Chapter Eleven
"Kendall, honey, it's Myrtle. I take it there's no news?"
"Oh, hi, Myrtle." Kendall had leapt on the phone when it rang. She couldn't keep the dejection that the caller was only Myrtle from her voice. "No, nothing. Derek called a little while ago and said the search was intensifying. I thought you might be him with an update."
"I wish I were!" Myrtle sighed, without her normal verve. "This waiting is getting to me too. I feel all at loose ends. I hope Miranda is keeping you busy. How are you getting along with her?"
"Well…Miranda actually wasn't her for that long. Greenlee and Ryan already have a set up for a baby and they convinced me she'd be better off staying with them, but I'm going over there for a visit in a little while, as soon as I finish dressing. I just got out of the shower."
"All right, then, I won't keep you. But will you please give that precious lamb a kiss for me?"
"Of course I will, Myrtle. Hey, why don't I pick you up and take you with me, so you can give her that kiss for yourself? Who knows, you might just prevent World War Three at the same time."
"That's a lovely invitation and I'd love to accept it, darlin', but my arthritis is acting up something terrible," Myrtle admitted.
Kendall made a sympathetic noise. "All the stress, huh? I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do for you? Run to the store for any groceries you need, or the video store to pick up a Brad Pitt video?"
As Kendall had intended, Myrtle chuckled. "Cary Grant is more my speed, Kendall. No, honey, don't worry about me. Just take care of yourself and Miranda."
"I'll try. I'm not doing such a good job so far. We almost ran into a flock of reporters on our way home. I hope I don't run the same gauntlet when I go out. You should have seen what Zach—"
"Zach?" Myrtle prompted.
"Oh, nothing really. Just that when we got home, we couldn't get through the gate because of all the reporters around it, but then Zach rolled out in his tank and scattered everybody far and wide like duckpins at the bowling alley." Mistake. As soon as the words left her lips, Kendall berated herself. Zach was the last person she should be discussing, in any way, shape, or form, with the partisan Myrtle. Yet as hard as she tried to put Zach from her mind, he kept barreling his way back in. The same way he did in reality.
Myrtle sounded delighted. "He's looking out for you, Kendall. Zach Slater is the real deal. You didn't need to hand Miranda over to Greenlee, not when that child's uncle lives right across the way from you, and he being so good with her."
Count to ten, Kendall. Count to ten. Myrtle's an old lady, she's not feeling well, and you started this. "I hate to break it to you, Myrtle, but Zach Slater is not Cary Grant. He's manipulative, deceitful, detestable scum. You know I don't trust him with Miranda as far as I can throw him, so why do you keep going there?"
Again Myrtle chuckled. "When you put your mind to it, Kendall, you can throw a man quite a distance and make him enjoy the trip. Oh, Mr. Slater's a bit of a scoundrel, but I never said Cary Grant was perfect either. Our friend Zach set all the tongues in Pine Valley wagging at both ends when he came to town, but Kendall, does any man worth his salt not give people something to talk about? You know exactly how much gossip is worth: The same amount it costs to listen to."
My father is going to pay for what he's done to me, Kendall. I'm going to make him pay. Zach tried to deprive me of my name and my heritage and it's my turn now to deprive him of everything he has. The Cambias Curse is alive and well and about to eat him whole and there's no place he can hide from it, not even if he travels the world. My greatest pleasure in life will be destroying Zach Slater. How I'll make him suffer, Kendall…you'll see. I'll make him suffer ten times over for everything he's done to me…and then ten times more.
"Kendall? Darlin'?"
Snapping with difficult back into the present, Kendall replied, "I'm here, Myrtle. Look, I'd better run. I'll call you when I get home unless something happens while I'm out, okay?"
"Please do, honey. And don't forget that kiss for Miranda from me."
After quickly pulling on the turquoise tank top and low-slung black slacks she had already planned to wear, Kendall removed a fitted black blazer from her closet and donned that too, buttoning it snugly. The act was only remotely reminiscent of Zach's loosely putting his jacket around her earlier; no, it had nothing in common with that, and thank god she had not mentioned any part that entirely cringe-worthy incident to Myrtle or Myrtle'd be placing his name in nomination for white-knighthood or possibly cutting right to the chase and going for sainthood, Kendall snorted privately.
It was just that all of a sudden she'd felt chilled while listening to Myrtle praise Zach…and no, not chilled by anything Myrtle said, she must be growing immune to that, but chilled by the echoes it summoned of Ethan's solemn promises to destroy his father.
Why? Why shouldn't Ethan hate Zach? Zach denied him…just like Erica denied me. His share of Cambias Industries is everything to Ethan yet Zach wants to take it from him. Zach pretends it's to save Ethan from the Cambias Curse, but why should Ethan believe a word he says when Zach's been lying to him from day one?
But…but. There was the Miranda Center construction delay. The mounting obsession with wealth and power and superiority. The maniacal glee in Ethan's eye when he spoke of ruining Zach. Revenge consumed Ethan, seeming to matter to him more than anything else…even more than Kendall herself. Of course, he assumed she understood, she who'd hated her mother and loved Ethan—should understand, and hate the father he hated, for the same reason she'd hated her mother.
But I love Erica now and I didn't really hate her then. If I hated her I never would have been so desperate for her to love me. I just went about trying to make her love me all the wrong way.
