Prologue Edilean, Virginia 1993 In all of her eight years, Kim had never been so bored. She didn’ t even know such boredom could exist. Her mother told her to go outside into the big garden around the old house, Edilean Manor , and play , but what was she to do by herself? Two weeks ago her father had taken her brother of f to some faraway state to go fishing. “Male bonding,” her mother called it, then said she was not going to stay in their house alone for four whole weeks. That night Kim had been awakened by the sound of her parents ar guing. They didn’ t usually fight—not that she knew about—and the word divor ce came to her mind. She was terrified of being without her parents. But the next morning they were kissing and everything seemed to be fine. Her father k ept talking about making up being the best, but her mother shushed him. It was that afternoon when her mother told her that while her father and brother were away they were going to stay in an apartment at Edilean Manor. Kim didn’ t like that because she hated the old house. It was too big and it echoed with every footst ep. Besides, every time she visited the place there was less furniture, and the emptiness made it seem even cre epier . Her father said that Mr . Bertrand, the old man who lived in the house, had sold the family furniture rather than get a job to support himself. “He’d sell the house if Miss Edi would let him.”
Miss Edi was Mr . Bertrand’ s sister. She was older than he was, and even though she didn’ t live there, she owned the house. Kim had heard people say that she disliked her brother so much that she refused to live in Edilean. Kim couldn’ t imagine hating Edilean, since every person she knew in the world lived there. Her dad was an Aldredge, from one of the seven families that founded the town. Kim knew that was something to be proud of. All she thought was that she was glad she wasn’ t from the family that had to live in big, scary Edilean Manor . So now she and her mother had been living in the apartment for two whole weeks and she was horribly bored. She wanted to go back to her own house and her own room. When they were packing to go, her mother had said, “W e’re just going away for a little while and it’ s just around the corner, so you don’ t need to take that.” “That” was pretty much anything Kim owned, like books, toys, her dolls, her many art kits. Her mother seemed to consider it all as “not necessary .” But at the end, Kim had grabbed the bicycle she’d received for her birthday and clamped her hands around the grips. She looked at her mother with her jaw set. Her dad laughed. “Ellen,” he said to his wife, “I’ve seen that look on your face a thousand times and I can assure you that your daughter will not back down. I know from experience that you can yell, threaten, sweet talk, plead, beg, cry , but she won’ t give in.” Her mother ’s eyes were narrowed as she looked at her laughing husband. He quit smiling. “Reede, how about you and I go . . . ?” “Go where, Dad?” Reede asked. At seventeen, he was overwhelmed with importance at being allowed to go away with his dad. No women. Just the two of them. “Wherever we can find to go,” his dad mumbled. Kim got to take her bike to Edilean Manor , and for three days she rode it nonstop, but now she wanted to do something else. Her cousin Sara came over one day but all she wanted to do was explore the ratty old house. Sara loved old buildings! Mr. Bertrand had pulled a copy of Alice’ s Adventur es in W onderland out of a pile of books on the floor . Her mom said he’d sold the bookcase to Colonial W illiamsbur g. “Original eighteenth century and it had been in the family for over two hundred years,” she’d muttered. “What a shame. Poor Miss Edi.”
Kim spent days reading about Alice and her journey down the rabbit hole. She’d loved the book so much that she told her mother she wanted blonde hair and a blue dress with a white apron. Her mother said that if her father ever again went of f for four weeks her next child just might be blonde. Mr . Bertrand said he’d like a hookah and to sit on a mushroom all day and say wise things. The two adults had started laughing—they seemed to find each other very funny . In disgust Kim went outside to sit in the fork of her favorite old pear tree and read more about Alice. She reread her favorite passages, then her mother called her in for what Mr . Bertrand called “afternoon tea.” He was an odd old man, very soft-looking, and her father said that Mr . Bertrand could hatch an egg on the couch. “He never gets up.” Kim had seen that few of the men in town liked Mr . Bertrand, but all the women seemed to adore him. On some days as many as six women would show up with bottles of wine and casseroles and cakes, and they’d all laugh hilariously . When they saw Kim they’d say , “I should have brought—” They’d name their children. But then another woman would say how good it was to have some peace and quiet for a few hours. The next time the women came they’d again “for get” to bring their children. As Kim stood outside and heard the women howling with laughter , she didn’t think they sounded very peaceful or quiet. It was after she and her mother had been there for two long weeks that early one morning her mother seemed very excited about something, but Kim wasn’ t sure what it was. Something had happened during the night, some adult thing. All Kim was concerned with was that she couldn’ t find the copy of Alice’ s Adventur es in W onderland that Mr . Bertrand had lent her. She had one book, and now it was gone. She asked her mother what happened to it, as she knew she’d left it on the cof fee table. “Last night I took it to—” The sentence wasn’ t finished because the old phone on the wall rang and her mother ran to answer it, then immediately started laughing. Disgusted, Kim went outside. It seemed that her life was getting worse. She kicked at rocks, frowned at the empty flower beds, and headed toward her tree. She planned to climb up it, sit on her branch, and figure out what to do for the long, boring weeks until her dad came home and life could start again.
