A Coral Kiss Part 35

The garden was nothing. h.e.l.l, Amy was planning on having a baby. His baby.

Amy loved him and she was planning a future.

Back in the departure lounge Amy quietly succ.u.mbed to the tears that had been waiting to fall since she had first realized Jed was going out on another a.s.signment.

Chapter Twenty.

The call from Douglas Slater came just as Amy was finis.h.i.+ng the last chapter of Private Demons. She knew as soon as she picked up the phone that she wasn't going to have to explain what had happened on Orleana. Slater had already heard the tale from Hank Halliday.

"h.e.l.l, Amy, I kept calling the house trying to get you and when I didn't get an answer, I finally called Hank. Then I had to track you down in Caliph's Bay. To say I am a bit stunned at the moment is putting it mildly. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Dad."

"What about Glaze?"

"He's fine, too."

"Let me talk to him. I want to ask him a few questions."

Amy smiled briefly at her father's boardroom tone. "Sorry, he's not here at the moment."

"Where is he?" Slater demanded.

"Out of the country. He's been gone for over a week." Amy glanced at the calendar on the wall. She glanced at it frequently lately. She had added a new worry to her already br.i.m.m.i.n.g load wondering if anyone in Jed's agency would think to notify her if something happened to him. After all, she wasn't his wife. Just a friend. And a lover. Did the government notify friends and lovers when things went wrong?

She forced the question out of her mind.

Slater paused. "Hank said he worked for the government."

"That's right."

"I suppose, given the situation you encountered, it's just as well the man knew what he was doing. All right, I've already heard about Renner, Vaden and Guthrie. Tell me about LePage. All of it this time, Amy. No more secrets."

"Dad, this is a transatlantic phone call. It's very expensive. Maybe this should wait until you get back to Orleana."

"I'm paying for it so don't worry about it. Tell me what really happened the night LePage died, honey."

Amy drew a deep breath and told him everything. Everything, that is, except about the letters. As she did so she studied the small piece of green gla.s.s she was keeping in a little bowl on the windowsill.

"Christ almighty," was all Douglas Slater said when she was finished. 'To think you'd been living with that all these months. No wonder you resisted going back to the island."

Amy couldn't think of anything to add to that.

"Hank said you pulled a box out of the cave? Something Wyman hid down there before I got to Orleana and found him?" There was a different, perhaps wary note in Slater's voice now.

"That's right. It contained a packet of the stones the Russians apparently used to pay off Wyman. There were also some doctored photos of you meeting clandestinely with some Russian spy. I burned those."

"Did you?" Slater let silence flow over the line for a moment. "That was probably a good idea. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d told me he had some photos but I didn't believe him. How could he? I'd never been near any Russian spies. It never occurred to me he might have faked a few shots. Typical Wyman piece of mischief."

"Yes, I guess so. Well, they're gone. I gave five of the gla.s.s stones to Renner, by the way. Kept one for myself as a souvenir."

"It must have been quite an adventure. I'm just d.a.m.n glad you had Glaze with you. I had a feeling he was the kind of man who knows how to take care of his own."

"Yes," Amy agreed. "He does."

There was another moment of silence from England and then Douglas Slater said carefully, "You did the right thing burning those photos, Amy. Was that all there was in the box? The photos and the emeralds?"

"That's all," Amy said firmly.

"I see." Then Slater said deliberately, "Amy, honey, I just want you to understand that if by some chance there had been anything else stored in that d.a.m.n box, I'd want it burned, too. Completely."

Amy caught her breath. "I understand, Dad. Believe me, I burned everything in that box except the green stones."

"Good." Slater sounded curiously satisfied. "I've always known you are the kind of woman who can be depended on when the chips are down. As I told Glaze, you'd go for the devil's throat if you thought that's what it would take to protect someone you loved."

Amy's fingers tightened on the receiver. "Did you really say that to Jed?"

"I really said it."

"What did he say?"

"He agreed with me." Slater chuckled. "But then, he understands that kind of direct approach. He'd do the same thing if necessary. Hasn't he proven it? I think he's going to make a good husband for you.

Listen, your mom's just coming out of the shower. I've already given her the gory details. I'll put her on so you can say h.e.l.lo."

"Fine. Dad, before you get off the line..."

"Yes, Amy?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too, honey. Don't ever forget it. But please, no more shocks like this one. A father can only take so much. Here's your mother."

Gloria Slater came on the line. "Amy, dear, what a dreadful experience. You're quite certain you're all right?"

"I'm fine, Mom."

"Thank goodness you had Jed with you through all that. I really do like that man, Amy."

"So do I."

