Their Surprise Daddy

by Ruth Logan Herne

  Rosa Maria Maldonado didn’t cry. Ever. To see her come undone messed him up.

  He took a step back, then forward, but what could he do? They hadn’t comforted one another for a very long time.

  He stood absolutely still as her tears flowed. Somewhere deep inside, a tiny longing to help ignited.

  He extinguished it quickly. He’d learned how to protect himself decades ago. He’d steeled himself to pretend her indifference didn’t matter. He pretended he didn’t care.

  She swiped the back of her hand to her face, turned around and walked back inside. The door closed behind her, and the click of the lock slipped into place.

  So be it. She didn’t need him. He didn’t need her. But those two children needed something more than to be made wards of the court and deported.

  He strode back to his car, got in and drove away to find a hotel room. It took him less than an hour to realize the entire town was booked solid.

  Of course everything was taken—it was midsummer at one of the most beautiful lakeside recreation spots in Central New York, the heart of the Finger Lakes.

  He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ten hours ago he’d been gearing up to oversee the takeover of a small dot-com company. That single acquisition was going to make their firm millions.

  But he wasn’t on Liberty Street, signing the final papers. He’d left that to others. He was here in Grace Haven, a place he’d vowed to never see again.

  He got into the car, hit a phone app and came up with no vacancies surrounding the lake. So where could he stay?

  Hello, Captain Obvious. Your mother’s got room. Plenty of room. Why don’t you pretend to be a peacemaker and go back there?

  He’d sleep in the car first. And that’s exactly what he intended to do, except then his phone rang with a call from Drew Slade.

  “Cruz, it’s Drew. I just realized you might not be comfortable staying at Casa Blanca...”

  That meant his reaction to his mother showed, and Cruz never let reactions show. It was this stupid town, and these throwback circumstances undermining his skills as a stone-faced negotiator. “My wife and I just vacated a nice little garage apartment at the Gallaghers’.”

  “Is that an inn?”

  “No, the Gallagher family. At Chief Gallagher’s house. I married his oldest daughter, Kimberly.”

  “The Gallaghers, as in the holier-than-thou schoolteacher I just met?”

  “That’s Rory.” Drew sounded almost cheerful about it. “Anyway, Kimberly and I are in our new house, the apartment is in great shape, and if you really don’t want to stay with your mother, this could give you some peace of mind and a clean pillow. I know the town is booked up. Summer is a crazy-busy vacation time here.”

  It was vacation time in New York City, too, which was the only reason he was able to be here, and not in the city. His boss would no doubt go ballistic when he returned from his three-week European vacation and found Cruz still in Grace Haven. But with Rodney Randolph, ballistic was often the status quo. He’d deal with that as needed. “I don’t want to be an inconvenience to anyone, Drew.”

  “The place is empty, you’re inconveniencing no one, and if you and Rory are sharing kid duty until we figure things out, you might as well be geographically close.”

  That part made sense, and was about the only thing in this convoluted mess that did.

  “Were you able to find a room for tonight?”

  Cruz couldn’t lie. “No.”

  “Then use it, man. One forty-seven Creighton Landing, just beyond the turnoff for The Square, in walking distance of everything. Just like Manhattan.” Drew laughed, and Cruz was glad someone found humor in this situation, because he hadn’t stopped frowning since the reverend’s phone call that morning.

  “You sure no one will mind?”

  “Positive. I’ll call Rory and let her know so you don’t surprise her or the kids. Or Mags.”

  “Is Mags one of the sisters?” Somewhere in his brain he remembered several Gallagher sisters.

  “She’s a member of the family, all right,” Drew finished cryptically. “The key is hanging inside the carriage house, to the left of the door when you walk in. The apartment is the second floor.”

  Cruz hesitated, then accepted. “Thanks, man. I was ready to sleep in the car.”

  “Glad to help. I’m hoping this all looks better in the morning.”

  “It couldn’t look any worse.”

  * * *

  Wrong again.

