Beauty in Hiding Read online

  “I’m sorry.” She wiped her tears, filled two glasses with ice, added some tea, and slid one across to him. “I just miss her. I wish she’d come home.”

  He sipped it, said, “Thanks,” and set it on the granite countertop.

  “We haven’t heard from Harper since…in a while.” Her voice faded.

  “Since she was incarcerated?”

  “You know about that.” The woman’s tense shoulders relaxed just a bit. “When she called and told us what happened, my husband answered the phone. He was so angry with her that he refused to help her. He told her…” She swallowed, shook her head. “He told her never to call here again. Of course, he’s regretted that ever since. I finally convinced him we should go see her. We drove to Nevada, went to the prison.”

  They’d gone to see her? Harper hadn’t said that.

  “We should have gone sooner. Right away, but my husband… Anyway, she’d been released before we got there. Paroled.” The woman’s voice caught. “She didn’t even call. We had no idea how to find her. All she had to do was come home. That’s all we wanted.”

  “She thinks you hate her,” Derrick said.

  “How could I hate my own child?” With tears streaming down her face, she looked both older and more vulnerable than she had just moments before. “Where was she…? I mean, are you from Nevada, or—”

  “She and I met in Vegas, and we fell in love. She moved with me to Baltimore last spring.”

  The woman swallowed, whispered, “Maryland.” She pulled a paper towel from a rack near the stovetop and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize. I miss her too. I’m worried about her. I asked her to marry me, and she just… She didn’t say no, but she didn’t say yes, either. Just said she needed time. That was a week ago, and I haven’t heard from her since. I thought she’d come here, figured she wanted to reconcile with you guys and tell you the good news. Can you think of anyplace else she might have gone?”

  Mrs. Cloud shook her head. “I’m sorry. I have no idea. She hasn’t lived at home since she was eighteen. I’m sure there are a lot of things in her past we don’t know anything about. She lived in LA for a while, and you know about Vegas.”

  “Maybe other family members?”

  “If she’d gone to any of their houses, they’d have told us. Everyone in the family knows how desperate we are to see her again.”

  A dead end. Derrick let his head loll forward before he looked up again. “I’m sorry I bothered you. I didn’t mean to dredge up bad memories.”

  The woman sniffed. “Not at all. You seem like… I mean, we know her last boyfriend wasn’t exactly…” Her words trailed off again.

  Derrick ducked his head, smiled slightly. “I hope I’m a better choice. I think that’s what scared her away. She’s afraid to trust me.”

  “She’s not a great judge of character, especially of men.”

  “I understand the kind of guys she’s been with before. But I’m… Not that I’m a catch or anything. But I have a good job. I don’t break the law. I was hoping she and I could buy a house and…” He pursed his lips. “I can’t think about that, not until I find her.”

  “What can I do to help?” Mrs. Cloud asked. “We could hire a PI or something. We’ve talked about it before, but my husband thought, if she wanted to come home, she’d contact us. But if you think she might be in danger—”

  “I don’t know that we should assume that yet.” Derrick thought about the words Mrs. Cloud hadn’t said, the words she’d implied. We have money. That might come in handy. First, he had to win their trust, and he figured Harper’s dad wouldn’t be nearly as easy to win over as her mom had been. “I think she must’ve just gone somewhere to think things through. Maybe an old vacation spot or something?”

  The woman looked toward the ceiling before she met his eyes again. “We used to vacation in Eureka Springs. She loved it there.”

  Derrick pulled out his cell phone and tapped on an app to take notes. “Where is that?”

  “Arkansas. We always rented a cabin on Beaver Lake.”

  “Do you remember the name of the resort?”

  Her slight laugh died fast. “More of a campground than resort. I can’t remember the name off the top of my head, but my husband will know.”

  They exchanged cell phone numbers, and Mrs. Cloud promised to call him with the name of the campground after she’d spoken to her husband.

  “And you promise to call us when you find her?” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am. As soon as I know she’s safe.”

