CHAPTER 9

Karen kept a very close eye on Daisy and Selena during dinner, but saw no evidence that the two girls remained seriously at odds. If anything, the ordinarily vocal Selena seemed quieter than usual. Karen couldn’t help wondering if it was because her father had never shown up and her mother had disappeared before the meal, rather than any awkwardness between her and Daisy.

Adelia’s abrupt departure without an explanation had set the family’s tongues wagging. It was the hot topic over Mrs. Cruz’s tamales.

“There is something wrong,” Mrs. Cruz speculated. “Something is not right with Adelia for her to just leave without a word to any of us.”

“And where on earth is Ernesto?” Elliott’s sister Laurinda asked, keeping her voice low in at least a passing attempt to keep Selena from overhearing. Selena and Daisy were at the main table in the dining room. The younger children were eating at a picnic table on the back patio, out of earshot of the conversation.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Carolina chimed in. “He hasn’t shown up here on Sunday in quite a while now.”

“Enough,” Elliott commanded quietly, slanting a quick look toward Selena to make his point.

Unfortunately his sisters didn’t take the hint. The speculation continued. Suddenly Selena stood up, her complexion pale.

“He’s gone!” she shouted. “Stop talking about it, okay? My dad moved out, and I don’t think he’s ever coming back.”

Shocked silence greeted the announcement. Selena ran from the room with Daisy on her heels. Karen was about to follow, but Elliott was on his feet before she could even put her napkin on the table.

“See what you’ve done,” he scolded his sisters as he took off after the girls.

As soon as he’d gone, the men began offering their own opinions, most of them in total support of Ernesto, which was pretty much what Karen would have expected. After a few minutes of listening to them berate Adelia as a shrew who drove her husband out of the house, she’d had all she could take. Worse, not one of the sisters, or even Mrs. Cruz, rose to Adelia’s defense. This was the macho boys’ club mentality at its worst, and these women were letting them get away with it.

With the volume of the discussion turned high and none of the attention focused on her, Karen left the table and went in search of Elliott and the girls. She found him sitting quietly in the grass at the far edge of the backyard with a sobbing Selena in his arms and Daisy next to them. Karen dropped down beside them and rested a comforting hand on Selena’s back. Slowly the girl’s sobs quieted.

Elliott gave her a grateful look, then nodded toward the house. “Are they still going at it?” he mouthed over Selena’s head.

She nodded back.

“Selena, sweetheart, why don’t we get your brother and sisters and head over to your house?” he suggested.

Selena sniffed and looked up at him. “What if Mom’s not there either?”

“Then we’ll hang out until she comes home, okay? But I have a feeling we’ll find her there.”

“Okay,” Selena said eventually. “I don’t want to go back inside Grandma’s, though. Can I wait in the car?”

“Of course,” Elliott said at once.

“I’ll wait with you,” Daisy offered.

“Me, too,” Karen said. She had no desire to go back inside and risk putting her own two cents into the current discussion. She doubted her opinion was one they’d want to hear. “Elliott, you can round up the kids, right? And grab my purse.”

“Under control,” he said readily.

A few minutes later, Elliott’s van was packed with kids. When they arrived at Adelia’s, at the sight of Ernesto’s car in the driveway, most of her children spilled out of the car and raced toward the house. Only Selena hung back, obviously reluctant to face whatever might be happening inside.

Karen totally understood. She exchanged a look with her husband and murmured, “You can’t come up with enough money to bribe me into going in there. How about you?”

“I’d rather eat dirt, but I have to go in just to make sure everyone’s okay. If you want to wait here, believe me, I get it.”

“I’m staying with Karen,” Selena said, then gave her a pleading look. “If it’s okay?”

“Of course it is,” Karen said, giving her hand a squeeze.

“I want to go in,” Mack said from the back.

“No,” Karen said at once. “As soon as Elliott gets back, we’re leaving.”

At her words, Selena stood a little taller. Suddenly she looked a little too grown up and weary for her age. “Then I might as well go with Elliott now,” she said in a resigned tone.

Elliott held out his hand and clasped hers. “Come on then.”

Daisy was oddly silent as they left.

“I’m surprised you don’t want to go with Selena,” Karen said to her. “You could run in with them for just a second, give her a little moral support.”

Daisy shook her head. “I don’t like Ernesto. I’m sorry he’s back.”

Surprised by the reaction, Karen studied her daughter. “Is this about what happened at the dance?”

