Valentine's Secret Child

“Listen.” He looked at her so intently, scanning her face in a way that seemed both eager and hungry at once. A funny thrill skittered through her. And the warmth in her stomach seemed to expand outward, to radiate all through her.

My God. I’m attracted to him—and he feels it, too….

After all these years. Who knew? He’d changed so much. And then there was DeDe. God. What would he do when she told him about DeDe?

He said, “I believe in keeping it simple and direct.”

“Oh. Yes. I prefer that, too.” But obviously not that direct. Or she would have told him already that he was a dad.

No. Really. Bad idea, to just blurt it out, out of nowhere, with that professor lurking behind them, waiting to lead Mitch off to who knew where.

Mitch asked, “Are you married? Engaged? With someone special?”

A short burst of surprised laughter escaped her. “Well, that was simple and direct. And the answers are no, no. And no.”

“Perfect.”

She actually found herself teasing him. “Which no do you mean?”

“All of them.” The air seemed to crackle around them. With energy. With…heat. He said, “I’ve got this faculty party I have to be at right now, but I’m in town ’til Thursday morning. How about dinner tomorrow night?”

Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day. How weird was that? To go out with her child’s father, whose name was now Valentine…on Valentine’s Day?

Weirdness aside, though, dinner would work. Just the two of them, sharing a table in a quiet restaurant. It would be a good opportunity—if there was such a thing—to break the news.

He said, “You’re taking too long to answer. I’m getting worried you’ll say no again—this time to me.”

Her cheeks felt too warm. She couldn’t resist. “No.” She paused just long enough for him to look disappointed. Then she added, “I’m not saying no.”

He laughed, then. “Seven?”

“Fine.” She hurried right on, before he could suggest that he would pick her up. “I’ll meet you at the restaurant, if that’s all right?”

“However you want it.”

She’d put a business card in her pocket, ready for this moment. “Here’s my work number and my cell, just in case…” Their fingers touched in the space between them. So strange. After all these years, the two of them, standing here. Breathing the same air, his hand brushing hers…

His skin was warm. Dry. And only slightly rougher than her own.

He produced a card and handed it over. It was thick vellum, green with black lettering, a personal card, just his name and a couple of phone numbers.

“If you need to call, use the first number,” he said. “It’s my cell.”

“All right.”

“Shall I ask around, get some recommendations for the right restaurant, or do you know where you’d like to eat?”

She named a place in midtown, on 28th Street. “It’s quiet there,” she said. “And the food’s good.”

“I remember it,” he said. “A Sacramento landmark. Though we never could afford to eat there, back when…” The place wasn’t terribly expensive, but for two kids with no money, it had seemed so—And Dr. Benson must be getting impatient, because Mitch was glancing over her shoulder and nodding. “Right there…”

She stepped back. “I’ll let you go then.”

“Until tomorrow…”

“Seven. I’ll be there.”

Tanner was stretched out on the couch in the family room at the back of the house, channel-surfing, when Kelly got home. He turned off the TV and reached over to set the remote on the coffee table when she came in through the dining room.

He didn’t get up right away, but braced his right arm behind his head and regarded her through lazy, dark brown eyes. “You’re late. I was practically asleep.”

“At twenty after ten? You know you never went to sleep this early in your life.”

He sat up then, kind of stiffly. He’d been in a car accident six weeks before and had only gotten the casts off his left arm and leg a few days ago. A week or two more, his doctors said, and even the residual stiffness should disappear. He yawned. “Good speech?”

“Excellent.”

“What was that name again?”

“Mitch Valentine.”

He shrugged. “Never heard of him.”

She only smiled. She’d made up her mind on the drive home not to tell Tanner that she’d found Michael at last until after she’d managed to tell Mitch about DeDe. It seemed right that she should come clean with Mitch, first and foremost.

But she and her brother were very close. Guilt nagged her, to hold out on him this way.

He was frowning. “Okay, what’s going on?”

And she couldn’t go through with it, couldn’t hold the truth back. Not from Tanner, who was her beloved big brother, her rock, the first one to show her what it could be to have a real family. She came and sat beside him and took his hand. “Is DeDe asleep?” She pitched her voice barely above a whisper.

