Secrets of Paternity (15 page)

T
he ringing phone dragged James from a deep, dreamless sleep. He grabbed it on the second ring, glancing at the clock at the same time. Five minutes before six.

“Venus called in sick.”

He threw his legs over the side of the bed. “When?”

“Just now.” Caryn's voice was hushed, as if afraid she might be overheard.

“Did you talk to her?”

“No. Raphael did.”

“What'd she say was wrong?”

“He didn't pass that along.”

“Okay. I'll try to get in touch with her. Don't worry, okay? She's probably reacting to everything that's happened.”

“Sure. Can I call you later?”

“Of course.”

He hung up, found Venus's number and dialed it. An an
swering machine picked up. “Venus, it's James. Are you there?… Pick up, please.” He waited a while longer before setting down the receiver. He didn't like his gut feeling.

He yanked on some clothes and headed downstairs, deciding to go see her, even though her apartment was a half hour away in clear traffic.

It wasn't clear traffic today. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, took a few side streets. He planned ahead for the day. After he talked with Kevin later, he would go to the office and work out the details with Cassie and Quinn, probably include Nate and Sam by conference call. Next step would be notifying the D.A. of Johnson's county, and while James would leave the job in their hands, he wouldn't back out altogether. For himself, as well as Caryn and Kevin, he would stay involved. He'd figured out how to have good working relationships with the police and district attorneys through his career. They might not encourage outside participation in an investigation, but they always appreciated good evidence.

He was almost at Venus's apartment when his phone rang.

“Paladin.”

“It's Kevin.”

“Hi. I was going to call you later—”

“Um, I think we're kinda in trouble.” His words were rushed, his voice low.

“We?”

“Venus and me.”

“Where are you?”

“In my apartment.”

Make a U-turn, head east.

“We just came from Venus's place, when we realized what we'd done was kinda…” The words faded.

“What are you doing there?” The traffic jammed again.
C'mon. C'mon.

“I was waiting last night for you. I sorta heard you talkin' to Mom about, you know, your plan to trap Johnson—”

Every curse James had learned in his life echoed in his head. That stupid scenario he'd created for Caryn. That damned stupid scenario. “What'd you do?” He passed a car on the right. A horn blared.

“I went to see Venus right away. We decided to just do it, you know? Take care of business, like you planned. But—” his voice dropped “—I'm a little scared now. I don't even have a gun. We've been stupid, I think. Can you—”

“I'm on my way, Kev. Now listen to me. You and Venus get out of there. He knows where you live, too. Are you on your cell phone?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Just hold on a minute. Don't move until I tell you to.”

“Okay.”

The fear in his voice shook James to the core. “It's going to be all right. Hang on.”

He put Kevin on hold long enough to call the police and have a unit sent out, then he clicked back in. “Okay, Kev, just keep talking to me. You and Venus leave the apartment right now. Get in your car and just drive.”

“Where to?”

“It doesn't matter. Just drive.”

“Okay. Venus, come on…. Okay, we're leaving.”

James heard Venus scream, not long and loud but enough to show fear. A door slammed.

“What's going on, Kev?”

“He's here! Johnson!”

“Did he see you?”

“I don't know.”

“Go out your back door and upstairs to your mom's. Get into a closet and stay quiet. Do not do anything—do you understand me?”

“Yeah. I'm sorry….”

“Just
go.
Keep your phone on. I'm two minutes away.” James kept his phone propped between his shoulder and ear as he navigated the last few blocks. It seemed like an hour—

“He's breaking in, man! He came up the back and knocked out the glass in the door.”

Fear gripped James. “Just be quiet. Both of you. He doesn't know you're there.”

“My car's right out front!”

For once, the kid had parked in plain sight instead of getting the lay of the land. “Don't talk unless you see him face-to-face.” James pulled up in front of the duplex, threw open the car door and rushed around the side of the house to the backyard, slowing down to tiptoe up the stairs. “I'm putting my phone away. Do not, I repeat,
do not
leave that closet. Whatever happens, let me deal with it. Got it?”