Daisy’s expression turned stubborn. “I can’t say.”

“What does that mean?” Karen asked, frowning. “Has he done something else? Daisy, if you saw something or heard something, it’s okay to tell me. In fact, it’s important that you speak to an adult if another adult does something upsetting or inappropriate.”

“I told you I can’t say,” Daisy repeated, looking miserable.

Karen was torn between getting to the bottom of whatever Daisy had seen or heard and allowing her to keep the promise she’d obviously made to someone, Selena more than likely. In the end, though, she needed to know the truth.

“Sweetheart, this is not one of those situations you can keep secret, no matter what sort of promise you might have made,” Karen said. “You need to tell me. What did Selena tell you? Or was it something you saw or heard yourself?”

Daisy remained silent awhile longer, obviously struggling with her own barely developed moral compass. “Selena told me,” she said eventually. “It’s something she’s not supposed to know. That’s why she said I had to keep it a secret.”

“Not from me,” Karen said firmly.

“Make Mack get out of the car and I’ll tell you,” Daisy said at last. “If he hears, he’ll blab to everyone.”

“I won’t tell,” Mack protested, looking mutinous. “And I’m not getting out of the car.”

“Just for a minute,” Karen told him, understanding Daisy’s need to keep whatever information she held as quiet as possible. “Please. Otherwise there will be no ice cream at the lake when Elliott gets back.”

Mack scowled at his sister, but ice cream was too rare a treat to risk missing out on it. He climbed out of his booster seat and slammed the car door behind him.

Karen noted her daughter’s pinched expression and waited. She knew Daisy was still weighing loyalty against a parental command. Finally, she whispered, “Selena says Ernesto has a girlfriend, that he’s been staying at her house.”

Karen had to work hard to keep from gasping, not only at the news, but at the idea that Ernesto’s twelve-year-old daughter knew such a thing about her father. Though she didn’t doubt for a second that it might be true, she couldn’t imagine even Ernesto being so indiscreet.

“Maybe Selena misunderstood something,” she suggested.

Daisy shook her head adamantly. “She saw them together. They were kissing.”

“Where?”

“Right in front of the girlfriend’s house, I guess. Selena was walking home from the school bus stop. Ernesto’s car was in the driveway. They were outside, kissing in the car, and then they went in together, holding hands. Selena said even though she’s grounded, she snuck out later and went back at night. His car was still there.” Daisy regarded her with worry. “You’re not going to tell Adelia about her sneaking out, are you?”

Karen had a million and one questions, but she wasn’t about to pursue them with her own nine-year-old. It was evident that Daisy didn’t fully understand all of the implications of what Selena had told her—at least Karen hoped she didn’t—but it was apparent that Selena did.

“Thank you for telling me,” she said, reaching back to give Daisy’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Now, stop worrying about it. The grown-ups will figure it all out. Just try to be more understanding with Selena from now on, okay? This is a very difficult time for her.”

Daisy nodded. “I kinda get it now. I mean, why Selena gets so upset sometimes,” she revealed. “She’s really, really scared her mom and dad are gonna get a divorce.”

Karen wondered about that. Could Adelia honestly ignore something like this, just pretend it wasn’t happening, apparently right under her very nose if Selena was able to walk to this other woman’s house? Karen knew she certainly couldn’t, but the Cruz women had a different way of looking at marriage and different expectations about the way their men behaved. Did that extend to blatant infidelity?

She was still pondering that when Elliott and Mack climbed back into the car.

“Everything okay in there?” she asked.

Elliott shrugged. “On the surface.” He glanced into the backseat and, with an obviously forced note of cheer in his voice, asked, “Should we go to the lake?”

“Yes!” Mack said enthusiastically.

Even Daisy managed to muster a smile for him. “Mom said we could have ice cream.”

Elliott grinned. “Then we will,” he said, giving her a wink. “When your mom makes a promise, she always keeps it.”

Karen found herself reaching for his hand and holding on tightly. Elliott, too, kept his promises, and right at this moment, she was more grateful for that than he could possibly know.

* * *

Elliott felt completely emotionally drained after coping with the upheaval at his mother’s, Selena’s meltdown and then the tension inside the Hernandez house when he’d dropped off the kids. Even with the younger kids all over their father, shouting with noisy exuberance at his return home, he’d spotted the stress on his sister’s face and the way Selena had kept herself apart from the others, her expression angry. When Elliott had tried to pull Adelia aside for a private moment, she’d waved him away.