His brow crinkled with concern. “She went to bed at nine. I checked on her about fifteen minutes ago. Dead to the world.”

“Good. I…”

“God, Kell. What?”

“Mitch Valentine? The guy who was speaking tonight?”

“Yeah?”

“He’s Michael.”

He looked every bit as stunned as she felt. “What the hell?”

“It’s true. Oh, Tanner. I’ve found Michael. At last…”

He let go of her hand. “Are you sure?”

Kelly bobbed her head up and down. “Oh, yeah. He’s Michael, though he’s changed a lot. You know how thin he was? Not anymore. He’s…buffed up. And he’s wealthy. Owns a couple of companies and he’s written a book about how he turned his life around.”

Tanner said patiently, “Kell. Listen. How can you be certain this guy is the kid you knew in high school?”

“What do you mean? I saw him, face-to-face. I talked to him.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes. I waited around after he spoke. The minute he saw me, he recognized me, too.”

“You really are certain.”

“I am. You wait. You’ll see. He’s changed, yes, but he’s still Michael.”

“Mitch Valentine. That’s the name he goes by now?”

“That’s right.”

“What’s going on with that? Why did he change his name?” Tanner wore his most unreadable expression. Kelly knew what that look meant. He’d be burning the midnight oil on the Internet tonight, using the various tools at his disposal as a P.I. to find out everything he could about the man named Valentine.

“Oh, Tanner. Come on. Don’t be so suspicious. I know you didn’t like him, but—”

“Sorry. I am suspicious. The guy vanishes into thin air. For ten years. And now he’s back and rich and buffed up—living under an assumed name?”

“Please. I left him and his mother died. A one-two punch. He took off, started over. And people do change their names, you know. It’s not as though it’s a crime.”

“But he didn’t tell you why he did it.”

“We talked for like, three minutes. There wasn’t time. Tomorrow, I’ll find out more.”

“Tomorrow?”

“We’re meeting for dinner. He’s leaving town Thursday.”

“To go where?”

“Haven’t a clue. All I know is somehow I have to get up the nerve to tell him he’s got a daughter.”

“And you want me to watch DeDe again, while you talk to him?”

“If you can…”

He was silent for a moment, then he nodded. “Of course I can.”

“Thank you.”

“When will you tell her?”

“Soon. After I tell him. I need to see how he takes it. I’ve waited so long to find him.” She shook her head. “And now I have, I have no idea how he’s going to react to this. I just…I don’t know. He’s the same, but so different. If that makes any sense at all.”

Tanner reached for her hand again. She gave it. He squeezed her fingers. “Damn. Not easy, huh?”

She let herself sag against him. “I can hardly believe this is happening.”

“Yeah. I hear you. Me, neither.”

She rested her head on his broad shoulder. “Tanner?”

“Huh?”

“At least we finally found him.”

“Right.” Something in his tone alerted her.

She straightened so she could see his face. “Please. Don’t feel bad because you weren’t the one who found him. I know you did everything you could. I always felt so awful for you. So many times I’ve asked you how the hunt was going. And each time you had to tell me you had nothing. I know how much you hated that.”

His dark gaze slid away, but only for a second or two. Then he looked straight at her again. “Listen. You found the guy. That’s what matters.”

She smiled then, in spite of her apprehensions. “Yeah. It’s happened, after so many years I’d begun to wonder if it ever would. Now I have to tell him that he’s got a daughter, that he’s missed the first nine years of her life. I have the strangest feeling he’s not going to take that especially well.”

Tanner scowled. “He’s the one who turned his back on you—and then ran away without leaving a clue as to where he’d gone. There’s no way he can expect you to have found him. He didn’t even keep the same name.”

“Tanner. Chill. Really, maybe I’m worrying over nothing. It’s not as if he was a mixed-up teenager anymore. He was perfectly charming. Sophisticated. With a great sense of humor…”

“Now I know for sure you’ve got the wrong guy.”

“Oh, stop.” She slapped him playfully on the arm and mentally added, He’s also sexy. Very, very sexy. She thought about the way Mitch had looked at her, the heat in those beautiful eyes, and suppressed a dreamy sigh.

