Her jaw dropped, and then she smiled. "Leslie." The large canvas bag she'd held fell to the path, and Marisa stepped forward into her sister's embrace. They held each other and rocked and cried.

Nate looked at Ana and smiled. "I guess they know each other."

The little girl nodded. "Si. Mama said we might meet my aunt today."

Might. Like she'd doubted they'd show. Well, he'd doubted Marisa would, hadn't he? But now that she was here, all those doubts slid off him like the latest beads of sweat. Somehow it seemed as if this reunion had been destined since the first moment he'd laid eyes on Marisa more than eight years earlier.

A ridiculous thought, but there you go.

Marisa stepped out of the embrace and turned to him. She looked as if she might want to step in for a hug, but she held back. "Thank you for coming."

He nodded, itching to embrace her and feeling sort of shy himself. And foolish. Very foolish. "You knew I would."

She nodded. "I sort of did, yeah."

Leslie bent toward Ana. "And who's this little girl."

"I'm Ana."

She held out her hand, but Leslie pulled her into a hug. "It's lovely to meet you, Ana. I'm Leslie."

"Aunt Leslie." The girl pulled back and looked at Marisa. "Right, Mama?"

"Right."

Leslie stood straight and looked at her sister. "We need to talk. Can we go back to your place?"

Marisa turned to her sister. "Can't we just talk here?"

The smile the older sister had worn faded. "You're in such a rush to be away from us?"

"Worried. You said your life was in danger."

"Right. I'd rather talk about it someplace private. Is your house far from here?"

"I don't live in Acapulco. We just arrived in the city today."

"Oh." Leslie seemed confused. "Where do you live?"

"It's a little village a few hours from here." She glanced at Nate, then back at Leslie, and bit her lip. "I should have told you that. I hope you have a place to stay."

Nate couldn't help the smug expression he felt on his face, though Leslie was careful not to look. "We do. Do you have a car, or—?"

"Nope. We took the bus."

Leslie wrapped her hand around her sister's. "All right. I'm glad we had our taxi wait for us. Let's go."

Chapter 4

MARISA DIDN'T HAVE to coax Ana into the Volkswagen Beetle that served as Leslie and Nate's taxi. The little girl so rarely rode in cars, she was thrilled at the opportunity—though Beetles were almost as common as cockroaches around here. Ana's initial shyness had faded away, and now she chattered constantly as they made their way back to the city. Marisa let her, content to study her sister, who sat on the other side of Ana, and Nate, who sat in front.