When she got close to her tree, what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. There was a boy , younger than her brother but older than she was. He was wearing a clean shirt with a collar and dark trousers; he looked like he was about to go to Sunday school. W orse was that he was sitting in her tree reading her book. He had dark hair that fell forward and he was so engrossed in her book that he didn’ t even look up when Kim kicked at a clod of dirt. Who was he? she thought. And what right did he think he had to be in her tree? She didn’ t know who or what, but she did know that she wanted this stranger to go away . She picked up a clod and threw it at him as hard as she could. She was aiming for the top of his head but hit his shoulder . The lump crumbled into dirt and fell down onto her book. He looked up at her , a bit startled at first, but then his face settled down and he stared at her in silence. He was a pretty boy , she thought. Not like her cousin T ristan, but this boy looked like a doll she’d seen in a catalogue, with pink skin and very dark eyes. “That’s my book,” she yelled at him. “And it’ s my tree. You have no right to them.” She grabbed another clod and threw it at him. It would have hit him in the face but he moved sideways and it missed. Kim had had a lot of experience with older boys and she knew that they got you back. It didn’ t take much to set them of f, then you were in for it. They’d chase you, catch you, and pin your arm behind your back or pull your hair until you begged for mercy . When she saw the boy make a move as though he meant to get down, Kim took of f running as fast as she could. Maybe there’d be enough time that she could reach what she knew was a great hiding place. She wedged her small body in between two piles of old bricks, crouched down, and waited for the boy to come after her . After what seemed like an hour of waiting, he didn’ t show up, and her legs began to ache. Cautiously and quietly , she got out from the bricks and looked around. She fully expected him to leap out from behind a tree, yell “I got you!” then bombard her with dirt. But nothing happened. The big garden was as still and quiet as always and there was no sign of the boy .
She ran behind a tree, waited and listened, but she heard and saw nothing. She ran to another tree and waited. Nothing. It took her a long time before she got back to “her” tree, and what she saw astonished her . Standing on the ground, just under her branch, was the boy . He was holding the book under his arm and seemed to be waiting. Was this some new boy trap that she’d never seen before? she wondered. Is this what foreign boys—meaning ones not from Edilean—did to girls who threw dirt at them? If she walked up to him, would he clobber her? As she watched him, she must have made a sound because he turned and looked at her . Kim jumped behind a tree, ready to protect herself from whatever came flying, but nothing did. After a few moments she decided to stop being a scaredy-cat and st epped out into the open. Slowly, the boy started walking toward her , and Kim got ready to run. She knew not to let boys she’d thrown things at get too close. They prided themselves on the quickness of their throwing arms. She held her breath when he got close enough that she knew she’d not be able to get away . “I’m sorry I took your book,” he said softly . “Mr. Bertrand lent it to me, so I didn’ t know it belonged to anyone else. And I didn’ t know about the tree being yours either . I apologize.” She was so astonished she couldn’ t speak. Her mother said that males didn’t know the meaning of the word sorry . But this one did. She took the book he was holding out to her and watched as he turned away and started back toward the house. He was halfway there before she could move. “W ait!” she called out and was shocked when he stopped walking. None of her boy cousins ever obeyed her . She walked up to him, the book firmly clutched against her chest. “Who are you?” she asked. If he’d said he was a visitor from another planet, she wouldn’ t have been surprised. “Travis . . . Merritt,” he said. “My mother and I arrived late last night. Who are you?” “Kimberly Aldredge. My mother and I are staying in there”—she pointed —“while my father and brother go fishing in Montana.” He gave a nod, as though what she’d said was very important. “My mother and I are staying there.” He pointed to the apartment on the other
side of the big house. “My father is in T okyo.” Kim had never heard of the place. “Do you live near here?” “Not in this state, no.” She was staring at him and thinking that he was very much like a doll, as he didn’ t smile or even move very much. “I like the book,” he said. “I’ve never read anything like it before.” In her experience she didn’ t know boys read anything they didn’ t have to. Exc ept her cousin T ris, but then he only read about sick people, so that didn’t count. “What do you read?” she asked. “Textbooks.” She waited for him to add to that list, but he just stood there in silence. “What do you read for fun?” He gave a slight frown. “I rather like the science textbooks.” “Oh,” she said. He seemed to realize that he needed to say more. “My father says that my education is very important, and my tutor—” “What’s that?” “The man who teaches me.” “Oh,” she said again, but had no idea what he was talking about. “I am homeschooled,” he said. “I go to school inside my father ’s house.” “That doesn’ t sound like fun,” Kim said. For the first time, he gave a bit of a smile. “I can attest that it is no fun whatever .” Kim didn’ t know what attest meant, but she could guess. “I’m good at having fun,” she said in her most adult voice. “W ould you like me to show you how?” “I’d like that very much,” he said. “Where do we begin?” She thought for a moment. “There’ s a big pile of dirt in the back. I’ll show you how to ride my bike up it then race down. Y ou can stick your hands and feet straight out. Come on!” she yelled and started running. But a moment later she looked back and he wasn’ t there. She backtracked and he was standing just where she’d left him. “Are you afraid?” she asked tauntingly . “I don’t think so, but I’ve never ridden a bicycle before, and I think you’re too young to teach me.” She didn’ t like being told she was “too young” to do anything. Now he was sounding like a boy . “Nobody teaches you how to ride a bike,” she
said, knowing she was lying. Her dad had spent days holding her bike while she learned to balance. “All right,” he said solemnly . “I’ll try it.” The bike was too short for him and the first time he got on it, he fell of f and landed on his face. He got up, spitting dirt out of his mouth, and Kim watched him. W as he one of those boys who’d go crying to his mother? Instead, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve, then gave a grin that nearly split his face in half. “Huzzah!” he said and got back on the bike. By lunchtime he was riding down the hill faster than Kim had ever dared, and he jerked the front wheel upward, as though he were going over a jump. “How’d I do?” he asked Kim after his fastest slide down the dirt hill. He didn’t look like the same boy she’d first seen. His shirt was torn at the shoulder , and he was filthy from head to toe. There was a bruise forming on his cheek where he’d nearly crashed into a tree, but he’d pulled to the left and only grazed it. Even his teeth were dirty . Before Kim could answer , he looked over her head and stif fened into the boy she’d first seen. “Mother ,” he said. Kim turned to see a small woman standing there. She was pretty in a motherly sort of way , but whereas T ravis had pink in his cheeks, she had none. She was like a washed-out, older , female version of him. Without saying a word, she walked to stand between the two children and looked her son up and down. Kim held her breath. If the woman told Kim’ s mom that she’d made Travis dirty , Kim would be punished. “You taught him to ride a bike?” Mrs. Merritt asked her . Travis st epped in front of Kim, as though to protect her . “Mother , she’s just a little girl. I taught myself to ride. I’ll go and wash.” He took a st ep toward the house. “No!” Mrs. Merritt said, and he looked back at her . She went to him and put her arms around him. “I’ve never seen you look better .” She kissed his cheek then smiled as she wiped dirt of f her lips. She turned to Kim. “Y ou, young lady . . .” she began, but stopped. Bending, she hugged Kim. “Y ou are a truly marvelous child. Thank you!” Kim looked up at the woman in wonder . “You kids go back to playing. How about if I bring a picnic lunch out here for you two? Do you like chocolate cake?” “Yes,” Kim said.
