“Huh?” she said, completely confused.

“And this,” Ann said, bringing forward the children, “is Alison and Michael. This is Courtney, kids. Say hi!”

“Hi,” Michael, the older one, said. The little girl just stuffed her hand in her mouth and buried her head in her mother’s thigh.

“Aw, it’s early,” Ann said. “They’re usually much more friendly and outgoing.” Then she laughed. “That’s something you’ll have to watch! These two will walk off with any stranger!”

“What?” Courtney said. She actually found herself thinking she wanted to stay confused, but the sick reality of it was coming through. “I don’t understand,” she said hopefully.

“Courtney,” Stu said. “Come with me a second, honey.” He took her arm rather gently, pulled her out of her chair in the first-class lounge. She looked over her shoulder to see Sherry herding Ann and Dick Paget to the bar for Bloody Marys as Stu led her farther into the lounge. He sat her down on a sofa far enough away from the group so that they wouldn’t be overheard. “Here’s the deal, Courtney. These people are very important to my business. He’s a well-known director. If I get him for this film, it could set me up for life. I’m ready to make a deal with you—help me out with this and you never have to have anything to do with me again. Screw this up for me and I’ll make sure you never see Lief Holbrook again. I have custody. I’m your biological father. He won’t even get weekends.”

“Help you out how?” she asked with a scowl.

“You call me dad, you help watch the kids. That’s it. We all have a good time and when it’s over, Dick and Ann will give you a big wad of cash for some babysitting. That’s all.”

“I want my dad!” she said.

“I’m serious, Courtney. If you screw this up now, I’ll fight Lief for permanent custody. I’m your biological father. I’ll win.”

“After doing this to me?” she asked.

“Doing what? Taking you on a sinfully perfect Hawaiian vacation? I’m sure the courts will lock me up for it!”

“Hawaiian vac— We’re supposed to go to Disney World! My dad has tickets on the same plane and a room at the same—”

Stu was smiling. “Here’s how it is, sweetheart. Help me out here. Help watch the kids so Dick and Ann can have some fun. It won’t be that bad. And after it’s over, you go back to the mountains with your knight in shining armor and I’ll leave you alone. I need this, Courtney. Like I’ve never needed anything.”

“I don’t even babysit! I hardly ever have!”

“Come on, you’re a smart girl. Ann and Dick will never be far away. Just play with them, keep them out of trouble. It’s not like you have to change diapers or feed them!”

She looked at the boys. “Them, too?”

“They don’t need that much watching. Besides, I told them both if you complain about the way they act even once, they’re finished. If they’re good, I’ll take them on the Disney Cruise. Now, you’ll have to give me your cell phone.”

Her eyes welled. “No,” she said, pulling away from him.

“Will you stop acting like I’m a kidnapper? I’ll call your dad later, tell him where we are. Courtney, I swear to you, if you do this for me, I’ll never bother you again. It won’t be bad, I promise. Ann and Dick are good parents. They’ll be watching their kids most of the time anyway—they just need a hand keeping the kids busy and out of trouble. So we can talk, so we can go out to dinner and stuff.”

“Why?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why did you do this? You tricked me and you tricked Lief!”

“You heard her—the au pair quit. They were going to cancel and I already had two first-class condos on the beach. I need this director, Courtney. Work with me here.”

“I need to talk to Lief first…”

“No. That’s a deal breaker. You have to promise not to bring him into this—he’ll never go along with it and I need this time with the Pagets. You work with me, help me out, or we fight it out in court and you have to put up with us for the rest of your life.”

She felt a tear run down her cheek. To her absolute amazement, Stu wiped it gently away with his thumb. He’d never paid much attention to her, much less shown gentle affection.

“Listen,” he said softly. “I’m desperate, all right? I have some serious money problems and one small shot at working it out. I don’t want it to be this way with us, but I need a couple of breaks here. Call me Dad. Keep the little kids out of trouble so Ann and Dick can focus on business. That’s all I need, honey. Please.”

Part of her wanted to do it now—start screaming. Ask for help. Tell anyone who would listen that he had tricked her and was taking her away against her will. To a sinfully perfect Hawaiian vacation…? She might succeed in causing them to miss their flight, but after that? Could he be telling the truth? Just go to the beach with these kids in tow, do a little babysitting while the parents go out to dinner, and this nightmare part of her life was over?

“How bad can it be, huh? Ten days at the beach in exchange for me giving up custody? Come on.”

“But I have to talk to Lief.”

“I told you, pumpkin. You know he’s not going to go along with this. He’ll screw up my deal and I’ll be fighting him in court for years. But you’ll spend those years living in my house, I guarantee that.” He held out his hand. “I’ll call him later and let him know where we are. Phone please.”

She was torn. She didn’t really believe him, and she didn’t trust him. She wasn’t sure that if she did this for ten days, he’d set her free. But she was absolutely certain that if she didn’t play his game, he’d make her suffer somehow.

She put the phone in his hand. When Lief didn’t hear from her, he might alert the National Guard.

“Thanks, pumpkin. I owe you for this and I promise I’ll come through. Now go splash a little water on your face and get in the game. This is all going to come out the way you want it to.”

She sniffed and watched Stu walk to join Sherry and the Pagets at the bar where they had a Bloody Mary just waiting for him. And she went to the bathroom to get a grip, to talk herself into her ten-day sentence.

At the bar, Ann faced Stu with concern. “Is there a problem?” she asked. “Is Courtney having second thoughts?”

“Well,” Stu laughed. “She’s only fourteen, remember. She wanted to be sure she’d get her fair share of beach time, too. I’m sure it’ll work out that she’ll have plenty of fun.”

“Of course!” Ann said emphatically. “We always made sure our au pairs had their own time!”

