His Ordinary Life (20 page)

I love you, and I want you back.

The words vibrated in Del’s head, trying to steal his concentration. He rubbed a hand over the steering wheel, unable to keep a small grin off his face. Joy bubbled in his chest, trying, but not quite succeeding, to crowd out the worry. She loved him. Knowing that, he could handle anything else.

He swung into his mother’s driveway. Pecan trees shaded the long gravel path, a slight breeze sending a handful of loose leaves to the ground. Funny, but he never experienced a real sense of homecoming here, despite having grown up in the big brick house. Here he was always a visitor. Home was Barbara, their children, his everyday, ordinary life—the one Barbara was giving back to him.

The future opened before him, filled with bittersweet opportunities. This time of year, two years from now, they’d be watching Blake graduate high school, getting ready to send him off to college. He had those two years left. With his daughters, he had a little more time. For Barbara, he had forever.

He parked behind Tori’s little silver sports car. On the lawn stretching beyond the house to the pond, Chuck’s boys tumbled in a football game revolving around a set of ever-changing rules. He grinned. How often had he and Tick roundly stomped Will and Chuck in the same kind of contest?

Even Will’s memory didn’t prick and stab this afternoon. Instead a warm reminiscence wrapped around him as he took the side steps two at a time and entered the house. The zesty aromas of dill, cloves and garlic enveloped him, leading him to the large, bright kitchen. Sparkling jars of pickles cooled on wire racks; Tori, his mother and sister-in-law Deanne relaxed around the table with tall glasses of iced tea.

His mama’s eyes brightened at his appearance. She half-rose from her chair, but he waved her back and leaned over to kiss her. “Hey, Mama,” he murmured against her cheek, her skin thin as crepe paper beneath his lips. The soft rosy scent of her lotion tickled his nose and, coupled with her hugging his neck with maternal strength, made him feel like a boy again.

She pulled back, touching his face, her blue eyes soft. “How’s Blake?”

“He’s tired. Hurting a little.” And growing up too fast. He’d watched his son take a huge leap toward manhood earlier, struggling to do the right thing. His world still felt a little tilted, off its axis. Not too much longer, and the boy would be a man, wouldn’t need him at all.

Deanne moved to the counter and pulled a glass from the cabinet. “Do you want some tea?”

“That would be great.” Out of sheer brotherly spite, he ruffled the end of Tori’s ponytail. She swatted at his hand before elbowing him in the gut. “Where are the girls?”

Tori straightened her hair. “Down by the pond.”

Deanne handed him the glass and he smiled. “Thanks.”

Sipping the ultra-sweet brew, he moved to the window over the sink. The dock was empty, the pond stretching to the stand of pines on the border of his mother’s land. Afternoon sun sparkled off the rippled surface.

“I don’t see them.” Unease poked at his gut, but he forced himself to maintain a casual air. “I’m going to see if I can find them.”

He set the glass down, ice tinkling. When he opened the back door, his nephews were crowding up the steps and he waded through a sea of excited hugs. With the boys inside, silence descended on the yard, broken only by the occasional snatch of a birdsong.

His feet sank into the thick grass. The padded swing beneath the oak tree sat empty, as did the Adirondack chairs on the dock. Knots formed in his stomach. “Anna? Lys?”

In the warm air, his voice echoed back at him.

“Ki-yah!” The yell echoed from the pond bank, the part hidden by a long stretch of privet hedge. The knots loosened, but his heart still pounded an erratic thud against his ribs.

He rounded the bushes and found both girls on the grassy area above the water. On a flamingo-pink beach towel, Lyssa relaxed, eyes closed. He frowned. Barbara wouldn’t let her wear eyeliner, but permitted a string bikini that brief? And when had she developed hips and a bust? The world tilted a little further.

Clad in a tank top and board shorts, Anna moved through one of her karate forms. She smiled at him, throwing a perfect roundhouse. “Hey, Daddy.”

“Hey, Anna Nana.” He settled on the grass next to Lyssa, arms in a loose hold around his knees. Anna moved one arm to the side and performed a side kick, biting her lip in concentration.

