New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Sherryl Woods draws you into the emotional journey of a marriage worth saving

When Elliott Cruz first courted struggling single mom Karen Ames, it was a romance worthy of any Sweet Magnolia fantasy. The sexy personal trainer made it his mission to restore Karen’s strength—physical and emotional—and to charm her children.

Now, a few years into the marriage, colliding dreams threaten to tear them apart. Elliott’s desire to finance the business opportunity of a lifetime with their hard-earned “baby money” stirs Karen’s deep-rooted financial insecurities. It’s the discovery that their brother-in-law is cheating on Elliott’s sister—and thinks it’s justified—that puts their irreconcilable differences into perspective. Will their own loving fidelity be a bond so strong they can triumph against all odds?

Praise for the novels of Sherryl Woods

“Sherryl Woods writes emotionally satisfying novels about family, friendship and home. Truly feel-great reads!”

—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

“Woods…is noted for appealing, character-driven stories that are often infused with the flavor and fragrance of the South.”

—Library Journal

“Woods always thrills with her wonderful characters,

witty dialogue and warm and loving family interactions.”

—RT Book Reviews on An O’Brien Family Christmas

“Once again, Woods, with such authenticity,

weaves a tale of true love and the challenges

that can knock up against that love.”

—RT Book Reviews on Beach Lane

“Infused with the warmth and magic of the season, Woods’s fourth addition to her popular, small-town series once again unites the unruly, outspoken, endearing O’Brien clan in a touching, triumphant tale of forgiveness and love reclaimed.”

—Library Journal on A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

“A whimsical, sweet scenario…

the digressions have their own charm, and

Woods never fails to come back to the romantic point.”

—Publishers Weekly on Sweet Tea at Sunrise

“Woods’ readers will eagerly anticipate

her trademark small-town setting, loyal friendships and honorable mentors as they meet new characters and reconnect with familiar ones in this heartwarming tale.”

—Booklist on Home in Carolina

“Woods is a master heartstring puller, and her

endearingly flawed characters deal with their plethora of problems in a predictable but satisfying manner.”

—Publishers Weekly on Seaview Inn

Midnight Promises

Sherryl Woods

www.mirabooks.co.uk

Dear Friends,

From the moment I first wrote about struggling single mom Karen Ames in Feels Like Family, a book in the original Sweet Magnolias trilogy, readers wanted to know much, much more about her and her romance with sexy, caring personal trainer Elliott Cruz. Since they were on their way to the altar by the end of that book, I thought the story was over.

Recently, though, it seemed to me that romance and conflict don’t always end when marriage vows are spoken. And when Elliott’s dreams for their family collide with Karen’s past struggles, well, there’s a whole new story to be told. You’ll find that story right here in Midnight Promises as this couple faces the same questions that so many married couples face. Maybe the answers and compromises they find will be solutions for some of you, too.

You’ll also get to spend some time with what I like to think of as the “Senior Magnolias”—three vibrant, lively older women who create their share of laughter and poignant moments during this book and the two yet to come this summer.

I hope you’ll enjoy being back in the world of the Sweet Magnolias. As always, I’d love to know what you think. You can email me at Sherryl703@gmail.com or become a fan on Facebook and join in the conversation there.

All best,

Sherryl

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Discussion Questions

Excerpt

Prologue

The bride wore a cocktail-length, off-the-shoulder gown in shimmering off-white satin and an antique lace mantilla—a family heirloom—reluctantly provided by her soon-to-be mother-in-law.

At the front of the small Roman Catholic church in Serenity stood the man who’d changed Karen Ames’s mind about love, convincing her that the past was just that, over and done with. He’d promised her enduring love, a true partnership, and he’d shown her those traits time and again during their long courtship.

At a tug on her skirt, Karen leaned down to look into the excited face of her six-year-old daughter, Daisy.

“When are we getting married?” Daisy asked, practically bouncing up and down in anticipation.

Karen smiled at her eagerness. After too many years with no father figure around, Daisy and Mack had fallen as deeply in love with Elliott Cruz as Karen had. And in many ways, it was his kind and generous relationship with her children that had convinced Karen that Elliott was nothing like her first husband, a man who’d abandoned them all, leaving behind a mountain of debt.

“I want to be married to Elliott,” Daisy said with another tug in the direction of the altar. “Let’s hurry.”

Karen checked her four-year-old son to assure that Mack hadn’t stripped off the tie she’d put on for him earlier or managed to douse his new suit with soda. She also assured herself that the wedding rings were still firmly attached to the pillow he would carry down the aisle.

Dana Sue Sullivan, her boss, friend and matron-of-honor, touched a hand to her shoulder. “Everything’s good, Karen. How are your nerves?”

“Dancing a jig,” she responded candidly. “And then I look inside and see Elliott waiting there, and everything settles.”

“Then keep your eyes on him,” Dana Sue advised. “And let’s get this show on the road before these two leave without us.”

She glanced down at Daisy and Mack, who were already inching from the foyer into the church.

At some signal Karen didn’t even notice, the organist began to play for their entrance. Daisy took off down the aisle almost at a run, scattering rose petals with enthusiasm. Then, at some whispered comment, she grinned, glanced back at her mother and slowed to a more sedate pace. Mack was right on her heels, his expression solemn, a tiny frown puckering his brow until he’d safely reached Elliott’s side.

Dana Sue followed, winking at her husband who was sitting at the front of her church, then smiling broadly at Elliott, who was running a nervous finger under the collar of his shirt.

Karen took a last deep breath, reminded herself that this time her marriage was going to be forever, that she’d finally gotten it right.

She lifted her gaze until she met Elliott’s, then took that first confident, trusting step down the aisle into the future that promised to be everything her first marriage hadn’t been.

1

Now that fall was just around the corner, Karen Cruz was experimenting with a new navy bean soup recipe for tomorrow’s lunch at Sullivan’s when sous-chef and friend Erik Whitney peered over her shoulder, gave an approving nod, then asked, “So, are you excited about the gym Elliott’s going to open with us?”

Startled by the seemingly out-of-the-blue question, Karen spilled the entire box of sea salt she was holding into the soup. “My husband’s opening a gym? Here in Serenity?”

Obviously taken aback by her puzzled reaction, Erik winced. “I take it he hasn’t told you?”

“No, he hasn’t said a word,” she responded. Unfortunately, it was increasingly typical that when it came to the important things in their marriage, the things they should be deciding jointly, she and Elliott didn’t have a lot of discussions. He made the decisions, then told her about them later. Or, as in this case, didn’t bother informing her at all.

After dumping the now inedible batch of soup out, Karen started over, then spent the next hour stewing over this latest example of Elliott’s careless disregard for her feelings. Each time he did something like this, it hurt her, chipping away at her faith that their marriage was as solid as she’d once believed it to be, that he was a man who’d never betray her as her first husband had.

Elliott was the man who’d pursued her with charm and wit and determination. It was his sensitivity to her feelings that had ultimately won her over and convinced her that taking another chance on love wouldn’t be the second biggest mistake of her life.

She drew in a deep breath and fought for calm, doing her best to come up with a reasonable explanation for Elliott’s silence about a decision that could change their lives. It was true that he did have a habit of trying to protect her, of not wanting her to worry, especially about money. Maybe that was why he’d kept this news from her. He had to know she’d react negatively, especially right now.

They were, after all, planning to add a baby to their family. Now that her two children from that previous disaster of a marriage—Mack and Daisy—were both settled in school and on an even keel after the many upheavals in their young lives, the timing finally seemed right.

But between Elliott’s fluctuating income as a personal trainer at The Corner Spa and her barely above-minimum-wage pay here at the restaurant, adding to their family had taken careful consideration. She’d wanted never again to be in the same financial mess she’d been in when she and Elliott had first met. He knew that. So where on earth was the money to come from to invest in this new venture of his? There was no savings for a new business. Unless, she thought, he intended to borrow it from their baby fund. The possibility sent a chill down her spine.

And then there was the whole issue of loyalty. Maddie Maddox who ran the spa, Karen’s boss, Dana Sue Sullivan, and Erik’s wife, Helen Decatur-Whitney, owned The Corner Spa and had made Elliott an integral part of the team there. They’d also gone way above and beyond for Karen when she’d been a struggling single mom. Helen had even taken in Karen’s kids for a while. How could Elliott consider just walking out on them? What kind of man would do that? Not the kind she’d thought she’d married, that was for sure.

Though she’d started out trying to rationalize Elliott’s decision to keep her in the dark, apparently the strategy hadn’t worked. She was stirring the fresh pot of soup so vigorously, Dana Sue approached with a worried frown.

“If you’re not careful, you’re going to puree that soup,” Dana Sue said quietly. “Not that it won’t be delicious that way, but I’m assuming it wasn’t part of your plan.”

“Plan?” Karen retorted, anger creeping right back into her voice despite her best intention to give Elliott a chance to explain what had been going on behind her back. “Who plans anything anymore? Or sticks to the plan, if they do have one? No one I know, or if they do, they don’t bother to discuss these big plans with their partner.”

Dana Sue cast a confused look toward Erik. “What am I missing?”

“I mentioned the gym,” Erik explained, his expression guilt-ridden. “Apparently Elliott hadn’t told her anything about it.”

When Dana Sue merely nodded in understanding, Karen stared at her in dismay. “You knew, too? You knew about the gym and you’re okay with it?”

“Well, sure,” Dana Sue said as if it were no big deal that Elliott, Erik and whoever else wanted to open a business that would compete with The Corner Spa. “Maddie, Helen and I signed off on the idea the minute the guys brought it to us. The town’s been needing a men’s gym for a long time. You know how disgusting Dexter’s is. That’s why we opened The Corner Spa exclusively for women in the first place. This will be an expansion of sorts. We’re actually going to be partnering with them. They have a sound business plan. More important, they’ll have Elliott. He has the expertise and reputation to draw in clients.”

Karen ripped off her apron. “Well, isn’t that just the last straw?” she muttered. Not only were her husband, her coworker and her boss in on this, but so were her friends. Okay, maybe that meant Elliott wasn’t being disloyal, as she’d first feared, except, of course to her. “I’m taking my break early, if you don’t mind. I’ll be back in time for dinner prep, then Tina’s due in to take over the rest of the shift.”

A few years back, she and Tina Martinez, then a single mom struggling to make ends meet while she tried to fight her husband’s deportation, had split the shifts at Sullivan’s, which had allowed them both the flexibility they desperately needed to juggle family responsibilities. Karen was still thankful for that, even though they were both working more hours now that their lives had settled down and Sullivan’s had become a busy and unqualified success story.

Though she’d thought mentioning Tina would reassure Dana Sue that she wasn’t going to be left in the lurch, Dana Sue’s expression suggested otherwise.

“Hold on a second,” she commanded.

Then, to Karen’s surprise, she said, “I hope you’re going someplace to cool off and think about this. It’s all good, Karen. Honestly.”

An hour ago, Karen might have accepted that. Now, not so much. “I’m in no mood to cool off. Actually I’m thinking I just might divorce my husband,” she retorted direly.

As she picked up steam and headed out the back door, she overheard Dana Sue say, “She doesn’t mean that, does she?”

Karen didn’t wait for Erik’s reply, but the truth was, her likely response wouldn’t have been reassuring.

* * *

Elliott had been totally distracted while putting his seniors’ exercise class through its paces. Usually he thoroughly enjoyed working with these feisty women who made up for in enthusiasm what they lacked in physical stamina and strength. Though it embarrassed him, he even got a kick out of the way they openly ogled him, trying to come up with new reasons each week to get him to strip off his shirt so they could gaze appreciatively at his abs. He’d accused them on more than one occasion of being outrageously lecherous. Not a one of them had denied it.

“Honey, I was one of those cougars they talk about before they invented the term,” Flo Decatur, who was in her early seventies, had told him once. “And I make no apologies for it, either. You might be a little out of my usual range, but I’ve discovered recently that even men in their sixties are getting a little stuffy for me. I might need to find me a much younger man.”

Elliott had had no idea how to respond to that. He wondered if Flo’s daughter, attorney Helen Decatur-Whitney, had any idea what her irrepressible mother was up to.

Now he glanced at the clock on the wall, relieved to see that the hour-long session was up. “Okay, ladies, that’s it for today. Don’t forget to get in a few walks this week. A one-hour class on Wednesdays isn’t enough to keep you healthy.”

“Oh, sweetie, when I want to get my blood pumping the rest of the week, I just think about how you look without your shirt,” Garnet Rogers commented with a wink. “Beats walking anytime.”

Elliott felt his cheeks heat, even as the other women in the group laughed. “Okay, that’s enough out of you, Garnet. You’re making me blush.”

“Looks good on you,” she said, undisturbed by his embarrassment.

The women slowly started to drift away, chattering excitedly about an upcoming dance at the senior center and speculating about who Jake Cudlow might ask. Jake was apparently the hot catch in town, Elliott had concluded from listening to these discussions. Since he’d seen the balding, bespectacled, paunchy Jake a few times, he had to wonder what the women’s standards really were.

Elliott was about to head to his office when Frances Wingate stopped him. She’d been his wife’s neighbor when he and Karen had first started dating. They both considered her practically a member of the family. Now she was regarding him with a worried look.

“Something’s on your mind, isn’t it?” she said. “You were a million miles away during class. Not that we present much of a challenge. You could probably lead us without breaking a sweat, but usually you manage to show a little enthusiasm, especially during that dancing segment Flo talked you into adding.” She gave him a sly look. “You know she did that just to see you move your hips in the salsa, right?”

“I figured as much,” he said. “Not much Flo does surprises or embarrasses me anymore.”

Frances held his gaze. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Sorry,” Elliott said. “What?”

“Don’t apologize. Just tell me what’s wrong. Are the kids okay?”

