“She said she's doing well, that the therapy is working. She'll be able to drive on her own in a few weeks. She can be a bear at times. There is no doubt about it. I truly think she is the most fiercely independent woman I have ever met in my whole life. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, Myra, but sometimes we all need someone, a little help, if nothing more than a hug and a smile.”
“I guess she thinks the same thing, or else she wouldn't have come back home. She feels better around her family. To me, that says it all where Kathryn is concerned. She'll be fine, Annie.”
“And then there's Alexis. I have to laugh every time I think of Joseph Espinosa standing up for himself. He was always such a pushover where Alexis was concerned. Oh, he loves her heart and soul, but he drew his line in the sand on New Year's, when Alexis returned and thought he would rush right to her. Instead, he told her he had promised to take his mother and sisters to New York to see in the New Year, and he wasn't about to break that promise. Nikki told me that Alexis cried for days, believing, wrongly, that Joseph was done with her. They're working on their relationship. Our birds are all safe in their nests, and their lives will be whatever they make of them. Life is all about learning lessons. Don't you agree?”
“I do, Annie. I do. Some of those lessons are more painful than others, sad to say. Now, if we could just figure out things with Isabelle, I'd say we're golden. I do not see that happening anytime soon, however.”
Annie shrugged. “The only two we haven't touched on are Nikki and Maggie.” She eyed Myra to see if she was hiding any secrets from her.
Myra shrugged in return. “I know what you know, Annie. They were originally going to go away for a whole year. I'm referring to Nikki and Jack. But after three and a half months of togetherness, they decided to come home and paint their house, do some gardening, and go on side trips of a few days each. Nikki is ecstatic that she pulled off those two class-action suits she had going on. The third one is being handled by the firm, but the last thing she said to me was that the defendants were about to cave because of her two previous wins. She's still talking about selling the firm. Will she do it? I'm not sure.
“Alexis and Joseph's time in Argentina was about like Nikki and Jack's. Three and a half months, and they were ready to come home. We're a full house minus Isabelle and Charles, but we have added two new players to our little group, young Dennis and Jack Sparrow. Perhaps if we don't think too hard about Charles and Isabelle, we can make it all work.”
Annie quirked an eyebrow. “Maggie?” It wasn't a statement; it was a question.
“I wish I had the answer. I imagine today will give us her answer. She's back with Ted. That in itself makes me happy, because I truly believe the two of them were meant for each other. What time is it? Should we turn the grill on?”
Annie looked down at her watch, a Mickey Mouse watch with huge numbers that she'd won in Las Vegas and that covered half her arm. “I'd say so. Don't get up. I'll do it. We're good here. Everything is ready. Want something to drink? Iced tea?”
“Sure. And let's have a cigarette, too.”
“Ooh, you're being decadent, Myra. I like that. Be right back.”
Inside, Annie quickly poured the tea and set the glasses on a tray. She then rummaged in all the kitchen drawers until she found a pack of cigarettes, which had probably been in the drawer forever, and added it to the tray. She scampered over to the kitchen window so that she could observe her oldest, best, and dearest friend in the whole world. And right now that oldest, best, and dearest friend was hurting. Badly. She was missing her husband, Charles, and remembering things that were better left alone. She watched as Myra swiped at her eyes, then yanked at the pearls around her neck. She scowled at what she was seeing, and for one brief minute she wished Charles Martin was standing in front of her so she could plug him right between his eyes.
Annie reached for the tray and tried to erase the vision behind her eyelids. What good was a dead Charles Martin? What good was a live Charles Martin? She couldn't come up with an answer.
“What took you so long?” Myra sniffed.
“Well, Miss Smart-Ass, I was watching you cry through the kitchen window, and I spent all that time trying to figure out how I could plug Charles right between the eyes. That's what took me so long. You happy now?”
Myra laughed. “Annie, Annie, whatever would I do without you? I'm allowed my little pity parties from time to time. Today, in all its perfection, is one of those days. Plus, our girls and boys will be here soon. Like old times, minus Charles. I did love him, you know. I'm not sure what I feel these days. Can we drop this now and have a cigarette?”
The two women sat and coughed, hacked, and sputtered as they attempted to blow smoke rings, which the dogs tried to catch.
“These really are an abomination, Myra. No wonder people die from them. Do you want another one?”
