CHAPTER 12

Karen was taking a break in the kitchen at Sullivan’s after a crazy Saturday lunch hour when the back door opened and Elliott came in with Mack in tow. Her son was only seven, but big for his age with a square body and sturdy legs. He still had the same impish grin he’d had as a toddler, and his eyes were filled with excitement.

“Guess what?” he called out as he ran across the room to hug her.

“What?” she asked, laughing at his exuberance.

“Elliott and me went to the park and all these kids were playing football and Elliott says I can play, too. Isn’t that the best, Mom? It’s just touch football for little kids, but we talked to the coach and everything. We have practice just like the big kids. And our first game is next week. Will you come?” He was all but bouncing up and down with excitement as he reported his big news.

Karen’s gaze shot to her husband. “Football?” she asked quietly. “Without mentioning it to me?”

Elliott shrugged. “I took him to the park. The kids were practicing and he said he wanted to play. Travis, Tom and Cal are coaching the teams and they said he could play with the little guys. You heard him, Karen. They’re playing touch football. There’s no tackling.”

“So not the point,” she said tightly, not wanting to start a fight in front of Mack or to ruin her son’s obvious excitement. All she seemed to do recently was put a damper on her family’s enthusiasm for one thing or another.

“Mom, I’m even gonna have a uniform if they can find sponsors for the team,” Mack said, tugging on her sleeve to get her attention. “Maybe Sullivan’s could be a sponsor. You could ask, couldn’t you?”

Apparently sensing that Karen would eat dirt before doing that, Elliott quickly stepped in. “Your mom doesn’t need to do that, buddy. Remember, Mr. Sullivan said he could work it out.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mack said, then looked around the kitchen. “Did Erik bake cookies today? His chocolate chip cookies are the best.”

Karen laughed despite her annoyance. She had no idea what secret ingredient Erik included in his cookie batter, but they were better than hers, or even Maria Cruz’s. Leave it to her traitorous little boy to remind her of that.

“I think he saved a few just in case you stopped by today,” she told Mack, tousling his hair as she went to look for the secret stash Erik always had on hand for the various kids popping in and out of the kitchen these days. She returned with two. “That’s it, kiddo. And once you’re finished getting chocolate all over yourself, make sure Elliott gets you into the tub when you get home. You look as if you’ve been playing in a mud pit.”

Mack grinned. “Playing football is no good if you don’t get dirty,” he advised her. His eyes suddenly went wide. “Maybe I’ll even get cut and need stitches! Timmy Marshall needed six stitches when he got slammed into the ground.”

He sounded as if that were an incredibly desirable badge of honor. He obviously missed the concept that stitches required needles, something he despised.

Karen sighed. She’d hoped for a few more years before her son’s athletic tendencies involved him in some of the more rambunctious sports. Why hadn’t she mentioned that to Elliott? She should have known that her fitness-oriented husband would think football was a perfectly acceptable way for a seven-year-old to spend his Saturday mornings. Now she got to spend those days with her heart in her throat until she saw whether Mack got through the games without an injury.

* * *

Elliott hadn’t started out the day with the intention of signing Mack up for football, but he hadn’t resisted when Mack expressed interest. He hadn’t played in any kind of formal league at that age, but he had hung out with neighborhood kids who were obsessed with the game. He’d had his share of bumps and bruises at Mack’s age. It was all part of growing up, to his way of thinking.

He sighed, thinking about the look on Karen’s face when Mack had made his big announcement. She obviously didn’t see it that way. He knew that was going to come back to bite him in the butt.

When he’d dropped Mack off at his mother’s so he could get to the spa for his afternoon clients, he spotted Cal in Maddie’s office. He tapped on the open door.

“Do you all have a minute?”

Maddie looked up from the papers on her desk. “Sure. What’s up?”

“Karen’s not happy you signed Mack up for football,” Cal guessed at once, giving him a sympathetic look.

Maddie looked startled. “You signed him up without talking it over with her? He’s seven, for goodness’ sakes.”

“He wanted to play,” Elliott said defensively.

