by Francis Ray
Simon closed his eyes and let the anger drain out of him. Rafael had the unique ability to diffuse touchy situations with humor. Was it any wonder he was a top police negotiator in Myrtle Beach?
“Maureen means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”
His eyes opened. “I asked her to marry me.”
Not a flicker of surprise crossed his baby brother’s face. “And she didn’t give you the answer you wanted?”
Simon blew out a breath. “No, she didn’t.”
“Any chance she’ll change her mind?”
“No … I don’t know,” he admitted.
“I’m sorry,” Rafael said. “What is it about this condo that makes the Dunlaps fall in love? I might have to seriously think of staying in a hotel when I visit.”
“I pity the woman who gets you,” Simon said.
“On that we agree, so I plan to stay single for a long, long time.” Rafael draped his arm around Simon’s shoulder. “Let’s go get breakfast at the marina. The waitress there likes me.”
“I thought you had a date tonight?” Simon asked as they started toward the elevator.
“But I don’t have any plans for lunch,” Rafael said.
Simon stopped and stared at his younger brother. “You can’t be serious.”
Rafael punched the elevator button. “I like making women happy.”
Simon stepped on the elevator without responding. The woman he wanted to make happy wanted no part of him.
Maureen knew she was being set up, but she was tired of her own thoughts, tired of crying, tired of missing Simon.
“Thank you for inviting us over, Maureen.” Ezekiel sipped his coffee at the table in Maureen’s kitchen. “Breakfast was delicious.”
“It sure was.” Traci drained her glass of cranberry juice. “You sure you don’t mind the Sisterhood coming over here this evening to meet Granddaddy?”
“You know I don’t. You’re always welcome.” Maureen lifted her coffee cup. She tasted the warmth, but none of the rich flavor. She’d picked at the food on her plate. She felt as if her senses, her body, were barely functioning.
“I’m looking forward to meeting the women.” Ezekiel put his cup down. “I’ve heard so much about them and you. I’m glad Traci has good friends like you and the other women. Especially after what happened last night.”
Maureen started, feeling exposed. Traci’s presence this morning meant Ryan had told her, but Maureen couldn’t believe Traci had shared such personal information with her grandfather.
“We caught Elisa last night,” Traci said. “She’s finally going to get the help she needs.”
Maureen’s relief was on two fronts. “What happened?”
Traci quickly explained. “Ryan called this morning to tell me that her father had checked her into a clinic. We don’t have to worry about her anymore.”
“What a relief,” Maureen said, thinking that, before last night, she had thought if Elisa was apprehended, she’d be completely happy. That had happened, but she’d lost Simon. She wasn’t happy at all.
“Thanks again for breakfast.” Traci gathered the plates and flatware, rinsed and put them in the dishwasher. “I’ll come over around six. See you then.”
Ezekiel stood and went to the back kitchen door where Traci waited. “It was good to meet you again. Your son takes after his mother.”
“Thank you. Good-bye.” Maureen wanted nothing more than to sit back down and bawl. Instead, she finished clearing the table. She had to go to work. Staying home and thinking about Simon walking out on her would only make her feel worse.
Work didn’t help. Maureen carried the painful hurt of Simon walking out on her all day. She stayed close to her office so she could hear the phone in case he called.
He never did.
“Do you feel all right, Mrs. Gilmore?” Jason asked, his young face pinched with concern. “Your eyes look sad.”
He was dead on and tactful. Her eyelids were puffy, her eyes red from crying off and on since last night. “I’ve had better days,” she answered truthfully. “How are the sketches going?”
His face split into a grin. “Great. Mr. Herd is the best. He even got some of his teammates to pose for me. Traci is drawing up a contract with their licensing agency giving me the rights to sell the sketches on eBay for my college fund. Things would be great if …” His voice trailed off, his smile vanished.
“If your mother understood?”
“I showed her the sketches of the players and the ones Mr. Dunlap wants to buy and all she said was ‘Don’t get your hopes up,’” he disclosed.
