“You’re not going to join me?”

“No,” he said flatly. “I’m not here to have a polite conversation.”

“If we’re going to talk about your future—”

“We’re not,” he said, interrupting. “I have no future here. I don’t give a damn about you or the restaurants. There’s nothing you can say or do to get me to work here for thirty seconds.”

She looked more bored than intimidated. “You’re being dramatic.”

He ignored that. “I’m not here because of my future. I’m here because of Elissa.”

Gloria didn’t pretend not to know what he was talking about. Instead she stood and glared at him. “I don’t know what that little bitch has been saying—”

“Nothing,” he said, cutting her off. “I haven’t spoken to her. I’m here to talk to you.”

He walked toward the sofa until he stood in front of his grandmother. “You’re going to tell me exactly what you said and how you threatened her. Every single word.”

He had to give the old bat points—she didn’t flinch. “I will not speak with you looming over me. I am not a new recruit, Walker. You can’t frighten me.”

Which was a shame, he thought. She could use a good shaking up.

He took a step back and folded his arms across his chest. “What did you say to her?”

Gloria sank back onto the sofa and leaned against the white cushions. Her pale yellow suit provided the only spot of color in the room.

“I agree that she’s pretty,” Gloria said. “In a common sort of way. I would have thought she’d look harder, what with her background.”

Walker knew his grandmother well enough to guess she’d gone digging into Elissa’s past. She knew so much about her grandchildren, he’d long ago decided that she had them followed. Which would explain how she found out about Elissa.

He didn’t bother telling Gloria that there wasn’t anything about his neighbor that could shock him. He’d been to war—what could Elissa have done to come close to his sins?

“She traveled with rock bands,” Gloria said with relish. “Apparently she slept with various men to get jobs, or just because. I wasn’t clear on that. Her child’s father is a known drug addict whom she supports.” She stood. “Her own parents have refused to have anything to do with her for years. Is that what you want? A drug-using groupie and her bastard daughter?”

He smiled. “That’s the best you could do? I expected a lot more. So she slept around when she was young? I know who she is now.”

“You see what you want to see. Do you have any idea what your money would do for her? How it would change her life?”

He did. The problem was Elissa wasn’t interested in handouts. He would bet she never had been.

“She’s a whore,” Gloria insisted. “You’ve never had to pay for a woman before, Walker. Why start now?”

He felt no anger, only coldness. If she’d been someone else, if she’d shown any human feeling, he might have pitied her. As it was, he could only walk away.

But first…

He shook his head. “You blew it, Gloria. I was never interested in Elissa. Not in any way that was a threat to you. But you’ve played your hand. You’ve gotten into her life and screwed around. Now I have to make it right. That means spending more time with her. You should have left well enough alone.”

She stiffened. “I forbid you to see that woman.”

“You think I care? You haven’t been able to order me around for a long time. You forget—you don’t scare me.”

“You will listen to me. You will…”

She opened her mouth and gave a small gasp. Her hand rose to her throat, then fell away. Without warning she dropped to the ground.

Walker was at her side in an instant. Even as he rolled her onto her back to check her breathing, he pressed his fingers against her neck to feel for a pulse.

There wasn’t one.

CHAPTER SEVEN

CAL AND PENNY WERE the last to arrive at the hospital. Cal kept pace with his very slow-moving wife. Walker eyed Penny’s belly and had a feeling that she was even bigger than the last time he’d seen her, which he hadn’t thought possible. Wasn’t there a point beyond which a woman’s stomach simply couldn’t expand?

Everyone embraced, then Cal helped Penny into one of the chairs in the waiting room.

“What happened?” he asked when she was settled.

“We were arguing and she collapsed,” Walker said flatly. He’d already told Reid and Dani the story. “There was nothing dramatic. No chest clutching. She gasped and fell. She wasn’t breathing, so I called 911, then started CPR. She was breathing on her own by the time the ambulance arrived. My guess is she had a heart attack.”

“Who knew she had a heart?” Dani muttered.

Walker wasn’t surprised that no one complained about her comment. Each of them had a complicated relationship with Gloria. On the one hand, she had done nothing to endear herself to her relatives. On the other, she was an old woman who might still die.

Penny reached for Walker’s hand. “Are you all right?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not the one who passed out.”

“I know, but you were with her. I don’t want you to blame yourself for what happened. It could have been any one of us. We’ve all argued with her.”

“Countless times,” Cal added.

“I don’t feel guilty,” Walker said. “Just uncomfortable.” He hadn’t liked seeing her unconscious. He hadn’t liked doing CPR on her. “Our fight wasn’t heated enough to bring this on.”

“Good.” Penny squeezed his fingers, then released them. “I can almost feel sorry for her.”

Dani sprawled next to her on the sofa. “Why would you?”

“Because her entire family is gathered here and no one really loves her. We don’t wish her ill or want her to die, but no one is worried.”

“She brought it on herself,” Cal said. “She pushed each of us away, time after time.”

“I know. It’s just the duty card. I hate that.” She looked at her husband. “You really love me, right?”

Cal bent over and kissed Penny on the mouth. “You’re not allowed to doubt me.”

“I know and I don’t. Not really. It’s just all this and the hormones and my back hurts.”

Just then the doctor walked in. She was tall and thin, in her late forties. “The Buchanan clan?” she asked with a weary smile.

Cal stood and nodded. “That’s us. How is she?”