Tanner grumbled some more. “The man had damn well better watch himself, that’s all.”

“Spoken like my own wonderful, protective big brother—and do not get yourself all worked up. I mean it. That’s an order.”

“Hell. All right.” He peered more closely at her. “You gonna be okay?”

“Oh, I hope so. I truly do.”

Chapter Three

Mitch got to the restaurant early. He’d called ahead and reserved a quiet corner table, but he wanted time to check it out personally before Kelly arrived, to make sure it was everything the guy who took his reservation had promised.

The place was nice. Kind of cozy. With an inviting bar, dimly lit, on one side, and a quiet dining room on the other. This time of year, the famous patio area was closed. But Mitch wasn’t complaining. The table he’d reserved was just as he’d hoped, tucked away in a corner under a muted overhead light. On the snowy-white linen tablecloth, there was a curvy candle, of clear glass, the kind that burned oil. And a white magnolia blossom floated in a square crystal vase.

“Thank you. It’s just right,” he told the host as he pressed a fifty into the man’s palm. He took the chair with a clear view of the entrance and ordered Tanqueray on the rocks. When the drink came, he sipped it slowly and suppressed an ironic smile.

Crystal, his friend in L.A. who insisted on telling people he was her brother, would have a good laugh on him if she were here.

Good thing she wasn’t—not only because she knew him too damn well and never had a problem blabbing what she knew, but because he desperately wanted Kelly to himself.

Hell. Desperately?

He was bad off here, no doubt about it. A few minutes with Kelly again after a decade, and she was all he could think about. He was head over heels and falling fast.

All over again.

Was he ready for this?

As if he knew.

The host reappeared in the arch at the entrance, with Kelly right behind him.

The sight of her hit him like a punch to the gut. Her soft brown hair was chin-length now. The cut brought out her blue eyes and her mouth like a red bow. There had always been something…retro about her. He could picture her living way back in the Roaring Twenties, with a long string of pearls and a hip flask, dancing the Charleston ’til dawn. She wore a gray skirt that clung to her hips and flared at the hem. And a red blouse under a short jacket. She carried her coat over her arm.

She spotted him. Their glances held as she came toward him. He saw excitement in her eyes, an eagerness to match his own. That ripe bud of a mouth trembled on a smile. Was she nervous?

If she was, he understood. He was nervous, too.

He rose as the host pulled out her chair. They sat in unison. Then, when the host left, she got up and draped her coat behind her.

She asked for a glass of white wine and the waiter returned with it in no time.

And at last, they were left alone.

She smiled at him, the light from the candle glowing gold in her eyes. “So how did the book signing go?”

“I sold a lot of books and talked until my throat hurt. I think you could call it a success.”

“Congratulations.”

He shrugged. “I only hope the rest of the tour goes as well.”

“And tomorrow you leave for…?”

“Seattle. From there, I move east. Minneapolis. Chicago. New York. Then London, Paris, Stockholm and Berlin. And then back here to the States, to Dallas and L.A.”

“Impressive.”

“Well, the publicist I hired to set up the tour seems to think so. And I figure it can only help to get the word out.”

“How long will all that take?”

“Three weeks. I’ll be ready for a long rest by the time I get home.”

“And home is…?”

“Mostly Los Angeles at this point. Though FirstJob.com is headquartered in Dallas, so I spend several weeks out of the year there.”

“Wow,” she said. “I can’t get over all this. You really have come a long, long way.”

He arched a brow. “From the Summer Breeze Mobile Home Park, you mean?”

She raised her wineglass. “Here’s to you, Mitch.” He touched his glass to hers and they drank.

“Now,” he said, “about you…”

Something happened in her eyes. A certain…apprehensiveness. So. She had her secrets. He wanted to know them. Damned if he didn’t want to know everything about her, to learn all that had happened to her in the decade since he’d lost her.

She asked, “What about me?”

“Tell me everything.”

“Got ten years?”

“All right, all right. I guess I’ll have to settle for the condensed version.”

“Let’s see. Where to begin? I’m the director of the Sacramento County Family Crisis Center.”

“Sounds like an important job.”

“Well, the service the center provides is important, that’s for sure.”

