Winds of Fortune (3 page)

“You’re not late. I just got here myself.” Handing the baby off to Kate, Tory rested her head on Reese’s shoulder, still unable to forget what it had been like being without her. She had gotten up in the morning, had cared for Reggie, and had gone to the clinic and looked after her patients while all the time sensing that some essential part of herself was missing. She had never experienced anything as frightening as the hollow ache inside that she had known without doubt would never be filled if Reese did not come home. “I love you.”

“Me too,” Reese whispered. Reluctantly, she let Tory go and glanced around the house. “So where’s the party?”

“Jean is picking up some last minute things at the store,” Kate said, referring to her lover. “Pia called a little while ago and said she and KT were on their way. I assume you know where Bri and Nelson are?”

“Oh hell,” Tory muttered. “I wonder if anyone called Pia and told her Joey was hurt.”

“What’s the matter with Joey?” Reese asked, stopping near the closet where she stored her gun belt.

“I’m not sure, exactly. Deo brought him into the clinic just as I was leaving.” Tory unclipped her cell phone from her waistband. “I’d better track Pia down and let her know.”

“Let me know what?” Pia Torres said as she came through the door holding hands with her lover, Dr. KT O’Bannon. She hefted the bottle of wine she carried in her other hand. “Let me dump this in the kitchen.”

KT, tall, dark-haired, and roguishly good-looking, kissed Tory on the cheek. “Hi, Vic.”

Tory smiled at the old nickname and felt KT studying her. KT could read her face better than anyone in the world except Reese. There had been a time when KT had
been
her world, before the wild and wildly attractive surgeon had strayed one too many times and finally crushed Tory’s innocence. Now, KT had found Pia, a woman who gave her the freedom she needed never to leave. Pia embraced the dangerous parts of KT that Tory hadn’t been able to, and in recognizing that, Tory had finally been able to accept how much goodness there was in her ex-lover and how much love they still shared.

“Deo brought Joey into the clinic just as I was leaving,” Tory said as Pia walked over. “He had some kind of accident with a saw at work. Nita’s evaluating him.”

“Oh my God.” Pia grabbed KT’s arm. “I have to go over there. I don’t want my mother to hear anything until I know what’s going on.”

“It’s okay, babe. Nita’s good.” KT slid an arm around Pia’s waist, “Come on, we’ll go right now. I’ll drive.”

“I’ve got the cruiser,” Reese said. “I’ll take you, Pia.”

“You’ll take us both,” KT corrected.

“Actually, you’ll take all of us,” Tory said, hurrying to join the group. She called over her shoulder to Kate, “I’ll update you as soon as I can. Keep the ice cream cold.”

“Nita,” Tory said quietly from the door. “Can you talk?”

Surprised, Nita looked up from examining Joey’s hand and swiveled on the short metal stool to face Tory. “Back already? What’s up?”

“Joey’s sister is here. Do you mind if she comes in to see him?” Tory nodded to Deo. “Hi, Deo.”

“Crap,” Joey muttered. “I
told
you we should call her.”

“Jesus, Joey,” Deo scoffed. “Did you want me to call your mommy too?”

Ignoring the back-and-forth behind her, Nita gestured to Joey’s hand draped in sterile towels on the table. She had yet to repair the damage and it didn’t look pretty. “She might want to wait until we get him cleaned up a little bit more.”

“Pia is a hand therapist. She’ll be fine with it,” Tory explained.

Nita raised her eyebrows. She didn’t mind family in the room when she was working. Medical personnel, however, sometimes took special handling, because they usually wanted to direct the treatment. This sounded like one of those situations.

“KT’s here too.” Tory looked mildly chagrined.

“Ah,” Nita said, the pieces suddenly falling into place. She’d worked with KT a few times right after Reese had been captured in Iraq and Tory had needed extra help in the clinic. She recalled now Randy mentioning over lunch one day that KT’s lover was an occupational therapist in town. “Well, you might as well all come on in.”

After covering Joey’s hand with moist gauze, Nita rose and stripped off her gloves. Then she went to intercept the group just inside the door to the treatment room. The woman with KT and Tory looked like an elegant version of Deo and Joey. She had the same glossy, wavy black hair and dark expressive eyes. Her skin was a slightly lighter shade than theirs, closer to her own, and her features a little more finely detailed. Whereas Deo’s compelling beauty verged on androgyny, Pia was the archetype of female loveliness.
God, can this family get any more attractive?