  “Promise me you’ll tell her…” The woman’s eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t bother to swipe them away. “Tell her how much we miss her. How badly we want her back.”

  “I promise.”

  Derrick left the house with the woman’s image in his mind. He would find Harper, and he might even tell her what her mother had said. But only after Harper helped him get the money. Otherwise, the woman would have to visit her daughter in the cemetery.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jack transferred the steaks to a platter and covered them with foil.

  “Something sure smells good,” Red said.

  Jack turned as the man shuffled in from the living room and sat at the table. “Steak au poivre.”

  Red’s eyes narrowed. “Sounds froufrou.”

  “Doesn’t smell froufrou, though,” Jack said.

  “Smells like heaven in a frying pan.”

  Jack had to agree as he added cream and pepper to the skillet and stirred. While that simmered, he checked the potatoes and vegetables in the oven. It was fun to have someone to cook for. Someone to appreciate him. He’d been cooking for one for too long.

  Not that Red was the dinner companion of his dreams. He’d had a few girlfriends in college, but nothing serious. When he’d moved to Nutfield, he’d figured he’d eventually meet the right woman. Until then, he’d focus on saving his pennies and building his real estate business.

  Now, it looked like he was well on his way with the business. What about the woman?

  He imagined Harper, those beautiful eyes, the way she smiled when she let her guard down. He’d love nothing more than to see that smile every single day of his life.

  It was too soon to start thinking of her like that. Way too soon.

  Ten minutes later, he prepared two plates and carried them to the table.

  Red leaned over his, pulled in a long breath, and said, “I’ll give you ten thousand dollars to teach Harper to cook.”

  Jack laughed as he sat beside him. “You’re a tough negotiator, old man.”

  After they said grace, Jack watched Red cut a small bite, dredge it in the creamy gravy, and pop it in his mouth. His eyes closed as he savored the meat. When they opened again, he said, “Okay, twenty thousand, but that’s my final offer.”

  Twenty thousand dollars to spend time with the woman he was falling for?

  His amusement faded as the truth of it settled in his belly with the steak. Yes, he was falling for Harper Cloud. Falling hard. And he couldn’t seem to keep his heart in line no matter how many times he told himself he was crazy to even consider getting involved with her.

  And it was crazy. The woman had kept as much from him as she’d told him, and he didn’t know how much of what she’d told him was the truth. She seemed shrouded in mystery, and not the good kind. The trouble kind.

  He knew women like that. Had a sister like that. A sister who couldn’t seem to pick the right guys or the right friends or the right jobs. Angel had been arrested so many times, Jack had lost count. A couple of times for drug possession, but she wasn’t an addict. Just an idiot. Most of her arrests were for shoplifting. The latest one had been thanks to a check-cashing scheme, and that stunt had landed her in prison. He thought she was still there, but his parents had quit updating him on Angel’s latest dramas. He didn’t want to hear about it. He prayed for her every day, but that was as much as he intended to be involved in her
life. It was sad, and it was wrong, but Jack had very little hope that his baby sister would ever get her life together.

  Jack had told himself he’d never become involved with a woman like that.

  Did Harper love the rush of life on the edge? Did she thrive on drama like Angel did? She must to some degree. Moving to LA, dancing in Vegas. How else would she have ended up as an entertainer at a strip club? She’d told him the story, and it made sense. But a rational person didn’t end up like that.

  Rational people grew up and got jobs and reconciled with their families. Or skipped the falling-outs all together.

  Which meant there was something off about Harper. And if that were the case, what was he doing letting her into his life?

  Was Harper like Angel, though? She seemed down to earth, devoted to her grandfather. She worked hard. She was reliable. Jack couldn’t say any of those things about Angel, who’d only ever been devoted to herself and hadn’t held down a real job more than a few months at a time.

  Maybe Harper wanted normalcy. Maybe, despite the lies and half-truths, she was trying to get her life together. Jack could feel differently about a woman who’d learned from her mistakes, couldn’t he?

