Her husband was what?
Ruben ground his teeth in frustration. What had she been about to tell him before the girls came back?
It was his own fault for bringing up the subject during a time when he knew they would only have limited opportunity to talk. What choice did he have, though, but to steal time when he found it? After the night before, she had been more than clear that she wasn’t going to allow many private chats between them.
He felt as if he knew even less than he had before. All he had was a name, Tommy—and what the hell kind of grown man used a name like that, instead of Tom or Thomas?
He pushed his frustration aside for now. Maybe he would have an opportunity to suss out more information later.
“How did you do?” he asked Silver and Mia.
“That was the most fun ever!” Mia exclaimed.
“Did they see you?”
“Nope. Silver had me wait at the hiding place behind the bushes, then she went up and rang the doorbell, and ran so fast back to me. You should have seen how fast she ran!”
“That’s great,” Ruben said. “Good job.”
“What did we give them?” Silver asked. “I forgot to ask you.”
Ruben had to think back to the present his mother had showed him. “I think it was a CD of classic Christmas music to set the mood.”
“Who even has CD players anymore?” Silver asked.
“I hope they do or they won’t have any way of listening to it.”
“Can I do it again tomorrow?” Mia asked.
“Well, here’s the thing. Tomorrow night’s going to be a busy time in Haven Point. It’s the boat parade, if you’ll remember, so I was thinking I would take care of tomorrow’s delivery. Maybe I’ll run over late tonight and leave it on their porch without ringing the bell so they find it first thing tomorrow morning when they go to get the newspaper.”
“Who even gets a newspaper anymore?” Silver asked.
“You’re killing me here,” he said, which earned him only a grin in return.
She was, he thought as he started up the pickup and pulled away from the curb. When he wasn’t looking, all of the Capelli females seemed to have wormed their way under his skin.
Silver was funny and smart, with a compassionate heart underneath all her brashness. Mia was completely adorable, with a joy for life and a generosity of spirit that he found completely irresistible.
And Dani.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her. She haunted his dreams and his days. He looked forward to every moment he spent with her.
Yeah, he was falling hard for the woman and she was doing her very best to keep him at arm’s length.
“I might do the same thing late Saturday night for Sunday’s delivery, then we can get back to normal for Monday night. What do you think?”
“I guess,” Mia said, disappointment threading through her voice. “I wanted to take their present to the door and ring the bell one time.”
“We can see about that next week, okay? Anyway, you’ll be having too much fun tomorrow at the boat parade to miss it too much. You’re going, right? Trust me, this is something you don’t want to miss.”
“We’re going, right, Mama? I want to see all the boats.”
“I imagine we’ll stop by at some point.”
Dani had been subdued since she had told him the first name of the girls’ father. Was what had happened to her marriage so very painful for her that she grieved at the mere mention of the man?
Ruben glanced across the cab as he pulled into their driveway. He took a chance, though he had a feeling she wouldn’t be happy with him. What was the difference? She was already doing her best to push him away.
“Here’s a crazy idea. Do you guys want to be in the parade?”
“In the parade?” Mia exclaimed in an awed voice, as if he had just asked her if she wanted to move permanently into Cinderella’s Castle at Disneyland. “Yes!”
“One problem,” Silver pointed out. “We don’t have a boat.”
“Problem solved, then. I have one, as you may recall. A big one, with room for at least fifteen people. I’m signed up for the big parade. My nephews are helping me decorate The Wonder tomorrow and they’ll be riding along as well as my brothers and possibly my mom and dad. There’s plenty of room, if you’d like to join us.”
Dani stared at him and Ruben met her gaze steadily. This was the sort of thing friends and neighbors did with one another. They hung out and went on boat rides and had fun together.
She opened her mouth to respond. He could tell before any words even came out that she was going to come up with an excuse. Before she could, Silver piped up.
“I wouldn’t mind being in the parade,” her daughter said in a deceptively casual tone. Dani shifted her stare to her daughter, her mouth sagging a little more.
“Great. That’s two of you,” Ruben said cheerfully. “Dani, I guess it’s up to you. What do you say?”
