Better Late Than Never

them.'

Stuart Kelley nodded, but his eyes were still on Jenna. 'And very special.'

'Well, these two certainly are,' Mrs. Devon said. 'You do know about their special gifts, don't you?'

'The school principal did say something about Jenna having deep insights into people.'

'I suppose that's one way of looking at it,' Mr. Devon said. 'My daughter can disappear.'

'Dad!' Tracey interjected. 'We're not really supposed to talk about this.'

Her father brushed that aside. 'Mr. Kelley-- Stuart, I mean--is one of us. A gifted parent.'

Stuart shook his head. 'Hardly that, considering I've been missing from Jenna's life. I don't know how I'm ever going to make it up to her.'

The Devon parents looked at each other. 'We understand,' they said in unison.

The way he was looking at her with that adoring expression was getting on Jenna's nerves. 'Why did you come looking for me now?' she demanded.

He sighed and took a small sip of his cocktail. Jenna noticed that he'd barely touched it. At least he wasn't an alcoholic--that was something.

'I've been a coward,' he said. 'I always wanted to see you. I wanted to see your mother, too, but I assumed she'd slam the door in my face. She certainly has the right to do that. I treated her terribly.'

'You sure did,' Jenna blurted out. 'You walked out on her when she was pregnant. No wonder she started drinking.'

'Jenna,' Mrs. Devon chided her gently, 'people make all kinds of mistakes in their lives. At least your father is trying to make amends now.'

It dawned on Jenna that they were all talking as if it was an absolute certainty that Stuart Kelley was her real father. Including herself--she'd just accused this man she'd never seen before in her life of walking out on her mother. Maybe now was the time to do a little mental exploration and try to find out who this guy really was.

But Mrs. Devon chose that moment to call them all to the table, and there was no opportunity for Jenna to stare at him and concentrate. The next few moments were taken up with accepting portions of roast beef and scooping green beans onto plates.

Jenna might not have been able to read his mind at the moment, but she hadn't finished asking questions. 'Why did you just show up at the door on Monday? Why didn't you call first?'

'I couldn't find a telephone number,' he replied.

That was a good point. The phone had been disconnected ages ago because the bill hadn't been paid.

'Besides,' he continued, 'I assumed your mother would just hang up once she knew who was calling.'

'And she would have slammed the door in your face if she'd been home,' Jenna countered.

'True,' he admitted. 'She certainly had every reason to. I just thought I'd have a better chance of talking to her if I came in person.'

He probably thought he was so good-looking that she couldn't resist him, Jenna thought sourly. Unfortunately, he was probably right. He was exactly the type of guy her mother liked.

'Have you spoken to her at all?' Mrs. Devon asked.

'No. She's not allowed visitors or phone calls at the hospital. When does she come out, Jenna?'

'A week from Sunday.'

'I'm very anxious to see her.'

'Why?' Jenna asked bluntly.

He had a dazzling smile. 'This might be hard to believe, Jenna, but I was very much in love with your mother. Even when I left her.'

Tracey gazed at him curiously. 'Do you think you might still be? In love with her, I mean?'

'Tracey!' Jenna glared at her. 'Isn't that a little personal?'

Stuart Kelley laughed gently. 'It's all right, Jenna. And who knows? All I can say is that I've never stopped thinking about her. And you, Jenna.'

Jenna didn't say anything. A new thought had come to her. This man was planning to stick around and see her mother when she came out of rehab. Barbara Kelley might have a foggy memory after all those years of drinking, but she wasn't stupid. Surely she'd know her own ex-husband.

Jenna looked at him now and tried to imagine him as her father. Maybe … maybe this wasn't quite as far-fetched as it seemed. An image flashed across her mind: a family, made up of a mother and a father and a daughter, living in a real house, having a normal life …

With effort, she pushed the picture out of her head. She was not optimistic by nature, and she wasn't going to start looking on the bright side of everything now.

There was an uncomfortable silence at the table. Stuart Kelley must have felt it, because he changed the subject. 'So your father said you can disappear, Tracey?'

Jenna almost smiled. She liked the way he had said it conversationally, the way someone might say, So your father said you play the piano? He wasn't acting like they were freaks, the way some people would have.

'I used to,'Tracey said. She looked at her parents, both of whom suddenly became terribly interested in what still lay on their plates. Jenna couldn't blame them--they must have felt awful about how they'd treated their daughter. Tracey was nice enough not to go into the whole story for Stuart.

'I'm practicing now,' she went on. 'What I need is to be able to feel invisible, and it's not so easy for me anymore. But I'm doing these meditation exercises, and they're helping.' She turned to Jenna. 'Right?'

Jenna agreed. 'You were practically translucent last night. I could see the glow from the lamp behind you.'

Tracey nodded happily. 'We're in a special class, Jenna and me,' she told Stuart. 'And we're learning how to get in touch with our gifts and control them. Use them wisely.'

Stuart turned to Jenna. 'Is that working for you, too?'

Jenna shrugged. 'Yeah, I guess.'

Mr. Devon was looking at her with interest. 'How deeply can you read minds, Jenna?'

She shrugged again. 'I don't know.'

'I mean, can you go beneath the surface?' he continued. 'Or can you just read what people are clearly thinking?' He turned to his wife. 'Just think of the benefit to therapy. People wouldn't have to be analyzed for years to find out what's going on in their subconscious minds. Jenna could tell them!'

'Let's try it right now,' Mrs. Devon said excitedly. She turned to Stuart and explained, 'I've been in analysis for years, and we just had a breakthrough last week--an event that I'd buried in my subconscious. Let's see if Jenna can tell me what it was!'

'Mom!' Tracey moaned. 'Don't ask Jenna to do that--it's embarrassing!'

Jenna could feel her face turning red. She was embarrassed, but how could she say no to the woman who was providing her with a home at the moment?

Tracey hadn't finished. 'Besides, Madame says we should never exploit one another's gifts, and that includes the parents of the gifted.'

'Who is Madame?' Stuart asked.

'Our gifted-class teacher,' Jenna told him. 'She says we have to be very careful about revealing our gifts. She tells us there are plenty of bad people out there who might want to use us for their own nasty purposes.'

'And she's absolutely right,' Stuart said firmly. 'I don't know what kind of benefit people could get from using your mind-reading skills, but I'm sure they'd think of something.' Turning to Tracey he said, 'And someone might try to force you to rob a bank for them. I think it's best not to let too many people know what you can do.'

'I agree,' Mr. Devon said. 'Just keep it in the family.'

'That's right.' Stuart looked at Jenna. 'Keep it in the family,' he repeated.

Jenna suddenly became aware of a rush of feeling filling her up. Was this happening? Could this be real?

'You're absolutely right,' Mrs. Devon declared. 'In fact, I'm ashamed of myself for asking you to show off your gift, Jenna.'