“Good morning…my god, what was that blur?”
“Oh…Carter…no…no, I can’t…I don’t know how…oh, god, I think I’m going to be sick…” she was up and headed down the hall, half listening to him swearing.
He went to the large monitor and leaned in front of the camera. His gaze took in the two waiting faces at the same time his eyes skittered toward the hall. One finger rose apologetically.
“Hold that thought, please…I’ll be right back…oh, good morning,” he tossed quickly over his shoulder. “Anna! Anna, damn it…are you alright?”
Two bemused faces exchanged looks, both of them smiling. This was most certainly very unusual behavior from their son.
“Fine…I’m okay…Carter, I can’t…honestly…I don’t know how…”
“Just come over and sit down…say hello. They don’t bite and…” He finally managed to get hold of her wrist, tugging her back toward the computer. “Will you…lift up your feet, damn it.”
“No…no…”
“Want me to carry you over there?” He threatened with a low growl.
“You wouldn’t…Carter! Don’t you…I swear…” A loud, startled yelp filled the Saturday morning air. “Oh, god…I’m going to throw up on your floor…it’ll serve you right! Put me down, you…you…”
Carter plopped her into the chair, his hands on her shoulders firmly. “Stay.”
“Grrrrr…”
“I swear, you have the disposition of a feral cat at times,” he ground out, ignoring the laughter from the pair watching and listening to the proceedings.
Anna felt like she was caught in the lights of an oncoming vehicle. She froze, her breathing low and shallow.
Dark eyes widened as she took in the two women watching her.
“Good morning,” she whispered uncomfortably.
“Hello dear…”
“Good morning…I hope you’re alright?” Came the concerned, soft voice.
Anna looked from one woman to the other. One had silver blond hair pulled into a little bundle at her throat, an angular face and smiling pale brown eyes. The other wore her light brown hair in a short, straight bob that touched her shoulders, had high cheeks and bright blue eyes that sparkled as they appraised one another.
“Oh…fine, thank you…and you?” She heard her own high pitched voice and groaned softly.
Carter dragged another chair to her side, his arm along the back and resting on her shoulder.
“Alright…sorry about that…Anna Carson…my mother’s…left is Gail and right is Charlene, or Charlie,” he exhaled deeply and dragged his free hand through his hair. “That was exhilarating.”
“We’re doing very well, Anna,” Gail Shipley said with a smile.
“He has a girlfriend,” Charlie teased with a wink.
“I think I’m a little on the old side for the term,” Carter saw the humor and curiosity in their eyes. “But for the moment, I’ll accept it.”
“Well…she is a girl…and you are friends?”
“It’s up for debate at the moment,” Anna answered testily, her palm up and on her lips. “Sorry…I…”
“Oh, no, dear, please…always be honest with us,” Gail said through her happy laughter. “I have to admit, listening to Carter the last few minutes puts an appealing dent in his unusually calm façade.”
“It’s maddening,” Anna agreed softly.
“So how did the pair of you meet? I can’t tell you…” Charlie looked over at Gail with a little frown. “He never brought a girl home before, did he?”
“Never. We’d see him talking to plenty at school when he thought we weren’t watching if we picked him up or dropped him off…” Gail chuckled at the groan from their son. “I think he believed he was hiding them from us…”
“He stalked me…”
“I contacted her to do landscaping at the house,” Carter said through his teeth.
Anna found their laughter interesting and smiled a little.
“You’re a landscaper? How fascinating,” Charlie said, watching the younger woman closely. “We have a house full of plants. With the heat outside, we’re limited on what we can put in the yard, though. Ours is a mow free area.”
“That’s what he wants around the house. I did some drawings for him, but,” Anna frowned slightly. “He wouldn’t discuss it over lunch and…well…”
“It’s a long story,” Carter said smoothly.
“Do tell…” Gail arched a brow, chuckling at the unusual blush on his cheeks. “Has he taken you on interesting dates, Anna?”
