Guarding Gaby Read online

  Linda smiled and stroked her belly. “Things change. I married Hank the summer after my freshman year. This is Cabrera-Latham number four.”

  “Four children?” Gaby blurted.

  A line appeared between Linda’s brows. “I love having babies. Raising children may not rate high in the big city scheme, but it’s important to us peons. It’s the way we shape the future, by the values we teach them.”

  The defensiveness in Linda’s tone had Gaby lifting her palms. “Of course it’s important. I was just…surprised.”

  “You saw me with them at the funeral.”

  She had registered nothing but a blur of faces. “I’m sorry. I was—”

  Linda crossed the distance between them. “No, I’m the one who should apologize. Of course you don’t remember. You were in shock. We all were.” She laid one hand on Gaby’s forearm. “Your father was a good man. He kept to himself, but he was never unkind, just—” Linda fell quiet.

  Gaby could too easily complete the sentence. “Lonely. Because his no-good daughter had abandoned him,” she said bitterly.

  “Don’t, Gabriela. He never said that. He was…proud of you.”

  “Oh, great,” Gaby said, pulling from Linda’s grasp. “Rub it in, why don’t you. I wasn’t here when he needed me.” Driving to Alpine suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

  “None of us were.” Linda’s voice held its own regrets. “No one expected this. I didn’t even know Eli was in town.”

  “Eli? Why do you bring him up?”

  Linda flushed. “I—It’s just that—”

  “Tried and convicted him already just like Chad, have you? Does the whole town feel that way?”

  “Gabriela, I heard the rumors, but I didn’t want to believe them. You and Eli kept quite a secret, didn’t you? He had plenty of reason to hate your father, and there was his mother’s death.” Linda shook her head slowly. “Two fires…”

  “I don’t believe he would do such a thing,” Gaby insisted. “He was always taking in injured animals and healing them. He loved his mother, I’m sure of it.”

  “Then why was he seldom at home? I can understand being embarrassed by her reputation, by how she barely kept him in clothes and most of those secondhand or patched, but he acted as if he hated her.”

  “When? Did you ever bother to get to know him? Did anyone?”

  Eli might have left her without a word, but she couldn’t bear to hear him so easily blamed. No one had ever understood him the way she had.

  The way she thought she had, she amended. What did she really know but what he had allowed her to see?

  “He didn’t let people get close to him. He didn’t even talk to you at school, for heaven’s sake. What on earth did you see in him, Gabriela?”

  A boy who had never learned to play, she nearly answered. A heart that begged for care.

  But Gaby was abruptly too tired to discuss Eli with anyone. A night spent tossing and turning was catching up to her. “I’m just here to pick up a few things, Linda.”

  Linda arched one eyebrow but gestured to the shelves. “Most items are exactly where they always were. Change comes slowly to Chamizal.” Her tone was stiff with injury.

  “Thank you.” It was the best Gaby could do right now. For a second, she paused. Glanced back. “And thank you for coming to Papa’s funeral.” Linda’s expression didn’t ease, so Gaby forced herself to try harder. “Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?”

  “We don’t like to find out ahead of time. We enjoy the surprise. Our children are God’s gifts, whatever the sex.”

  So it would be like this, strangers now. Gaby made her way to shelves stacked with the essentials of the mixed culture that was Chamizal—potato chips and saint’s candles, white bread and ristras of peppers. She made random selections, not bothering with her grocery list. Dog food, she remembered, but otherwise, she walked the aisles by rote and filled her basket. At the last instant, she bought a candle for the Virgin of Guadalupe, her mother’s favorite.

  Rounding one corner, she halted before a display of tiny sugar skulls and abruptly recalled that Día de los Muertos was coming up in just over a month.

  The Day of the Dead, a long-standing celebration dating back to Pre-Columbian days, was held on November second. It had, over time, blended indigenous and Catholic customs of All Saints Day on November first and All Souls Day on November second. Deceased loved ones were honored in a tradition that included building altars featuring a photo of the loved one along with his favorite foods and items. Families gathered at the cemetery in a party atmosphere, both paying homage to their dear departed and inviting them to join the living for a day of fun.

