Deanna thought back to the conversation she’d had with her boss just two days ago. She’d kept the news to herself, because she could hardly believe it was going to happen. “He settled,” she confessed. “The check’s supposedly in the mail.”
Ruby whooped and ran over to give her a hug. “Way to go, Dee! How much?”
“Not a fortune,” she said, trying to caution Ruby against getting too excited. “But five thousand dollars will go a long way toward getting Kevin and me a place of our own and a little bit of furniture.”
“Is Hodges taking a cut?” Sean asked suspiciously.
She shook her head. “Not a dime. I offered, but he said I deserved a lot more, so he wasn’t taking any of it.”
“Well, well, well, a lawyer with a conscience. I’m impressed,” Sean said.
“Don’t be,” Ruby said wryly. “All he did was make a couple of threatening phone calls to the guy. He didn’t even waste any corporate stationery.”
“Well, whatever he did, it worked and I’m grateful,” Deanna said. She looked at Sean. “So your timing couldn’t be better, actually. I was thinking that Kevin deserved a vacation before summer’s completely over, and that I’d use a little of this money to pay for a couple of days at the beach.”
Sean’s expression brightened. “You’re saying yes?”
“Yes,” she said, unwilling to think about the prospect of spending several lazy nights in Sean’s company on a romantic, moonlit beach. “But we’re chipping in for part of the expenses.”
“Absolutely not,” Sean said, his jaw set stubbornly.
“Absolutely yes,” Deanna said just as firmly.
“Can we dicker over the finances later?” Ruby begged. “I want to go tell Hank.”
“Go,” Sean and Deanna said in unison.
Sean chuckled. “I think we can finish this discussion without bloodshed.”
Deanna frowned at him. “Don’t count on it.”
Ruby shook her head. “Can you two play nice, or do I need to send Kevin in here to referee?”
“We’re two civilized adults. We’ll be fine,” Sean reassured her.
“One of us is civilized. The other one is stubborn as a mule,” Deanna countered.
When Ruby had gone, Sean met Deanna’s gaze. “I’m glad you said yes.”
Her heart flipped over in her chest at the heat that rose in his eyes. “Sean, we’re not going to be alone out there.”
“I know that, but I imagine we can steal a few minutes to ourselves from time to time.”
“To do what?”
He drew her to her feet and into his arms. “This,” he murmured, kissing her until her toes curled.
“And no more,” she said in a shaky voice.
“And no more,” he agreed solemnly, then grinned. “At least not the first night.”
Anticipation shot through her, tempered only by a stern reminder that this was going to be essentially a family vacation with lots of people under that same roof. Sean would never pressure her into turning it into something else, not with Kevin just down the hall.
But he might tempt her, she thought, glancing into his eyes. They were sparkling with pure mischief. Oh, yes, he was definitely going to tempt her. And she was going to have to draw on an already overtaxed reserve of willpower to resist. Heaven help her! It was going to be a really, really long and dangerous week.
Chapter Eleven
The house in Truro was covered in soft-gray shingles that had been weathered by countless storms. The shutters were white, and window boxes full of bright flowers hung on the railing around the porch. The house was within sight of the beach dunes, and, with the windows open, a salty breeze wafted through the bright, cheerful rooms. Deanna had never seen such a lovely place. It reminded her of a house her parents had rented years ago at the Jersey shore, but this one was smaller, cozier.
“Hey, what was that look about?” Sean asked, regarding her with concern. “You looked so sad all of a sudden.”
She forced a smile. “Just thinking about a time long ago and far away.”
“Did it involve Kevin’s father?” he asked.
She heard the tension in his voice and quickly reassured him. “Absolutely not. Frankie and I never went on a vacation.”
“Your parents, then?”
She sighed at the accurate guess. “Yes.”
“You don’t say much about them. Are they dead?”
“To me,” she said softly, unable to stop the tears that welled up in her eyes. She’d told herself a thousand times that what had happened years ago didn’t matter, but there was an ache in her heart that never seemed to go away.
Sean frowned. “What does that mean?”
“They didn’t approve of me marrying Frankie. We haven’t spoken since,” she said, giving him the short, unemotional version that omitted all of the rage and accusations that had left her feeling raw and anguished on the day she had walked out of their house for the last time. The fact that their concerns had been well-grounded was something she still hated to admit.
Sean regarded her with surprise. “You never told them he’d left you?”
She shook her head. “At first I kept silent because I didn’t think I could bear to hear them gloat over having been right about him. Then it became a matter of pride. I didn’t want to go to them when I needed help.”
“Do they know about Kevin?”
“No.”
She saw the war of emotions on Sean’s face. “You realize who’s hurt most by that, don’t you?”
She refused to acknowledge that her son could be hurt by the absence of two people he’d never even known.
“Deanna, you need to contact them,” Sean said. “Give them another chance.”
She leveled a look straight into his eyes. “The same way you’ve given your parents a second chance?”
Sean winced at the comparison and his jaw set. “It’s not the same thing,” he insisted. “I don’t even know where my parents are.”
“One of these days you will. Ryan’s determined to find the whole family, isn’t he? What will you do then?”
“We’re not discussing my family,” he said tightly, “we’re talking about yours. Kevin ought to have