“Hmm…not so much…he drugged me and brought me here last night,” she answered without thinking, the sharply drawn in breaths and the low groan at her side had her head swiveling. “Oh…that probably…”
“Anna has nightmares,” Carter began slowly, his head shaking even as humor filled his eyes. “She is also part of a twin set. Aaron had to go out of town for a few days. When he’s gone, Anna doesn’t sleep well, she eats less and makes herself ill.”
“I am old enough to take responsibility for my choices,” Anna declared stiffly.
“So Aaron gave me some of the sleeping tablets her doctor gave her – that she refuses to take – and I put them in her protein drink,” Carter continued. “I brought her here because it was closest to her office, where she wanted to sleep, instead of going home.”
“I remember most of it…I had planned to be very angry this morning,” Anna told them with a sigh. “He’s very good at diffusing things…and distracting. I don’t know how my clothes got all over the room…but you raised a gentleman, thank you for that.”
“You lost your clothes?” Gail asked when she was sure she could keep the laughter inside at the expression on Carter’s face.
“I was responsible for one boot,” he murmured, trying to remind himself that he had volunteered for this. “And it went soaring over my head when you decided to try kicking it loose.”
“Sorry about that…those pills make me a little loopy,” she said with a wince.
“How fun…so tell me, Anna…three things that you like about our son,” Charlie asked with a little laugh.
“Hmm…I have to find three…”
“Notice she’s smart enough not to ask what you dislike,” Carter teased, his fingers moving gently along her neck.
“He has beautiful eyes,” Anna said after a very short pause, blinking and staring at him for a minute. “He has a wonderfully intelligent, dry sense of humor…” she felt something inside her catch. “And he’s not afraid of my temper.”
“Anna…” He saw the moisture in her eyes.
Anna moved to stand up, shaking her head slightly. “No, you talk to your family. I’m going to look at a few things around the outside. It was very nice meeting you both.”
“And a delightful pleasure to meet you, Anna,” Charlie told her honestly.
“I’m sure we’ll talk again,” Gail said, her gaze on the pale green eyes behind the lenses that watched the younger woman leave. “Carter? Are you alright?”
“Mother’s intuition?” He asked, leaning back and sighing thickly. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.”
“It seems fostering a house of honesty comes in handy,” Charlie teased lightly. “It’s a new feeling for you. But I know what you mean,” she said, her hand holding tightly to the smaller palm on the desk at her side.
“Why does she have nightmares, Carter?” Gail asked, concern in her voice. She’d been a physician’s assistant for too long to miss the hints.
Both of them saw the apprehension on his face, knew the gesture when he raised both hands and rubbed his shoulders. Pale lashes closed for a few seconds behind the lenses.
“Carter, it’s perfectly alright if you don’t want to talk about it,” Charlie told her son gently. There were times it was very easy to forget he was a grown man. “She’s beautiful.”
“Yeah…she is…but she doesn’t see it,” he said quietly. “Anna and Aaron had a really different upbringing than a lot of people. She’ll be the first to tell you they had it easy compared to most kids in bad situations. The nightmares come from one incident that…she can’t shed sometimes.”
“It only takes one,” Gail agreed softly. “Perhaps another time…”
Carter offered up a little laugh. “I’ve lost her to her notebook and the plants, mom, just give me a minute to…Anna tells it in stages…I’m still wrapping my head around a lot of it.”
“You said she was part of a set of twins?”
“Yes…Aaron…I’d also bet if they were ever IQ tested, it would fly off the charts,” he said, recalling things she had told him. “They remember reading and writing when they were two. Anna has a journal she started when she was four of events and impressions and drawings she’s made. They had what she calls parental units…they birthed them, but had no interest at all in them. They were taught to basically fend for themselves very early. Anna says learning toys of all kinds were always brought to them, their clothes were kept laundered and they had a fridge and microwave at their disposal. The fridge was kept stocked. What she described as their room sounds like a very large library…shelves of books, a big desk and their beds and dressers.”
“I…” Gail blinked, trying to take in what she was listening to. “A journal at four?”
