Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides)

by Tullis, Heather

  “Okay.” Harrison crossed to Rosemary in two long strides, pulled her close and laid his lips on hers almost before she could process.

  Just before Rosemary closed her eyes, she saw Cleo peek at them again and grin. If she was happy about it, Rosemary didn’t see why they shouldn’t enjoy the moment. His lips were firm but yielding, his touch teasing, tender. His hands raced up her spine once, then settled around her waist, pulling her even closer. She settled into the kiss, lingering over it for a long moment, drawing it out until she felt her heart beating in her throat and she wished they didn’t have an audience. She snuggled closer to him and sighed when he ended the kiss.

  “Hello,” he said in a husky voice in her ear.

  She smiled, almost giggled aloud despite the fact that she hadn’t giggled in years. “Hello. It took you a while for you to greet me properly.”

  “I won’t wait next time.” He pulled back and picked up the hot pads. “Time for dinner.” He turned off the heat in the main crockpot and carried the crock onto the table.

  Rosemary took a large helping of carrots, a small one of meat and skipped the starchy potatoes. It tasted fantastic. Though she tried to turn away dessert, Harrison served her some anyway, and she found herself unable to resist the sweet aroma, finishing half of it.

  After they ate, they sat down to a rousing game of canasta, which Cleo won handily, and then Harrison put on the latest family movie release, which Cleo had seen in the theater, but neither Harrison or Rosemary had paid attention to before. Not surprisingly. Cleo snuggled under a fluffy blanket on the easy chair, and quickly fell asleep.

  “It must be all that excitement with the puking kid at school that wore her out,” Harrison suggested.

  “Right. It always makes me tired when I see people puking around me,” Rosemary agreed.

  He pulled her a little closer, and she set her hand on his shoulder. She should be seriously freaked out right now, crazily freaked. The day before he said that he loved her, that he thought they were going to be together, and in the car, he insinuated that he would stay in town if she did.

  He was actually serious about them, and she wasn’t freaking out. She pushed the thought away, just really glad to be there with him, to feel reasonably safe at the moment, despite the troubles they’d been having. She needed a night without any troubles, time to just relax with Harrison and Cleo. A night to ignore the echoes of the bad decisions she’d made in her past.

  So when he tipped her chin up and kissed her, she let everything around them drop away.

  Rosemary stretched the muscles across her back and sighed. She’d been at the resort since five, getting things up and running for the breakfast service. It meant Jonquil had to get Cleo off for school that morning, but that Rosemary would be able to pick her up and spend the rest of the day with her. She walked through the kitchen and got reports for the afternoon snack service and dinner preparations for the meeting being held in one of the small conference rooms, then checked her watch. Two o’clock. Time to go if she was going to be at the school on time. Mornings did have the advantage of allowing her to spend the afternoon with Cleo, so she accepted the trade-off of the too-early hours.

  She grabbed her winter coat, packed her laptop and paperwork to work on after Cleo went to bed and walked out through the restaurant.

  Everything appeared to be running like clockwork. Good, she thought, at least something was going well. She smiled to herself as she passed the spa and waved to Sage, then stopped to ask the new head of housekeeping for some fresh towels for the kitchen.

  She was searching for the keys in her pocket when she heard someone calling her name. Sort of.

  “Rosie, I knew you were here. They said you weren’t but I knew you were.”

  Rosemary stopped where she was as her mother’s voice carried across the large foyer. Her stomach clenched at the sight of Wanda standing beside the check-in desk. Why hadn’t she parked around back again?

  Wanda rushed to Rosemary, arms flung wide as if in anticipation of a hug. Rosemary stepped back reflexively as she grabbed her cell phone and speed dialing Joel’s number.

  “Wanda’s at the check-in desk,” she said when he answered, then hung up before he could respond. “What are you doing here, Mother?” she asked in a low voice. “You’re supposed to be in DC.”

  “I thought I’d come see where my daughter works.” She pulled Rosemary into a hug—as she was wont to do when they were in public and people were watching. Ever the actress. “Aren’t you happy to see me?” She barely touched her daughter’s shoulders as she did the social hug, but her breath stank of alcohol.