“There you go,” Stu said, lifting his glass. “To a perfect vacation. And a perfect friendship!”

The ten-day sentence began with Courtney sitting in coach with four kids while the two fun couples enjoyed first-class. The little ones were well-behaved, thanks to being used to babysitters and the abundant supply of books and portable DVD players with their favorite movies and snacks. Aaron and Conner lasted about an hour before they started kicking the seats in front of them, scraping and making too much noise. Courtney knew she was taking a chance, but she couldn’t help herself—she exacted a little revenge on Stu and Sherry. When the flight attendant asked her if she was responsible for the boys she said, “Actually, I’m the au pair for these two little angels. The parents of those two are in first-class. Maybe you should get them?”

Stu came back, warned them sternly, frowned at Courtney and went back to his party. He had to come back three more times. He leaned his face close to Courtney’s and said, “You’re pushing me.”

“Quote—‘they don’t need that much watching,’” she said. “End quote. Indentured servants only have two hands.” Then she smiled into his annoyed eyes and mouthed, I hate you so much.

She did what was expected of her for six hours; Ann and Dick came to check on their kids but never had to be called out of first-class. By the time the plane landed in Maui, Courtney was exhausted, hungry and near tears, but Ann was impressed.

Stu had a stretch limo waiting, and Courtney helped herd all the luggage and children to the car. When they reached the condos, they parted company, and Courtney went with Stu, Sherry and the boys to their condo to settle in. Before they even had their luggage dropped off, Sherry walked next door and said to Dick and Ann, “Drinks on the beach in a half hour!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ann said. “The kids might need a nap after that long plane ride.”

“Courtney will watch them. Won’t you, sweetheart?” Sherry said.

She straightened her spine. “I didn’t get food on the plane,” she said. “They don’t serve food in coach. Just in first-class.”

“Oh, darling,” Ann said. “You must be starving! I’ll have something sent up to you and the kids from the beach bar immediately. Can you get the kids settled or do you need my help with that?”

She thought for a second. Ann was as selfish as Sherry, but wearing a ‘nice suit.’ “Just go,” she said wearily. “Mom?” she said, the word souring in her mouth. “Please take the boys with you so they don’t wake the little ones.”

“Courtney,” Sherry answered with a laugh. “They can’t go to a bar!”

“I can’t handle all of them at nap time.”

“They’ll be fine on the beach,” Stu said.

Ann wrote down her cell phone number and put it by the hotel phone. “Just call me if there’s any problem, Courtney. I’ll come right up.”

Courtney eyeballed the phone, then shot a glance at Stu.

“Go ahead, everyone,” Stu said.

When the room was clear but for Courtney, Stu and the two little kids, Stu said, “I’m going to call Lief, tell him where we are. If you call him, the deal’s off. You’ll be moving back in with me.”

“I should tell him I said I’d do it.”

“I’ll tell him. Just don’t let me down and I won’t let you down.”

Two hours later, a pizza was delivered to the condo where Courtney was babysitting two children who, after sleeping on the plane, were not at all tired.

This time, she thought to herself, Lief is going to kill him. She was looking forward to it. If she survived this.

Lief’s appointment with his lawyer was very encouraging. With Courtney’s strong desire to live with Lief in Virgin River along with the accompanying issues of bites, stitches and sleeping on the floor while everyone else in the family not only had a bed but their own bedrooms, this should be a slam dunk. Not to mention the fact that Stu had kicked her out, given her up to Lief. After all, she was fourteen-and-a-half years old, not four-and-a-half. And she wasn’t choosing to live with Lief because she could get away with murder—since living with him her appearance had changed dramatically as had her grades. She had new friends and new and healthy hobbies such as riding.

“Unless Stu fights you on this, I don’t see a problem,” the lawyer said. “Could take us a while—courts move slowly. But she shouldn’t have to go back to him.”

So Lief texted her. Good news. Lawyer says we’re going to be fine. Finish this visit on good terms and we’ll have our custody.

About four hours later she texted back. thanx. U R the bomb. Having fun. TTYS

It didn’t feel right. First of all, her responses were usually immediate. Even a half hour or hour seemed too long, but four hours? And Courtney didn’t text things like, “You are the bomb,” which had gone out a long time ago. And TTYS, for “talk to you soon,” was a more adult acronym.

As soon as he’d gotten her response, he’d texted right back, You all right?

Great. Later, came right back at him.

So he went to the airport the next day, fully expecting to see the entire Lord family in the boarding area, ready to go. When he didn’t see them, he assumed they were running late. But as boarding time neared, he became more worried. Then as most of the passengers got on the plane and departure time approached, he went to the gate agent and asked if they had already boarded.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not allowed to give out that information,” she said.

“Can you check and see if my daughter, Courtney Lord, is on the plane.”

“Listen, I’m not supposed to—”

He took out his wallet and flipped it open. There was the most recent picture of Courtney. “I’m her stepfather, but she lives with me full-time. Her mother is deceased and she’s supposed to take this trip to Orlando with her biological father and his new family—she didn’t want to. Help me out here. I promised her I’d be nearby if she needed me. I’m not getting on the plane until I know she’s there.”

“Sir, this could be just one giant—”

“What?” he asked. “Scam? To get on a plane full of people with a terrified fourteen-year-old girl? “

The gate agent thought for a moment, clearly weighing breaking the rules against helping a person who came off as believable.

“Take the picture out of the sleeve, please,” she said quietly.

He did so. She clicked around on her computer a bit, then carried the picture away from her podium. She showed it to the agent who was checking in the boarding passengers. Then she went down the Jetway. Five really awful minutes passed before she came back and said, “I didn’t see her. No one remembers seeing her. I don’t show the name Lord on the manifest.”