Chapter 104

A bunch of things were going through my head on the way to Della’s house. One of them was what she used to look like. She’s always been beautiful but strong and slightly distant. Seeing her so fragile and vulnerable has been quite a shock and my heart went out to her.

Denise and the Torres twins came running to the car when I pulled into the Torres’ driveway. Denise said, “Desi just drove out of here like crazy. What’s going on with Della?”

I assured them that she was okay, but I told them that they had to get any information about her from Desi or her folks in spite of their pleading.

The phone inside the house rang just then. Denise turned to the twins and said, “Please get that. Tell them I’ll call them back if it’s for me. I want to talk to Pete.”

They didn’t look pleased, but they ran inside.

Denise asked, “Is she really okay?”

“Your mom is with her. I’m sure that she’ll be fine.”

“I want to thank you for what you did for me last night again.”

“I had a great time doing it. I’m glad that it came off well.”

“It came off better than well; my phone’s been ringing all morning.”

“Did Dale call?”

“Twice.”

“Well, it sounds like your problems are over.”

She stared at me for a few seconds before she said, “The Rocketman guys and the Devon twins are big stars, and so is Kristen. You went to a lot of trouble to make this happen. Why did you do it?”

“You’re my friend; I did it to please you.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Pete. Is that the only reason?”

I realized where this was headed, so I explained, “Hedden owed me a favor and they jumped at the chance when I told him and Justin that there was a gorgeous redhead in distress. The Devon twins are personal friends. They came to ride Kate’s horses and agreed to do it because it sounded like fun. As for Kristen, I didn’t know that she was going to be here, but we’re all glad she did it because we had a great time.”

“And that’s the only reason?”

“Well, it gave me a reason to see you again. You’re my friend after all.”

“We didn’t get a chance to spend any time together.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that Kristen was going to show up like I said.”

“Are you and her together again?”

“I think so.”

“What about the girl you brought here when you helped Desi?”

“Marla and I aren’t together; she has a boyfriend.”

“Could we have spent some time together if Kristen hadn’t showed up?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry that we didn’t. It looks like I’m going to be gone a lot this summer, but you have my cell number, you can always call and talk to me at home or wherever I am.”

She frowned and it looked like she was going to say something important, but she stopped when she saw someone behind me, and said, “Here comes Kristen.”

I looked around to see Kristen coming toward us, picking her way around the puddles. I turned to say goodbye to Denise, but she was already on the porch and the front door was closing behind her.

I met up with Kristen, and we were walking in back to Kate’s when it started to sprinkle, so we ran the rest of the way.

Kristen stopped and said ‘Look,” when we opened the front door.

We could see into the living room from where we were standing. The twins were dressed in riding outfits and I said, “I see what you mean, they really look cute.”

“Not them, look at Meg and Lane.”

They were sitting on the sofa. Lane had his arm around her, and she was pressed against him. It was like they were trying to touch every part of their bodies against each other.

Kristen looked up at me and said, “They look like they’re glued together. That’s how I’d like us to be.”

Rose noticed us just then, and said, “Hey, Guys, it’s too wet to go riding, isn’t it?”

I answered, “Yeah, and it’s starting to rain again.”

Lily asked, “Is there anything to do around here?”

“There’s ordinarily a lot to do, but not when it’s raining.”

“So what should we do?”

“Well, we’ve been invited to stay for dinner, as you know. I understand that it’s supposed to be pretty special, but it’s not going to be until later. We can hang around here or we can go into town and see a movie in the meantime.”

I heard some noise outside just then, so I went to the window. Two cars had pulled into the driveway. One was Mr. Torres’ car, and the other was a police unit. Mr. Torres got out and two policemen followed him to the outbuildings.

We were all standing by the windows when the police brought Mencia out in handcuffs and put her into the police car.

Jose, his wife, and kids were watching as everyone drove off and Jose got in his car and he left too as soon as they left.

Everyone was talking about what happened. Kristen and I were quiet until Rose asked me why I didn’t go talk to Mencia’s family.

I got an idea and answered, “I think that it’s an immigration thing. Mr. Torres mentioned something about it last night. I’m sure that he’ll take care of it, but it looks like dinner may be off. Maybe we should leave unless anyone else has some ideas about what to do,.”

Meg said, “It looks like we no longer have a housekeeper, and we can’t leave the place like this. We can have it back in shape in no time if everybody pitches in.”

Everyone agreed, so Lane and I stripped the beds and threw towels and things into the washer, while the girls cleaned up the kitchen and straightened the house up. Lane and I finished before the girls, so I took a minute, grabbed my cell phone, and made some calls. The first one was to Kate, because I thought that she needed to know what was going on. Not knowing how to explain what happened with Mencia without telling her the whole thing, I decided to tell her everything.

