California Dreaming

Chapter 4

While Lily enthusiastically tells her new Micky and Minnie stuffed toys about her kitty, Kate flops down on the bed. "My feet feel like I was canvassing all day."

"Except that these days you can usually pawn that off on the boys," Rick teases. "Maybe we should have brought them along. Or better still, rented a couple of cool scooters. Do you think we could get a sidecar for Lily?"

Kate rolls her eyes. "I think she's a little young to be a biker chick. But when we go to the Wild Animal Park, we're definitely taking the tram."

"I'm with you there. And much as I enjoy wowing guests with my culinary prowess, I'm glad the hotel is taking care of tonight's meal preparations. John said he'd be showing up at about seven-thirty and asked if he could bring his girlfriend with him. I admit I'm a little curious about what kind of woman would catch my near-double's attention. I told him she's welcome."

"I'm a little curious too," Kate admits. "If she's a firefighter, she's got guts and probably some serious muscle."

Rick leans over to plant a quick kiss. "Sounds like someone I know – rather intimately. But I'll tell you what. You rest your serious muscle. I'll make sure Lily's cleaned up for our little dinner party. Her incredibly cute outfit is still full of cinnamon sugar from her churro. I think some of it made its way into her hair, too. And like her mother, she loves a good soak amid cherry-scented bubbles. Might as well take full advantage of the deluxe tub – unless you want it first."

"Maybe later," Kate considers. "It is big enough for two."

Rick's eyebrows ripple. "So it is."

With her hand loosely grasping Nolan's elbow, Bailey can feel his nervousness. "It's only dinner, John."

"With a famous writer and his wife, who has considerable seniority over me as a cop."

"Not in L.A. she doesn't," Bailey reminds her date. "And their daughter will be there too. I've had dinner with my brother's family. He has two kids, and one of them is around Lily's age. If there's anyone that can keep the conversation from getting too intense, it's a toddler."

"Yeah, I remember that from when Henry was little, but Sarah wasn't always happy about it," John recalls. "But hey, you never mentioned your brother's family before."

"They live up in Sylmar, and with my schedule, I don't see them very often. And given that our first date was at a kidnapping in the middle of a drug war and the fire season, we've had other things to talk about."

John presses a kiss to her hair. "True enough. But it is nice to get into more personal subjects."

Bailey leans into his shoulder. "It is."

Rick scrutinizes the table set in the dining area of their suite. He could have folded the napkins more creatively than room service did, but all in all, they did a good job. Lily's high chair harmonizes with the furniture in the suite – a nice touch.

"I'll get it," Kate calls, hearing the knock on their door.

A VIP floor security guard stands in the hall next to Nolan and the woman Kate assumes is his date. "Are these the guests you're expecting?"

"They are," Kate assures him., smiling at the couple. "Come in."

"Last time, all I needed to get up here was my badge," John recalls, as Kate waves the visitors inside. "The uniform probably helped too, but this is a different shift."

Rick joins Kate, putting an arm around her waist. "Lily is safely installed in her place with her new animation acquisitions to keep her company." He grins at John and Bailey. "Glad you could come. Can I get you a drink before dinner? The hotel has a decent wine list. They sent up the Chateauneuf du Pape that I requested, but I can order anything you like."

John exchanges a quick glance with Bailey. "We're fine," he assures Rick.

Rick rubs his hands together. "Good, good. Let's join my daughter then. I got the assorted appetizers as starters and essentially a sampling menu, so you can pick whatever you like."

Kate can't help noticing that Rick's and John's choices are similar or identical throughout the meal. Their faces aren't all they have in common.

"All right," Rick announces as he takes a cloche off a dessert tray, "we've established that our mothers have some common, um, traits. I told you that my father took off before I was born, but I have met up with him as an adult. Physically, at six-four, he's difficult to miss. And we look a little alike around the eyes. His hair is white now, but he kept all of it, which gives me hope."

"My father passed away not long ago," John discloses.

Bailey squeezes his hand. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be!" John exclaims. "He was a sonofa…" Looking sideways at Lily, Rick presses his finger to his lips. John nods. "Sorry. Out of practice."

"She's beginning to droop anyway. I'll put her to bed," Kate volunteers. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"So," John continues when Kate returns, "my father left my mother and me with nothing. I didn't even know I had a brother until he showed up to bring me the jerk's old car. My old man was a bastard even about that. My brother should have inherited it. They worked on it together. So I ended up signing it over to him. But neither my brother nor my father look like me. Actually, my brother doesn't look like my father either. The coloring is completely different. Also, he's about six-three, and if I remember right, my father was only around five-eight."

"So, John, could it be possible that your father wasn't the biological father of either you or your brother?" Kate queries.

"You mean that he married my mother when she was already pregnant with me and did the same with my brother's mother?" John asks. "Why would a man do that?"

"Imagine this," Rick proposes. "A guy discovers that for some reason or another, he's shooting blanks."

"The way I remember him, he had all the signs of being an alcoholic." John inserts.

"That could do it," Bailey puts in. "For my job, I had to study enough medical information to learn about that."

"All right," Rick continues, "we have an infertile guy, possibly an alcoholic, who is desperate not to let that cat out of the bag. So he finds a woman who's in trouble. A quickie marriage seems to solve both their problems. But as time goes by, he finds he can't stand being with her. Finally, after ten years, he takes off and leaves her and the boy he never really loved. But needing a safe harbor, he finds another pregnant woman. This time they get along better. And he actually forms a relationship with the boy. But out of guilt or shame, he leaves the only thing he has of any worth, the car, to the first boy. Or perhaps it was his way of bringing his faux family together somehow.

"So let's consider what we have so far," Rick goes on. "John's mother and my mother were alike in some ways. Perhaps they even temporarily attracted the same man, who took off on both of them. John, you and I have the same eyes, similar to my father's. Could I be your real half-brother?"

John takes a deep breath. "I suppose it's possible."

"I'm sure L.A. must have its share of D.N.A. labs," Kate offers.

"Yes," John confirms. "I've run up against enough D.N.A. evidence to know that it does."