Mrs. Merritt took two st eps toward the house before Kim called out, “He needs his own bike.” Mrs. Merritt looked back, and Kim swallowed. She’d never before given an adult an order . “He . . .” Kim said more quietly . “My bike is too small for him. His feet drag.” “What else does he need?” Mrs. Merritt asked. “A baseball and bat,” T ravis said. “And a pogo stick,” Kim added. “And a—” She broke of f because Mrs. Merritt held up her hand. “I have limited resources, but I’ll see what I can do.” She went back to the house and a few minutes later she brought out sandwiches and lemonade. In the afternoon she returned with two big slices of freshly baked chocolate cake. By that time T ravis had learned to do wheelies, and she watched him with a mixture of awe and terror . “Who would have thought that you’re a natural athlete, T ravis?” she said in wonder , then went back in the house. In the early evening, Kim’ s uncle Benjamin, her cousin Ramsey’ s father , yelled, “Ho, ho, ho. Who ordered Christmas in July?” “We did!” Kim yelled, and T ravis followed her as she ran to her uncle’ s big SUV . Uncle Ben wheeled a new shiny , blue bicycle out of the back. “I was told to give this to the dirtiest boy in Edilean.” He looked at T ravis. “I think that means you.” Travis grinned. He still had dirt on his teeth, and his hair was caked with it. “Is that for me?” “It’s from your mother ,” Uncle Ben said and nodded toward the front door. Mrs. Merritt was standing on the st ep, and Kim wasn’ t sure but she looked like she was crying. But that made no sense. A bicycle made a person laugh, not cry . Travis ran to his mother and threw his arms around her waist. Kim stared at him in astonishment. No twelve-year -old boy she knew would ever do something like that. It wasn’ t cool to hug your mother in front of other people. “Nice kid,” Uncle Ben said, and Kim turned back to him. “Don’ t tell your mom but I went over to your house and did a little cleaning. Any of this look familiar?” He pulled a box toward the back of the car and tipped it
down so Kim could see inside. Five of her favorite books were in there, her second-best doll, an unopened kit for making jewelry , and in the bottom was her jump rope. “Sorry, no pogo stick, but I got one of Rams’ s old bats and some balls.” “Oh thank you, Uncle Ben!” she said, and followed T ravis’s example and hugged him. “If I’d known I was going to get this, I would have bought you a pony .” Kim’s eyes widened into saucers. “Don’t tell your mom I said that or she’ll skin me.” Travis had left his mother and was looking at his new bike in silence. “Think you can ride it?” Uncle Ben asked. “Or can you only handle a little girl’ s bike?” “Benjamin!” Kim’ s mother said as she came out to see what was going on. Mr. Bertrand was still inside. As far as anyone knew he never left the house. “T oo lazy to turn a doorknob,” Kim’ s father once said. Travis gave Kim’ s uncle a very serious look, then took the bike from him and set of f at a breakneck speed around the house. When they heard the unmistakable sound of a crash, Uncle Ben put his hand on Mrs. Merritt’ s arm to ke ep her from running to the boy . They heard what sounded like another crash on the other side of the house, and at last T ravis came back to them. He was dirtier , his shirt was torn more, and there was a streak of blood across his upper lip. “Any problems?” Uncle Ben asked. “None whatever ,” Travis said, looking the man straight in the eyes. “That’s my boy!” he said as he slapped T ravis hard on the shoulder . He closed the lid of the SUV . “I’ve got to get back to work.” “What work do you do?” T ravis asked in an adult-sounding voice. “I’m a lawyer .” “Is it a good trade?” Uncle Ben’ s eyes danced with merriment but he didn’ t laugh. “It pays the bills, and it has some good points and bad. Y ou thinking of trying the legal profession?” “I rather admire Thomas Jef ferson.” “You’ve come to the right place for him,” Uncle Ben said, grinning as he opened the car door . “Tell you what, T ravis ol’ man, you get out of law school, come see me.”