“He’s seven,” Maddie repeated.

Cal chuckled. “Obviously it’s a mom thing. Dads can’t wait to get our kids involved in every sport out there.”

“Because you seem to forget that those little heads aren’t made out of concrete,” Maddie said in disgust.

“They wear helmets,” Cal reminded her. “And it’s touch football. No tackling allowed.”

“And yet they still get concussions,” Maddie said. “I thank my lucky stars that all Ty ever cared about was baseball, and Kyle never was interested in playing sports at all.”

Cal grinned at her. “But now we have a son who will probably go pro and play for the Falcons or maybe the Carolina Panthers,” he said, speaking of their son who was little more than a toddler.

“Bite your tongue,” Maddie said with feeling. “If our baby expresses an interest in playing football in high school, I’ll consider it.”

“Good players start in middle school,” Cal told her. “Some start in the Peewee League.”

“Then our son will be ordinary,” she countered, her expression defiant. “I’m with Karen on this.”

Elliott listened to the exchange, oddly relieved by it. “You really think she was upset because she thinks Mack’s too young to play football?”

“Of course,” Maddie said, giving him a puzzled look. “What did you think it was about?”

“I’m still a little fuzzy on the rules of being a stepdad,” Elliott admitted. “I figured she was furious because she didn’t think I had any right to make the call at all.”

Maddie shook her head. “You’re a fantastic stepfather. Karen knows that. Nope, if you ask me, it was all about making a stupid decision, not about your right to make it.”

Cal chuckled. “My wife, the diplomat.”

Elliott grinned, despite his overall mood. “Hey, I wanted her opinion. She didn’t have to sugarcoat it.”

“As if I would,” Maddie retorted. “It’s not in my nature.”

“I can vouch for that,” Cal said. He winked at her. “It’s actually one of the traits I love about you, at least most of the time.”

She gave him a considering look. “Okay, you’re almost out of that hole you dug for yourself a minute ago. Keep going. What other traits do you love?”

Elliott backed out the door. “That might be too much information for my tender ears. Thanks for the input.”

“Anytime,” Maddie murmured, though she was already distracted because Cal had moved closer and was whispering who-knew-what into her ear. Whatever it was had put a smile on her face and a look in her eyes that Elliott recognized all too well. The man obviously knew exactly how to charm his wife. Elliott should probably ask for lessons.

* * *

“You signed him up without even asking me,” Karen complained in a hushed voice to Elliott that night. “I thought we’d agreed that we needed to talk about things like this.”

Elliott frowned at her words. “I could use a little clarity here. Is this about the possibility that Mack could be injured playing touch football, which is what I thought your objection was, or is it about me not consulting you?”

“Both,” she said at once. “Mostly it’s a problem because I’m his mother. I get to decide what he can and can’t do.” She spoke without thinking through the implication of her words. Only when she saw the immediate hurt in Elliott’s eyes did she realize she’d taken entirely the wrong approach. He looked as if she’d slapped him. As annoyed as she’d been, she realized his reaction was totally justified, but before she could muster an apology, he was on his feet.

“I see,” he said softly. He stood up and headed for the door. “I need to go out. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Stunned that he would walk out in the middle of a discussion, she stared at him. “You’re leaving now?”

“If I don’t, we’re both going to say things we don’t mean. We need a time-out. Since I’m sure you don’t want to leave your son and daughter, then I’m the one who needs to go.”

Hearing her own ill-advised comment thrown back at her with so much pain in Elliott’s voice snapped her out of her own anger. She hurried after him and caught up as he stepped outside.

“I’m sorry,” she said, filled with contrition. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out. You’re a wonderful father to Daisy and Mack in every way that counts.”

“But you’re the biological parent,” he said stiffly. “Obviously I should keep that in mind.”

She crossed the porch and touched his arm, felt the muscle quiver, saw the tension in the set of his shoulders. “I am so, so sorry.”

Elliott sighed. “It’s clear we have a lot more work to do on our communication skills, querida. We can’t keep hurting each other like this.”