“Nonprofit, right?”

She laughed. He’d pay millions for that, just to listen to that laugh on a regular basis. Say, daily—morning, noon and at least twenty times a night. “Spoken like a true capitalist,” she said.

“It wasn’t a criticism.”

“Well, good. And yes. We’re nonprofit. We offer family counseling and a children’s shelter for kids who need a place to go, temporarily, when there’s a big problem.” There was a proud gleam in her eyes.

“You believe in the work you do.”

“I do.”

“And you enjoy it.”

“Yes.” She ran a finger around the rim of her wineglass and slanted him a glance. “Mitch, I…” She seemed not to know how to finish.

He waited for her to go on. When she didn’t, he asked, “How’s your mom?”

She groaned and tipped her head back. “Oh, God. Now, there’s a story…” She leaned toward him. “You remember the famous Bravo Baby, kidnapped for a fortune in diamonds? The ransom was paid, but the baby was never returned to the parents.”

“Of course, I remember.” He reminded her, “You told me about him, back when we were together….”

“That’s right. I did, didn’t I? But ten years ago, nobody knew that the baby had lived, or who the kidnapper really was. I used to imagine I might be related to them, to that rich family named Bravo from Bel Air. I used to fantasize that I would go down there and knock on the door of their beautiful mansion. They’d know instantly that I was part of the family. They would want me to live with them, so I’d move into the mansion. I’d have a whole wing to myself….”

He couldn’t get enough of just looking at her. Her skin had a tempting glow. He ached to reach across the table and brush her cheek with the side of his hand. Would her eyes go soft, welcoming his touch?

He asked, “You always wanted that, didn’t you? A family of your own?”

“I did.”

Ten years ago, he’d wanted to be her family. He’d wanted to be all she’d ever need. He’d demanded to be the center of her world. And because of that, he’d lost her.

He said, “It was five or six years ago, wasn’t it, that they found out the Bravo Baby’s kidnapper had been his own uncle? I remember reading about it.” It was a major story, all over the wire services and the talk shows. The notorious Blake Bravo, who had previously been declared dead in an apartment fire, had stolen his own brother’s baby and lived for more than thirty years with no one knowing that he was very much alive the whole time. “He actually is dead now, right?”

“Yes. He’s dead.”

About then, Mitch realized where this story was headed. “Your own dad, the one you never met. His name was—”

“Blake. Yes. The Blake Bravo was my father. The Bravo Baby—all grown up now and living in Oklahoma City—is my cousin. And the famous Bravo Billionaire in his Bel Air mansion? He’s my cousin, too. I was related to my fantasy family the whole time. Also, as it turns out, Tanner and I have half siblings all over the country. Beyond being a kidnapper and other scary things, my father was a polygamist. He married a lot of women.

“He would marry them and get them pregnant and then abandon them. If he did return, it was only long enough to father yet another baby. Oh. And that reminds me. Tanner and I have a sister, too—a full sister. My mother had a third child neither of us ever knew about. My sister is a couple of years younger than me. Her name is Hayley. She’s married, with a new baby. Lives in Seattle.”

“Slow down a minute. You’re telling me that your mother had three kids and put them all in foster care….”

“And told each of us that us we were the only one. Yes.”

Mitch had met Lia Bravo a couple of times back in the day. A thin, quiet woman with a faraway look in her eye. “She never seemed strong, your mother.”

“She wasn’t. She had no education to speak of and she had trouble keeping a job. She couldn’t take care of us, and yet she would never agree to sign the papers so we could be adopted and maybe find new families for ourselves—and, as I said, she lied to us and never told us we had siblings. I don’t know what drove her to do the things she did. I’ll probably never know.”

“What drove her? Past tense?”

“She died last May. That’s how we found Hayley. We met her when we all just happened to show up in Mom’s hospital room at the same time.”

“Damn. That must have been quite a surprise.”

“Oh, yeah. I look back and realize it would have been the same with Tanner and me, that we probably wouldn’t have found each other until last year. We were lucky because Tanner vaguely remembered that there had been a baby when Mom put him in the system. Ten years ago, he had to practically blackmail her to get her to admit that yes, he did have a sister. One sister. She never did cop to Hayley’s existence. So another decade went by before we found her.”