“I will, sir , and thank you,” T ravis said. He sounded very adult, but the dirt on him, the twigs, and the bruises, made what he was saying funny . But Uncle Ben still didn’ t laugh. He looked at Mrs. Merritt. “Good kid. Congratulations.” Mrs. Merritt put her arm around her son’ s shoulders, but he twisted away from her . He didn’ t seem to want Uncle Ben to see him so attached to a woman. They all watched Uncle Ben leave, then Kim’ s mom said, “Y ou kids go play. We’ll call you in time for dinner and afterward you can catch fireflies.” “Yes,” Mrs. Merritt said. “Go play .” She looked as though she’d been waiting for years to say that to her son. “Mr . Bertrand is going to teach me how to sew .” “Lucy,” Kim’ s mom said, “I think I should tell you that Bertrand is using you for free labor . He wants his curtains r epaired and—” “I know ,” Lucy Merritt said, “but it’ s all right. I want to learn to do something creative, and sewing is as good as anything else. Y ou don’ t think he’d sell me his machine, do you?” “I think he’d sell you his feet, since he rarely uses them.” Lucy laughed. “Come on,” Kim’ s mom said, “and I’ll show you how to thread the machine.” For two weeks, Kim lived in her idea of heaven. She and T ravis were together from early until late. He took to having fun as though he’d been born to it—which Kim’ s mom said he should have been. While they played outside, inside the two women and Mr . Bertrand talked and sewed. Lucy Merritt used the old Bernina sewing machine to r epair every curtain in the house. “So he can get a better price when he sells them,” Kim’ s mom muttered. Lucy bought fabric and made new curtains for the bathrooms and the kitchen. “You’re paying him rent,” Kim’ s mother said. “Y ou shouldn’ t be paying for them too.” “It’s all right. It’ s not as though I can save the money . Randall will take whatever I don’ t spend.”
Mrs. Aldredge knew that Randall was Lucy’ s husband, but she didn’ t know any more than that. “I want to know what that means,” she said, but Lucy said she’d told too much already . At night the children reluctantly went inside their s eparate apartments. Their mothers got them washed and fed and into bed. The next morning they were outside again. No matter how early Kim got up, T ravis was always waiting for her at the back of the house. One night T ravis said, “I’ll come back.” Kim didn’ t know what he meant. “After I leave, I’ll return.” She didn’ t want to r eply to that because she didn’ t want to imagine him being gone. They climbed trees together , dug in the mud, rode their bikes; she tossed the ball, and T ravis hit it across the garden. When Kim brought her second-best doll out, she was nervous. Boys didn’ t like dolls. But T ravis said he’d build a house for it and he did. It was made of leaves and sticks and inside was a bed that Kim covered with moss. While T ravis made a roof to the house, she used her jewelry kit to make two necklaces with plastic beads. T ravis smiled when she slipped one over his head, and he was wearing it the next morning. When it got too hot to move, they stretched out on the cool ground in the shade and took turns reading Alice and the other books aloud to each other . Kim wasn’ t nearly as good a reader as he was, but he never complained. When she was stumped by a word, he helped her . He’d told her he was a good listener , and he was. She knew that at twelve he was a lot older than she was, but he didn’ t seem to be. When it came to schooling, he seemed like an adult. He told her the entire life cycle for a tadpole and all about cocoons. He explained why the moon was dif ferent shapes and what caused winter and summer . But for all his great knowledge, he’d never skimmed a rock across a pond. Never climbed a tree before he came to Edilean. He’d never even skinned his elbow . So, in the end, they taught each other . Even though he was twelve, and she only eight, there were times when she was his teacher—and she liked that. Everything ended exactly two weeks after it began. As always, as soon as it was light outside, sle epy-eyed Kim ran out the back door , past the back of the big old house, to the wing where T ravis and his mom were staying.
But that morning, when T ravis wasn’ t already outside and waiting for her, she knew something was wrong. She started pounding on the door and yelling his name; she didn’ t care if she woke the whole house. Her mother , in robe and slippers, came running out. “Kimberly! What are you shouting about?” “Where is T ravis?” she demanded as she fought back tears. “Will you calm down? They probably just oversl ept.” “No! Something is wrong.” Her mother hesitated, then tried the knob. The door opened. There was no one inside, and no sign that anyone had been there. “Stay here,” her mother said. “I’ll find out what’ s going on.” She hurried to the front of the house, but Mrs. Merritt’ s car wasn’ t there. It was too early to disturb Bertrand, but she was too concerned about Lucy and her son to let that stop her from going inside. Bertrand was asle ep on the sofa—proving what everyone suspected, that he didn’ t climb the stairs to go to bed. He came awake instantly , always glad for a good gossip. “Honey ,” he said, “they tore out of here at two this morning. I was sound asle ep and Lucy woke me. She wanted to know if she could buy that old sewing machine.” “I hope you gave it to her .” “Nearly . I charged her only fifty dollars.” Mrs. Aldredge grimaced. “Where did they go? Why did they leave in the middle of the night?” “All Lucy would tell me is that someone called to say her husband was returning and she needed to leave. She said she had to get there before he did.” “But where? I want to call her to see if she’ s all right.” “She asked us to please not contact her .” He lowered his voice. “She said that no one must know that she and T ravis were here.” “That sounds very bad.” Mrs. Aldredge sat down on the couch, then jumped up. “Heavens! Kim is going to be heartbroken. I dread telling her . She’ll be devastated. She adores that boy .” “He was a sweet one,” Bertrand agreed. “Skin like porcelain. I do hope he ke eps it, and doesn’ t let the sun ruin it. I think my good complexion comes from a lifelong belief in staying out of the sun.” Mrs. Aldredge was frowning as she went to Kim to tell her that her friend was gone and it was likely that she’d never see him again.
