Home Free - Fern Michaels [60]
“There is no limit, Mr. Tookus,” Annie said. She stood and motioned for the others that this meeting was over. No one shook hands; no one said a word as they filed toward the elevator. Except for Isabelle, who hung back.
No one was surprised to hear her say, “When would be a good time for a tour? My time is free pretty much from now till the first of the year.”
“How about now?” Abner said, taking off his jacket.
“I thought you had to go to work,” Isabelle said.
Abner grinned. “I do, but I make my own hours. It isn’t often I get to show off my handyman expertise.”
“I rode with the others. I didn’t come in my own car.”
“I’ll drop you off wherever you want to go,” Abner said.
Isabelle turned around, wiggled her eyebrows for the Sisters’ benefit, and said, “Go without me. Mr. Tookus is going to give me a tour and drop me off. See ya later.”
“Whoa,” Kathryn said as they all piled into the elevator.
“I think it’s a slam dunk,” Myra said happily. “Don’t you, Annie?”
“Absolutely,” Annie said as the sluggish elevator descended to the first floor.
“I wonder if what just happened falls into the category of a ‘Let me show you my etchings’ kind of thing. If I’m not mistaken, something just happened between Isabelle and our hacker. Did you guys notice it?” Nikki grinned.
“Oh, yeah,” Alexis drawled.
Upstairs, Isabelle followed Abner through the ten-thousand-square-foot loft that he had made habitable. All she could say over and over was, “This is magnificent.”
The bedroom looked to Isabelle like something out of a movie. The walls were buff-colored; the floor was polished oak, the furniture simple but comfortable. A California king bed didn’t dwarf the room at all. The massive headboard was hand-carved teak, a true work of art. What really surprised her was the fireplace, almost a duplicate of the one in the living room. Sitting in a stand in the corner was a giant twelve-foot Christmas tree that had yet to be decorated.
Abner noticed her surprise. “When I was a kid growing up in an orphanage, I always said I was going to have a Christmas tree in my bedroom so it would be the last thing I saw at night and the first thing I saw in the morning. Christmases in orphanages are not the things of good memories. And, I love the smell.”
“You were an orphan?” Isabelle asked in surprise.
Abner nodded.
“I was, too,” Isabelle said. “Anna de Silva adopted me last year. Actually, she adopted all of us except Nikki, because Myra adopted her years and years ago. I hated Christmas!” she blurted.
Abner laughed.
Isabelle thought it one of the most endearing sounds she’d ever heard. She said so.
Abner laughed again. “When you can laugh, that means life is good. But then I’ve laughed when life wasn’t so good, too. Out of frustration, I guess. Does that mean you yourself don’t laugh much?”
“Yes and no. So how did you fall into your particular line of work when you can do stuff like this?” Isabelle said, waving her arm about.
“This is a hobby. By the way, I own some property in Tennessee, and I’m building a cabin there. That’s where I plan to retire. When that will be, I don’t know. But to answer your question, I went to MIT and have master’s degrees in computer science, engineering, and business. I’ll officially have my doctorate in computer science next month, and you can then call me Dr. Tookus. I’m smart.” It was all said modestly, almost apologetically. “My parents must have been geniuses.”
Isabelle was so impressed, she was temporarily at a loss for words. When she finally found her tongue, she said, “Did you ever try to find your parents?”
“No. If they gave me up, why would they want me now to clutter up their lives? How about you?”
“I did try but came up dry. Back then, it seemed to matter. Now it doesn’t. Aren’t you even a little bit curious, since you’re so smart and all? Wouldn’t you at least like to see them, even if it was from a distance?”
“Maybe someday, but not now. Next on the tour, my prize. Drumroll . . . my bathroom. Ta