“The good news is your grandmother is very likely to have a full recovery. Your brother, the one who rode in with her…”

“That was me,” Walker said.

“Yes, of course. You were right. It was a heart attack. Not life threatening as such, but there was some damage. Still, with time, rest and medication, she should be able to resume something close to her normal life. However, there is a complication.”

The doctor paused and checked the chart she held. “Your grandmother isn’t a young woman. Unfortunately, when she fell, she broke her hip.”

Walker glanced at Reid, who shifted uncomfortably.

“That can’t be good,” Penny said.

“It’s not. The break is fairly bad. We’re going to have to operate to put things back in place. After that, she has a long road of physical therapy ahead of her. She will be here at least ten days. After that, a skilled nursing facility specializing in that sort of thing. Under normal circumstances, she could be there for months. However, if you wanted to provide home nursing care, she could be released in about four weeks.”

She tucked the chart under her arm. “I know this is a lot to take in. What’s important is that she survived the heart attack and there’s every reason for optimism. Let’s make an appointment for all of you to come see me in a couple of days and we can sort this all out.”

“Thanks, Doctor,” Cal said, offering his hand.

When she’d left, no one spoke. What was there to say?

“As the most neutral nonblood relative, I’ll go first,” Penny said. “There are two problems. Gloria and the company.”

“The company can run itself for a while,” Cal told her.

“The president just quit,” Walker said. “She told me before she passed out. So someone has to be in charge.”

Cal swore under his breath.

“There’s also the home health care issue,” Penny reminded them. “I don’t think Gloria is going to last very long in any kind of skilled nursing facility. You know how she is. They’re going to throw her out and then what?”

“As she pointed out to me so clearly just a few weeks ago,” Dani said, “she’s not my grandmother. So I’m not getting involved in her recovery or the company. I’m sorry to be difficult, but there it is.”

“No one blames you,” Walker told her. Gloria had gone out of her way to make sure Dani understood she would never be a part of the company or Gloria’s world. A difficult situation had been handled cruelly.

“I’ll take care of the home health care,” Reid said.

Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. “I hate her the least. It’s a few phone calls, some interviews. No big deal.”

“You’ll need more than one nurse,” Penny said. “She’ll need round-the-clock care at first.” She smiled. “Please actually look at their résumés rather than hiring them based on their bust size.”

Reid grinned. “Trust me.”

Penny groaned.

“Which leaves the company,” Dani said. She turned to Walker. “I love you to pieces, but you’re the only one without a job.”

He took a step back. “No way. I told her there was nothing she could say or do to get me to work for her.”

“Apparently you were wrong,” Cal said, sounding far too cheerful. “The good news is you won’t be working for her. Not technically.” His humor faded. “Seriously, it’s just for a few weeks. No one expects you to stay there permanently.”

Walker would rather go on an unarmed patrol through downtown Baghdad. “I don’t know the business world,” he said, trying not to sound desperate.

“Management is universal,” Cal told him.

Walker knew he was trapped. Who else was there?

“Just for a few weeks,” he said. “Don’t get any ideas about me taking over.”

“Agreed,” Cal said.

ELISSA SMILED at the bright young woman sitting across the desk. “Zoe is very excited to be starting kindergarten.”

“We’re happy to have her,” Julie Beamer said. “It sounds as if she already has a head start on a lot of what we’re going to cover this year. You said she knows her letters.”

“She recognizes all of them and can write most of them. We’re having a little trouble with G. She’s also reading very simple words.”

“Excellent.” Julie made a few notes on a pad. “I believe you mentioned Zoe’s father is dead?”

“That’s right,” Elissa said easily. As far as the world was concerned, Neil didn’t even exist. Despite his threats, she knew he wanted nothing to do with his child. For him, Zoe was little more than a means of extortion.

“We’re very much looking forward to having her in class. If you would tell her I can’t wait to meet her.”

“I will,” Elissa promised.

Elissa left the meeting and headed to her car. Her baby was starting school. She was both excited that Zoe was ready to take the next step in her young life and a little choked up to have her daughter growing up so quickly.

Had it been like this with her mother, she wondered, then wished she hadn’t. Thinking about her family only made her sad.

Her parents had never forgiven her for running away. While she tried to understand their anger, she couldn’t help wishing they’d loved her enough to let her be a part of their lives. She’d moved back to Seattle partly with the foolish hope they would run into each other. They hadn’t.

Sometimes Elissa thought she would try to speak with them again. But fear of another rejection always made her hold back.

When she got home, she found her daughter waiting impatiently on the porch.

“Did you see her?” Zoe asked as she raced toward the car. “Is she nice? Does she want to have me in her class? Are we going to have fun?”

Elissa caught her and swung her in the air. “Yes, yes and yes. Miss Beamer is very nice and smart and she’s very excited about how much you already know. You’re going to have a wonderful year.”

As she spoke, she found herself glancing up at Walker’s apartment. Of course he wasn’t there. After leaving her a single phone message, he hadn’t tried to get in touch with her. He showed up late and left early.

It shouldn’t matter. She’d made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with him, and he’d taken her at her word. Wasn’t that good news?

She tried to convince herself it was. The thing was, she’d thought he would at least want to know why. She’d thought her sudden disappearance might concern him. Obviously she’d been wrong. She’d read far too much into their conversations. She’d thought he’d been interested and he hadn’t been.

“Can we go look at my clothes?” Zoe asked. “Can we pick what I’m going to wear the first day? And the next day? And the next?”