Elliott smiled. Frances adored Daisy and Mack, though both were unquestionably a handful. “They’re fine,” he assured her.

“And Karen?”

“She’s great,” he said, though he wondered how truthful the answer really was. He had a hunch she’d be less than great if she found out what he’d been up to. And truthfully, he had no idea why he’d kept these plans for opening a gym from her. Had he feared her disapproval, anticipated a fight? Maybe so. She was rightfully very touchy when it came to finances after going through a lousy time with an ex-husband who’d abandoned her and left her with a mountain of debt.

Frances gave him a chiding look. “Elliott Cruz, don’t try fibbing to me. I can read you the same way I could read all those kids who passed through my classrooms over the years. What’s wrong with Karen?”

He sighed. “You’re even sharper than my mother, and I could never hide anything from her, either,” he lamented.

“I should hope not,” Frances retorted.

“No offense, Frances, but I think the person I really need to be talking to about this is my wife.”

“Then do it,” Frances advised. “Secrets, even the most innocent ones, have a way of destroying a marriage.”

“There’s never any time to talk things through,” Elliott complained. “And this isn’t the kind of thing I can just drop on her and walk away.”

“Is it the kind of thing that will cause problems if she finds out some other way?”

He nodded reluctantly. “More than likely.”

“Then talk to her, young man, before a little problem turns into a big one. Make the time.” She gave him a stern look. “Sooner, rather than later.”

He grinned at her fierce expression. No wonder she’d had quite a reputation as a teacher, one that had lived on long after she’d retired. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

She patted his arm. “You’re a good man, Elliott Cruz, and I know you love her. Don’t give her even the tiniest reason to doubt that.”

“I’ll do what I can,” he assured her.

“Soon?”

“Soon,” he promised.

Even if it stirred up a particularly nasty hornet’s nest.

* * *

When she reached The Corner Spa at the corner of Main and Palmetto, Karen paused. She was beginning to regret that she hadn’t followed Dana Sue’s advice and taken a slow walk around the park to calm herself down again before arriving here to confront her husband. Even she knew it was probably a terrible idea to do it, not only when he was at work, but when she was still completely furious about being left in the dark. Nothing was likely to be resolved if she started out yelling, which is what seemed likely.

“Karen? Is everything okay?”

She turned at the softly spoken query from her former neighbor, Frances Wingate, a woman now nearing ninety who still had plenty of spunk, even if her age was slowing her down a bit. Despite her own lousy mood, Karen’s expression brightened just seeing the woman who was like a mother to her in so many ways.

“Frances, how are you? And what are you doing here?”

Frances regarded her with a perplexed expression. “I’m taking Elliott’s exercise class for seniors. Didn’t he tell you?”

Karen heaved a frustrated sigh. “Apparently there’s quite a lot my husband hasn’t been sharing with me recently.”

“Oh, dear, that doesn’t sound good,” Frances said. “Why don’t we go to Wharton’s and have a chat? It’s been ages since we’ve had a chance to catch up. Something tells me you’d be much better off talking to me than going inside to see Elliott when you’re obviously upset.”

Knowing that Frances was absolutely right, Karen gave her a grateful look. “Do you have the time?”

“For you I can always make time,” Frances said, linking her arm through Karen’s. “Now, did you drive or shall we walk?”

“I didn’t bring my car,” Karen told her.

“Then walking it is,” Frances said without a moment’s hesitation. “Good thing I wore my favorite sneakers, isn’t it?”

Karen glanced down at her bright turquoise shoes and smiled. “Quite a fashion statement,” she teased.

“That’s me, all right. The ultimate fashionista of the senior set.”

When they reached Wharton’s and ordered sweet tea for Frances and a soda for Karen, Frances looked into her eyes. “Okay now, tell me what has you so out of sorts this afternoon and what it has to do with Elliott.”

To her dismay, Karen’s eyes filled with unexpected tears. “I think my marriage is in real trouble, Frances.”

Genuine shock registered on her friend’s face. “Nonsense! That man adores you. We chat after class every week, and you and the kids are all he talks about. He’s as infatuated now as he was on the day you met. I’m as sure of that as it’s possible to be.”

“Then why doesn’t he tell me anything?” Karen lamented. “I didn’t know he was seeing you every week. And earlier I found out that he’s planning to open some sort of gym for the men in town. We don’t have the money for him to take that kind of risk, even if he has business partners. Why would he take on something like that without even talking it over with me?”

She gave Frances a resigned look. “People warned me about these macho Hispanic men. I know it’s a stereotype, but you know what I mean, the ones who just do whatever they want and expect their wives to go along with it. Elliott’s father was like that, but I never thought Elliott, of all people, would be. He was such a thoughtful, considerate sweetheart when we were dating.”

“Are you so sure he’s keeping you in the dark deliberately?” Frances inquired reasonably. “There could be a lot of explanations for why he hasn’t mentioned these things. With two children and two jobs, you’re both incredibly busy. Your schedules don’t always mesh that perfectly, so time together must be at a premium.”

“That’s true,” Karen admitted. She often worked late at night, while he left for the spa early in the morning. They were sometimes like ships passing in the night. Their schedules weren’t great for real communication.

“And when you do have time off, what do you do?” Frances persisted.

“We help the kids with their homework or drive them to all these endless activities they’re involved in, then fall into bed exhausted.”

Frances nodded. “I rest my case. There’s not much time in there for the kind of heart-to-heart talks young couples need to have, especially when they’re still adjusting to being married.”

Karen gave her a wry look. “We’ve been together awhile, Frances.”

“But you’ve only been married and living together for a couple of years. It took time for your annulment to come through. Dating is very different from being married and establishing a routine. It takes time to get in a rhythm that works, one that gives you the time alone you need to communicate effectively. I imagine Elliott’s as anxious for that as you are.”

There was something in her voice that gave Karen pause. “Has he said something to you? Please tell me you weren’t in on this whole gym project, too. Was I the only person in town he hadn’t told?”

“Stop working yourself into a frenzy,” Frances said, though her cheeks turned pink as she said it. “Elliott and I did have a chat earlier, but he didn’t mention a thing about any gym. Just now was the first I’ve heard about that. He told me that he’s been putting off talking to you about something important because you’re both so busy. He never got into the specifics with me.”

“I see,” Karen said stiffly, not entirely relieved by the explanation or by the idea that more people had been talking behind her back.

“Don’t you dare make more of that than is called for,” Frances scolded. “I asked him why he was so distracted in class today. He hemmed and hawed and finally admitted he’d been keeping something from you. I told him there was no good excuse for not communicating with a spouse.” She gave Karen a pointed look. “Notice I said communicating, not yelling. Real communication involves listening, as well as talking.”

Karen smiled weakly, duly chastised. “I hear you. But how on earth do we find the time to really sit down and have those heart-to-heart talks we used to have when we were dating? Right now we need all the hours at work we can get. And even if we could find some time, babysitters are too expensive for our budget.”

“Then you’ll let me help,” Frances said at once, her expression eager. “Since you married and moved to a new home with Elliott, I don’t see Daisy and Mack nearly as much as I’d like. They’re growing like weeds. Soon I won’t even recognize them.”

Karen immediately regarded her with guilt. Though she’d taken the kids by often right after she and Elliott had married, the visits to Frances had dwindled as their schedules had grown more complicated. How could she have been so selfish, when she knew how much the older woman enjoyed spending time with Daisy and Mack?

“Oh, Frances, I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I should have brought them by more often.”

“Hush now,” Frances said, giving her hand a squeeze. “That was not my point. I was about to suggest we work out one evening a week when I’ll come over and stay with them, while you and Elliott have a night out. I imagine I can still oversee a little homework and read a bedtime story or two. In fact, I’d love it.” She grinned, an impish light in her eyes. “Or you can bring them to my place, if you’d rather have a romantic evening at home. I’m sure I could handle a sleepover now that they’re older.”

Karen resisted, despite the obvious sincerity of the suggestion. “You are so sweet to offer, but I couldn’t possibly impose on you like that. You’ve already done way more for me than I had any right to expect. When times were tough, you were always there for me.”

Frances gave her a chiding look. “I consider you family, and if I can do this for you, it would be my pleasure, so I don’t want to hear any of this nonsense that it’s too much. If I thought it were, I wouldn’t have offered. And if you turn me down, it will only hurt my feelings. You’ll be making me feel old and useless.”

Karen smiled, thinking that Frances was definitely neither of those things. Chronologically her years had added up, but her spirit was young, she had dozens of friends, and she was still active in the community. She spent a few hours every day making calls to housebound seniors just to chat with them and make sure there was nothing they needed.

She nodded at last. “Okay, if you’re sure, then I’ll talk it over with Elliott and we’ll check with you about setting an evening. We’ll give it a test run and see how it goes. I don’t want Mack and Daisy to wear you out.”

Frances’s expression radiated delight. “That’s good, then. Now, I should be running along. I’m playing cards tonight at the senior center with Flo Decatur and Liz Johnson and I’ll need a nap if I’m to be alert enough to make sure they’re not cheating. For otherwise honorable women, they’re sneaky when it comes to cards.”

Karen laughed as she slid out of the booth and hugged her friend. “Thank you. I really needed this talk even more than I needed to confront my husband.”

“Confrontation is all well and good,” Frances told her. “But it’s best not done in anger.” She gave Karen’s hand another squeeze. “I’ll expect to hear from you in the next few days.”

“I’ll call. I promise.”

“And when you get home tonight, sit down with your husband and talk to him, no matter the hour.”

Karen smiled at her. “Yes, ma’am,” she replied dutifully.

Frances frowned. “Don’t say that just to pacify me, young lady. I expect to hear that the two of you have worked this out.”

Clearly satisfied at having the last word, she left.

Karen watched her go, noting that there wasn’t a person in Wharton’s she didn’t speak to or offer a smile on the way.

“She’s remarkable,” Karen murmured aloud, then sighed. “And wise.”

Tonight would be soon enough for that talk she intended to have with Elliott. She would use the extra time to think through the situation, figure out exactly why she was so upset and find a way to discuss it all calmly and rationally over dinner. Frances had been exactly right. Yelling wasn’t the mature way to resolve anything.

And unlike the passive woman she’d once been, Karen also knew that the strong, confident woman she’d become wouldn’t allow resentment to simmer too long or let the whole incident slide in the interest of keeping peace. She’d deal with this head-on before it destroyed her marriage. At least she’d learned something from her marriage to Ray: what not to do.

Pleased with her plan, she paid for their drinks and headed back to Sullivan’s, where Dana Sue and Erik greeted her warily.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she said. “There are no divorce papers being filed. In fact, I never even saw Elliott.”

Erik breathed a visible sigh of relief.

“Where were you, then?” Dana Sue inquired.

“At Wharton’s with Frances, the voice of reason,” Karen told them.

Dana Sue grinned. “Did she give you one of those sage lectures that makes you feel about two-inches tall? When she was my teacher, she could just look at me with one of those disappointed expressions and practically reduce me to tears. She was the only teacher I ever had who could pull that off. It even worked on Helen.”

“No way,” Erik said, looking impressed. “I didn’t think anyone intimidated my wife.”

“Frances Wingate did,” Dana Sue said. “She had the best-behaved students in the entire school. We didn’t turn into full-fledged Sweet Magnolia hellions until later.” Her expression suddenly sobered as she turned back to Karen. “So, have you stopped being mad at me and Erik?”

“I was never mad at either of you,” she told them. “I knew you were just the messengers.”

“And Elliott?” Dana Sue prodded.

“I still have plenty to discuss with my husband,” Karen said. “But at least now I think I can do it without throwing pots and pans or those nifty little dumbbells at the spa at him.”

“Word has it that Dana Sue was pretty good at turning pots and pans into weapons back in the day,” Erik commented, giving Dana Sue a taunting look.

“Only because Ronnie deserved it,” Dana Sue retorted, her tone unapologetic. “The man cheated on me. Fortunately he learned his lesson and I haven’t needed a cast-iron skillet for anything other than cooking since then.”

After a very tense afternoon, Karen suddenly chuckled. Impulsively, she crossed the room and hugged her boss. “Thank you for giving me my perspective back.”

“Glad to be of service,” Dana Sue said. “Now, if no one has any objections, let’s get these dinner preparations underway before our special of the night is grilled-cheese sandwiches.”

“On it,” Erik said at once. “Thoroughly decadent chocolate mud pie coming up.”

“And I’ll get started frying chicken,” Karen said, thankful that her relief would be here soon. “When Tina gets here, she can take over and I’ll finish up salads before I head home.”

At least here, she thought as she settled happily into her routine, peace and harmony once again reigned. Something told her, though, that it was just the calm before the storm.

2

Elliott had spotted his wife outside of The Corner Spa talking with Frances. When she hadn’t come inside, he’d been surprised, but he’d been so busy with his packed schedule of private clients who were booked well into the evening that he hadn’t had time to consider why Karen might have come by, then left without speaking to him.

It was near closing time when Cal Maddox came in to pick up Maddie, who’d stayed late to deal with dreaded end-of-the-month paperwork. On his way to his wife’s office, Cal stopped to visit with Elliott.

“How’d things go with Karen earlier?” Cal asked.

Struck by Cal’s oddly sympathetic expression and his dire tone, Elliott frowned. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Cal immediately looked chagrined. “Oh, man, first Erik sticks his foot in it, and now I’m doing the same thing,” Cal said. “Sorry. Forget I said anything.”

“Don’t stop now,” Elliott said. “Something tells me I’d better hear this.”

Cal didn’t look one bit happy about being the bearer of bad news. “Apparently Erik mentioned the gym to Karen today. She didn’t take it well. He called me to ask if I thought he should give you a heads-up. We agreed he probably should stay out of it, that the damage had been done.”

He gave Elliott a concerned look. “I gather you hadn’t told her.”

