The Sassy One

“You’re up early,” he said.



She opened her mouth, closed it, then burst into tears.



Sam woke at eight-thirty. A shower and two cups of coffee later he still felt like roadkill. By nine-fifteen he decided he’d better check on Kelly. She’d been hurting last night, and he felt badly for not talking to her at the time. Francesca’s announcement had thrown him.



As he climbed the stairs, he wondered how he was going to tell Kelly about the baby. Maybe he should wait on that until he knew what was going to happen. They could discuss it—



She was gone.



Sam stood inside her room and stared at the neatly made bed. There weren’t that many things missing, but he knew in his gut that she’d left. Run away.



Panic didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling. His daughter, he thought frantically. Where would she go?



Just in case his gut was wrong, he carefully searched the house, then checked his wallet. His credit cards were all there, but the last of his cash was missing.



He grabbed the phone on his nightstand and punched in Francesca’s number. A thick, tear-filled voice answered.



“Hello?”



“Is she with you?”



Francesca cleared her throat. “What? Sam?”



“Is Kelly with you?”



“No. Of course not. What happened?”



“She’s missing. She ran away. I was up all night, so it must have been sometime this morning.”



“No. Oh, Sam, she can’t be out on her own. What are you going to do?”



“Find her.”



“Do you want me to help?”



Frustration, fear, and the need to get moving steeled his resolve. “I don’t want anything from you,” he said before hanging up.



* * *



“You’re all fired,” Sam announced at noon the following day. “Every single one of you is fired. We’re the most successful security company on the West Coast, and you’re telling me we can’t find one twelve-year-old girl?”



The portion of his security staff in town gathered in the main conference room. Sam paced in front of the dry erase boards. Gabriel sat in a chair by the door.



Jason ignored the news of his job loss. “We’ve checked all points of departure, boss. Airports, train stairs, bus depots. We’ve talked to cab companies, limo companies. Hell, even car-rental companies in case she had fake ID.”



Sam glared at him, not bothering to point out the obvious—that Kelly was twelve and unlikely to know how to drive a car.



“No one’s seen her. There aren’t any clues.” The man shifted uneasily in his seat. “It’s like she vanished.”



Sam turned his back on his staff. “Get out,” he said wearily. “All of you, get the hell out.”



There was movement behind him, then silence. He turned back to find Jason and Gabriel still in the room. He crossed to the table and sank down next to Jason.



“Now what?” he asked quietly.



Jason looked as tired and worried as Sam felt. “It’s time to talk to our liaison at the police department.”



Sam didn’t even want to admit defeat—to go to the police when he knew his people could work faster by avoiding all that messy legal protocol. But never had he felt the sharp blade of failure more acutely than today.



He stared at his friend. “We have to find her, Jason. Dear God, she’s out there by herself. Anything could happen.”



Gabriel excused himself and walked wearily from the room. His limp had gotten more pronounced over the past twenty-four hours. He was showing his age.



Sam and Jason made up a new list of plans. When they were finished, Sam covered his face with his hands.



“This is all my fault,” he said. “The last thing I said to Kelly…” Just thinking about it made him sick to his stomach. “She can’t be gone. She just can’t. I missed so much with her. All those early years. I can never get them back, but I want the future we were supposed to have. I want to watch her grow up and teach her to play chess. I want to be there on her first date.” He dropped his hands. “And scare the shit out the guy.”



Jason gave him a weary smile. “You’ll do a good job at that.”



Sam nodded. “I want to help her pick out a college.” His throat got tight. “Dammit, Jason, I just want to hold her in my arms.”



“Daddy?”



The soft voice, the single word, made his heart stop in mid-beat. He turned toward the door and saw Kelly standing just inside the conference room.



A thousand thoughts flooded his brain, but he couldn’t focus on a single one. Instead he could only stand and move around the table. Then Kelly was running toward him.



She threw herself against him just as he grabbed her and pulled her close. She was warm, alive, breathing, and crying.



“You’re okay,” he said, unable to process the information. “You’re here.”



“I’ve been here the whole time.”



Sam stroked her hair, her back, then touched her chin so she looked up at him. Her green eyes were wet with tears, but still precious to him.



“You’re all right?”



She sniffed, then nodded. “I was running away. I came here to get cash and Gabriel found me.”



Sam couldn’t feel anything but happiness. He glanced over her to where Jason sat grinning like a fool. “You know about this?”



“No way. The old man pulled one over on both of us.”



Sam remembered his grandfather showing up within minutes of being called. He’d insisted on searching the house while Sam had been on the phone calling staff members. No doubt the wily old bastard had used the time to slip the keys back into place. Sam had never noticed they were gone.



He sighed. “No one bothered to check the office, right?”



Jason shook his head. “Sorry, boss.”



He rose and left, just as Gabriel stepped into the room. The old man looked very pleased with himself. Sam noticed the limp didn’t seem so bad now.



“You fooled us all,” Sam said, too relieved to be angry.



“I only wanted to fool you.”



