the end of the session. “One day soon you’ll be able to afford to keep them.”

“I hope so,” she said, and waved as she headed for the trailer.

“She’s probably going to call her girlfriends and tell them everything that happened before she can get out of those clothes,” Adam said.

Rosa nodded.

“We’ve created a monster,” Vida said. The two women laughed.

“But she’s an awfully good monster,” Rosa pointed out.

Rosa slipped her arm around Adam’s waist. She liked being anchored to him.

Adam drove Rosa home. The low-sitting car wouldn’t have made it up the mountain to the shoot. Mike, Vida, and Tommie had picked her up. Adam stopped the truck in front of her house. He came around and opened the door. Rosa slipped from her seat into his arms.

“I don’t know why you went to the trouble of putting your clothes on,” Adam said, pinning her between him and the truck’s open door. He pulled her into his arms and spoke against her mouth. “I’m only going to take them off you.”

“I couldn’t very well get past all those people without them,” Rosa moaned. “But think how much fun it will be getting me out of them.”