Temptation's Kiss (15 page)

T.K. ignored him. “Where is Mira!” he demanded of Aisha.

“She's with your mom,” Aisha said, cowering. She thought he was going to hit her.

T.K. didn't believe her. He looked in the taxi, backseat and front seat. “I'm not letting you out of my sight until I see her,” he told her. He dug in his pocket, got a fifty and gave it to the cab driver. “That'll cover it?”

“Yeah,” said the cab driver. “Can I have an autograph, too?”

“Don't press your luck,” said T.K. and dragged Aisha over to his car where he opened the passenger-side door, climbed in and dragged her inside the car with him. He shut the passenger-side door, locked the doors and then started the engine. A few moments later, he was at his parents' front door. He started to reach for Aisha again and she said, “You don't need to force me to come inside. I'll come.”

She did as she'd promised, and they went into the house where they found Rose and Alma standing in the foyer. Rose had Mira in her arms, and Alma was fawning over her.

Rose looked up and smiled when she saw T.K. “I was getting ready to phone you,” she told him, going to him and placing Mira in his arms.

At first, she hadn't noticed Aisha because she was hanging back, nervous about the reception she might get. T.K.'s behavior toward her hadn't lessened her fears.

When she saw the frightened girl, Rose went to her and pulled her into her arms for a firm hug. “Let me apologize,” she said. “It wasn't our intention to make you think we were going to take Mira away from you. We don't want that. A child should be with her mother.”

Aisha sobbed in her arms. When she was finally able to pull herself together, she looked down into the woman's eyes who might have been her mother-in-law if things had gone differently. She was a kind woman, the best of women, the sort who routinely made sacrifices for their families, who had genuine love for their families.
Aisha had never known that. She was done with deluding herself, though. She couldn't blame her present life on her upbringing. She had to start living her own life sometime, and that sometime was right here and now.

“Don't apologize to me,” she told Rose McKenna. “You were always good to me. I'm the one who should be apologizing. First of all, despite appearances, I really did love Malcolm, but I was so ignorant that I didn't know how to express that love or, really, how to accept it. I only learned to appreciate him after he was gone, and I'll always regret that. After he was gone, I kind of lost it. I was pregnant and had no way of supporting us. I felt desperate. That's why I behaved the way I did with T.K. I'm sorry for that. And I'm sorry for disappearing the way I did, but I
did
think you were going to take Mira away from me, and I felt helpless to defend myself. You can afford the best lawyers, and I don't even have a home to call my own. I panicked and went to stay with my mom for a few days, but she made it clear that we weren't welcome there. You were the only ones I knew who would make sure Mira got the care she needed. So I set her on the front stoop, rang the bell and ran.”

T.K. was listening to all of this while he held his niece and gazed lovingly into her sweet face. He walked over to Aisha and placed Mira in her arms. “From this point on, you're a part of the family. That's what I should have told you from the beginning when I asked you to come live here, but I had my own demons to wrestle with.” He didn't elaborate. He looked her in the eyes.
“Malcolm would want both you and Mira to be taken care of. Whatever hell you've been through, it's over now. You're home.”

Aisha cried anew and kissed her daughter's forehead. “I'm going to be a good mother. You'll see.”

“You're already a good mother,” T.K. said simply. “Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I have to go somewhere.”

 

Patrice had started running more, sometimes twice a day. She would split up the distance, running two miles in the morning and two in the evening. She had completed her evening run and had walked the last few blocks home when she saw T.K. standing on her porch. She was taking her pulse rate as she walked, and when she saw him, it sped up. She stopped at the gate and looked at him. “I hope you have good news.”

He smiled, and she knew that he did. “Mira and Aisha are safe. She brought her back a few minutes ago.”

She closed the distance between them, strolling up the brick walkway that led to the porch and joined him on it. “Then why aren't you at home?” she asked.

T.K. was so full of emotion that he was afraid that if he uttered one more word he would start crying like a baby. He didn't want her to see him that way. He'd missed her so much that it took every ounce of willpower he had not to grab her and kiss her breathless.

She put a hand on his strong forearm and felt the
coiled power within him, the pent up longing. “Why aren't you with your family?” she asked again.

“I am,” he said.

Patrice laughed softly. Relief flooded her body, and with it came tears. She went into his arms. T.K. clung to her tightly, and she felt his body shudder as if he hadn't been certain she would forgive him. She peered into his eyes and said, “I love you so much,” and then she kissed him.

When they raised their heads to look into each other's eyes, T.K. said, “I was so full of guilt for not being there for Malcolm the night he got into that car and tried to drive to L.A. drunk, that I couldn't see clearly. And as it turned out, Aisha really loved him, and she went a little nuts after he died, not knowing what was to become of her or Mira. That's why she tried to blackmail me into marrying her or else she'd take Mira and disappear. We both had demons to exorcise.” He took a deep breath, and kissed her forehead. Looking deeply into her eyes, he said, “Let's get married today.”

Patrice grinned. “As much as I like the sound of that, I'm pretty sure we need to get a license and a few other things done before we can do that.”

Seeing the determined look in his eyes, she laughed. “You mean, Vegas, don't you?”

He nodded in the affirmative.

Patrice laughed again and began backing away from him as though he'd lost his mind. “Oh, no, I'm not getting
married in a Vegas chapel. My parents would be highly disappointed.”

“They'll get over it,” T.K. said as he swept her into his arms and carried her down the steps of the porch.

“This is kidnapping!” Patrice exclaimed happily.

“This is love,” T.K. corrected her.