“Yeah,” he whispered.

James tucked the phone in his pocket. He debated whether to draw his weapon. Even though Venus insisted, as Baldy also had to the police, that they didn't carry, James couldn't be sure this time. Johnson was looking to save his own life—Venus's testimony could help put him away. Maybe not for life, but for a long time. He was desperate. He had to get her away. He was probably taking her into hiding with him.

He made it to the top stair. He heard the siren then, from a distance, getting louder and closer fast, then a sudden silence. They were there. Backup had arrived.

The door burst open, hitting James dead-on. A short, slender guy shoved him, sending him tumbling. He had a brief sensation of air beneath him, seeing the side of the building flying past, and then he slammed into the ground. Pain shot through him. He tried to move. More pain.

Johnson ran down the steps, tried to leap over him. James caught his leg, yanked it out from under him. He landed facedown. From his scream and the way he grabbed his face, James figured he'd broken his nose. Good, he thought, as two police officers, weapons drawn, came around the corner.

“He's your man,” James said. As the world began to tilt, he passed out.

 

There was a commotion outside James's E.R. curtain.

“You are not stopping me,” he heard a woman say. Mysterious. He smiled through his pain-medication-induced euphoria. Then she was there, beside him, her face close to his, tears in her eyes.

“Are you all right?” she demanded.

“Life is good,” he said, maybe slurring the words, he wasn't sure, but that was about all that seemed important at the moment. No, there was something…. “I got my priorities straight.”

She laid her face against his chest and cried. He patted her back. His hand kept slipping, though. “There, there.”

She laughed, a watery kind of sound. “You said you weren't going to get any more scars.”

“Do bones get scars? I don't think I lied about that.”

Her expression turned solemn. “How can I thank you, Jamey? You were ready to lay down your life for my son.”

“My son, too.”

Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. She kissed him, the sweetest kiss he'd ever known.

“All right, Mr. Paladin,” said the E.R. nurse, swooping in. “Time for a little ride to surgery.” She and another aide tugged on his gurney, pulling him out of the curtained cubicle.

“I love you, Caryn,” he said as they wheeled him away.

He thought he heard her say she loved him, too, but everything was too hazy. He would let himself think so, anyway, because it would be his last thought before going under. It was a good thought….

 

James asked that no visitors be allowed into the recovery room. He needed the fog to clear in his head before he talked to Caryn. And Kevin and Venus.

He had no idea what would happen next. Had Caryn said she loved him? He still wasn't sure. But there was still Kevin to deal with. While he'd matured a great deal in a short period of time, James didn't want Kevin to accept him just because he'd helped him out of a jam. Like anyone, James wanted to be accepted for who he was, not for what he'd done.

Later he was taken by wheelchair to the lobby. Caryn, Kevin and Venus stood and hurried toward him. “I rate a parade?” he said, making an effort to set the tone.

Kevin lifted his hand, lowered it, then lifted it again, setting it on James's shoulder. “You okay?”

His touch meant more to James than he could say. His throat closed with happiness. “Yeah. Can we go?”

After some maneuvering, he was situated in the back seat of Caryn's Explorer. Getting up the steps to his house took time and effort as he figured out how to use the crutches. When he finally plopped into his overstuffed chair in the living room, sweat beaded his forehead. He
needed to take a pain pill, but he wanted a clear head for the moment. After their necessary conversation he would let himself find oblivion.

“What's going on with your brother?” he asked Venus. Easy stuff first, he decided.

“He's in jail. He says he wasn't going to hurt anyone. He just wanted to get me away.”

“Did he admit to taking the money from Caryn?”

Caryn shook her head. “He didn't incriminate himself.”

“Do you plan to testify against him?” he asked the younger woman, who looked years older and sad.