  After the meal, Jack cleaned the kitchen, left a plate of dinner in the fridge for Harper, and joined Red in the living room. He opened a paper bag he’d carried in earlier and pulled out a DVD player.

  “What are we gonna do with that?”

  “Watch movies,” Jack said.

  “Don’t have any movies.”

  Jack reached into the bag and grabbed the two DVDs he’d ordered online, which he handed to the old man.

  His face broke into a wrinkly smile. “Marilyn Monroe.”

  “Those are the ones you and Steve were talking about the other day, right?”

  “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is my favorite.”

  “Then we’ll watch that first.” Jack hunkered down behind the TV with cords.

  “Bebe loved Marilyn.”

  Jack connected the HDMI cord. “Bebe was your wife?”

  “Yeah.” Red’s voice softened. “Lost her eight years ago. Cancer.”

  “I’m sorry.” Jack peeked out from behind the TV. “Must have been rough.”

  “The worst. At the end, I just wanted to crawl into that hospital bed and go with her.”

  Jack plugged in the DVD player, scooted out from behind the TV, and sat back on his heels. Seemed Red was in the mood to talk. “I can’t imagine.”

  “I’d thought burying our only child was the worst pain a man could live through. And it had been.” Red’s eyes filled, but he hardly seemed to notice.

  Jack couldn’t imagine what had brought on the maudlin mood, but now wasn’t the time for a comedy film.

  Something didn’t make sense though. Their only child? But Harper’s father…

  “It was a car accident,” Red said. “Took him and his wife. Left Derrick.” Red’s lips pinched closed. Based on the look on the old man’s face, Derrick must have been the “idiot grandkid” Red had referenced the day before.

  “How old was he when his parents died?” Jack asked.

  “College student. Dumb kid had everything he needed, but he took after his dad.”

  Apparently, that wasn’t good.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Red added. “George was a great guy, a hard worker, decent husband and father. But he had a weakness for the tables.”

  “Gambling?”

  “Died in debt up to his eyeballs. I paid it all off, paid for the rest of Derrick’s college, tried to give the kid everything he needed.”

  Jack had a feeling Derrick hadn’t made his grandfather proud.

  “He’s just like his father,” Red said. “Great job, makes all the money he should ever need, and loses it as fast as he can make it.” He shook his head. “I thought he’d changed. Thought Harper was having a good influence on him. When I hired her to be my nurse, he started coming around more.”

  Whoa. Red had hired her? Red continued before Jack could fully form the questions materializing in his mind.

  “I thought he moved her in to take care of me because he cared about me.” He shook his head sadly. “I’m just a stupid old man. I believed him. I wanted to believe him. He’s my grandson, you know? I love the kid. And then, he tried to con me out of money. ‘To invest,’ he told me. Right. I’d raised George, knew all the tricks. I can smell a liar a mile away. Especially when there’s money involved. At least George was smart enough to keep all his loans on the up-and-up. Mortgaged to the hilt, but banks don’t break your kneecaps.”

  Jack rubbed his knee. “Surely it wasn’t that bad.”

  Red shrugged. “Harper doesn’t know this, but I called him once this summer after I’d refused to give him the money, just to find out the truth. He admitted he was in debt and desperate. Tried to convince me that if he didn’t come up with the money, they’d kill him.” He harrumphed like only an old man could. “I’m not stupid. If they killed him, they’d get nothing. I told Derrick a broken knee would serve him right.”

  “Tough love.”

  “Love. Not sure you could call it that. Fact is, I worked hard for my money. It’s not like I can go make more. He’s gonna get most of it when I die anyway. He’ll probably gamble it away in a year.”

  “Maybe he’ll surprise you.”

  Red continued as if Jack hadn’t spoken. “That’s why I wrote Harper into the will. She won’t fritter it away. She’ll be able to finish college or do whatever she wants with it.”

  Jack was reeling from all the information. But one thing seemed abundantly clear. “She’s not your granddaughter.”