“Go,” she’d insisted. “Don’t keep Karen and the kids waiting.”

“If you need me for anything, you’ll call,” he said, making it more of a command than a request. He was unable to dismiss his concern as readily as she clearly wanted him to.

“I promise,” she’d said, but he knew better than to believe her. It was apparent to him she’d been keeping a whole lot to herself lately, trying to handle things on her own. That wasn’t the way things were done in their family, and it frustrated him to think Adelia might need help and was too proud to ask for it.

Still, he’d left, since she’d given him no choice. By the time he drove to the small, popular lake in the center of Serenity, all he wanted was to spend a quiet hour or so sitting next to his wife and counting his blessings that their problems, as complicated as they might be, were nothing compared to his sister’s.

“What happened today has taken a lot out of you, hasn’t it?” Karen asked as they ate their ice cream on a bench in the shade of a giant pin oak draped with Spanish moss.

“I’m worried about Adelia and that family,” he admitted. “Something’s seriously wrong. I think she needs backup, but she’s refused my offer to help.”

“That’s her way, isn’t it?” Karen reminded him mildly. “She knows any of you would leap to her defense if she asked. If she’s not asking, there must be a reason for it.”

There was something in her tone that set off an alarm bell. “Do you know something I don’t?” he asked.

“Not firsthand,” she said slowly. “And Daisy told me in confidence what Selena had said to her. If I tell you, you have to promise not to jump back in the car and go charging after Ernesto.”

Elliott froze at her grim expression. If she feared he’d go after his brother-in-law, it had to be bad. “What?” he demanded tightly.

“Remember, this is what Selena saw and her interpretation,” she cautioned. “She could have it all wrong.”

“Just tell me.”

“She thinks he’s cheating with some woman who lives nearby. She saw them kissing, and she’s slipped out of the house and seen his car over there at night. She thinks that’s where he’s been since he walked out on Adelia.”

Elliott felt his muscles bunch as anger roared through him. “In the same neighborhood with his family?”

Karen frowned at his choice of words. “Do you think that’s the only thing that’s wrong about this?”

“No, of course not. I just meant that it makes it that much worse to do such a thing right under the nose of his wife and children. Do you think Adelia knows about this?”

Karen nodded. “She hasn’t said a word about it to me, but I think she does. Women generally know, unless they choose not to. It would certainly explain why she’s been under such terrible stress.”

“Good God,” Elliott murmured. “What a mess!”

He was about to stand up, when Karen put a restraining hand on his arm. “You promised not to go over there.”

“We’re talking about my sister. Nobody gets to disrespect her like that.”

“I agree, but Adelia has to ask for your help,” Karen said reasonably. “Otherwise, you’ll just humiliate her. You certainly can’t go rushing over there and cause a scene in front of the children.”

Though it went against every protective instinct that had ever been instilled in him, he stayed where he was.

“I hate this,” he said eventually.

“Me, too,” Karen said, reaching for his hand.

“What should we do? Could I at least go find Ernesto tomorrow and beat him to a pulp?” he asked, half hoping Karen would agree that it was a perfectly logical next step.

She smiled. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

“It’s just so wrong to let him get away with it.”

“I agree, but the best thing you can do is keep a closer eye on your sister and be there whenever this thing blows up. I don’t think she knows it yet, but she’s a strong woman, and she’s not going to sit back and tolerate this forever.”

Elliott thought he detected the unspoken message in what she was saying. “Divorce?”

“Can you think of another option?”

“There has to be one,” he said at once. “Divorce is unacceptable.”

“You would have her stay with a man who disrespects her so openly?” Karen asked incredulously. “Is that what you would have wanted for me?”

“Of course not,” he said, referring only to Karen’s situation. “Ray left you. You couldn’t remain in limbo.”

“And Ernesto? What would you call what he’s doing?” she asked pointedly.

Elliott hesitated. He saw the depths of the dilemma clearly for the first time. His family’s strong faith was pitted against the reality of a marriage descending into despair. When it hit home like this, the answers were not nearly as clear or as simple as he’d always believed them to be.

* * *

On Wednesday Frances was fifteen minutes late getting to The Corner Spa for the weekly seniors’ exercise class. She spotted the questioning look in Flo’s eyes when she finally arrived.

