Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

M ia told herself to calm down her racing heart.

Kyle had come out of the bedroom just as she was about to knock on the door and see if she could come in and grab a clean diaper to change the baby. She had heard the shower shut off a few minutes earlier and almost stumbled across the threshold when the bedroom door flew open. She felt her eyes widen at the sight of Kyle in low-slung sweatpants, shirtless. He had a distinctive tattoo under his right nipple that extended around his ribs to his back in some sort of swirled pattern; his hair released droplets of water as he walked past her, lifting his finger to his lips as if to signal that she was to remain quiet.

Despite recognizing that she was in quite the predicament herself, she couldn't stop her core from tightening at the sight of him. He moved with a panther-like grace, almost silently making his way into his office, leaving her holding the baby and wondering what it was that had him on what she recognized as some sort of heightened alert. She hadn't allowed herself to think about the way she felt about Kyle, but she couldn't deny the attraction. Don't fall for your rescuer. Don't succumb to Stockholm Syndrome. You don't even know why you're here in the first place. Try to remember. Try to remember…

She closed her eyes. She could see herself behind the wheel of a car, driving fast, trying to get away from something, from someone, but… what? Why did she crash her car into a tree? Was she scared that she was being followed? If so, why was that happening to her? Ever since spending the evening with Sibby and the rest of Kyle's family, she had a nagging sense that she had her own sibling out there somewhere. She could feel the connection and then that sensation would evaporate, like fog on a late autumn morning, before the sun rises enough to burn it away. Was someone out there looking for her, someone who knew who she was and loved her? Would that person come for her and if they did, would she recognize them when she saw them again? She looked down at her daughter, now asleep in her arms, her soft weight reassuring, her tiny lips still moving as though she was dreaming of more breast milk. She only had small pieces of the puzzle. By not remembering more, was she putting them all in some kind of danger?

Just then, he re-entered the room and silently sat down next to her. She pulled the two sides of her shirt closer together, suddenly feeling exposed having just fed the baby. She looked at him and knew that there was a problem.

"Mia, listen carefully. There's a car parked outside that looked suspicious to me, so I called in a favor and had the plates run through the DMV. It's stolen. There are two men sitting inside of it and right now the police are on the way. I told them not to use their sirens; I don't want to alert these thugs that they've been noticed. I need to get more information, and I don't want to scare them off."

"How could you possibly know that those men stole that car?"

"I've lived here long enough to recognize my neighbors' vehicles and the comings and goings of their guests. It's a friendly block and we all look out for one another. Besides, it's my job. Or I hope it's still my job."

She nodded her head to indicate that she understood.

"But I have a bad feeling about those men. I think they're here for you. Is there any reason that someone would be following you?"

She swallowed a gasp. "I have no idea, Kyle, I'm sorry. I just don't remember."

"Okay, okay," he replied. "Maybe they're private investigators. Maybe your family hired people to find you. It feels too fast, but since you have no idea of who you are, I guess anything is possible."

He looked directly at her, and Mia was sure he was about to ask her something else, but he stopped himself.

"What, Kyle? What do you want to know?"

He released a breath and said, "Everything. But since you have no idea yourself, I guess we'll have to wait until you regain your memory to find out. In the meantime, can I please have your driver's license? I can at least run that through the system and see if anything turns up."

"I'm sorry to be such a burden," she said, glancing down at the baby's face, then crossing over to where she'd left her handbag. She pulled out her wallet and handed him her license. Then she searched his eyes once more, feeling drawn into him despite her instincts warning her to stay away. "If it helps any, I don't have a headache today. Maybe that's a good sign. Maybe things will start reappearing in my mind again."

"Yeah," he said softly. "But for now, lay low. Stay away from the windows and give me a little time to sort this all out." He reached for her hand and grabbed it, giving it a brief squeeze.

She felt like a million pins and needles shot up her arm at his touch. No. No. Stay detached. She shook her head to clear her mind, then said, "Okay. I guess this means that there'll be no car shopping for me today."

"No, not today. Or at least not until I can rule out that someone is out there watching you with a bad purpose. Once we clear that up, you can do whatever you'd like." He stood up. "The uniformed cops will finish their questioning of those two goons out there, then I'll get the report, and we'll take things from there. I'll just be a minute." In two strides he was gone, back inside his office.