  Marigolds or cempasúchil, from the Nahuatl word cempoalxóchitl, was the flower of the dead and appeared everywhere. Likewise, skeletons were a part of the decorations. Certain foods were traditional, such as pan de muerto and mole. Soap was frequently displayed in each collection because the journey home was dirty.

  Gaby had made her own altar to her mother the first year, but her grief-stricken father had refused to contribute, to even acknowledge it, much less have a party. She had lost heart and never tried again, but now, she couldn’t stop her fingers from stretching out, cupping one sugar skull tenderly. Lifting it over her basket.

  Would Papa’s spirit even come to the party if she held one for him? Gaby couldn’t be sure. She would be back in New York by then, anyway. She started to set the skull back on the shelf, but in the end, she couldn’t. Perhaps Papa wouldn’t attend, but Mama might.

  There would be places in Manhattan to find Día de los Muertos items—the city was a stew of cultures and there were many, many Latinos. This skull would not survive the flight home.

  But still, she cradled it in her hand as she strode to the register.

  Linda glanced at the skull and up to Gaby’s face. For an instant, it seemed that they might connect.

  But someone entered the store, and the moment was broken. Linda checked her out in silence, but when it came time to pay and Gaby proffered her credit card, her former friend merely shook her head and held out the book that had been used at Cabrera’s since long before either of them were born. Gaby signed the ledger page reserved for Frank Navarro and noted the unpaid balance. At her first opportunity, she would have money sent to the bank in Alpine and return to Cabrera’s to pay them in cash.

  One more reminder of affairs she had to settle to get on with her life.

  “Goodbye,” she said to Linda at the door.

  “Come back soon, Gabriela.” In Linda’s voice, Gaby almost thought she heard wistful echoes of friendship, however long ago it had existed. How changed they were now.

  An uncertain smile was the only answer she could give as she departed.

  Eli paced, as he had ever since he’d detoured by her house when he should have been resting. Instead, he’d lain awake, imaging Gaby with Chad.

  It shouldn’t matter. He had no business being here. She had no place in his quest. She needed to return to New York, where she’d be safe from the coil of scandal and murder he was attempting to unwind without the benefit of help from the experts. He was alone in this journey to clear himself.

  If she’d simply go, he’d never need to talk to her again. There was nothing to discuss, anyway. He’d been hurt, but he was over her. They’d been kids, and he’d gotten too involved. Believed they’d shared more than they had.

  Yet despite all that, he wanted to see her again.

  But only to ask her why she’d walked away so easily. Left him behind like a summer fling.

  Fool. Idiot.

  Paco shied from the ferocity of his brush strokes. Dirt rose in puffs from the horse’s coat.

  “Sorry, buddy. The woman’s got me all worked up.” He forced himself to slow the pace. To relax tense muscles. It was nothing to him what Gaby did with her time. If she wanted to spend every day and night with that slick sonofa—

  Eli whirled and threw the brush as hard as he could into th
e pen outside the barn. It sailed over the fence and clear out of sight.

  Paco shifted, and Eli knew he had to get a grip on himself. To be here in daylight was foolish. He couldn’t chance revealing the location of his hideout. He had nowhere else to stay that wouldn’t expose others to the risk of attracting Chad Anderson’s attention.

  He released a long, frustrated sigh and let his head fall back against the side of the stall. To contemplate waiting hours in the confines of his cave with only mental images of Chad’s hands on her, his—

  The sound of an engine roused him. Quickly, he crossed to the door.

  Gaby. Time for him to slip away. He watched for his chance as she carried groceries inside.

  But she reemerged too quickly. Started toward the barn.

  The dog darted toward her like a bullet.

