She returned his grin. “Not at all, but I thought basic training covered that.” She smacked his arm. “Keep the noise down, please. I’ve got to concentrate on my cheese biscuits.”
“Cheese biscuits? Awesome! Now I don’t know which sister I love the most.” He pecked a kiss on her cheek and turned to leave, Char’s legs and arms wrapped tight around him.
Marla feigned insult. “That decision didn’t take long.”
He bounced Charlene in his arms and went straight into their bedroom and kicked the door closed. Marla grabbed a bottle of Arizona Iced Tea, opened the slider off the kitchen to the lanai, stepped outside, and closed it.
It was time to go home.
Dwayne knocked on the front door of Marla’s parent’s house. A few seconds later, Silvia opened it. “Oh dear, you look awful. Come in, hon.”
He entered and walked past her into the hallway.
“We’re enjoying the patio.” She pointed in the direction she wanted him to take. “Come join us.”
“I should have called ahead. Is anybody else here?”
“No, just us.” She took his arm. “Come, you’re family. You don’t need to call ahead, Dwayne. Our door is always open.” She stepped outside. “Dwayne’s here, Brad.”
He looked up, raised his glass, and smiled. “I’d offer you a tot of Jameson’s, but I know you don’t drink. Have a seat, son.”
Dwayne sagged into a chair. “I may start drinking.”
Silvia sat next to him. “Where’s Amber?”
“She’s spending the evening with Miss Emmaline and Princess Elizabeth. She can stay up late tonight, no school tomorrow.” He reached for the can of soda she offered. “Thanks.”
Brad leaned forward, elbows on knees, heavy crystal glass dangling from his fingers. “What was the outcome of Francine’s arrest and her custody demand?” He took a sip of Irish whiskey. “You don’t have to answer. It’s really not my business.”
“I disagree. Now that my brother married your daughter, it’s family business. I don’t mind talking about it.” He gazed in the direction of the treetops on the perimeter of their large backyard and considered what he’d say.
“Her husband is back in jail for resisting arrest and violation of parole. He was Francine’s accomplice, he didn’t actually snatch Amber, she did. I wasn’t interested in pressing charges of kidnapping. What would that accomplish? She’s Amber’s biological mother. I’m not out for revenge. Francine stupidly thought she could extort money from me using Amber as leverage. I didn’t want my daughter’s mother, as much as I despise her, to end up a convict. What good would that do Amber? I just want her gone from our lives.”
Silvia rested her hand on his arm. “Do you think she understands how much trouble she could have been in? Will she stay away?”
“For the present. At some point I may allow her to meet with Amber again, but not till she’s older. She didn’t like Francine and says she never wants to see her again, but as time goes on she might change her mind.”
Brad sat straight. “No doubt you’re right. She’s just turned seven, far too young to make such a big decision.”
Dwayne emitted a rueful chuckle. “Seven going on twenty-seven. She’s mad at me for allowing her to nurture fantasies about Francine all her life.”
Silvia nodded. “That’s understandable, but in time she’ll come to understand why you did it. Children are very resilient.”
Dwayne clasped his hands in his lap. “I came to talk about Marla.”
Brad shook his head. “We only know what Charlene and Donovan told us. It goes without saying…however, I will say it…you bungled your relationship with her badly. She’s deeply wounded.”
Dwayne heaved a bottomless sigh. “Yeah.”
“That’s because she’s in love with you,” Silvia added. “I always felt when, and if, she ever fell in love it would be complete surrender. There are no half measures for Marla. She’s paying a heavy emotional price for your behavior.”
He deserved every single word her parents spoke. In fact, the pain of hearing them somehow provided balm to his wounded heart. “Me too,” he whispered. “Me too.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Marla tugged her wheeled suitcase to the curb outside the baggage claim area at LAX. She didn’t have a plan to get home yet and hadn’t told anyone her flight arrival time, but she knew Charlene would have called Dadley the minute she stepped through the boarding gate at Honolulu.
Sure enough, there he was. “Hi, Dad!” She smiled and waved her orchid lei in the air to catch his eye.
He snaked through the crowd to reach her side and encompassed her in a mighty hug. “Welcome home, beautiful girl. Your mother and I haven’t seen much of you this summer. Are you home for a while?”
The warmth of her father’s arms never failed to comfort her to the depths of her soul. She clung to him for a few seconds longer than she normally would have then put the lei around his neck. “I’m home for the foreseeable future. Got to get back to work so I don’t end up moving back home to live with my parents into my old age.”
Brad chuckled and led her to the baggage carousel. “No danger of that happening.”
She pointed to the exit. “I didn’t check a bag. We can go straight out. Char’s shipping the rest of my stuff in return for my help settling her in. Where’s Mom?”
He gave her an indecipherable look.
“Is something wrong?”
“Depends on how you interpret it.” He pressed the remote key to unlock his car. “Silvia is out to dinner and a movie with Amber Dempsey.”
That stopped her dead in her tracks.
“She’s…what…how…? I don’t believe this. How could she?”
“It’s complicated. Dwayne had an emergency on a construction job, and Miss Emmaline is visiting a niece in Covina. He couldn’t find John and Irene or a babysitter. He didn’t know who else to call.”
“He asked my mother to babysit!” She didn’t move.
“You’re standing in the middle of the road, Marla. Let me take your bag. Get in the car.”
When he