Kim took it better than her mother thought she would. There were no tantrums and no tears—at least not that anyone saw . But it was weeks before Kim was herself again. Her mother took her into W illiamsbur g to purchase an expensive frame for the only photo she had of T ravis. Kim and he were standing by their bikes, both of them dirty and smiling hugely . Just before Mrs. Aldredge clicked the shutter , Travis put his arm around Kim’ s shoulders, and she clasped his waist. It was a sweet portrait of childhood and it looked good in the frame Kim chose. She put it on the table by her bed so she could see it just before she fell asle ep and when she awoke every morning. It was a month after T ravis and his mother left that Kim brought down the house. The family was just sitting down to dinner when Reede, her older brother, asked what she was going to do with the bike T ravis had left behind. “Nothing,” Kim said. “I can’ t do anything because of T ravis’s bastard father.” Everyone came to a halt. “What did you say?” Mrs. Aldredge asked in a whisper of disbelief. “His bas—” “I heard you,” her mother said. “I will not have an eight-year -old using that kind of language in my house. Go to your room this instant!” “But, Mom,” Kim said, bewildered and already close to tears, “that’ s what you always call him.” Her mother didn’ t say a word, just pointed, and Kim left the table. She barely had the door to her room closed before she heard her parents burst into laughter . Kim picked up T ravis’s picture and looked at it. “If you were here now I’d teach you a dirty word.” Sighing, she stretched out on her bed and waited for her dad to be sent to “talk” to her—and to slip her some food. He was the sweet one while her mother did the discipline. Kim thought it was very unfair that she was being punished for r epeating something she’d heard her mother say several times. “Bastard parents!” Kim muttered and held T ravis’s picture close to her chest. She would never for get him and she would never stop looking for him.
New York 2011 The big office sprawled across a corner of the sixty-first floor . Full-length windows went along two sides, of fering breathtaking views of the skyline of New Y ork. The other two walls had tasteful paintings chosen by a designer , but they gave no hint of the occupant. In the middle was a desk of rosewood, and sitting in a steel and leather chair was T ravis Maxwell. T all, broad shouldered, and darkly handsome, he was bent over papers and frowning. Another damned mer ger, Travis thought. Another company his father was buying. Did his desire to own, to control, never end? When T ravis heard the door to his of fice open, he didn’ t look up. “Y eah? What is it?” Barbara Pender gast—Penny to him, Mrs. Pender gast to everyone else— looked at him and waited. She didn’ t put up with bad moods from anyone. Travis looked up at the silence and saw her . She was twice his age and half his size, but she intimidated the hell out of everyone but him. “Sorry , Penny, what is it?” She had worked for his father until just a few years ago. Together the two of them had gone from owning nothing until Randall Maxwell was one of the richest men in the world. When T ravis joined the business, Penny decided to help him out. It was said that Randall Maxwell’ s protests could be heard six blocks away . Penny waited a moment to give the full weight to her announcement. “Your mother called me.”
“She what?!” T ravis for got about the mer ger as he leaned back in his chair and took a couple of de ep breaths. “Is she all right?” “I’d say she’ s better than all right. She wants to divorce your father because there’ s a man she wants to marry .” Travis could do nothing but stare. Penny wore her usual boring, but expensive, suit. Her hair was pulled back, and she was looking at him over her reading glasses. “My mother is supposed to be in hiding, ke eping a low profile. How can I protect her if she’ s out in public? And she’ s been dating ?” “I think you should see this,” Penny said and handed him a photocopied newspaper article. It was from a Richmond newspaper and told of a fashion show for kids that had taken place in Edilean, Virginia, where his mother was staying, or more accurately , hiding. He scanned the article. Some rich woman had thrown a lavish birthday party for her daughter and there were some clothes designed by a Jecca Layton and—He looked up at Penny . “Sewn by Ms. Lucy Cooper .” He put the paper down. “That’ s not so bad. Cooper is an assumed name, and there’ s no photo.” “It’s not bad unless your father decides to go looking again,” Penny said. “Her love of sewing is a dead giveaway .” “What else did Mom say?” “Nothing,” Penny said. “Just that.” She looked at her not epad. “T o quote her directly: ‘T ell Travis I need a divorce because I want to get married,’ then she hung up. Y ou know she thinks you, her precious son, makes the world spin on its axis.” “My one unconditional love,” T ravis said with a half grin. “Did she say who she wanted to marry?” Penny gave him a look. T ravis knew there had always been great animosity from his mother to Mrs. Pender gast. For many years, Randall left his wife and child home, but he never went anywhere without Penny . “Of course she didn’ t tell me,” Penny said. “But to answer before you ask, I don’t think she would have been stu—uh, unwise enough to let this unknown man in on who she is currently married to. So no, I don’ t think the man is after her money .” “Would that be the money she stole from Dad, or the money she could get in a divorce settlement?”