  He’d driven to Creighton Landing, found the key like Drew said and thrown open a couple of windows in hopes of a lake breeze.

  Nope.

  Too tired to care, he’d fallen into bed, then got up crazy early like he always did and set up his laptop in the steamy apartment.

  No air-conditioning.

  No Wi-Fi.

  He stared at the screen, searched for networks and didn’t find any. He pulled out his smartphone to set up a hot spot to relay internet service.

  It didn’t work. His phone indicated internet service in the area, but couldn’t command a strong enough signal to relay Wi-Fi to the laptop.

  He needed to punch someone. And find coffee.

  Coffee. A coffee shop with Wi-Fi. Perfect.

  He stepped outside with his small laptop bag. The town lay before him, and the lake spread out to his left, just beyond Route 20.

  He’d be silly to drive because he was already in town, so he crossed the yard and circled The Square, a local old-time shopping area that looked much more upscale than he remembered, and hunted for coffee.

  Nothing was open.

  He glared at his phone. It was 6:05 a.m. on a Tuesday. He’d passed two coffee shops, neither of which opened for nearly an hour. In Manhattan, he’d have been connected and working already. Here?

  Nothing.

  He was about to retrace his steps, get into the car and head toward the thruway, when lights flickered on at the diner just ahead. “You lookin’ for coffee?” A copper-skinned, middle-aged woman with dark hair in a bun poked her head around the corner of the stoop.

  “Hunting would be more apt,” he told her as he strode forward. “And Wi-Fi. Do you have that, too?”

  She laughed and swung the door wide. “We’re connected, though I’m not sure it was a good idea. Come on in. You looked like a wanderin’ pup out there. It’s always the same with big-city types. It takes a day or two of bein’ in Grace Haven to realize it’s okay to relax. To let go and let God shape the days.”

  “Well, I’m in town for a while, but I’m not sure relaxing enters into the equation.”

  “Never does at first,” she called back as she bustled around the counter. “But we get to it, eventual-like. If we stay ’round long enough.” She set a second pot brewing, then toted four mugs and a glass coffee carafe to his table. “Here you go.” She filled his cup, then paused. “Room for cream and sugar?”

  “Nope. Black.”

  She sighed as if she expected him to say that, then plunked the other three mugs down on a table kitty-corner from him. She filled the mugs, added a little aluminum pot of cream to the table and strode behind the old-style counter just as three older gentlemen walked in.

  “Mornin’, Sadie!” crowed the first one in the door.

  The next man in seemed just as happy to be there. “Sadie, my sweet Southern belle, you’ve got us all set up!”

  The third man saluted the waitress with his Grace Haven Eagles baseball cap as he came through. “Coffee and Sadie—my mornin’s complete!”

  “Mornin’, boys.” She waved a hand as she stuck a paper onto an old-style order ring suspended between her and the kitchen beyond. “I’m orderin’ you the usual, speak now or keep it to yourself when you get same old, same old.”

 
“Why mess with success?” the first man wondered aloud. The three men settled at the table to Cruz’s right, jawing about baseball.

  Cruz opened his computer and brought up his email. One message in, the second guy stood and came up alongside Drew’s table. “You got box scores on that thing?”

  “Excuse me?” Surprise toughened Cruz’s voice. Either surprise, or his Wall Street, tough-as-nails attitude. Bright blue eyes under faded brows gazed back at him from a face that had known years of weathering. “I expect they’re accessible.”

  “Bring ’em up, why don’t you, so I can show these yahoos what I mean ’bout the All-Star break makin’ a difference.”

  “He’s workin’, Badge,” Sadie scolded the older man from her spot at the counter. She was slicing big, thick wedges of pie, wrapping them gently and placing them in a tall rotating cooler. Seeing them made Cruz remember the mouth-watering pie at his mother’s table, thick and sweet. There was no such thing as good pie in Manhattan. In a city that claimed to boast everything good, pie hadn’t made the list. “I don’t think he lugged that machine in here to jaw about the American League East with you. Best leave him to it, don’t you think?”

