Swan Point

by Sherryl Woods

  “What if they can’t?” Selena asked. “You don’t know for sure what the judge is going to say. He could be on Dad’s side. He could make us live with him.”

  “He could, but he’s not going to,” Adelia said with more confidence than she actually felt. “Helen won’t let that happen.”

  “I know Helen’s a really, really good lawyer, but she’s not the judge,” Selena said, unappeased. “Dad could bribe the judge or something.”

  While Adelia doubted Ernesto would be above doing just that, she had faith in Helen and, for that matter, in the judge. “I think it would only land your father in a lot of hot water if he tried anything like that,” she told Selena. “There are pretty serious consequences for crossing that line.”

  “I guess,” Selena said.

  Adelia heard the skepticism in Selena’s voice and realized the toll the past months had taken on her daughter. At only thirteen, she was bitter and cynical. Adelia wondered if there was any way at all to recapture just a little of that lost innocence.

  “Look, I understand why you find all of this upsetting,” Adelia told her gently. “I really do.”

  “No, you don’t,” Selena said. “Lately we’ve been like a real family, or the way a family’s supposed to be. We have dinner together. Gabe helps us with homework. We even had game night again. Now it’s all messed up. What if Gabe goes away and we never see him again?”

  “Not that long ago you didn’t want him around here,” Adelia reminded her.

  “That was before,” Selena said.

  “Before what?”

  “Before he made you laugh again and before he was so nice to Tomas and to me, Natalia and Juanita, too.” She gave Adelia a plaintive look. “He reminds me of the way Uncle Elliott treats Daisy and Mack. I was so jealous of that for so long. Then Gabe came along and I thought maybe we’d have someone who treats us like that, like he really cares about us.”

  Adelia smiled, even though her eyes were stinging with tears she didn’t dare shed. “Gabe does care about you,” she agreed. She wasn’t sure if even he was aware how much.

  “You’d hate it if he went away, wouldn’t you?” Selena asked.

  “Sure I would,” Adelia admitted. “But I don’t think Gabe plans on going anywhere right now. And he certainly wouldn’t take off just because your dad’s being a bully.”

  “He left town once before,” Selena said, her voice hesitant. “Joey told me. He said Gabe was always in trouble when he was a kid and that when things got bad, he just took off. Joey says he’ll probably do it again.”

  “Joey doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Adelia said angrily, though she knew that wasn’t exactly the case. For once he did have the basic facts right. He just wasn’t taking into account the man Gabe was today.

  “Did Joey lie?” Selena pressed.

  “Not exactly,” Adelia conceded. “There were people who were mean to him and to his mom back then. He got into some fights trying to stand up for her. After his mom died, he did leave Serenity. Who could blame him? Nobody wants to be where they’ve been mistreated.”

  “But that’s exactly the same as what’s happening now,” Selena protested.

  “But Gabe isn’t the same person. I believe he’ll stay right here, at least for as long as we need him,” Adelia said, aware that she was putting her faith in him. There were so many reasons she needed to believe he wouldn’t let them down.

  Selena frowned. “What does that mean, for as long as we need him?”

  Adelia didn’t dare look too far into the future. Now was all she could count on. “It means that he’s not going to bail on us because of anything your dad does.”

  Apparently Adelia wasn’t as good at hiding her own fears as she’d hoped to be. Selena, rather than looking relieved, seemed more worried than before. Apparently she was a little too good at reading between the lines.

  “But you think he will leave eventually, don’t you?” Selena asked, proving Adelia’s point.

  “It’s a possibility,” Adelia admitted reluctantly.

  “But I thought he really liked us,” Selena said plaintively. “You just said so yourself. And I thought he might even be falling in love with you.”

  “Sweetie, life’s more complicated than that. Even if both of those things are true, it doesn’t always mean that things will work out,” Adelia said.

  “Well, that just sucks,” Selena said, pushing away from the table and racing from the room in tears.

  Adelia sighed, hating that she’d managed to make things worse for Selena by trying to be honest with her. Selena was right about one thing, though. Sometimes facing reality was the pits.

  * * *

  Lynn’s temper stirred as she listened to Helen’s description of what was going on with Ernesto and his attempts to wrest custody of his kids from Adelia.

  “What can I do?” she asked at once.

  “Normally I’d call the Sweet Magnolias myself, but I’m swamped with pulling everything together for tomorrow’s hearing,” Helen said. “I need a huge show of support for Adelia in the courtroom.”

  “Consider it done,” Lynn said. “I’ll start making calls right now.”

  “Call Maddie first,” Helen suggested. “She had her share of tough custody issues back in the day. She’ll help you make the calls.”

  “I’m on it,” Lynn promised, then hung up and turned to Mitch and filled him in. “You might want to look for Gabe. I imagine he’s busy blaming himself for this.”

  Her husband nodded. “Only if you promise me that you’ll get your nap the second you’ve made those calls.”

  Lynn regarded him with dismay. “You know about the naps?”

  Mitch chuckled. “Sweetheart, only a robot could keep the hours you keep without a nap.” He gave her a long look. “Maybe it’s time we talked about that.”

