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“And so why do you think they might help you now?”
“I’m pretty sure if I admit I was wrong and beg for forgiveness, my father will suddenly become all magnanimous and supportive. It’s all about managing his pride, you see. His male ego.” Kee knew it was more than that because it was also her pride that’d stopped her from calling him in the first place. Perhaps she was more like him than she thought. Which was a scary idea.
“Hmm,” he growled. “I hope you don’t think all men are like that?”
“Not at all,” she hurried to assure him, placing a hand on his knee, then quickly removing it. She glanced surreptitiously into the back seat, but Benni was still listening to her music, making Dolly dance on her knee to the rhythm.
“That’s just how my father works.”
“Next time we stop you can give it a go, if you like,” he said, not quite managing to hide the dubious quirk of his mouth.
The next stop was an hour and a half later. Wazza pulled over onto the verge beneath the shade of a stand of trees. She’d offered to drive, but so far, he’d refused all offers. She was going to make more of a concerted effort, she couldn’t let him drive all the way, not when she was quite capable.
He turned to face her across the cabin. “We have to cross the main highway up ahead. After it leaves Dimbulah, it curves south for a way and then swings around to head north again, while we’ve been cutting straight across country.”
“Oh, right,” she said, unclipping her seat belt. It’d be nice to get out and stretch her legs.
“I’m just going to walk the last little way and check that it’s all clear.”
She had no idea what he might be expecting to find, a police roadblock, Bruno waiting right there for them to enter the highway, as if he was some omniscient clairvoyant. Not likely. She raised her eyebrows in mock amusement.
“Shall I take Benni, so you have some peace and quiet to make your call?”
Oh, that’s why he was taking a walk. It wasn’t about him at all; it was about her. She was such an idiot sometimes. “Thank you, that’d be great.” Her stomach fell at the idea of talking to her parents. She could do this. For Benni’s sake, if not her own. Benni deserved to know she had a whole other set of grandparents who might love her even more unconditionally than Jakov’s. And truth be told, she needed their help, if only Vijay could get past his pride and offer it.
Wazza showed her how to use the sat phone, then asked Benni if she wanted to go for a walk to find some interesting insects. She danced beside him as he strolled down the track, her little sneakered feet leaving puffs of dust in her wake.
Kee took a deep breath and stared at the phone in her hand. She could do this. Pressing each button precisely, she dialled her parents’ number and waited.
“Hello?” The voice was that of her mother, but it was different somehow. Older, frailer.
“Mamma? It’s me, Kee,” she spoke haltingly into the phone.
There was a moment’s hesitation. “Keiyona? Is that really you? Oh, my! Oh, my!” Her mother sounded like she might be about to weep, and she could imagine her hands fluttering around her face as she often did when she was upset. Her father’s deep voice sounded in the background, and her mother shouted something unintelligible back at him in Hindi. “We’ve been so worried about you,” her mother continued. “Tell us what is going on?”
Before Kee could open her mouth, her father’s voice boomed through the phone. “Keiyona, is that you?”
“Yes, Pappa.” She kept her voice strong and steady. She was no longer a meek little mouse who bowed to her father’s every wish.
“I’m so glad you got in contact with us. Your mother has been worried sick. The police have been here, asking us all kinds of questions, but we have told them nothing.”
The police? Kee frowned. If the police had spoken to her parents, then they must know what was going on with her and Benni. Now she thought about it, of course the police would follow up all avenues to recover a supposedly kidnapped child, even though her parents knew nothing. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that the cops had been in touch.
Her father’s voice brought her back to the present. “We want to help. You and the little one. We hoped you’d contact us, and we have been thinking, coming up with plans to help you.”
Wow. This was a complete turnaround. It seemed her parents had changed their minds. They wanted to be involved in her life. In Benni’s life. A huge weight lifted from Kee’s shoulders, and she felt sudden tears form. She blinked them away, but her chest remained tight. Six years she’d been frozen out of her family. Now, all of a sudden, they wanted to welcome her back into the fold. The feeling of comfort was unbelievable. Maybe, just maybe, things might work out all right. Kee wasn’t stupid enough to think that there wouldn’t be recriminations and hard conversations to come. But that didn’t matter right now. Her family was on her side. She didn’t have to do this all alone anymore.
Not that she had been doing it alone, a little voice reminded her. Warwick Nobles had been there for her when she needed him.
Kee was grinning from ear to ear when Benni and Wazza returned.
Wazza took one look at her face and said, “The phone call went well, then?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t help it, she rushed up and threw her arms around him. “They want to help,” she said into his neck.
“Me too, me too,” Benni demanded, raising her arms so Wazza could pick her up and include her in the group hug, a tangle of arms and legs.
Kee didn’t mention the type of help her parents were suggesting. Because she still wasn’t sure she’d got her head completely around it yet. And she wasn’t sure how Wazza would take it. He was already breaking the rules helping her this far, he might balk at her father’s extreme idea, and she wouldn’t blame him.
Benni giggled in Wazza’s arms, and he quirked an eyebrow at Kee as if to say, your daughter is something else. A surge of happiness lifted Kee’s spirits. When Bruno had appeared in Dimbulah, she’d thought all the hard-won peace and contentment she’d found staying at Stormcloud had disappeared in those few seconds of violence. Now it came back to her, how much she enjoyed Wazza’s company, how much he made her emotions come to the boil.
“You can tell me about it when we’re back on the road,” Wazza said, putting Benni down as he tipped his hat back to stare down the gravel track. It made her realize they still had a long way to go. The trip would’ve taken them a third of the time if they’d stuck to the main road. But taking the long way around was also helping to ease something wound up so tight inside Kee, she felt like she might snap in two. Apart from the chopper this morning, and a dusty truck wheezing its way along the road near the river crossing, they’d seen no other people. Kee wondered where Bruno had got to. They had no idea how badly Wazza had hurt him. He could be in a hospital in a coma, for all they knew. Although, Kee doubted that, Bruno was strong and stubborn, and like a junkyard dog with a bone when he wanted something. If he’d recovered and jumped straight back in his car to follow them, he could be on their tail right now. Or he could even be ahead of them. But how would he have guessed which direction she was taking? She could’ve gone north, south, east, or west, for all he knew. Would he guess she was heading for the border? She hoped not.
Shaking her head to rid it of unwanted thoughts of Bruno, she said, “I’m driving.” She held out her hand for the keys. Lifting her chin, she looked him dead in the eye, daring him to say no. His blue eyes sparkled with mirth, and something else.
“Just don’t get us lost.” He threw her the keys and backed away before she could pummel him for his impudence.