He asked carefully, “You and Tanner are still close, then?”

“Very.” Her smooth brow creased. “You don’t still hate him, do you?”

Before he could answer, the waiter appeared. They took a few minutes to look at the menu and order.

Then they were alone again. And Kelly was watching him.

Time to face the music. From the moment he’d seen her the night before, standing there on the edge of that stage, he’d known he would find a way to be with her again—and that he would need to make amends.

He said, “I was way out of line. An idiot, ten years ago. Believe me, Kelly. I know that now. You heard me last night. It’s a major point in my book and my lectures that ultimatums just don’t work, but I made you choose between me and your newfound brother. All I can say is, I was eighteen and crazy in love with you and sure I would lose you—which, as it turned out, I did. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. It was stupid. And self-defeating. And wrong.”

Now her eyes were as soft as a summer sky. “So I left you—and then you lost your mom, too.”

“Pneumonia. At least it was quick. Sometimes I think she was relieved to go. She was never the same since we lost Deirdre—and my dad.” Deirdre had been two years his junior. She’d died at the age of nine, hit by a drunk driver while she rode her new bike home from a friend’s house down the street. His father couldn’t stand the loss of his adored daughter and deserted them soon after. His mom had done her best, but they couldn’t afford the house. She’d spent her remaining years in a cramped, single-wide trailer.

“Deirdre,” Kelly softly whispered. Her eyes welled with sudden tears.

He did reach across the table then. “Hey.” She let him take her hand. Damn, it felt good, just touching her. Her palm was soft and cool. “You would always cry, remember, whenever I talked about DeDe?”

She swallowed, nodded. “I…I knew you loved her very much. And nobody should die that young. It’s just…so sad.”

Even now, he could close his eyes and see her, his lost little sister. She would look up at him through those wide-set hazel eyes, trusting and proud to have him as her own big brother. “She was the greatest little kid. Nothing got her down, you know?”

Kelly glanced away. She swallowed again. “Mitch, I…”

“What? What’s the matter? Whatever it is, just say it. I can take it, I promise you.”

“Yes. I…well, I…”

The waiter arrived with their appetizers.

Kelly gently pulled her hand from his so the waiter could serve them. He asked if they wanted refills on their drinks. When they both passed, he left them.

“Now,” Mitch said, “what is it you keep trying to tell me?”

“It’s only that I…” she picked up her fork “…I want you to know that I did come back looking for you, a couple of months after I left….”

He shook his head. “Not a trace, huh?”

“No. The trailer had strangers living in it. They knew nothing about you. The guy in the park office told me about your mom and said he had no idea where you went. You’d left no forwarding address.”

“I had no forwarding address. And we were renting the trailer. The weekly payment came due. I didn’t have it. I realized I didn’t want to be there, anyway. So I took what I could fit in my backpack and I hit the road.”

“And you went…?”

“To Dallas. By way of L.A. and Las Vegas and Phoenix. I lived on the streets for about a year.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry….”

“Why? It wasn’t your fault. And living on the streets can be damn instructive—and you know what?”

“Hmm?”

“We’ve got this one evening. And then I’m on a plane tomorrow. Here we are again, after all these years. It’s like magic. And I don’t want to waste another minute of tonight talking about all the grim stuff we’ve been through since we were last together.”

Another of those beautiful smiles trembled across her mouth. “Oh, Michael.”

“Mitch,” he corrected.

She sighed. “Mitch.” She sent him a teasing look. “I like your attitude, Mitch.”

“Well, I’ve been working on it for the past decade or so. It’s good to know you see improvement.”

“Oh, I do.” She glowed at him. “I truly do. But as for the grim stuff, well, it’s what made us who we are, right?”

“That’s true.”

She sipped the last of her wine. He had the feeling she was about to reveal something important, one of those secrets he couldn’t wait for her to share with him, something about her life now that she found difficult to speak of. But then she only asked him more about himself.

“Your name. Why the change?”

He teased, “What? You don’t like the name ‘Mitch’?”

“I do like it. It just seems like a big step, I guess.”

“People do change their names. It’s more common than you might think.”