Sam sat down and pulled Kelly onto his lap. “I’m sorry about what I said the other night. About no one wanting to be with you. Not only was that mean of me, it was wrong. I’m so sorry.”



“It’s okay.” She wrapped her thin arms around his neck.



“Kelly, you mean the world to me. I know things haven’t been easy, but I think we’re making progress. Good progress. I can’t—” He couldn’t imagine life without her. He cleared his throat. “I love you.”



She straightened. “Really?”



“With my whole heart. I’d be destroyed if you left.”



Her eyes widened. “So you don’t want to send me away?”



“No. Not ever.” He took one of her hands in his. “I can honestly tell you that never crossed my mind. Not even once.” He gave her a slight smile. “You’re stuck with me, kid.”



“That’s okay.” She looked at him, ducked her head, then blushed. “I called you Daddy before.”



“I know. I liked it.”



She sighed, then smiled. “Me, too.”



She flung herself against him and he held her close. As he rubbed her back, he glared at his grandfather.



“You and I are going to have words later, old man.”



Gabriel shrugged. “It was for a good cause.”



“You nearly gave me a heart attack. I know you needed to let Kelly know how much she mattered to me, and I’m glad she got the message, but you shouldn’t have carried things on for so long. When I thought Kelly was out there by herself…” He shook his head, not wanting to think about it.



Gabriel chuckled. “Sam, you’re such a horse’s ass.”



Sam stiffened, Kelly gasped and sat up, but Gabriel didn’t stop talking.



“You think I did this for Kelly, when the truth is, I did it for you. You’re the one who needed to figure out how much she mattered.”



Sam glared at him. “Why you meddling, old—” He stopped and leaned back in the chair. Well, hell. Gabriel had taught him a lesson and a half. The last twenty-seven hours had been a living nightmare he would never forget. If that’s what it had taken to make him realize how much he loved his daughter, then maybe it had been worth it.



“I don’t approve of your methodology,” Sam muttered as he touched Kelly’s cheek. She smiled at him.



Gabriel settled into a chair. “That’s fine with me. I’ve always been a cowboy at heart, doing my own thing.” He nodded at Kelly. “She told me a real interesting story about you and Francesca. So you’ve got another one on the way, huh?”



Gabriel sounded more proud than surprised, which was fine, because Sam was shocked enough for both of them.



“You knew?” he asked Kelly.



She nodded. “I was coming downstairs to apologize to Francesca for what I said and to you for taking your credit card.”



Gabriel chuckled. “You’ve got to admit, the kid is damned resourceful.”



Sam ignored him. “And you heard about the baby?”



“Uh-huh.” She wiped her cheeks. “That’s why I ran away. Francesca was always the one making things right with you and me. I’d been hoping the two of you would get together or something. But when I heard about the baby, I knew she wouldn’t want me anymore. Not when she was going to have one of her own.” New tears spilled down her cheeks. “Then when you told her to get out, I figured you weren’t going to get married and that I wasn’t going to be allowed to stay.”



“Oh, honey.”



Gabriel making a tisking sound. “You’re going to have some groveling to do, boy.”



Before Sam could respond, there was a loud commotion outside.



Gabriel glanced at his watch. “Right on time.”



“Who is that?” Kelly asked.



“The Marcelli family. I called them when you went missing.” The old man chuckled. “They’ve been worried and wanted to know what to do. I suggested they show up here this morning.” He winked at Sam. “I figured you’d be at your breaking point about now, and Kelly and I would take pity on you.”



Kelly jumped off Sam’s lap and hurried toward the door. “They were really worried about me?” she asked, sounding delighted. “Wow. That’s so cool.”



When she’d stepped out of the room, Gabriel looked at Sam. “It seems they all know about Francesca’s bun in the oven. Lorenzo’s not taking it well. He was expecting an engagement announcement, followed by a quickie wedding.”



Sam rose. “They knew? Did everyone know but me?”



Gabriel shrugged. “Looks that way.”



Sam headed into the hallway. Sure enough, the Grands, Grandpa Lorenzo, and Colleen and Marcus stood around talking with various staff members. He supposed he should be pleased that Katie and Brenna hadn’t tagged along.



His daughter was being hugged, squeezed, and cheek-pinched by the Grands. The pleasure on her pretty face eased some of the tightness in his chest. It had been a hell of a morning, and it didn’t seem to be getting any less stressful.



“Thanks for stopping by,” he said above the din. “As you can see, Kelly is fine.”



Conversation ceased. Five adults looked at him. Five pairs of eyes turned reproachful. Sam suddenly felt as if he were eight and had just hit a baseball through the church window.



He tried to smile and somehow couldn’t make his mouth move. Grandpa Lorenzo stepped toward him.



“You dishonor my granddaughter. We have a word for men like you.”



Sam didn’t want to know what it was. Nor did he know how to defend himself against the much older man. While he knew enough moves to take out Lorenzo twenty times over, it seemed in bad form to use them against a soon-to-be great-grandfather.