Marie Ferrarella - The Parks Empire - Secrets, Lies and Loves

“Huh,” her dad said, then added, “Sorry I’m late. Grandpa called at the last minute. You know how hard it is to get off the line when he wants information.”

Grandpa. That would be Walter Parks. Well, Stacy did have another grandfather, but according to Tyler, the families didn’t mingle much, except for delivering the girl for an occasional visit.

Stacy giggled, then held her face up. To Sara’s amusement, the big city lawyer solemnly rubbed noses with his daughter, then settled on the steps with her in his lap.

“Nice out today,” he said.

“Yes.”

“Did you go sightseeing?”

“Actually, I did.”

Tai came out the front door. “I’m off to the library. See you Monday, pie face,” she said to Stacy, leaning down to plant a kiss on the child’s forehead.

“The office will be closed Monday since the fourth is on Sunday this year,” Cade reminded the sitter, “so you don’t have to pick her up until Tuesday.”

“Ah, that’ll give me more time to study.” Looking pleased, the medical student rushed off with a backpack of books swinging from her shoulders, her long straight hair bouncing against it with each hurried stride.

“I don’t know what I would do without her,” Cade murmured as Stacy followed Tai, then swung on the gate after waving to her sitter. “She’s totally dependable.”

“When I was little, I tried to eat a whole pie by myself,” Stacy called to Sara from the gate. “Tai took my picture. It’s so funny.”

Sara observed the warmth in Cade’s smile as he nodded in agreement with Stacy’s story. She could remember her father coming home and sweeping her and baby sister Kathleen into his arms for a big kiss, then bending their mother over his arm for a dramatic Hollywood embrace. They’d all laughed at how funny he was.

“What?” Cade asked, bending his head so he could look into her eyes.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You looked so sad there for a minute.”

Sara realized she needed to be more careful about concealing her feelings. “Not at all. I was just thinking about how good you are with Stacy and how I wish other fathers were as involved with their families.”

He was silent for several seconds. “I want to be different from my father. It has always been obvious to us kids that his business came first.”

“I remember your twin sister, Emily. Are there others in your family?”

Tyler had already told her about the Parks family, but Sara thought it better to feign ignorance.

“Two. Jessica is an artist. Her paintings are becoming known and beginning to sell. And there’s another boy, Rowan. He’s the wild one in the family. He drives the old man crazy with some of his stunts.”

“Such as?” Sara asked, unable to suppress her interest.

“Tearing around on a motorcycle. Having his picture plastered all over the newspaper in a compromising position with a politician’s wife. Just the everyday rebellions of a middle child who got little attention.”

“You’re the ‘good’ son,” she concluded. “The oldest, who is expected to step into the father’s shoes when the family patriarch decides it’s time.”

Cade hesitated, then chuckled. “Except I went into law instead of the diamond business.”

“Why?”

“I like the purity of it, the fairness—”

“Not always,” she interrupted, thinking of her quest. “There have been innocents on death row.”

“Well, I’m speaking of the idealism of the law, not the reality of its execution by mankind.”

She found herself laughing with him, his deeper tones like the mellow notes of a bassoon underplaying her higher fluting ones.

“Stace and I are grilling hamburgers tonight. Want to join us?”

She hesitated. “I imposed on you night before last.”

“It’s no imposition. We like the company. Besides, knowing you will make Stace feel more confident when she starts school at Lakeside.”

Sara couldn’t help it. She started to laugh.

“What?” he demanded. He nudged her shoulder with his.

His smile was brilliant against his somewhat swarthy complexion, inherited from some pirate ancestor, Sara decided as her breath quickened at his playful touch. His eyes were hazel, a fascinating mix of brown and green with golden flecks near the pupil.

“If Stacy gets any more confident, she’ll be running the class and I’ll be sitting in the corner for talking while she’s explaining the lesson plan.” Sara gave him a sardonic glance from under her lashes. “I think it’s her daddy who’s worried about school.”

A sigh escaped him. “Day care is one thing. Real school is something else, even if it is kindergarten,” he admitted. “It’s like she’ll be taking on a whole new life, one that doesn’t involve me. I’ve cared for her since she was born. Now someone else will influence her, maybe have a greater impact on her life. Next thing I know, she’ll be dragging some boy home and announcing marriage plans.”

He swiped a hand over his brow in an exaggerated fashion, causing her to laugh again. The gate clanged merrily as Stacy swung on it and hummed a song.

“Well, you do have a few years to get used to the idea of marriage and all that,” Sara said ruefully, unsympathetic to the woeful picture he painted.

“Thank God. Come on, let’s get those hamburgers on. Stacy requested them especially for you. She said they were your favorite food.”

“Next to chocolate cake. Is there any of that left?”

“You bet.” He stood and offered her a hand.

Sara let him help her up, then when he called the child to them, they all went to the back deck to eat. Later they watched the sun set far out on the horizon.

“Look for the green flash,” Cade said, peering intently toward the sea.

“What’s that?” Sara wanted to know.

“In the instant the sun dips below the ocean, there’s a green flash, so quick you’ll miss it if you blink. If you see it, you’ll have good luck. Ah, there it is. Did you see?”

“I did,” Stacy declared. “Did you?” she asked, looking at Sara with hazel eyes that exactly matched her father’s.

Sara nodded. Amazingly, she had. She really had.

One way to get information was to insinuate oneself into the informant’s life. That was part of the plan when she and Tyler had contrived to get jobs here and find out all they could about the Parks family.

So why, Sara wondered on Sunday evening, did she feel so guilty about accepting another invitation from Cade and Stacy?

Draping a warm sweater over her arm, she slipped her wallet in the pocket of her jeans, looked around for anything she might have forgotten, then went to the front door when the doorbell rang several times.

Stacy stood on the other side, a big grin on her face. Sara returned the smile and felt just miserable. Why did doing the right thing feel so wrong?

Because of this youngster, she answered her own question. Because once she’d been Stacy’s age and her world had turned upside down. She’d been bewildered and frightened by her mother’s strange behavior.

“Come on,” Stacy coached. “We’re ready.”

“I’m coming.” Sara locked the door and followed her young hostess to the expensive sedan parked at the curb with Cade inside and waiting for them.

“We have cookies,” Stacy announced, taking her place in a child’s safety seat in the back. She expertly buckled herself into the harness.

Sara sat in the front with Cade. Her dealings with them were beginning to feel too intimate.

No, that wasn’t the word. They were getting too companionable. As if they were a family.

The plan that had seemed practical and logical in Denver now took on sinister shadings as she interacted with Cade and his daughter. She liked them. Unfortunately, that fact hadn’t figured in her planning.