  “Not until this mess with Ernesto is resolved,” she said. “Then I promise I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.” She held his gaze. “Have I told you lately how glad I am that you’re my husband?”

  “Right back at you.”

  Lynn watched as he left the house to go in search of his cousin, then picked up the phone and made that first call to Maddie Maddox.

  Within an hour they’d reached out to every one of the Sweet Magnolias. Adelia would have some of the most prominent women in town in court in the morning. Even if Helen never called a single one of them to the stand, the show of support would speak for itself.

  * * *

  Gabe retreated to his regular table at Rosalina’s for a lonely meal, drawing a surprised look from his old waitress.

  “It’s been a while,” Debbie said. “I thought you’d deserted us for good. Word around town is that you’ve found somebody to share your meals with.”

  Gabe wasn’t about to confirm or deny that. “I just took a temporary reprieve from the pizza,” he said.

  “Then I suppose you want your usual,” Debbie said, clearly disappointed that he wasn’t willing to reveal more details.

  “Sure. Why not?”

  While he was waiting for his order, his cell phone rang. He considered ignoring it, then saw Adelia’s name on the caller ID.

  “What’s up?” he asked at once. “I thought we were going to talk later.”

  “I think you need to come over here, after all,” Adelia said, sounding worried. “Selena’s totally freaked out about what’s going on. Her cousin, who seems to thrive on taunting her these days, told her you took off from Serenity years ago because you were sick of being bullied. Now she’s afraid her dad is going to chase you off again. I tried to be honest with her, but I only made it worse.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “That I didn’t think her dad could chase you away, but that it was always possible that you co
uld leave eventually.”

  Gabe immediately saw the dilemma. “You know I can’t come over there and deny that,” he said. “Neither of us has any idea what could happen down the road.”

  “I know,” she said with obvious frustration. “I just don’t think Selena was ready for quite that degree of candor. I could shake Joey for planting these seeds of doubt in her head, but he has his own share of issues at home right now. I’ll deal with him later.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “Please, Gabe, can you stop by? I think it would help if Selena could just see you tonight and know that you’re not planning to abandon us because of this mess.”

  “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he promised. “I just ordered pizza. I’ll double the order so there will be enough to share.”

  “That sounds great to me and maybe we can coax Selena to eat, but don’t count on the little kids,” Adelia warned him. “They overdosed on cupcakes. Right now they’re running off all that excess sugar in the backyard. I’m going to take a stab at getting them in bed before you get here, so we can focus on Selena.”

  He laughed at her optimism. “I’ll make it a half hour, then, though I doubt even that will be enough time for you to round them up and herd them into their beds.”

  “I’ll make it long enough,” she said with grim determination. “And remind me tomorrow to thank Lynn for caving in to their pleas for all those cupcakes.”

  “Hey, business is business.”

  “They didn’t even have enough cash on them,” Adelia retorted dryly. “She floated them a loan till Selena came back for them. I hope this new baby when it comes doesn’t sleep a wink at night for a month.”

  Gabe stifled a chuckle. “Now that’s just mean.”

  “It’s called payback,” she said. “It’s perfectly fair.”

  “Remind me not to cross you,” Gabe said. “I hate to think what you’d consider to be a fitting punishment.”

  “I’ll have to give that some thought,” she said. “If I’m clever enough, maybe I can keep you in town.”

  Gabe almost admitted that she was close to ensuring his presence for good now, but he had enough remaining doubts to keep silent. “See you soon,” he said instead.

  * * *

  Before Gabe could collect his pizza and take off for Adelia’s, Mitch walked into Rosalina’s with his stepchildren, Lexie and Jeremy. As soon as he caught sight of Gabe, he handed over a bunch of quarters and sent them off to play video games.

  As soon as Mitch sat down, Gabe warned him that he was about to leave. “I’m heading over to Adelia’s.”

  Mitch frowned. “After what happened today? I heard Ernesto paid a visit to you and tried to stir up trouble. Lynn just got a call from Helen, who filled her in on the rest. I figured you’d be steering clear of her for a few days till things settled down. In fact, I tried looking for you at the inn and at the work site before I picked up the kids and headed over here. I thought you might want to join us for dinner.”

  “Not tonight,” Gabe said. “Something just came up. Adelia needs me over there.”

  “Is it important enough to risk getting Ernesto all worked up again?” Mitch asked, his worry plain.

  Gabe thought of Selena and what she’d been through today. “It’s important enough,” he declared. “And if Ernesto tries to stir up more trouble, I can handle that, too. I kept my cool today. I can do it again.”

  Mitch nodded. “Your crew thought you behaved a lot better than he deserved. Henry said you did go over to Helen’s office to fill her in.”

  “And now Henry and I are going to testify about what happened at an emergency hearing in court first thing in the morning,” Gabe told him.

  Mitch regarded him with surprise. “Henry didn’t mention that.”

  “He probably didn’t know about it when he spoke to you. I just filled him in a little while ago that it would be a help to Helen if we were both there.” He met Mitch’s worried gaze. “I’m sorry about getting one of your men involved in all this drama.”