It really wasn’t fair to gang up on her but he figured it was for a good cause. The girls would have fun participating in the boat parade and he would enjoy the chance to spend more time with them. Maybe he might even have the chance to find out a little more about this mysterious Tommy and the reason Dani looked so troubled when she spoke of him.
“Why would anybody want to take a boat ride in December with five inches of snow on the ground?” she asked.
“I have a good heater on the boat, with a cover that keeps out the elements. Plus, if it gets too cold, you can go down into the cabin, which is always toasty.”
“Please, Mama? Please!” Mia begged.
“It really does sound fun.” Silver added her voice.
Dani gazed at her girls in the back seat then sent him a sidelong look that told him she wasn’t particularly pleased with him right now for dangling this possibility in front of her daughters before speaking with her about it.
“I don’t know how I can say no. Even though I still think you’re all crazy to want to be out on the water this time of year.”
Anticipation curled through him, rich and delicious. “Great. Just make sure you bundle up. I owe you some hot cocoa so I’ll make sure I have plenty on hand.”
It was a deliberate reminder of their kiss the night before and he was rewarded by her delectable mouth tightening.
“What about churros?” Mia asked hopefully.
Ruben laughed. “I can’t promise that, but I’ll see what I can do about providing some kind of warm treat. The parade goes from the marina in Haven Point up to Shelter Springs. I’m going to shuttle my pickup and boat trailer up there with Javi so we won’t have to ride the boat back. I can drive you home afterward.”
“This is the best Christmas ever,” Mia exclaimed. “I can’t wait!”
“I hope you enjoy it,” Ruben said.
And I hope your mother can find some way to forgive me for roping you all into it.
Despite Dani’s promise, Ruben wasn’t sure she and her daughters would show up.
The next night as the sun began to slide behind the Redemption mountain range, he moved around his boat, checking that all was in order before the parade.
“Maybe they’re not coming,” his brother Javier said.
“Maybe not.” He tried not to show his disappointment. He assumed Dani would at least call to tell him she wasn’t coming, but maybe she got tied up with a weekend emergency at the clinic.
“The first boats are going to be taking off soon,” Javi said. “How much longer do you want to wait?”
“A few more minutes. We still have to wait for Mom and Dad anyway.”
He checked his watch and the dock where he had told Dani to meet him. Maybe she had decided her girls were better off watching from the shore at their first Lights on the Lake Festival. He couldn’t blame her for that.
Suddenly he spied three figures racing toward them and the tension in his shoulders instantly released.
“There they are,” he told Javi.
“We’re coming,” Silver called. “Don’t leave yet.”
Ruben couldn’t hide his grin as the three of them hurried down the dock.
“Careful,” he called. “Grab the rope railing. It’s icy in spots.”
Dani reached a hand down to grab Mia’s hand and said something to Silver, who used the rope as well to make her way to the boat.
“Sorry we’re late,” Dani said, rather breathlessly. “Traffic was crazy and then I couldn’t find a place to park.”
“No problem. I should have warned you. Actually I should have had you ride with my mom and dad so you didn’t have to park. Sorry I didn’t think about it.”
“We’re here now. That’s the important thing.”
It was. While he was thrilled his family was coming along on this inaugural parade entry for The Wonder, he was aware of a deep joy that Dani and her girls were here, too.
Javi helped them aboard.
“Oh,” Mia exclaimed, clapping her mittened hands together. “Your boat looks so pretty.”
“Thanks. I had help from Esme, Zach and Andy. They’re all hanging out below deck where the food is, if you want to join them,” he said to Silver.
She seemed to blush, confirming his suspicion that she had a little crush on his nephew Zach. “Okay. I’ll do that.”
He gestured to the stairs that went down to the tiny cabin below deck. The space was barely big enough for a small galley, a table with two bench seats that folded down to a bed, a little closet-sized toilet room and a berth the size of a double bed.
The Wonder was a wild extravagance, but he figured his brothers could take it out with their families if they wanted. His father might even get in on the fun, once he was officially retired.
