Tracy bounced the ball she'd been playing with in her hand and then glanced up at the very contented children. Danny played so well with the girls, and also alone. He was the best natured child there was. What a great example to have at the start of her family, she mused. The porter had waited for the phone just off court, standing politely at attention. She walked over and handed it to him, and unzipped her belt bag and pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to him.

"Thank you so much for..." she hesitated, cocking her head to one side. He was smiling with that knowing sort of grin people got when....she easily got another bill out of her bag and handed it to him. "I'm not really here, right?" she said.

"Ms. Maverick." He answered politely, his eyes echoing hers in understanding.

"I will be needing a cell phone though, mine was... lost overboard." She smiled prettily. "Can you get one for me?"

"Yes, ma'am." He said and stood waiting.

"Charge it to my room." She said.

"Do you want it brought back to you here?"

Tracy looked at her watch. Lunch time. "No. We'll be going to the buffet on deck eleven."

"Very well." He said and bowed slightly, his eyes never leaving hers. Then he turned and smartly walked back the way he had come.

*****

Richard left the bathroom to find his companion studying, dressed for the day, and sitting at the kitchen table already. He looked up as he came into the room.

"A little unprecedented, sorry." He apologized. "I'll just get dressed."

"It's all right." Said Elder Cederje, his slight Latin accent showing through.

"It was an emergency." Richard said.

"Is everything okay back home?"

Richard laughed. "It's that she wasn't home that got them all up in a tither." He laughed.

"Was that your Tracy?" His companion had put his books down and pushed back from the table, tipping in his chair and studying Richard's face instead.

"It was her dad, telling me that she was lost." He sighed and decided to join his companion now at the table for some cereal. It was already out anyway. He poured it in the same bowl his companion had used and emptied. "Then I had to find her. And now, I have to call her dad back and let him know."

"Why doesn't she call her dad back?"

"That would be the logical thing to do, wouldn't it?" he chuckled. "But Tracy doesn't want to be found right now, and she needs to feel that she's in control of her life and that others aren't making her do things she doesn't want to do."

"Was someone making her do something she didn't want to do?"

Again Richard chuckled as he spooned a bite into his mouth. "Yeah." He said and chewed. "Someone kissed her that she didn't want to."

"So she ran away and... hid?"

"Actually yeah, took her three kids and hopped a plane for Florida, and from there to a Caribbean cruise, something completely out of the ordinary for her, and enough off the beaten path that others who keep track of her couldn't find her." He shook his head.

"Can she do that?"

"What? Like she couldn't for some reason? Of course she can do it."

"Yeah, but, isn't she surrounded by bodyguards, and paparazzi? I see her on just about every tabloid in the grocery store line."

"An unfortunate reality. Well, she managed to give them all the slip. Which isn't in and of itself a bad thing, she deserves time to herself with her kids if she wants it, and she deserves to be spontaneous. But perhaps she needs to be a little more wary and a little more concerned for those who care about her. That's a hard reality." He nodded and then held up a finger as he hit a number on his cell and held it down. In seconds Ray had answered.

"I found your daughter in the Caribbean on a cruise. She'll be home in a few days or a week, depending." He said succinctly. "Will you call Michael?"

"Why the hell did she up and take a cruise like that? I have a yacht she could have had all to herself." Ray announced in surprise and annoyance.

"I'll let her know you'd rather she used your facility. I think she just wanted to get away, she's okay, she'll be home soon."

"Richard, what the hell prompted this?"

"Austin took liberties with her when she was leaving the other day. He... well, don't worry about it, I'll talk to him."

"Austin?" Ray mused. "I can see that. And she's been pushing herself so hard Michael says; perhaps she's spread herself a little too thin."

"So, you'll tell Michael?"

Ray accepted this assignment and then they hung up and Richard took a deep breath and then pushed another speed dial number and waited. It seemed like a few minutes but was really only a few seconds before Austin answered, his voice surprised and wary.

"Hey, what's up, bro? Everything okay?" He sounded rushed, maybe walking or running. Richard shrugged at his companion who had given off study and was staring at him intently.

"Not much, bro." He accented the 'bro' and rested his forehead on his hand. "Yeah, I'm calling to let you know I found Tracy.... On a cruise in the Caribbean... after a chance encounter with someone who pushed her a little harder than she would have liked."

Austin didn't bother to deny it. He was immediately hostile. "Yeah, so? She did the run off thing again. Got everybody all worried about her, it's what she does."

"Well, Austin why did she feel she had to run?"

"Why? Because she's a baby, that's why. It was a little kiss, nothing momentous, nothing serious. She makes too much out of nothing."

"Hm... that's not what she told me."

"She called you?"

"No, oh no... she didn't call me. She didn't call anybody. She took her kids and left, to get away from you." He said pointedly.

"What did she say about it?" Austin's voice was quieter now.

Richard shrugged eloquently even though Austin couldn't see him. "What's important is what I have to say about it, Austin. I say this.... If you value your friendship with her, don't ever take those kinds of liberties again unless invited. And from me.... you better not be invited."

"You think you have some claim on her? Well, I've got news for you, Elder Mann, your little angel has been two-timing you with everything Hollywood hot in pants these days. Just thought I'd earned the right to a little of the action." His voice was a hurt caricature of its normal tones, bristling with hostility. Richard recognized the suffering, and the denial. He knew he had a choice to either take the bait and start a lifelong fight, or perhaps end a lifelong friendship, or he could blow it off as the lashing out that it was.

He took a deep breath, everything in him straining to reciprocate in scathing warnings against any further proximity to the woman in question. And another side of him, equally strong, or perhaps even stronger willing him to choose forgiveness and understanding.

"Austin, let her be the one to initiate. If it's meant to be then it will be, okay? Don't push her." He sighed. "I have to go. I'm sorry you're hurting. I wish we could talk about it. But I can't right now. Please..."

"Please what, Richard? I'm done with this shit. I can't take any of it anymore. The church, the women...."

"Austin, don't...."

"It's all bullshit." Came the retort and the click at the same time, so that Richard was left with that scathing remark ringing in his ears. He pursed his lips and then bit at the inside corner, staring his companion down. He drew in his breath sharply. "And that is why you leave home at.... Home." He said with a faint chuckle.

His companion laughed uncomfortably and stared down at his scriptures. "It'll be hard to put it behind you today, Elder. How about we go over to the gym and shoot some hoops for an hour, take out your aggressions, and then come back and start this day over?"

"I think that's a really excellent idea." Richard stood up, pushed back his chair and grinned good-naturedly at his young companion. "Be right back." And he went to change his clothes.

****