“Not a word,” Elliott admitted with growing regret. “Just how furious was she?”

“It was bad enough,” Cal admitted. “But it got worse. When she found out that Dana Sue knew as well, she stormed out of Sullivan’s to head over here. Obviously she wasn’t thrilled about being left out of the loop.”

Elliott sighed. “So that explains it,” he said. “I saw her outside talking to Frances and wondered what she was doing here, but then they left. She never came inside.”

Cal grinned. “If I were you, I’d send flowers to Frances. Obviously she managed to do what Erik and Dana Sue couldn’t. She calmed Karen down.”

“I don’t think I’ll count on that,” Elliott replied. He knew all too well that Karen’s sweet nature was deceptive. When her temper stirred, it tended to simmer, then reach a boil when he least expected it. “I suspect Frances only delayed the inevitable.”

Cal gave him a curious look. “I still can’t believe you hadn’t mentioned the gym venture to Karen. Is there some reason for that?”

“I haven’t had time to get into it with her,” Elliott said in frustration. “Apart from the fact that Karen and I barely see each other lately, there were a lot of issues the group of us had to consider. I wanted to be sure it was a go before I broached the subject with her. You know her history, Cal. Money’s a big deal to her, and risk scares her to death. I didn’t want her to panic for no reason.”

“So, you kept quiet to protect her?”

Elliott nodded ruefully. “It made sense to me at the time.”

Cal gave him an understanding look. “I get it, but a piece of advice? In this town, it never pays to keep secrets, because if even one other human being knows, sooner or later everyone will know. Remember how it went over with Dana Sue when she discovered Ronnie’s plans for the hardware store? Or how well Sarah took it when she figured out that Travis had big plans for a radio station and wanted her to be a part of that? These Sweet Magnolia women like to be in on things from the get-go. They don’t like to be blindsided.”

“Karen’s never really hung out with the Sweet Magnolias,” Elliott said, but he understood Cal’s point.

“She spends all day with Dana Sue and with Helen’s husband,” Cal reminded him. “She works out here and sees my wife all the time. Maybe she doesn’t go to margarita nights, but trust me, she’s a Sweet Magnolia. With women this tight, it’s an all-inclusive we’re-sticking-together mind-set.”

Elliott nodded. “I hear you. I guess I’d better get home and face the music. Something tells me this is going to cause one of those uncomfortable conversations about me following in my father’s macho footsteps. I’m afraid my sisters have been a little too chatty about my father’s my-way-or-the-highway approach to marriage. Ironically, every one of them married men just like him. I pride myself on not being a thing like my father, but after this little episode, something tells me I’m going to have a tough time selling Karen on that.”

Cal laughed. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Elliott said. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to double that order of flowers.”

* * *

When Elliott walked in with a huge bouquet of brightly colored, fragrant lilies, Karen knew someone had filled him in on what had happened earlier at Sullivan’s. And they said women were terrible gossips, she thought, with a rueful shake of her head. The men in this town—at least those married to Sweet Magnolias—were thick as thieves, and they all had big mouths. She and Elliott might be on the periphery of that group, but the effect spilled over.

“Who told you?” she inquired, even as she drew in the sweet scent of the flowers, then found an old florist’s vase for them. She had quite a few, thanks to Elliott’s frequent and thoughtful gifts. She was pretty sure he had the local florist on speed dial. Most of the time, though, flowers weren’t meant to get him out of a jam. He was just a considerate guy who excelled at the impulsive, romantic gesture.

He gave her an innocent look. “Told me what?”

“That I flipped out earlier? Did Erik call to warn you before I even got over to the spa?”

“Erik didn’t call.” He chuckled. “At least he didn’t call me. He called Cal to see if he should warn me. They agreed he should stay out of it.”

“But then Cal came by to pick up Maddie and filled you in himself,” she guessed. “It figures.”

“The Serenity grapevine is a miracle,” he agreed. “It functions quite nicely even without resorting to modern technology. This may be the only town in the country not addicted to text messaging.” He crossed the kitchen to stand close, his hands on her waist, his breath warm against her cheek. “So, exactly how much hot water am I in?” he whispered in her ear.

She wasn’t crazy about the amusement threading through his voice, even as he asked what should have been a very serious question.

“Enough,” she told him.

Sadly, she wasn’t entirely oblivious to his tactic. Elliott could seduce her in less time than it took to call for pizza, which she’d done just before his arrival. He now seemed intent on nuzzling her neck, which was usually just a prelude to more fascinating foreplay. She frowned at him before he succeeded. “You are not going to distract me, so stop that this minute.”

“Stop what?” he inquired, his chocolate espresso eyes once more filled with an attempt at innocence she wasn’t buying. “I’m just saying hello to my beautiful wife after a long day.”

“No, you’re not,” she chided. “You’re hoping to coax me out of being mad at you because you know perfectly well if you can manage to get me into bed, I’ll completely forget what I’m mad about.” She regarded him intently. “Not this time, Elliott. I mean it.”

He sighed and backed up a step, obviously disappointed but accepting her decision that seduction was off the table for the moment. “Where are the kids?”

“They’re not here to save your hide, either. Your mom is keeping them at her house for enchiladas.”

His expression immediately brightened. “Mom made enchiladas? We should go over there.”

“Not on your life. She’ll save any leftovers for you,” Karen said. “You and I are having pizza and salad and a very long talk. Depending on how that goes, we’ll decide if you’re picking the kids up tonight or staying over there with them.”

For the first time, he seemed to really get just how upset she was. An expression of alarm crossed his face.

“Just because I forgot to mention the whole gym thing to you?”

She frowned at his characterization. “You didn’t ‘forget’ to mention anything, Elliott,” she said quietly, annoyed by the tears that immediately sprang to her eyes. She turned away, hoping he wouldn’t see just how emotional she was. She wanted so badly to remain calm and cool so they could discuss this rationally without her dragging all her baggage into the discussion.

Pretending to focus on the salad dressing she’d been making when he’d arrived, she said, “You deliberately chose not to discuss it with me because you didn’t think my opinion mattered or you were afraid I’d try to veto the idea.”

“That’s not how it was,” he protested.

“It’s exactly how it was.” She turned and faced him. She gave up on fighting the tears and allowed them to flow unchecked. “How are we supposed to make our marriage work, Elliott, if we don’t talk about something that’s going to change our lives? From what little I know, even I can see that this gym is a big deal. You’re obviously right at the center of it. Do you have any idea how much it hurt that so many other people already knew about it and I knew nothing?”

“I’m sorry,” he said at once. “I really am. It’s an incredible opportunity, Karen. I’d never be able to do something like this totally on my own. I was trying to work it through in my head, figure out if we could really make it happen.”

“And you didn’t consider that poor brainless me might have any thoughts about that?”

He looked genuinely shocked by her bitter words. “Don’t be crazy, querida. You know how much your opinion matters. You’re everything to me.”

His use of the endearment touched her heart as always. “I thought I was,” she said softly, brushing impatiently at the tears she couldn’t seem to stop.

“Ah, don’t cry,” he pleaded, pulling her into his arms. “Please, don’t cry. You know it tears me up inside, especially when I’m the one at fault.”

After holding herself stiff for a moment, Karen sighed and allowed herself to relax. This caring, adoring side of Elliott was the one she’d fallen in love with. That’s why it was all the more shattering when he did something thoughtless like leaving her totally out of the loop on this decision.

“Can I tell you about it now?” he pleaded. “Will you listen and keep an open mind?”

She nodded slowly, not letting go of him. “I can do that.” Then she lifted her head and held his gaze. “But this kind of thing can’t keep happening, Elliott. When it comes to the big things—or even the littlest ones that affect our family—we decide together. That’s what we agreed. Otherwise we’re doomed.”

“I know you’re right. I promise to be more considerate,” he assured her. “I thought I was saving you from worrying unnecessarily about something that might not even be feasible. I guess I thought I had more time to work out the details.”

She gave him a wry look. “In Serenity?”

He laughed. “Yeah, that’s what Cal said. The truth is, though, that we’ve only been talking about this for a few weeks now. At first it was nothing more than an idea that a couple of the guys tossed out over beers one night after we played basketball. I wasn’t even sure it would go anywhere. There was no reason to mention it.”

“But it’s gone way beyond the talking stages now, hasn’t it? And still you said nothing,” she said, seeing the excitement in his eyes die and hating that she was putting a damper on his enthusiasm. What else could she do, though? There were serious questions that needed answers.

“True. Tom McDonald’s run some numbers. Ronnie Sullivan’s looked at a few pieces of property.”

“Not with Mary Vaughn, I hope,” she said, thinking of how Dana Sue didn’t trust her husband anywhere near the Realtor, even now that Mary Vaughn had been happily reunited with her ex-husband and they had a second, late-in-life child together. Mary Vaughn had a bad habit of going after Ronnie whenever she sensed he might be vulnerable. In theory, she’d given up. In practice, who knew?

Elliott smiled at her reaction. “I believe they have been suitably chaperoned on every occasion,” he said. “Between a new baby and trying to train Rory Sue to become a Realtor, Mary Vaughn has plenty on her plate these days without going after Ronnie again.” He shook his head. “You women have really long memories, don’t you?”

“When it comes to the way she pursued him for years, we do,” Karen confirmed. “Something for you to remember in case there are any old flames of yours lurking about that you’ve neglected to mention.”

“None,” he said swiftly.

She patted his cheek. “Good to know.”

Before he could continue to fill her in on the plans for the gym, their pizza arrived from Rosalina’s. Karen put her salad on the table, poured a couple of glasses of wine, and then they sat at the kitchen table. After she’d taken her first bite of pizza, she noticed Elliott’s gaze on her.

“What?” she asked.

“I know the reason for this intimate little dinner wasn’t exactly romantic, but I have to admit, it’s very nice to have my wife entirely to myself for a couple of hours with no little potential interruptions underfoot.”

She smiled at the heat in his voice and the unmistakable desire in his eyes. He’d always been able to make her feel incredibly special and desirable with exactly that look. Even now she let it get to her and take the edge off her earlier anger.

“Then it’s a good thing Frances has offered to give us a night just like this one every week,” she told him. “If we can get your mom on board, too, for another night, maybe we’ll have the time we need to get ourselves back on track.”

“Do you really think we’ve been that far off track?” Elliott asked, clearly thrown by her choice of words.

“Far enough,” she told him candidly, then added, “You know what destroyed my first marriage. Ray got us into terrible debt that I knew nothing about, then bailed on me. He didn’t even stick around long enough to help dig us out of financial ruin. That was all on me. All I could think about when I heard about this gym was that the same thing was happening all over again. I know it was irrational, but it was like this terrible flashback and I couldn’t help panicking, Elliott.”

Though he had every reason to be offended by the unjust comparison, he merely leveled a look into her eyes. “First of all, I will never be irresponsible about our money,” he assured her. “And second, no matter how hard things get or how many disagreements we have, I will never bail on you. When I married you, it was forever, querida.”

Karen heard the sincerity behind the promises, knew that he meant them with all his heart, but history had taught her that even the best intentions weren’t always enough. The proof would be in what happened in their relationship from here on out.

* * *

Though he’d seen the anger die in Karen’s eyes and felt certain the worst was over, Elliott also knew his wife well enough to know that he needed more time to make amends. While she was in the kitchen cleaning up, he made a quick call to his mother.

“Mamacita, can you keep Daisy and Mack with you for the night?” he asked in an undertone.

“Of course,” she said at once. “And why are you whispering?”

“I’m not sure how Karen will feel about me farming them out with you.”

Immediately on high alert, she said, “Are the two of you fighting about something? I had the sense when she called earlier and asked if I could keep them a few hours longer that she wasn’t hoping for a romantic evening with her husband.”

Elliott knew better than to drag his mother into the middle of any problems he and Karen might be having. The two women had come to an uneasy truce, and it wouldn’t take much for it to be lost. “Will you keep Daisy and Mack, Mama? Please.”

Apparently she understood that she would learn no more about his reasons for asking, because she immediately said, “Of course. Shall I see that they get to school in the morning? They have clothes here. Your sister can pick them up and take them. Adelia’s children go to the same school.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, that would be great,” he said. “Gracias, Mama.”

“Da nada.” She hesitated only a moment before adding, “And, Elliott, whatever is wrong, make it right.”

“I intend to,” he said at once.

He hung up, then went into the kitchen where he took the dish towel from his wife’s hands. “Sit,” he said. “I’ll finish cleaning up.”

She regarded him with amusement. “Let’s see now. The trash has been thrown out. The dishes are washed. Just what is it you intend to do?”

“I’ll finish drying the dishes,” he said at once, backing her up until she was trapped between him and the counter. “And then I plan on having dessert.”

“Dessert?” she asked, her eyes widening, her breath hitching. “What exactly do you have in mind? There’s no ice cream in the freezer. I checked. You and the kids ate the last of it.”

“But you’re here,” he said. “I can’t imagine anything tastier, querida.”

His softly spoken words lit a fire in her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be going to pick up Daisy and Mack?” she asked. “They shouldn’t be out too late on a school night.”

“They’re being safely tucked into bed at my mother’s right this minute,” he assured her. “And since it seems we’re past the point when you intend to banish me to spend the night over there with them, I was hoping we could make the most of having the rest of the night to ourselves.” He searched her face. “You have forgiven me, haven’t you?”

“Mostly,” she conceded.

“But not entirely?”

“I’m going to need proof that you’ve learned your lesson,” she said.

“I doubt I can come up with the proof tonight,” he lamented.

“True. Only time will tell.”

He ran a finger along her jaw, felt her pulse scramble. “And until then?”

Slowly, her arms circled his neck, and she molded herself to him. The way they fit together was enough to have his blood pounding.

“Until then,” she said slowly, her lips touching his, “we can try this whole dessert thing and see how it goes.”

