Every Breath You Take (Second Opportunities 4)

Whatever Mitchell expected to feel when he saw Kate again, it was not pity, but pity was what he felt. Clad in jeans and a bulky yellow turtleneck sweater, she was seated in the rocking chair with one foot curled beneath her. Her eyes were closed, her head was tipped back, and she was clutching a big, faded, flop-eared rabbit to her chest. The rabbit looked as if it had been dragged behind a car . . . or dragged behind a child who took it everywhere he went.

Her red hair was falling loosely about her shoulders, her russet eyelashes lying like curly fans on unnaturally pale cheeks. If she hadn’t had one bare foot on the floor, gently pushing the rocker back and forth, he’d have thought she was asleep.

He spoke, and his voice sounded unnaturally curt. ?”

Her entire body lurched in shock, her eyes snapped open, and she stared at him as if she didn’t believe what she was seeing, then she smiled a little. you,” she said formally.

what?” Mitchell said coolly, struggling with the surreal sensation of being in a bedroom that belonged to a son he’d never seen, talking to a woman who’d conceived his son during an unforgettable night of lovemaking that had haunted him for months afterward.

Still hugging the rabbit, she stood up as if it were an effort, but one she wanted to make on his behalf. you for lending Danny and me the ransom money,” she explained. “I gave your lawyers an IOU, and I asked them to draw up an agreement transferring the restaurant to you. I’ll find a way to pay you back the rest over time.” Oblivious of the muscle beginning to jerk in his jaw, Kate said, didn’t need to come here, though—”

’t thank me, and don’t dismiss me,” Mitchell warned her. and I, and our attorneys, are going to have a very long meeting, as soon as the boy is safely back here.”

’t call him ‘the boy’!” Kate warned fiercely. —”

not?” Mitchell bit out. ’ve made damned sure I don’t have the right to call him my son. I didn’t even know he existed until today.”

took you off my birth-announcement mailing list when you called me an amoral bitch,” Kate retorted, youdivorced the last woman who wanted to have your son.” Her brief spurt of fortifying fury dissolved in the agony of the reality that Danny was gone. away,” she whispered brokenly, turning away and burying her face in the rabbit. baby is gone,” she sobbed. ’ve taken my baby.”

Mitchell turned on his heel and walked out.

’ll wait downstairs,” he told the priest back in the living room.

would be a mistake.”

?”

despite whatever Kate may have said to you just now, you’re Danny’s father. As his father, you have a right—and aresponsibility —to be here and support his mother in this terrible time.”

Mitchell hesitated, walked over to a chair, and sat down.

it’s on my mind,” the priest added, is it that a man and woman, who only knew each other three days, could end up being so agonizingly disappointed in each other that neither of them can get over it after three years?”

have no idea,” Mitchell said shortly.

do,” Father Donovan replied, but he didn’t offer an explanation, and Mitchell didn’t ask for it.

Chapter Forty-seven

FROM HIS VANTAGEpoint in a chair facing the doorway, Mitchell contemplated the apartment Kate had talked about in Anguilla. It was nothing like the small, dark space he’d envisioned, but it was evident that the whole dwelling had recently undergone expansion and renovation. Everything was fresh and bright, including the woodwork and mullioned windows that marched along three sides of the apartment and were partially concealed by airy draperies that were pulled back at the sides and held in place with ties.

The floor plan was a large rectangle that occupied one entire end of the building from front to back. A modern kitchen with the latest appliances and granite countertops was separated from the living space by a large island counter with four stools. The living room was spacious enough for a pair of leather sofas, which faced each other across a coffee table and were positioned at right angles to the big easy chair in which Mitchell was sitting. Beyond the living space was a large play area with a table and chairs at a child’s height, a chalkboard, and what Mitchell assumed were long toy boxes disguised as window seats. A hallway that was parallel to the stairs led from the play area down to what Mitchell knew were bedrooms.

Mitchell picked up a copy ofGourmet magazine from the end table beside his chair and leafed through it, partly to avoid giving the priest an opportunity to bring up scriptures, morality, and other topics of interest to the clergy, and partly to stop himself from looking at the kitchen and trying to imagine an old wooden table there with a seven-year-old girl draped across it, as she pretended it was a piano.

The room lapsed into silence, and Mitchell struggled against the sudden impulse to get up and go over to the play space to look at his son’s things. A minute later, all that changed. MacNeil came trotting up the staircase, looking tense but excited. He went directly to Gray Elliott for a whispered conference, then nodded and hurried out of the apartment. Elliott got up and walked over to Mitchell, and to Mitchell’s initial surprise, he directed his remarks to him rather than Kate’s uncle. “I think we have very good news. The parents of a young woman who is in group counseling with Billy Wyatt saw the amber alert tonight. Their daughter has been in their guesthouse today babysitting a little boy as a favor to a friend. They went to have a closer look at the little boy, and they’re sure it’s Danny. We have cars on the way there right now, and we’ll know for certain if it’s him in ten minutes or less. Until we do, I don’t think we should risk raising Kate’s hopes. She’s very fragile right now. We have another hour before we’re supposed to receive the ransom call. I’d like to sit tight for a few minutes with no unusual activity in here. For all we know the kidnappers are watching us through the windows from another building.”

Father Donovan nodded, but Elliott waited for Mitchell’s response. He was granting Mitchell the respect and authority due an actual parent, which shocked Mitchell, since they’d had an extremely adversarial relationship the last time they’d spoken. sounds like the best plan,” Mitchell said. Then, because he couldn’t resist the temptation anymore, he got up and walked over to Danny’s play area.

He studied the scribbles on the chalkboard and concluded his son was probably not an artistic prodigy. Since no one seemed to be paying any attention to him, he leaned over and opened one of the window seats. It contained an assortment of toy trucks and cars. From that, Mitchell concluded that Danny’s future might be in the transportation industry. He didn’t realize he was hoping his son might share his love of airplanes until he looked inside the second box. There were almost a half dozen planes mixed in with other toys in that one, all of them jets rather than propeller planes or helicopters. Jets were Mitchell’s favorites as a boy, and as a man.