“Sure.” Myra laughed. “Only because the dogs love chasing the smoke rings.”
“The tea is good,” Annie said.
“Is that your idea of small talk, Annie? A diversion? To take me away from my thoughts?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, it worked. Can we move on here? How excited are you that we're all going to be going to Spyder Island?”
“I am. I think we need to do some PR work, to let the people on the island know I am arriving with a full retinue. My own plane, my own yacht to follow. Maybe on the yacht, I'm not sure about that yet. The
only woman
to own property on Spyder Island. Then we sit back, ignore any and all invitations, which will most assuredly come our way, and let things develop. Yes, I am excited. I think in my other life, Myra, I could have been an actress. By the way, we're taking the dogs, right?”
“Yes. We'll call them guard dogs.”
Annie looked over at the pups and at Lady. They were all sound asleep. Some guard dogs! She started to laugh and couldn't stop.
Chapter 2
“I
don't know about you, Annie, but today I am a happy camper,” Myra said as she pointed at the boisterous group on her terrace. “All our chicks are here in the nest. They look happy and are enjoying each other. It's been too long since we were all together. Sometimes I feel like our little family is slipping away from us.” Her voice was so fretful sounding that Annie patted her shoulder and clucked her tongue like a mother hen.
“Time doesn't stand still. You know that, Myra. We have to take each day as it comes and work from there. And as much as I hate to have to say this, we're all getting older. I'm not saying we still don't have some spit and vinegar left in usâwe doâbut we might need to add a couple of shots of that fine old Kentucky bourbon you keep locked up in the cellar. Tell me again why you're saving it.”
Myra laughed. “I'd tell you if I could remember. It was Charles who came by it somehow and said we needed to save it for a special occasion. I seem to recall his saying we'd know when it was time to break out a bottle. Do you remember his saying that, Annie?”
“You see, that's the thing. Why save it? What if there are no special moments, or if there are, and we miss them? What then? I say we either break it out after we eat, or we save it till everyone is gone. And then you and I get tanked. I think we're overdue for a two-person party. Agree?”
Myra fingered her pearls. She really hated waking up with a hangover, but the bourbon
was
smooth. She nodded vigorously.
“Attagirl, Myra. Okay, let's get this food out there to the tables. The boys are beginning to look mighty hungry.”
Myra walked over to the sink to wash her hands. She looked out the garden window, as she always did when she washed her hands. Soap and all, her hands flew to her mouth when she saw a vision in white on the little knoll at the end of the garden. Her spirit daughter. A second vision appeared. Then two visions. The second figure was Annie's spirit daughter. Her voice strangled, she gasped for Annie to join her and pointed at the knoll. Annie dropped the cheese platter in her hands, and the cheese balls rolled across the floor, but not so fast that the dogs couldn't catch them.
“Look, Annie. The girls are dancing. It's almost as if there were a flagpole out there. Remember the year we put up a maypole and decorated it with ribbons and flowers? Oh, Annie, look how beautiful our daughters are! Look at their lovely smiles. Oh, dear God, they're blowing us kisses. They know we're here! Oh, Annie!”
Annie reached out to Myra with a death grip and held her tight. Somehow, she managed to blow a kiss to the dancing girls. Myra did the same.
“Remember the time we were standing here, and they appeared, wearing those cherry-red coats with the white fur collars? They were little then. They were on the knoll then, too, and it was snowing. Oh, God, Annie, I don't understand this. They were little girls then. Now they're seventeen. I know they're seventeen, because I remember those dresses.”
“I wish they'd come closer,” Annie whispered in a hoarse voice.
“The knoll was their favorite spot. They had tea parties there, they played games, and there was that maypole. Then there was the time they wanted to sleep in a tent on the knoll. We put up the tent, and we were worried sick they'd be afraid during the night, so you and I hid in the woods to watch over them.”
“We spied on them, Myra. And we fell asleep before they did. We did hear some of their girlish secrets, which we never divulged.”
“They knew. They were always one step ahead of us, Annie.”
The spirit daughters stood still, blew kisses, then waved. Myra's hand flew to her cheek. As did Annie's hand.
“I felt it! Did you feel it, Myra? Mother of God, what does it mean? Is it an omen of some kind?”
“I don't know, Annie. I don't know!” Her hand still on her cheek, Myra looked around in a daze at the dogs, who were staring up at her and wondering if more cheese balls would fall their way.
