Forsaken (The Found Book 2) (4 page)

Nell nodded her head and frowned. Annie was lost in thought and screwed up the first part of the game.

“Let’s start over. Okay?” Nell nodded.

“Do you need or want something?” Nell shook her head.
Uh-oh, this was going to be a tough one.

“Are you happy about something?” Again, Nell shook her head.

“Sad or mad?” She nodded.

“Mad?” She shook her head.

“Sad?” She nodded.

“Really? Sad? For true?” Slowly Nell nodded her head. Annie gazed at the miniature person in front of her, because it’s what she was, not just a baby, she was a person. As much as she might be an amalgamation of her and Seth, she was all Nell.

Annie looked at her daughter, and saw the faint tremor of her chin. Ah God, what had she missed? She hugged Nell close, needing to hold her for a few moments, to center both of them. “I’ve been sad too, baby girl. But I sure didn’t want you to be sad. Let’s see what I can do to fix your sad, okay?” She gently held her child away from her chest so she could see her, and placed her palm over her daughter’s heart.

“Has a thing made you sad?” Nell looked confused.

“A thing, is something like your blanket or your bottle, did a thing make you sad?” Annie watched as the silky black hair of her daughter’s head fell to the side as she shook it.

“Did a person, like me, Grandmother Shilah, Noah, or Sarah make you sad?” She looked into Annie’s eyes and nodded, she was so solemn it brought tears to Annie’s eyes. She stroked the so soft skin of her daughter’s cheek. Once again she marveled at the difference of their skin tone, but this time she gave an involuntary wince when she took note Nell’s skin color was the same as her father’s.

Nell was looking at her with a slight frown, and Annie realized her daughter had nodded and she hadn’t responded. She kissed the top of her head.

“I’m sorry, my love. Mommy’s so sorry. Did Mommy make you sad?” God, she hoped not, but part of her hoped so, because she could fix that.

She watched Nell’s face turn from solemn to smiles in an instant. She reached out and caressed Annie’s cheek, in an exact mimic and shook her head no.

“Good, because I never want to make you sad Nell, I love you. You are the bestest baby in the whole wide world.” She hugged her close and tickled her on the ribs, wishing she wasn’t wearing a sleeper so she could blow a raspberry on her belly. Nell giggled, and blew some bubbles. Soon she quieted and Annie knew it was time to continue the guessing game. She went down the list of everybody she could think of who was staying in the apartment complex that Nell had come into contact with.

There was their Grandmother, Noah and Sarah. Then there was Kali, Noah’s wife who was also a
found
. She was seven months pregnant with twins. Nell delighted in touching Kali’s stomach, and feeling the kicks of the babies. Annie hadn’t thought there was any possible way Kali could have made Nell sad. She was such a beautiful soul. Noah and Kali lived in their own home fifteen miles away, but were often at the apartment complex for briefings and shared meals.

There were also Niko Evanoff and Brice McElyn two more
found
team members who seemed to delight in spending time with Nell. It was as if those who shared that background had an affinity with her baby. When Annie asked about all of the
found
members of the team, Nell shook her head in the negative.

There were members of Noah’s naval team, Nate Goodman, Kota Blackthorne and Sierra Mathers, all of whom met Nell when Annie and Shilah had taken her to the apartment set up as a shared space for the occasional group meal and team meetings. None of these people had upset Nell, nor had Annie expected them to have.

There remained just one more person who could have made Nell sad, and Annie had left him for last. Annie was scared it was Riley Jones. He was the youngest member of the elite naval team, and had been the first person who had come to rescue Annie, Nell and Shilah. Though he tried so hard to hide it, he cared deeply for Annie and Nell. Annie worried he felt more than just friendship for Annie, and she knew she could never return those feelings, if indeed he felt that way. She never wanted to hurt the man who had been such a kind and loyal friend. But lately he seemed sad, and she was pretty sure he was making Nell sad.

“Is it Riley who is making you sad?” Annie asked her daughter in a gentle tone.

Nell shook her head firmly, and Annie was nonplussed. There was no one else she could think of who had met Nell.