“Do I have to?”

“Depends on what you know. How much do you really know?” He was giving her an out. He didn't think she knew much, anyway, not enough to get her brother convicted. Why put her through that?

She locked gazes with him. “Everything I know is speculation.”

“What do you want to do, Venus?”

She took a step closer. It was as if they were the only people in the room. “I want to disappear. Like my mom.”

“I can help you do that. In fact, I know exactly where to send you.”

Hope and relief and doubt crossed her face. “Where?”

“To someone I know. He needs you, too, I think.” James pictured the man. Yes, Venus could be very good for him. Might turn his life around. If the bubbly, sweet Venus couldn't do it, he didn't know who could. “You're sure you can leave your past behind?”

“It's not much of a past.”

“All right. You'll give your statement to the prosecutors, then we'll arrange a trip for you.”

She mouthed a thank-you. After taking another breath she said she would wait in the kitchen for Kevin.

Kevin looked at his mother.

“Would you rather be alone with him?” she asked Kevin.

He shook his head. “I don't think this is the time for secrets.”

James smiled. Yes, Kevin had indeed matured.

“Thank you,” Kevin said.

“You're welcome.” As far as James was concerned, that said it all. They didn't need to rehash it.

“I said some things to you a few days ago,” Kevin went on. “Asked you to do something. Asked you to walk away from us.”

James didn't look at Caryn, but he heard her quiet intake of breath.

“I take it back,” Kevin said.

James's heart opened wide. He forced himself to breathe. “Why?”

“Because everything is different now.”

“Why? What's changed? Not out of gratitude, Kevin. I don't want your acceptance out of gratitude.”

“I didn't want my mom hurt again. But I heard you tell her you loved her. I don't think you'll hurt her.”

“That's enough for you? My loving your mom?”
Give me something more, Kevin.

Kevin shifted, lowered his head, then looked James in the eye. “What I told you in the beginning was true. I don't need another father. I had a father, and I loved him, no matter what he did. You offered to be my friend…. I think we can start there?”

It was as direct and honest as Kevin could be, James decided.

“I'm willing, Kev.”

Kevin leaned down hesitantly and then hugged him. James met Caryn's gaze, saw her smile, saw her eyes mist over.

“I'm going to drive Venus home,” Kevin said, then to his mother added, “If you want to stay here and take care of him, I understand.”

“I do. Thank you.” She hugged him until he couldn't seem to stand it anymore. “I love you.”

“Love you, too, Mom.”

The front door closed a minute later. Caryn stood where she'd been standing all along. “Can I fix you something to eat or drink?” she asked.

He shook his head, then gestured to the sofa, near him. “Please sit down. You look ready to run.”

That was the furthest possible thing from the truth, but she didn't say so. She was nervous, that was all. Not hesitant, not unsure, except of his feelings now that he wasn't under the influence of painkillers and leftover emotion from the situation he'd been in.

She sat. She'd been so scared when Kevin had called her to say James was being taken to the hospital, that he was unconscious. Kevin was almost incomprehensible. His fault, he kept saying. His fault. So stupid. Then when they talked later, while waiting for James's surgery to be done, he told her how it had finally struck him that he was trying to do what Paul and James had done all those years ago—take justice in his own incompetent hands. His guilt over James getting hurt was overwhelming, and a huge lesson to Kevin. They all had to be grateful it wasn't worse.

“Not very talkative, Mysterious?” James asked.

“I don't know where to start.”

“No thank-yous, okay?”

She nodded. After fidgeting a moment, she reached for his hand. He grasped hers hard.

“I love you,” she said.

He closed his eyes for several long seconds. “I love you, too.”

She leaned forward. “I was so scared—”

“Marry me.”

“What?”

“Marry me. Tomorrow, next week, whatever. Marry me.”

“Jamey, we hardly know each other.”

He angled closer, took her face in his hands. “You know it's right. It'll last.”