“You’re right,” she said at once. “Can we table all of this for now? Frances is taking the kids tomorrow night. I’ll fix a special dinner, and we’ll talk. We need to decide how we’re going to handle situations like this when they come up.”

Elliott held her gaze. “What we need to decide is what my role is to be with your children,” he told her. “I don’t want to be an uninvolved father figure who’s little more than a babysitter from time to time.”

“Of course not,” she said at once. “You’ve never been that.”

“And we need to figure all this out before we consider having a baby of our own,” he added. “We can’t have one set of rules for our child and another for Daisy and Mack.”

“Agreed.”

He faced her, then held her gaze. “Before this dinner tomorrow, maybe you should think about whether you’d let me adopt Daisy and Mack. Their father hasn’t been around in years. I think Helen could work out the legalities, if it’s what you want. I know it’s what I want. I’ve been telling you that for a long time, but you’ve brushed me off every time it’s come up.”

Karen regarded him with surprise. “I always thought you were talking theoretically. I guess I didn’t realize how much it would mean to you. I should have understood.”

“It’s difficult being the outsider in the family.”

Karen was genuinely stunned that she’d made him feel that way. “I’ve never meant for you to feel like an outsider. You’re more of a father to Daisy and Mack than Ray ever was. That’s how they think of you. You know that.”

“And you?”

“It’s how I see you, too,” she insisted.

“That’s not how it sounded just a few minutes ago,” he said.

“I know it didn’t and I’m truly sorry. I spoke without thinking.”

“You know the irony of all this? Maddie almost had me convinced you were only upset because you’re a mom and moms have this ingrained fear of their kids getting hurt playing football, but obviously I was right all along. It looks to me that it has more to do with me not being entitled to go with my gut when it comes to parenting Daisy and Mack.”

She frowned. “You discussed this with Maddie?”

“I did,” he said with a hint of defiance. “I wanted another perspective. She and Cal were around when I got to the spa. They have experience with the whole stepparenting thing.”

“Shouldn’t you be talking to me about things like this, rather than our friends?” she asked, aware that she was being unreasonable. Of course, he’d talk to friends and seek advice, especially when they were likely to have worked through similar issues.

“I would have, but you were obviously upset and I didn’t want to make it worse, especially since you were at work. I wanted to understand how I’d been in the wrong.” He shrugged. “Obviously it didn’t help, because Maddie got it wrong. It really is about me being a stepparent.”

He looked her in the eye. “You know, if Ray were still in the picture, this wouldn’t be an issue for me. I’d deal if I thought me acting like a dad was going to muddy the waters between him and the kids. That’s not the case. How do you feel about me legally adopting them? The truth, Karen.”

“I guess I haven’t really considered it,” she admitted. “I thought things were okay the way they are. They know you love them.”

“But they also know you’re the real authority figure.”

She frowned at the characterization. “That’s not true. They listen to you.”

“Only when you’re not around. Look, this doesn’t have to happen, but I think it could be important for them to see that I love them as if they were my own. And it might clarify the situation when it comes to who gets to make the decisions or who disciplines them. We’ll do it jointly. This may not matter now when they’re so young, but the teenage years aren’t that far away, at least for Daisy. It could matter then.”

She saw the point he was making. “Jointly is good,” she said at once, knowing that not only was he right, but that she’d been unfair to suggest otherwise. “I know it didn’t come out that way earlier, but that was exactly my point. We need to talk about things and decide together. I’m not talking about whether they get ice cream after school or get a time-out for misbehaving. We have to be in agreement on the big things.”

Elliott nodded. “Like football,” he said.

She nodded. “Like football.”

“Are you going to insist that Mack drop out?” he asked.

As badly as she wanted to do just that—he was only seven, after all—she wouldn’t disappoint her son now that he had his heart set on it. Nor did she want to undercut Elliott’s authority and prove the point he’d just been making about his decisions not counting.

“No, but if he comes home with cuts, bruises or broken bones, watch out,” she warned.

“Duly noted,” he said solemnly.