  Rosemary’s mind flipped through the scenarios, trying to decide where to take Wanda, what to do to minimize the scene she could already see ahead of them, the potential for public embarrassment and disruption at the hotel. “I was just leaving for the day. Walk me out to my car.”

  Joel approached, coming to a stop beside them. His eyes slid over Wanda as he sized up the situation and chose a response. An affable smile spread over his face like he was getting a real treat. “Hello, I’m Joel Watts. You must be Rosemary’s mother.” He extended a hand to her. “I married her sister, Sage.”

  “Another one of George’s throwaways,” Wanda said with an expansive gesture. “He was lousy with them.”

  His face tightened a little. “He certainly has a big family,” he agreed without breaking his smile. “You haven’t been here before, have you? How about if we show you around?” He took her elbow and gestured toward the hall where his office was.

  “It is rather nice, but I thought I’d check in first.” She pointed back to the front desk. “Settle in before I have Rosie take me on the grand tour.”

  “It’s too early to check in,” Joel said, though most of the rooms would be clean by this hour. “Come take a walk with us.” Joel was rather stoic and quiet by nature, and Rosemary had rarely seen him like this—only once before, on the evening of his wedding when she saw him talking with his SEAL buddies. If it hadn’t been for that one evening, she would have sworn that this man, the charming, social guy, was a pod person or something.

  Whatever his end game was, she would go along with it. Even if she was getting a little too close to when the last bell would ring at the elementary school. She checked her watch again and figured she had five minutes to get out the door.

  A moment later they were maneuvering into the security office. “What are we doing here?” Wanda asked as she looked around uncertainly.

  Joel pulled the door closed behind them. “I just wanted a quiet place to talk with you.” He sat beside her and gestured for Rosemary to take the chair behind his desk—the one furthest from her mother. “So what brought you here today?” he asked Wanda.

  “I just wanted to see my daughter.”

  His voice was smooth, but his eyes held a glint of hardness. “I was surprised you didn’t come when the hotel opened in September. Most of the girls’ mothers came in then. It was a big accomplishment getting this whole place set up. You should see Rosemary when she’s in the kitchen. She’s a master. Like a symphony conductor. You must be so proud.”

  Rosemary was a little stunned at the compliment. Was he serious or just laying it on thick for Wanda?

  “Well, it helps when you have Daddy Warbucks backing you and making sure you get all the best opportunities.” Wanda’s comment was slightly slurred and full of spite. It made the knot in Rosemary’s stomach grow from the size of a quarter to the size of an apple.

  “It doesn’t hurt to have the financial and emotional support her dad gave her, especially when she has natural talent and is willing to work her guts out to become the best.” Joel flashed Rosemary another one of those easy grins. It was starting to freak her out, even if she did appreciate the fact that he was standing up for her.

  Her cell phone rang and she noticed Harrison’s number on the other end. When she hesitated, Joel nodded that she should answer it. “Hey, what’s up?” She checked her
watch again.

  “I heard your mom’s here. Would you like some company?”

  “We’re with Joel in his office. Do you think you could get away for a while? It’s almost two-thirty.”

  He hesitated for a second. “Are you looking for company or someone to pick up Cleo, because I could do that if you want.”

  “I’d really appreciate it if you could run that errand for me. My mother caught me on my way out the door.”

  “Do you want me to bring her here, your place or would you rather I take her to my place?”

  “Yours, if it’s okay. Can you get away for a while? I know it’s early.” It’s not like he would get in trouble, but she knew he had work to do too.

  “Yeah. I’ll take care of it. No worries.”

  “Thanks.” That was a big relief. She said goodbye and hung up. She smiled at Joel when he lifted a questioning eyebrow at her. “Just rearranging my two-thirty appointment.” Everyone in the family knew that’s when school got out. Sage had picked up Cleo a couple of times too, so she was pretty sure he’d understand. She’d rather not bring up Cleo with her mother around, especially when they didn’t know for sure who was behind everything that was happening.

