Thirty-three

“WHAT do you think is on that?” Alyssa asked as they drove the two minutes from the hotel back down to Nikki’s place.

“I don’t know. But whatever it is, it was important to Iwao or Mizuki. My guess is that it could have some answers that neither Robinson nor I have been able to find.”

“You’re really into helping him, huh?”

Did Nikki sense some jealousy? “No one wants Malveaux to be associated in any way with murder and I think he knows that I kind of keep tabs on things here. I’m always listening. You like him, don’t you?” Nikki noticed her shift a little in her seat. Petie was in the back, patting Ollie on the head and laughing.

“I do. I think I could like this guy a lot. He’s different, but not in a bad way, and he’s been through a lot of stuff, which makes me think he can understand what I’m going through and what Petie is going through.”

“Please be careful, though.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m not going to jump into anything. You know that my first priority is my son and his health. But I have to say that Jonah is fine to look at, so if he wants to take me to dinner every so often, you know, to get to know me a little better, I don’t think I’ll protest.” She smiled.

“And I would agree with that. All of it. You need to get out and he is a good guy.” Nikki wondered if Robinson had told Alyssa about his wife and child yet. Maybe the perfect match had been made between them. Robinson could definitely understand heartache and pain. He would be good for Alyssa and she would be good for him.

They pulled up in front of Nikki’s place. Alyssa carried a tired Petie inside for Nikki. Ollie followed them into the house.

“Hey, this is good timing. I can get some work done up at the hotel. I think he’s going to go to sleep. Where should I put him?”

Nikki had his big bag. “Do you have blankets in here?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, let’s put him in the guest room. There’s nothing he can get into in there if he wakes up. It’s pretty sterile.” Nikki pulled out Petie’s blankies and put them down on the carpet. Alyssa laid him down and spread some more blankets on top of him. He started to protest, but Alyssa kept rubbing his back and shushing him.

A moment later, Nikki took over while Alyssa quietly slipped out. Rubbing the baby’s back and watching him sleep were as close as Nikki had come to bliss in a long time. Petie’s face looked so sweet and innocent-completely serene. She couldn’t fathom what this child had already been through in his young life and what he had yet to face, or what his mother was facing with him. A sense of protection came over her, watching him, and she wished she could give him her own heart.

After what the doctor had told her last night, and being here with Petie, Nikki knew that, without a doubt, she wanted to be a mother. To live here in the ranch house, help grow grapes, make wine, and have children with Derek. There couldn’t be a better life. Domestication at its finest.

Thinking about being a wife and mother, she remembered the laundry that needed folding out in the garage. She also had to watch that DVD. She reluctantly lifted herself up and headed out to the garage, where she thought she’d fold all the clothes while watching whatever was on the DVD. The clothes had sat in the dryer too long and had wrinkled up quite a bit. She decided to run them through the dryer for another few minutes and went back in the house, where she first peered in on a sleeping Petie, then grabbed a water and sat down to watch what Mizuki had found important enough to stow away in the safe.

What Nikki saw caught her off guard. She thought the DVD Iwao had tried to hand over to Alan had something to do with Sierra. But it didn’t.

It did, however, have everything to do with his other daughter-Hayden. Nikki now understood why he kept insisting Alan watch it. If he had, she doubted that Hayden Sansi would be getting married anytime soon. Especially to Rich Higgins.

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