Still Waters

one who can teach you. If you'll trust me. Will you let me, Maddy? Please?'

She wanted to trust him. She did trust him, even though she wondered why it seemed so important to him that she learn to swim. Why should he care?

Then she wondered, why she should care what his motives were. She wanted so badly to learn to swim, to overcome her awful fear of water, and here one of the world's all-time great swimmers was offering- was begging- to teach her! And she really was sure she could trust him. She knew that a man still in the process of healing from a terrible emotional wound wasn't likely to be looking for new entanglements. So what was she hesitating for?

Besides, a thought had just struck her. Now that Theresa's case had been turned over to the proper authorities, there wouldn't be any reason for Zack to contact her again. That realization hit her with a sensation that felt a lot like panic.

'All right,' she heard herself say. 'I'll do it.'

'Good girl. We can start… how's tomorrow evening? Early. Can you come right after work?'

She cleared her throat. 'I have flexible hours.'

'Six o'clock, then. Still plenty of daylight left.' He grinned suddenly. 'Although, come to think of it, there's no reason we couldn't do this at night. A pool can be beautiful at night, with the underwater lights on.'

'Six is fine,' Maddy said quickly, remembering the lighted pools she'd seen, and the crystal-clear view of the bodies in them. 'Where do you live?'

'I'll draw you a map. It's up by the golf course; might be hard to find.' He let go of her hands at last and picked up the pad and pencil by the telephone. After scribbling rapidly for a few minutes he tore the top sheet off the pad and handed it to her.

With a curious mixture of excitement and dread, Maddy took it and whispered, 'Thank you.'

'Now, don't flake out on me.' He reached out to touch the side of her face. 'Promise you'll come.'

'I'll be there,' she murmured absently. She'd just noticed that his eyelashes were very long. They didn't look long, because the tips were bleached golden. That seemed utterly fascinating to her. 'I promise.'

'You'd better be there. You're a personal challenge to me, you know, not just a professional one.'

'What do you mean?' Perhaps she'd better pay attention. She was already beginning to wonder if she'd been wrong about his emotional condition.

'Yeah…' His thumb was lightly stroking her jaw, moving back and forth in an absent sort of way. He didn't even seem aware of what he was doing. 'Someday, you know, you're going to trust me enough to tell me what happened to make you so afraid of water.'

A shiver jolted Maddy, dispelling the last wisps of fog. 'You seem awfully sure of yourself,' she retorted.

'Oh, I am.' His hand dropped away, and as he turned to go he added cryptically, 'For the first time in a long, long time.'

He left her shivering in a warm golden shaft of sunshine.

From his car, Zack looked thoughtfully back at the odd little house. With no windows, at least she couldn't look out and catch him gazing at her home like a smitten adolescent. And wouldn't that frighten her to death!

A stroke of genius, he thought, coming up with the swimming-lessons idea as a way to get past that guard of hers. Not only would she be vulnerable and dependent in the water, but it was one place she couldn't take along those damn puppets!

Though why he wanted to get closer to her he couldn't imagine. At first glance she'd seemed exactly the sort of woman he'd tried diligently to avoid these past few years. And yet… something about her made him think of lost puppies and orphaned kittens. Maybe because, as he'd told her, she really was a long, long way from Kansas. Or Indiana.

He had a feeling that, if he were ever really going to get close to her, he was going to have to help her find the way back.

Five

'She looks so little,' Maddy said softly. 'And so… alone.' She turned from the one-way observation window. 'Larry…'

'Maddy,' Dr. Larry Whitlaw said warningly, and put a comforting arm across her shoulders. 'Come on, now.' He gave her a little squeeze.

She sighed. 'Oh, Larry, I know. But…' Her voice trailed off as she watched Theresa work patiently with a puzzle in the Crisis Center's playroom.

'But you let yourself get involved here, didn't you?' Larry said. 'After all my lectures, warnings, threats, and fatherly advice.'

She smiled ruefully up at the Crisis Center's founder and director. 'Yes, but not intentionally. Darn it, Larry, she had me hooked before I knew she was going to wind up here. What could I do?'

'Yeah, well.' Larry Whitlaw stooped to look through the glass. He was a very tall, very thin man, whose poor posture did nothing to detract from his natural athletic grace. 'She is a cutie, isn't she?'

Maddy cleared her throat. 'I'm a little surprised you had her brought in so quickly. Was the family environment that bad?'

Larry frowned. 'It wasn't good. Theresa doesn't live with her parents. They're both dead, as a matter of fact. She lives with an aunt and uncle. The mother's sister, I believe. The aunt is okay-just scared to death of her husband, which is fairly typical.'

'Umm.' Maddy nodded and tried to sound no more than professionally interested. She knew she wasn't fooling Larry one bit. 'So what's going to be done with her? Will she become a county ward?'

'Larry nodded. 'Hope so-hearing's tomorrow.'

'Who's the judge?' When she thought of Theresa facing so many strangers in cold and unfamiliar places, something stirred inside her, awakening fierce and primitive instincts. She felt an urge to shelter, and to protect.

'Donna Bergman.' Larry's compassion-weary eyes twinkled down at Maddy with understanding. 'I put in a special request.'

Maddy was relieved on that point, at least. Judge Bergman was a warm, motherly-looking person with a knack for putting traumatized children, as well as the adult victims of rape and abuse, at ease. 'What about the aunt and uncle? Will they contest?'

'I doubt it. The aunt seems to have been genuinely fond of her sister, and tried to do what she could for the kid, but between you and me, I think she'll be relieved to have the source of tension between her and her husband out of the house. No, I don't anticipate any problems.'

'So… what then?' Maddy persisted. 'Where is she staying in the meantime? Juvenile Hall?' She was finding it increasingly hard to push her voice past the knot in her throat. Inside the playroom, Theresa had finished her puzzle. As she was carrying it back to the shelf, she stumbled, jostling the tray and spilling wooden puzzle pieces across the linoleum floor. Maddy could hear the clatter even through the thick walls and double-glass window. Tears stung her nose and throat as she watched the little girl clap both hands over her mouth and look around with huge, terrified eyes, then kneel and begin to gather the pieces with quick, furtive movements. The back of her neck looked so fragile, so vulnerable.

'Juvenile Hall's impacted at the moment,' Larry said. 'She'll stay at the Crisis Shelter until we can find her a foster home.' His voice sounded thoughtful, and Maddy glanced up, not surprised to find he was looking straight at her, not at Theresa.

To her own amazement she heard herself say, 'Larry, let me keep her.'

'Maddy…'He looked sympathetic but regretful- and not nearly as startled by the request as Maddy was.

'It's so cold here,' she said. 'So… institutional. She's got to be feeling lost and confused. Just until you find a good foster home.'

'Maddy, you know what my thoughts are on this. You know what the policy-'

'Oh, Larry, damn the policy! That's a little child in there. She knows me. She trusts