“Hi,” Pia said, holding out her hand. “I’m Pia, Joey’s sister. Sorry to barge in.”

Nita took her hand. “That’s quite all right. Hi, KT.”

“Nita. What have you got?”

“The X-rays are over here.” Nita led the three to the light box. “He’s got a fracture of the middle phalanx of his small finger. Fortunately, it’s favorably angled and once we reduce it, he should do well with a splint.”

Nita waited while KT leaned forward and perused all the films. Then she went on. “He’s completely transected his extensor tendon in that finger and nicked the one in the ring finger.”

“Looks like he’s bought himself a couple of months out of work,” KT commented.

“No way,” Deo said, having moved closer while everyone was talking. “He’s still got one good hand and two legs. He’s not laying off for half the summer. He can have until Tuesday, then he needs to get his candy ass back to work.”

Nita was about to remind Deo that
she
was making the decisions when Pia wrapped her arm around Deo’s waist and kissed her cheek. Struck by the obvious affection in Pia’s gesture and the fleeting look of tenderness that passed over Deo’s face, she hesitated.

Pia said, “You okay, tough girl?”

“I’m fine.” Deo’s voice sounded surprisingly husky. “I’m sorry about this, Pia.”

“We’ll talk later,” Pia murmured. “It’ll be okay.”

“Yeah. Right.”

Once again, Nita caught a glimpse of something raw and vulnerable in Deo’s eyes, and against her will, she was drawn to it. Heart pounding, she turned her back to the cousins. She needed to get Joey taken care of and get them all out of the clinic. Especially Deo Camara. The woman was dangerous.

“I was just about to do the tendon repair. If you want to do it, KT, it’s fine with me.” Even though it was a straightforward procedure, Nita wasn’t about to stand on ceremony when one of the best trauma surgeons on the East Coast was available to do the job. Especially not when a family member was involved.

“Why don’t we do it together.” KT grinned. “Then we can all get back to the party.”

“I’ll see the rest of the patients while you two take care of Joey,” Tory offered.

Nita nodded in surrender. “Well, I guess it’s decided.”

*

“Look,” Deo said, trying to extricate herself from Pia’s grasp as they crossed the parking lot outside the clinic. “I don’t want to crash this party.”

“It’s a baby’s birthday party!” Pia gave Deo a playful shove before she opened the passenger door of Deo’s camo green Defender and climbed in. Waving goodbye through the open top to KT, who was headed back to the party in Reese’s cruiser, she said, “It’s just a bunch of people you already know—and Tory invited you, so you can’t be crashing. Come on. I know you’ve been working fifteen hours a day since April without a day off. Why pass up free food and beer and good company?”

“I can manage to get food and beer and plenty of company on my own,” Deo grumbled. “Jesus. I don’t need a social director.”

“Yeah? Well I didn’t see you at the Memorial Day picnic or the Fourth of July barbecue yesterday.”

“You know why.” Deo gunned the truck out of the parking lot, spewing gravel. “No point spoiling everyone’s day.”

Pia rested her hand on Deo’s thigh. “You don’t know it would have been like that.”

“Don’t I?” Deo said darkly. “It was a family gathering, wasn’t it? When was the last time I came to one where my father didn’t get drunk and practically call me out and my mother didn’t cry?”

“Honey, it’s been ten years. Everyone needs to let it go.”

Deo clenched her jaw. “Then someone should tell them that.”

“I know, you’re right.”

“And Christ almighty, wait until everyone hears about Joey. It’ll be Gabe all over again.”

“My mother is not going to get hysterical and blame you,” Pia said. “And it isn’t your fault. Joey had an accident.”

Deo shook her head as she turned onto 6A and headed west toward Reese and Tory’s home. “He got hurt working for me. I’m supposed to be looking out for my crew. It
was
my fault.”

“Joey is a carpenter. These things happen.”

“Let it go, Pia.”

Pia sighed and patted Deo’s leg. “So, who are you dating now?”