“Their birthday is in March…she tells me they began going to the library when they turned four, just a couple little kids sitting there reading all day,” he laughed at the thought. “The paternal grandparents provided the house and all the goods. Her parents were evidently involved in drug sales and distribution. Anna has drawings in her journal of people she met and things she’d seen. At the time, she didn’t know what they were, but as she got older….like the incident that causes the nightmares. When it happened, she only knew she was terrified,” Carter inhaled deeply. “When she got older, she realized what the man had intended.”
“And I’m sure that cemented the nightmare even more firmly,” Charlie shook her head. “It’s always baffled me…so many children in need of…just…”
“No high blood pressure this morning, Charlie,” Gail tightened her fingers on her partner’s palm.
“She remembers being taken in limos to visit the paternal grandparents every couple weeks. But it stopped just after they were eight and no one ever said why. She believes there was a disagreement between grandparents, which is why they never met the maternal grandparents,” Carter rubbed his neck. “July of the year they were four, they were at the library and returned to a house surrounded by federal agents. Their belongings were removed and they were taken off in a limo to another house. No one ever told them what happened, but…”
“Anna is a very inquisitive sort,” Gail said with a knowing nod.
“She and Aaron are extremely talented with the computer. Between that and libraries, I’m not sure much would remain unknown to them,” Carter said with a twinge of pride.
“But with information also comes sadness,” Charlie said softly, feeling the pain in her son.
“Once you open the box…” Carter shrugged. “It’s not a part of her that I’d change.”
“Does she have a temper, Carter?” Charlie asked delicately, a pale brow arching at the wince on her sons handsome face. “Hmmm…”
“I might have…” He paused, searching for words as he dragged one palm over his face.
“Now where have we seen that expression before, Charlie?” Gail chuckled.
“You know I locate people for inheritance and other reasons,” Carter began again. “Anna is a landscaper with a highly successful nursery. And the maternal grandparents hired me to find them.”
“Ahhh…so there might have been just a little…” Charlie sighed.
“Deception?” Gail suggested mildly.
“I was thinking provocation,” Charlie chuckled. “Or even justification for the temper.”
“I approached her to contract her for the landscaping. I wasn’t totally convinced she was the one I was searching for. Records and all indications said they had died in the house explosion, even if there were no bodies to find,” Carter said the words at the same time he realized he hadn’t quite gotten to that part yet.
“House explosion?” Gail worked to keep her voice from rising and failed.
“Did I mention that Anna is thirty-three years old and this story begins when she was four?” Carter shook his head.
“Short and concise?” Charlie suggested.
“A little past the age of four, feds broke up the drug house, the kids were tossed into a limo and taken to another house. Evidently the grandparents didn’t want them living with them, since I don’t know that side, I don’t know why. They were set up with what Anna calls minders…a housekeeper and tutor. From four to just short of fourteen, that’s what their lives were. But somehow…Anna says she just knew she had to arrange another life. Instincts…I don’t know. They moved personal things to a storage unit…got the housekeeper to stand them and got registered in public school…intuition, maybe…but she has it strongly enough to get her and Aaron out of the house when some strangers in suits appeared,” he heard the small gasps from the speakers.
“It’s no wonder the poor girl has nightmares.”
“News claimed gas rupture. But I’m not so sure…and I know there’s more that Anna hasn’t told me yet. Anyway, they got out, started another new life and like she says…adults don’t bother you if things are going smoothly,” Carter saw her sitting out on the wide ledge of rock wall. “And how are things in Arizona?”
“I think you need to go spend time with Anna,” Gail told him with a chuckle. “We’re healthy and fine and we still miss you.”
“She doesn’t know how to deal with parents,” Carter said quietly. “I got the feeling she’s afraid of making mistakes…”
“Perhaps she wanted to impress us, dear?” Charlie said with a shake of her head.
“I love you both…thanks for listening,” he stood up and stretched as they finished their good byes. Yes, he was very glad he had been found, he thought, sliding the patio door open and stepping onto the smooth, deep red tiles.