Thankfully, though, Elliott turned on the CD player just then and started the dance exercises that had become everyone’s favorite part of the class. With the music at high volume, Flo couldn’t ask all the questions that were obviously on the tip of her tongue. By the time they were ready for a break, everyone was too out-of-breath to discuss anything.

When the class finally ended, Frances hurried to catch up with Elliott for her weekly update on Karen and the children. And, if she were being totally honest, to avoid Flo.

“Do you all need me to babysit this week?” she asked Elliott hopefully. Despite a few disconcerting moments, the time she spent with Daisy and Mack was very special to her. It filled the void that should have been filled by her own grandchildren. She felt better when she was around all that youthful exuberance and wonder.

“Honestly, I have no idea how this week is going to play out,” Elliott said, his frustration plain. “We were supposed to have some time to talk Sunday when we took the kids over to the lake, but something else came up and we never got around to talking about anything we’d planned to discuss.”

“Then it sounds as if you need another night out. Other than playing cards at the senior center tonight, my calendar’s clear. Just give me a call if you want me to come over or want to drop the kids off at my place.”

Elliott leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek, which drew hoots from the other women who’d lingered after class.

“Hey, no playing favorites,” Garnet Rogers called out.

“And if you’re looking for an older woman, I’m a better bet,” Flo teased him.

Frances rolled her eyes. “Ladies, act your age.”

“Good heavens, why would we do that?” Garnet responded. “The more frequently I can recapture my youth, the better I like it.”

Elliott kissed Frances again, just to stir the pot, no doubt, then gave her a wink before heading for his next client.

Frances turned to leave, only to be intercepted by Flo.

“I know what you’re doing,” Flo accused. “You’re trying to avoid me. Liz, too.”

“I most certainly am not,” Frances said with what she thought sounded like suitable indignation.

“You skipped cards last week.”

“I had things to do,” Frances said.

“And you deliberately came late today so I couldn’t ask you if you’ve made an appointment with the doctor yet. And that private little chat you just had with Elliott was part of your strategy, too. You were hoping I’d have to rush right out of here.”

“Well, if that was my strategy, it didn’t work, did it?” Frances retorted.

Flo held her gaze. “You can’t avoid Liz and me forever,” she said quietly. “Nor can you put off making this appointment, Frances. It isn’t like you to pretend everything’s fine, when you know it isn’t. Wouldn’t it be better to know, so you can be treated and make whatever plans need to be made?”

“I think we’ve all overreacted,” Frances said, even though she knew all too well there had been a couple of more troubling incidents, including an embarrassing moment when she’d been speaking to the preacher after church just this past Sunday and had suddenly lost her train of thought. Lots of people did that, she knew, but she’d panicked just the same. The problem was there were times, like right now after her exercise class, that she felt better than ever. Her physical stamina was remarkable for a woman of ninety. Everyone, including her own doctor whom she’d seen last year for a flu shot, agreed about that.

Flo regarded her doubtfully. “We both know that no one has overreacted. And I understand why you’d be scared.”

“Not scared,” Frances corrected. “Terrified.”

“But isn’t it better to know?” Flo repeated, obviously frustrated by Frances’s stubbornness.

Frances looked directly into her friend’s compassionate gaze. “Have you found any cures on that computer of yours?”

“No, but—”

Frances cut her off. “Then what difference does it really make if I find out now or a few months down the road?”

“There are medicines that can help for a while, at least,” Flo argued. “They could buy you time to spend with your family. More importantly, you might not even have Alzheimer’s. Think of the relief a proper diagnosis could bring you.”

“We both know that’s a long shot,” Frances said.

“You’re not going to do this until you’re ready, are you?” Flo finally said, her expression resigned.

Frances nodded. “That’s right, and it’s my decision to make when that is.”

Surprisingly, tears welled up in Flo’s eyes. “Liz and I just want you to be all right.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Frances said, giving her an impulsive hug. “You two are the best friends I could possibly have. I know you care about me, and I truly do appreciate it. One more incident and I’ll see the doctor. I promise.”

Flo gave her a doubtful look. “Do we have to witness this next incident for it to count, or will you keep the promise even if we’re not around?”

“No matter who’s around,” Frances said, “I’ll keep the promise.”

Because even though she wanted to believe these lapses of hers weren’t the first signs of Alzheimer’s, she wasn’t about to put anyone else at risk because of her foolish refusal to accept the possibility that her health was deteriorating.