Maureen felt for the young man trying to live his dream and gain his mother’s respect and love. “I think she’s scared for you, Jason. She knows how it feels when dreams shatter.”
He swallowed. “You mean like when my daddy walked out on us?”
“Yes. But that’s not your fault.” There was no way to sugarcoat that horrible fact. “The fault and the loss of knowing you is his. A lot of men would be honored to call you their son,” she said.
“Simon lets me shoot balls with the team. He’s cool,” Jason said. “At the last practice, he gave me his phone number and said I should call if I needed to talk. He even took me out on his brother’s boat with Rafael.”
Maureen’s lips quivered, then firmed. Simon loved children, deserved his own. “He’s a wonderful man.”
Jason grinned. “He thinks you’re pretty neat, too.”
That was before last night. The front door opened. She swung around. Rafael, not Simon, entered the shop.
“Hi, Rafael,” Jason called. “Is Simon with you?”
“Hello, Jason, Maureen. Sorry. I’m alone.” His gaze went to Maureen and stayed. “Can we talk someplace in private?”
She didn’t want to talk, but Rafael’s carefree expression was gone. In its place was a serious determination that wasn’t going to be denied. “My office.”
“After you.”
Maureen didn’t wring her hands, but she wanted to. “Jason, please keep an eye on the front. Henrietta isn’t due back from her appointment for another hour.”
“I won’t let you down, Mrs. Gilmore,” he said seriously.
“I know.” Maureen went to her office, feeling Rafael’s gaze stabbing her in the back. She moved behind her desk, hoping that would make her feel more in charge. It didn’t.
“Why?” he snapped out. “And before you tell me it’s none of my business, know that I love Simon and that gives me the right.”
I love him, too, she almost blurted. Instead, she sank into her chair. “He didn’t tell you.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if he had,” he said, impatience in every line of his body.
His smoky black eyes were identical to Simon’s, so was the strong chin. There the resemblance ended. Simon’s features were sharp, clearly defined. Rafael’s were softer, or so she had thought until he stood in front of her desk demanding answers she couldn’t give.
“I’m waiting.”
Impatience wasn’t a trait she would have equated with Rafael, but he loved his brother. “How—how is Simon?”
“His eyes aren’t red, but I figure you’ve both had a rough night and it’s not getting any better,” he told her.
Her hand lifted to her face, then fell. “I’m sorry.”
Rafael placed his hands on the desk. “Your face tells me you care. Why did you turn him down?”
She bit her lower lip. “Does Simon know you’re here?”
“No. If he finds out, my— Let’s just say it won’t be pleasant for me.”
“Yet you’re here.”
“He’s my brother,” Rafael said. “He loves you and he can’t have you.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, slid down her cheeks. She glanced away. “Please leave.”
Rafael muttered under his breath. “I’m sorry if I upset you. I just wanted to help.”
“You can’t. There’s nothing anyone can do.”
“I don’t want to believ
e that, but I’m going.” He went to the door. “Before I leave, you should know that Simon has dated a lot of women, but you’re the first one he was anxious for the family to meet, the first one he wanted forever with. Good-bye.”
The door closed. Maureen put her head on her desk and sobbed.
Ryan knocked on Simon’s door with a much different purpose than he had the first time.
The door swung open. Rafael stared at him with a narrowed gaze. “Did you come to dump on him?”
Ryan had a question of his own, and brushed past him. “I saw you leaving Mother’s store when I went to visit her. She was upset and left soon afterward. She wouldn’t tell me what you said to her. I’m asking you.”
Rafael’s mouth tightened. “The truth. That she was the first woman he wanted forever with.”
“This is hard on both of them,” Ryan muttered. “Where is he?”
“On the balcony.” Rafael closed the door. “It’s a good thing his team doesn’t have practice or a game tonight.”
Ryan crossed the room and stepped outside. Simon leaned against the wall, his gaze trained in the distance. “If it helps, I’m sorry,” Ryan said.