He smiled against her lips. “I already know how it’s going to go,” he told her. “I’m going to make love to my wife until she screams and begs for more.”

She leaned back and regarded him with amusement. “I never beg.”

“Bet I can change that,” he said, already dipping his hand inside her panties, watching as her eyes drifted closed and her body responded to his touch.

Even when her breathing turned shallow and her skin glowed with a soft sheen of perspiration, to her credit, she didn’t beg.

Instead, she clung to his shoulders, wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him until he was the one ready to beg for mercy.

As he walked to the bedroom with her in his arms, he thought for the thousandth time how lucky he was to have found her. She was sugar to his spice, sweetness to his passion.

And, then, just when he least expected it, she turned the tables on him, showing him unexpected heat that took his breath away. The give-and-take between them, at least in this area, was the kind that every man dreamed of.

As for the other give-and-take, the kind of communication and sharing that kept a marriage solid, he still had work to do on that, as today had shown. But for this, to keep this woman happy and content in his arms forever, he’d do whatever it took.

* * *

Karen still had questions, a lot of them, in fact, but just as she’d noted earlier, Elliott had a way of making her forget everything except the way it felt to be the center of his world.

She’d been terrified of the passion he stirred in her when they’d first met. She hadn’t been ready to let herself fall so completely, head-over-heels in love, not when her experience with marriage had been so disastrous. She’d kept Elliott at arm’s length, had almost lost him because of it, in fact. In the end, though, it had been Frances who’d made her see that he was her second chance.

She’d had a lot of second chances back then. Helen had negotiated one for her at Sullivan’s when Dana Sue had been about to fire her. Helen had also rushed to the rescue when stress had brought Karen close to an emotional breakdown that could have cost her the children. Helen had taken in Daisy and Mack, seen to it that Karen got the support she needed, then reunited them when the time came.

Then, during that terrible time when she’d been at her absolute lowest, she’d met Elliott, a man not only strong, but quietly confident, persistent and with a generous, open heart. While he’d built up her physical strength during workouts at the spa—a gift from Helen, Dana Sue and Maddie—he’d also built up her battered ego whenever she’d let him.

It had been so hard for her back then to trust that what he’d felt for her so quickly could be real. She hadn’t trusted her own feelings at all. And when his mother and sisters had objected strenuously to his involvement with a divorced woman, she’d seized it as the perfect excuse to run.

Thank God, he hadn’t let her run far. Surprisingly, the love between them had given her the confidence to face down his mother, to win her over and make her, if not a friend, at least an ally.

Now, lying beside him in bed, still warm from their lovemaking, she felt his gaze on her.

“What’s on your mind, querida?” he asked, studying her intently as his hand rested on the curve of her hip. The touch was gentle, possessive.

“Just thinking about how we got here,” she admitted. “How did you know we belonged together?”

He smiled at the question. “The first time I saw you, you stole my heart,” he said simply. “You were in my blood.”

“Why didn’t I know it that first instant, too?” she wondered. It had always bothered her that he’d been so sure, while she’d been so scared.

“You did,” he corrected.

“Absolutely not,” she argued.

His smile spread. “People only run so hard when they’re afraid, querida. And they are only afraid of feelings so powerful they can’t control them.”

She met his gaze, laughing. “Now, you’re just being smug.”

“No, I am being smart and right,” he teased. “Admit it. You were at the very least in lust with me from that first day at the spa. You didn’t want to be, but you were.”

Still chuckling, she nodded. “Okay, I’m like every other woman in there. Maybe I was just a little in lust.” She studied him. “But it was more than that for you, and I still can’t figure out why. What did you see in me? I was a wreck back then.”

“You were like no wreck I’d ever seen before,” he said. “You were beautiful and vulnerable and I wanted to be a part of making you strong again.”

She lifted an arm, flexed her biceps, then sighed. “Still not so strong.”

He tapped her chest. “It’s your heart that’s strong again.”

“You can say that after the way I freaked out today?”

He smiled. “You stood up to me, didn’t you? You said your piece, insisted on answers. You didn’t back down.”

“Not until you got me into this bed, anyway,” she said.

“We’re not here just so I can distract you,” he said. “If you have more questions, I’ll answer them until you’re satisfied.”

She grinned at that. “The questions can wait,” she told him. “I’d rather you satisfy me again the way you did a little while ago.”

His eyes darkened at once. “With pleasure,” he murmured. “Always with pleasure.”

3

Frances could not for the life of her recall where she’d left her apartment keys. They weren’t on the hook by the kitchen door where she usually left them, or on the counter, none of the obvious places. If she was late getting to the senior center, Flo and Liz were going to worry. She’d always been the most punctual of all of her friends.

She searched high and low, digging in the bottom of her purse, under the sofa cushions, checking in the bathroom, on her dresser. She eventually found them in, of all places, the freezer. She must have put them in there when she’d been getting her lasagna dinner out.

Holding the ice-cold keys in her hand, she frowned. Didn’t they say that one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s was leaving things in odd places? Just the thought was enough to frighten her.

“Stop it this minute,” she told herself sternly. “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. It’s not as if you do something crazy like this every day.”

She tried to put the entire incident out of her mind, but over cards at the senior center, she mentioned it to Flo and Liz, forcing herself to laugh about her absentmindedness. To her shock, neither of them seemed to share her amusement. In fact, the look they exchanged was clearly worried.

Liz, who was only a few years younger, reached for her hand. “Frances, I don’t want to alarm you, but maybe you should get this checked out.”

Frances bristled. “How many times have you forgotten where you put your keys?”

“Plenty,” Liz conceded. “But I haven’t once found them in the freezer, or anyplace else particularly odd, either.”

Frances regarded her oldest and dearest friend with dismay. “What are you trying so hard not to say? This isn’t just about the keys, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” Liz said. “You’ve said and done a few things lately that haven’t made a lot of sense. I’ve noticed. So has Flo.”

Flo nodded.

“And you’ve been talking about it behind my back?” Frances asked, knowing that her indignation was misplaced. They were her friends. Of course, they’d be concerned. Of course, they’d compare notes, rather than risk offending her by mentioning some incident that might mean nothing.

“Neither of us was sure it amounted to enough to say anything to you,” Liz said gently. “We agreed just to keep a closer eye on you. Now that you’ve noticed yourself that something’s not quite right, well, maybe it would be best to see a doctor.”

Frances felt as if the bottom of her world had just fallen out. Alzheimer’s? Not a one of them had mentioned the word, but it was clearly the elephant in the room. It was the cruelest of all diseases in so many ways. She’d seen it rob friends of their memories and, worse, take them away from their families long before they were physically gone. She’d always thought it heartbreaking.

“Don’t panic,” Flo said, now holding tightly to Frances’s other hand. “We’ll go with you to the doctor. And I’ve been reading up on Alzheimer’s on the internet. There are new medicines that can help. That is, if you even have it. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’re all getting more forgetful every day. Maybe this is nothing more than that.”

“Absolutely,” Liz said, then gave Frances a sympathetic look. “Whatever you’re dealing with, we’re here for you. That’s a given, okay? You’re not in this alone.”

“Will you promise me that whatever the diagnosis, you won’t say a word to anyone in my family?” Frances pleaded. “I’ll decide when the time is right for that. I don’t want them worrying unnecessarily or rushing over to Serenity to have me locked away in a nursing home.”

Neither of her friends agreed immediately.

“What?” she demanded. “Have you already spoken to Jennifer or Jeff?”

“Absolutely not,” Liz said. “But if I think the time has come that they must know and you haven’t told them yourself, I can’t promise that I won’t. I’ll push you to do it first, of course, but I won’t allow something terrible to happen to you because of negligence on my part.”

Frances turned to Flo. “And you?”

“I’m with Liz on this,” she said. “We’ll respect your wishes as long as you’re doing well and are safe. And it’s not just about you, you know. Your daughter, son and grandchildren would want to know if there is a problem. They’ll want to have as much time with you as possible.”

Frances sighed. They were right, as usual.

“Fair enough,” she said reluctantly. “But we’re probably worrying over nothing. Sometimes putting the keys in the freezer is just a sign of having too much on my mind, not a sign that I’m losing it.” She thought of her conversations earlier with Elliott and Karen, her deep concern for these two young people who mattered as much to her as her own children. That probably explained it. Her mind had been on their problems, nothing more.

“Of course,” Liz agreed as Flo nodded.

“I think I’ll head home now,” Frances said, suddenly more exhausted than she’d been in ages.

“I’ll drive you,” Flo said at once.

“I can still walk a few blocks,” Frances said irritably. “I’m not likely to get lost in a town I’ve lived in all my life.”

Liz gave her a chiding look. “She’s taking me home, too. It’s right on our way.”

Frances gave Flo an apologetic look. “Sorry for overreacting.”

“It’s understandable,” Flo said. “Any of us would be scared to even consider something like this might be happening to us.”

Frances knew that was true. As they’d aged, she and her friends had discussed every illness known to man at one time or another, but it seemed the greatest dread centered on this one.

But while she appreciated their empathy, there was one thing they could never comprehend. It was happening to her, not them. And theorizing was very different from the blind panic that had set in tonight.

* * *

It was morning before Elliott finally set aside the time to lay out the detailed plans for the gym for Karen. They’d definitely gotten sidetracked the night before.

He’d called his first two clients to push back their appointments and was in the kitchen making breakfast when Karen wandered in wearing one of his old shirts and nothing else. His mouth went dry at the sight of her. He wondered if she’d always have the power to take his breath away.

She wrapped her arms around him from behind. “Do you know how sexy you are when you’re standing in front of a stove?” she asked, resting her cheek against his back.

“You’d be attracted to anyone who fixed you a meal after you’ve spent your days in the kitchen at Sullivan’s,” he teased.

“Nope, it’s you. You’re this gorgeous guy who looks like a cover model with abs of steel and here you are, all bare-chested and wearing one of my aprons. You just can’t get much sexier than that.” She grinned. “It takes quite a man to go with the ruffles, you know.”

He laughed. “One of these days I need to buy one of those manly barbecue aprons,” he replied. “If our friends ever catch me looking like this, I’ll never hear the end of it. There’s fresh orange juice in the refrigerator, by the way.”

“You really do pamper me,” she said, releasing him. She poured two glasses and set them on the table. “When was the last time we had a quiet breakfast, just the two of us?”

“Before we got married, I think. It’s been way too hectic since then.”

“How’d you pull it off this morning? You’re usually long gone by now.”

“I rescheduled a couple of clients.”

“Were they furious?”

“No, which was a good lesson for me. I can make more time for us if I put my mind to it.”

“So can I,” Karen said. “We need to do it more often. It’s good for the soul.” She poured herself a cup of coffee, took a sip and winced.

“Too strong?” he asked.

She laughed. “You can’t help it. I think it’s in your genes that coffee’s no good unless it makes your hair stand on end. I’ll dump in half a carton of milk and it will be fine.”

When he’d set their plates of healthy egg-white, veggie omelets and whole-grain toast on the table, he sat down across from her. “Okay, here’s the deal on the gym. It’ll be a division of The Corner Spa. In addition, there will be six partners, all of us with equal shares.”

“Who?” she asked.

“Cal, Ronnie, and Erik, plus Travis and Tom McDonald, and me.”

“How much money do you have to put up?”

“We’re still finalizing all that, but I’ll be making only a minimal financial investment compared to them,” he said. “My contribution will be mostly sweat equity. The way I understand it, that’s the way it was when Maddie went into partnership with Dana Sue and Helen on the spa. I’ll run day-to-day business operations under Maddie’s oversight—at least initially—and continue seeing my personal-training clients.”

Karen looked surprised. “You’re willing to let Maddie boss you around?”

Elliott chuckled. “What do you think she does now?”

“It’s not the same. You’re an independent contractor, not a spa employee. If you got ticked off at her, you could take your clients to Dexter’s. And speaking of those clients, are you just going to abandon them?”

“No, of course not. I’ll still do the senior classes at the spa and see my regular clients. I’ll just have to lighten the number of hours I spend there, so I can spend the bulk of my time at the gym. And they’re talking about hiring someone to be at the gym whenever I’m not, so the place can be open longer hours. It’s a win-win, Karen. We stand to make out nicely financially with a share of any profits, plus I’ll be able to handle more clients since I can work with men there and still keep the women clients I have at the spa.”

“So, there’s no real financial risk at all,” she concluded, looking relieved.

Elliott knew he could let her go on thinking like that, and, in his mind, it was mostly true, but after what had already happened, he knew he couldn’t let the comment pass.

“I do have to put up some money,” he reminded her. “An initial, short-term investment to get things off the ground.”

She frowned. “So there is a risk?”

“Come on. You know none of us would be doing this if we thought it was risky, but sure, any new business can face unexpected pitfalls.”

“How much money, Elliott?”

“We’re still working that out.”

She held his gaze. “How much?” she repeated, obviously sensing that he was being deliberately evasive.

“Ten thousand, maybe fifteen,” he said eventually, then watched as alarm registered in her eyes.

“Our savings for the baby?” she asked, her voice shaking. “All of it?”

“I know to you it sounds like a lot.”

“It is a lot. It’s all we have.”

“But the payoff,” he began, only to have her cut him off.

“If there is a payoff,” she said direly. “What if there isn’t?”

Elliott felt his temper begin to fray. “Do you have no faith in me? You’re my wife. Shouldn’t you believe in me at least as much as Cal, Ronnie, Erik and the others do?”

“It’s not a matter of not believing in you,” she insisted. “It’s our savings, Elliott. What about having a baby? I thought that mattered to you.”

“We’ll still have a baby, and we’ll have more money than ever to support it,” he insisted.

“Only if this works out the way you envision it,” she said, looking as if she were near tears.

“It’s going to work out,” he insisted. “Have a little faith.”