His family lived on a huge lake. It seemed only natural to have something more substantial than a few kayaks, paddleboards and his dad’s small fishing boat. His nephews couldn’t wait for him to take them out on overnight fishing trips.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked Dani now.
“You should know I’m not a fan of boats.”
“We’ll be fine. I have life jackets for everybody. We’ll be cruising just offshore so the parade watchers can see our lights and we’ll be going slowly.”
Another boat went past them, causing his to sway a little in the water, and Dani wobbled slightly. He caught her before she could fall. Heat kindled between them, even through her layers, and it was all he could do not to pull her into his arms.
Too bad they had an audience consisting of most of his close family members and hers.
“Your boat does look very nice. This must have taken some time.” She took in the colored lights that outlined every angle and curve of the boat.
“Everybody came over early and helped me with the lights. Mateo is the one who insisted we bring along his light-up inflatable penguins.”
“They’re the perfect touch,” she assured him. If he wasn’t mistaken, that might almost be a smile he saw dancing there around her mouth. It made him want to kiss her again.
This was going to be a long boat ride if he had to spend the whole time keeping a tight rein on his impulses.
“I hope we all don’t feel like we’re in the North Pole, out on the water.”
“Don’t worry. Everything’s warm below deck and inside the enclosure.”
“Where do you want us?”
He had a feeling she wouldn’t want to know the answer to that. “Let’s grab you some life jackets, then you can choose where you want to sit. Wherever you’re comfortable. We’re only waiting for my parents.”
“They’re on the way,” Javi said a moment later as Ruben was finding two life jackets in the right sizes that would fit over their outerwear. “Dad texted and said they were on their way from the parking lot. And here they are now.”
Ruben saw his mother and father heading down the dock and had to sigh. Despite his repeated assurances to them that they needed to bring only themselves, his mother was carrying two large grocery bags in one hand and his father had a cooler. Ruben climbed down to help them onto the boat.
“Grab a seat, everybody,” he said once they were on board, before taking his spot at the controls.
“Can I sit by you?” Mia asked. Without waiting for an answer, she plopped onto the seat next to his. “Mama, sit by me.”
Dani looked at the other available seating some distance away, then back at her daughter. With an almost audible sigh, she took a seat just on the other side of Mia.
Ruben didn’t miss the way his mother did a double take when she spotted Dani and Mia sitting by him.
“Hello, Dr. Capelli. Miss Mia. How fun that you’re joining us!”
“Darling Dani. Hello,” his dad said. “I do hope there’s no animal emergency in Haven Point, with both veterinarians on board for the next few hours.”
Dani looked stricken. “Oh. I didn’t even think of that. Maybe I should get off.”
“I was only joking,” his father said. “You are not getting off, young lady. The animals will be fine. We have good techs. I’m not sure which one is on call tonight, but I’m sure whoever it is can handle things so you can enjoy yourself tonight. If there’s an emergency, they can always call the vets in Shelter Springs.”
“Have you eaten?” Ruben’s mother asked. “I’ve got all kinds of snacks. Popcorn, licorice, sugar cookies.”
“I love sugar cookies,” Mia said, with no attempt at subtlety whatsoever. “They’re my favorite.”
“Then you better grab the first one. Here you go, sweetie.” Myra reached into one of her bags and pulled out a container. She opened it and passed it around.
Ruben reached for a cookie just as his radio went off with instructions for the parade.
“It’s showtime,” he said. “Everybody ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Dani muttered.
He gave her a reassuring smile and started up The Wonder.
Her girls were having the time of their lives.
Mia hadn’t moved from Ruben’s side all evening. Every once in a while he would let her take the steering wheel or helm or whatever it was called on a boat of this size. She would grin at her mother and then wave exuberantly at the parade watchers along the shoreline.
When Dani had checked on Silver and Ruben’s niece and nephews, she found them all laughing hysterically while they played card games below deck. They weren’t really getting into the spirit of the holiday event down there, but she supposed that didn’t really matter. They were socializing in their own way. Silver was enjoying herself and actually having fun. Dani couldn’t ask for anything more.
