Chapter 15

 

There were a few tense moments going through customs in Kabul before Seth boarded the plane back home. He spent the night in Beirut in a luxury hotel that he billed to Barrett following a call to Brandon to clear it. His brother was overjoyed to hear he was coming back.

“I’ve appreciated the use of the brownstone, but I found a place to rent and I’m ready to move first of the year.”

“That’s great, Bran,” Seth said. “You haven’t heard anything more about Tessa, have you?” There was enough of a hesitation on the other end that he prompted, “Brandon?”

“It was a small blurb under legal notices.”

“What?”

“A custody hearing earlier this week. Her aunt and uncle were given custody of Zach.”

Cold filled Seth. He remembered Edwin and Kathleen Price from the hearing he’d attended with Tessa. They were not interested in Zach’s welfare, just their own. He knew how much the boy meant to her. She must be out of her mind with worry. After hanging up with Brandon, he tried Tessa’s home phone, but it rang and rang, not even picked up by an answering machine.

It was two more days before the taxi pulled up in front of his brownstone. Seth paid the driver before slinging his backpack onto his shoulder and climbing the steps to the front door. Seth saw the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree in the living room and it dawned on him the holiday was a week away.

He’d decided on the way home he would continue with plans for a different future…one away from the overbearing presence of his parents.

He’d put a bid in on a community newspaper on the market near his beach house. The paper had never been a real moneymaker, and the family who owned it was tired of being tied to it. Seth was waiting to hear back from them, but felt like he stood a good chance of getting it. That left Tessa. What would he do about her?

She didn’t want him. She had made that more than obvious, but try as he might, he couldn’t get her out of his head or his heart. He would take her on any terms he could get. And right now, with Zach in the hands of their aunt and uncle, she was vulnerable. If that was blackmail, then so be it.

It was late Sunday afternoon before the effects of the jetlag faded. Seth was sitting in his study when he heard the distant sound of the doorknocker. His housekeeper had the day off. Seth knew it wasn’t Brandon because his brother had a key. Half-tempted to ignore the knock, he finally padded for the door in his bare feet. A light rain fell, and he knew the weather forecasts called for the possibility of a switch to freezing rain. Not bothering to tuck his chamois shirt back into the waistband of the well-worn jeans he wore, Seth made his way down the hall. The small figure outside the door had just turned away when he opened it.

“Tessa?”

She looked over her shoulder, raising a pale, shadowed face to him. Her hair was wet and she shivered.

“Is Zach here?” she asked, a note of desperation in her voice.

“Zach?” he asked in some consternation. It was the last question he expected her to ask. “No.”

If possible, her porcelain skin lost even more color. She started to sway. Seth pulled her inside and shut the door. She had a rain slicker on, but the hood had fallen back. In the light of the hallway, she looked no better than she had on his front steps.

“Let me have your coat, Tessa. You’re soaking wet.”

As she let it slip from her shoulders, he saw the swell of her belly beneath her thick sweater.

“He’s run away, Seth. I thought maybe…” Her voice trailed off, and her chin trembled.

Seth turned her into his arms and held her shivering frame against him, trying to share some of his warmth with her. She felt cold, and her paleness worried him.

“You thought he might come here?” he finished for her.

She nodded against his chest. “He’s been missing since yesterday. I’m so afraid. The police came to my house last night and then to where I work. I think they thought he might have come to me, but he didn’t. I don’t know why.”

When her voice broke on a hoarse sob, Seth swung her into his arms and, in spite of her protests, carried her into the den, where he laid her down on the long, plush couch facing the fireplace. Picking up a poker, he stirred the fire and added another log to it.

“Stay there, Tessa. I’m going to get you some hot chocolate to help take the chill off you, and then we’ll talk. Okay?”

* * * *

She nodded and watched him go. He’d changed in the past few months. He was thinner and his hair was so close-cropped it looked more like a military cut, but she noticed his eyes the most. They were shadowed and shuttered, as if he’d become a master at keeping his emotions buried so no one could see them. Not even outbursts of his infamous temper broke through his remoteness. Had she done that to him? Was he another person she had let down?

She stared into the fire, trying to feel its warmth, but not even a spark sank into the coldness at her very core. She shivered again and looked around her as she brushed a limp strand of hair behind her ear. In the far corner of the room was an elaborate model of an older sailing vessel, every detail lovingly portrayed.

“I built that with my grandfather’s help,” Seth said as he handed her a steaming mug of hot chocolate, “when I was not much older than Zach is now.” He watched Tessa as she took a cautious sip from the mug she held cradled in her hands. Other than the swell of her stomach, she knew she looked thinner.

“Do your aunt and uncle still have custody of Zach?”

“You know?”

Seth nodded. “Brandon told me over the phone when I called from Beirut.”

Tessa looked away from him. “The judge said my job took me away from him too many hours of the day. He said he didn’t think I could care for Zach and the baby, but I can, Seth.”

Seth’s mouth thinned. “Drink the chocolate, Tessa, and warm up. Then let’s focus on Zach. He’s bound to be someplace he feels comfortable.”

* * * *

He watched her like a hawk as she drank from the mug. In a few minutes, a small bit of color returned to her face, but she still looked exhausted. Hot chocolate and a fire wouldn’t change that.

