"Of all the outrageous things!" Elena said, also clearly affronted.

"They're just doing their jobs," Zoe reassured her parents. "Relax." Zoe supplied the officer with all the pertinent information and after they spoke with Aunt Dee and Uncle John, who hadn't seen or heard a thing, they took off.

Zoe sighed. "It's okay, Sam. You can come out now."

"The cops are gone?" Her voice sounded muffled.

Zoe pulled the pantry door open wide and Sam stepped out, the pig in her arms.

"Yes, they're gone, but that isn't the question. Why would you hide from the police?"

Elena pulled Sam into her arms. "My poor baby." She squeezed the girl tight so her face was smashed into her chest.

"I mmmbrrsffft."

"What?" Elena asked.

"She probably said something like, she can't breathe." Zoe released her mother's grip and Sam ducked out from under her.

"Exactly." Sam gulped in a breath of air. "I didn't want them to tell me I have to give Ima away like we did with Spank."

Zoe nodded. "I thought so. Don't worry. The laws about pigs are more lenient around here. Now tell me what you heard and saw and don't leave out a thing."

Sam rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms. "I got up and was coming out of the bathroom when I heard a noise in my room. I knew Elena was taking her morning meditative walk, and you said you had an early appointment."

"How'd you know it wasn't Dad?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "He was snoring and the sound shook the walls."

Zoe tried not to laugh. "I see. What happened next?"

"I peeked into my room and saw a guy snooping around." She shuddered, then began to skulk around giving them an exaggerated, charadelike description. "He opened the drawers, tossed things around, and then he started coming toward the door so I ducked back into the bathroom. I hid in the tub like this." She crouched down, hands over her head like in an emergency drill. "So if he looked in, he wouldn't see me."

Like most of the Costases' relatives, Sam had a knack for the dramatic and despite her fear, which was evident in her wide eyes, she was still milking her moment now.

"Looks like the kid's got a future career as a spy." Quinn walked into the room. A complete air of authority surrounded him as all eyes looked his way, and Sam beamed at what she took as a compliment.

Quinn forced a smile and though Zoe could read the concern on his face, she admired his self-restraint in not shaking Sam to get the facts out of her faster.

"Keep talking, squirt," Quinn said.

"Quit calling me that. Anyway, I finally heard him going down the stairs. I hung out at the top and watched him toss the kitchen and family room next. I was going to wake Nicholas up, but I got scared. I was too afraid to move because I might make noise. Then all of a sudden, Ima squealed from her crate in the kitchen and I guess he got nervous and thought someone might come down to check the pig and find him there. He left out the back door to the kitchen." She finished out of breath.

The door between the kitchen and family room banged open wide and Ryan Baldwin, the "social worker," strode inside. "What the hell happened? The police were driving away as I pulled up and this place looks like a tornado hit it."

Zoe let out a groan. As an admiring female, she couldn't stop staring at him after two days of drought, but as a member of a family who didn't need to give him any ammunition to take Sam from this home, she wished he'd stayed away.

"We wuz robbed!" Sam jumped up and down, her fear giving way to an obvious adrenaline rush now that the danger was over.

"Not robbed," Zoe was quick to assure Ryan. "Nothing was taken."

"Which means whoever broke in here was looking for something." Quinn, the ex-cop, said, his focus on Sam.

Zoe swallowed hard. "I suppose that's a possibility." She forced herself to focus on what she'd been thinking before Ryan's arrival, and glanced at Sam. "When did you hide in the pantry?"

"Elena came home and started yelling, Nicholas came running, and they were trying to figure out what happened. Next thing I know the police are banging on the door and all I could think of was saving the bacon. So I grabbed Ima and ducked back into the pantry. Smart hiding place if I do say so myself."

Ryan began to pace. "Am I to understand Sam was here when someone broke in?"

Zoe stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm. The last thing she wanted was for him to find out that the intruder had been in Sam's bedroom. "I'll explain everything in a few minutes. I promise. Let's just let Quinn get a few more facts from Sam first, okay?"

He gritted his teeth. "Okay."

"Did you see the guy's face?" Quinn asked her.

"For a second. He was real ugly and he had dark hair."

"Tall or short?"

"Medium."

Quinn shook his head, probably at the vague description. "How'd he get in? What did the cops find? Picked or jimmied lock?"

