“Oh.” Anjelita looked cornered, glancing around until her gaze fixed on something. Then her face softened but her eyes were sad. “My daughter should have had a name. Then her proudest moment would not be spoiled by what people say.”
Nick sat beside her in the straight chair and lowered his voice. “You could have given her her father’s name. It’s legal in this state.”
There was such pain in Anjelita’s eyes that Nick reached out to grip her hand. A man would sell his soul to make this woman happy. What had Andrew Easterling sold? He’d taken a beautiful young woman who was nearly two months pregnant to his estate to become his housekeeper and he’d kept her there for more than a quarter century. Had Anjelita not been happy there, she would have left. But she hadn’t. Had Andrew Easterling provided the tie that kept her there, a biological tie?
“I could not do that,” Anjelita whispered so low Nick barely heard her.
“Mamá,” Marisa said from over their heads. “I’ll walk you home.”
“I can drive you both,” Nick said. “It’s too late at night to walk home, even if this is Watkins Glen.”
Marisa looked like she wanted to argue, but her face also looked strained. She nodded.
Nick helped Anjelita rise. He should feel conceited to escort the two most beautiful women in the room. Instead, he felt extremely protective. These women were hurting. They needed his help.
When a man approached them as they reached the doors, Nick glared him away. Marisa and her mother couldn’t take any more.
But the lawyer, Jantzen, waylaid them outside the hall. “It’s in Watkins Glen’s best interests if you have the test done, Miss Avalos. The hospital in Montour Falls can have the results to us quickly. I’ll leave a standing order with their lab that they’re to rush the test as soon as you arrive. I can file a motion for a restraining order with the court tomorrow. I know you want what’s best for the town.”
“Why won’t you believe me?”
Jantzen’s eyes went to Anjelita. “Because your mother hasn’t denied it. Take the test and save the town.” Then he turned on his heel and walked away.
This was no place for these two women. Nick herded them to his car, put them in the back seat together and followed Marisa’s directions to her mother’s home. There were many lights on at the big white house.
“Scott’s working late.” There was a bitter edge to Marisa’s voice.
“He does not belong there,” her mother said.
In the glow from the streetlight, Nick saw that both women’s attention was fixed on the house. The Easterling fascination again.
He turned into the drive and followed the winding road to the pretty white cottage where Marisa had grown up. Had she grown up under her father’s nose?
Nick noted that Anjelita didn’t use a house key to enter the cottage. He didn’t like the lack of security so close to Scott Wentworth, but how should he broach the subject?
Marisa turned in the doorway to block his entrance. “Thanks so much for the ride, Nick. I really appreciate your bringing my mother home.”
He knew a dismissal when he heard one. “Do you want me to come back later to get you? I don’t think you should walk home.”
“I’ve been doing it for years.” But the strain in her face and voice belied her words.
“It’s no trouble for me to come get you.” He couldn’t bear for their time together to end like this, not when she needed comfort.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not busy.”
“Nick, please. I don’t think I’ll be fit company later and I don’t want to fall apart on you.” Her face was strained.
“Okay. But be careful walking home, and tell your mother to start locking her doors.”
Marisa glanced toward the direction of the big white house and her eyes widened. “Oh. I’ll tell her.”
Then there was nothing left to say. Still, Nick stood in the doorway. The evening didn’t seem over yet. He wanted — needed — to hold Marisa and kiss her sensual lips. He wanted to do much more than that, but kissing seemed the more desperate need. He leaned toward her. He thought she might have moved an infinitesimal bit toward him. Her lips parted. He could practically taste their sweetness, feel their warm fullness under his.
“Goodnight.” Marisa backed up and closed the door.
Nick could only step out into the rapidly cooling night. He felt shut out in more ways than one. He stood in the darkness feeling desire and something else burn inside him. He knew he’d be more troubled by the unnamed need than by his unfulfilled lust.
• • •
“Mamá, what was my father’s name?” Marisa spoke the question that throbbed between her and her mother.
Anjelita seemed to have folded in on herself. She looked so small in her favorite green rocker. “What good does his name do now?”