She said, “Oh my God. Jose told me that she was a sweet girl. Is Jose there now?”

“No, he drove out of here after they took Mencia away.”

“Okay, I’ll get hold of him later. Are the Torres’ home?”

I looked out the window and said, “I don’t see either car, Mr. Torres probably went back to the doctor’s.”

“I have Clara’s cell phone number, I’ll try to reach her and see if there’s anything I can do. Is there anything else?”

“No, we had a great time last night, and we want to thank you for the use of the house.”

“And Kristen showed up?”

“Yes, your scheme worked great. I was surprised as heck.”

“Good, we had fun doing it. You didn’t break my bed, did you?”

“KATE!”

“Ha, ha, ha, you can tell me about it when you get home.”

I remembered that I had to call JJ about Sam when she hung up.

I told him it was me when he answered, and he said, “I’m glad you called, Pete. I’ve been trying to get hold of Sam for several days and all I get is an answering machine. Have you talked to her?”

“Sam and I haven’t talked for a long time. Do you think that something’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. This isn’t like her. It’s like she’s trying to avoid me or something.”

“What’s her number? I’ll give her a try.”

He gave me her number and I told him that I’d let him know if I learned anything.”

I had just hung up when the house phone rang. Thinking that it might be Kate calling, I picked it up. It was Joe Torres, and he said, “Hi, Pete, I’m glad that you answered.”

“I am too, how is Della?”

“The doctor wants to keep her at the clinic overnight so that he can do some tests, but he thinks that she’ll be okay.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I would have said yes until now. I would have asked you to stay around so that she could have someone her age, someone strong like you to lean on, but something has happened and that’s why I’m calling. Her boyfriend Steve seems to have grown some balls. He showed up at the clinic and refused to leave her side. Steve asked us to leave the room for a while when the doctor finished his exam, and he said that they were getting married when he came out. I asked him how he talked her into it, and he said that he hadn’t yet, but they were and that’s all there was to it. It’s a side of him that I hadn’t seen before.”

“I wonder if she told him about Mencia.”

“I don’t know what she told him, but he seems to have his mind made up. We’ll have to see what happens, but the reason I called you is that he apparently knows who you are and that you and she have a history of some sort. He knows you are here today and were with her earlier. I went to the bathroom just now, and Clara told me that he stormed out of here and he’s on the way over to Kate’s to talk to you when I came out. I gotta ask you for a favor. You’re twice as big as he is and three times as strong. He may be my future son-in-law, Pete. Please don’t hurt him.”

“I won’t, but why is he coming here?”

“I think that he wants to tell you to stay away from her.”

“Why?”

“I can only guess that she said she had feelings for you.”

I was wondering what he would think if I told him that I wasn’t the one who she had feelings for, but I didn’t. I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” instead.

“Good. I, uhh, couldn’t talk you into marrying her if you are the one she’s talking about, could I?”

I could hear humor in his voice when he said it, so I said, “Well, that depends. Would you buy me another Mustang if I did?”

He laughed and said, “Hell yes, I’ll buy you a whole fleet of the damn things,” then he added, “All kidding aside, thanks again for your help, Pete. Thank your friend, Marla, for me too. By the way, I saw your picture in the paper. It looks like you’re going to be famous. Give me a call if you get bored one day. I’d like to know how you’re doing.”

I said I would and I sat for a minute thinking about Joe and his family when we hung up. He’s hard-headed and he’s had problems with his kids, but there was never a question about whether or not he loved them, plus he was always around. It made me think of Dad and I suddenly missed him.

The girls had finished in the kitchen and everyone had gathered in the living room, so I joined them and sat down.

I was thinking about Sam and I guess that I was frowning, because Kristen asked, “Is something wrong?”

“A friend of mine is worried because he can’t seem to reach his daughter. He thought that I might have talked to her.”

“Who is she?”

“Just a girl I used to hang around with. I haven’t seen or talked to her in a long time.”

“Do you want to go looking for her?”

I put my arm around her and said, “No, she lives in Hawaii,” then I turned to the people in the room, and said, “Some things happened with a friend of ours today. It’s okay now, but there’ll be a guy here in a little while and he might want to yell at me. We’re not going to be riding today, so now might be a good time if any of you would like to leave.”

Lane looked at Meg and she shook her head and said, “Lane and I’ll stay for a while. We’ll help you make the beds and things when the things come out of the laundry.”

Lane added, “Do you need any help with the guy?”

“No, I’ll handle it.”

Rose jumped up and said, “You leave for a while and the cops show up and haul the housekeeper off after you come back. Now you say that a guy is coming over to yell at you, and you want us to leave. There’s no fucking way that we’re going to leave until you tell us what’s going on.”