  Red blinked twice. Narrowed his eyes. Then he smiled for the first time since dinner. “Don’t tell anybody. We’re supposed to keep that quiet.”

  “Why?”

  “She figured it’d be easier for her to take care of me if people thought we were related. If I need medical attention or something, she can make decisions for me.”

  “Right,” Jack said. But his steak turned over in his stomach. He shifted to a more comfortable position on the floor, took a deep breath, and threw out the next question. Maybe the old man would give him an honest answer. “Why are you two here? Why did you leave Baltimore?”

  Red’s mouth flattened. “Don’t think I’m supposed to say.”

  “You’ve told me everything else.”

  “You got a trustworthy face.”

  Jack forced a smile. “Gee, thanks.”

  “You won’t hold it against her?”

  His stomach tightened even more. Maybe he didn’t want to know. But the words “I promise” popped out before he could think it through.

  “I don’t remember everything that happened, but…” His voice faded, and his eyes narrowed. A moment later, he shook his head. “Anyway, something happened. There’s someone from her past she’s scared of. I figure it’s an old boyfriend. You know about her past. Lotsa checkered fellows back there.”

  Jack didn’t let on how little he knew.

  “She told me she had to leave and begged me to go with her.”

  “Why didn’t she just hire you a different nurse?”

  “It would have been easier on me. But I couldn’t stand the idea of her taking off all by herself. Nobody to look after her. Harper might not be family, but she’s the closest thing I got, considering Derrick hasn’t come around in months. I was worried about her. I saw some bruises.”

  Those bruises… An old boyfriend had done that to her? What horrors had Harper suffered at the hands of men? It was no wonder she was suspicious, no wonder she fought to protect herself.

  Despite all Jack had learned tonight, a wave of affection rose. An irrational, ridiculous urge to show Harper that not all men were like the ones she’d known before. That a man could love her the way God intended. If only he could help her learn to trust, to be loved…

  Whoa. What was he thinking? She’d done nothing but lie to him.

  Red stared at
the black TV screen a moment. “Someone hurt her. And something happened…”

  Red’s words faded away, and he stared beyond Jack. The color in his cheeks paled. He swallowed, rubbed his eyes.

  Jack stood. “You okay?”

  “Something just… I feel like something else happened, something… but I can’t remember.” He shook his head and focused on Jack. “My brain…” He tapped the side of his head three times. “I used to be able to rely on it. It’s turning against me. Now, I never know if I can trust what I remember. All I know is, I don’t remember enough.” He took a deep breath. “But I trust Harper. She said she had to go, so here we are.”

  Jack tried to process all Red had told him, tried to reconcile the information with the stories Harper had told him. Who was after her? The ex who’d gone to prison? The big-shot dance club owner who’d had her fired? Or was this problem related to the this and that she’d neglected to tell him about? “So you guys just took off? What did your grandson think about that?”

  Red’s scoff told Jack as much as his words. “All he cares about is my money.” Red sighed and sat back in his recliner. “Seems unbelievable, I know, but I miss that idiot grandson of mine.”

  “He’s your only connection to your son. He’s your family.”

  “That’s right.” Red nodded a few times. His eyes filled again. “Haven’t talked to him in weeks. Harper keeps saying we’ll call him, but he never answers his phone.” Red nodded to the TV. “We gonna watch that movie or what?”

  Jack finished connecting the DVD player while he mulled over all he’d learned. One thing still didn’t make sense.

  He kept his focus on the TV. “You have money, right? You didn’t give it to Derrick.”

  “Of course I didn’t. I just told you that.” He huffed a long breath. “And they say I have memory issues.”

  Jack slid in the DVD, waited for it to load.

  “I started forgetting stuff,” Red said. “Least that’s what Harper told me. So I turned over power of attorney to my lawyer, an old friend of mine. That way Derrick couldn’t swindle it out of me.”

  Jack had witnessed the dementia, so he knew that part of the story was real. He turned on the TV, pressed the button to bring up the video, and tried to sound casual. “So how come Harper has to work so hard to pay the bills?”