CHAPTER 8

“Mom?”

Adelia turned to her twelve-year-old daughter, already anticipating another tantrum. Selena had been throwing them regularly from the moment she’d been grounded. They’d gotten worse since Ernesto hadn’t come back home. Though she understood why her daughter was so angry, dealing with the outbursts calmly was another matter.

She studied Selena’s face, but for once what she saw there was fear, rather than defiance.

“What is it, niña?”

Selena frowned. “I’m not your little one. I’m almost a teenager.”

“You’ll be my baby until I’m a hundred and you’re almost eighty,” Adelia told her.

Selena looked horrified. “That’s awful.”

“But true. It’s the way moms are wired. Now, tell me what’s on your mind.”

Selena looked everywhere but directly at her. “Are you and dad getting a divorce?” she asked eventually.

Adelia had known it was only a matter of time before one of the kids asked the question. She’d also known it was likely to be precocious, outspoken Selena. The younger children seemed to accept Adelia’s increasingly feeble explanations that their dad was tied up with business. Not a one had questioned why that meant he wasn’t home at night.

“You know how this family feels about divorce,” she said carefully to Selena. “We’re Catholic. We don’t believe in it.”

Selena didn’t look convinced. “Deanna Rogers is Catholic, but her parents are divorced.”

“Some people take the teachings of the church more seriously than others. Divorce is a very personal decision.”

“You mean Grandma takes them seriously,” Selena said. “We hardly even go to church on Sundays. She goes to Mass practically every day.”

“With a family like ours, she has a lot to pray about,” Adelia said, smiling. “She’s hoping to save us all.”

Selena grinned. “Do you think she prayed about what I did to Daisy?”

“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Adelia told her. “Even I prayed for guidance over that.”

For the first time since the incident, what appeared to be genuine guilt spread across her daughter’s face. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. “I’m really, really sorry. I don’t know why I was so mean.”

“Want to hear my theory?” Adelia asked, relieved to have the door finally opened by her daughter in a way that suggested she might actually listen.

Selena nodded and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, where they’d had so many after-school talks through the years.

“I think maybe you were jealous,” Adelia told her.

“Of Daisy?” Selena said incredulously. “She’s practically still a baby.”

Adelia smiled. “But that night she had something you desperately wanted. She had someone at the dance with her who really wanted to be there, your Tio Elliott. I think your father’s attitude, his reluctance to go with you, hurt your feelings, and you lashed out at Daisy because of it.”

Selena sighed heavily as Adelia’s words lingered in the air.

“You could be right,” Selena admitted. “I guess I was too scared to yell at Dad when I figured out he didn’t want to be there with me, so I took it out on Daisy.”

“Then maybe the next time you apologize to her, you could sound as if you really mean it,” Adelia suggested gently. “What you said that night was deliberately cruel. You know how much your cousin idolizes you.” She gave Selena a pointed look. “And she is your cousin. Understood?”

Selena’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the unvarnished assessment and the stark reminder of her most cutting comment. “She probably hates me now. Uncle Elliott, too.”

“She might,” Adelia said candidly. “But you’re family, and she adored you not that long ago. I think if she believes you’re really sorry, she’ll give you another chance. As for your uncle, he’s disappointed in you, but he could never hate you.”

“Could I call her now? She’s probably still at Grandma’s. I know the phone’s off-limits, but maybe this could be an exception,” she said hopefully.

“I think it could be,” Adelia agreed. “But ten minutes. No more. I’m not lifting the grounding.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Selena said, sounding resigned.

She was about to walk out of the kitchen, when Adelia shook her head. “Use the phone in here,” she commanded.

“You don’t trust me to make the call and say what I promised?”

“Sorry, niña. You’re going to have to earn back my trust.”

“I guess it’s kinda the same thing with Dad,” Selena said, suddenly sounding way too grown-up. “He’d be grounded, too, if that worked with grown-ups.”