Lyssa opened one eye to peer up at him. “Where’s Mama? Is Blake okay?”

“At the hospital. He’s fine. Does your mama know about that swimsuit?”

Eyes closed again, she giggled. “Yes, but I can only wear it at home, for laying out.”

That was good to know. Who had told him raising girls would be easier than boys? Whoever it was had been crazy, that was sure. “You know that’s bad for your skin. Causes skin cancer and wrinkles and everything.”

She tossed a bright orange bottle at him. “Sunscreen.”

He dropped it between them and lifted his gaze to watch Anna finish her form. She bowed, her face solemn, and dropped to the grass in front of him. Her bare toes wiggled, glittery blue nail polish winking in the sun.

A shy grin lifted the corners of her lips and she ducked her head, fingers tearing at the thick grass. “I’m glad you were with us last night.”

“Me, too.”

She brushed her hair back, the gesture reminiscent of Barbara and her constant bangs-smoothing. He smiled. Still playing with the grass, she darted a glance at him. “I had a bad dream last night. I was going to get into bed with Mama.”

His heart jerked, skidded to a stop. Oh, hell.

Lyssa levered up on an elbow. “Did you stay all night?”

And he’d thought having Tick see his hickey had been bad. He cleared his throat, his vocal cords refusing to work. “I…no. She was upset about the break-in, and I just…we were talking, and both of us fell asleep. I woke up a while later and went back to my room. You two were sleeping.”

A gleeful look passed between his daughters, and he sighed. Oh, yeah, he and Barbara were doing a brilliant job of keeping their new involvement to themselves. Maybe they should just take out a full-page ad in the
Daily Herald
. They couldn’t even keep a secret from their teenagers.

“So are you coming home?” Lyssa asked, her bluntness reminding him of Tori.

If he answered that question the wrong way, Barbara would kill him. He fixed both of them with the sternest look he could muster under the circumstances. “Your mama and I will talk to y’all when we’re ready. Okay?”

“Okay.” Lyssa nudged Anna’s knee and gave her an I-told-you-so look.

“Listen.” He leaned forward. “I need to ask you some questions.” They looked at him, their faces open and expectant. “Do either of you know a kid named Mason Monroe?”

Anna’s face closed, her shoulders hunched. His stomach dropped. She watched him, her eyes wary. “He’s one of Mama’s students. Why?”

“I mean outside of school, do you know him?”

Another look passed between the girls and Anna nodded. “Yes, sir. He was in my dojo. We took the advanced class together.”

“Was?”

She nodded again. “Sensei John kicked him out because of his attitude.”

He watched her, choosing his words with care. “You sound like you didn’t mind that.”

Her shoulders moved in a tiny, tight shrug. “I didn’t like him. He was always hanging around, wanting to talk to me, and he got mad when I beat him in sparring. Once, I was the last one out of the dressing room, and he was waiting for me. He pushed me against the wall and tried to…he tried to touch me.” She gestured at her torso. “I kicked him.”

Son of a bitch.
Fury curdled in his gut, a churning nausea moving into his throat. The little SOB had better hope Tick found him first, because when he got his hands on him, Del planned to take him apart piece by piece.

Aware she was watching him, he smothered the anger and kept his voice even. “Anna, did you tell anyone, baby? Mama or your sensei?”

Her head moved in a little negative shake. “After I kicked him, he called me an ugly name and I was going to yell for Sensei, but that’s when Mr. Brian came out of the boys’ dressing room, and he took him outside and talked to him. And Sensei kicked him out not long after that. He called the house once or twice, but I wouldn’t talk to him. Blake told him to leave me alone, and then Mason started going with Lisa Jones and he stopped calling.”

Sitting upright now, Lyssa shifted nearer to her sister. “Daddy, did Mason hurt Blake?”

Del nodded and Anna’s face crumpled. “Because of me?”

“No, baby, not because of you.” He reached for her, tugging her close. She huddled on his lap, sobs shaking her slight frame. Lyssa nudged closer, and he wrapped an arm around her, too, holding them as he’d done when they’d been small. He buried his face against Anna’s hair, the scent of strawberries and sunscreen mingling with sun-warmed grass and the pungent pond water. His eyes burned. “It’s not your fault.”

