LITMIR.BIZ

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he was rich and successful and gone out of her way to avoid him.

      Malcolm took a seat across from them and poured himself a cup of coffee. “I’m sure this is all overwhelming.”

      “A little.”

      “You can take as much time as you’d like to get settled. There’s a lot to explore.”

      Alberto patted her hand. “Seattle is a beautiful city. You’ll want to see it and we’ll show you around the company, of course. The executive offices are very nice, but you should see the factory where we create our magic.”

      She smiled. “I’d like that.”

      “Keira is so excited to meet you,” Alberto continued. “She’s very happy to have a sister.”

      Malcolm surprised her by grinning. “Yes, she’s made it clear that she would not welcome another brother. My fault, I’m afraid.” His smile faded. “Did you leave anything behind in Houston?”

      The question was so vague, she didn’t know if he was referring to a job, a boyfriend, a dog or an apartment.

      “I didn’t know what was happening,” she admitted. “I thought it was easier to make a clean break.” She supposed that if things didn’t work out here, she could always go somewhere else. There was nothing to return to in Texas.

      “Good.” Malcolm rose. “Why don’t I show you to your room? Dinner is at six thirty and I’m sure you’ll want to take a little time to settle before then.”

      She set down her coffee. Alberto rose, put his hands on her shoulders and kissed both her cheeks. “Welcome, my beautiful granddaughter. We are your family now. Always we will be here for you.”

      His words sounded genuine. She saw tears in his eyes and felt the ice wall around her heart melting just a little. Then she turned and met Malcolm’s wary gaze. Maybe she was wrong but it seemed to her not everyone was thrilled by her arrival. If she had to guess, she would say Malcolm wasn’t happy to have a felon in the family. All things being equal, who could blame him? Certainly not her.

      * * *

      Malcolm left Callie to get settled, then walked the few feet to Keira’s door. His sister had been after him all day to let her know the second Callie arrived.

      Just before he knocked, he paused to remember the awkward trip he’d taken down to Los Angeles when he’d gone to get Keira. He’d had no idea how to deal with a twelve-year-old, nor had he known what she would be like. He’d filled a backpack with snacks, an iPad loaded with games and a couple of Disney movies, headphones, and an activity book with puzzles and easy crosswords.

      Keira had been waiting at her social worker’s office. Everything she owned had fit into a battered old-fashioned hatbox decorated with pictures of landmarks from around the world. She’d been wide-eyed, thin and silent as they’d been introduced.

      He hadn’t known what to say beyond explaining he was her half brother, that she had a grandfather and that he was taking her to live with him in Seattle. He promised her her own room and a good school. At the end of his awkwardly stilted speech, she’d simply picked up her hatbox and looked at him as if waiting for whatever was going to happen next.

      He should have done more, he thought nearly three months after the fact. He couldn’t say what, but he should have tried harder. They’d barely spoken on the two-and-a-half-hour flight. Maybe she’d been scared or nervous or hungry. But he’d only asked if she needed anything and when she’d said no, he’d believed her.

      He remembered taking her to the airport gift shop and buying her a sweatshirt so she wouldn’t be cold, but he’d done little else to make her feel comfortable or safe. He swore silently—couldn’t he have offered her a candy bar or some chips? Something to show she was more than a chore he had to finish?

      He thought about her phone. Asshole brother. He didn’t want to be that. Whether or not he’d gone looking for more family wasn’t the point. She was a kid and totally alone in the world. The least he could do was suck it up and give her some attention. So what if he was bad at it—at least he had to try.

      He knocked on her door. She flung it open instantly as if she’d been waiting for him.

      “Is she here? Is she here? What is she like? Does she look like me? Is she nice? Will I like her?”

      Malcolm smiled. “You’ve been saving up those questions, haven’t you?”

      Keira danced from foot to foot. “Yes, now tell meeeee!”

      He studied his younger sister. According to her pediatrician, she was about average height, slightly underweight and perfectly healthy. Her hair was light brown, her eyes blue and Carmen had said more than once he and Keira shared the same smile.

      “She has your freckles,” he told Keira.

      She laughed, then ran to the mirror and stared at herself. “Really? All of them? I can’t decide if I like my freckles or not.”

      He almost pointed out her opinion on her freckles didn’t matter—it wasn’t as if they were going away—but stopped himself in time.

      “They’re cute,” he told her. “On you and on Callie.”

      Keira spun to face him and beamed. “Really? I can’t wait to meet her. And I want to see her room.”

      “Give her a couple of hours to get settled,” he said, repeating what they’d discussed the previous night at dinner. “We don’t want to overwhelm her. You’ll meet her at dinner. As to her room, you saw it yesterday, when everything was delivered.”

      Keira gave him a look that implied he was incredibly stupid but she would indulge him this one time. She crossed to the bed and scooped up the kitten sitting there. “Maybe she’s scared. Maybe she needs a friend.”

      “Maybe she’s tired from her trip and would like a few minutes before she has to deal with the whole family.”

      “There’s only three of us, plus Carmen. That’s not a lot.”

      “It might be to her.”

      From what he’d read in the report on Callie, since getting out of prison, she’d lived a quiet life. She’d stayed in a halfway house for nearly nine months before moving to Houston. She worked her two jobs, volunteered at a cat shelter once a week and lived in a rented room. She didn’t seem to have many friends or much of a social life. As for what had gotten her arrested in the first place, from how she’d lived the last five years, that had been a one-time thing.

      Keira sighed heavily. “Fine. I’ll wait until dinner.”

      “Good. You seem to be feeling better. You have a lot of energy.”

      “I’m excited. This is so fun. We have a new sister. I could barely sleep last night. Aren’t you excited?”

      “Very,” he lied. He didn’t care about the trust fund his grandfather would set up for Callie or the potential division of the business. He already had enough. It was more that all these years later, he was still dealing with his father’s shit. When was it finally going to end?

      “I’ll see you in a couple of hours,” he told Keira. “Until then, leave Callie alone.”

      Keira batted her eyes at him. “I wouldn’t think of doing anything else.”

       chapter eight

      Callie stood in the center of her two-room suite, not sure what to think about any of it. Her head hurt, the world seemed to be spinning and she honestly couldn’t believe any of this was happening. Before she could catch her breath or figure out if she wanted to faint, Carmen appeared, a tray in her hands.

      “You must be tired from your flight,” she said with a gentle smile. “And maybe overwhelmed. I brought

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