If only it did, Adelia thought. But she wasn’t sure there was a fit punishment for the humiliating way her husband had been treating her. Selena didn’t need to know that, though.

“Make that call. Then you can get back to your room and finish your homework,” she said.

“Will Dad be home for dinner tonight?”

“I doubt it.”

Selena frowned. “Is he ever coming home?”

“He’ll be back,” Adelia said with a confidence she was far from feeling. The real kicker, though, was she was increasingly unsure if she wanted him here.

* * *

Karen had taken on extra shifts at Sullivan’s for the past week. She was doing it partly for the overtime pay, but also because on some level she was hoping to avoid another battle with Elliott over the money for the gym. It had been days since they’d had a chance to have a private conversation at home. This morning at breakfast, she’d heard the impatience in his voice after she’d told him she’d be working late again tonight.

“You don’t need to worry about the kids, though,” she’d told him, as if caring for them was the issue. “It’s Saturday night. They have sleepovers planned with their friends.”

“Wouldn’t that make it the perfect night for us to spend an evening to ourselves, then?” he’d asked, his tone reasonable.

She couldn’t even meet his gaze as she’d responded. “We need the extra money, Elliott, especially if you’re still planning to dip into our savings.”

“That’s one of the things we need to talk about. I’ve worked things out. I’ll still need a chunk of our savings to invest, but there’s no need to take out a loan on the house.”

He’d said it as if that had ever been a viable option.

“Good to know,” she’d replied, unable to keep a hint of irony out of her voice.

Elliott had looked as if he’d wanted to get into another argument right then and there, but she fled, claiming she was already late for work.

She knew, though, that they couldn’t avoid the topic forever.

Now that she was at Sullivan’s, she could finally relax. She even managed to push the whole gym controversy and the tension at home out of her head as she worked on lunch prep.

Dana Sue had encouraged all of them to experiment with recipes, and Karen loved doing that. After working at a country-style diner outside of town where the menu had been limited mostly to burgers, shakes and fried foods, she enjoyed trying out different herbs and unusual combinations of ingredients.

Though the Sullivan’s menu promised a new Southern cuisine, Karen had discovered all sorts of ways to update the traditional recipes. Dana Sue actually thought she had a real knack for it. It was the first time anyone had ever encouraged her culinary skills, and she basked in the warm and frequent praise.

She’d just finished a new variation of mac and cheese, a comfort food they often used as a side dish, when Dana Sue stepped into the kitchen.

Ignoring Erik, who was focused on icing a red velvet cake for today’s dessert list, she called out to Karen, “Can you take a break? I’d like to see you in my office.”

Karen’s stomach sank as she followed her boss to the tiny room that served as her office. It also served as storage for paper products and anything else they didn’t know where to hide. She managed to squeeze through and moved a stack of files from the one extra chair, then sat.

“Is something wrong?” she asked Dana Sue nervously. They’d had way too many discussions in the past about absences or mistakes for Karen to assume Dana Sue was about to utter anything other than a reprimand, especially since she’d insisted on privacy. If it were anything else, she would have talked in front of Erik.

“Not with your work,” Dana Sue reassured her at once. “You’re doing great. I love some of the innovations you’ve tried for the menu. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“Why?”

“You’ve worked an extra shift almost every day this week.”

“Tina needed some time off,” Karen said at once.

Dana Sue held her gaze. “Is that it? Erik and I have picked up the slack for Tina before, especially on the slow week nights.”

Karen couldn’t help wondering if this was about the overtime pay. “I didn’t think you’d mind, and I could use the extra money.”

“It’s not about the money, and we’re always grateful for another pair of hands. You’ll be a godsend tonight. I’m just wondering if you’re hiding out here to avoid going home.” She held up a hand. “I know that’s a personal question, and you don’t have to answer, but frankly, I feel a little responsible for the tension between you and Elliott. I don’t think any of us realized how much friction the whole gym plan might cause.”