“Since I don’ t believe in fairy tales, I’d say the three point two million she stole.” “I watch her accounts pretty carefully , and there have been no unusual charges. In fact,” he said proudly , “she’s been self-supporting for years now.” “Are you referring to the living she’ s been earning with the hundred grand in equipment and supplies she bought with the embezzled money?” Travis gave her a look to let her know he’d heard enough. “I’ll take care of it.” Even as he said it, he dreaded what he saw as the future. His father would make a war of a divorce. It wouldn’ t matter if his wife relinquished all claim to his assets and paid back what she ran away with—a pittance to him and legally half hers—he’d still use everything in his power to make his wife’ s life a living hell. The deal T ravis had made with his father four years ago was that he’d work for him if his father would leave Lucy alone. He wasn’ t to move heaven and earth to find her , and if he did find her , he couldn’ t torment her . It had been a simple bar gain. All T ravis had had to do was sell his soul to the devil—i. e., his father—to obtain it. “Anything else?” he asked Penny . “Mr. Sh epard has asked to have dinner with you tonight.” Travis groaned. He was doing the legal work needed to buy Mr . Sh epard’ s company out of bankruptcy . Since the man had started his business thirty years ago, it wasn’ t going to be a pleasant meal. “Helping Dad destroy a company will be a picnic after today .” “What do you want me to do?” Penny asked, her voice with a hint of sympathy in it. “Nothing. No! W ait. Don’ t I have a date tonight?” “Leslie. This will be the third one in a row that you’ve canceled.” “Call—” “I know . Tiffany’s.” For all his complaining, when T ravis glanced at the newspaper article on his desk, he couldn’ t help smiling. Edilean, V irginia, had been the site of the happiest memories of his life—which is why when his mother ran away , she went there. Kimberly , he thought and couldn’ t help the feeling of peace that came over him. He was twelve and she was just eight, but she’d taught him everything. He didn’ t know it then, but he was a boy living in prison. He hadn’t been allowed to be with other children, had never watched TV or read a work of fiction. He may as well have been living in a cave—or a past
century . Until he met Kim, he thought. Kim with her love of life. On his desk was a little brass plaque, the only personal item in the room. It read: I’M GOOD AT HAVING FUN. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SHOW YOU HOW ? Kim’s words to him. The words that had changed everything. Penny was watching him. She was the only person he trusted to know the truth about his life. “Shall I make your plane reservations, or do you want to drive?” she asked quietly . “Drive where?” When she didn’ t answer , he looked at her . “I . . .” He wasn’t sure what to say . “How about if while you’re at dinner tonight I buy a normal car— something that’ s legal to drive on the streets—and you pack a bag full of normal clothes? T omorrow you can drive down to see your mother .” Travis still wasn’ t sure what to say . “Leslie . . .” “Don’t worry. I’ll send her enough diamonds that she won’ t ask questions.” Penny didn’ t like Leslie, but then she didn’ t like any of the girls Travis dated. “If you can buy her of f, it’s not love,” she’d said several times. Penny wanted him to do what his dad had done and find a woman who loved her family more than the contents of any store. “All right,” T ravis said. “Get Forester to handle this mer ger.” “But he can’ t—” “Do it?” T ravis said. “I know it but he doesn’ t. Maybe it’ll fall through and Dad will fire the ambitious little twerp.” “Or maybe he’ll succeed and your father will give him your job.” “And you said you didn’ t believe in fairy tales,” T ravis said, grinning. “All right, where’ s this reunion?” She gave him the time and address. He stood up, looked at his desk, and all he could think of was seeing his mother again. It had been too long. On impulse, he picked up the brass plaque of Kim’ s words and slipped it in his pocket. He looked back at Penny. “So what do you call a ‘normal’ car?” As she left, she gave him one of her rare smiles. “W ait and see.” That evening a T own Car and driver were waiting downstairs for T ravis. It stopped at his apartment building, the doorman opened the door , and the elevator was held for him. He spoke to no one. His was the penthouse apartment, with views all around. The same decorator who’d done his of fice had filled his apartment with her idea of good taste. There was a huge antique Buddha in an alcove, and the couches
were upholstered in black leather . Since T ravis was in the apartment as little as possible, decorating it had never interested him. There was only one room that held truly personal items, and he went to it now. It had originally been a walk-in closet, but T ravis had requested that it be filled with glass shelves. It was in this small room—which he always k ept locked—that he put his trophies, awards, certificates, those symbols of what Kim had taught him about having “fun.” It was those two weeks in Edilean, spent with feisty little Kim, that had given him the courage to stand up to his father . His mother had tried, but her sweet nature was no match for a man like her husband. But Travis had found that he could hold his own. The first time he saw his father after having met Kim, T ravis said he wanted physical instruction as well as academic. Randall Maxwell had looked at his young son in speculation and saw that the boy wasn’ t going to give in. An instructor was hired. As Lucy had said about her son, he was a natural athlete. For T ravis, the strenuous activity was a release from the grueling academic work he was given to do, and as T ravis learned what they had to teach, the instructors left and a new one arrived. By the time T ravis was college age, he was trained in several martial arts. His nose had been broken twice, once in boxing, once by an instructor ’s foot in his face. His father had wanted T ravis to continue being tutored for college, but Travis said that the minute he was of age, he’d leave and never return. At that time his mother was still living at home. Her life was as isolated as Travis’s, but then, she’d never been a very social person. Travis went to Stanford, then Harvard Law , and it was while he was away from the prison that was the only home he’d ever known that he discovered life. Sports—extreme sports—drew him. Jumping out of planes, being dropped by helicopter onto a snow-covered mountain, clif f diving. He did it all. He passed the bar exam but had no interest in spending his life in an office. Even though his father demanded that his son work for him, T ravis refused. In anger , his father shut down his trust fund, so T ravis got a job as a Hollywood stuntman. He was the guy who got set on fire. When his father saw that his ploy didn’ t work, that he hadn’ t made his son knuckle under to him, he turned his attention to his wife and made her miserable. One afternoon Lucy accidently saw a way to interc ept a business
transaction of her husband’ s. With only a moment’ s hesitation, she sent $3.2 million into her own account. She then spent about ten minutes packing a bag, took one of her husband’ s cars, and fled. Randall told his son he wouldn’ t go after Lucy if T ravis would stop trying to kill himself and work for him. Travis would have done anything for his mother , so he left L. A., went back to New Y ork, and worked for his father . Whenever possible, T ravis relieved his stress by participating in any violent sport he could find. Now, he looked about the room at the trophies, the medals, the souvenirs. On the wall behind the shelves were many framed photos. The Monte Carlo races. His face was dirty and the champagne he’d sprayed when he’d won had made streaks, but he’d been happy . There were pictures of some of his more outrageous Hollywood stunts with fire, explosions, leaping of f buildings. Interspersed among the pictures of the sports were the ones with the women. Movie stars, socialites, waitresses. T ravis hadn’ t been discriminate. He liked pretty women no matter where they were born or what they did. He closed the door , leaned back against it for a moment, and looked around him. He would turn thirty this year and he was tired from all of it. Tired of being under his father ’s control, tired of making money for a man who had too much of it. His mother had been right to run away and hide, but he knew how guilty she felt that T ravis was protecting her . But the way he saw it was that she’d spent a lifetime protecting him, so he owed her . Right now T ravis’s worry was that his mother was marrying some man just to release her son. His fear was that his mother ’s guilt was overwhelming her , and she was going to start the divorce proceedings just to give her son freedom. But Travis knew that his mother had no true idea what she was asking for if she went for a divorce from Randall Maxwell. Ruthless was too mild a word for the man. On the other hand, there was no way T ravis could describe how much he’d like to have his own life back. Even though the last four years had worn him down, before he got out, he wanted to make sure that his mother wasn’t walking into something just as bad as her marriage had been. Travis left the trophy room and locked it securely . Only he knew the combination, and none of his many girlfriends had ever seen inside it.