His gaze drifted down once again to her belly. She caressed the swell of her baby bump, and to his amazement, he saw her hand move as if it had been shoved by an unseen force. He was overcome by an incredible urge to kneel down in front of her so he could share the experience of the baby’s movement, but now wasn’t the time.

His child. The thought struck him with more force. The child growing in her belly was his child. No matter what she might want to deny, there would always be that link between them. If she was still determined to keep him shut out of the baby’s life, then she’d find she had another fight on her hands. But now wasn’t the time to go into that. Now they needed to find Zach.

* * * *

Tessa set the mug down. She hadn’t wanted it, and had swallowed it to make Seth happy. Her mind kept coming back to Zach. She had felt so sure that if he hadn’t come to her, he would try to find Seth.

“He knows how to get to the Barrett building, Seth. Do you think he might go there?”

Seth shook his head. “Security would have called someone by now if that were the case, but we can drive by if you like.”

She lifted wide blue eyes up to him. “You would do that?”

“I don’t know what you think I am, Tessa,” Seth snapped. “I care about your brother. I’ll help look for him any way I can. Now come upstairs and let me see if I can find you a sweater to wear. The one you have is soaked.”

She followed him into a master bedroom almost as large as her whole apartment. It was furnished in earth tones with a plush beige carpet so thick, her feet sank into it with every step. She hesitated in the middle of the room while Seth riffled through the closet. At last he came up with a thick fisherman’s sweater.

“Believe it or not, this belonged to Anna. She left it here, and I almost forgot I still had it. Try it. I think you’ll find it will fit.”

When she stripped off her own damp sweater, it revealed her loose pink turtleneck. She watched as Seth’s eyes dropped once again to her stomach. Without the camouflage of her sweater, her swelling belly was more defined. He swallowed, but instead of saying anything, he turned away. Fatigue washed over her as she stared at the broad barrier of his muscled back.

“It fits,” she said, seeing no relaxation in his tense shoulders.

“I’ll get you a jacket.” He found a waterproof parka almost big enough for her to use as a sleeping bag. “This will have to do. It will at least keep you dry, which is more than can be said for what you arrived in.”

Tessa nodded, sensing not one bit of softening from him.

He put her in the Escalade and started the engine. “We’ll try Barrett first.”

“Thanks, Seth. Thanks for helping.”

He grunted in reply and put the car into gear without looking at her.

* * * *

Seth’s eyes narrowed as he noticed the way the rain was hardening on the windshield. The weather had deteriorated even more by the time they arrived at Barrett. Seth parked out front on the deserted street and used his key to get in. A security guard met them at the door.

“Mr. Barrett!” the guard said in surprise. “Welcome back! It’s been a while.”

“Thanks, Charlie. We’re looking for a little boy, eleven years old with red hair and freckles. Have you seen him anywhere?”

The guard shook his head. “No, sir. And that’d be one boy it would be hard to forget. The police were already here earlier today, and I told them the same thing.”

Seth put an arm around Tessa’s shoulders and pulled her into his side. “Thanks, anyway, Charlie.”

“No problem, sir. I’ll let you know if I see anything.”

“Seth?” She was crying. He heard it in her voice as she got into the SUV. He started the engine once again. The drizzle had turned into freezing rain. Seth stared out at the weather.

“Any other ideas? What does he like to do?”

“Besides video games, the only thing he’s ever shown an interest in was sailing…”

They stared at one another.

“Do you think?” Seth ventured.

Tessa shook her head. “I don’t see how. That’s all the way over at the bay.”

Seth stared at her tear-streaked face. He had a gut feeling, but he knew she was reluctant to go that far.

“I have to check, Tessa. You know that. Do you want me to take you home?”

She huddled in the overlarge parka and shook her head. “No. If he were going to come to my apartment, he would be there already.” Hurt pushed through her words. Was it the pain of knowing that Zach had apparently run from her as well?

Seth drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he looked out at the weather. The wind was beginning to come up now, almost as if what they were getting were developing into a Nor’easter. “Let me call the marina and have them check the Wistful.”

Tessa nodded. “I’m petrified, Seth. Where is he? He called me from his new school to tell me how unhappy he was, but all I did was urge him to hang in there. I didn’t take to heart how desperate he was to get away from Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin. This is all my fault.”

“Don’t start trying to assign blame…” Seth broke off as his phone was answered. He explained what was going on, then waited impatiently while they checked Wistful’s berth. “What do you mean the Wistful’s not in her moorings?” Seth’s gut clenched and he ordered, “Alert the Coast Guard. I have reason to believe she’s been taken out by an eleven-year-old boy. I’m on my way, and I want someone ready with a boat to take me out.”

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and looked at Tessa’s eyes, wide pools of ice blue in a face so pale it looked like milk glass in the gray, wintry light.

“Seth?” she questioned. He heard the fear in her voice. It was a living thing about to consume her. He reached for her and cradled her face, his thumbs brushing at the tears that welled and ran down her cheeks.

“I will find him, Tessa. Do you hear me? I will find him and bring him back to you.”

They headed for the marina, but the going was slow as the temperature continued to fall and the wind continued to rise. As the wiper blades swished back and forth, Seth watched the moisture sliding like syrup in front of them. At the edges of the window, it bunched up into a row of half-melted slush even the defroster couldn’t quite destroy. Zach was out in this somewhere. Trying to sail. God, let him have enough sense to seek shelter.