  She smiled, and it was like basking in sunshine. “Hey, Buddy!” She knelt and indulged in a good rub. After a couple of minutes of petting, she sank her face into the dog’s neck and simply held on. “Thanks, fella. Just what the doctor ordered.”

  Eli observed from the shadows.

  And envied the dog.

  But when Gaby rose and approached the barn, he was forced into quick action. The structure was simple and small, with few places to hide. If he’d had a little more time, he could have caught a rafter and swung into position over her head.

  If he hadn’t spent precious seconds looking at her.

  But too late for that. He ducked into the shadowy recesses of the stall across and one down from Paco’s. If he angled his body just right, he could still see the horse.

  Still view the girl who had haunted his dreams. How beautiful she was. Definitely a woman now, and ripe for a man’s hands.

  Damn it. She’s not for you. She never was.

  And she’d abandoned him when he’d needed her most.

  “Hey, boy,” she crooned as she approached Paco. The horse eagerly stuck his head over the bars. “I don’t have a treat for you. I’m sorry.”

  Here, where she thought herself unobserved except by animals, she sounded more like the eager girl who’d shared herself so freely with him, her unfettered thoughts, her most ambitious hopes…her fears and her dreams.

  Oh, those had been the days. Man, they’d been young—or she had, at least. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been a kid. Nonetheless, for the precious hours they were able to steal, he’d been less wary than usual, more willing to venture into trust.

  Big mistake.

  She extended one slender hand over Paco’s muzzle, giggling faintly as the horse sucked her fingers into his mouth. “Oh, you sweet baby…what am I going to do with you when I go?” She laid the side of her head against his and stroked over his jaw.

  When I go. She would, of course.

  She shook her hair back and straightened. He saw the glimmer of tears on her cheeks and hardened his heart to remember what was at stake.

  “Surely Papa has some kind of treat out here.” She stopped. Bit her lip. “Had, I mean.” For a second, her expression was devastated, then once again she gathered herself.

  Grudgingly, Eli admired her control. The soft, vulnerable girl he’d loved had fulfilled the promise of strength he’d predicted.

  Then she turned in his direction.

  Eli pressed himself into the darkest corner, suddenly and surprisingly not ready. For years, he’d longed to have it out with her, to demand to know why she’d let him down. Make her admit she’d lied. That she’d never really loved him, after all.

  Now he wasn’t sure what he wanted.

  Gaby drew nearly even with his position, and he absorbed every detail: the tiny mole just below her right ear, the sleek sable of her hair, the lovely curve of her lips.

  Her step faltered, almost as if she sensed his presence. Her head swiveled in his direction.

  Eli held himself motionless.

  Then the dog trotted right through the opening of the stall.

  Headed directly for him.

  “What is it, boy?” Gaby asked. “What do you—”

  Movement, there in the shadows. Her throat clenched. This isn’t the city, Chad had warned. She started to back away, seeking something to use as a weapon. “Here, Buddy. Get back. You’ll—”

  A man stepped out of the shadows. Big. Strong. Unsmiling.

  She tensed. Prepared to flee. “Who are you? What do you—”

  Then blue eyes locked on hers. A huge fist clenched around her breastbone. Shoved out all room for breath.

  Eli. So changed he was.

  But deep in her blood, in her marrow, she knew him.

  He stared at her without speaking, and she devoured him with her own gaze, cataloguing the differences. The years had altered nearly everything about him—he was taller, more muscled, his dark hair was longer, the bones of his face had emerged.

  But those solemn eyes that had once been her world…

  “Eli.” A whisper was all she could manage. She summoned muscles gone slack with shock and stepped forward, wishing—

  What? To turn back the clock? To undo all their mistakes? If such could be managed, she’d change so many things, all the way back to when he’d been beaten and left for dead in the desert.

  Except then, all those other nights wouldn’t have existed, nor would the precious hours they’d spent together in darkness. Food for her soul, however devastating their end was.

