Death Benefits

Two fuzzy golden ears popped up, and Lucy pulled the teddy bear out.

Brittany squealed with delight. Helen Courtney clapped, and several people around them laughed.

Ginger threw her arms around her little heroine and kissed her on the forehead. “Sweetheart, you’re the best big sister in the world.” She leaned back and enjoyed the glow of satisfaction she saw in Lucy’s dark eyes. “I’m so proud of you.”

A smile actually spread across Lucy’s face. Ginger wished she could see that smile more often. This quiet little girl had been through so much in the past nine months. The ordeal of her mother’s murder, living with strangers, and now being afraid of her mother’s killer, had matured her far beyond her years. Ginger grieved that tragic loss of innocence.

At least the incident with Chuckles had distracted Lucy from her morbid search for Rick Fenrow—for the moment. That was Larry’s job, and from the looks of it, he would do it well.

Brittany held her teddy bear up for Helen’s inspection. “His name is Chuckles, because he used to laugh when I squeezed his paw.”

Helen reached out and squeezed the bear’s paw. Nothing happened.

“He doesn’t laugh anymore,” Brittany explained. “Lucy says he’s grieving because Mama died.”

“I’m sure he is.” Helen’s voice caught, and her face suddenly lined with sorrow.

Brittany nodded. “He stopped laughing the day Mama died.”

Ginger glanced at Larry, then at the people coming on board. She, too, felt a compelling need to protect these children, at any cost.

Her gaze traveled down the queue, then stopped at a familiar face. She caught her breath as she studied the big man with black hair, dark blue eyes, and shoulders as broad as a linebacker’s.

“No,” she whispered. Ray Clyde. Of all people, what was her worst enemy on earth doing on this flight?

Ray grimaced when a teenager stepped backward onto his foot, but the pain wasn’t as sharp as the look in Ginger Carpenter’s eyes when she caught sight of him from her seat near the middle of the main cabin.

He hadn’t expected anything else. And how could he blame her? If he was in her position, he’d probably feel the same way.

He’d hoped for a meeting under better circumstances, however. Graham had warned him not to try to contact her in any way.

How had it come to this?

An elderly lady turned in the aisle to ask if someone could place her suitcase in the overhead compartment. Glad for the distraction, Ray hurried to her aid. This day had suddenly grown a lot more interesting…and a lot more volatile.

FOUR

Ginger steadied herself, sure she’d felt the jet shift, though the door remained open and people continued to enter.

She blinked and tried to refocus, but still he was there. No mistake about it. It was Dr. Ray Clyde. As usual, he stood taller than every other man by at least a couple of inches. His size, his voice, his rugged-but-attractive face and demeanor all drew attention to his commanding presence.

He’d been her director when she was on the mission field in Belarus. At one time, she’d believed they had a special relationship—not romantic, perhaps, but she’d thought they were the best of friends. He seemed to be such a caring man, and at one time she’d thought he’d cared deeply about her—at least as a friend.

Then came the betrayal.

The line of passengers entering the jet came to a standstill while an elderly woman asked for help placing her luggage in an overhead compartment. Ray helped her, of course. Ray was always jumping to someone’s aid. Everyone’s but Ginger’s.

After easily lifting the piece of luggage for the lady, he accepted her thanks with a silent nod, then looked up and caught Ginger’s gaze. Ginger could not look away. All the pain and fury of his betrayal surfaced, and her hands clenched at her sides.

She broke the connection at last, and unbuckled her seat belt. She stood and turned to glare at Graham across the aisle.

As if he’d been waiting for her to react, he looked up at her, then winced at the look on her face. Willow, seated beside him, saw her, too, and her blue-gray eyes filled with compassion—but not surprise.

Both of them had known Ray would be here.

Ginger felt doubly betrayed. Whatever was going on, Willow was obviously as involved as Graham.

Ginger could say nothing in this crowd, in front of the girls, with several strangers within earshot. She couldn’t protest, couldn’t threaten to take the girls and deplane, as much as the idea tempted her at this moment. But her anger continued to grow. How dare they?

Graham sighed, got up, and stepped across the aisle, leaning close to Ginger’s ear. “I gather there’s a problem.”

“How insightful of you,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “Don’t you try to tell me Ray Clyde’s presence on this jet is coincidence.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

“What’s he doing here?”

There was a hesitation, then Graham said softly, “He’s going with us to Hawaii.”

Though she’d already guessed what her brother would say, she caught her breath sharply. Betrayal, indeed. “Did you tell him to wait and board at the last moment so I couldn’t change my mind about going?”

Graham winced again. “I knew the timing would be tight, since he had to drive down from Columbia after a meeting this morning.”

“I’m sure you counted on it.” A wave of heat spread over her face and neck, and for once, it wasn’t a hot flash. How dare he?

“Sorry, Ginger,” he said softly. “I wanted to discuss it with you, but I knew you would find some reason to back out if you discovered he was coming.”

“You’ve got that right.” She looked down at Brittany, who sat happily playing with her bear, and then glanced around at Lucy, who was watching her with curiosity.

She must not lose her temper further. Graham obviously had used the seating arrangements for his purpose, as well.

Ginger was going to have to torture her brother at a later date.

“Ray has been a good friend of mine for many years.” Graham kept his voice low. “I couldn’t exclude him from this wedding. It’s too important. He was there for me when I needed a friend after the divorce.”

Ginger gritted her teeth. “I was there for you, too. Just because I was halfway around the world—”

“I know you were there in spirit. Ray let me stay at his place until I could find my own. Ray gave me references when I needed a new job. He’s been supportive from the—”

“Please stop.” Ginger closed her eyes. It hurt to hear her beloved brother singing the praises of a manipulative, hard hearted…

“He isn’t the jerk you believe him to be,” Graham said.

For Ginger, two nightmares were coming true in a few short hours. Rick Fenrow was out of prison, and her backstabbing ex-director was undermining her relationship with her brother. How could Graham do this to her?

“So he’s in the wedding party,” she said.

Graham nodded.