He came back inside then and pulled her into his arms. “Maybe we’ll get this give-and-take thing down yet.”

She touched his cheek, relaxing for the first time since the argument had begun. “I’m counting on it.”

“And we’ll talk some more about me formally adopting them?” he pressed.

She nodded. She had no idea why she’d been dragging her heels on taking a step that would give her children a greater sense of stability, but she knew deep in her heart that she had. She’d pretended that all those casual mentions had been theoretical because it suited her. She needed to figure out why she’d been reluctant, and then maybe she, Elliott and her children could finally move forward to become a totally united family.

* * *

Karen was surprised a few days later when Raylene tapped on the kitchen door at Sullivan’s, then stepped inside, her expression chagrined.

“I know I promised I’d come by for coffee weeks ago, but my life’s been a circus,” she told Karen. “Is the offer still good?”

“Absolutely,” Karen said. “And you picked a great morning. Erik made the coffee and left to pick up supplies. Dana Sue’s not coming in for another hour.”

She poured them both a cup, then gestured toward a stool beside her workplace. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have prep work to do for lunch. I can talk while I chop, though. What’s been going on that’s kept you so busy?”

“Carter’s been working all sorts of crazy shifts at the police department. Even though he’s Serenity’s chief now, he still takes shifts on the street. His sisters are involved in every single activity at the high school. Guess who gets to drive them there and back and sit in the audience and applaud when they have performances?”

“Quite a change for you from a couple of years ago,” Karen said. “Are you coping okay?”

“Honestly, other than an occasional twinge of panic when I walk out the front door, I’m doing amazingly well with all the commotion. It’s hard to believe there was a time I was too terrified to set foot outside the house.” She shrugged. “It helps that my crazy, abusive ex is finally locked up for a good long time this time.”

“I imagine that must be a huge relief. I don’t know what I’d do if Ray ever got it into his head to wander back to Serenity. Not that he was abusive, but I have a huge amount of unresolved anger at the way he abandoned me to deal with his financial mess.”

“Do you ever hear from him?” Raylene asked. “Does he ever ask about the kids?”

Karen shook her head. “It’s as if they don’t even exist.” She thought of the role Raylene had been expected to step into with Carter’s two younger sisters. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Has it been hard for you to figure out what role you’re supposed to play with Carter’s sisters?”

Raylene’s expression turned thoughtful. “It was hard when we were first seeing each other and didn’t know where our relationship might be going,” she admitted. “I knew Carrie really needed a female influence in her life, but I didn’t want to overstep. It got awkward from time to time.” She grinned. “Now both girls just think of me as a big sister, I think, and Carter and I juggle things together. Maybe if Carter were their dad, rather than their older brother and legal guardian, it would be harder, but we’re all adjusting to how to handle things, even Carter.”

She gave Karen a penetrating look. “Why? Is Elliott having trouble fitting into the role of stepdad?”

“Actually he’s incredible,” Karen admitted. “I’m the one who seems to be having trouble adjusting to having a real partner who will share in the responsibility of raising my kids. Without intending to, I’ve made him feel as if he has no say.”

Raylene frowned. “That’s not good. Any idea why you might be doing that?”

Karen shook her head. “I keep going over it and over it, but I’m at a loss. He even wants to adopt them officially, but I’ve held back.”

“Could it be because you’re still scared of things not working out with Elliott?” Raylene speculated gently. “That might make you cautious about making him a permanent, legal fixture in their lives.”

Karen frowned at the unexpected suggestion. Unfortunately, it sounded all too plausible. After being burned as badly as she had been by Ray, after cleaning up that mess, was she thinking that she didn’t want to have to deal with all the ramifications if she and Elliott didn’t make it?

“I hope not,” she told Raylene. “I want this marriage to work more than anything. It’s not just because I don’t want another failure, either. I know how lucky I am to have found a man like Elliott, who’s decent, kind and loving. Every time we hit a rough patch, though, I do panic, there’s no question about that.”