“Are you sure baby? There isn’t anyone else. Are you sure Riley isn’t making you sad?” Green eyes so like her own sparkled at her, and Nell once again shook her head. Occasionally Annie thought she was making this up in her mind. But she had seen the gifts of the other
found
individuals. Sarah actually made a knife wound heal completely. She watched in amazement as Noah called for Kali to come to him from the next room, and she did. Babies at this age should have speech capabilities and be able to understand yes and no, so this shouldn’t surprise her. Heck, Nell could play this game in Polish, and get things right.

“Are you sure I haven’t made you sad? I know sometimes Mommy is sad.” Again, Nell emphatically shook her head.

“Oh honey, I just don’t know who else to ask. I’m sorry you’re sad. If you see who is making you sad, you point. Okay?” She watched as her daughter got a look on her face. She could see a storm brewing. It didn’t happen often. Nell was normally a happy baby, and once in a while she worked up a head of steam. Annie saw the frustration and hurt on her daughter’s face, and ached for her.

“Oh my beautiful baby girl. I wish I could make this better for you, I don’t know what I can do. I don’t know of anyone else here. There’s nobody else.” She sat back in the rocker and hoped the storm would pass, resting Nell against the crook of her neck, settling them both in for the night. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but maybe she could lull her precious baby to sleep despite her sad heart.

Long moments later, she heard, “Da.” Annie jerked. It was the first time she ever heard anything resembling speech from her daughter. She set Nell into the crook of her arm, as if she were feeding her a bottle, so she could get a good look at her face.

“Baby girl, did you say something?”

“Da. Sad.”

“Holy lightning in a bottle. You just spoke!” Again Annie watched as silky hair spilled over Nell’s forehead as the baby nodded her head.

“Did you just say your daddy is making you sad?” How in the heck was that even possible? But then again Annie followed her daughter’s movements with amazement. She was definitely nodding her head, and she had a heartbreaking look on her face.

Annie got out of the chair, and placed Nell in her crib. “I’ll be right back, sweetheart.” Nell looked at her, so small and forlorn in her little red sleeper. “Give me a minute, sweets.”

Annie headed straight to the bottom drawer of her dresser. Tucked away below her good lingerie was a framed photo. It was a picture one of Annie’s professors took when she and Seth were at her house. They were sitting outside under the desert willow tree in her backyard, but despite the shade she and Seth could be clearly seen. Professor Tucker managed to capture a moment when the two of them were looking at one another as if they were the only thing in the world.

Holding the picture to her breast, she walked softly to her daughter’s room, amazed Nell had grown old enough to have her own room, no longer needing to be in the bassinet in Annie’s room. Time had flown and crawled all at once. She wasn’t surprised to find Nell sitting and waiting for her. She still had the sad look on her face she would do anything to erase. Was this going to help or make things worse?

“Nell honey, I want to show you something. We can play the guessing game,” Annie said as she held out the photo.

Nell slapped her hand down on the photo, “Da.”

“Or, we don’t have to play the game,” Annie said ruefully. “Honey, you can’t know that is your dad.” Suddenly the muscles in Annie’s neck felt like they were set in concrete.

“Da.” Annie watched as baby fingerprints appeared on the glass. This didn’t prove anything. Nell looked at her, as if she could read her mind, and slapped her hand on the glass again, this time on her image, “Ma.”

“Holy hopping kangaroos, you do recognize your dad.” Nell nodded her head, and Annie left the photo with her in the crib, and went to sit in the rocker. What the hell? She should be elated Nell was finally talking, but then she really never doubted she would. Still how in the hell had she known about her father? How had she recognized Seth? And how was Seth making her sad? Annie shot off the chair and leaned over the crib to find Nell sitting up waiting for her.

“Sweetness, come to mommy.” Nell held out her little arms, and Annie scooped her up, once again reveling in the smell and warmth of her baby. She took her over to the rocker and cuddled her close to her breast, gently patting her bottom. Annie was totally at a loss, what question was she supposed to ask?

“Does your daddy make you sad, because he makes your mommy sad?” Both Annie and Nell’s heads turned at Shilah’s question. Shilah walked into the room, and dropped a kiss onto Nell’s head as she caressed Annie’s hair.

