She's going to meet him, where else would she be going?"
"But she said..."
Frank Bergen swore softly. Falk might be one of the best UFO experts in the world, but sometimes he was dumber than dirt.
They were on the freeway now, headed towardSan Diego .Bergen settled back in his seat and lit a cigarette, happily contemplating seeing his name in the headlines when they told their story to the press. And it wouldn't stop there. They'd do Oprah and Geraldo, all the late-night talk shows, maybe even sell an exclusive interview to the Enquirer. And when they'd milked all they could out of interviews and personal appearances, he'd publish a book based on his own observations, along with the photos and notes that Red had collected.
Bergengrinned as he patted his coat pocket. Red's photos were priceless, especially the ones of the alien. LeMans might have been a mean-spirited SOB, but he'd been thorough. He had taken full-color pictures of the alien from every conceivable angle. It was just too bad Red hadn't taken more pictures of the baby before the alien killed him.
Frank flipped his cigarette butt out the window. There was a fortune just waiting to be made, he thought. The woman would take them to the alien, and then they'd have them all - man, woman, and child.
"I think we're here."
Falk's words jerked Frank out of his reverie in time to see the woman's car pull into a hotel parking lot.
"Park right behind her so she can't back out, then cover the passenger side," Frank instructed. "I'll do the talking."
Frank Bergen's heart was thudding with excitement as he jumped out of the car. It was all within his grasp, he thought exultantly, fame and fortune, his name in the scientific journals.
He was grinning when he jerked open the passenger door.
The woman behind the wheel looked up, a startled expression on her face. "May I help you?"
"Who the hell are you?"Bergen demanded.
"Mrs. Ralph St. John," Dolores replied calmly. "Who the hell are you?"
Part One Chapter Twenty-Eight
Micah was waiting for her inside the mansion. It was somehow fitting, she thought, that they would meet here, at the Grayson place, where it had all begun.
She had kissed her parents good-bye, promising to come back for a visit if at all possible, begging them not to worry, to be happy for her.
And now she sat in front of the hearth while she nursed the baby, staring at another fire that had started as miraculously as the first one.
"Are you sure about this, Lainey?"
Even now, when her heart was heavy at the thought of never seeing her parents again, his voice had the power to ease her heartache.
"Lainey?"
"I'm sure."
Micah crossed the short distance between them and knelt before her. "If I left, you and your family could move away from here." He swallowed hard, unable to envision a life without her. Without his son. "You could make a new life for yourself."
"Micah..."
"I only want you to be happy."
"I am happy. With you."
He took her hand in his and placed them palm to palm. So alike, he thought. Four fingers and a thumb, fingernails, the ability to hold, to hurt. To heal.
So alike, and yet so different. He stared at the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, at the color of his skin, so much darker than hers.
"Lainey, we may never be able to come back here."
She swallowed hard. "I know."
He gazed deeply into her eyes, wondering how he could ask her to leave everything she knew - her home, her family, her country - to face an uncertain future with a man who had no home, no family.
"I love you, Micah," Lainey said, her voice caressing him. "I'll miss my folks, and I hope we can come back some time and visit, but if we can't, I'll accept it because I love you. Because my place..." She glanced down at the baby, asleep at her breast. "Ourplace, is with you."
Micah nodded and then, because he couldn't speak past the lump in his throat, he bent forward and kissed her, knowing she would be able to feel the love that welled in his heart, a love deeper than words could ever express.
"It's time," he said. Rising to his feet, he extinguished the fire, then helped Lainey up.
Her heart was pounding with trepidation and excitement as she watched Micah unearth the remote, and then they were walking down the hill. Lainey was trembling when they reached the place where Micah's ship waited. She had always hated