“I want to,” she said, her expression miserable.

“Just think about it,” he pleaded. “Talk to Maddie or Dana Sue. Ask Erik. You trust him, right? They all have confidence in this.”

“I suppose I could do that much,” she conceded with obvious reluctance. The wheels in her mind were clearly still turning. “What if it goes belly-up, Elliott? Are you protected then?”

“I’ll have to check with Helen, but I think so.”

“Make sure of it, Elliott. What if there’s some humongous lawsuit or something?”

“We’ll have liability insurance,” he assured her. “Stop worrying. Helen will protect us. You can count on that.”

“You know I’d trust her with my life,” she said. “After all, she took in my kids when I couldn’t take care of them a few years ago. There’s nobody I trust more.”

“Then hash all of this out with her. If you’re not reassured that it’s all good, we’ll keep discussing it until you are. I don’t want you panicking, Karen. But you also need to understand that this is our big chance to get ahead.”

“I get that,” she said, sounding resigned but not yet convinced.

He searched her faced. “You and me, we’re okay?”

She met his gaze. “We’re okay,” she said, though slowly.

“You don’t sound very convincing. What’s that about?”

“The issue is bigger than the gym, Elliott. We haven’t been communicating, not the way real partners should. And I know you try, but I don’t think you really understand how panicked I get about money.”

“Didn’t I just say that I get it?” he asked in frustration.

“But then you ignore it,” she argued. “Promise me when it comes to things that are important, we’ll do a better job of communicating.”

“We were communicating very well through most of the night,” he replied, trying to spark a smile.

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it. You never told me you were seeing Frances at those classes for seniors. You know how much she matters to me. It just makes me wonder how many other things you’ve kept from me. Your father—”

“My father has nothing to do with this,” he said curtly, bristling at the unfair comparison. “As for me keeping anything from you, that’s a bit of an overstatement, don’t you think? We hardly ever spend any time together. Sometimes days go by before we have a real conversation. By then, I’ve forgotten things I meant to tell you. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

She looked so hurt by his dismissive tone that he relented at once. And deep down he understood her point. “I’ll try to do better,” he promised. “I know that communication is almost as touchy a subject with you as finances. I shouldn’t have kept the whole gym thing from you, even to protect you from worry. And, believe me, I do get the money thing. I may not have lived through anything so drastic, but I saw for myself the toll it took on you.”

“Thank you. And, as I told you last night, Frances has promised to help us find more alone time. If we can manage these breakfasts occasionally, too, maybe things will get better.”

“Of course they will,” he said. He would see to it, because no one had ever mattered more to him than this woman who’d been through such terrible times when they’d met and now had blossomed into a formidable companion, lover and wife. She was his heart, and he’d do whatever it took to see that she always knew that. If only he could be sure it would ever be enough.

* * *

When Karen arrived at Sullivan’s, she found Dana Sue in a frenzy.

“What’s going on?” she asked at once. “Where’s Erik?”

“Sara Beth’s sick and Helen’s in court, so he has to stay home with Sara Beth,” she answered from inside their walk-in freezer. “I tried to reach Tina to see if she could come in early, because he’s taught her most of the dessert recipes by now, but she’s not available until this afternoon.”

She walked back into the kitchen, her cheeks pink from the icy freezer. “Can you believe there’s not even a stupid pie left in there? I guess we’re just going to have ice cream on the menu, at least for lunch.”

“What about brownies?” Karen asked. “Those are easy enough. You used to make them all the time until Erik got all territorial about desserts. If you can make those, I’ll get started on the specials. We’ll keep them simple for lunch. How about those ham-and-cheese panini Annie convinced you to put on the menu? Calling them glorified grilled-cheese sandwiches was pure genius. And maybe the walnut-and-cranberry chicken salad? I made that pot of navy bean soup yesterday, so it’s all set to go.”

Dana Sue sighed, her relief evident. “Thank you for bringing me back down to earth. I have no idea why I panicked there for a minute.”

“Because you’re addicted to that schedule you keep posted on your office wall,” Karen teased. “Deviations make you a little crazy.”

“Are you suggesting I’m a control freak?” Dana Sue asked, though her eyes were twinkling.

“I know you are,” Karen replied, just as Ronnie walked into the kitchen.

“I hear there’s a crisis,” he said, pausing to give his wife a thorough kiss. “You don’t look as crazed as you sounded on the phone. Are things better?”

“Definitely better,” Dana Sue said, “but it was Karen, not you, who made me sane.”

“Then you don’t need me to pitch in, after all?” Ronnie asked, looking relieved.

Dana Sue grinned. “Given that we don’t serve pancakes at Sullivan’s except for Sunday brunch and they’re your only specialty, I have no idea why I called you in the first place.”

“Because just the sight of me calms you down,” he suggested.

Dana Sue laughed. “Yes, I’m sure that’s it.”

“I could go over and sit with Sara Beth, if you really need Erik in here,” he offered. “I’ve got help at the hardware store till mid-afternoon.”

“No, we’re going to be fine. Karen came up with a plan.”

“Then I’ll go back and run my own business,” he said, winking at Karen. “Call if you sense she’s falling apart again.”

After he’d gone, Karen regarded Dana Sue with envy. “I love that he was willing to drop everything to run to your rescue.”

“Elliott would do the same for you,” Dana Sue insisted as she began to assemble the ingredients for the brownies. “How’d things go last night, by the way? Did you two work out your differences about the gym?”

“I’m not entirely reassured that we’re not getting in over our heads financially,” Karen said. “We’re not in the same place the rest of you are, so to me his share of the initial investment seems huge. When I said that, though, he got all defensive and implied I don’t have any faith in him.” She regarded Dana Sue in frustration. “It’s not that at all.”

“No, it’s your past history talking,” Dana Sue said. “I’m sure he gets that.”

“He says he does,” she said, then shrugged. “We’ll see. And I’m still not crazy about him not talking to me about it. He knows that, though, so I guess we’ll have to see if he leaves me out of the loop again.”

“I doubt he did it intentionally,” Dana Sue said. “Men just don’t think like we do. They like to work out all the details, consider all the angles, anticipate our objections, then present us with what they consider to be a foolproof fait accompli.”

“Are you okay with that?” Karen asked.

Dana Sue laughed. “Hardly. Control freak, remember? Only Helen has me beat on that front. And maybe Maddie.”

“But you and Ronnie found a way to work through that, right?”

“Ronnie and I have been together—and apart—and together again for a lot of years now. It has not been all smooth sailing, Karen. You know that.”

She paused while stirring the brownie batter, her expression sad. “When I found out about him cheating on me, even though he swore it was only once and a moment of total stupidity, I hated him. I didn’t trust him from here to the corner. I wanted him gone, and Helen, bless her heart, saw to it that he went. In retrospect that might not have been the best thing, especially for Annie.”

She shrugged. “But we found our way back to each other in the end. I knew when we were kids that he was the guy for me and even when I was the most furious, a part of me couldn’t stop loving him. I guess that’s what people mean when they talk about soul mates. Nothing really tears them apart, at least not for long.”

Karen nodded. “Is it possible to find your soul mate the second time around? I sure didn’t find him in Ray.”

“I think we all saw something special between you and Elliott right from the beginning,” Dana Sue said. “So, yeah, if I had to guess, I’d say he’s your soul mate. Doesn’t mean he’s perfect.” She gave Karen a pointed look. “Or that you are.”

Karen laughed. “Believe me, I get that. You know what’s amazing, though? Elliott seems to think I am.”

“Oh, boy!” Dana Sue said, laughing. “Then the man is definitely a keeper. Cut him all kinds of slack, you hear me.”

Karen heard what she was saying. She even knew Dana Sue was probably right. But she also knew if Elliott continued to leave her out of the important decision-making, especially if there were financial consequences involved, there was no way she’d be able to let it slide.

* * *

Elliott finished up with his last client of the day in late afternoon. He was anxious to pick the kids up from his mother’s, where they went after school, get them home and fed and then hang out and maybe have a nightcap with his wife. He already knew about the crisis at Sullivan’s, knew she’d be running late and would need something to unwind. After last night and their talk this morning, he’d resolved that instead of crashing as usual, he’d be there for her at the end of a long day. It was one more attempt to fix what was wrong between them.

When he arrived at his mother’s, though, he found his older sister sitting on the front stoop, her expression despondent as the kids—hers and his—ran around in the yard.

“Everything okay?” he asked Adelia, trying to gauge her mood.

“Fine.”

“Where’s Mama?”

“She went out, thank goodness. She was asking too many questions.” She said it with a pointed look at him.

“Ah, so no one’s supposed to notice that you look as if you just lost your best friend?” he suggested.

“Exactly.”

“That might go better for you if you managed to put a smile on your face,” he said lightly.

“Bite me,” she retorted. “Now that you’re here, I’ll take my kids and go.”

Frowning, he reached out and caught her hand. “Adelia, what’s wrong? Seriously.”

“Everything,” she retorted bitterly. “Seriously.”

Before he could pursue that, though, she called out to her children, loaded them into the car and drove away. Elliott stared after her. It wasn’t like Adelia to bite his head off. His other sisters might be moody from time to time, downright impossible at times, but Adelia had always had it together. She’d married Ernesto Hernandez right out of college, had their first child seven months later. The other three had come with barely ten months between them. He’d expected her to be worn out, but she seemed to glow with motherhood, at least until recently. Now she was starting to look every one of her forty-two years.

“Are we going home now?” Mack asked, sitting down beside him and interrupting his thoughts.

“We are,” Elliott said, getting to his feet, scooping up the seven-year-old and tossing him in the air until he giggled.

“Me, too,” Daisy pleaded, looking up at him with eyes as big as saucers and so much like her mother’s that it made him smile.

He grinned at her. “Young ladies don’t get tossed in the air,” he teased. “They’re sedate and quiet.”

“Not me,” she said impudently. “I’m going to be just like Selena.”

The reference to his oldest niece had him shuddering just a little. Selena, at twelve, was not only a tomboy on the verge of adolescence, but already showing a wild streak that was going to keep Adelia and Ernesto on their toes for some time to come.

“No,” he corrected. “You are going to be Daisy, your own unique, special person, little one. You do not need to copy anyone else.”

“But Selena’s really awesome,” Daisy protested. “She’s already got her first bra.”

Elliott might be able to handle the self-described cougars at the spa and their outrageous comments in relative stride, but he was pretty sure Daisy’s outspoken ways were going to be the death of him. “It’ll be a few years before you need to be thinking about bras, young lady.”

“But Selena says boys only like girls with big boobs,” she parroted, then regarded him with a perplexed expression. “What’s that mean, Elliott? Do you think she’s right?”

“It means Selena needs to get her priorities straight,” he said, resolving to mention just that to his sister. At the very least his niece needed to be more discreet in her conversations with Daisy, who was only nine, for heaven’s sake. She ought to be thinking about dolls, not boys and bras. He had a feeling that was only wishful thinking, unfortunately.

“Can we drive out to McDonald’s again tonight?” Mack pleaded, always eager to head for the fast-food place that had sprung up in the next town a few years back.

Elliott winced. He’d gotten into the bad habit of taking the kids there because it was easier than making a meal they both liked, even though he knew Karen hated them having fast food. It went against his code, as well, but sometimes best intentions got lost to expediency.

“Not tonight, buddy. We’re having spaghetti and salad.”

“But I hate salad,” Mack whined.

“And spaghetti will make me fat,” Daisy said. “Selena said so.”

“Selena doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Elliott said. “And you’ll like this salad, Mack. Your mom made it.”

Mack still didn’t look impressed, but he didn’t argue. And once they were home, he ate both the salad and the spaghetti as if he were starving. Daisy picked at both.

“May I be excused?” she asked eventually. “I have homework.”

“You can be excused, when you’ve finished your dinner,” Elliott said firmly.

“But—”

“You know the rules,” he said. “Mack, do you have homework?”

“Just spelling and math. I did it at Grandma Cruz’s house.”

Elliott had his doubts. “Could I see it, please?”

To his surprise, the math problems were completed and correct. He ran through the spelling words with Mack, who got every one of them right.

“Those were easy,” Daisy said snidely.

“Were not,” Mack said, clearly ready for a fight.

“Enough,” Elliott said, interceding. “Mack, go grab a shower and then you can watch TV for an hour before bed.” He looked at Daisy’s plate, then nodded. “Good job. Finish your homework and then you can take your bath and head for bed.”

“I want to wait up for Mom,” she protested.

“We’ll see,” Elliott told her. “Now, scoot.”

Only after they were both gone did he breathe a sigh of relief. He’d adored Daisy and Mack from the moment he’d gotten involved with Karen, but being a stepfather was still a challenge. Their personalities had already been well-formed when he’d come into their lives, and he still wavered between stern disciplinarian and outsider.

He’d mentioned adopting them early on, but Karen had seemed oddly resistant to the idea, so he’d let it go. He supposed it didn’t really matter, as long as both children knew he loved them as if they were his own. And after some initial hesitation, his mother had welcomed them into her life as full-fledged grandchildren to be enveloped in hugs and fed an endless supply of chocolate chip cookies. His nieces and nephews treated them as cousins. It sometimes seemed he was the only one who felt uncertain about his role in their lives.

Just when he was starting to fret about that yet again, Daisy emerged from her room, walked into the kitchen and threw her arms around him in the kind of impulsive gesture that was increasingly rare now that she was growing up.

“I love you,” she whispered against his chest. “I wish you were my dad.”

Holding her close, Elliott felt his eyes sting with tears. “I am your dad in every way that matters, little one. You can always count on me.”

She gazed up at him with those big eyes of hers. “Will you come to the father-daughter dance at school with me? I wasn’t going to go, because I don’t even know where my dad is, but if you’d come, it would be okay.”