"Nothing. He just walked right in since I left the door open when I went out for a walk." Elena stepped forward. In black leggings that ended below her knees and an oversize white tank top, and with her hair in a ponytail, she looked younger than her years. But when she dropped her head in shame, she aged before Zoe's eyes. "Quinn, I'm sorry. I know you put in a security system and that Medici lock."

"Medeco."

Elena nodded. "The point is, I was trusting. And I'm sorry. I never meant to put anyone at risk. Especially Samantha."

Zoe realized the moment it dawned on her mother that Ryan, the social worker, was here witnessing her admission. She lifted her head and met Ryan's gaze head-on. Then she dropped to her knees and somehow shuffled her way over to where Ryan stood, concern etched all over his handsome face.

Elena grabbed his hand. "It was a lapse. A stupid one. One that'll never happen again, so please don't report us. Don't snitch. Don't take Samantha away," she wailed.

Over her mother's bent head, Zoe met Ryan's gaze. He was upset and he feared for Sam, but still she could see him biting back a grin because despite the seriousness of the moment, her mother's theatrics were way over the top. Zoe was just surprised Ryan realized it, too.

Ryan forced himself to stay calm. He focused on Elena's dramatics as he tried to regain the ability to breathe. He'd driven up to the house to find the police leaving. He'd walked in to see the place in shambles, obviously ransacked. And Sam was regaling the family with tales of what she'd seen.

His fear for Sam and Zoe had receded as soon as he'd seen them standing in the kitchen, unhurt. But his stomach churned as he'd listened to the end of Sam's story and now witnessed the unorthodox way the family handled the crisis. They were upset, yes, but the break-in seemed more a cause for drama than concern.

Even Sam seemed to revel in her role in the escapade.

"Mama, I'm going to take Ryan for breakfast and explain everything." Zoe placed an arm around her mother's shoulder and helped her rise to her feet.

"You go to Paradeisos, yes?" Elena asked. "Aunt Kassie will take good care of you."

"Okay. You take care of Dad and Sam, okay?"

Elena nodded. "You're a good girl, Zoe." She kissed her daughter's cheek and whispered something in her ear.

"I love you." Zoe hugged her mother tight.

Watching the interaction, a lump of emotion swelled in Ryan's chest and he wondered if his sister would still be alive had she experienced even one tenth of the love so freely given in this family. No judgments were made, no life-altering repercussions came as a result of bad behavior. Quite simply, this family was as foreign to Ryan as any distant country or culture.

Zoe walked up beside him. "Let's go."

He shot a glance Sam's way. "Are you okay?" he asked the young girl in the calm, steady voice expected of a foster-care worker. Inside, Ryan struggled with his emotions and was frustrated by his inability to express them.

"I'm cool." But she held tightly onto Ima and, despite her outward bravado, he sensed she wasn't as fearless as she wanted him to believe.

"And I'm serious. If you need anything- "

"She knows who to turn to." Zoe prodded him in the back. "Come."

He narrowed his gaze. She was a damn pushy woman, but he couldn't deny he was glad to see her after the weekend apart. Just knowing Zoe was a member of this family eased Ryan's mind about Sam's safety. Zoe could be trusted to take good care of her.

"Elena, you will use the locks in the future," he stated, not asked.

"Yes."

"I will see to it, Mr. Baldwin." Nicholas held his hand up in the air. "I promise you Samantha is safe with us."

Ryan merely nodded and this time allowed Zoe to practically shove him out of the kitchen, then the family room and finally the house.

Once they were in the sunshine, she pasted a bright smile on her face and asked, "My car or yours? Actually why don't I drive since you don't know your way around here and I go to the diner all the time. This way we won't get lost and we'll be eating in no time."

He already knew Zoe rambled when she was worried and now was no different.

He remained quiet on the way to wherever the restaurant was and let Zoe point out sights and continue to talk. He liked listening to her voice and despite their odd circumstances, she soothed his nerves.

Too much, considering everything that lay between them.


* * *

AFTER ZOE PARKED in the graveled lot, Ryan followed her into the local diner. "So your aunt Kassie owns this place?" he asked.

Zoe nodded. "She's my father's sister."

"I met her that first night."

He settled into a seat across from Zoe in a tight booth with an individual coin-operated jukebox on the wall by the window. "They don't have anything quite like this in Boston." He glanced around at the linoleum floors, the blue vinyl seats and paper place mats printed with various advertisements.