“This is wonderful, isn’t it?” Myra said, pitching her voice loud enough to be heard over the low rumble of the boat.
“It really is.”
“Can I let you in on a secret?”
“Um, sure.”
“I’ve always wanted to ride on one of the boats during the light parade. For years, we’ve watched from the shore and it’s been great fun to see all the decorations the boat owners put into the parade, but I secretly wanted to be out here on the water. I have a sneaking suspicion that might be one of the reasons Ruben bought this thing. There’s a chance I may have mentioned it to him last Christmas.”
A soft warmth unfurled inside her. “That’s very sweet.”
“He has always been a wonderful son. One day, he’s going to make some lucky woman very, very happy.”
Myra gave her a meaningful sort of smile and any warmth inside her seemed to crystallize and shatter. That lucky woman would not be Dani. It couldn’t be. His mother had to see that, didn’t she? Why on earth would she ever think Ruben might be interested in Dani—a divorced woman with two children, who was barely holding her life together?
His mother seemed to be waiting for her to answer. Dani shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sure that’s true. He’s a very kind man.”
“He’s wonderful with children, too.”
She looked over to where Ruben was showing Mia something on the control panels of the boat. She caught her breath, more charmed than she wanted to admit by the sight of the two of them together, Ruben, tough and masculine, Mia so sweetly joyful.
Oh, she wanted something like this for her daughters. A man to care for them, watch over them, love them.
Her chest ached. How could she take that chance again, with her lousy track record?
“There’s only one problem with riding in the parade,” Myra said, interrupting her thoughts.
“What’s that?”
“Now I can’t decide whether it’s more fun to be in the parade or to watch the parade.”
“Maybe you can alternate,” she suggested.
“Great idea. Next year, you and I can sit on the shore and wave to all the boats as they pass by.”
Dani loved the idea of being there a year from now, after so many years of feeling as if her life was on hold. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to throw down roots, to adopt some of these traditions for her own family? Maybe she would start a Secret Santa project for her girls next year, drawing upon the experience they were gaining this year through helping Ruben.
Where would they be a year from now? If they were still in Haven Point, she couldn’t imagine they would be riding on The Wonder again. The thought filled her with an odd sort of loss. She shook it off, annoyed with herself. Even if Ruben never invited her out on his boat again, she and her girls were here now.
How ridiculous, to squander this—the people, the food, the magic of the season—because she was worrying about some nebulous future. She wouldn’t do it, she decided. At least not tonight.
When they arrived in Shelter Springs, the scene at the marina was noisy and chaotic, with boats queuing up to be loaded onto trailers at the ramp or floating up to the docks to let out their passengers.
“It might have been faster just to take The Wonder back to Haven Point on the water,” Frank said.
“I should have realized the backup we would face here,” Ruben said. He gave Dani an apologetic look. “This might take a while. I’m sorry. I can let you off and you can ride back to Haven Point with my parents. They shuttled my mom’s SUV here earlier.”
“You can’t load the boat onto the trailer by yourself,” Frank reminded him.
“No, but Javi is here. He and I can do it together.”
“That’s a good plan. We can let everybody off and they can drive down to the festival while we take care of the boat.” Ruben’s normally quiet brother Javier spoke up. He had said little on the boat ride. The man was obviously going through something rough.
“Mama, can we go to the festival?” Mia said.
She should have thought this through better. Her car was parked at the marina in Haven Point, as Ruben had said he could give them a ride back to town after the parade. “I’m not sure if we’ll be able to, by the time we’re done helping Ruben with the boat. We’ll see. If not, we’ll make it next year.”
“If you trust us to keep an eye on them, we could take your girls with us,” Myra suggested.
Mia clapped her hands to show her approval of that idea and Dani didn’t miss the way Silver nudged Esme with a grin and looked under her eyelashes at Zach.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” Myra said. “We will love having them along with us. I only wish we had room to take you along, Dani, but we only have seat belts for seven in my SUV. I do hate for you to miss your first Lights on the Lake Festival.”
“We still might make it in time,” Ruben said. “Depends how long it takes to put out and drop the boat off at my place.”