Karen released her pent-up breath. “To be honest, in some ways I know I’m overreacting, that it’s pushed one of my hot buttons, and I can’t begin to look at it rationally. I know how badly Elliott wants to do it and how hurt he’s been that I don’t seem to have enough faith that it will be successful.” She gave Dana Sue a plaintive look. “I have no idea how to get past that. I’m making him miserable. We’re barely speaking, mostly because…you’re right, I have been hiding out here.”

“I thought so,” Dana Sue said. “That won’t solve anything. You know that.”

“Of course I do. I just don’t know what else there is we could possibly say that would change anything.”

“You won’t know unless you try. As I understand it, the guys came up with what they think is a win-win solution the other night. Has Elliott told you about that? I don’t know the details, but Ronnie seemed to think it would allay your concerns.”

Suddenly Karen regretted not allowing Elliott to tell her about it. She’d shut him down every time he’d tried. This time she couldn’t blame him for leaving her out of the loop. It was probably time for that to stop. She met Dana Sue’s concerned gaze.

“I was going to work for Tina tomorrow, but she said she could handle the shift if I wanted it off after all,” she told Dana Sue. “Would that be okay? I think I need to spend some time with my husband.”

Dana Sue grinned, looking very pleased with herself. “Then my work here is done. I know it might feel like a busman’s holiday, but you could bring Elliott here for Sunday brunch on the house, if you’d like to turn it into a special occasion.”

Karen nodded slowly. “He might like that, and heaven knows, we could use a nice meal at someplace with more ambience than Wharton’s or Rosalina’s. Thank you. The kids are at sleepovers tonight. I’ll see if they can hang out till tomorrow afternoon, so we’ll have privacy for a real heart-to-heart, adult conversation.”

“I’ll reserve a table for you, then,” Dana Sue promised.

“I’d better get back and check on my jalapeño mac and cheese.” Karen grinned. “If I did it right, it ought to bump up drink sales.”

“Or send our water bill soaring,” Dana Sue teased. “I can’t wait to try it.”

As Karen left the office, she felt more hopeful than she had in weeks.

* * *

“But we always have Sunday dinner with my family,” Elliott protested when Karen told him about Dana Sue’s offer. “It’s a tradition to go there after church. You know how much my mother counts on all of us being around her table at least once a week.”

Karen had managed to avoid plenty of those occasions by claiming she had to work. Since the offer to eat free at Sullivan’s would have been such a rare treat, she’d been sure Elliott would readily forego his mother’s command performance just this once.

“It’s one time,” she pleaded. “And we need this, Elliott. You know we do.”

“I’ve been saying we need to talk all week. Why would you pick the one day of the week when it’s impossible?”

“It’s not impossible,” she retorted.

“Okay, maybe not. I just don’t want to disappoint my mother. And if she finds out you had time off and chose to go to the restaurant where you work for a meal rather than joining the family, she’ll take it like a slap in her face.”

Unfortunately, Karen knew that was exactly how her mother-in-law would view it. She heaved a resigned sigh. “Fine. We’ll go to your mother’s,” she said, already regretting that she’d given up the shift at work.

“We’ll go over to the lake after,” he said, clearly trying to make amends. “The kids can run off their excess energy, and we’ll be able to sit quietly there and talk.”

“On a Sunday, when every family in Serenity has the exact same idea?” she asked skeptically.

“I’m trying to compromise,” he said in frustration.

She met his gaze. “I know you are, but so am I.”

He tucked a finger under her chin until she met his gaze. “We’ll get better at it,” he promised, moving his hand to caress her cheek.

“I should have remembered how hard marriage can be,” she told him. “The funny thing is, I would have done whatever it took to figure things out and save my marriage to Ray, scumbag that he turned out to be. He bolted without giving us any chance at all to work things out.”

“Does that mean you intend to fight for our marriage even when it gets hard?” Elliott asked.

