Not What It Seems (Escape to Alaska Trilogy) by Brenda Sinclair Page B

she’d acquired a new job, for now at least, until Clayton convinced Sherry to fire her.
    She crossed the kitchen floor, poured herself a cup of coffee, and slid open the glass patio doors. She inhaled the fresh morning air and then stepped outside onto the cool wooden floor of the backyard deck. Still dressed in her pajamas but hidden from the neighbors’ eyes by shady spruce trees, she settled into one of the upholstered loungers.
    “Why am I so antsy?” she asked herself aloud, sipping her coffee. One of the neighbor’s dogs barked relentlessly for several minutes and then quieted at his master’s harsh command.
    Suddenly, Cassidy realized why she’d been so restless. “I miss my mother,” she whispered aloud.
    Every Sunday since she’d returned from Harvard, she’d joined her parents for Sunday dinner at their home. She’d talked to her mother on the phone at least twice more during the week. But she hadn’t heard her mother’s voice for almost a month, and her eyes welled with tears at the realization.
    Cassidy strode into the house and rummaged in her purse for her throw-away cell phone. The number couldn’t be traced. She’d talked to Jeannie a half dozen times since arriving in Anchorage. No one had found her. But did she dare call her mother?
    No, she decided, too risky, and she tossed the cell phone onto the bed. What if her father answered? She checked her alarm clock on the bedside table. Ten o’clock in Chicago. Dad would have departed for the office hours ago. Would her mother still be at home? Or out of the house, attending a meeting? Or shopping with a friend?
    Cassidy quickly grabbed the phone and punched in the number for her parents’ home before she changed her mind.
    “Hello.” The woman’s voice sounded so sad and dejected and broken. Not at all like her mother.
    “Mom?”
    She heard her mother’s gasp. “Cassidy, darling, is that you?”
    “Yes, Mom.” She blinked back tears. “I miss you so much.”
    “Come home, darling, come home.” Her mother’s voice pleaded. “I’m certain the difficulties between you and your father can be worked out with a bit of compromise.”
    “I’m done compromising where Dad and the office are concerned. But our relationship is totally separate, Mom. I just called to hear your voice, and to assure you I’m all right.” Cassidy fought to control her emotions. Could her mother detect how upset she was?
    “I’m absolutely beside myself worrying about you, darling.” Her mother cleared her throat. “Where are you?”
    “I’m still in the United States. I didn’t run away to Europe or anywhere too far. But I’ve started fresh, on my own, free of Dad’s influence and control.” Cassidy sighed. “I need this Mom. I can’t entrust my career or future to anyone but me. When I left everything in Dad’s hands, you saw what happened.”
    “But Cassidy, so much has happened since you left.” Her mother’s voice brightened. “Please, darling, call your father. He’ll explain everything.”
    “No, Mom. I’ve got to go. Just know I love you, and I miss you, and I’ll call you again soon.”
    “But darling, you must contact your father…”
    Cassidy cut the connection, and then burst into tears.
    Talking to her mother, hearing her voice, felt wonderful. She missed her mother terribly, but this separation couldn’t be helped. A price paid. A chosen sacrifice in return for her freedom. She’d made the right decision, but why did her heart hurt so much? Because she might never see her mother again, for years.
    After she heard her mother say ‘so much has happened’, Cassidy was sorely tempted to call her father. What had changed? Had her Dad realized what he’d lost by denying her the promotion? Would he reconsider the partnership if she returned? And then she shook her head. There remained the matter of Jonathan Ward. Would the partnership depend on her acceptance of Jonathan as a husband?
    No way would she be blackmailed into