“Wish I could say it did,” Simon told him without looking around.
“How about if I said she’s hurting just as much.”
Simon jerked his head around. Anger and pain flashed in his dark eyes. “She could end it with just one word.”
“Mother doesn’t do things lightly,” Ryan said. “She had her reasons.”
“So she said, but I don’t accept them,” Simon said. “I won’t be—” His lips clamped together and he stared out to sea.
Ryan wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what Simon had been about to say. Talking about his mother’s hot flashes was uncomfortable enough. “I’ve thought about asking Traci to marry me, but she’s not high on marriage. After what happened between you and Mother, I’m not sure I want to rock the boat.”
Simon’s hard gaze drilled him. “Soon what you have won’t be enough. You’ll want more, to be there for her, to see her smile, watch her wake up, chase her demons away. If you love her, you won’t be able to stop yourself from asking her.”
“It’s happened already,” Ryan said. “But she’s not ready.”
“Then you accept only part of her or go after all that she is or ever hoped to be,” Simon told him quietly. “Just be prepared for the consequences.”
Simon didn’t have to elaborate on the consequences. Ryan saw them in the bleakness of his gaze, the same bleakness he’d seen in his mother’s.
Traci had never seen Maureen look so miserable.
“Maureen, are you sure you made the right decision?” Traci asked as she placed the pan of quiche in the oven.
Sitting at the table in the kitchen with a box of tissues in front of her, Maureen dabbed at her eyes. “Positive. Simon deserves children and I can’t give them to him.”
Traci took the chair next to Maureen, silently recalling her own miserable childhood with a mother who barely tolerated her. Her salvation had been going to live with her grandfather. At the time, she had seen it as punishment. “Some couples can’t have children. Children don’t always make a marriage happy.”
“How many childless couples have broken up for that very reason?” Maureen folded her arms. “It’s hard enough giving him up now. I can’t bear to think of him looking at me with hatred.”
“Maureen, this is Simon we’re talking about. The man is as solid and as steadfast as they come. And I hate to be blunt, but he knew you were through with baby-making the first time you went out,” Traci said frankly.
“He thinks he’s reconciled, but when Patrick and Brianna’s baby arrives, he’ll see I was right.” Maureen lifted her head. “I’m doing this for him.”
Traci sighed aloud. “Falling in love carries too many risks.”
“Not for everyone,” Maureen told her. “You and Ryan, for example.”
Traci’s eyes widened. “What!”
“You can’t deny that you care about Ryan,” Maureen pressed.
“Yes, but I don’t want to get married, and neither does he,” Traci hastened to add. “We’re both happy the way things are.”
“I thought Simon and I were too, and look at what happened.” Maureen got up as the oven timer went off. “I’ll get this while you go get your grandfather. The Invincibles should be here any minute.”
“All right.” Deep in thought, Traci went out the back kitchen door. Maureen had to be mistaken. Ryan cared about her, but he didn’t love her. She might love him, but she was keeping that fact to herself.
Ezekiel Hightower was a hit with the ladies.
Traci couldn’t keep from smiling as her grandfather charmed the Invincibles. She hadn’t known he was a bit of a flirt. He had Nettie and Donna giggling like schoolgirls. Best of all, Maureen no longer looked shattered.
“I remember going to a Commodores concert one time,” Ezekiel said. “When Lionel Ritchie sang ‘Brick House,’ he could have been talking about any of you.”
“Ezekiel,” Nettie groaned, but she was smiling.
“Just calling it the way I see it.” He smiled at Nettie. “I don’t think I ever sat down. I used to love to dance.”
Ophelia sighed. “So did I.”
“Me too,” Nettie admitted.
“I happen to have some old records.” Maureen went to the entertainment center on the far side of the room and opened the doors.
Ezekiel walked over to her. “You still have vinyl and forty-fives. Me too. Not sure what I’ll do if my old stereo goes on the blink.”
“Me either.” Maureen picked up a Commodores album and put it on the turntable. The finger-popping “Brick House” came on.