“Looks like there’s a dock there where boats can let off their passengers. The queue is shorter there,” his father suggested.
A few moments later, Ruben motored next to the dock and Javi jumped out to tie the boat and lend a hand while the passengers climbed out.
Dani’s girls didn’t seem too concerned about leaving her behind, too excited at the fun ahead of them. “Bye, Mama,” Mia said.
“You have to promise me you’ll behave yourselves and stick with Dr. and Mrs. Morales.”
“I will and Silver will, too, won’t you?”
“Sure thing,” Silver said.
Her older daughter seemed actually...happy. Happier, at least, than she had been since they came to town. A tight band around Dani’s heart seemed to ease a little and she smiled at Silver.
“Keep an eye on your sister, okay? Here’s some spending money, if you need it.”
“Thanks.” Silver shoved the twenty she gave her into her pocket then bounded off the boat.
“They’ll be just fine. I promise, we won’t let either of them out of our sight. You have my number, right?” Myra asked.
“Yes. I have yours and Dr. Morales’s, plus Silver’s.”
“If you make it to the festival before it closes, call and we’ll let you know where we are. If not, we can drop the girls off at your house or they can wait at our house, whichever you prefer.”
She waved them off, then settled back on the boat.
Javi was going to climb back on, then pointed to the lineup of boats still waiting for the ramp. “That’s a good hour of waiting in the water. You could make it back to the marina in Haven Point in about half that. Want me to drive your truck and trailer back and meet you there?”
Ruben turned to Dani. “We’ll let you decide. Are you tired of the water or can you handle another half hour in The Wonder back to Haven Point? It will be faster now that the parade is done and there’s not so much traffic on the water.”
“I’m game for a return trip. Sounds like that would be the easier course. My car is at the marina in Haven Point anyway.”
“Good plan. I guess we’ll let you out here, then, Javi.”
His brother hopped onto the dock, untied the rigging and tossed it back onto the boat. “I’ll see you back in Haven Point, then.”
Ruben waved, maneuvered the boat away from the dock then slowly made his way around the other boats in the marina and out to the open water of the big lake.
The moment they were clear of everyone, Dani suddenly realized just what she had signed up for. Thirty minutes alone with Ruben on a romantic moonlight ride on his boat.
Heaven help her.
“The parade was fun, but I have to admit, I like this better.”
The boat seemed much quieter now as Ruben motored steadily back to town. There was an intimacy under the moonlight. A few other boaters had opted to make the return trip so they weren’t alone on the water, but they all seemed to keep their distance.
“Are you warm enough?” he asked her. She had moved up to sit beside him, much to his delight.
“I’m fine. You were right, it’s cozy here with this all-weather cover.”
“That was one of the selling points. When you live on a mountain lake, you’ve got a short boating season. Having a cover extends that, at least by a few months.”
In the glow from the boat instruments, her features were a blur. What was she thinking? Did she think he had somehow arranged all of this to be alone with her? He hoped not—although he had to admit, he might have, if he’d been that smart.
“The girls seemed to have fun tonight. I think I even saw Silver laugh a time or two.”
“Don’t say anything,” she said, “but I think my daughter has a crush on your nephew.”
He smiled, remembering those innocent, uncomplicated days when liking a girl meant holding her hand between classes and maybe slipping notes into her locker.
“Zach is a good kid. Don’t worry. Even if he likes her, too—which I think he does—he’ll be respectful.”
“Your family is pretty hard to resist.”
“Then why keep trying so hard? They like you, too. As much as you let anybody like you, anyway.”
She gave him a long look. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Now he’d done it. Opened his mouth, when he meant to simply enjoy the ride with her. “Never mind. Forget it.”
“No. I’d like to know.”
He sighed. “Only that you seem to go out of your way to keep people at a careful distance, almost as if you’re afraid to let anybody get too close. My family. The women of the Haven Point Helping Hands. Andie told me they’ve invited you to join them, but you’re really good at making excuses. I just wonder why you’re trying so hard.”
She gripped her hands tightly together in her lap. “I didn’t grow up in a nice, safe place like Haven Point, where they have light parades to celebrate the holidays and everybody knows everybody else.”