She reached up and put her hand over his where it still rested against her cheek, her eyes locked with his. “With everything in me,” she assured him.

“And I’ll do the same, querida. Te amo.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered, stepping into his open arms. “With all my heart.”

* * *

The one thing Elliott hadn’t considered when he’d insisted they go to his mother’s house on Sunday was that it would bring Daisy and Selena into contact for the first time since the dance. Adelia had kept Selena home that first Sunday and after school. They’d caved in to Daisy’s pleas to stay away after that. He knew the two girls had spoken on the phone, but until they saw each other, it was hard to know if the matter had truly been resolved, especially since Daisy had said nothing, at least to him, after that conversation.

As they drove over to his mother’s, he glanced into the rearview mirror. Daisy was gazing out the window, ignoring her brother’s chatter, her expression pensive.

“You okay, Daisy?” he asked.

“Uh-huh,” she murmured without looking in his direction.

Next to him, Karen frowned, obviously picking up on her daughter’s mood and guessing the reason for it.

“You’re not worried about seeing Selena, are you?” Karen asked quietly. “I thought things were better after she made that phone call the other day.”

Daisy shrugged. “I guess.”

There was no doubt in Elliott’s mind that the matter wasn’t resolved as he’d hoped. Unfortunately, despite having sisters, he only rarely understood the workings of the female mind. He cast a helpless what-now look toward Karen.

Karen turned in her seat. “Sweetie, tell us what’s going on. Whatever it is, we’ll help you figure it out.”

Daisy frowned at that. “Why do I have to figure it out? Selena’s the one who was mean. Now everybody at school is teasing me, and it’s all because of her.” Her voice rose as she spoke, and tears started to fall.

Karen turned to Elliott. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” she began, but he was already shaking his head.

“Postponing this will only delay the inevitable,” he told her. “They’re cousins. They have to work through the problem, and the only way to do that is face-to-face.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Karen argued. “Not if the other kids are using the incident to say more hurtful things to Daisy. Maybe we should speak to the principal.”

“No!” Daisy protested, looking alarmed. “It’s bad enough now. I don’t want to be a big old tattletale. I just don’t want to have to spend time with Selena at Grandma Cruz’s house, too. Everyone there will just take her side, the same way they do at school.”

“You know better than that,” Elliott said, trying to reassure her. “I’ve been on your side from the beginning, haven’t I? And Adelia punished Selena.”

“What about Ernesto?” she complained. “He didn’t say anything, and he was right there when it happened.”

Elliott wasn’t sure quite how to answer that. He wondered if Ernesto would even be there today. He doubted it. From what he’d seen and heard recently, Ernesto had been making himself scarce ever since he’d brushed past Elliott and left home a couple of Saturdays ago. Though Elliott had wanted to talk to Adelia about it, his sisters had advised him to stay out of it. They were convinced the couple would eventually work things out, because that’s what people in their family did.

He wondered, though, if his mother was aware of the strain in that marriage. He knew Adelia would do everything in her power to keep it from her. Would that extend to somehow convincing Ernesto to show up today to keep up appearances?

“Don’t worry about Ernesto,” he advised Daisy eventually as they pulled into a parking spot up the street from his mother’s house. “There will be plenty of other people around today. If anyone upsets you, you can stick close to me. I’ll protect you.”

Daisy grinned. “You used to tell me that when you’d read me scary stories before bed, back when I was little.”

“I meant it then, and I mean it now. You can always count on me,” Elliott assured her.

Daisy might not be his biological daughter, but she was the daughter of his heart, and no one would ever harm her on his watch again, especially not a member of his own family, not even inadvertently.

* * *

As soon as they walked into the chaos that was the Cruz family home on a Sunday, Karen noticed that Adelia was not in her usual spot in the kitchen helping her mother with the meal. Karen lingered in the kitchen only long enough to offer a greeting and her willingness to help, which was automatically rejected. She might be a cook in the region’s finest restaurant, but she didn’t measure up to Cruz standards.