“Come on, Traci. Let’s see if your granddaddy still has it!”
Laughing, Traci went to her grandfather. He was as agile on his feet as he had been when she was a teenager and he had taught her how to dance.
“Maureen,” he said, holding out his hand. She smiled at him and placed her hand in his. He twirled both women away, then back to him. “This brings back memories.”
“Doesn’t it?” Ophelia jumped up, working her shoulders and feet.
“You are not going to have all the fun.” Donna jumped into the action, bumping hips with the other woman. She was soon joined by Nettie and Betsy, who danced together.
The song ended and was followed by another and a change of dance partners. Nettie and Betsy danced with Ezekiel. Traci kept Maureen on the floor when she would have taken a seat. A James Brown greatest hits album dropped onto the turntable next.
Arms raised to his chest, Ezekiel lifted one foot and shimmied back and forth across the floor in a great James Brown imitation to “I Feel Good.” Traci applauded with the other women.
He winked at Traci. “If I wasn’t scared I’d break something I’d do a split.”
Traci’s laughter joined that of the other women. “Granddaddy!”
“Come on, Nettie. You, too, Ophelia.” Ezekiel took their hands. “Let’s get on the good foot.”
Traci had never seen the ladies dance so much, not even when they went to Vegas. Clearly, her grandfather brought out the youthfulness in all of them.
“No one told me there was a party going on.”
Traci’s heart thumped on hearing Ryan’s voice. Her body heated on seeing him, so broad-shouldered, so handsome, with a smile that turned her knees to jelly. How had she ever managed to gain his attention? What would she do if he grew tired of her?
Maureen greeted Ryan, as did the other women. Traci for some reason felt awkward and shy. Then it came to her as she looked at Ryan with his arm around Maureen while he talked quietly to her.
Today she’d finally admitted to herself that it wasn’t just great sex and someone to talk with. It was the real thing. She was smack dab in the middle of that minefield. One wrong move and her heart, her life would be decimated.
Kissing Maureen on the cheek, Ryan walked directly
to her. Without a word he curved one arm around her waist, linked his other hand with hers. A Johnny Mathis song played, but it was a faint sound, because all her senses were attuned to the man holding her, the man she loved.
“I missed holding you,” he whispered.
“Me too,” she murmured, listening to the erratic beat of his heart.
“Ryan, you’re not following the four-inch rule,” Ezekiel told him.
“I beg your pardon?” Ryan said.
“At least four inches should separate dance partners on ballads.” Ezekiel glanced down at the space between himself and Nettie, then back up.
Traci lifted her head. Her granddaddy was in one of his irascible moods. He liked Ryan, but he loved her.
“You can’t be serious?” Ryan questioned.
“Do I look as if I’m joking?” Ezekiel asked, his face serious.
Traci watched Ryan look around the room at the other women. They all looked as if they wanted to laugh. Finally, he looked down at her.
“I have no idea,” Traci told him.
Ryan leaned her away from him. “Is this all right, Mr. Hightower?”
“For now.” Ezekiel nodded his approval. “I told Maureen she had a good son.”
“You tell her how you trounced me at checkers?” Ryan asked as they danced.
“Nope,” Ezekiel said. The slow song ended. “I told her what was most important.”
“Thank you,” Ryan said, clearly pleased. “Is it all right if Traci and I go to the kitchen? I’m starved and the Sisterhood always have plenty of food.”
“What do you need Traci for?” her grandfather asked.
With a straight face, Ryan talked over the sudden bursts of laughter. “I need to talk to her about the fund-raiser dinner for the clinic.”
Ezekiel rubbed his chin. “I guess.”
“Thank you.” Grabbing Traci’s hand, Ryan went to the kitchen. Once there, he swept her into his arms, kissing her. “I was starved for more than food.”
“The same.” She hugged him. “I wish we could help Maureen and Simon.”
“I talked with Simon and got no place. If Mother cares, as you said, why did she say no? Is it the age difference?” he asked, frowning down at her.