He went to his bedroom, a sterile place with no personality , and into his closet. One side contained his sports clothes, the other his work suits. At the end were what Penny would call “normal” clothes, jeans and T -shirts, a leather jacket. It took only moments to throw them into a duf fle bag. He stripped down to his briefs and glanced at his body in the mirror . He had almost no fat on him and he worked to ke ep his muscles strong. But his skin was marked with scars from burns, punctures, sur gical r epairs. He’d broken his ribs more times than he could count, and under his hair was a de ep scar from where a misfired piece of steel had come close to killing him. Minutes later , Travis was dressed and ready to go to dinner with a man who needed some reassurance that the business he’d started from scratch would continue. T ravis knew that what the man really needed was a shoulder to cry on. W ith a sigh, he left the apartment. It was 8:00 P. M . and Travis had been driving for hours to reach Edilean. The car Penny had bought for him was an old BMW . The engine sounded good, but he could barely get eighty out of it. No doubt that was Penny’ s idea of how to ke ep him from exceeding the speed limit. She’d put a packet of hundreds in the glove box, and he’d had to smile. If T ravis used a credit card, his father would know where he was. He well knew that his father k ept close watch on him. It was one thing to have char ges in Paris but another to have little Edilean, V irginia, show up on the statement. “Just until Mom is safe,” he said aloud as he downshifted. At least Penny hadn’t insulted him by getting an automatic. She’d let him have some fun! At the thought of that word, T ravis thought of last night. T rying to comfort a man nearing seventy hadn’ t been easy . But Travis knew that if he didn’t attempt it, no one else would. His father often said in disdain that Travis didn’ t have a shark’ s heart. It had been meant as a put-down, but Travis took it as a compliment. He’d managed to get away from dinner by eleven. He wanted to sle ep because he planned to leave early for Edilean. But the next morning, just as he was ready to leave, his cell rang. It was his father . It was 7:00 A. M . on a Saturday morning but his dad was at work. “Where are you?” Randall Maxwell demanded.
“Leaving town,” T ravis said in a cold voice that matched his father ’s. “Forester can’ t handle this deal.” “You’re the one who hired him.” “He’s a good number cruncher and he sucks up to the clients. They like him.” “Then when he tells them their jobs are gone, he can hold their hands,” Travis said. “I have to go.” “Where is it this time?” Randall muttered. “Watch the sports pages.” “If you get yourself killed,” Randall said, “I’ll—” “You’ll what, Dad? Not attend my funeral?” “I’ll say hello to your mother .” For a moment T ravis froze in place. Why had his father spoken of her now ? Had he heard something? That a Lucy Cooper had been mentioned in a Richmond newspaper hadn’ t been enough to alert him, had it? Travis decided to brazen it out. “Y ou’re pulling out the big guns this morning. Y ou must want something bad.” “I need you to go over this deal. There’ s something wrong in this contract, but I can’ t figure out what it is.” One thing T ravis knew about his father was that his instincts were infallible. If he thought there was something wrong, there was. In the last four years there’d been a hundred times when T ravis had wanted to say there was nothing wrong, that no one was trying to put one over on him. Travis couldn’ t help thinking that if he screwed up, his father would let him out of his devil’ s deal. But he knew that wouldn’ t happen. Randall knew when he was pushing his son too far . “Give me this morning and you can take a couple of weeks of f.” Travis was silent as he thought that his father knew him too well. But then, Randall Maxwell was a brilliant judge of character . Many years ago he’d rightly judged that Miss Lucy Jane T ravis would be too afraid of him to do anything but comply with whatever he told her to do. “Take three weeks of f,” Randall said. “This deal will take that long. Just figure out what they’re trying to put over on me in this contract and you’re free.” The last thing T ravis wanted was to leave his father in anger or suspicion. The rage would come later when Travis helped his mother in the divorce. “Send the contract to me.”
