Morgan momentarily glanced in her direction. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”
She became the soul of innocence as she said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re trying to get me to skip my uncle’s party and take you back to your house.” The smile on his lips was deliberately pasted on. “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you,” he told her. “Besides,” he announced as he pulled into the development and made a right turn, “We’re here.”
She leaned forward, looking all around the well-manicured area.
“This is nice,” Krys commented as Morgan wove his way through the well-cared-for streets lined with majestic trees that were bowing their heads toward one another, forming impressive arches.
“This development is one of the oldest ones in Aurora,” he told her. There was no mistaking the pride in his voice. He thought a moment. “It was built almost fifty-three years ago.”
“You’re kidding,” she said in surprise. “Everything looks so new and clean.”
The development she lived in was only seven years old. At that age, she expected the area to look as new as it did, but hearing how old this one was really surprised her.
“The people in Aurora as a whole know how to take care of things.” He was proud of the fact that there wasn’t a single part of Aurora that could be singled out as needing a lot of work or upkeep. “There’s a lot of pride in the community around here.”
“Apparently,” Krys acknowledged. She continued taking the scenery in. “I can see why my sister wanted to live here.”
“You live here, too,” Morgan reminded her.
“Only because she settled here,” she confessed. They didn’t see each other much because of her own work, but just knowing that Nik was close by was enough for her peace of mind. “Besides, we are each other’s only family.”
Not anymore, Morgan thought.
“We’re here,” he announced out loud. He had managed to find a space that was near the front.
“We certainly are,” Krys murmured, seeing all the cars that lined both sides of the street and seemed to bleed even further into the development.
The number of cars overwhelmed her.
Chapter 20
Krys was standing just half a step behind him at former chief of police Andrew Cavanaugh’s front door. Morgan heard her take in a deep breath just as he rang the doorbell.
Glancing at her over his shoulder, Morgan saw that she had drawn back her shoulders as well, making him think of a soldier who was getting ready to encounter the opposing side.
Leaning his head in toward her, Morgan whispered into Krys’s ear, “Remember, they don’t bite,” just as the front door opened.
With everything in the kitchen either cooking, grilling or having already been prepared, the meal Andrew intended to serve to his family was completely under control. The chief had taken the opportunity to step away from his oversized kitchen, a kitchen that had already been remodeled and expanded three times since he had retired and begun to indulge in his latest passion.
The very surprised look on the family patriarch’s face when he opened the front door dissipated almost immediately.
“You’re right,” Andrew declared, sparing a quick glance toward his nephew. “She really does look like her sister.” Giving Krys a quick embrace, the family patriarch told the young woman, “Welcome to my home, Krystyna.”
Krys smiled. There was something about Andrew Cavanaugh that had made her feel instantly at ease.
“Everyone calls me Krys,” she told him, then added with whimsical humor, “Sometimes they call me Nik.”
Andrew laughed. “I bet that gets old,” he sympathized.
“It does,” she agreed, “but only sometimes.”
“Well please, come in, come in,” Andrew invited, stepping back and clearing the threshold for the latest arrivals. “Half the family’s already here,” he told Morgan, then turned toward Krys. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard from your sister yet.”
“Actually, I did get a postcard from Hawaii the day before yesterday,” Krys told the chief. “It said, quote, ‘Don’t wish you were here.’” There was a wide grin on her face.
Delighted, Andrew laughed. “I would have been surprised if she had left out the word ‘don’t.’”
A noise from the kitchen caught his attention and the chief glanced in that direction. “Well, I should be getting back to my kitchen. Contrary to what some of the younger generation seem to think, food does not cook itself. But I’ll leave you in Morgan’s capable hands,” Andrew told her. “He’ll be your guide. That means he’ll show you where all the entrées, appetizers and desserts are around here, plus he can introduce you to everyone.” Andrew smiled as he looked at his nephew. “You have finally learned everyone’s names, haven’t you, Morgan?”
“Just about,” Morgan said with a straight face. He glanced toward Krys, who was looking at him with a quizzical expression on her face. “It’s not as easy as you might think.”
They had moved into the expanded family room now, and Krys looked around at all the various relatives, large, medium and small, who were already there. And from all indications, she assumed that there were more of them coming.
“Oh, trust me, I don’t think it’s easy at all,” she assured Morgan, then asked, “Shouldn’t you people come with name tags or something?”
Morgan laughed. She hadn’t given voice to a sentiment that hadn’t been shared by a lot of other people the first time they found themselves encountering the family en masse.
“Oh, we’ve thought about it, but where’s the challenge in that?” he asked with a wink.
“I don’t want to be challenged,” she told him quite honestly. “I want to be right.”
And that, Morgan thought, was the key to Krys’s personality. “We’ll work on that,” he promised. “In the meantime, let’s get you something to eat. After that, the introductions will begin. Don’t worry,” Morgan assured her as he brought Krys over to the patio, “it’s painless.”
Painless, huh? “Is that before or after my head explodes?”
It occurred to Krys that she hadn’t seen this
