“While you were having this patience, did you ever get very, very lonely?” she asked.

Jack and Preacher were both quiet for a moment.

“Come to our house for Christmas dinner, Kelly,” Preacher said. “I’ll even let you help in the kitchen if it makes you feel better.”

She laughed at him. “Nah, it’s not that. I’m used to being alone. It’s just that however this all works out, I have no idea how to convince Courtney I won’t take her dad away from her. That poor kid has been through so much. Who knows where she is now? And I don’t want to stand in line to be the next wicked stepmother.”

“She’s a little prickly,” Jack said. “Teenagers are like that anyway. Even the ones who haven’t been through a lot.”

“Right now I’d be so happy to deal with all her little prickly thorns if I just knew she was safely in Lief’s care.” She took a sip. “They need each other so much.”

And I need him a little too much, she thought.

Lief had exhausted almost all his ideas; it had been a very stressful couple of days. It seemed there was no help for a stepfather who’d been duped. He couldn’t imagine what Court might be going through, kept from him like this. Was she thinking that he’d broken his promise to be nearby in case she needed him? And he was panicked to think where she might be, though he was relatively certain Stu couldn’t have taken her out of the country. Lief had her passport in the strongbox at home along with her birth certificate.

He tried one last idea. Walt Booth’s number was listed, and he called it. Walt picked up on the second ring. “Walt, it’s Lief. I’m calling from Los Angeles and I need to reach Muriel. It’s urgent.”

“She’s right here. Hang on.”

When she came on the line, Lief explained what he was up against.

“Why, that bastard,” she said. “How does a person do something like that when a child is involved? How can he sleep at night? Don’t you worry. I’ll find him!”

“He’s not answering his cell phone, but here’s the number in case you can find a way to get through.”

“Oh, I’ll get through. I’ll get a patch through a studio or agency line. When Muriel St. Claire wants to make a movie, people tend to take the call. And even though it’s just a few days before Christmas, I want a meeting. I’ll offer to fly in, wherever he is. Just sit tight and try not to panic.”

“God, why didn’t I think to call you two days ago? Thank you.”

“Keep the phone on, Lief,” she said.

Less than an hour later his phone rang and it was Muriel. “He’s in Maui. Kapalua Beach in some condo. Got a pen?”

“Ready,” he said.

She gave him the address. “Can you get there, Lief?”

“I’ll get there if I have to swim,” he said. “Listen, I owe you.”

“Just go get your girl. I never did like Stu Lord. He’s an ass.”

Lief turned in his rental car and headed straight to LAX, determined to eat and sleep in the airport until he could find a flight. He had to wait several hours and couldn’t get a nonstop into Maui, but he was headed in the right direction and was grateful he could find anything at all this close to Christmas—the airport was mobbed.

Courtney had done three days of babysitting, counting their travel day, and was exhausted, even though Alison and Michael were good children and their parents were usually close by. Stu said he’d talked to Lief, and Lief had said to tell her to try to have a good time, that he wished he was at the beach. “Didn’t he ask to talk to me?” she had asked.

“Courtney, I asked him not to interfere and I promised him you were fine,” Stu said. “He warned me that I’d better be telling the truth and agreed to leave it alone. After all, I am your father.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“We have a deal,” he reminded her.

“I’m sick of babysitting!”

“Well, you decide what you want, Courtney. Life in L.A. or the mountains. It’s up to you.”

So she held out, and after just a couple of days she was feeling tired and bored. She wasn’t going to last through another week of this—chasing little ones, eating with them, reading to them, playing with them, falling asleep on the couch in Ann and Dick’s condo, right next door to Stu and Sherry’s condo, until Ann and Dick came back late at night after dinner, a little drunk. And Ann would cheerfully say, “Courtney, our last au pair would at least pick up the house before we got home.”

“But I’m not an au pair and I never wanted to be one!” she said.

“But you’re doing so well. The children love you!”

This was almost a practical joke.

At least she didn’t have to watch the older boys very much; Stu and Sherry let them run wild and kept tabs on them during the day. They hired a hotel service at night since Courtney babysat in Ann and Dick’s condo next door. Thankfully they didn’t want to hang out with a three-and four-year-old.

She kept trying to figure out how she was going to get out of this situation without the penalty being a life sentence with Stu and Sherry. Every last idea went through her head, even just running away and living on the streets. She thought about ditching right now—she had that credit card. She wouldn’t mind sitting at the airport until she could get a flight, even if it took days. But she’d have to at least tell Ann and Dick; she couldn’t leave Alison and Michael unattended—they were completely innocent. If something happened to them, she’d probably get life in prison. And if she alerted the Pagets, that would alert Stu. And while Ann and Dick seemed polite enough, always remembering to say please and thank you and smiling while they gave orders, they were not at all interested in watching their own kids. They were obviously quite accustomed to having full-time help.