Marisa spread her hands. “It will put these rumors to rest.”
Her mother shook her head and pushed the rocker into motion with her foot. “No, it will not. There will always be those who believe something different.”
“Then maybe I should have the test. Maybe that’s the only way to stop people from gossiping.”
“You know what people say I did for Andrew Easterling besides cooking and cleaning. The test will not stop those stories.”
“Then what should I do? Tell me.”
Her mother stared up at the mantle where a line of glass angels, her favorites, stood. “Have the test,
mi hija
. Then you will know.”
Marisa felt suddenly adrift, not a new sensation this week. She knelt beside her mother’s chair. “What are you saying, Mamá?”
“I am saying there is a part of your mind that will not take anyone’s word who your father was, not even your Mamá’s. Your mind wants to take the test. It is time.”
Questions flooded Marisa’s mind, but her mother was right. Her father’s identity had been kept secret too long. She wasn’t sure why she’d never considered a DNA test before, maybe because she’d been so sure Andrew Easterling wasn’t her father. But with everything else that had happened this week, she was questioning all sureties in her life.
“All right, Mamá. I’ll go tomorrow.”
“I love you,
mi hija
. Please remember that.”
“I’m always going to love you, Mamá. Who my father is won’t change that.”
On her way home, Marisa took the well-paved driveway instead of the shortcut path. She saw Scott Wentworth and his beautiful secretary through the downstairs windows. Scott held up a glass lamp and the secretary wrote on a clipboard.
Anger burned through her. He was cataloguing the Easterlings’ possessions, deciding what he wanted for himself. It would serve him right to hold up his plans while they waited for her DNA test results. At that point, she knew for sure she would have the test.
An unexpected sob caught in her throat. Soon she’d know the truth about which man hadn’t wanted her.
Marisa overslept the next morning and woke with only minutes to spare before her first client would arrive. She called her mother’s shop to tell her she was running late and to ask her to offer Mrs. Petosky some refreshments while she waited.
In the mirror, Marisa saw she looked like hell, having tossed and turned most of the night. There was no hope for it now. She’d have to meet her client and return home afterward.
She checked the steps carefully as she ran down them, holding onto the rail as she did. She wasn’t going to risk another trip. Especially without Nick to catch her. Her cheeks burned as she remember the bulge she’d felt in his pants while she lay sprawled on top of him. Her lower body ached for him. She’d never ached for Kevin this way, yet she’d been his lover. Nick was a stranger, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Shaking off her lusty thoughts, she started her car. At the end of her steep driveway, her brakes felt mushy. She made a mental note to have her car fluids checked. It was about time for an oil change.
But at the next cross street, the brakes didn’t halt her increasing speed. She stomped the pedal to the floor as the car barreled down the hill toward the main intersection, but nothing happened. Cars drove by on the road below. God, what if she hit someone?
Her heart rate accelerated along with the car. Damn! If she were lucky, she’d fly through the intersection without hitting anyone. But then she’d hit the cars parked at the restaurant. She could try to turn on the main road, but at this speed, she’d probably lose control.
Oh God, there was no more time!
As soon as she hit Franklin Street, Marisa yanked the steering wheel to the right. The tires screamed as her car spun. Through the passenger side window, Marisa saw the blur of an approaching car. The other car’s brakes shrieked. She jerked the steering wheel to the left to try to deflect away.
But her car didn’t respond fast enough or turn far enough. The loud impact threw her against the door. There was a sharp pain in her head. Her car spun again, making her dizzy. As more brakes shrieked, she clung to consciousness and tried desperately to lessen the impact she knew was coming from the opposite side. The crash that hit the driver’s side door rocked her entire body. Her head wobbled like a bobblehead. Then she lost the fight and everything went black.
• • •
Nick heard the crash through the open window of the sheriff’s office where he’d gone to see Brian. He was on his feet when the second crash sounded, all his emergency training on high alert.
Brian scooped up his hat and fished his keys out of his pants pocket. “Nick, you’re on leave.”
Nick knew he wasn’t supposed to use his paramedic training for another week, but he couldn’t sit idly while someone might need his help. “I’m going.” He followed Brian out to the squad car.