He stroked their smooth hair until Anna’s sobs lessened. He glanced down and found their hands entwined. A cramp attacked his leg, but he wouldn’t have moved for the world.

With his thumb, he caught a stray tear on Anna’s cheek. “Anna, you said Mr. Brian came out of the boys’ dressing room. Brian Rawlings?”

She nodded, sniffling. He shifted, taking his arm from around Lyssa to pull his handkerchief from his pocket and hand it to her. Lyssa moved to sit on her towel again, her gaze never leaving her twin. Anna blew her nose, her head brushing Del’s chin.

“Why was he there?”

Her damp eyes dark with confusion, she shrugged. “He takes the adult class after mine. He’s always around. Sometimes he’d come early and talk to Mama if she was there. Or he’d grade papers while he waited for his class to start.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear. “And Mason was seeing Lisa Jones? Is she related to Keimond Jones?”

“She’s his little sister,” Lyssa said. She tugged a white T-shirt over her head and looped her arms around her knees. “She’s
our
age and Mason’s a senior.” Her disgusted huff moved strands of her hair from her forehead. “He was only out for one thing, that’s for sure.”

“And that would be what?” Del lifted an eyebrow at her. And how did she know, anyway?

“Sex.” Lyssa rolled her eyes. “Daddy, we’re thirteen. Mama started talking to us about it when we were ten.”

Uneasy, he narrowed his eyes. “Just what did she tell you?”

“Other than the mechanical stuff we got in health?” Lyssa made a face, as if the idea was too gross to contemplate. “That we’d better wait until we were married, but if we didn’t, then we had to be careful. She said it was hard for y’all, being so young and all, and that people talked and she didn’t want that for any of us.”

His cheekbones burned and his throat ached. He couldn’t have asked for a better mother for his children. “All right, so Mason was seeing Keimond’s sister. Keimond have a problem with that?”

The girls glanced at each other and shrugged. “We don’t know,” Lyssa said, “but he doesn’t usually care what she does. Their mama works two jobs, and as long as Lisa isn’t in his way, Keimond’s okay.”

“Keimond works, too.” Anna shifted to sit on the grass and stretched her legs out before her. She took a deep, shuddery breath, her voice still hoarse from crying. “Ever since their daddy died. He does people’s yards and paints houses with his uncle.”

If there was more of a connection than Mason’s dating Keimond’s sister, Del didn’t see it. He looked between his daughters. “Either of you know Cassie Howard?”

“Not really.” Lyssa rested her chin on her knees. Behind her a duck squawked and lifted off from the pond. Little boy voices carried from the other side of the hedges. “Back when we were younger, she used to do gymnastics with me, but she dropped out a long time ago. Blake had a crush on her, but that was a couple years ago.”

“Mama taught her last semester.” Anna sifted a handful of shredded grass through her fingers. “She said Cassie was a real good writer, but Cassie hardly ever comes to school.”

Nothing. Maybe it was a good thing he hadn’t gone into fraud investigations. Obviously, he couldn’t put the puzzle pieces together. With a sigh, he rolled to his feet. “Come on. We’ve got to meet your mama at the hospital, and you two need to change.”

Lyssa gathered her things. “Are we going home tonight?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Are you staying with us?” Lyssa nudged her sister in the ribs.

He ruffled her hair. “Do you think I’m leaving you alone?”

They ran ahead of him, whispering and giggling, and he grinned. Oh, yeah, those two definitely had his and Barbara’s number. He might as well go to Atlanta and get their wedding rings out of the top drawer of his dresser.

Sunlight flashed off the windshield of an unmarked patrol car moving up the driveway. The white Crown Victoria came to a stop beside his SUV. Del stopped at the corner of the house, hands tucked in his pockets. The doors swung open and Tick stepped out of the passenger side. Mark Cook shifted out from behind the wheel.

Del glanced at the girls. They’d stopped on the lawn, oohing over the scraped knee of Chuck’s eldest. Del moved forward to meet his brother at the edge of their mother’s massive rose garden. “Did you find him?”