He saw the surprising hint of fear in her eyes and knew she’d wondered if she was overstepping somehow, yet more evidence that even after all this time, their roles weren’t so clearly defined.

“I’d be honored,” he assured her, deeply touched by the invitation.

“Do you think it will be okay with Mom?”

The question gave him pause. He could only assume Karen would be fine with it. Surely she wouldn’t want Daisy to feel left out on such an important occasion.

“I’ll talk it over with her,” he promised. “When is this dance?”

“Next Friday,” Daisy told him. “I have to get a ticket tomorrow.”

“How much do you need?”

“Just ten dollars.”

Elliott gave her the money, then promised, “I’ll speak to your mother tonight.” He studied her expression. “Is that why you wanted to wait up? Did you want to speak to her about this first?”

She nodded. “Sometime she gets sad when I ask about things like this, like she feels bad that she’s disappointed me.” She regarded him earnestly. “But she didn’t. It’s not her fault Daddy went away. And besides, she found you.”

“The next best thing, huh?” he said, a wry note in his voice she probably didn’t understand.

“Not the next best,” she replied, then added adamantly, “The very best.”

And with that, Daisy captured yet another piece of his heart forever.

4

Despite his best intentions, Elliott fell asleep on the sofa before Karen got home from work. In the morning, both he and Karen overslept, and in the ensuing rush to get Daisy and Mack off to school, he never did have a chance to talk to her about Daisy’s school dance. After that, it slipped his mind.

It was two days later, again over a rushed breakfast, when Daisy was the one who mentioned it to her mother.

“I’m going to need a new dress for the dance, Mom,” she said.

Karen regarded her with a perplexed expression. “What dance?”

“The father-daughter dance next Friday.” Daisy turned an accusing look on Elliott. “Didn’t you tell her?”

“Sorry. I forgot,” he admitted, chagrined by the omission. “Your mom and I will talk about it after I drop you and Mack off at school, okay?”

Daisy gave him a panicked look. “But we’re going, right? You promised. I already bought the ticket.”

“We’re going,” he assured her, avoiding Karen’s gaze as he said it.

As soon as he’d driven the kids to school, he returned home to find Karen waiting for him at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in hand and a frown on her face. It was obvious she was ticked off…again.

“Please don’t make too much of this,” he said. “Daisy told me about the dance a couple of nights ago. She was so afraid she wouldn’t be able to go, but I said I’d take her. We both intended to discuss it with you first, but I fell asleep. You didn’t wake me when you came in and I just forgot.”

She sighed. “I see.”

It was evident she was still upset. What he couldn’t be sure about was why. Was it the fact he hadn’t discussed it with her or because he was overstepping by agreeing to go? Too many conversations these days seemed to be minefields for which he held no map.

“Okay, Karen, I can tell you’re not happy about this,” he began. “Does it bother you that I agreed to go to a father-daughter dance with Daisy? Was I out of line to agree?”

She shook her head at once. “Of course not. What bothers me, once again, is that you didn’t mention it to me.”

“I just explained what happened.”

“And I understand how easy it is for things like this to slip through the cracks,” she admitted. “I really do. I don’t know why I let it make me so crazy. It’s a dance, for goodness’ sakes. And I can see how badly she wants to go. Elliott, I’m sorry for turning it into some kind of issue. I really am.”

He watched her closely and, despite the careful words, realized that there was more going on. It finally dawned on him what it was. “This dance involves buying a fancy dress,” he said with sudden understanding. “A dress that’s not really in our budget.”

She nodded. “That’s definitely part of it. I know the whole money thing worries me way too much, Elliott. You’re nothing like Ray. We’ve even been able to save for a baby, but the dress on top of the whole gym thing? It’s like the straw that broke the camel’s back. I guess it’s just a knee-jerk reaction, but I don’t know how to respond any differently when these unexpected expenses come up. Panic just crawls up the back of my throat and I can’t seem to stop it.”

Though money had never been plentiful in his own family, Elliott and his sisters had never wanted for anything. It was harder for him to grasp just how terrible things had been for Karen, especially after Ray had walked out on her. She’d been in danger of being evicted from her apartment more than once, in danger of being fired from Sullivan’s because she’d had to bail on her job too frequently due to crises with the kids that she’d been left alone to handle. Because of the debt Ray had left behind, she’d teetered at the edge of bankruptcy. It had taken all of her emotional resources and her energy to avoid it.

When they’d married, she’d insisted they plan their combined budget down to the penny and obsessed over every expense that had exceeded their projections. He understood her need to feel in control, but he also understood that with kids they needed wiggle room for things like this dance.

“We have a contingency fund,” he reminded her.

“For emergencies, not a dress.”

“For Daisy this amounts to an emergency,” he said reasonably. “Going to this dance really matters to her. It’s not about a party. It’s about having a dad.”

Karen met his gaze, looking chagrined. “I know you’re right.”

He was struck by a compromise. “Why don’t I ask Adelia if Selena has some party dresses she’s outgrown?” he suggested. “That child has a wardrobe fit for a princess. Since Daisy idolizes her, maybe she won’t feel as if she’s being given a hand-me-down dress. What do you think?”

Karen’s expression immediately brightened. “That’s perfect.”

“You don’t think Daisy will be disappointed about not going to shop for a dress with you?” he asked.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “And so will I, but this is the way it needs to be. Check with Adelia and see what she says.”

“Will do,” he promised, dropping a kiss onto her forehead. “One more crisis averted.”

“Do you think there will ever be a day when there isn’t one?” she inquired plaintively.

“With two kids and the hope for more, it’s not likely,” he told her candidly. “But life is unpredictable. That’s what keeps it interesting.”

She laughed. “Sometimes I’d like things to be a little less interesting.”

“Why don’t we talk about that over dinner tomorrow? Something simple that won’t break the bank,” he suggested impulsively. “I can give Frances a call, see if she’s available. How about you? Are you off?”

She nodded. “As far as I know.”

“Then it’s a plan,” he said. “Love you.”

She smiled as he kissed her. “Love you, too.”

He was counting on that love to help them weather these rough patches. Big or small, it didn’t seem to matter, because each one was a test, and he intended to see to it that they passed. Anything less was unacceptable.

* * *

Frances had been delighted when Elliott had called to ask her to sit with Daisy and Mack. These days any distraction was a good one. She hadn’t been able to push the whole conversation with Liz and Flo out of her mind for long. She had, however, successfully avoided making that call for an appointment with her doctor. Each time one of them reminded her of her promise, she brushed them off. She was feeling just fine now, and there hadn’t been any more disturbing incidents. She convinced herself they were all worrying over nothing.

She did, however, ask Elliott to pick her up. “I don’t much like driving at night anymore,” she confessed. Left unsaid was the fact that she found the new suburban neighborhood just outside of Serenity where they’d bought their small home confusing with its many cul-de-sacs. It was difficult enough to navigate in the daytime. At night, for anyone unfamiliar with the street names, it was impossible.

She was ready for him when he arrived, a box of freshly baked cookies in her hands. Elliott smiled when he saw them.

“You do know their mother’s a chef, don’t you?” he teased.

“And when was the last time she had the time to bake cookies at home?” Frances replied. “I know your mother probably has a batch ready for them after school, but Daisy and Mack love my oatmeal-raisin cookies.”

“So do I,” Elliott said, giving her a wink. “Last time you sent them over, I gained two pounds.”

She gave him a wry look. “Two pounds? Lucky you. I usually gain five if I don’t ration them out.”

“The kids are really looking forward to seeing you tonight,” he told her. “And Karen and I are incredibly grateful that you’re willing to sit with them for a couple of hours.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she assured him. “I miss them. Just be sure to fill me in on the rules, so I don’t let them get away with any mischief. I haven’t forgotten how sneaky children that age can be. They tend to torment substitute teachers and babysitters by trying to stretch the boundaries.”

“As if you’re ever likely to let them get away with that,” he teased. “I know your reputation. You’re probably a better disciplinarian than either one of us.”

“That was a long time ago. I’m a softie now,” she said. “Especially when it comes to those two.” She sighed. “They’re getting so big. I remember when Karen first moved in across the hall. They were little more than babies. Times were so tough for her then.”

“And you were a godsend,” he said. “I’m not sure how she would have managed without you. Seems to me, you’re rushing back to our rescue now.”

Frances regarded him curiously. “Are things still not quite right, then?”

“Mostly they’re fine,” he said at once. “We’re adjusting, that’s all.”

“You do realize that’s what marriage takes, don’t you? You have to constantly adjust as your family grows and priorities change. Being rigid can be the kiss of death.”

“I wish Karen understood that,” he said. “I understand why she feels the need to keep such a tight rein on expenses and such. I don’t even disagree. I just see her worrying herself sick over every dime, and I don’t know how to reassure her that we’re in good shape. She sees the bank statements and writes the checks, same as I do, so she knows that.”

“Knowing it intellectually and coming from the emotional place she’s been are two different things,” Frances reminded him. “Cut her a little slack. Every month that the bills are paid and you’re all fed and happy will reassure her. The fact that you understand why she worries will help you keep this in perspective. It would be a shame if her past caused problems for you in the present.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Elliott vowed as he pulled into the driveway.

Frances reached over and touched his arm. “I’m counting on you to make her happy, Elliott. She took a huge leap of faith when she allowed herself to fall in love with you.”

He nodded. “I know that, and I intend to do my best never to let either of you down.”

“Just for that, I’ll see that the kids leave at least a few of these cookies for you,” she promised.

* * *

Karen stood in the doorway as she and Elliott were about to leave for their midweek date, her gaze on Frances, who was on the sofa with Daisy on one side and Mack on the other. As they munched on cookies, they vied for a chance to fill her in on their lives, their words tumbling over each other as Frances chuckled.

“Look how much they adore her,” she whispered to Elliott. “They’re so lucky to have her in their lives.”

“I think she counts herself as the lucky one,” he said. “It’s such a shame that her grandchildren don’t get here to visit very often. She was meant to be surrounded by kids. Her students used to fill that void, but she’s been retired a long time now.”

As they drove into town for a casual dinner at Rosalina’s, Karen voiced the concern that she’d kept to herself for a while now. “How much longer do you suppose we’ll have her?”

“There’s no way of predicting such a thing,” Elliott said. “We just have to be grateful for every minute we do have.”

“I think she’s slowing down, though. I never noticed it before, but tonight she just seemed a little tentative to me.”

Elliott frowned. “Tentative, how?”

“I’m not sure I can explain it. Even though she’s been to the house before, she seemed a little uncertain about where things were. Didn’t you notice that? And just having you pick her up was a change. Usually she drives herself everywhere.”

“She told me she doesn’t like driving after dark anymore. A lot of people her age have vision problems at night. The streetlights and headlights bother them. And let’s face it, our neighborhood isn’t the easiest to navigate.”

“I suppose that’s all it is,” Karen said, then regarded him with a grin. “Enough doom and gloom and trying to anticipate something that’s in God’s hands. You and I are actually having a date night. How amazing is that?”

He gave her a slow once-over that had her blood stirring. “A date night, huh? Does that mean we get to park and make out before I take you home?”

She grinned at him. “Depends on how good this date is,” she said. “Do you still remember how to woo me?”

He winked. “I’ll definitely give it my best shot, especially with that payoff you hinted could be mine.” He reached for her hand, brought it to his lips even as he kept his eyes squarely on the road. After the kiss, he rested her hand on his thigh, covered by his hand. She felt the involuntary bunching of his muscle, the heat of his skin. It made her feel not only very feminine but powerful, knowing the effect she had on him.

After Elliott pulled into a parking space and cut the engine, he turned to her. His expression stern, he said, “Remember, no trying to figure out the secret ingredients or trying to sneak a peek into the kitchen. This is a date, not an undercover op to check out the competition.”

Karen chuckled. “I figured out all of Rosalina’s secret ingredients years ago. I don’t do any culinary spying here. I can just relax and enjoy my meal.”

“Ah, so it’s only in the restaurants in Charleston and Columbia I have to worry about what you’re up to when you claim to be going to the restroom,” he teased. “And whether you’re more interested in the food than in me.”

“I will always be more interested in you than anything,” she assured him, then added thoughtfully, “Unless somebody happens to have the perfect chocolate soufflé on the menu. I’d love to get a handle on that one.”

“Don’t let Erik ever hear you suggest that his isn’t perfect,” Elliott warned. “The man’s pastry skills are supposedly legendary, at least around South Carolina.”

“Pies, cakes, cobblers, I’ll give him all of those,” Karen said. “But making a soufflé is an art. And if you’ll think about it, Sullivan’s doesn’t have it on the menu, not ever. It’s because Erik knows his isn’t perfection. I’d love to surpass his skill at just one thing someday.”

“Google it,” Elliott suggested. “Find the finest chocolate soufflé maker in the state, and I’ll take you there.”

She regarded him with amazement. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

“If it would make you happy, anything,” he said. “Don’t you know that by now?”

She smiled. Mostly she did, but it didn’t hurt being reminded of it every now and then.

* * *

Date night was a huge success all around. Karen felt revived after an entire evening with her husband with no crises. The kids pleaded with Frances to spend the night, so Karen found her a nightgown and settled her into the guest room. Frances promised to make them all French toast for breakfast, before sending everyone off on their busy days.

When Karen crawled out of bed in the morning, she found Frances in the kitchen, already dressed. She’d gathered the ingredients for French toast, something she’d made as a regular treat for the kids when they’d lived next door. Now, though, she was just standing there regarding everything with a vaguely perplexed expression.

“Frances?” Karen said softly, trying not to startle her. “Is everything okay?”

Frances jumped slightly, her expression filled with dismay. “Oh, my goodness, dear, you scared me. I didn’t hear you come in.”

Karen gave her a hug. “You looked a little distracted.”

“I suppose my mind wandered there for a minute. I’m perfectly fine.”