  She swallowed to moisten a throat gone desert dry. “Why are you here?” The words came out harsher than she’d intended.

  One dark eyebrow rose. “Good question.” His voice was cold, distant. Nothing like the one she’d heard in her sleep. Or that of the boy she’d loved.

  “Chad is hunting you,” she managed at last. “For killing my father.”

  “Maybe you should call him,” he challenged.

  She blinked. “But—”

  “Leave, Gaby. Go home to New York.”

  Betrayal was a poison-filled dart. “You—you knew where I was all this time, and you didn’t—” Come to me?

  “That was over a long time ago.”

  If ever she’d dreamed—and she had—of a future meeting, she’d imagined they’d fall into one another’s arms, that the magic would be there again, only stronger. They’d make love, and their coming together would be unforgettable. Life-altering.

  She tore herself from memory to reality. The stern man who stood before her was no one she knew.

  The chasm between them hurt more than it should have. She reached for her pride. “No, we’ve outgrown childish folly.” She wondered if anything she’d believed back then had been true. “I’m heading for New York as soon as possible.” Only this instant had she decided that. Forget the two weeks. “There’s nothing for me here.”

  He studied her with a look that seemed to go right through her. “So easy to walk away from the people who need you.”

  Her eyes widened. You cheered me on. Told me to aim high. And you left me first. “I have another life now. I’m moving up in the world.”

  “The world’s a big place,” he mocked. “I find that New York has an inflated sense of its own importance. Not everything’s about money or fame.”

  Never, not once, had he been cruel to her. Made fun of her. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am.”

  “And where is that, Gaby? A magazine focused on the insecurities of women? Slaves to fashion or the latest fad diet?”

  Despite her own recent misgivings, she bristled at his dismissal of everything she’d accomplished, even as she raged at his obvious familiarity with details of her existence. The realization that he could have contacted her at any time. “Who are you to tell me what’s worthwhile? You have no right, not after you—”

  “Quiet—”

  She bristled—then she heard a vehicle’s roar, turning onto the road leading to this house.

  He grasped her arm and yanked her into the shadows with him.

  Memories swamped her at the touch of his hand. “Let go of me.”
r />   “It’s Loverboy.” He released her abruptly. “Go ahead. Tell him I’m here.” His eyes blistered hers with challenge.

  But she recalled how he’d always used bravado to mask fear. “However much you’ve changed, I can’t believe you had anything to do with my father’s death.”

  A second of what might be gratitude flickered, quickly shuttered. “Oh, I was involved, all right, but I didn’t kill him.”

  “What do you mean—”

  Just then, Chad’s pickup braked to a halt.

  “Stay here,” she said. “We need to talk.”

  “There’s nothing to discuss.”

  She paused at the entrance to the stall to cast him one astonished glance. “You can’t possibly believe that.”

  Chad’s door slammed. Long strides took him to the front door. When no one answered, he dropped from the porch and stalked around. “Gabriela—” he called.

  “I’m going to send him on his way, then I’ll be back.”

  “Don’t. Stay out of this.”

  “It’s my father who died.” She dug in. “Promise you’ll come to me after dark, when it’s safer.”

  “No. Pack up and get out.”

  “I won’t. I’ll come looking for you. Eli, I’m even more stubborn than before.”

  For one instant, she thought she saw his lips slightly curve, but all too quickly, his features snapped back to grim resolve. “You won’t find me.” With one decisive push, he forced her into the light.

  Gaby struggled to shove Eli from her mind. Render her face impassive.

  “Hi, Chad.” Her heart was pounding so loud she was dizzy. “Are you okay?” As quickly as possible, she put distance between herself and the barn.

  “I called, and you didn’t answer.” He shrugged. “I got worried.”

  “I went into town to buy groceries. I’m a big girl, Chad.”

  “I know.” His expression was unrepentant. “Mostly I wanted an excuse to see you.”

  “We had breakfast.” Her nerves screamed with the knowledge that Eli was only yards away.