“I know. You grew up in Queens. But there are good people everywhere. Surely you had plenty of nice people around you there. Teachers. Neighbors. Friends. Your own family.”
Her hands curled in her lap and she gazed out at the boat lights cutting through the water. “I’m not like you, Ruben, with a wonderful, warm, loving family that gets together on Sundays and spends holidays together and does nice things for neighbors, just for the fun of it. That’s a completely foreign way of life to me. I’m...struggling to adjust.”
“What was your childhood like, then?”
She looked out at the moonlight slicing across the cold lake. “Not pretty. I went into the foster care system when I was eight years old and stayed there until I got pregnant with Silver at seventeen, mostly to escape.”
That explained so many things about her. Ruben’s heart ached and he fought the urge to turn off the motor, float there in the water and just hold her, as she had done for him only a few nights earlier.
“What happened to your parents?”
“My father walked out when I was two. I have no idea where he went or why and to be honest, I don’t care. He lost the right to be considered any kind of father a long time ago. Mom tried her best to keep things together until she got sick. Hepatitis C. It hit her hard and she died before she could get a liver transplant.”
“I’m so sorry,” he murmured.
“One day she wasn’t at the apartment when I came home from school and a neighbor told me she collapsed on the stoop and was taken away in an ambulance. Social services came right after that and a cold stick of a woman told me my mother, my only remaining parent, had died. She told me to gather a few things I cared about so she and a police officer could take me to a new house.”
His throat ached and he finally couldn’t resist following up on his earlier impulse. He reached out a hand and pulled her closer to him. He thought she might yank away but after one frozen moment, she stayed there, cradled under one arm while he maneuvered The Wonder through the dark waves with the other.
“Was it...rough? Foster care, I mean.” He had to ask.
“There was no physical or sexual abuse, if that’s what you’re wondering. I know that can happen but I suppose I was luckier than some. I had a few close calls in the latter area but I knew enough to sleep with a kitchen knife close by and nobody tried anything twice.”
His hand tightened on the wheel as a mental picture emerged of her, slim and dark and pretty, sleeping with a kitchen knife. He hated even thinking about it.
“Some of it was good. I spent three years with a wonderful woman who loved the foster children she cared for, until she became too frail to continue.”
“It’s good you had that, at least.”
“It’s tough on a kid, always knowing every situation is temporary. Wondering when the call would come and you’d have to grab your garbage bag of belongings and head to the next temporary place. With every new family, I would vow that I wouldn’t cause trouble, but somehow it never quite worked out.”
“Oh, Dani. I’m so sorry.”
This glimpse into her past was both heartbreaking and illuminating. So many things about her made more sense now. She had a hard time making connections because deep down in her psyche some part of her was in a constant state of worry that they would be yanked away.
She had trusted him enough to tell him this part of her past, something he didn’t think she shared very easily.
“You said you got pregnant with Silver at seventeen, mostly to escape.”
Her shoulders tensed beneath his arm and she slipped away from him. Cool air rushed in to take her place.
“I was...looking for a happy ending. The safety and security I lost when I was eight.”
“I take it you didn’t find it.”
She laughed, a sound without amusement. “You could say that. I might as well spill all my secrets. You want the ugly truth about me, Ruben. Fine. Here you go. I married an ex-convict.”
He glanced over, sensing that wasn’t the worst of what she wanted to tell him.
“Did you?” he said mildly.
“Tommy had served six months in jail for grand theft when we married. I knew that. He told me it was a misunderstanding, that he had made a mistake and trusted the wrong people, and I believed him. Mostly because I needed to believe him.”
He had seen that in the loved ones of people who ran into trouble with the law. They convinced themselves all the evidence was wrong, that their loved one had a bad rap and the system was rigged against them.
Ruben knew there were cases where innocent people were convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. They were the outliers, though. As a law enforcement officer, he wanted to believe that the system usually worked the way it was supposed to and those who committed crimes ended up right where they belonged.
