Page 15 of Desert Wind

“None of that makes any sense. She never told me how her parents died, just that they were long gone.”

“That’s the other thing. I can’t find any trace of them, living or dead. I don’t find a marriage record or a death record.”

“Shit,” muttered Nash.

“Are you cool with me continuing, Nash?”

“Yeah. I’m cool with that.”

CHAPTER NINE

As the sun set over the desert horizon of Arizona, Nash directed the car toward their home for what he hoped would be only a few days. The resort was lovely, with a two-bedroom suite all to themselves, swimming pool, and much more.

“This is so nice!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “The boys back home made sure we were taken care of. Let’s drop our bags and have dinner here. Sound good?”

“Perfect,” she smiled.

Nash hadn’t heard anything else from the team back home, but he was damn sure itching to learn what they’d found.

The restaurant downstairs was relatively quiet, with a few people enjoying their evening meal. Most tourists don’t visit Arizona in the summer. They waited until a slightly less hellish heat was upon them to visit the desert, Native American sites, monuments, and beautiful scenery.

“It all looks so wonderful!” said Jenna. “What are you having? Nash?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m a bit distracted, that’s all. I think I’ll have the seafood pasta.”

“In Arizona?” she chuckled. “Maybe go with the side of the menu featuring Mexican dishes. If I remember right, it was always delicious here.”

After ordering, Nash took it upon himself to prod a little bit further into Jenna’s background.

“You know, I don’t think I ever asked if you and your family were from here originally,” he said. “You know that I wasn’t. My family was transferred here.”

“Oh, no. I think my parents were from the Northeast, New Jersey. I mean, that’s where they moved to Arizona from. That’s strange, isn’t it? I never really asked them much about it. Actually, that’s not true. I had to do a family tree one year in school, and my parents couldn’t give me a lot of information about their families.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said, shrugging. “They just said it wasn’t something they felt was important. They’d met, fell in love, and left New Jersey. I came along almost right away. Then, there was quite a gap between me and my sisters. I was almost five years older than Jeannie and eight years older than the twins.”

“I’m glad you had them,” he smiled.

“I suppose. I always felt like a second mother to them,” she said, frowning. “I didn’t really think much of that before. Not until I came to Belle Fleur. I’ve watched how all the siblings behave with one another there, and it was really different than what I was used to. My sisters looked at me more as a surrogate mother.

“We looked nothing alike. I mean, all of the Robicheauxs look as if they were cut from the same cloth. I had this light brown hair, blue eyes, and medium build. They were all dark hair, dark eyes, and a little more full-figured.”

“Why do you suppose that was? I mean, looks could be a lot of different factors, but why do you think you felt more like a surrogate mom?”

“I’m really not sure. My mom and dad were gone a lot, working several jobs at a time. Sometimes, they were gone for several days at a time, and I had to get the girls ready for school, make sure they had lunches, that sort of thing.”

“How old were you?” he frowned.

“I guess between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. I felt guilty about leaving for the convent because I knew they would have no one to take care of the girls. But they weren’t upset about it. Not really that I saw, anyway.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility for a young girl,” he said, smiling at her. “I always knew you were special.”

She nodded at him, tilting her head, staring at him. Pushing her food around on the plate, she set the fork down and looked up once again.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered. “Why are you suddenly asking me all of these questions?”

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