Chasing the Night - Iris Johansen [130]
“What are you saying, Luke?”
“I thought…I might go with you. If it’s all right?”
Catherine’s expression lit with a luminous smile. “Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes. It’s very much all right. Get on board.”
“Take my seat, Luke.” Kelly unbuckled her seat belt and jumped out of the helicopter. “I’ve decided not to go.”
Catherine pulled her gaze away from Luke. “Of course you’re going. There’s another seat in back for him.”
“No, I’ve decided I want to stay with Eve for a while.” She smiled. “I’ll see you when you get back to Atlanta. Good-bye, Catherine.” She turned to Luke. “Get going, Luke. You’re keeping everyone waiting.”
“You’re the one who can’t make up your mind.” He jumped on board, and Catherine helped him fasten his belt. His gaze was suddenly searching Kelly’s face. “Or can you?” He was still staring at her intently as the helicopter lifted off the ground.
Kelly waved and stepped back. Her smile faded as the aircraft disappeared over the trees.
“You want to go,” Eve said. “Anyone could see it. Why didn’t you, Kelly?”
“Do you mind me staying with you?”
“Of course not.” She repeated, “Why, Kelly?”
“It’s not my time,” she said simply. “It belongs to Catherine and Luke. I’d get in the way.”
“Catherine would never say that. She cares about you.”
“No, she’d never say it. But I’d interfere with their pattern. Right now, it could go either way. I want to give Catherine the chance to concentrate on Luke so that it will go her way.” She smiled at Joe. “Eve told me once that you taught her karate so that she could take care of herself. I think that would be a very useful thing to study while we’re waiting for Catherine to come back. Would you teach me, Joe?”
Joe’s brows rose. “Karate? It’s certainly different from your usual academic pursuits.”
“I want it to be different. Oh, I’m smart enough, but it didn’t help me when I was with Daddy in that camp. Maybe if I’d known more about defending myself, the pattern wouldn’t have gone in that direction. I don’t want to ever feel that helpless again. Will you help me?”
“I imagine I could teach you a few moves.” He smiled. “There are patterns to karate, too. Some of them can be very intricate.”
Kelly took Eve’s hand and looked back in the direction where the helicopter had disappeared. “Yes, some patterns can be terribly complicated. You just have to try your best and hope.”
Eve’s grasp tightened on Kelly’s. She said gently, “And have a few good friends to help you work through them. Let’s go home, Kelly.”
“It’s your home, Eve,” Kelly said. “I’m like Luke. I don’t really have a home.”
“Yet,” Eve said. “It will come, Kelly.” She led her toward the house. “You just have to find your way there….”
Epilogue
Lake Cottage
Atlanta, Georgia
Three Weeks Later
“Catherine’s coming. She’s at the airport and should be here in about twenty minutes.” Eve hung up the phone and turned to Joe. “It’s about time. Kelly is getting restless.”
“She’s been content enough here,” Joe said. “And we’ve been keeping her busy.”
“Venable’s been keeping her busy,” Eve corrected. “Trying to work out a pattern to track Ali Dabala and his group down.” She went to the window and gazed down at Kelly, strolling by the lake. “But she’s only been marking time waiting for Catherine.”
“Is Catherine bringing Luke?”
Eve nodded. “Though she said she’d been trying to give him space for the last couple weeks. They only stayed in Hong Kong for five days. Luke found it interesting, but she thought it was too frenetic an adjustment for him. She rented a place outside Louisville, Kentucky, with a library that would rival the one at Biltmore House. He dove in and hadn’t surfaced except for meals until she told him that she wanted him to come here.”
“And how is his adjustment?”
“Slow. She’s taking baby steps, letting him call the shots.” She paused. “She gave him a book on psychology and psychiatric sessions. She asked him if he’d like to talk to someone. He looked at her as if she were crazy.”
Joe made a face. “You can’t blame him. I’d probably react the same way.”
“But you don’t have nine years of emotional