As soon as she’d been dismissed, she went in search of the one sister-in-law with whom she’d developed at least a tentative bond recently. She found Adelia sitting on the patio in back, watching the husbands toss around a football. She noticed that Ernesto was not among them.

Karen gestured toward a chair beside her. “Is it okay if I join you?”

Adelia shrugged. “I’m lousy company,” she warned.

Karen grinned. “Is that why you were banished from your usual spot in the kitchen?”

To her surprise, Adelia actually chuckled. “To be honest, I’m avoiding Mama.”

“Because Ernesto isn’t here and she’s going to want to know why?” Karen guessed.

“Got it on the first try,” Adelia said, lifting a glass of wine in a toast. It didn’t seem to be her first.

“Want to talk about it with an unbiased third party?”

The last trace of Adelia’s smile faded. “Nothing to talk about.”

Karen merely nodded and fell silent. She understood more than most the need for privacy in a crisis, especially among family members like these, who shared every little detail of each other’s lives. While emotional support was a given, the hovering and judgments could be more than a little overwhelming.

“You’re not pushing for information,” Adelia said eventually.

“It’s your business,” Karen said simply. “If you decide you want to talk, I’m here. If not, it’s okay.” She held Adelia’s gaze. “You do know that I’ve been where you are. I’m the only one in the family who has been.”

Adelia shook her head. “From what I know about your marriage, as awful as it was, it doesn’t come close to the travesty that is mine,” she said bitterly, a tear leaking from her eyes to spill down her cheek. She brushed at it impatiently, then stood up. “I can’t do this. I need to get out of here.”

Before Karen could think of what to say, Adelia was gone. A moment later, a car started out front.

“Did Adelia just take off?” Elliott asked, suddenly appearing in front of her, his expression filled with concern.

Karen nodded.

“What did you say to her?”

“It wasn’t anything I said,” Karen said, instantly on the defensive. “She’s very unhappy right now.”

“I’d better go after her,” he said, tossing the football to one of his brothers-in-law.

Karen reached for his hand. “Don’t. I think she needs to figure this out for herself.”

“She needs to know we’re here for her.”

Karen smiled at that. “I think that’s part of the problem. She’s not ready for the family call-to-arms.”

Elliott sighed and sat down in the chair Adelia had vacated. “You’re probably right. Seeing her so miserable, though, makes me want to hunt down Ernesto and punch his lights out.”

“I have a hunch Adelia might appreciate that,” Karen said, “but it’s probably not a good idea. When people take sides, if there’s a reconciliation down the road, sometimes it’s hard to forget all the angry words that were spoken or the punches that were thrown.”

Elliott reached for her hand. “Marriage is way more complicated than I ever imagined.”

“That’s because all you really thought about was the steady sex.”

He looked shocked by her teasing comment. “That is not true,” he protested. “I thought about a thousand and one things I would love about spending my life with you.”

She met his gaze, seizing the opening to try to get back to the emotions that had brought them together. “Tell me.”

“I thought about holding you in my arms at night. I thought about waking up beside you and looking into your beautiful eyes. I thought about having a child with you, raising a family with you. I thought about sitting in rocking chairs when we’re old and talking about all the memories we’ve made.”

“The possibility of disagreements never crossed your mind?”

He grinned. “No, only the thought of make-up sex.” He heaved a dramatic sigh. “I was actually looking forward to that.”

She laughed. “And here I’ve denied you that.”

He winked at her. “But I’m still hopeful, querida. Maybe even tonight if I play my cards right for the rest of the day. What do you think?”

Her heart filled to overflowing by his earlier words, she nodded. “I think there’s a very good chance of that.”

Sex might not be the answer to all their problems, not by a long shot, but in his arms, she always remembered how safe and cherished he could make her feel. Sometimes that was enough to make it easier to get through the rough patches.