would never blame you for something my father did. You're a victim as much as I am.'
'I can't tell you, Lily. You'll never forgive me and you're the only family I have. This is my home. John, Arly, you, and your father are my entire world.'
Lily reached across the table to take Rosa 's hand. 'I love you. Nothing can ever change that. I don't like to see you so upset like this.'
'Arly told me someone broke into our house. He said they knew exactly where your office was and where your father's office was. He said they had the house codes.' Rosa stared miserably into her teacup.
Lily allowed the breath to leave her lungs in a little rush. She remained silent, simply waiting. Her fingers tightened around Rosa 's hand in reassurance.
'They threatened me Lily. They said they could make me leave the country. They said they could make a problem with my citizenship papers. They said I would never see you again.'
'Who told you that?'
'Two men stopped me as I was getting out of my car at the grocery store. They had badges and wore suits.'
' Rosa, you know you're independently well off and my money is your money. Our lawyers would never allow anyone to send you away. You've lived in this country for years. You're a citizen, legally here. How could you think we would ever allow you to be taken away?'
'They said they would just take me off the street and send me away and no one would ever know what happened to me. Then they said they could make you disappear, too. I should have told you but I was so afraid. I thought Arly would catch them whether or not they had the codes. He has all those silly gadgets he loves so much.'
Rosa had never paid attention to life outside the Whitney home. Coming from a poor background, coupled with the guilt she had always felt over her part in using little children in an experiment, had aided in keeping her segregated from the outside world. 'Did you tell them about the laboratory?'
Rosa squeaked in terror. 'I never speak of that unholy place. I try to forget it exists. Your father should have destroyed it.' She raised her stricken gaze to Lily's. 'I'm sorry, Lily. I copied some of your father's papers off his desk. I tried to give them things that didn't matter but I didn't know what was important.'
'I don't leave the house anymore, Lily. I have our groceries delivered. I don't want to see these men.' She leaned toward Lily, a fresh flood of tears swimming in her eyes. 'What if they are the men who made your father disappear? I'm so ashamed of myself. I should have told Arly but I didn't want him to know I even spoke to those men. What if they take you away from me? I'm so afraid.'
'No one is going to harm me, Rosa. And if you ever disappeared, I would move heaven and earth to find you. I need to know a few other things about the time when my father first hired you.'
Rosa shook her head and clambered to her feet, taking her teacup to the sink. 'I don't speak of that time. I won't, Lily.'
Lily followed her. 'I'm sorry, Rosa, but it isn't just idle curiosity. There are other things going on and I need to find a way to fix them. Please help me.'
Rosa crossed herself and turned toward Lily with a helpless sigh. 'If we do evil, it will haunt us always. Your father did things that weren't natural and I helped him. No matter what we do now, we have to pay for what we did then. That's all I'll say on the subject. Go to bed, Lily. You look so pale and tired.'
' Rosa, what did I do that brought me to Peter Whitney's attention in the first place? What set me apart from the others so much? There must have been others who could do the things I did.'
Rosa hung her head. 'The things he did were wrong, Lily. I've tried very hard to make up for helping him. I don't want to think about those times.'
'Please, Rosa, I need to know.'
'Even as an infant you could make things fly in the air. If you wanted your milk and we were too slow you could bring it to you. It is no good to think of these things. We have a good life, long past those times. Go to bed now and sleep.'
Rosa kissed Lily and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Lily staring after her. Lily put her head down on the sink and growled in sheer frustration. Rosa had always been stubborn over the strangest things. Pressing her for more information was useless. Lily pushed away from the counter and made her way through the darkened house to the stairway.
Lily wrinkled her nose when she saw Arly waiting for her on the bottom stair. She should have known he'd be there; her family had a tendency to hover.
'I didn't think you'd ever get here. You left me in a mess, Lily.'
Lily scowled at the annoyance and accusation in his tone. 'Well, I've had a few little problems to deal with tonight, Arly. I'm so sorry if you were inconvenienced and missed your beauty sleep.'
'You're in a foul mood tonight.'
'Did they make it?'
Arly stood up, towering over her. 'Now you want to know. The trouble with women is they never have their priorities in place.'
'If you give me any trouble tonight, Arly, I swear I'm going to smash you one. I am not in the mood to pander to your over-inflated ego, soothe your ruffled feathers, or listen to you expound on your pet peeves.'
'I always told your father you had such a penchant for violence. Why couldn't you be one of those seen-and- never-heard children?' Arly groused.
'I made up my mind after the first five minutes in your company I was going to be the plague of your life.' Lily leaned her head against his chest wearily and looked up at him. 'I am, aren't I, Arly?'
He kissed the top of her head then ruffled her hair as if she were still a child. 'Yes, Lily, you're definitely the biggest plague of my life.' He sighed. 'One of the men is in bad shape. They said he had a seizure and all of them are worried about a brain bleed.'
Her heart dropped to the floor. Her legs turned to rubber. She clutched at Arly's sleeve. 'Who? Who is it?'
He shrugged, his gaze narrowing as her agitation registered. 'I don't know, someone they call Jeff. He's out like a light.'
Lily breathed a prayer of thanks that it hadn't been Ryland. 'Take me to them, Arly and I'll need our medical kit.'
'Are you certain about this? If these men are caught here, we could get into a lot of trouble. Are you prepared for that?'
'Are you prepared for the alternative?'
Nine
RYLAND met her at the door, his silver gaze devouring her face, taking in every shadow, noting how pale she was. Without preamble, he pulled her into his arms. Needing her. Needing to feel her against him. Needing to run his hands over her body and assure himself she was unharmed. 'Why the hell are you so late? Didn't you think I'd be worried about you? I didn't have the energy for wave communication.' He gave her a little shake.
Lily rested against the hard strength of his body, grateful he was alive. His heart was reassuringly steady and his muscles were solid beneath her hands. 'I was so worried about you, Ryland. I was held up at the laboratories. I had to talk with General McEntire. He was there when the escape took place and Higgens and Thornton asked me to join them in explaining everything.' At that moment she didn't care to reason out why it was so important to her that Ryland was safe, it only mattered that he was. That her world could continue and she could breathe again.
Lily found that her fingers were curled possessively in Ryland's hair. She