  “I get your point, Sadie. Smart as always.” The old man accepted her advice and moved back across the aisle to his table. “I’ll let you get on with your day,” he added to Cruz.

  “If we had one of them smartphones, we’d know what’s up,” said the tallest man. “My Kimmie’s got one of them, and it’s law-awful how quick she can get on things.”

  “She’s connected, sure as shootin’.” The third man stared at his coffee, glum. “No regular daily anymore, no local radio shows that do sports, less’n I wanna sit home with the tube on, watchin’. Then it’s midmornin’ ’fore we get a clean look at who’s done what unless you’ve got cable, and my monthly check don’t allow for that kind of indulgence.” The old fellow sighed softly, but just loud enough for Cruz to hear.

  They were killing him.

  Worse?

  He knew what they were saying. Times had changed and unless you were familiar with smart technology, you were stuck waiting for access to information in fewer spots than there used to be. He slugged his coffee, pulled up the baseball box scores online and motioned the guys over. “Check it out, boys.”

  “For real?” They moved, en masse, coffees in hand, and slid into the other three seats at his table.

  Sadie came by with more coffee. She caught his gaze and smiled. “Nice.”

  He hadn’t really had a choice, not when they’d started talking baseball. He lived in a city with two of the greatest baseball teams in history, and he hadn’t gone to a game. Ever. Time was money in New York.

  Time is money anywhere, his conscience reminded him. But it’s more money in Manhattan. You might want to think about why that’s become so important.

  He set the open laptop at the end of the table so all three men could see it, and as they jabbered about who’d done what on the West Coast, the diner door opened.

  “Well, it looks like the early bird has gone and caught herself two of the sweetest little worms I ever did see!” Sadie exclaimed as Rory Gallagher came in with Lily and Javier. “This is a nice surprise, Rory!”

  “My toaster’s not working, I had no cereal and I need to feed these two before the school day starts.” She smiled down at the kids, back up at Sadie, then she saw him.

  Her smile faded, but it brightened again when she spotted the crew at his table. “Good morning, gentlemen.”

  “If it ain’t the prettiest of the Gallagher girls stoppin’ by!”

  “Ain’t them Rosa’s younguns?”

  “They are.” Rory said nothing about yesterday’s drama. “They get to stay with their teacher for a little bit. How cool is that?”

  “I think it’s a fine thing, Miss Rory.” The blue-eyed man seemed to understand more of what had transpired than the others. “A perfect place to grow and run and laugh while the dust settles.”

  “Thank you, Badge.”

  He didn’t nod or smile, but the old guy’s expression indicated approval. He slugged more coffee, then stood. “Boys, let’s get up and make some room here. Miss Rory needs a place to sit with the kids.”

  “With all them empty seats?” Surprised, the taller man swept the mostly empty restaurant a quick glance.

  Rory waved them off and indicated the next booth. “We can sit here. That way the kids can see Cruz while he works.” She flashed him a cool look of dismissal, as if working on a weekday morning was the root of all evil. Last time Cruz looked, it was considered normal, but he closed the laptop and faced her as the men moved back to their original table.

  She didn’t sit with him. She herded the kids into the adjacent booth, ordered eggs and pancakes and orange juice for Lily and Javier, and coffee for herself.

  Was she not hungry? Or broke?

  Only one way to find out. He stood and slipped into her booth, next to Lily. “Morning, guys.”

  Javier stared at him, uncertain. Lily looked less concerned. “Miss Rory told us that you know our Mimi.”

  “Mimi?”

  “Rosa,” Rory explained softly. “That’s what they call her.”

  “Not Abuela?”

  Rory met his gaze, and realization sank in. “Of course, Elina’s mother would have been Abuela.”

  “And they started with Mami for Rosa, but Javier morphed it to Mimi and it stuck.”

  “Your Mimi is my mother.” Cruz looked down at Lily. Elina’s eyes gazed up at him. His heart winced a little more as he thought of his cousin’s choices. “And your mommy was my friend and my cousin.”