  “Good.” He turned back to Wanda, still projecting affability. “You just hopped on a plane at the last minute? You must be exhausted after the trip.”

  “I’ve been in Denver for a few days. Traveling always wears me out,” she said, waving her hand a little as if it was only to be expected. “Besides, there are some great shops there.”

  Rosemary tried not to grind her teeth when she heard her mom talking about all of the shopping she was doing when she’d been on the phone begging for money only a few days ago. “I didn’t think you’d want to come up here in the middle of the winter, Mother. You never did like snow very much.”

  “It’s ghastly. Thought I was going to go off the road a few times on my way up here.” Wanda patted her pocket and brought out a hip flask. “Luckily I brought something to warm me up.” She had to tip it almost upside down to get anything out of it.

  Rosemary swallowed back the bile. She hated when her mother drank. It didn’t happen as often as it could have, but she was unpredictable—sometimes friendly and almost caring, while other times she was mean and nasty. At least Joel was with Rosemary this time. The question was how they were going to get rid of her.

  “How long are you planning to stay?” Joel asked.

  “A day or two. Rosemary and I have issues to settle and I want to see my granddaughter.”

  Over my dead body, Rosemary thought. “It’s too bad I’m so busy for the next few days,” she said. “If you’d called ahead maybe we could have worked some time into my schedule.” Or she might have arranged to be out of town.

  “You’re in charge; reschedule work.” The slurring grew worse.

  “I can’t do that. It’s the weekend, when it’s the busiest here.” Rosemary stood. “I need to get moving. There’s so much to do.”

  “You can’t go,” Wanda protested. “You have to give me money. That’s why I came. I knew if I came to you, you’d take care of me. I just needed to remind you. You owe me, Rosemary.” She went from calmly drunk to angry and insulting in the blink of an eyes. Rosemary had expected it, had even pushed for it, needing whatever Joel was waiting for to happen so he could get rid of her.

  “There’s not going to be any money,” Rosemary said even as guilt twisted her gut. Why should she feel bad about not enabling her mother?

  “But you have to help me.” Wanda’s face grew red and she reached out to her daughter.

  “No, I don’t.” Rosemary stood her ground. “If you could find the money to fly out here, spend a few days in a hotel, go shopping in Denver and rent a car, you have enough to take care of yourself until you find a job.”

  “But I haven’t worked since before you were born,” Wanda protested. “How am I supposed to get a job now? Do you know how hard it is for someone to get work at my age? I mean, I’m almost forty.”

  She was over fifty, but Rosemary wasn’t about to dicker over her age. “I can’t help you. It’s time you help yourself.” She felt like a mean, ungrateful child, but unless she wanted her mom to come to her with a hand out for the rest of her life, she had to cut her off now. No question about it. The fact that her mother was mean and nasty about everything made saying no much easier.

  “You can’t do that, you useless brat.” She lifted her hand to strike Rosemary.

  Joel grabbed her wrist before she let it fly. “I wouldn’t be doing that if I were you.” His affability was gone, his voice had become low and hard. “Let me tell you how this is going to go, Ms. Keogh. You’re going to leave this hotel and leave this town. You aren’t going to contact Rosemary again. Not by phone, not by letter, not online. You’re not going to come back here. Ever. Or to any of the other DiCarlo properties. I’m going to have your name listed in the system so they won’t make a reservation for you. Rosemary is going to talk to the cops today, give them your name and see about getting a protective order.”

  That last one, at least, was an exaggeration. Rosemary didn’t think she had enough grounds for one, but it sounded nice.

  “That’s what you think. She’s my daughter and I can talk to her if I want to.” Wanda struggled, rounding on Joel and hitting him this time. Joel grabbed her other wrist, then twisted her arm up behind her. He whipped a long ziptie from one of the many pockets in his cargo pants and tied her wrists together while she screamed and cursed him. Rosemary stood back, watching, shocked by his actions and relieved that he was on her side.