“Tommy and I had two good years after Silver was born. I thought he had put the past behind him. He had a steady job as a mechanic and we were happy, I thought—until the day he was arrested along with three of his friends for organizing a luxury auto theft ring and chop shop in Jersey. Two members of the crew made the mistake of carjacking a Mercedes belonging to the wife of a federal judge, so this time Tommy was sent upstate. He wasn’t actually part of the carjacking but because this was his second arrest as an adult after numerous juvenile offenses and because he was considered the leader of the enterprise, the one calling the shots, he was sentenced to five to ten years.”
Not a small chunk. The charges must have been serious. “That’s a stiff sentence.”
“I tried to tell myself we could still make things work. That he would change and be the sweet man I knew when he got out again. I stayed married to him. I wrote to him every week while I was struggling to survive as a mom on my own, desperately trying to hang on to my scholarship and stay in college. Every Sunday, I would pack up Silver and we would take the train upstate to visit him.”
He could picture her, defiantly resilient, trying to make the best of things. His heart ached for all the things she didn’t say, the sacrifices she must have had to make and the loneliness she must have endured.
“He served four years. When he got out, I thought things would finally be different. That’s what he promised me, over and over. He had vocational training as an electrician in prison and was going to make a new start.”
“But he didn’t?”
“You probably know how hard it is for felons on the outside. I think he tried for a while, but...something had changed in him. Or maybe I had changed during that time on my own. I don’t know. Six months after he got out, I discovered he was hanging with his old crew, staying out late, being evasive about where he’d been. I kicked him out. I filed for divorce and left New York for Boston and vet school. Two months later, I found out I was pregnant with Mia, but by then Tommy was in trouble again and had been found in violation of his parole.”
“He went back to prison?”
“For four more years.” She was quiet. “He came to visit the girls once when he got out and I barely recognized him from the man I had once loved.”
“That must have been tough, being on your own with two little girls while going through graduate school.”
“Somehow the girls and I survived. During my second year of school, I started corresponding with your father and eventually he offered me this internship when I finished, with the potential to purchase his practice if I liked it here, so we moved here right after graduation. This was my chance to give the girls the life I always dreamed about.”
“You’re doing exactly that.”
“I thought I was. But somehow the ghosts of our past mistakes never quite leave us alone, do they?”
He thought of his own mistakes on the job, the moments when he hadn’t been fast enough to react or had misjudged a situation or underestimated a suspect.
“They don’t. But life has a way of helping us eventually make our peace with them.”
“I hope so. But I’m not there yet.”
She was quiet. “I don’t want to tell you, but I think you need to know the rest of it.”
The rest of it? What more could there be? Judging by the way she twisted her hands in her lap and wouldn’t meet his gaze, it had to be something she considered terrible. On impulse, he turned the boat engine off, wanting to focus on her without the distraction of having to maneuver the boat. They floated there on the water, rocking gently on the waves.
Under other circumstances, he would have found it restful and beautiful there on a cold December night, being safe and dry here inside the shelter, but the tension shimmered between them.
“There. Go ahead. Now I can give you my full attention.”
“It’s bad, Ruben. So bad.”
“Tell me,” he urged. He reached out for her hand and after a startled moment, she entwined her fingers through his.
“After that last visit a few years ago, I severed contact with Tommy,” she said slowly. “I didn’t know where he was until I heard his name on the news three months ago.”
Three months ago. Right after she had come to Haven Point, around the time she began to shut herself off from participating in community events and started turning down invitations.
Her hand was trembling, he realized. All of her was trembling.
“Why was his name on the news?”
“You heard it, too, Ruben. Everyone in the country did. One lovely September afternoon, he walked into a bank in Brooklyn and pulled a gun on the tellers. He ended up killing a guard and two police officers in a shoot-out as he tried to escape, before he was eventually gunned down.”
Ruben’s gut clenched. He remembered that case, though it happened across the country. Every member of law enforcement grieved when any of their own died in the line of duty and these deaths had seemed particularly senseless.
“Tommy DeLuca,” he said.
“That’s right. My ex-husband—the father of my beautiful girls—is Tommy DeLuca.”