I looked at Kristen and she shrugged, so I said, “A friend of ours is in trouble and we went to see if we could help her. I guess that her boyfriend thinks we’re interfering.”

“What does that have to do with them taking the housekeeper away?”

“It was just a coincidence.”

She looked at me for a second, then her eyes narrowed and she said, “Bullshit! You’re not telling us everything.”

Kristen broke in with, “That’s right, he isn’t. It’s a private matter.”

There was silence, then Lily asked, “Is the guy coming here to beat you up?”

“I don’t know what he wants, but I won’t let it come to that.”

“Why not, I bet that you could kick his ass.”

Rose piped up and cried, “I know what it is, his girlfriend is pregnant and you did it.”

“No I didn’t, and it’s a private matter as Kristen said, so quit pestering us about it.”

I was talking, so I didn’t hear a car drive up and I was startled when there was a loud knock on the door.

Kristen said, “Let’s go see about this.”

I answered, “Let me find out what it’s about first,” and I went to the door.

I guess that I was a little more than he expected, because he did a double take when I opened the door. He looked me up and down, stared at me for a minute, then he asked, “Are you, uhh, Pete Baker?”

He wasn’t what I expected either. He looked about five eight or nine, slim build, short brown hair, and glasses. He was a nice-looking guy, but not someone I would have picked for a girl as gorgeous as Della.

I answered, “Yes, I am. You must be Steve, I heard you wanted to talk to me, come on in.”

“I-uhh, okay.”

He was obviously nervous, but he stepped inside. Everyone was looking at him, and he recognized the twins when he saw them, and his eyes got big. He then noticed Kristen, and they got even bigger.

I motioned for Kristen to follow us, and I said to him, “Come with us.”

I led him to one of the unused bedrooms. I pointed to the chair and Kristen and I sat on the bed when he sat down, and I asked, “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

With a nervous glance at Kristen, he asked, “I want to know if there’s something going on between Della and you.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Are you still seeing each other?”

“No, we haven’t been together for a long time. What made you ask that?”

“She and her family always talk about you. I heard about how you saved her life, and Desi talks about you like you’re some kind of God. Della disappeared last week. I looked for her everywhere. I asked everyone if they knew where she was, and nobody seemed to know, so I figured that she was with you, then I found out today that she was at the clinic and her mother told me she was pregnant and the baby was mine when I got there. I also found out that you had been with her earlier today.”

He stopped for a second, then he seemed to pull himself together and looked straight at me, and said, “I want the truth, is the baby mine?”

I was surprised and I was trying to think how to answer him when Kristen said, “What do you intend to do if the baby is yours before he answers that?”

“He stuttered, “I know who you are. You’re that, uhh, singer. I’ve seen you on TV, what do you have to do with this?”

“I’m a friend of Della’s, and I was there with Pete this morning. I’m going to ask you again. What are you going to do about it if the baby is yours?”

“I want to marry her. I’ve wanted that all along, but she always says that she isn’t ready. I’m going to insist if the baby’s mine.”

“What if it isn’t yours?”

He got a determined look on his face and said, “I’ll marry her anyway if she’ll have me. I love her. I’ve loved her from the first time I saw her.”

“Did you ask her to marry you again today?”

“Yes, but she was kind of out of it. She said that she couldn’t marry me because of someone else. I thought that Pete might somehow be involved, so that’s why I’m here.”

Kristen looked at me, winked, and said, “Is the baby yours, Pete.”

“No! The baby is not mine. Della and I were only together for a short time, and it was a long time ago. She told us that the baby is Steve’s this morning.”

Steve asked, “Then who is this other person?”

Kristen stepped in front of him with her own determined look, and said, “There is no other person. Della is not well. She’s confused right now, so take what she says with a grain of salt. I don’t know if you’re the right one for her, but she’s going to need someone. Hang in there and continue loving her. I bet that she comes around.”

“I hope so, but what if she doesn’t?”

“Then she won’t. Life is like that sometimes.”

He was really looking miserable and he said, “I think that her dad is behind this, I know that he doesn’t like me.”

I said, “I don’t think that it’s a matter of not liking you. Della can be a handful, and he may be worried that you’re not strong enough to deal with her. He also may be worried that you might not be able to support her as a college kid.”

He sighed then he said, “My name is Steven Campbell, Jr. Our family is Campbell Enterprises. Google it! Trust me, I can afford her.”

“But you’re still in college?”

“I graduated from college two years ago. Palmdale College is one of the best business schools on the West Coast and I’ve been taking accounting classes there. I live in Bakersfield, and I own a home there. I took off work so that I could attend an advanced accounting class this semester, and I took an apartment here so that I didn’t have to drive back and forth.”