The Proposition. Cara Summers

      In this case the difference they couldn’t reconcile was the fact that Harry Gibbs was a master jewel thief who found it impossible to settle down, and their mother Amanda wanted to raise her daughters in a stable, conservative environment.

      Six years ago their father had suddenly decided to send them some kind of message they would receive on their twenty-sixth birthday? Personally, Natalie felt half pissed and half saddened by that, and she suspected that her sisters would feel the same.

      Just then, Rory spotted her and called out, “Nat! This way.”

      Not content with waiting for Natalie to reach them, Rory grabbed Sierra by the hand and began to muscle her way through the crowd. The picture that they made moving toward her was one she’d seen so often—Rory rushing forward and Sierra having to be dragged along. Natalie had sometimes wondered why Rory hadn’t made it first out of the womb.

      “Happy birthday,” Natalie said when they reached her.

      “Happy birthday,” Rory echoed.

      “Ditto,” Sierra said as they exchanged hugs.

      “It’s not every day we all turn twenty-six,” Rory said in an undertone. “When I explained it to the hostess, she agreed that we should have a table on the patio. C’mon.”

      The patio was the last place Natalie wanted to be, but she didn’t have the heart to spoil Rory’s delight with herself. Still, as they moved down the short flight of stairs, she had to put some effort into keeping her eyes from straying to the spot behind the potted trees where Chance had drawn her to make his proposition.

      “You all right?” Sierra asked as they followed Rory across the dance floor.

      Natalie managed a smile. “Absolutely. How’s the research going, Dr. Gibbs?”

      “It’s going. Of course, all the data isn’t in yet.”

      “Don’t pay any attention to her. Her research is going brilliantly,” Rory said. “It always does. The big news is that my job at Celebs magazine is going well. A first for me. There’s a senior reporter there who’s taken me under her wing and I’m really enjoying the work.”

      “This calls for champagne,” Sierra said.

      “Agreed,” Rory said as she sat down and picked up a menu. “And I’m starved.”

      Natalie waited until they were all seated before she said, “Maybe we ought to hold off on the celebration.”

      “What is it?” Sierra asked.

      As Natalie explained the package she’d received that morning, she took the sealed envelopes out of her purse and placed them on the table. For a moment, all three of them simply stared at the white rectangles.

      “To open them or not to open them, that is the question,” Sierra finally said.

      “Exactly.” Natalie could always depend on that fine analytical mind of Sierra’s to cut to the bottom line.

      “They’re from our father,” Rory pointed out.

      “So what?” Natalie said, letting a little of her anger show. “We agreed to stop calling him ‘father’ when we were ten because he left us.”

      Silence stretched between them again.

      “It’s been sixteen years since we last saw him and six years since he died.” Sierra placed one finger on the corner of her envelope. “Why now?”

      “Exactly,” Natalie said again. “He’s never once gotten in touch with us—not when we were sick, not for a birthday or a graduation. Not for anything. Why did he instruct the attorney to get those letters to us now?”

      A waiter appeared, pen poised at the ready. “Drink orders, ladies?”

      “A martini,” Natalie said without taking her eyes off the envelopes. “Very dry with an olive.”

      “I’ll have what she’s having,” Sierra said.

      Rory sighed. “Ditto. Champagne just isn’t going to do it. And bring us one of those appetizer samplers with three of everything. I’m definitely going to need food before I deal with this.”

      After the waiter hurried off, the silence descended again for a moment.

      “Neither of you has to deal with this right now,” Natalie finally said. “But I think I do have to open mine. I’ve got too much of Harry in me just to throw it away.”

      “We all have too much of Harry in us,” Rory said.

      Sierra drew in a quick hitched breath and let it out. “I’m afraid to open mine.”

      Natalie reached for her sister’s hand. “Are you all right? Do you need your inhaler?”

      Sierra shook her head. “I’m not having an asthma attack. I’m just a coward.”

      “No, you’re not.” Natalie and Rory spoke in unison.

      “Tell you what,” Natalie said. “We’ll make a plan and you can jot it down on one of those note cards.”

      Rory nodded in agreement. “Even I could use some kind of plan for this.”

      Sierra pulled a blue card out of the canvas bag she always carried with her.

      “We’ll go in the order of our births. I’ll go first,” Natalie said.

      Rory patted Sierra’s arm. “Number one—Natalie, our fearless leader. And put me down for the number two slot.”

      “And I’m number three,” Sierra said as she added her name to the list.

      “And I’m the only one who’s going to open her letter tonight.” Though Natalie could sense that Rory might want to open hers tonight, she willed her to go along. “The two of you can wait. For a few weeks, a year, five years—take all the time you need. Harry certainly took his time getting these to us.”

      “Good plan,” Rory said.

      As Natalie slipped a finger under the flap, she could see some of the tension fade in the way Sierra was gripping her pencil. Finessing the envelope open, she took out the letter. Then clearing her throat, she read it out loud.

      Dearest Natalie, my warrior and seeker of justice, Happy birthday. You’re probably wondering why I’m sending you this letter on this particular birthday, and the answer is a bit complicated. Your mother and I were exactly twenty-six when you came into our lives. Ten years later, I gave you up. Your mother and I agreed when we separated that I would cut off any contact with you until you were twenty-six. We thought that was for the best. I now know that leaving you and leaving your mother was the biggest mistake I ever made. If something happens to me and I can’t be with you on your twenty-sixth birthday, I want you to know this: Don’t make the same mistake that I did. When you see what you want, trust in your talents. Risk anything it takes to get it. And most importantly, hold on to it.

      Love,

       Harry

      “Well,” Rory said.

      Natalie placed the letter down on the table and ran her finger over the signature. She couldn’t put a name to any of the feelings swirling through her. “You’ve got to hand it to him—he’s a man who walked his talk. He went for what he wanted, and we all paid the price.”

      “Look.” Sierra pointed at the envelope. “There’s something else inside.”

      Natalie pulled out three photos. One was taken at her high school graduation, another on her first day at the police academy. The third one was from when she was twelve, and she’d had to stay in the hospital overnight to have her tonsils out.

      “He was there,” Rory said. “I’d figured he’d forgotten all about us.”

      Sierra studied the photos when Natalie passed them to her.