As they approached, Nick saw it was a bad one. One car was sandwiched between two others. They were going to need the Jaws of Life to …
“Son of a bitch! It’s Marisa!” He flung himself out of the squad car before it stopped, his heart pumping hard, and sprinted to save her. Oh God, if anything happened to her … He couldn’t bear to complete the thought.
He reached her car, skidding the last few feet. But the car that had hit the driver’s side had crushed in the door. Through the window, he saw that Marisa’s head lay on the steering wheel, her dark hair spread around her. She was so still that icy fear clutched him.
Nick tore around the car to the passenger’s side. Luckily, the car that had hit that side hadn’t stuck to Marisa’s car or done as much damage, although the door was badly dented. He yanked on it with all his might again and again, her name pounding in his head as he pulled. He felt insane with frenzy to get to her. Finally he jerked it open.
Distantly he heard Brian shouting his name, but he only had eyes for Marisa. The airbag hadn’t deployed because neither car had hit her head on.
He crawled across the shattered glass on the passenger seat to her. Then he was terrified to touch her. What if she’d been killed? For a moment, his sight blurred. But he had to know.
Swallowing, he reached out a wildly trembling hand. His pulse roared in his ears. God wouldn’t take her from him like He’d taken Nick’s father. He couldn’t be that vindictive a God.
Nick’s fingers touched Marisa’s neck, but he couldn’t feel anything. A sob rose in his throat. No! He moved his fingers an inch. There! Faint but steady. He felt a little lightheaded with relief and sagged against the seat.
“Nick! Nick!” Brian shouted nearly in his ear.
“She’s alive.” He couldn’t believe how weak his voice sounded.
“Thank God.”
Nick reached for her seat belt release.
Brian grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”
Nick shook Brian off. “I’m getting her out of here.”
But Brian gripped his arm again and held on this time. “Nick, you don’t know what kind of injuries she has. Let us get her out with the Jaws of Life and ascertain if she’s hurt and, if so, how bad.”
It was just like when his father died. His fellow firefighters had held him back then too. Nick felt wild as he struggled with Brian. “I can get her out. We don’t need the Jaws.” He was an EMT. It was his job to save people. He’d failed to save his father, but he wouldn’t fail Marisa.
Brian got in his face. “Nick, you’re not thinking straight. Let the professionals handle it.”
“I
am
a professional.”
“Not now you’re not, buddy. Now you’re the man who cares about this woman. Go wait with the spectators and let us do our jobs.”
“I’m not leaving her.” God no. He wasn’t going anywhere until he knew she was all right.
Brian clamped his free hand on Nick’s shoulder and forced him to turn around. “What are the symptoms of shock, Nick?”
Nick could hardly think of anything but Marisa. Slowly he repeated, as though by rote, “Weak, rapid pulse, confused and disoriented, rapid, shallow breathing, dilated pupils.”
“Nick, you’ve got ’em. You’re in shock.”
He did feel disconnected, but right now, he only cared about one thing. “I’m not leaving her. Why don’t you go help with the Jaws of Life?” Why didn’t Brian understand how important this was to him?
Finally, Brian nodded and sighed. He released Nick’s arm. “Okay, but don’t get in the way.”
“I can help.”
“Not right now you can’t.”
Brian withdrew from the car. Nick hated feeling helpless. It was his job to help people, to save them. But ever since his dad had died, Nick had felt like he was losing more than he was saving. No matter how many hours he worked, he couldn’t save enough of them. Now Marisa needed his help. He needed to be on the other side of the car yanking the door open.
No, he needed to be here holding her hand.
Nick snaked a hand to Marisa’s neck again. Her wavy hair clung to him as he checked her pulse once more. It was stronger. He captured her hand and brought it to his mouth for a quick kiss.
The noises and voices outside the car rose and fell in a familiar, comfortable pattern. He’d worked hundreds of car accidents and knew the routine. He let the familiarity wash over him as Marisa’s pulse beat under his hand. He watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Eventually, his breathing matched hers.