“Then that could be holding you back,” Raylene said. “But if you think that refusing to let Elliott adopt the kids will protect them from any fallout if you and Elliott were to divorce down the road, you’re fooling yourself. Their lives and emotions are already intertwined. All you’re doing is depriving them of knowing that their stepfather loves them so unconditionally that he wants to make it legal.”

Karen nodded slowly, seeing it all from a different perspective. She might not be quite ready to take that final leap of faith, but she knew she needed to get there, not only for her children’s sake, but for her own.

She’d thought that marrying Elliott proved her commitment, but she saw now that there were more steps needed before she’d be fully invested in her marriage. It was an unexpected discovery and, with their recent share of ups and downs, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

* * *

Adelia walked into Ernesto’s office at the development company he’d founded with two partners and turned into a regional success despite all of the dire economic forecasts in recent years. She walked right past his secretary, barely sparing her a wave. She could see the protest forming on the older woman’s lips, but she pretended she didn’t.

Ernesto was on the phone when she entered, leaning back in his chair, his expensively clad feet propped on the huge desk she’d helped him choose when she’d decorated his office in a way that would announce his success to any visitors. First impressions, she knew, counted for as much as reality in a new company starting out.

She paced while he finished his conversation, then moved to a leather chair in front of the desk when he hung up.

“This is a surprise,” he said, his expression neutral. “What brings you by?”

“We need to talk,” she announced with the determination she’d been stoking on the drive over here.

“Wouldn’t it be better to have our personal conversations at home?”

“It would be, if you were ever there,” she said. “And if our children weren’t privy to every word. Selena’s already upset enough about what’s going on.”

He frowned at that. “She eavesdrops? What is wrong with that child?”

“Nothing is wrong with her. She’s twelve. She understands that our fighting can’t mean anything good.” She gave him a sharp look. “It doesn’t help that she also knows all about your latest mistress.”

He had the grace to look disconcerted by that. “How? Why would you tell her?” he asked angrily. “Do you want to ruin my relationship with her?”

“I’ve told her nothing. She’s seen you with this woman.” She gave him a scathing look. “What did you expect when you took up with someone just blocks away from our home? Didn’t you know you were likely to get caught, or is that what you were counting on? Were you hoping I’d be so humiliated I’d finally cut you loose?”

He looked taken aback by her strong words. “You’ve always known about the other women. I assumed you understood that was the price for living in that big house and having all your needs met.”

Adelia looked at him, wondering how she could ever have thought herself in love with this insensitive, self-absorbed man. “You truly believe what you’re saying, don’t you? That a big house and a few luxuries make up for being treated like nothing?”

“Not like nothing,” he said heatedly. “You’re the mother of my children.”

“And nothing more,” she said wearily, accepting that her role had been diminished to little more than caregiver to his children. “You’re setting a terrible example for your son, Ernesto. I don’t want him growing up thinking that it’s acceptable for a man to treat a woman like this, with such little respect.” She met his gaze. “And I don’t want him or his sisters to see me as the kind of woman who finds that behavior acceptable.”

He frowned at her words. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I expect you to spend your nights in our home, that I expect you to honor the commitment you made to me on the day we took our vows. If that means we spend the rest of our lives seeing marriage counselors, then that’s what we’ll do. We won’t go on like this.”

“And if I say no?” he asked, clearly confident that she had no fallback position, that she was trying to bluff him into changing.

“Then I will take our children and leave you,” she said, holding his gaze. “And I will take you for every penny I possibly can, to assure that our children want for nothing. I haven’t spoken to Helen Decatur-Whitney, but I’m pretty sure I have enough evidence to make sure the courts will give me everything I ask for.”

He slammed his fist on the top of his desk. “There will be no divorce! Your mother will talk sense into you on that point.”

“Don’t count on it,” she said mildly. “You see, I always worried too much about what Mama would say, but she’s not living this lie that is our marriage. I am.” She held his gaze. “And I’m done with the way things are.”

Before he could reply, she stood up and walked out. Only after she reached her car did she realize how badly she was shaking. But for the first time in years she felt the first tiny shred of her self-respect returning.