  “Rosemary, call the sheriff and get someone out here. I’m pressing charges for assault and battery,” Joel said.

  She sucked in a breath and nodded, then picked up the phone from his desk and dialed out.

  It was almost an hour before Rosemary was able to get away from the hotel to check on Cleo. She found her daughter sitting with Harrison at his kitchen table, a chessboard between them.

  “Harrison’s teaching me. Want to play?” Cleo asked.

  “It’s kind of a two-person game, sweetie.” Rosemary leaned over and pressed a kiss to her daughter’s head. “How was school?” She smiled her thanks to Harrison, intending to give him a much better reward once she had talked to her daughter for a few minutes.

  “Well maybe you can play it with me later at home.” She scrunched up her face. “Do we have a chess game?”

  “Nope, I don’t think any of us has a chess set. But if you like it, maybe we can pick one up. It’s good for you, teaches you strategy and critical thinking skills.” Or so she’d been told. “But Harrison will have to teach it to me, because I’ve never played before, either.”

  “You haven’t?” Harrison asked. “How could you consider yourself an educated person without knowing how to play?” He stood and reached for her, reeling her in. When his lips met hers, the kiss was soft and much too short. “Glad your unexpected meeting didn’t keep you all afternoon.”

  She set her forehead against his shoulder for a few seconds, relieved to be there in his arms. “Thanks for picking her up and playing with her.”

  “Anytime.” He brushed his chin along her forehead, then released her.

  “You had a meeting?” Cleo asked, her tone saying it wasn’t a good excuse. “You promised to pick me up today so we could go shopping for Cami.”

  “I know. Sorry, hon.” Rosemary put a hand on Cleo’s shoulder. “It wasn’t a meeting. My mom showed up as I was leaving to get you from school.”

  Cleo’s nose wrinkled. “Your mom? What’s she doing here? She doesn’t even like us.”

  And how sad that the little girl could tell so easily. “Yeah, she came to the hotel and we talked and then we told her to leave and not to come back. So, we’re all done with her. No more Wanda.” She hoped. “Do you want to go shopping still?”

  Cleo looked at Harrison and then back at Rosemary. “Harrison said he’d let me make him crepes. I
really want to try by myself, Mom.”

  Rosemary felt the lump rise in her throat again, as it did on the rare times when Cleo called her ‘mom.’ She wondered if Cleo said it intentionally, or if it was a slip. “Well, we can always shop tomorrow. There are still a few days until the party.”

  “All right!” Cleo rushed to the fridge and started pulling out ingredients.

  Harrison took Rosemary’s hand. “How did it go, really?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Pretty crappy. She showed up drunk and friendly, as she often does when she’s trying to get something she wants. Joel met me in the foyer within a couple of minutes and got her into his office. It was freaky weird. He was like, friendly and charming and stuff. I didn’t know he could do that.”

  Harrison chuckled. “It’s a little out of character.”

  “Exactly. Anyway, it didn’t take long before she showed her true colors. She tried to slap me but he stopped her, then she hit him instead and he restrained her and called the cops. She’s in jail at the moment, though I don’t know how long she’ll be there.”

  “Not long, probably.” He touched her face. “Sorry you had to deal with that. It couldn’t have been fun.”

  “It’s my curse. We all have them.” She looked over at her daughter who was cracking eggs into a bowl. “Life gives us compensations. Thanks again. Really, it was a big relief knowing she was safe and would be happy with you, even if I couldn’t keep my promise to her.”

  “No problem. I have a flexible boss.” He squeezed her hand.

  “Isn’t that lucky?” Rosemary crossed to the kitchen and took a seat at the bar so she could supervise without being in the way.

  “What did your mom want?” Cleo asked.

  Rosemary considered, but wanted to be as honest as possible with her daughter, and she definitely wasn’t going to lie. As crazy as things had been, Cleo needed to believe that Rosemary would tell her the truth, and she needed to know when something wasn’t worth worrying about. Like this. “She wanted money. My dad was paying her bills for a long time, and now he’s not.”