“Hey, need any help in here?” Alexis called from the doorway. “Dennis said the steaks are ready to come off the grill.”
“We're good, Alexis. I dropped the cheese platter. It just slipped out of my hands. We'll be out in a minute. You can take that bowl of potato salad if you want while Myra and I clean up the mess on the floor,” Annie mumbled.
Alexis gave both women a sharp look but didn't say anything. She took the bowl of potato salad and went outside.
“Later, when we hit that bottle of bourbon, we can talk about this. Okay, Annie?”
“Absolutely. I saw them. You saw them. That makes it as real as the last time.”
Myra swept the bits of pottery into the dustpan Annie was holding. “Oh, that was real, all right. I just want to know why our girls appeared to us today, when we're having this little party and the meeting afterward. I think it means something. My daughter told me when I needed her the most, she would be here for me. Maybe she thinks I need her today. You, too, Annie. We can dwell on this later. Now we need to attend to our family and enjoy the party. Smile, Annie. We just had a miracle. It was, you know.”
Annie stared out the window. “I could stand here all day, Myra, and wait for them to come back. I really want to do that. I want to feast my eyes on those lovely young girls until my eyes fall out of their sockets. It's what I want. But I know it won't happen, so grab that basket of rolls, and I'll take this special apple-cabbage coleslaw, and we can get this party under way.”
“I hear you, Annie.” Myra took one last look out the kitchen window before she joined Annie at the kitchen door. There was a smile on her face, which made Annie laugh out loud. “If that's all we get, so be it. I'll take it.”
“Amen!”
The party, as Myra called it, went on for three hours. They were family bringing each other up to date; they were friends sharing events and happenings some had been privy to while others had been unable to attend. There was laughter, backslapping, and, of course, beaucoup congratulations to Jack Sparrow for his new job as director of the FBI. Compliments flowed freely on Dennis's barbecuing expertise, to which he said, “You can't go wrong with Kobe beef.” The dogs all agreed and chowed down on the many leftovers.
Much was made of Kathryn's horrendous highway accident and the titanium bar in her leg. While Kathryn tried to play it down, Bert wouldn't allow it, and he went through all the details of her operation and recovery.
Kathryn's voice was fierce when she warned everyone not to feel sorry for her, saying she would drive an eighteen-wheeler again, though not for a while.
From there, the conversation drifted to Nikki and Jack's four-month island vacation and Espinosa and Alexis's vacation in Argentina.
When the conversation turned to Yoko and Harry, the mood became somber, until Harry whipped out his camcorder and played the last video Lily had sent.
“She's happy. That's the important thing,” Yoko said. “In four months' time, she's speaking Chinese and Japanese like they are her first languages. She adores her masters. She's ahead in her martial arts class. âA natural,' her master said. We do miss her.”
“Doesn't she miss you? She's so . . . little . . . so young,” Nikki said.
Harry grinned. “Funny you should ask. I asked her during our last Skype viewing if she missed her mom and me, and without missing a beat, she said no! Yoko and I cried, but then she said, âOh, Daddy, I can't miss you. All I have to do is close my eyes, and I can see you and Mummy. You are always with me.' ”
“That is so sweet,” Maggie said, tears in her eyes.
“Did you tell Lily we are all going to go see her in November, when it's visiting day?” Annie asked.
“Lily knows that Harry and I are going, but, no, we didn't tell her about the rest of you. We wanted it to be a surprise. You know how Lily loves all of you.”
“We're all going to China in November?” Dennis said. “Wow! I've never been out of the country and never farther than New York and Maryland. Wow!”
Annie looked around to see how much of a detail they needed to clear off the terrace. “Let's get to it. Everyone who ate has to help clean up.” The group fell to it, and within twenty minutes, there was no sign a party had ever taken place.
“I think it's time for business,” Myra said. She held up her hand. “We have what Annie and I think is one of our most important missions to date just waiting for our brand of justice. It more or less fell into our laps. So, without further ado, let's go down to the war room and run it all up the flagpole.”
The newbies, Sparrow and Dennis, watched in fascination as Myra pressed the carved rose on the massive bookshelf that would swing open and lead the way to the catacombs under the ancient farmhouse. “Careful, everyone. There's moss on these old stone steps,” Myra called over her shoulder. “Don't worry. The door will close by itself once the last person is on the landing.”