  “Hey, stuff happens. Ed Morrow tried to haul me into the middle of his divorce from Lynn. She was falling all over herself apologizing. What she didn’t get was that I’d have done anything for her. Ed’s fussing didn’t worry me. The only thing I cared two hoots about was whether he could use me to hurt Lynn.”

  “Same with me,” Gabe said. “Helen seems to think Ernesto overplayed his hand. After he caused that scene with me, he took his mistress to see Selena and told her they’d all be a family soon.”

  Outrage spread across Mitch’s face. “I don’t think Helen mentioned that part to Lynn. That just proves that as low as I thought Ernesto was, I was overestimating him. He’s even lower than slime.”

  “No doubt about it,” Gabe agreed. “By the way, have there been any repercussions from those lies he was spreading about you and the business?”

  Mitch shook his head. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

  “Meaning there were some,” Gabe guessed. “Blast it all, Mitch, you need to sue him.”

  “I took care of it,” Mitch said. “No harm, no foul. In fact, I imagine if anyone lost business over it, it was Ernesto. The guy Ernesto went to had been planning to work with him on a new development outside of town. Once Conway heard the whole story, he opted to go with another developer.” Mitch grinned. “And I’ll be hiring more men to handle the construction.”

  Gabe slapped him on the back. “Good for you.”

  Mitch’s expression immediately turned serious. “Which is why it’s more important than ever that you stick around, Gabe. With all this work and a baby on the way, I need you right here. I hope you’re not getting any ideas about moving on. Lynn said you’d mentioned it.”

  “I was having a bad day when I told her that. For now, I’m staying,” Gabe assured him.

  “I’d feel a whole lot more confident about that if you’d start looking for a place to live, instead of staying in that room at the Serenity Inn.” His cousin gave him a sly look. “Or are you hoping if you do make a move, it will be into Adelia’s house in Swan Point?”

  Gabe frowned. “Nobody’s suggesting that, least of all me. It’s way too soon.”

  “One thing I’ve learned over the years is that there’s no such thing as a timetable when it comes to love,” Mitch told him. “I waited for years before Lynn and I got together.”

  “And spent a lot of those years happily married to someone else,” Gabe reminded him.

  “True,” Mitch said. “And if Amy hadn’t died in that accident and Ed hadn’t finally owned up to being gay and asked for a divorce, who knows if Lynn and I would ever have gotten together? I’m just saying that fate works in its own mysterious way. If this thing with Adelia is right, it could be as right after a few weeks as it would be a couple of years from now.”

  “Well, we’re opting for slow and steady,” Gabe told him.

  Mitch smiled. “Only because anything else terrifies you.”

  “If you’re trying to suggest I’m a coward without saying the word, I’m not denying it,” Gabe countered. “I prefer to think of it as old habits dying hard.”

  “The old habit being to avoid commitment at all costs,” Mitch guessed.

  “Exactly.”

  “A piece of advice?”

  “As if I could stop you,” Gabe said.

  “People have a way of clinging to old habits long past the time when they’re useful. Something to think about, okay?”

  Fortunately Debbie arrived with Gabe’s pizzas before he had to respond to his cousin’s advice.

  “Gotta go,” Gabe announced, relieved.

  “Have a good evening,” Mitch said, a twinkle in his eyes.

  Gabe thought of what awaited him at Adelia’s, the thankless task of trying to cheer up a teenager. Then again, he�
�d get to spend some unexpected time with Adelia, so perhaps the night wouldn’t be a lost cause after all.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Gabe wasn’t sure what sort of chaos he might find when he got to Adelia’s. To his surprise the house was eerily quiet when he used his key to get in. Apparently she’d somehow managed to get the younger children to bed before his arrival.

  He carried the pizza into the kitchen and was getting three plates down from the cupboard when Adelia finally came in. Judging from her harried expression, he concluded the kids hadn’t gone to bed willingly.

  “Everything under control?” he asked, pausing to drop a quick kiss on her cheek before setting the plates on the table. At least that kiss put some color in her face, he thought, satisfied with the effect. It was startling how much he was coming to appreciate the impact of bestowing these little acts of affection. Until recently he’d always considered sex to be the endgame. Lately he’d been developing a whole new fondness for intimate gestures and foreplay.

  “I suppose it depends on how you define control,” she replied dryly. “Tomas is crying because he heard your truck and I wouldn’t let him come downstairs to see you. Juanita just threw up. Natalia is under the covers reading with a flashlight, which is normally against the rules and which she apparently assumes I didn’t notice. I was just too tired to start a fight with her.”

  “Come here,” Gabe said, opening his arms. Adelia practically sagged against him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. That she gave in so easily told him exactly how draining the day had been for her. He held her close. “After tomorrow everything will settle down again.”

  “We don’t know that,” she said wearily. “The little kids don’t have any idea about what’s going on. What if the judge rules in Ernesto’s favor and I haven’t prepared them?”

  Gabe took a step back and looked her in the eye. “The only way any judge would rule in Ernesto’s favor would be if he concluded I were a worse influence on them than Ernesto is. Helen doesn’t believe that will happen, but if it does, I will back off. You can take out a restraining order to make it official if that’s what it takes.”