Remington Steele hung up the telephone, feeling inordinately pleased with himself. He and Laura had successfully completed a very complicated, dangerous case. They deserved a little time away from the wear and tear of the daily grind.
The scene was set, he was ready- now he just had to convince Laura to join him for a weekend in Catalina.
Through the open door into the reception area, he heard Mildred's voice. "May I help you?"
"Is Laura Holt in?" a man asked.
Curious, Remington rose and moved quickly into the other room. The last thing he needed was a client drawing Laura's attention.
"Miss Holt's not here," Mildred informed the man with an apologetic smile. "Oh, Mr. Steele," she said upon seeing him. "This gentleman's looking for Miss Holt."
The man was a bit shorter than Remington, probably in his mid to late fifties. Dark brown hair was liberally mixed with gray. "Remington Steele," he said, taking the man's hand. "How can we help you?" he asked, hoping that whatever this man's problem was, it could be put off until Monday morning.
The assessing, suspicious look from the man's brown eyes caused Remington's smile to fade slightly. "I really need to see Laura," he insisted.
*First name basis,* Remington thought. "Miss Holt stepped out for a moment," he informed the man, who wasn't the usual old boyfriend type. "Why don't we wait for her in my office?" Remington suggested, indicating that the man should precede him through the door. "Mildred-"
"I'll send her right in, Chief," the receptionist assured him.
When he entered the office, Remington found the man standing in front of the photo wall, examining the pictures. "An impressive array of photographs, Mr. Steele," was his comment.
"Uh, thank you," Remington replied, uncertain of the man's tone. He didn't SOUND impressed. Not in the least.
"I- don't see Laura in any of these."
"She prefers to keep in the background," Remington said.
"Doesn't sound much like the Laura I remember," he commented. "Loved excitement, being in the middle of things."
"Then- you've known Laura for some time."
He smiled sadly. "Almost all of her life. Losing touch with her is one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. If not THE biggest."
"Forgive me, but I don't think I caught your name, Mr-?" Remington asked, extending his hand.
"Edward Holt."
For a moment, Remington very nearly withdrew his hand. "Laura's father?" he asked.
"Yes." He turned, seeming to ignore Remington's hand as they heard voices in the outer office.
"Sorry it took me so long, Mildred," Laura was saying.
"Miss Holt. There's someone here to see you," Mildred said.
"To see me?" Laura questioned, glancing around.
"He's with Mr. Steele," Mildred informed her.
At that moment, the door between the rooms opened fully, and Laura froze. "Hello, sweetheart."
"D-Daddy?"
"I know you're probably surprised to see me, but the minute I got back to LA, I came to see you."
Laura turned and went into Mr. Steele's office without a word. When Remington would have followed, Edward Holt moved to intercept him. "I think my daughter and I need to handle this, Mr. Steele. Alone. I'm sure you won't object if we borrow your office for a few minutes?"
"Uh, no, of course. Be my guest," Remington responded, extending an arm toward the open door, then watching as Edward went inside and closed it behind him.
"Boss? Is that guy really Miss Holt's father?" Mildred asked, breaking through Remington's thoughts.
"Apparently so, Mildred," Remington replied in a grim tone. Apparently so."
***
Laura stood at the window, arms wrapped tightly around herself. She heard the door close and knew without turning that it wasn't Mr. Steele who had followed her. "You're angry with me."
"Why should I be angry?" Laura responded to her father's statement. "Just because you took off the way you did, and then disappeared from the face of the earth for all these years. No phone calls, no letters, nothing."
"I DID call, honey," Edward said softly, and Laura finally turned to look at him. "But your mother always told me that you were out, or too busy, then about six months after I left, she finally told me that you simply didn't WANT to talk to me anymore. So I stopped calling."
"Mother told you that?" Laura asked uncertainly, her eyes full of unshed tears. "She knew that I-" she chewed lower lip, not wanting to finish for fear of crying.
"Knew that you wanted to talk to me?" Edward took a deep breath. "I knew Abigail was angry with me, but- to keep me from you- and Frances," he added almost as an afterthought, "like that…Oh, Laura. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"
Laura stood there, examining the physical changes that over ten years had made in her father's appearance. His once dark brown hair had a lot of gray in it, and there were wrinkles on his face that hadn't been there. Glancing at his left hand, she noticed that it was bare of any ring. "I suppose Grace is waiting for you."
"No. Grace is- gone," he told her.
"Oh," Laura said simply, thinking that he meant the young secretary that he'd left Abigail Holt and his family for had left him as well.
"An- accident a few months ago. She fell down some stairs and- broke her neck."
When his voice cracked, something cracked inside of Laura as well, and she rushed to his side. "I'm so sorry, Daddy. I couldn't understand it when you left, but- you must have- loved her a lot to have -"
"Deserted you and your sister?" Edward finished for her. He pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "I've missed you," he admitted. "When Grace- I wished you were there."
"I'm sorry that I wasn't," Laura admitted, her face against his chest. She closed her eyes and smiled, feeling warm and secure for the first time a very long time. "Have you talked to Frances?"
"No. I don't even know where she is these days."
"She's here, in California," Laura told him. "She and Donald live in Tarzana-"
"Donald?"
"Piper. He and Frances were seeing each other before you- left."
"Ah, yes. Seems I have quite a bit to catch up on," Edward told her. "Tell you want, why don't we have dinner together this evening?" he suggested.
Laura hesitated. "I've- already made other plans," she said regretfully.
"A date?"
"Yes," she said with a nod. "Mr. Steele and I-"
Edward took Laura's hand in his. "Laura, surely he'd understand that you and I need some time to get to know each other again. Just the two of us. There'll be other times when you and he can go out to dinner." He smiled. "I mean, it's not every day that your long lost father comes home, is it- Cupcake?"
