“Yes. She’s beautiful, but you’re more beautiful.”
She turned her head to see his face. “You think so?” That sounded as if she was fishing for a compliment and she wasn’t. He’d said it many times when they were naked, but never when they weren’t.
“Most definitely.” He kissed her forehead and that touch, that reassurance, made her feel better.
“I wonder where she is now.”
“I had my computer guy do a background check on her.”
She sat up on her knees, eager for any news about her mother. She didn’t understand it, but that thirst for information was there.
“And?”
He pushed into a sitting position. “She died when you were nine years old.”
“Oh.” Her hands fluttered against her mouth as a poignant moment of sadness hit her.
“All the security and protection was for nothing, but Roscoe never checked. I guess his pride wouldn’t let him.”
She fiddled with the hem of her shorts. “How did she die?”
“She married a guy named Juan Ruiz who was a member of a gang and crazy jealous. One night as Angela was stripping, a guy tried to touch her. Juan pulled a knife, confronting him. Angela jumped off the stage to stop the fight and Juan accidentally stabbed her. He spent five years in prison for her death.”
“Oh, my.”
“Chip was able to locate him. He’s back in Vegas, remarried with a family and no longer a member of a gang. Chip had a phone number, so I called. It’s amazing what people will tell you over the phone.”
She looked up. “What did he say?”
“Angela married him because he promised her that he and some of his gang members would help her steal you.”
“Oh, no.”
“Yes. The plan was to take you to Mexico to hide you from Roscoe. They tried three times, but the guards prevented them from getting anywhere near you.”
“What guards? I didn’t have any guards until after Crissy was kidnapped.”
“You had guards, Jessie. You just didn’t see them.”
Could that be true? She was just a kid and never sensed anyone was watching her. “How do you know this?”
“When Juan mentioned guards, I thought he was confused so I had Arnie check the payroll records from back then. Roscoe started paying guards when you were eighteen months old.”
She shook her head. “I never knew.”
“Juan said the first time they just walked up to the front door of Al’s house, intending to kick the door in and take you. Before they even made it to the door, two men were on them with guns. They managed to get away. The second time they attempted to break into your window at Roscoe’s. Once again the guards stopped them. The third time they tried to snatch you from a playground. Again, they were detected, and that time they went to jail. The cops didn’t have any evidence so they had to let them go. But Roscoe was very aware that Angela was still trying to abduct you.”
“Did they try once we moved here?”
“No.” Cadde glanced around the room. “This fortress was too high-tech for uneducated gang members. But Angela kept planning to get you back…until her death.”
She sank back on her heels. “I guess that was the main reason for all the tight security. I can’t even imagine what my life would have been like had they succeeded.”
“Not good,” he said with his usual honesty, and she had to admit he was right.
She flipped back her long hair. “And I probably wouldn’t have been a thirty-year-old virgin.”
“And I’m really, really grateful for that.” He caressed her thigh.
Linking her fingers with his, she said, “It feels kind of strange that my life could have turned out so differently and it makes me angry at both of them for subjecting me, an innocent child, to that type of custody hell.”
His hand gripped hers. “It’s over.”
“I know, but it’s hard to take all this in.” She stroked his hand with her other one. “Daddy said my mother came from a poor family. Did she have any siblings? Any family?”
“Your grandparents are dead. Your grandfather was Mexican and your grandmother was white.”
Jessie touched her hair. “Since my father was also white, I guess that’s why I’m not as dark as my mother.”
“Probably.”
“Do I have any siblings?”
“No.”
“And my mother?”
“She had two brothers and two sisters.”
“Are they living?” That kernel of interest was still there.
“The brothers are dead. One was a member of a gang and he introduced Juan to Angela. He was killed in a gang fight. The other worked in a casino and was a dealer in a back room high-stakes poker game. Something went wrong and he was shot.” He lifted her chin. “Guess what the middle sister’s occupation is?”