“Do I detect a note of envy?” Duke asked, ribbing Max. “I haven’t seen any beautiful women on your arm lately. You’ve got to get with the program, big bro.”
“Don’t you worry about me,” Max countered. “What about you? I don’t see you looking like you have any significant other in your life. What’s up with that?”
Duke groaned into the phone. “Too busy with the business,” he said, then gave a grunt. “And too soon. I’m not ready for the dating game.”
“Aw, come on. It’s been almost a year since you and Amy broke up. When are you going to move on?”
Duke sighed. “After what she did to me, I don’t know if I can ever trust a woman again. Lying, cheating-”
“All right, let’s not go there. You found out in time to cancel the engagement before she got her claws on your money. Give thanks little brother. Things could have been worse.”
“Yeah, I know.” There was a pause as if Duke was deep in thought. Then he spoke again. “But it still hurts, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” Max said, his voice quiet. “Been there, done that.”
There was another pause, a longer one this time, then Duke broke the silence by changing the subject. “Have you heard from Mom and Dad?”
“Yeah, they’re back home in the Cayman Islands. They say the cruise was great.”
Duke gave a sigh. “Oh, to be retired on an island with nothing to do but tour the world.”
Max chuckled. “You’d hate it and you know it. You’d be bored out of your wits.”
“Yeah, you’re right. With all that time on my hands I’d be yanking my hair out, just for something to do.”
Max could relate to that. “Me, I’ll be working on new projects till the day I die. Can’t see myself doing otherwise.”
“I feel you.”
Max’s phone began to buzz. He glanced at the screen. “Listen, I’ve got to go. My project manager's calling in.”
“Okay, no problem. Catch up with you later.” With a click, Duke was gone.
Immediately, the second call came through. “I’m here,” Max said, his voice brusque. “Talk to me.”
"Mr. Davidoff, something’s come up,” Frank Slater said, his tone anxious, "and it’s not good.”
***
It took Silken and Suave four more days of research before they made any more progress in their hunt for information. “Doctor Raul Pintero,” Silken said, feeling like this was almost unreal. “That’s our doctor. The man who brought us into this world.”
“Raul Pintero.” Suave repeated the name, her voice soft and breathless. “Wow.” Then she dropped her armful of laundry in the middle of the sofa and pulled up a chair beside Silken. “He’s the key to this mystery, Silken. If we find him, we’ll find her.”
Suave’s emphasis on the last word was not lost on Silken. “Our mom,” she said reverently, staring unseeing at the screen in front of her. Her eyes glazed over as her thoughts played the scene in her head, the scene she’d imagined ever since she was a little girl. Their mother, seeing them for the first time since their separation, holding her arms out to them, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, so sorry,” she would sob and it would be tears of sorrow and of joy because she would be so relieved to have them back in her life.
And they would forgive her for everything, for giving them up at birth, because there would be a good reason for her action. There had to be. And she and Suave would understand. And from that point they’d be a family again.
“Silken, are you listening?”
Suave’s voice jerked her out of her reverie. “What?”
“Where is he, this Doctor Pintero? How soon can we talk to him?”
“Oh, uh, yeah.” Silken blinked, half dazed. She looked at the screen again. “There’s no contact information but I’m sure we can find him. We’ll start at the hospital. He’s probably still there.”
Suave gave her a look tinged with doubt. “I don’t know, Silken. Twenty-four years is a long time.”
Silken shook her head. “It’s not that long, not for a doctor. Lots of them work well into their seventies.” She bit her lip. “Hopefully, he was a fairly young man when he delivered us.”
“Yeah,” Suave said, her brows creased in a tiny frown, “hopefully.”
CHAPTER SIX
Almost a week and a half passed by before Max’s hectic schedule slowed down enough for him to breathe. After what Slater had sprung on him that day he was lucky he hadn’t suffered a stroke or worse. After investing millions in having the racetrack built, to be told they hadn’t secured all the necessary licenses? That they may have to abandon the project? Jesus!
He’d had to jump in and take the matter in hand himself, even going so far as to gain audience with the California Racing Commission. His meeting paid off. Of the eight objections to the construction, five of them were resolved there and then. But they weren’t out of the woods yet. Three more to go…
And in the midst of his dilemma there was one thought that never left his mind - he wanted to see Silken McCullen again.
As he sat in his office looking out the window at the highway in the distance he smiled wryly to himself, realizing how dumb he was being. The woman had made no attempt to contact him, not once since they’d parted almost three weeks earlier, even though he’d given her his card. She’d probably forgotten he even existed. But here he was like a lovesick teenager, pining over her.
Max chuckled. Pining was probably too strong a word. Thinking about her. Yeah, he’d give himself that. He’d been thinking about her these past few weeks and now that things were just barely beginning to get back to normal he definitely wanted to see her again. He picked up the phone and dialed her number.
Silken picked up on the second ring. “Steady Auto. Silken speaking.”