Hearing his old nickname for her, Laura returned the smile. "Okay. I'll cancel dinner with Mr. Steele."
***
Mildred watched as Remington paced the reception area. "Boss, you should be happy that Miss Holt's father is back. Maybe it will help her get over all of the hurt that his leaving caused in her life."
"Maybe. But there's something about Edward Holt that I just can't- quite put my finger on."
"What do you mean?"
"Something not quite- right. I can't explain it, Mildred. It's just a feeling-"
"…Well, after I left, I went to Europe. Spent a few years there," Edward was telling Laura as he and his daughter returned.
"Really? Mr. Steele's spent quite a bit of time there as well," Laura said. "Isn't that right, Mr. Steele?"
"Uh, yes," Remington agreed, meeting Edward's dark eyes.
"Guess our paths just never crossed," Edward said. He looked down at Laura, dismissing Remington. "Ready to go?"
"Go?" Remington asked.
"Daddy's asked me to have dinner with him," Laura said.
"Excellent idea. I'll just change our reservation for two to three," Remington began, lifting the telephone receiver as he spoke.
Edward cleared his throat softly, causing Remington to glance first to him, then to Laura. "I'm sorry, Mr. Steele, but Daddy and I need some time alone," she said. "You understand, don't you?"
Remington's eyes locked with Edward Holt's once again, and couldn't quite pin down the look in them. He didn't like the idea of Laura being alone with the man, but without a reason, there was no way Laura would accept his concern. "Of course. How silly of me. By all means. They'll be other evenings." So much for Catalina, he thought.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," Laura promised. "Goodnight, Mildred."
"Night, Miss Holt," Mildred said, watching as Edward Holt escorted Laura from the office into the corridor. "I don't know what you're so worried about, Chief," Mildred said as Remington moved to look out of the glass door, watching them. "He seems fine to me."
"Hmm," Remington mused. "I hope you're right, Mildred." He glanced at his watch. "Might as well cancel my dinner reservations. And you might as well go home. Didn't you mention something about bowling practice tonight?"
"Yeah. We've got a tournament tomorrow," she said, taking her oversized purse from the desk drawer. Remington was running a finger along the edge of the desk. "You're sure you're okay, Mr. Steele?" she asked.
He managed a bright smile. "I'll be fine," he assured her, giving her a kiss. "For luck tomorrow. Have a nice weekend."
"You'll lock up?"
"Of course," he assured her further, dialing a number on the phone. "Claude?…Steele here…I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel my reservation for this evening…something unforeseen came up…Thank you." Hanging up, Remington moved around the desk to Mildred's computer. Limbering his fingers, he turned the infernal machine on, and began typing…
***
"You're even prettier than I thought you'd be," Edward told Laura as they waited for a waiter to take their order. Laura smiled, embarrassed, as she played with her fork. Edward reached over and took her hand. "I really did miss you. When your mother told me that you didn't want to talk to me or hear from me ever again, I was devastated. If it hadn't been for Grace, I don't know what I would have done. Up until that time, I'd hoped that one day you'd be able to forgive me, to understand why I'd done what I did. And that you and I could go back to the relationship we'd had before I-"
"Fell in love with Grace," Laura said.
"Yes. Do you think we can get back to that, Cupcake?" Edward asked her.
"We can try," Laura told him. "But things are different now. *I*'m different. I'm not that little girl you remember anymore."
"Oh, I think that little girl's still there," Edward said with a smile as the waiter returned.
"Ready to order now?" he asked.
Laura picked up her menu, glanced at it. "I'll have a chef's salad," she told the young man. "Italian dressing."
"Oh, you need to eat more than that," Edward insisted. "Bring us to orders of the lasagna with meat sauce," he said. "And a bottle of champagne. We're celebrating."
Once the waiter was gone, Laura shook her head. "Daddy, I won't be able to eat that much. I had a late lunch."
"I'm going to spoil you, Laura," Edward told her. "Going to make everything up to you. All these wasted years." The wine steward brought the bottle of champagne and opened it. "To my daughter."
Laura shook her head as she lifted her glass. "To the future," she suggested instead.
"The future, then," Edward agreed. He set down the glass and toyed with the stem for a moment. "How come you're working for someone like Steele?" he asked.
"Someone like Steele?" Laura repeated. "What do you mean?"
"I might not have been in Los Angeles, Cupcake, but I've read the papers. The man's obviously a camera hog. Egotistical, self centered. I can't believe that you would have given up on your dream to open your own agency to work for him."
"I did open my own agency, Daddy," Laura said in a quiet voice. "It closed after six months."
"Why?"
"Well, it would have helped if I'd had clients. No one wanted to deal with a female PI."
"Their problem. You only stuck it out for six months? Why not longer?"
"No clients means no money," Laura reminded him. "About that time, I got the offer to go to work for Mr. Steele."
Edward leaned forward. "You're still better than that. You don't need to hide your talents behind a- peacock like Steele, honey. You stay with him, no one will EVER know that you're as good a private investigator as any man out there. INCLUDING Remington Steele."
Laura smiled, wondering what he would say if she were to tell him the truth. And wishing that he'd been here during those awful days just before she'd closed the doors to Laura Holt Investigations. Would she have been so quick to throw in the towel with her father's support? Of course, then she probably wouldn't have met HIM, either, she reminded herself as the dinner salad arrived. At least, not under circumstances that would have lead to any kind of relationship.
***
Remington sat back as he read the information he'd located on Edward Holt. Laura would be furious if she knew that he'd done a background check on her father, but Remington thought it worth the risk. And what he'd found made him all the more certain that there was going to be trouble…
To Be Continued…