“There’ s a man waiting outside your door now ,” Randall said. Travis couldn’ t see his father ’s smile of triumph, but he felt it. The only thing in life that really mattered to the man was winning. It had been two in the afternoon before T ravis got away . He’d wanted to call his mother and tell her he was coming, but he didn’ t have a throwaway phone, and he didn’ t dare use his cell. In the end, the second he finished with the contract, he left. He called his father from the car . “That old man is as big a crook as you are,” T ravis said. “Page 212, last paragraph, says that if you don’ t agree to his terms you’re in default and the company goes back to him.” “Terms?” Randall shouted. “What terms ?! What’ s he talking about?” “I have no idea. Y ou’ll have to ask old man Hardranger that.” “You have to—” “No I don’ t,” Travis said. “Get Forester to find out what the old man wants. Or sic Penny on him. Anybody but me. See you in three weeks,” he said, then clicked of f the phone. “Or not,” he added. It was dif ficult for T ravis to imagine that possibly—maybe—he was about to get out from under his father ’s thumb. If his mother had had enough time to get up her courage to actually go through a divorce, T ravis would be free. The thought made him smile for most of the drive down to Edilean. It was eight o’clock on a Saturday night, and as far as he could tell, the town was dead. Every store was closed, no all-night drugstore, no one sauntering by walking a dog. All in all, he thought the little town with its old buildings was a bit eerie, rather like a sci-fi B movie where all the inhabitants had been abducted by aliens. It wasn’ t easy finding Aldredge Road, but when he saw the sign he smiled more broadly . He knew Kim didn’ t live on the road but her relatives did, and the ancestral home, Aldredge House, was there. But Aldredge House wasn’ t where he was going. His mother had rented an apartment in the home of Mrs. Olivia W ingate, which was just behind where Kim’ s cousin lived. T ravis’s original plan was to arrive there in the afternoon and see his mother . Since he didn’ t want anyone knowing who she was or who he was, he planned to park along the road and call her on the cell phone Penny had sent him that morning. After he’d seen her and made sure she was all right, he’d find a hotel.
He hadn’ t changed his plan, but it was growing dark and he didn’ t like her walking out alone. He’d have to meet her close to the house. Travis was thinking about this as he drove down the tree-lined road when a big teenager wearing a yellow reflective vest and carrying a flashlight st epped out of the bushes in front of him. As T ravis slammed on the brakes, he thanked his years of race car driving for his quick reflexes. There was a tap on his window and another kid was motioning for him to put down the window . “You wanta slow down, mister?” the boy said. “There are kids around here, and besides, people are leaving. Park over there by the Ford pickup.” “Park?” T ravis said. “I wasn’ t planning on going to—” He didn’ t finish, as he didn’ t want to tell anyone his business. He could hear music and see lights through the trees to the left. It looked like there was a party going on. Travis thought of turning around and leaving, but there was a car behind him. A U-turn would draw too much attention to himself. “You take any longer , mister , and the place will be empty . You already missed the wedding cake,” the kid said. “Yeah, sure,” T ravis said and pulled in beside the truck. W edding? he thought and couldn’ t help grimacing. W as it Kim who was getting married? After all, it was the Aldredge House so it could be. As he got out, he put his hand up to block the light from the next car , and also to hide his face. A very lar ge man was standing outside a truck that unless T ravis missed his bet, had been revved up to illegal street use. He was looking at T ravis as though trying to figure out who he was. “You with the bride?” he asked as he opened the door to help his pregnant wife out. “Colin!” she said. “Y ou’re of f duty now , so stop interrogating people.” She looked at T ravis. “W elcome to Edilean,” she said, “and please go inside. Let’ s hope there’ s some champagne left. Not that I’ll be having any .” “Sure, thanks,” T ravis said. As the two of them walked toward the house, the big man gave T ravis a look up and down. “Great,” he mumbled. It looked like he’d raised the suspicions of an of f- duty cop. More people walked past, most of them leaving, and looked at Travis. It was then that he realized that all the people he saw were in their finest. He was wearing a gray shirt and a pair of jeans.
For a moment T ravis contemplated what he should do. Leave? See his mother tomorrow? On the other hand, he thought that it was possible that his mother was at the wedding. He didn’ t think so, as she had always been a quiet, retiring woman, but maybe so. It was even possible that the man she was thinking of marrying would be there too. He had a vision of the two of them sitting in a corner holding hands and whispering sweet words to each other . It might be a nice thing to see. And maybe Kim would be there—if she wasn’ t the bride, that is. Not that he could introduce himself to her again. Not that he hadn’ t seen her as an adult, but it had been a while. She’d been a very pretty little girl and she’d grown into an even prettier woman. The vision of her riding down the hill, her auburn hair flying out behind her , would stay with him forever . Maybe he could change into some more appropriate clothes and maybe he could go and see the wedding. Not stay . Just look, then leave. He opened the trunk of the car . Oceanof PDF . com
6ߨo how ar e you and the new boyfriend—Dave, is it?—getting along?” Sara Newland asked as she sat down across from Kim. Each table had a different color cloth on it, what the bride called “Easter colors.” The band was taking a break, and the big dance floor was empty . Overhead, the tent was strung with tiny silver lights that cast pretty shadows everywhere. Sara’s twin boys were now a year old and were at home with a babysitter . The wedding was a rare night out for her and her husband, Mike. “We’re doing great,” Kim said. She had on her bluish purple bridesmaid dress, with its low , square neckline and swishy skirt. Jecca, who was the bride as well as Kim’ s best friend, had designed it for her , and Lucy Cooper had made it. “Think it’ s permanent between you two?” Sara asked. “It’s too early to tell, but I have hope. How are you and Mike doing?” “Perfectly . But I’m not making much progress in taming him into a domestic life. I wanted him to help with the garden. Know what he did?” “With Mike, I can’ t imagine.” “He chased of f the guy who runs the backhoe, taught himself how to use the big machine, and he’ s cleared a strip about two acres long for the new fence. Y ou should have heard him and the owner of the backhoe yelling at each other!” Kim smiled. “I would have liked to have been there. I spend most of my life with salesmen. Every word they utter leads back to me buying more from them.” Sara learned forward and lowered her voice. “So how was Lucy Cooper with your dress?” “I never saw her ,” Kim said. “Jecca did the one and only fitting.”