“So, what brings you here? It's miles from your house and not your type of scene at all?" he started, directing his speech to Alice.
“The same could be said for you, Rick. Except I have no clue where you live now." mum deflected.
“I'm working in an office nearby at the moment. Contracting, so only temporarily. I move all over the place, renting or staying in hotels.”
He looked away for a moment before resting his gaze on me.
“How about yourselves? Isn't Eliza in her final year with exams approaching? Have you moved house?" he inquired, clearly not forgotten that we hadn't explained our presence.
“It's a delicate matter, Rick. Eliza's having a bit of a break from her studies at the moment, but it's only temporary." mum said, still being evasive.
“We could maybe talk about it, if we decided to keep contact." she suggested tentatively.
She sounded a tad defensive. I could see Rick mulling it over and deciding to leave it for now. He once again directed his attention on me.
“Look Lizzy, I'm sure this is really awkward for you and you must be feeling confused and have millions of questions for me. I would really like to get to know you better and I hope we can meet up soon? I haven't got long today, so I really hope you’ll consider it.”
He wrote his contact details down and gave them to me. I nodded but looked bemused.
“Why now? What has stopped you from contacting me in the past? I don't understand how you can just walk in here and drop this on me, and on mum? I really don't know what to think.”
I looked at him accusingly and he lowered his eyelids. I picked up a glimmer of guilt.
“Oh honey, nothing in life is straight forward and simple, but I would like to get a chance to explain, if you let me. Just not now. It's too complicated." he sighed.
“Please phone me in the next couple of days so we can arrange to meet up. And Alice, I would like you to be there too, if you want.”
I looked at mum and her face was showing a kaleidoscope of emotions, each fighting to be the dominant one. But she answered coolly.
“I'll think about it. Eliza and I will have a talk about it. I'm not sure she's ready for this, or me for that matter, but we'll try and work something out.”
He looked satisfied with that answer, clearly anticipating that our curiosity will win over any apprehension we might feel. He gathered his coat and picked up his coffee to leave.
“Hope to see you soon." he whispered in mum's ear when he hugged her.
“I would love to see more of you, Eliza. You have grown up into the beautiful young lady I always knew you would.”
Then he left, without looking back.
Mum looked pensive but I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd been waiting for the chance to meet my father since the moment he'd left us, albeit subconsciously. It was weird it had come under these circumstances and I couldn't fully work out what I felt. I didn't really allow myself too much time to think about it. The fact it was part of the mission had pushed my own feelings to the background and I wasn't ready to let them all out, so I focussed on the assignment.
It had gone rather well I thought. He didn't seem suspicious at all at the moment. He had genuinely been surprised to see us there and he clearly had to improvise to arrange another meeting, but left the ball in our court. That was great as we could arrange something on our terms and there would be fewer unknowns. I couldn't wait to tell Zack the good news. Though, looking at Claude texting away, he must be fully up to date already. We finished our drinks and gathered up our belongings, preparing to leave. Claude would follow shortly afterwards and we were not to make contact until everything was clear and checked, just in case Rick had us followed or anything. We left to do a bit of window shopping, waiting for the all clear signal which came after about twenty minutes.
CHAPTER 38
Back at our compound, Eliza walked up to me, her face excited and relieved, her eyes still shimmering with adrenaline. She looked beautiful, a fact not missed by Zaphire, who was standing by my side. She ran up to Eliza and embraced her lovingly. My heart felt the stab of jealousy all too much, but I pushed it away instantly.
“Well done, my sweet. You held it together brilliantly." I heard my sister whisper in Eliza's ear tenderly. I was selfishly pleased to see Eliza's eyes searching for me, whilst still in Zaphy's embrace. My sister must have felt it, as she let go and looked away trying to hide her disappointment. It was clear to me, but Eliza wasn't tuned into her at the moment, still brimming with excitement from the successful start of her first assignment.
“Zack! That couldn't have gone any better! Mum was brilliant! I was so lucky to have her there. Without her I would have given myself away, for sure.”
She looked around, still quite bewildered and suddenly remembering the Kas situation.
"Apart from the Kas debacle." she said a little dejected.
“Where is he?"
“He's safe and under my care at the moment." Zaphire interjected.
“Don't worry about him. He'll be fine, though we're not sure what to do with him as Zack still needs to decide what action to take."
That was low. She knew that Eliza would hate what I'll have to do with Kas, and she's not going to forgive me easily. My sister was feeling a little stung by jealousy too.
“I'll deal with that later, sister." I said poignantly.
“First, Eliza and Alice will need to tell me exactly what happened and then we'll devise a
