At the sound of Rae’s excited voice, Max vaulted off the bed and flung a blanket over Kellen, dragged the comforter over his shoulders, then stood blinking. “Wait,” he said. “There’s no video.”
“Right.” Kellen pulled the blanket off the bed anyway.
Still wrapped in the comforter, he headed toward the satellite station and flipped the switch. “Hi, honey. Did you make it home okay?”
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Rae could hardly speak—for about two seconds. Then she was off and running. “Bills Brooks took me on a tour over the top of the winery and I saw everything from the air, and I waved at everybody, and Grandma clutched her chest, and Mr. Brooks put the helicopter down right in front of the winery, and he told me when I got out to wave like the Queen of England, and I did!”
“That’s great, sweetheart.” Max gestured Kellen over. “So now you’re with your grandma?”
“I’m right here, Maximilian.” Verona sounded more than a little stern. “It was a thrill I wasn’t expecting to see my youngest granddaughter drop out of the sky with a stranger.”
Max looked helplessly at Kellen.
Kellen stepped up to the microphone. “We should have called you, Mrs. Di Luca, but after Rae left Max had to help me back into the lookout... This trip hasn’t been good on my hip and I don’t know if Rae told you, but I was shot.”
“Shot? She told me it was nothing but a scratch!”
“I did say that to her.” Kellen didn’t even have to work to put a chill in her voice. “Not long before I passed out.”
Pause. “Oh.”
“Mommy, are you okay now?” Rae asked.
Phooey. Kellen had wanted to scare Verona, not Rae. “After Zone sewed me up, I was fine. You saw him do it.”
“I want to be a doctor,” Rae announced.
“I thought blood made you sick.” Verona sounded surprised.
“It used to,” Rae said.
Before she’d seen a lot of it. Before Verona could connect the dots, Kellen asked, “Is Mr. Brooks still there?”
“He left before I could even thank him for bringing her home,” Verona said.
“He had to take the Triple Goddess someplace safe.” Rae sounded very serious. “Grandma, it’s an important historical artifact.”
Kellen and Max exchanged grins.
“I’m sure it is, whatever it is. And I’m sure your daddy is taking good care of your mommy.” With an edge in her voice, Verona said, “Maximilian, remember what happened last time you took care of Kellen Adams, and this time, practice safety!”
How did she know they were standing here naked except for some bedclothes? “Are you sure there’s no video?” Kellen mouthed silently at Max.
“Grandma, Mommy can’t help if she was shot at while she was saving me!” Rae was squaring off with her grandmother. Over Kellen.
Kellen dived toward the microphone. “Did you show your grandma the yarn that was your poor blankie? Did you ask her if she would teach me to crochet so I can put it back together for you?”
“What happened to your blankie?” Verona sounded angry.
“We used it for a spider web to catch the bad guys. Let me show you!” They heard Rae’s shoes clatter away at a run.
In a low voice, Verona asked, “She was in real danger, wasn’t she?”
“I’m afraid so,” Kellen said. “But she’s home with you now, safe and sound, and I promise I’ll never take her into danger again.”
Verona took two slow, audible breaths. “It wasn’t your fault. She’s a feckless child, adventurous to a fault, and I...thank you for keeping her safe. I’ve just been so frightened. So frightened.” Verona was making an excuse for herself, for her rudeness.
Kellen understood. “Of course. She is my daughter.”
“She’s very like you,” Verona said. It was not a compliment. But it was a fact.
Max was looking at Kellen, frowning, as if they were speaking in code. Which Kellen supposed, to a guy, they were.
“Verona, would you do something for me?” Kellen asked. “Would you call Yearning Sands Resort and talk to Birdie Haynes, tell her that I’m safe, and I’ll contact her as soon as I get off this mountain?”
“Of course. I’m glad to do that for you.” Verona took a breath. “Be safe. Be safe. I know how to crochet. I can put her blanket back together. I can even teach you to do it. But I can’t fix everything. So take care.”