  “She died.” Javier announced the words in a voice that showed a lack of understanding. “She might come back. She might not. Mimi doesn’t know.”

  Lily leaned across the table, so serious. “No one can come back when they die, Javi. They have to go live with God in heaven and there’s no way back.”

  The little guy’s face darkened. He stared at his sister and whispered, “She might come back, Lily. She might.”

  Cruz’s chest went tight. Seeing Elina’s fate through the eyes of two innocent children, emotion gripped him.

  They loved his mother.

  The irony of that didn’t sit well, because he could look back and count the few happy times on his fingers. His mother had been a tough taskmaster, a woman overseeing a burgeoning business overlooking Canandaigua Lake, and nothing mattered more than her success. Her vineyard, her special events center, was straight out of the hills of Tuscany. Casa Blanca meant more to her than anything. More than her hardworking Latino husband, and certainly more than her only son.

  But these children seemed bonded to her. Was it an act? Or had Rosa Maldonado changed?

  He had no way of knowing, but he wasn’t about to let two innocents go through similar experiences. Not if she was still the tough, overbearing, money-solves-everything woman he remembered.

  Rory slipped an arm around Javier and drew him close. “No matter what happens here on earth, God’s in heaven watching over us. Smiling down at us, wanting us to be happy and strong. And now your mama is there with him, loving you from up there. But here on earth, God has other folks to love you. Lily, Mimi, Cruz and me, just to name a few. You will always be our beloved little boy. That will never change, darling.”

  The little guy nestled into the curve of her arm. “I know.” The two words came out in a whisper. “I just miss her, is all.”

  Cruz’s eyes got misty.

  Sadie saved the moment by slipping two plates of pancakes and scrambled eggs in front of the kids, then refilling the grown-ups’ mugs. “Rory, you sure I can’t get you somethin’, darlin’?”

  Rory shook her head. “I’m fine, Sadie, thanks.”

  “All right, sweetie.”

&n
bsp; Sweetie. Darlin’. Sweet things... Cruz couldn’t remember the last time someone called him sweetie in New York. Probably never. Because why would they?

  And yet it seemed real nice to hear those words here.

  Lily knelt up on the booth’s seat to get a better vantage point on her food. Her first attempt at the eggs had them sliding to the floor quickly. Cruz handed her his spoon. “Try this. Eggs are slippery.”

  “They are!” She accepted the spoon and didn’t seem to mind that he’d stirred his coffee with it. “And they jiggle. Jell-O jiggles, too. I like jiggly food.”

  Rory laughed.

  Cruz lifted his eyes to hers. “Jiggly food is funny?”

  “My sister won’t eat food that jiggles. She says it’s unnerving. I’m happy to see Lily has no such qualms.”

  “Did they sleep well?”

  “As well as any of us could with a crazy day behind us and a new normal awaiting. I expect tonight will be better. Drew called and told me he offered you the carriage house apartment.”

  “I’ll find a hotel as soon as I can, so I’m not inconveniencing anyone.” Cruz sipped his coffee. “No reason to make difficult circumstances more so.”

  “Why stay somewhere else when you can stay there for free?” She looked puzzled, as if the idea of spending money worried her. So maybe she did like breakfast and couldn’t afford it, but sacrificed for the two kids.

  Now he felt like a complete moron.

  “I need internet access and there’s no air-conditioning.”

  She sat back and looked distressed. “The window unit.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Drew took it out last fall and stored it downstairs over the winter, and then they moved into their new house before it got hot. I forgot all about that, and I’m sure he did, too. Oh, Cruz.” She leaned forward, and looked honestly concerned. “You must have roasted.”

  “I may have discovered a new scientific melting point.”

  She laughed again, and when she did, the kids smiled. Her laugh made him feel like smiling, too, and that felt good and odd because the rigors of Manhattan didn’t often inspire laid-back conversation and smiles. “Listen, it would be silly of you to waste money on a hotel when I expect you’d like to get to know these guys better, right?”