Angel Unaware (19 page)

While she searched for the chain, Tony looked around the store, noting a large display of collectible mouse figurines. He browsed the display and in the middle found one figurine of a little brown mouse making snow angels. Recalling Penny’s delight with Dora’s snow angel production, Tony grinned, picked it up, and carried it to the cashier.

The saleswoman returned with the chain, and he told her he’d take the figurine, as well. The gifts, the necklace for Dora and the snow angel mouse for Penny, were perfect.

The day had marked a turning point in his relationship with Penny. Although it was far from ideal, he felt closer to the little girl who had become such a large part of his life.

As for Dora … It marked the day when he realized just how important she’d become to him and how deeply ingrained she was in his day-to-day existence.

When she saw Tony come home laden with packages, Dora felt better about why he’d rushed from the house. It was a relief to know she hadn’t been the cause. He really had gone shopping. Penny had unknowingly planted a fantasy in her mind, and her own tortured imagination had allowed the entire, innocent event to grow way out of proportion.

After Tony reappeared downstairs and asked where to find ribbon, tags, and wrapping paper, and she had given them to him, he’d vanished upstairs again Dora assumed it was to wrap his purchases. Feeling much better about everything, she started dinner.

An hour and a half later, all three of them were gathered around the table devouring roast chicken breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli.

“So how’s that essay coming?” Tony asked, taking his second helping of everything.

This kind of dinner chatter was what Dora had loved to see in the Earth Pool. Families catching up on each others’ lives. It pleased her that they had finally reached this plateau.

Penny smiled at him. “Great! I’m almost done, and I think I’m gonna win.”

“Well, there’re a lot of other kids in the contest, so don’t pin your hopes on coming in first. Not everyone can win.”

Tony’s caution set off alarm bells in Dora’s head.

She glanced at Penny. The bright smile had melted off the child’s lips.

Tony forked potatoes dripping in gravy into his mouth, totally unaware of how his comment had affected his niece.

“That doesn’t mean what you wrote isn’t good, sweetie, or that you won’t win,” Dora qualified quickly. “Your Uncle Tony just doesn’t want to see you disappointed if someone else happens to be chosen.”

Penny seemed somewhat mollified. But the genuine smile did not return to her lips.

Dora sent Tony a glance that said,
You’d better fix this
.

Laying aside his fork, he frowned and cleared his throat. “Honey, I didn’t mean Dora and I don’t believe that you’ll win. I know your essay is going to be fabulous.” He grinned. “How can it not be? You’re a very smart little girl.”

This time the smile came back full force. “You really think so, Uncle Tony?”

“Absolutely. Not a doubt in my mind. Now, you’d better finish your supper. I’ve got my eye on that apple pie over there on the counter for dessert, and if I get to it first, there may not be any left for you.” He winked at her.

Penny dove into her food with renewed gusto.

Dora had to hold back her grin. This was the first time she’d ever seen Tony so relaxed and playful with Penny. He hadn’t even been this at ease with his niece when they’d built the snowman. And the child was soaking it up like a big sponge. In fact, when Dora thought back over the day, she could see some definite cracks in the emotional barrier Tony had set up to hold out the world. With any luck, there was a light at the end of the tunnel she’d begun to believe was never going to be seen.

“I’m done,” Penny announced and held up her cleaned plate. “You better hurry up, Uncle Tony, or I’ll eat all the pie.”

As Dora took her and Penny’s plates to the sink, Tony wolfed down the remainder of his chicken and potatoes. “Done,” he declared.

He scooted away from the table, deposited his dirty plate on top of theirs, then grabbed pie plates, forks, and the pie knife from Dora and carried them to the table. He was just going back to get the pie when the front doorbell rang.

Damn
, he thought. He was really enjoying his time with Dora and Penny and resented the interruption. “I’ll get it,” he said and hurried down the hall as the doorbell chimed again. “Coming,” he called.

When he reached the door, he grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open. All the air sucked from his lungs. He could do nothing but stare. Something sour and unrecognizable churned in the pit of his stomach.

“You must be Tony,” the attractive, willowy brunette said and extended her hand. “I’m Matt’s sister, Penny’s Aunt Lisa.”

CHAPTER 14

Lisa Steven’s confirmation of who she was did nothing to alleviate Tony’s distaste for the woman who had caused his brother-in-law’s family so much heartache.

“Yes, I’m Tony,” he finally said.

Lisa pulled her expensive-looking, caramel-colored, knee-length coat tightly around her slender form. “May I come in?”

Tony looked the woman over. In her designer clothes and salon hairdo, she didn’t look anything like the drug-addicted relative who had been described to him by Rosalie years ago. However, the dark circles around her eyes that makeup couldn’t completely hide, the signs of premature aging in a face that should have been fresh and youthful, and the unhealthy pallor of her skin gave away the indulgences of her former life.

An unflattering phrase he’d heard some of the construction workers use,
Rode hard and put away wet
, came to mind.

Without a word, he moved to the side to allow her entry. When he’d closed the door and turned to follow Lisa, he realized that Dora and Penny were watching them from down the hall. Right behind Dora, Penny peered shyly at their visitor while she clung tenaciously to Dora’s leg.

Lisa offered him a smile. He did not return it. The smile vanished.

Then she caught sight of Dora and Penny, and once more her face creased in a broad smile. “You must be Penny,” she said. She took a step toward the little girl.

Penny shrank back and clung even harder to Dora’s leg. “Say hello to your aunt,” Dora encouraged.

“Hello,” Penny mumbled, much like she had the day she’d first met Dora.