Though her words were reassuring, something still felt wrong to Karen. Trying to act casual, she slipped past her and started the coffee, then asked, “How about some help? I could whisk the eggs, cinnamon and milk together for you.”

Her offer seemed to trigger something for Frances. “Absolutely not,” she said briskly. “I’ve been making French toast for years. I can handle it.”

But despite her confident words, she seemed to hesitate as she went to work, her movements deliberate as if she was giving extra thought to what she was doing.

In the end, the French toast was perfect, and the kids gobbled it up with noisy exuberance. Elliott, who normally stuck to healthy egg whites or a high-fiber cereal in the morning, ate his share of the breakfast treat, as well.

As soon as the dishes were in the dishwasher, he offered to drop the kids at school. “Frances, why don’t I drop you off, too?”

“I’ll take her,” Karen said, wanting a little more time to see if she could pin down why things seemed so off with Frances on this visit. “I need my fair share of Frances’s attention before we let her get back to her normal routine.” She looked at her friend. “Is that okay? Are you in a rush? I’ll be ready in a half hour.”

“Actually I think I’d better go with Elliott,” Frances said, avoiding Karen’s gaze. “I have things to do this morning.”

Karen saw the lie for exactly what it was, an excuse to evade Karen’s questions.

“Sure, if that works better for you,” she told the older woman. “Next time maybe you can stay with us for the weekend. We’d all love that, wouldn’t we, Daisy and Mack?”

The enthusiastic chorus of responses from the kids brought a smile to Frances’s lips. “Then that’s exactly what we’ll do,” she said readily. “Mack, you can teach me how to play that video game you were telling me about. And, Daisy, I’m going to want to hear all about the father-daughter dance you’re going to with Elliott.”

Elliott urged them all to the door, then cast a last curious look back at Karen. “Everything okay?” he murmured.

“I’m honestly not sure,” she said, not even trying to hide her frustration. “You’d better go, though. We’ll talk about it later.”

He kissed her, his lips lingering against hers. “Great date,” he murmured against her mouth, a wicked sparkle in his eyes.

“Coming home was even better,” she replied, thinking of how tenderly he’d made love to her before they’d fallen asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

He grinned. “Yeah, it was.” He cupped her chin in his hand, held her gaze until heat stirred. “I’ll call Adelia today about the dresses, or would you rather do it?”

She gave him a wry look. “Asking your sister for a favor? We’re not quite there yet. She still hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” he protested. “She’s just overly protective of me. I’ll call.”

Just then, someone in the car hit the horn to urge him to hurry. Elliott chuckled.

“I’d better go before one of the kids decides they’re old enough to take the car for a spin.”

“Not to worry. Frances would never allow them to get away with that,” Karen said, but even as she spoke the words, she wondered if they were true. She’d seen signs that Frances was changing, and, though she had no idea just what those signs might mean, she suspected it couldn’t be anything good.

* * *

Elliott called his older sister at midmorning during a break between his spinning class and his jazzercise class. She answered the phone with the same harried, impatient tone she’d had at his mother’s a few days earlier.

“Things sound less than cheerful at the Hernandez casa this morning,” he said lightly. “What’s going on, Adelia?”

“Nothing,” she said, her tone clipped. “Why are you calling?”

“Actually I need a favor,” he said, “for Daisy.”

“Of course,” she said at once. Though she might not have totally welcomed Karen into the family, she had opened her arms and her heart to Daisy and Mack. “What does she need?”

“You know about the father-daughter dance at the school?”

“It’s all Selena’s talked about,” she said. “She says it’s lame, but she’s still begged her father to take her. Ernesto’s not thrilled, but he’s agreed. Now it’s up to me to keep him from backing out at the last minute and disappointing her. Are you taking Daisy?”

“She asked me to,” he said.

“I’m so glad. I was afraid she was going to feel left out.”

“The thing is, she needs a fancy dress. Our budget’s pretty tight these days.”

“And Selena has a whole closetful of dresses,” Adelia said, immediately understanding. “Why don’t I pick out a few and bring them by the spa? She can try them on at home tonight.”

“You could just take them over to Mama’s if that would be easier,” he suggested.

“And have Selena notice and make some thoughtless comment about Daisy getting her hand-me-downs? Bad idea.”

“Of course,” Elliott said, wishing he’d thought of the potential for hurt feelings. “I’ll be here the rest of the day. Drop them by, anytime. You can use the spa while you’re here, maybe have a workout.”

Silence greeted the offer. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you suggesting I’ve put on a few pounds?”

Elliott had the sense he’d just inadvertently wandered into another of those minefields the females in his life were known for. “I would never suggest such a thing,” he said quickly. “Has Ernesto said something to you?” If so, he’d have a little chat with his brother-in-law about showing some respect to his wife. So what if she was carrying a little extra weight from those close-together pregnancies? Those were Ernesto’s babies she’d been carrying.

“Ernesto seems to have a lot of opinions lately,” Adelia said with rare bitterness. “I’ve stopped listening.”

Now Elliott knew he was smack in the middle of the minefield. No matter where he stepped, there was danger. “Want to talk about it?” he asked carefully.

“I do not,” she said tersely. “I’ll be by later with some dresses.”

Taking his cue from her, he let the matter drop. “Thanks.”

She hesitated, then said in a quieter tone, “It’s sweet, what you’re doing for Daisy.”

“It’s not sweet. I just don’t ever want her to miss out on things because her dad’s not around,” he said.

“And that’s sweet,” Adelia insisted again. “When are you and Karen going to have a child of your own?”

It was a question she, their sisters and their mother had been asking regularly practically since he and Karen had said, “I do.”

“When the time is right for us,” he said as he always did. Telling her simply to mind her own business was useless.

At least this answer seemed to silence her, though not for long, he realized, when she asked, “And when will that be?”

“Adelia, as my oldest sister, you will be among the first to know,” he assured her. “Right after Mama.”

“I want to be first,” she teased. “Who taught you everything you know about girls? Who else protected you from the bullies at school?”

“Not you, for sure,” he said, laughing. “You were all talk, and almost got me in more trouble than I could handle with that sassy mouth of yours.”

She laughed, the first genuinely carefree sound he’d heard since the conversation began. “It made you strong, didn’t it? And you were a huge hit with all the girls because I told you what women like.”

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. See you soon.”

“Te amo, mi hermano.”

“I love you, too.”

Even though his sisters had the ability to drive him crazy in less than a heartbeat, he couldn’t imagine his life without them. He wanted Karen to benefit from being surrounded by all that love, as well, but it had been slow going so far. Though their open hostility toward her had faded, his sisters’ caution was still firmly in place. One of these days he’d have to find a way to bridge that gap.

Karen had her share of friends, counted on them as she would family, but he knew from a lifetime of experience that the support of love and family made all life’s problems just a little easier.

5

Elliott walked into the gym at school with Daisy on his arm. Karen had piled her daughter’s light brown hair on top of her head in an arrangement of curls. The dress they’d chosen together was pastel pink satin that seemed to bring out the color in her cheeks and made her eyes sparkle. Or perhaps that was the excitement of attending her first real dance.

She stood in the doorway, looking around with an awed expression at the tiny white lights that decorated potted trees, the disco ball hanging from the ceiling that sent out shafts of color as it spun, and the usual colorful streamers that turned a big empty space into something special.

“It’s beautiful,” she said softly, turning to him with delight shining in her eyes.

“You’re beautiful,” Elliott told her sincerely. “You look very grown up. I think you may be the prettiest girl in the room.”

“Not really,” she said, though she looked pleased. “Are Selena and Ernesto here yet?”

“I don’t see them,” he said, scanning the room, which was already crowded with young girls and their fathers. The excitement was at a fever pitch, as was the noise level.

When the disc jockey began to play a slow song, Elliott looked down into Daisy’s hopeful face. “Would you care to dance?”

“Really?” she asked, sounding breathless with anticipation.

“That’s why we’re here, is it not? I imagine I can still make it around the floor a time or two without stepping on your toes.”

He showed her where to put her hands, then counted for her as she awkwardly tried to follow his lead. At the end of the song, she took a deep breath. “I’m glad it’s you and not a boy,” she said, her expression filled with frustration. “I’m no good at this. I’ll never have a date.”

“You’ll get the hang of it long before you’re old enough to go on your first date,” he promised just as he spotted Ernesto and Selena coming their way. His brother-in-law looked oddly out of sorts.

“How’d Daisy talk you into being here?” Ernesto asked, his tone sour. “You wouldn’t catch me near this place if Adelia hadn’t raised a fuss.”

Elliott caught the shadow that passed over Selena’s face at her father’s thoughtless words.

Instead of talking back to her father, though, she whirled on Daisy. “That’s my dress!” she announced in a voice loud enough to carry to several nearby girls, who immediately giggled. “Mom must have dug it out of my throw-away pile.”

Elliott frowned at his niece. “Selena, enough!” he said sharply since Ernesto seemed to have no interest in correcting his daughter. “You’re deliberately trying to embarrass your cousin.”

“She’s not my real cousin,” Selena said nastily. “And you’re not her real dad.”

At Selena’s cruel words, Daisy looked stunned, then burst into tears and ran from the room. Elliott hesitated only long enough to give Selena a disappointed look. “I thought your mother had raised you to be kinder than that,” he said quietly. He held his brother-in-law’s gaze. “And you have nothing to say about this kind of behavior?”

Ernesto only shrugged. “What can I say? She’s her mother’s daughter.”

Elliott shook his head, wondering not for the first time what on earth was happening to his sister’s marriage. “I’ll deal with both of you later.”

He took off to find Daisy. She was pushing ineffectively at a locked door at the end of the corridor.

“Niña,” he said quietly. “Little one, I’m sorry.”

“I want to go home,” she pleaded, turning her tear-streaked face toward him.

“And I will take you, if that’s what you really want,” he told her. “But sometimes when people misbehave as badly as Selena did in there, the best thing to do is hold your chin up high and show people that you’re better than that.”

“But everybody’s laughing at me,” Daisy said, her eyes filling once more with tears. She regarded him with bewilderment. “I thought we were friends. Why would she be so mean?”

Elliott wondered about that himself. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I think perhaps she is very unhappy tonight.”

Daisy looked intrigued by his response. “How come?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, not wanting to suggest that Ernesto had let her down. “But I think she took her own unhappiness out on you. That was very wrong, but perhaps you will be the bigger person and find it in your heart to try to understand and forgive her.”

Daisy seemed to consider his words for a very long time before she met his gaze and asked with a sniff, “Do I have to?”

Elliott had to turn away to hide a smile. “No, little one, you don’t have to, but I hope you will. Despite what happened here tonight, we’re still family.”

She sighed heavily. “Okay, I’ll think about it.” She met his gaze. “But I still don’t want to go back. Please, can we go?”

“Why don’t we go to Wharton’s for ice cream?” he suggested. “How about that?”

She gave him a wobbly smile. “Ice cream would be good.”

On the way to Wharton’s, she wiped away the last of her tears and turned to him. “Before Selena said all those things, I had a good time, Elliott. Thank you for taking me.”

“Anytime,” he assured her. “And I had a good time, too. Next year’s father-daughter dance will be better. I promise.”

And first thing in the morning, he intended to get to the bottom of whatever had made his niece behave in such an uncharacteristically rotten way. His brother-in-law might be comfortable letting it slide, but he most definitely was not.

* * *

“Selena said what to Daisy?” Karen asked, her expression stunned when Elliott described the awful scene at the dance. “Why would Selena do such a thing? Daisy adores her. She must have been crushed.”

“At first, yes,” he admitted. “But a hot fudge sundae seemed to go a long way toward making her feel better.”

“At least this explains why she went straight to her room when you got back here just now and didn’t answer when I asked about the dance.”

“She felt humiliated, no question about it,” he admitted, looking chagrined. “For my niece to do such a thing…” He shook his head. “Honestly, though, I’m more worried about Selena right now. Something was not quite right with her tonight. I got the sense that Ernesto had no desire to be there and had made that plain to her. Maybe his insensitivity explains why she was so mean to Daisy.”

“That’s no excuse,” Karen said.

“Of course not,” Elliott agreed, for once not taking his family’s side. “I think there’s a lot more to the story. Adelia hasn’t been acting herself lately, either. I’ll get to the bottom of all of it tomorrow. And, trust me, Selena will apologize.”

“A forced apology won’t mean much,” Karen said.

“But it is necessary, nonetheless,” he said with conviction. “People in this family do not behave in such a way.” He gave Karen an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry the night was ruined for Daisy. I wanted so badly for it to be special, a memory she could cherish.”

Karen could see how upset he was that a member of his family had caused her distress. “As you said, the sundae went a long way toward fixing things. I’m sure it will all blow over.”

He hesitated, then said, “There is one thing Selena said that I think we should discuss, something we could correct.”

Karen frowned at that. “Why is it up to us to correct anything that Selena said out of spite?”

“Because we can,” he said simply. “She said Daisy wasn’t her real cousin and that I wasn’t her real dad. We’ve talked before about me adopting Daisy and Mack, but we haven’t made a decision. Maybe it’s time we did.”

Karen nodded distractedly. The subject of adoption had come up in passing before. She’d let it slide, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Tonight, though, she simply couldn’t focus on such an important topic.

“We’ll talk about it,” she said, “but not now. I need to check on Daisy.”

Elliott’s sigh hinted at his exasperation, but she ignored it. Tonight Daisy came first. She was still seething over what had happened. At least this once Elliott hadn’t rushed to take his niece’s side. Sometimes, she thought, he wore blinders where his family was concerned. There had been a few occasions when Adelia, his other sisters and even his mother had been just as careless of her feelings. Thankfully, though, that was mostly in the past.

As she stood to go to her daughter, she leaned down and kissed him. “Thanks for taking such good care of her.”