She could feel her body begin to shake. The problem with that was that she was not clear on the reason. Either Kyle was worried about what he'd uncover about the men outside, or she was terrified at her body's reaction to him. Either way, mere thought of the outcome made her shudder. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to calm her emotions. She tried to think about what happened right before the car accident, but nothing came to mind. It was as if there was a big black hole in her thoughts, and anything that transpired in her life before the crash was just erased. It was both frustrating and frightening.

She gently stood to put Sarah into the Pack and Play, carefully maneuvering her own body so that she didn't wake the baby. Sarah settled down and Mia silently made her way into Kyle's office. The window shades were drawn down low and he was hunched over the computer screen giving her a clear view of his tattoo. The ink was carefully drawn to look like a maze of some sort, with concentric circles drawn with a bold stroke. For the briefest moment she wondered what it might be like to trace the pattern with her fingers, but then froze when he sharply turned around to face her. She drew in a breath.

"I didn't mean to startle you," she began. "I just wanted to see if you've found out anything more about those two men outside."

"No, not yet. I have a buddy at the department waiting on the report." He pushed back his chair and motioned for her to sit on the unmade mattress of the pull-out couch next to the desk. "I did run your license, though. I'm not sure what it all means, Mia, but you're not who you claim to be."

A cold shock ran up her spine. "What do you mean?" she asked, trying her best to sound convincing.

"Mia Sawyer, or at least the Mia Sawyer at your last known address, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of eighty-seven late last year. She had no surviving family."

"I don't understand," she said.

"Your identity was falsified. Do you have any idea why that would be?"

A fuzzy memory seemed to come forward to her mind. Someone who was telling her something about taking on a new name, but as soon as it appeared, it vanished. She couldn't grab it before it left her thoughts again. "I wish I did know, Kyle. You've been so kind, and patient with me. And your family has been so welcoming. I truly don't know who I am, but I think something about the address on that driver's license is familiar. It's like I have a vague feeling that I've been there, but I can't pull up the details."

"Well, that's something. Hold on." He turned back around and punched the address into the keyboard. An image of a brownstone on a Manhattan street filled the screen. "Take a good look. That's the building. Do you live there?"

"Like I said. It's familiar, but not clear. I mean, I don't think I could describe the inside to you at all."

He pushed back and turned to her, their knees inches apart. "Don't worry about it for now. Let's see what the police report turns up on those two men. We'll figure it out from there."

"But Kyle, what if I never remember?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

She looked so scared and vulnerable that all he wanted to do was say something to comfort her. "Well then, you'll be stuck here with me, at least for the short term. But I have faith in you. I think you'll eventually be able to pull up the missing information."

He stood up. "I'm going to get a shirt. I can wait for the report, or I can step outside and talk to the uniformed officers before they go, and honestly, I'm feeling too impatient to wait." He walked by her and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before he left the room.

She watched him go and thought about what he'd just said. She'd be stuck here with him, for now. Would that be the worst thing that could happen to her? Maybe not. But she'd have to get her heart to stop racing at that thought, though.

He came back into the office, this time in jeans and a black tee shirt that pulled tightly against his chest, his tattoo covered once more. "I'm going out there. Sit tight. I'll be right back."

"Be careful," she said.

"Don't worry about me, Mia. I can take care of myself. And by the way, I think I'm going to keep calling you Mia for now, if that's okay with you."

She simply nodded.

He smiled and she felt her heart flutter. "Anyway, it suits you," he said with a wink. In two strides he was out the door.

She lay back on the mattress of the pull-out couch. His woodsy scent was everywhere, and she felt surrounded by a strange sense of calm, despite the new information he'd just shared about her supposed identity. She really did believe that he'd not rest until he uncovered her truth and sent her back into whatever life it was that she'd been living before the accident. She could only hope that she'd be happy to go back, because if she was being honest with herself, she was feeling happy here. She felt enveloped by the warmth his family had shown her and the immense kindness Kyle had showered on her. She didn't know why, but she felt as if this wasn't typical of her life "before," and she wasn't ready to leave the safe cocoon he'd provided for her and her daughter. Not yet at least. Especially since she had the increasing sense that whatever lay behind her was not as appealing as what stood before her now. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but she had an overwhelming dread that there was something sinister in her past, something that had made her run. And run she had. Right into Kyle's arms.