“Dora, while Lisa and I talk in the living room, why don’t you take Penny in the kitchen and let her have dessert?” Tony said. Then he smiled gently at his niece. “You better save some of that pie for me.”

Dora nodded and guided Penny back through the kitchen door. In the kitchen Dora tried not to show the child her apprehension. She’d known in her gut who the woman was even before she’d told them. Right now, she had a lot of different feelings churning inside her, and none of them were good.

Casting Penny a sidelong glance, Dora cut a piece of pie for her and carried it to the table. All the joy Penny had exhibited before Lisa’s arrival had drained away. Once more, she’d reverted to the quiet, stoic child Dora had met what seemed like months ago, but had really only been weeks.

The angels had often said that children have a second sight, an inner instinct about people that adults left behind with their childhood. Had Penny picked up on the negative vibes coming from her aunt?

Once they were gone, Tony turned back to Lisa. “In here.” He pointed toward the big room at the front of the house where he’d first interviewed Dora and where Penny’s pitiful Christmas tree stood forlornly in the bay windows that overlooked the street.

Lisa walked ahead of him into the living room and took a seat on the sofa. He didn’t offer to take her coat. If he had his way, her visit would be brief. Instead, he sat in the wingback chair across from her.

Wasting no time on pleasantries, he got right to the point. “What do you want?

A saccharin smile curved her full lips. “Can’t I come to see my niece?”

This sudden surge of concern for Penny wasn’t fooling Tony for a second. “That was never one of your high priorities before. Why now?”

She leaned back, crossed her legs, adjusted her skirt over her knee, and cleared her throat. “Up until the last two years, my life has not been one … Well, let’s just say I was otherwise occupied. I’ve changed a lot from the girl I once was, and I regret hurting my family. Now I want to get to know Penny better.”

Tony sat straighter, his blood on a slow simmer. “Who the hell are you trying to kid? You ignored your family because you were too busy partying and getting high with your druggie friends. In fact, you didn’t care enough to come to your own brother’s funeral. Now you expect me to believe you’re the salt of the earth. That you’ve suddenly had an epiphany that drove you to show up filled with love for a little girl who never laid eyes on you until a few minutes ago.”

“People do change, Tony.”

He made a disparaging sound and shook his head. “If memory serves, from what Matt and Rosalie told me, you needed more than a change. You needed a complete metamorphosis.”

Lisa’s face transformed before Tony’s eyes. The artificially friendly, but austere expression she’d exhibited since he opened the door turned to a venomous glare. “You can’t keep me from my niece. Just because I made some mistakes in the past doesn’t mean I don’t love her.”

A harsh laugh broke from Tony. He had serious doubts that Lisa had any conception of what the word
love
meant. “
Some
mistakes? Stealing a car? Getting busted for drugs and booze? Spending six months in a home for juvenile delinquents? Stealing from your own parents to finance your addictions? And those are only the things I know about. You call that
some mistakes
?” He laughed again, even more harshly. Then he added what he’d only been thinking. “Do you even know the meaning of the word
love
?”

Her face grim, Lisa sat up and leaned toward him, challenging him with her posture, if not her words. “That was a long time ago. I’ve been clean for over three years.”

The information only fueled Tony’s anger. Three years of sobriety didn’t prove anything. His foreman’s nephew had had a drug problem, and the doctors had told the kid’s parents that the relapse rate was 50 percent for heavy users. The chances of a brief relapse were even higher. Added to that was the fact that, if she were to be believed and he would have to stretch some to make that happen, she’d been drug-free for three years, and only now had decided to come see Penny?

“And what have you been doing for three years?”

“I’m married to a very wealthy Texas businessman. With his help, I was able to turn my life around.”

Don’t believe her
, his logical mind screamed.
These people have lying down to a fine art, and she’ d been very good at it for a very long time
.

He had no inclination to argue with her, so he refrained from voicing his opinion of her miraculous rehabilitation and sudden concern for her family. In fact, he didn’t even want to talk to her at all. What he did want was to have her out of the house as soon as possible.

“So you’re telling me you came all the way from Texas just to pay a Christmas visit to a child you never cared enough about to see before now? Do I have that right?”

She nodded. “But there’s no need to make it sound like that.”

“Tell me, Lisa, how should I make it sound? If you’ve been clean for all this time, why did it take you three years to acknowledge this little girl?”

Lisa compressed her lips into a straight line. She stood. “I’m not going to sit here and endure this Inquisition for another minute. I want to see Penny.”

“Penny’s finishing her supper, then she has to bathe and get ready for bed. She has school tomorrow.”

She took a step toward the door. “Surely I can see her for a moment.”

Tony grabbed her arm. When she looked down where his fingers encircled her flesh, he let go. “Let’s get this straight. Penny’s not up for grabs when the whim suits you, Lisa. You can’t just pop into her life. I can’t take the chance that you’ll see her this time, win her affections, and then disappear again. So the answer to your request is no.”

Did Lisa really believe he was going to take her at her word that she was straight now? That he would expose his niece to her if there was the faintest possibility that she wasn’t? He had no guarantee, other than her word, which had been questionable before, that she had given up drugs and booze.

“Then maybe I can see her tomorrow, after school?” He shook his head. “No. Penny is my responsibility now. I make all decisions concerning her well-being, and I don’t feel that seeing you is in her best interest.” He grasped her upper arm and gently urged the woman toward the front door.

Lisa yanked her arm from his grasp. “I have a right to see my niece. After all, I
am
her flesh and blood.”

“So am I, and her mother and father left her in my care. I am her legal guardian.” He leveled a no-nonsense look at her. “And unless I say so, you have no rights where Penny’s concerned.”