Kiss an Angel(77)

They didn’t talk while they walked back to the trailer because there was nothing she could say. Tater had gotten loose again and stood in wait for her. He trotted up, giving a trumpety little bleat of welcome.

“I’ll take him back,” Alex said.

“It’s all right. I’ll do it. I need to be alone for a while.”

He nodded and rubbed his thumb across her cheek, his eyes so bleak she couldn’t bear it. She turned away to stroke Tater’s trunk. “Come on, sweetheart.”

She led him over to the other babies and tethered him, then picked up an old woolen blanket to spread on the ground next to him. As she sat down on it and hugged her knees, Tater shifted his position. For a moment she thought he was going to step on her and she tensed, but instead, he settled his front legs on either side of her and dropped his trunk.

She was in a warm elephant cave. She pressed her cheek to his scratchy, gunnysack body just between his legs and heard the strong thud of his sweet, mischievous heart. She knew she should move, but even though she was resting beneath a ton of baby elephant, she had never felt safer. As she sat there, she thought of Alex and wished he were small enough to fit where she was, right beneath Tater’s heart.





15




Alex was asleep by the time Daisy returned to the trailer. She undressed as quietly as she could, then slipped into one of his T-shirts. As she began to make her way to the couch, she heard a husky whisper.

“Not tonight, Daisy. I need you.”

She turned and gazed down into half-lidded eyes dark with desire. His hair was tousled, and the golden icon around his neck glittered in a shaft of moonlight that pierced the back window. Her mind still echoed with the memory of Tater’s heartbeat thumping out its steady message of unconditional love, and nothing on earth could have made her turn away from him.

This time there were no smiles. No teasing. He possessed her fiercely, almost desperately, and when it was over, he curled his body around hers and didn’t let her go. They fell asleep with his palm cupping her breast.

She didn’t return to the couch the next night or the one after that. She stayed in her husband’s bed and found her heart filling with an emotion she was very much afraid to name.

A week later, they reached central New Jersey, where they set up in another school yard, this one located in the middle of a suburban neighborhood containing comfortable two-story tract homes with swing sets in the backyards and mini-vans parked in the drives. On her way to the menagerie where Tater was tethered, Daisy stopped by the red wagon to make more changes in the feed order, and as she entered, she saw Jack going through several files.

He gave her a brief nod. She nodded back, then went over to the desk to locate, the papers she needed. The cellular phone rang, and she answered it. “Quest Brothers Circus.”

“I’m looking for Dr. Markov,” a man with a slight British accent responded. “Is he available?”

She sagged down on the chair. “Who?”

“Dr. Alex Markov.”

Her mind reeled. “He’s—uh—not here right now. May I take a message?”

Her hand shook as she wrote down the man’s name and number. By the time she hung up, her head was reeling. Alex was a doctor! She’d known he was well educated and that he had another life, but she hadn’t imagined anything like this.

The mysteries surrounding her husband deepened, but she had no idea how to discover the truth. So far, he had refused to answer any of her questions, and he continued to act as if he had no existence beyond the boundaries of the circus.

She licked her dry lips and looked over at Jack. “That was a man who wanted to speak with Alex. He called him Doctor Markov.”

Jack slipped several files back into the open drawer of the file cabinet without looking up. “Leave the message on the desk. He’ll see it when he comes in.”

He’d shown no reaction, so he obviously knew more about her husband’s life than she did. The knowledge hurt. “I know it’s just an oversight, but Alex hasn’t ever told me exactly which branch of medicine he practices.”

Jack picked up another file. “I guess that’s the way he wants it, then.”

Frustration ate at her. “Tell me what you know about him, Jack.”

“Circus people learn not to ask too many questions about anybody’s private life. If people want to talk about their past, they will. Otherwise, it’s their business.”

She realized that all she’d done was embarrass herself. She made a play of rustling through the papers and escaped as quickly as she could.

She found Alex with Misha, squatting down to examine the horse’s fetlock. She stared at him for a long moment.

“You’re a vet.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re a veterinarian.”

“Since when?”

“Aren’t you?”

“I don’t know where you get your ideas.”

“I just got a phone call for you. Someone wanted to speak with Doctor Markov.”

“So?”

“If you’re not a vet, what kind of doctor are you?”

He straightened and patted Misha’s neck. “Did you ever think it might be a nickname?”

“A nickname?”

“From my days in prison. You know how convicts give each other names.”