“What, now you want to find me a girlfriend?” Deo grinned. “I don’t think our tastes run in quite the same direction.”

“You don’t think KT’s hot?”

“Jesus, Pia, don’t put me on the spot here.”

“Come on, admit it,” Pia teased. “She’s got a gorgeous body, a face to die for, and a mouth that can make a girl’s cli—”

“Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa!” Laughing, Deo stuck out one arm as if to cover Pia’s mouth. “None of that. Jesus, I don’t want to look at her and have those pictures in my head.”

“Well we used to share things about our girlfriends.”

“Yeah, maybe when we were sixteen! Besides, you never did anything except kiss, as I recall, so there wasn’t much to tell.”

Pia blushed. “You were doing enough of everything else for both of us.”

Deo shot her a glance. “You really didn’t…you know, get it on with anyone before KT?”

“Well I wasn’t living in a convent, but, no. Not entirely.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know,” Deo said gently. “KT is a lucky woman. She knows that, right?”

“Yes, cousin, she knows, so you don’t have to defend my honor.” Pia stroked the top of Deo’s hand where it rested on the gear shift between them. “Do any of your girlfriends know what a big softie you are?”

“Don’t spread nasty rumors about me,” Deo said, pulling into Reese and Tory’s drive. “They’ve got enough reason to be pissed off at me when I don’t marry them.”

“Someday someone’s going to see through that tough girl act of yours,” Pia warned playfully. “Then you’ll be in trouble.”

Deo didn’t bother to argue. She definitely didn’t feel like explaining that what had once been an act had long since become second nature. Life was simpler that way.

*

“I take it that’s your sister,” Nita said to Tory, indicating a fair-haired, blue-eyed woman in a sun dress and sandals who bounced a laughing Reggie on her knee. “She looks a lot like you.”

“That’s Cath,” Tory said. “My brother-in-law just took their two kids down to the beach. And that guy over there,” she pointed to a husky, middle-aged man with dark hair shot-through with gray ensconced in a wooden Adirondack rocker and deep in conversation with Reese, “is Chief Nelson Parker, Reese’s boss.”

“Wait a minute. Parker. Isn’t that the name of that skinny, black-haired walking hormone with the adorable little blond girlfriend?”

Tory laughed. “You mean Bri? The one leaning against the railing in the corner over there while her girlfriend tries to climb inside her skin?”

“Oh my,” Nita said, after sneaking a peek. Sure enough, Bri, in tight black jeans and a sleeveless black T-shirt that accentuated her wiry frame, had her arms around her girlfriend, who wore nothing but itty-bitty white shorts and a pink halter top. The little blonde was wedged between Bri’s thighs with her arms around Bri’s neck and the two of them looked like they might need to be hosed down any second. She shook her head. “I’m not
all
that much older than them but they make me feel ancient.”

“Believe it or not, Bri and Caroline have been together almost six years and as far as I can tell, they’ve still got the non-stop hungries for each other. Bri’s an officer in town, too. Caroline’s an artist, studying in New York City.”

“Well I’ll say one thing for this place,” Nita said. “You’ve got drop-dead gorgeous cops of all species.”

“Mmm,” Tory said, watching Reese. “We do.” She glanced at Nita. “You’ve got cops in your family, right?”

“Everywhere you look,” Nita said flatly.

Tory regarded her curiously. “Did they pressure you to carry on the family tradition?”

“You couldn’t exactly call it pressure. I don’t think anyone ever considered that I
wouldn’t
. It was pretty much a given. My grandfather, my uncles and aunts, my older siblings—they’re all cops. One renegade sister is a firefighter, but close enough.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and stared down toward the harbor, remembering the astonishment on her father’s face when she had announced at seventeen that she wanted to go to medical school. She had thought he would be proud. Looking back, she didn’t know why she’d expected that. She had never been as tough as her brothers and sisters, not in the obvious ways, at least. Knowing that she couldn’t measure up to her physically competitive brothers and sisters, she had worked tirelessly to excel in the only way she could. She had been first in her class year after year, but it never seemed to be enough. No matter how good she was academically, she didn’t measure up. “One of my brothers went to a two-year college before entering the academy, but all my other siblings went straight on the job after high school. I was the odd one out.”