"I rather thought you did." Gloria gave a small, knowing laugh. "I have a feeling we'll be attending another wedding in the not-too-distant future."

"I'm not sure about that, Mom. Jed hasn't said anything about marriage. Don't get your hopes up." Or her own, Amy added silently. She decided not to mention that she'd actually gone out and bought a couple of Vivaldi records the day before. Talk about getting one's hopes up.

"We'll see," Gloria said easily. Then she sighed. "To think that awful Michael Wyman was still causing trouble after all these years. The man certainly had a talent for it. I'm just sorry you had to be touched by it, Amy. Wyman was a complete and utter b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you know."

"So I've heard. Don't worry, I believe it. Tell me, how's London?"

Her mother launched into an account of the trip and Amy relaxed, listening attentively. Everything was all right.

Jed was chagrined to discover his fingers were a little unsteady as he dialed the phone. He closed his eyes when it began ringing on the other end, waiting tensely for the clear, warm, refres.h.i.+ng sound of Amy's voice. The receiver was lifted on the third ring, just as he had begun preparing himself for the possibility that she might be out. Jed opened his eyes and found himself staring at the AT&T symbol. "Amy? It's me."

"Jed, you're home!"

"Almost. I'm in L.A. I'll be getting into Monterey at..." He fumbled with the ticket. "At seven-fifteen."

"I'll be at the airport."

Jed began to relax for the first time since he'd gotten on the plane in Honolulu. "You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that. I've missed you, sweetheart."

"I've missed you, too. Jed, are you... are you okay?"

He grinned like an idiot. "Still structurally sound."

"Jed!"

"No, I mean it, love, I'm fine." He took a breath and then took the plunge. "I'm in great shape to start that family you were talking about before I left."

"Jed," she said again, this time quite breathlessly. "Do you mean it?"

"We'll discuss it when I get home. I've got to run, Amy. They're calling my flight."

"Jed, wait a minute. Tell me exactly what you meant. I've got to know."

"I love you, Amy. See you at seven-fifteen." He hung up the phone, still grinning, and picked up the flight bag at his feet. It was kind of fun to turn the tables on her once in a while. Let her stew about his last message until he got there, just the way he had stewed about her last message on the way out of Honolulu.

She loved him. She was planning his future for him because she loved him.

The cage door was open and Jed was free.

Jed had just time enough to buy a bunch of yellow chrysanthemums before he got on the plane.

Amy was waiting at the airport. He found out later that she had arrived a good forty minutes early. She had apparently spent the time pacing the arrival lounge until the jet set down. When Jed finally walked through the door she was in his arms before he knew what hit him. "It's about time you got here," she said as she clung to him.

"I know," he replied gently. "Believe me, I know." He hugged her so tightly she gave a tiny yelp.

Then she laughed up at him, her love in her eyes. "Come on," she said, "let's go home."

Jed needed no further urging.

Much later that night Amy stirred amid the tangled sheets, felt the vacancy beside her and opened her eyes. Jed was standing at the window, his strong, lean body silhouetted in the vague moonlight. "Jed? Is anything wrong?"

"No, Amy. Not any more." He turned to look at her, his eyes warm and caressing. "I guess I'm still in another time zone. I can't sleep."

Amy remembered the intensity of his lovemaking earlier and shook her head, smiling faintly. "I would have thought you'd be exhausted."

He ignored that and instead met her eyes. "I love you, Amy."

"I'm glad," she whispered. "Because I love you. With all my heart."

Jed went back to the bed, sitting down beside her and pulling her into his arms. "I missed you so d.a.m.n much. I was a fool not to realize how much I need you."

"Don't feel bad. I spent quite a while suppressing the fact that I needed you. We were just friends, remember?"

"I remember. Amy, I quit my job."

Her head came up so quickly she nearly hit his chin. "You did what?"

"When I finished this last a.s.signment I told Cutter I wanted out. I quit. Don't look so surprised." He smiled. "Didn't you want me to quit?"

"Yes, but I wanted you to do it for yourself, not just for me."

"I did do it for myself. Eight years in that business is long enough. I want my future back, Amy. And I want you in it. Do you understand?"

She hugged him. "I understand. Was this last a.s.signment very bad, Jed?" she asked gently.

"It went smoothly."

"That doesn't tell me much."

Jed groaned. "There was a time when you never asked questions."

"Things have changed, friend."

"Yeah, I guess they have. All right, I'll tell you what happened in a few short sentences and then we won't talk about it anymore. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"I sold the salesman back to the terrorists who were paying him."

"What does that mean?" Then her eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I see. You made his employers think he'd betrayed them, is that it? And they... they..." She ran out of words.

"They took care of him for us," Jed finished bluntly. "It's all over, Amy."