“Look at both my girls, you’re both so sad, and it’s because of my grandson. He’s been visiting you Annie, and Nell and I can see it’s eating you up inside. He needs to come back for real, or he needs to leave you alone.” Confused, she looked at the woman she thought of as her own flesh and blood grandmother.

“Shilah, I’m having vivid dreams that prevent me from sleeping. That’s all.”

“Seth is dream walking.” The words were said with such conviction, but they didn’t make any sense. Grandmother must have seen her confusion. “Dream walking is when someone with gifts can leave their body and enter someone else’s dreams.”

“That’s impossible.”

“My grandfather was a Shaman, and he was a dream walker. Annie, what about all of the other
found
and their gifts? What about your daughter? Of course Seth could do it. If anything or anyone would trigger this ability, it would be his need to get back to you.” Annie felt the even breathing of Nell against her neck, and realized she had fallen asleep. It was as if she knew her great-grandmother was right, and she would take care of things.

Annie put Nell into her crib, and walked out of the nursery with the older woman. They walked into the kitchen in their fluffy robes, and started the preparation for chamomile tea.

“So why are we bothering?”

“Because this time it might work?” Annie said hopefully.

“Oh right, this will be the night you go back to sleep after Seth has visited.”

“Shilah, it was just a vivid dream.”

“Honey, it was a pretty loud dream.” Annie wondered if the bottom cupboard was large enough to crawl into.

Shilah took the kettle off the stove before it would have whistled and poured the hot water into the mugs. Annie carried them into the living room and they sat on the couch. She looked into her mug, knowing Shilah would have more to say. She didn’t talk much, but when she did, it was always worth listening to. She prayed it wasn’t going to be anything more about Annie’s
loud
dreams.

“It used to be Seth’s visits were good for you Annie, now he’s using you.”

“They are dreams,” Annie insisted.

“They aren’t. It’s really him, and he’s in pain. He’s hurting so badly and he needs solace. I think he’s like you, he thinks these are vivid dreams as well, otherwise he wouldn’t be doing this to you. Using you.”

“Shilah…”

“Young lady, don’t tell me one more time these are dreams, you’re smarter than that. Drink your tea.” Annie shut up and sipped her tea. She played over all of her dreams. Then thought of them as visits from Seth instead. Prior to his marriage, he was so loving and they were in tune to one another’s needs and wants. She felt cherished. But since his marriage he needed so much from her. He clung to her like a lifeline in a world gone mad, culminating in tonight’s lovemaking that still left her trembling. She looked into Shilah’s knowing eyes.

“I don’t know what to do, how to help him.”

“He has to help himself, he’s slowly killing you Annie.”

“No he’s not,” she countered vehemently.

Shilah put her mug of tea on the coffee table and went to the kitchen counter picking up the framed photo where Annie had left it, and handed it to her..

“Annie, you’ve had a baby since then, and you’re at least twenty pounds lighter. You’re not sleeping and your one year old daughter told you she’s worried about you. You’re a mess, honey.”

Chapter Five

Seth looked fine on the outside, but he was a mess on the inside. He looked at the clutter of paperwork on his father-in-law’s desk and was amazed how he let things slide in just three months.

“Carson, we’re depending on you,” his father-in-law stared at him with desperation in his eyes. He was a far cry from the man last night who had tried to lay down the law in front of Labado.

“Tomas, I don’t know if I can pull your ass out of the fire this time.” And for once he wasn’t stringing him along.

“Carson, you’ve always been able to work miracles.”

“God damn it, how in the hell did you manage to double book all of your ships for the next two months? What were you thinking allowing your team to do that?”

“We needed the influx of cash,” Tomas whined. The stupidity boggled his mind. They were going to have to pay other shipping companies more than the cost they were currently billing to ensure they made their commitments.

“Your brother is right, your father should have left him the company.”

“Don’t you ever fucking say that again.” Damn, Seth would have thought last night’s meditation would have helped keep a lid on his temper and his mouth. He hoped he was close to the end of this damned assignment. They had enough on Tomas Benitez for money laundering and moving drugs and arms to put him behind bars. They had hampered most of Labado’s drug and arms business, but this new human trafficking had to be stopped yesterday.