Kendall absent-mindedly inserted a dangling earring. Is Ethan doing with Zach what I tried to do with Erica? Forcing his love? Is Zach doing with Ethan what Erica did with me, pushing him away because he doesn't know what to do with that love yet? Let's see. No…no, because the situations aren't the same. I—I was forced on Erica and she always knew I existed. Ethan was an accident, and Zach only just found out Ethan was his son. And I'm a lot older than Ethan— it took Erica years to notice I was self-destructing. Zach is already trying to stop Ethan from—
"Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit!" she swore aloud as her hand slipped and the earring's post stabbed into her flesh instead of smoothly gliding through her pierced earlobe. "This is exactly what—how—Zach wants me to think. Well, I won't dance to his tune, no matter how loud Myrtle and Greenlee play their violins. I won't let him or any of them lull me into a false sense of security and I won't let him win this one. I can't, I can't and I won't. And now I guess I'm as whacked as Greenlee—talking to myself like this."
Pausing just long enough in the living room to collect her overcoat and purse, Kendall stormed out of her condo at the same time Zach was locking his own door behind him. When he looked up and saw her, she stiffened self-consciously. In response he bowed his head with an odious little grin on his face and silently motioned with his hands for her to precede him. Kendall didn't need a second invitation, stalking off without acknowledging Zach at all. But she could hear him walking right behind her, the solid tapping of his hateful footsteps keeping pace with the brisk tattoo of her stiletto heels and providing a counterpoint to the conflicting emotions ricocheting around in her chest.
Although why she should still feel at all conflicted after the lecture she'd delivered to herself, Kendall was neither certain nor willing to examine further. She was simply glad to have nearly reached her car, when Zach walked smartly up alongside her exuding his standard arrogance.
"You seem fully recovered," he remarked suavely.
"I am," she replied shortly. "I'm going to see Miranda."
"Glad to hear it. Then it's safe to mention I'm heading over to see Miranda as well."
Kendall turned on him. "You're what?"
"To repeat, I'm visiting Miranda—my niece. I'm going unannounced, so there's no need for you to hold Greenlee responsible."
"Good luck on that. Even if Greenlee lets you in the house, Ryan won't!"
"You think not?" A hopeful expression crossed Zach's face. "That could prove interesting."
"Don't you ever get tired of going where you're not wanted?" Kendall exploded.
"But you see, there were no objections when I facilitated your entering the parking lot," Zach said softly. "Or made sure the earsplitting screech penetrating my walls wasn't because a pack of rabid dogs was savaging you. At least, no initial objections."
"Because you had an ulterior motive, Zach. You always do. So I can't give you credit for that, sorry." Unconsciously, Kendall clutched the ends of her open coat a little tighter.
"We could carpool," he needled.
"You can forget about that!"
"One more thing I'll mention then, Kendall, before we go our separate ways. Where Miranda is concerned, I suspect Greenlee won't be much happier to see you than her husband will to see me."
"I don't see why not. Greenlee expects me to be a frequent visitor as long as she's taking care of Miranda. She said I could visit whenever I want."
"Visit? Visitor, oh, that's fine. But what if you want Miranda back? I noticed the possessive way Greenlee and Ryan carried Miranda off with them, rather like a trophy."
"Will you stop playing whatever mind games you think you're playing!" Kendall protested uneasily. "That's Greenlee's style. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth so she comes across like she's entitled to everything, but it doesn't mean she really thinks she is."
"No? You temporarily entrusted Miranda to Greenlee based on that ringing endorsement?" Zach asked curiously.
"And Greenlee speaks so well of you," Kendall said witheringly.
"I'm serious, Kendall. My livelihood depends in part on reading body language. I've nothing against Greenlee personally. I'm telling what I observed. You can take it or leave it."
The two of them still stood facing each other by the trunk of Kendall's car, unmindful of passing traffic and other residents' coming and going. Zach's observation left Kendall for once with no argument, for he was only voicing, more overtly and specifically, her own vague misgivings, misgivings she'd let Greenlee appease earlier.
"Why, Zach?" she asked. "Why are you wasting time warning me? Why aren't you rushing over there and sucking up to them then, and taking the opportunity to badmouth me behind my back so you can cut me out and get your hands on Miranda?"
They stared at each other some more. At last Zach said, "Kendall, regardless of my opinion of you, or yours of me, it's never been a goal of mine to come between you and Miranda."
"After all that you've done, I should believe that—why?"
Zach stepped back. "The obvious answer should be that as Bianca's sister, you're whom she would designate Miranda's guardian…should it ever come to that. And—again, regardless of your and my opinions of each other—Bianca's wishes are paramount. As always, take it or leave it."
Watching him cross the aisle to his huge black Range Rover, Kendall felt the tears she'd managed to hold back today gather in the back of her throat. Should it ever come to that? It wouldn't come to that…it couldn't. But if it did…if it did, why would Zach even bother to imply, especially privately to her instead of in front of a roomful of witnesses he was trying to impress, that he'd support her claim to Miranda? That didn't makes sense…not if he was the perpetrator behind the Cambias jet disappearance, who hadn't been aware Miranda wasn't on the flight, who needed to get Miranda out of the way in order to reclaim the Cambias empire all for himself.
No, under those circumstances it didn't make any sense for Zach to support Kendall's custody of Miranda. Not when it would be infinitely easier to get rid of one helpless baby than it would be to get rid of one helpless baby and her very suspicious aunt. It didn't make any sense at all.
Zach's just playing more of his head games, she finally decided. I don't know what he's up to but if he thinks he's going to beat me to Greenlee's he's got another thought coming. I'm going to be one step ahead of him.