“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t let that son of a gun make me mad.” Emily hurried across the floor and wrapped Ava in a hug, smoothing her long red hair down her back. “He’ll come home, you wait. He’ll come home and explain everything to you.”
Ava let her sister hold her, taking comfort in the arms around her. Despite her doubts about Ben and his role in the organized crime world, she missed him lying beside her in their bed. She missed waking up next to him in the morning. She missed sharing the joyous moments of carrying his child, and she hated that he was missing all the changes, as well.
More tears threatened to fall, but Ava gritted her teeth and willed them to dry. She swallowed several times before she could speak. “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us.”
“But I am worried. It’s not like you to be so down.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just hard having your home searched over and over for any scrap of evidence leading to the whereabouts of a husband accused of being in a crime organization and responsible for a murder.” She pushed away from her sister and shoved a hand through her hair. “Everyone at work has been super nice about it all. They talk about the baby to my face, although I know they’re talking about the case behind my back.” Another wave of emotion blocked Ava’s throat, forcing more tears from her eyes.
Emily reached out to brush the moisture from Ava’s cheek, smiling at her with that gentle, it’ll-be-all-right look she’d given her as a child with a skinned knee. “But they do talk behind your back and that’s what bothers you?”
Ava raised a hand. “No, they’re just trying not to stress me. They care what happens to me and my baby. They’re my friends and it’s their job to find the truth.” She turned back to the windows and stared out at the brightness lighting the sky above the Strip. “I just wish I knew the truth,” she whispered, swiping at another errant tear. She forced a strained smile to the corners of her mouth and squared her shoulders. “I shouldn’t let it bother me.”
“Shouldn’t let it bother you? How could it not? The bastard—man—is the father of your child.” Emily hugged her from behind.
“Yeah.” Ava stepped away from Emily and dried the tears from her eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m not normally this weepy.” She couldn’t give in to raging hormones. Her baby needed a mother who was strong and determined to see her through life without a father. “I guess I’m just tired from my walk.”
“You shouldn’t have gone so far. Two miles is a bit much when you’re as far along as you are.”
“And as big as I am, is what you meant to say, isn’t it?” Ava grinned. “Go ahead, your turn to tease me. I did enough when you were pregnant with your two.”
Emily’s mouth twisted. “It’s funny how they drive you nuts and you look forward to having a spare minute without them, but then you miss them so much you can hardly stand it when they’re gone.”
“When is Drew bringing the boys back from his mother’s?” Ava asked. Drew was Emily’s ex-husband.
“Day after tomorrow.” Emily gathered her keys and purse. “I’d have taken them myself if Theresa hadn’t quit the day before we were supposed to leave.”
“They couldn’t find another blackjack dealer to fill in?”
“I wish. I miss my boys when they’re gone.” Emily sighed. “I’ll be home by two-thirty. I’ll have my cell phone on vibrate. If you need me, leave a message. I’ll check it every fifteen minutes.”
“Don’t worry. It isn’t as if the baby’s due yet.”
“You never know. Babies have a way of coming when you least expect, and you were having premature contractions just a week ago.”
“I haven’t had one since I’ve been here.”
“Don’t take any chances, sweetie.” Emily kissed her on the cheek and opened the front door. “And don’t open the door for anyone but me.”
“I’ll be fine.” Ava shooed her outside and held the door. “You’re such a worrywart.”
“I’m just a concerned sister. Now go lie down.”
“Yes, Mother.” Ava smiled and waved as Emily drove off. Then she turned and trudged back into the house, her body tired, her mind churning up old memories of her and Ben, a constant reminder of what she’d lost.
Ever since he’d disappeared, Ava had called herself every kind of fool. She’d fallen into the same trap as her mother.
Falling in love with a bad boy was always a mistake. They never stuck around for the duration. Her own father had been a sexy devil with dark hair and green eyes. Emily took after their father. Ava resembled their red-haired mother, but she got their father’s green eyes instead of their mother’s pale blue.
Her mother had been lured into believing her father had mended his gambling ways and finally settled down to raise their children. He’d promised to love, honor and cherish her until death. In her father’s case, until he could no longer fight the addiction. Gambling.
When he’d disappeared, he’d left her mother heartbroken and destitute with two small daughters to raise by herself.
She’d gone to work at a casino using skills her husband had taught her and working her way up to card dealer in less than two years. The hours were terrible, but the money put food on their table. She traded babysitting with another mother working the day shift. They’d struggled. And they wouldn’t have had to if their father had lived up to his promises.
Ava swore she’d never marry anyone remotely connected to gambling. She’d never marry a liar or a man who didn’t honor his promises. Ha! Eating your own words didn’t taste so great. She’d committed sins against every one of her promises to herself.
Her feet hurt and the small of her back ached, testimony to walking too long that day. She’d have to relax or risk going into labor early. The doctor had warned her about overdoing it during her last month. The baby needed the last few weeks of pregnancy to fine-tune its developing organs.
Ava switched off the lights, intent on going to bed. Instead, she eased her body into the lounge chair. She should put on her nightgown and climb into the four-poster in the guest bedroom, but she wouldn’t be any more comfortable lying down as reclining. The baby already weighed heavily on her internal organs. She couldn’t imagine getting any bigger.
As she flipped through the channels, she came across an oldie and would have skipped right past it, but she hesitated when An Affair to Remember blinked onto the screen. Before long, she was bawling her eyes out. With tears streaming down her face, she finally shut off the television and lay staring up at the ceiling until her eyes burned and she blinked. Once, twice…Give it up, girl. She closed her eyes.
A little girl in a flowing white nightgown ran through the dirty backstreets of Vegas crying out for her daddy. Ava ran after her, her heart breaking for the child. Soon she couldn’t distinguish between herself and the child and she was crying out but not for her daddy.
Ben! She ran toward a tall, dark-eyed man with dirty brown hair and a stubbled beard that darkened his face. The more she ran, the farther away he drifted. Breathing so hard her sides hurt, she staggered to a halt, holding her hand out to the man who was now nothing more than a shadowy image.
How long she slept she had no idea. A minute, an hour, it didn’t matter. The noise that woke her did matter, however.
She struggled to consciousness, sure she’d heard a door open somewhere or the sound of metal clattering. A glance at the clock reflected nine. Hell, she hadn’t been asleep for more than thirty minutes. Had Emily forgotten something?
Ava rocked forward in the chair and stood. Yet another reason to sleep in a lounge chair, easy