“It’s my job,” he said simply.

She found Daisy in bed with the covers pulled up high. The dress, which had been the cause of tonight’s incident, was in a heap on the floor.

“You should have hung this up,” Karen said lightly, picking it up and putting it on a hanger.

“Why? I’ll never wear it again. I don’t want it here. Give it back to dumb Selena if she cares about it so much. And I don’t want to go to Grandma Cruz’s after school anymore, not if Selena is going to be there.”

Karen sighed at the stubbornly determined note in Daisy’s voice. She sat on the edge of the bed, still holding the dress as she met her daughter’s gaze. “We’ll discuss where you’ll go after school another time. I’d rather focus on what happened tonight. Maybe I can help you to understand it.”

“Selena’s just selfish, that’s all.”

Karen shook her head. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You know, don’t you, that what Selena said most likely wasn’t about the dress at all?”

“What then?”

“Elliott seems to think her dad wasn’t very excited about taking her to the dance, not the way Elliott was so happy to be there with you. I suspect Selena was jealous.”

Daisy sat up, her eyes wide. That her idol might have been jealous of her clearly intrigued her. “Of me?”

Karen nodded. “You know that Elliott adores you. It made him feel great that you asked him to take you to the dance. Ernesto seemed to think it was a chore or a duty he couldn’t get out of. I’m sure that hurt Selena’s feelings. Can you understand that?”

Daisy’s expression turned thoughtful. It was a lot to ask of a nine-year-old that she try to grasp the impact of an adult’s hurtful actions.

“I guess,” she said eventually.

“Then maybe you can think about focusing on how lucky you are to have Elliott as a stepdad and consider forgiving her,” Karen suggested.

“Maybe,” Daisy said grudgingly.

Karen leaned down to hug her. “Just think about it. Good night, angel. I’m sorry your first dance wasn’t everything you wanted it to be.”

“It started out okay,” Daisy admitted. “Elliott was teaching me to dance.”

“He’s got some very nice moves on a dance floor,” Karen said, smiling at the memory of dancing with him at their wedding.

“All the other girls were watching him,” Daisy admitted. “I think they all wanted to dance with him.”

“I imagine they’ll have a lot of questions for you on Monday morning,” Karen said. “But you’ll have to tell them he’s taken, that he belongs to your mom.”

Daisy giggled. “Mom!”

“Well, it’s true,” Karen said.

“I think he’s the best stepdad in the whole world,” Daisy said.

“I think so, too,” Karen said softly. The very best.

And when she weighed that against the petty annoyances that had come between them lately, there was absolutely no contest. The day she’d found Elliott had been the luckiest of her life. When the going got tough—and there was little doubt that it would again—she needed to remember that.

* * *

Elliott usually barely managed to squeeze out a half hour for lunch on Saturdays, but this week he turned his eleven o’clock appointment over to the spa’s other personal trainer and headed to his sister’s, determined to get to the bottom of whatever was going on in her household these days.

When he drove up to the large home Ernesto had built on a wooded acre of land outside of Serenity, he heard the kids splashing in the pool around back. Normally he would have circled around to greet them, but today his only goal was to get Adelia alone for a heart-to-heart conversation.

Just as he was about to ring the doorbell, the front door was flung open and Ernesto brushed past him, a scowl on his face. From inside the house, he heard Adelia shouting after him not to bother coming home.

Elliott closed his eyes, muttered a prayer for guidance, then walked inside to find his sister alone in the kitchen slamming dishes into the dishwasher, tears streaming down her face. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her.

“Tell me,” he commanded.

She turned to him, her expression stricken. Wiping ineffectively at her tears, she tried to force a smile. “I didn’t know you were here. How’d you get in?”

“Your husband kindly left the door open as he left,” he said wryly. “I heard, Adelia. I heard you tell him not to bother coming home.”

She waved off the comment. “People say things like that all the time. I didn’t mean it.”

“It sounded to me as if you did.”

“Oh, what do you know? You’re still in the honeymoon phase. What do you know about marital fights?”

He smiled at that. “Karen and I have had our share.”

“And gotten past them,” she said, her tone brisk. “Ernesto and I will, as well. Now, let me pour you a cup of coffee. I have some of Mama’s cookies here, too.” She frowned then. “Why aren’t you at the spa? I thought Saturday was one of your busiest days.”

“It is, but I thought we needed to talk about what happened last night.”

She frowned, looking genuinely mystified. “Last night? Did something happen at the dance? Selena didn’t say a word. Neither did Ernesto.”

“I’m not surprised,” Elliott said. “It wouldn’t show either of them in the best light.” He described the scene at the dance. “Selena deliberately humiliated Daisy in front of all their classmates.”

“I am so sorry,” Adelia said at once, her expression heartsick. “I’ll deal with this right now. Selena’s behavior was totally unacceptable. Poor Daisy. My heart breaks for her.”

She was about to call Selena in from the pool, but Elliott stopped her. “I think the more important question may be why she was so upset that she lashed out in the first place.”

When she didn’t immediately answer, he prodded, “Adelia?”

Adelia sighed heavily. “I suspect you can blame her father for that. Ernesto didn’t want to go. Just as I’d feared he might, he invented some sort of important business meeting and intended to bail at the last minute. I stepped in and insisted that he couldn’t disappoint his daughter like that. I’m afraid Selena overheard us arguing. She knew her father was ready to choose business over her, that he didn’t care if he let her down.”

“Has that been happening a lot lately?” he asked, holding her gaze. “The fighting, I mean.”

She blinked and looked away. “We’ll work things out. We always do,” she said, almost by rote. It sounded as if she’d been using the same words to try to convince herself for some time now.

“Have you talked to Mama about whatever’s going on?” he pressed.

She gave him an incredulous look. “Are you crazy? And listen to her lectures on how it’s all my fault if things aren’t a hundred percent rosy in my marriage? You know how Mama is. She believes all husbands should be treated like kings, even if they’re acting like asses.”

Elliott smiled at her assessment. “True enough,” he said. “She was certainly devoted to our father, no matter how unreasonable he was being.”

“Trust me, Papa was a bastion of reason and calm compared to Ernesto.”

There was a bleak note in her voice that Elliott found worrisome. “Adelia, is he bullying you? Abusing you?”

She closed her eyes, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. “Nothing like that. I’d never allow it. For all of my weaknesses, I do have enough pride not to tolerate such disrespect.”

“I hope not,” he said, still concerned. “I’d straighten him out if he ever raised a hand to you.”

Adelia almost smiled at his vow. “I know you would, and I love you for it.”

“Would you like me to stay and have a talk with Selena myself?”

She shook her head. “No. I’ll handle it. There’s no need for you to witness the tantrum she’s likely to throw when I tell her she’s grounded for the next month.”

Elliott was startled by the severity of the punishment his sister intended. “A month?”

She shrugged. “Anything less is just an inconvenience. Believe me, a month is the only thing that gets her attention.”

“Maybe what she needs more than punishment is reassurance that her parents are going to work harder to get along,” Elliott suggested.

Adelia gave him a sad look. “I try not to make promises I’m not sure I can keep,” she said as she walked him to the door.

Elliott wanted to stay, wanted to wipe the sorrow from his sister’s eyes, but he wasn’t the one who had the power to do that. And it was increasingly apparent that the man who held that power didn’t care.

* * *

“Is Frances going to be looking after Daisy and Mack tomorrow night by any chance?” Dana Sue asked Karen on Monday.

Karen regarded her boss with surprise. “I hadn’t planned on it. I’m off tomorrow, remember? I’ll be home with the kids.”

“Let me rephrase,” Dana Sue said, sounding more like Helen, when she was cross-examining a reluctant witness. “Can Frances take care of the kids tomorrow night?”

Puzzled, Karen shrugged. “I’d have to check with her, but probably. What’s this about? Do you need me to work after all?”

“Nope. The guys—except for Erik, who’ll be in charge here—are all getting together for basketball and more talk about the gym, so the wives decided we deserve to have a margarita night. It’s been ages since we’ve had one. We want you to come.”

“I thought margarita nights were some sort of sacred ritual for the Sweet Magnolias,” Karen said. She’d certainly never before been invited.

“And we think you should officially be one of us,” Dana Sue said with a grin. “If Elliott’s going to be in business with some of us and our husbands, then you should be included when the girls get together.”

“Really?” Karen said, surprised by the hint of wistfulness that had crept into her voice. She’d always wondered about those mysterious nights Dana Sue, Maddie, Helen and their friends spent together. She’d never given two figs about the margaritas, but the strong bond of their friendship was something she’d desperately envied. She’d been on the receiving end of that support system from time to time and understood its value.

“Really,” Dana Sue assured her. “And before you get all weird and panicky, there are no secret rites or oaths, other than what happens at margarita nights stays at margarita nights.”

Karen grinned. “I can do that.”

“Then tomorrow night at seven at my place.”

“What can I bring?”

“Not a thing. I fix the guacamole. Helen makes the margaritas, and since they feel that we now need more food to sop up any alcohol, Maddie, Jeanette, Annie, Raylene and Sarah take turns bringing other food. Believe me, Maddie will see that you’re assigned your turn. She’s going to be thrilled about putting another chef into the rotation. Aside from me, Raylene’s the only one with any real creativity in the kitchen.”

Karen thought of the progress Raylene had made in overcoming her agoraphobia. There’d been a time not that long ago when all margarita nights had to be held at her house to accommodate her terror of leaving the safety of her own home.

“Raylene’s really better now, isn’t she?” she asked Dana Sue. “It’s hard to believe she’s the same person. I see her at her dress shop and out with Carter and his sisters all the time now.”

Dana Sue smiled. “Just one of the many miracles we’ve been blessed by in this town.”

Karen started back to work on the salads for the day’s lunch, but eventually curiosity got the better of her. She glanced over at Dana Sue. “Why now, Dana Sue? Is it just because you don’t want me to feel left out?”

Dana Sue, who could always be counted on for candor, said honestly, “That’s part of it, no question about it. But for a long time, your life was so complicated with Helen keeping your kids so you wouldn’t lose them and your future working here so insecure, we didn’t think it was a good idea to blur the boundaries any more.” She smiled. “Just like Raylene, you’re not the same person you were a few years ago. We all like you. We always have. Now, though, I think it’s more as if we’re all meeting on level ground.”

“As equals,” Karen suggested.

Dana Sue laughed. “That’s sounds so incredibly stuffy and narrow-minded of us, but in a way, yes. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings.”

Karen shook her head. “Actually, to the contrary, it makes me proud to know how far I’ve come in getting my life together. I was a mess a few years ago. And even without me being an official Sweet Magnolia, you all helped me. I’ll always be grateful to you for that.”

“And now we’ll get to find out if you can hold your tequila any better than the rest of us,” Dana Sue said.

Karen thought of how little she drank, because she didn’t like the lack of control that came with alcohol or the wasted expense of buying it. “Something tells me I’m going to be no competition on that front. I’m a weakling in the margarita department. Will that be a problem?”

“Nope,” Dana Sue assured her. “It’ll just leave more for us. But if you turn down my killer guacamole, we just might have to reconsider.”

“Now that will never happen,” Karen said, laughing. She hadn’t been married to Elliott all this time without learning how to handle plenty of spice.

6

Frances was delighted to be spending the evening with Daisy and Mack. For one thing it was much less stressful than evading questions from Flo and Liz about whether or not she’d made an appointment with her doctor. They were getting tiresome.

Even though she was where she wanted to be—away from the prying eyes of her friends—she was grateful that Daisy and Mack had plenty of homework to keep them occupied. For some reason trying to keep up appearances these days was exhausting. She was relieved to be able to simply sit and glance through the magazines she’d brought along or to watch TV.

She was startled when she glanced up and found Mack standing in front of her, his expression a mix of dismay and embarrassment. She’d seen that look often enough in her classrooms over the years to have a pretty good idea this was about homework troubles.

“Is everything okay, Mack?”

He shrugged.

Frances had to hide a smile. Even at seven, kids had a lot of pride. “How’s your homework going?” she prodded. “All finished?”

He shook his head, his cheeks turning even pinker. “I don’t get my math problems.” He gave her a pleading look. “Could you help me? Subtracting’s hard.”

Though she was pleased to be asked, she wondered if she’d be any help. “I can certainly try,” she said. “And if I can’t, I imagine Jenny can.”

His expression turned puzzled. “Jenny? Who’s that?”

Frances blinked, then shook her head and gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Did I say Jenny? I meant Daisy. Jenny’s my granddaughter. She lives in Charleston.” Jenny had been named for her mother, Frances’s daughter, Jennifer.

Mack’s face lit up. “I remember her. She used to come to visit. Sometimes she even spent the weekend.”

“She did,” Frances confirmed. “What a wonderful memory you have!” At the moment, she envied him.

“She was bigger than Daisy, though,” he said, looking perplexed again. “How old is she?”

Frances felt as if she were slogging through mental mush as she tried to recall. “She must be fifteen now.” Or was she older? Had Jenny gone off to college? Or was that Marilou? And why couldn’t she keep them straight? There were three girls, she remembered that much. Jennifer had so hoped for a boy that last pregnancy, but there’d been another girl. On the teacher salaries she and her husband earned, they’d decided a fourth child simply wasn’t in the cards.

Darn! If she could remember all that, why couldn’t she keep the names and ages straight?

The answer, of course, was obvious. This was another of those troubling mental glitches. It was a good thing Flo and Liz weren’t around to witness it. Their pleas that she make that doctor appointment would become even more strident.

“Sit beside me and show me those math problems,” she said, rather than dwelling on her earlier slip.

Finally confident that he wasn’t going to be judged, Mack eagerly crawled up on the sofa beside her and showed her his paper. Thankfully, the problems were fairly basic subtraction, something she hadn’t forgotten.

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