“Cool,” Dennis said as he tried to appear as nonchalant as the others. He hoped he didn't do something stupid to give himself away. He so wished he was suave and debonair like Jack and Bert. At times even Ted had a way about him that Dennis envied.
As Myra led the way down the long tunnel, she tapped at the silver bells, tarnished now, but their sound was as pure as the day she'd hung them for her daughter and friends so they wouldn't get lost when they played in the tunnels.
Jack Sparrow grinned to himself. “Let me guess. The bells are so you don't get lost, right?”
“Yes,” Annie called out. “Our children used to play down here. It's always been a secret. Isabelle is the one who designed the war room when we first . . . ah . . . went into business. The war room itself is climate-controlled. We even have a dungeon, which we've used on occasion. You know, when we have to lock someone up until we decide what to do with them.”
Sparrow didn't know, but he could guess. Christ on a raft, if the bureau could only see him now. Part and party to wreaking havoc, and he was going to cover it up. The thought pleased him to no end. Sometimes justice needed a little push, and at other times an outright onslaught, and these people were just the ones to do it. He realized at that moment that he felt as giddy as the young kid behind him.
The massive door leading into the war room opened slowly on its well-oiled hinges. Lights came on automatically. A soft whirring sound could be heard overhead from the ventilation system. The group trooped into the room.
“I love this room. It reminds me of the control room at the Kennedy Space Center,” Abner Tookus chortled as he ran up the three steps that took him to Charles's area. He started to press buttons. The giant plasma screen lit up, and Lady Justice gazed down on the little group. As one, they all saluted her.
“It looks different in here,” Maggie said, looking around.
“It is different. We replaced the old oak table with this table, which we had Avery Snowden's people build for us. They did it down here. They used old lumber from out in the barn. Look,” Myra said as she pressed a button on the side of the table. The center of the table parted, and the leaves that were stacked underneath popped up, then slid into place, creating seating space for eighteen people.
“That's amazing,” Jack said as he looked at the mechanism that made it all happen. “Whoever crafted this could make a killing in the furniture business.”
“The shoe box is still there,” Kathryn said, a smile on her face. “I so clearly remember the day it was my turn to pick our next mission.”
The others agreed, smiles on their faces as they, too, remembered the early days here in the war room, where they waited with bated breath for Charles to outline the newest mission's protocol.
Almost in unison, all eyes rose to the dais, where Abner stood, awaiting instructions.
The boys waited as the girls pulled out their chairs, and then they all sat down at the long, beautiful table with the grungy, years-old shoe box in the center.
“We do have a certain protocol for these meetings, but for the most part, we're fairly informal. Early this morning, Annie and I brought down the folders that she is now passing out to all of you. We spent most of last evening trying to come up with as much information as we could. I'm sorry to say we didn't come up with nearly enough. What we were able to garner, which wasn't much, was found on the Net, then printed out. Annie had some contacts she called to see what information she could gather that way, but again, we came up way short. Having said that, I'm going to have Annie give you what we have in a nutshell. This is her mission, because it was her dreams that started it all. Annie, you have the floor.”
Annie looked around, her gaze settling on Jack Sparrow, then on young Dennis. She took them through her three dreams and what little she knew, then sent off a series of pictures to Abner, who made them appear suddenly on the giant plasma screen.
“These are the children in question. They are four-year-old twins. Their names are Daniel and Dona. The names of their parents are Marlo and Alicia Domingo. They're Hispanic.” A grainy, less-than-clear picture of the parents appeared on the screen.
“As you can see, the parents are true to their heritage. They're dark-haired and dark-eyed. The children are blond and blue-eyed. Alicia Domingo worked in a private clinic. She's a nurse. She came to know Betty Smith, aka, Gretchen Spyder, the birth mother, when she came into the clinic for her monthly visits. They struck up a friendship of sorts. Confidences were shared, and Gretchen told Alicia her real identity and swore her to secrecy. Alicia volunteered that she and Marlo could not have children. She says she counseled Gretchen, but in the end, Gretchen wanted no part of motherhood, saying she was going to put the baby up for adoption so her parents wouldn't find out that she had given birth. Gretchen used an assumed name at the clinic and paid for everything in cash.