She just wanted off this island so bad.

She was at the hotel restaurant for breakfast with Alison and Michael, as usual. They sat at a table on the other side of the room from Stu and Sherry and Dick and Ann; the adults didn’t want to be bothered or summoned unless it was absolutely necessary. The older boys were done eating and had taken off for the beach. While she and the Paget children were finishing up, an older couple she’d seen for the last few days sat down at the table next to them.

“You sure have your hands full, young lady,” the gentleman said.

“What a nice big sister,” the silver-haired woman said.

“I’m not related to them,” she said.

“Oh? Pretty nice babysitting job, I guess,” the man said.

And that fast, she knew she was done. Lief would have to find a way to get them out of this custody mess. She was not living with Stu.

“Excuse me, do you by chance have a cell phone?”

“Sure thing,” the gentleman said. He plucked it out of his shirt and handed it to her. “It’s not an international call, is it?” he teased.

“’Course not,” she said. She punched in the numbers and waited. “Oh! Dang! Your voice mail! Dad, Dad, it’s me! I’m in Maui at Kapalua Beach. I know we’re not supposed to even be here! Stu told me if I called you, he’d find a way to never let me see you again. He said he’d make sure I’d regret it! I want to go home.” Then her voice grew a little panicked because she’d done it—called him! Nixed the deal. “Please, come and get me! He took my phone away and told me I’d better not call you or else! Don’t call me back on this phone—I just borrowed it. Just come! Come and get me! Please, Dad. Please!” She swallowed back tears. “Please,” she said one last time.

She clicked off and handed the phone back to the man. Both of them, the man and his wife, were looking at her in open-mouthed horror. Shocked.

“Thanks,” she said meekly.

“Sweetheart, do you need help?” the woman asked.

“I need my dad,” she said. “When he gets the message, he’ll come.”

“Are you in trouble? In danger?” she asked.

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine until my dad comes.” Then she wiped the kids’ faces and said, “Come on, you two. Let’s go to the swings.”

Courtney glanced over her shoulder to see them looking at each other in disbelief. They conferred briefly. She just went to the playground. Maybe Lief was okay with her being on this trip, like Stu said, but if she called him she knew he would come.

Stu would just have to live with it; they’d all have to watch their own kids. She was so outta here!

Courtney had been chasing the kids around the play area and pushing them on the swings for about an hour when she noticed a blue-uniformed police officer walking toward her. His partner seemed to be standing on the walking path behind him, talking into his radio. The gray-haired couple from breakfast were standing with the officer on the path. And she thought, Crap! They’d called the police! Now that was going to really piss Stu off!

She hadn’t been kidnapped, she thought. Just tricked. But by her own father. She should have started screaming at the L.A. airport.

“Hi, miss,” the police officer said. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” she said, pushing one child, then the other in the swings.

“I’m wondering if you need assistance,” he said. “I’d be happy to help if you have a problem.”

“Why?” she asked.

“We received a call saying you were being held against your will by someone,” he explained. “That couple over there heard you call your father and beg him to come for you because someone wouldn’t let you call him? Is there a problem of some kind you want to tell me about?”

“I just needed to call my dad, to tell him to come and get me. I could get back to California on my own, but no way Stu would let me go. But my dad will come for me. My stepdad, actually, but I’ve lived with him for years. I’ve even lived with him since my mom died, but my real dad brought me here to babysit for his friends so they can party and my dad…my stepdad, who I live with, probably doesn’t even know where I am. Stu said he called him, but I just don’t believe it. Stu…my real dad…said he was taking me with the family to Disney World and brought me here to babysit instead. That’s all I need. Is for my dad to come and get me. Stepdad. But my stepdad is my real dad!”

The police officer frowned. He must have been completely confused.

And Stu Lord, who was totally blind and deaf while his sons were tearing up the beach or acting like professional wrestlers in the coach section of the airplane, was running toward them because there were cops around Courtney. He was out of breath when he reached them.

“Officer,” he wheezed. “Did my daughter do something wrong?”

“Just offering our assistance, sir,” he said, giving his hat a slight tip. He turned to look at Courtney. “Which one is this, miss? The father or the stepfather?”

“The father. He said he was taking me to Disney World for Christmas, or so he told my dad—my stepdad, technically—but instead we came here so I could babysit for his friends.”

“Is that right?” he asked. “And what is it you need?”

“Well, I need to let my dad know I’m here and that I want to go home. I only got his voice mail. I bet Stu didn’t call him and he’s half crazy trying to find me. Stu lied to him once, I bet he lied twice. And then I need to not babysit—I didn’t agree to do this and I’ve been the full-time help for these kids for days and I am totally shot!”

“Well-hell-hell,” Stu laughed. “I guess the little munchkin needs a break. I’ll take it from here, Officer. Sorry you were bothered…”