Love of a Marine (The Wounded Warriors Series Book 2) (29 page)

She laughed and squeezed his knee. “Marla already told me about it. We made plans to go shopping for new dresses Tuesday or Wednesday night. You and Dwayne will have babysitting duty. I haven’t been to a formal affair in years.”

He pulled into Dempsey’s driveway. The Big D truck wasn’t there. The house was dark. He turned off the ignition and stepped out of the Green Monster. “I wonder where they are.” He ducked his head back in the car. “Do you have your phone?”

She handed it to him. “Yes. What are you going to do?”

“Call Gunny.” He punched in the number and waited. “No answer, it went to voicemail. Hey, Gunny, where are ya? We’re here to pick up Santos and nobody’s home. Call back this number, it’s Graciella’s cell.”

“What should we do?”

“Give it a few minutes and see if he calls back.” He knocked on the roof of the car. “I’m going to check the back door.”

She hopped from the car and Queen leaped out after her. “I’ll go with you.” Icy fingers skittered up her back and neck. They’d probably just gone to the store or fast food place, but the frigid fingers crept through her hair and over her scalp.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Cluny, concerned but not worried, went to the back of the house. He stopped on the porch when the fixture lit up. Was somebody home? No, that light was on an automatic timer.

“Are they here?” Graciella asked, breathless. Her anxious eyes widened.

“No, but we’re on the early side.” He slapped his leg. “Come, Queen.” He put his arm around Graciella’s shoulder and turned her toward the gate. “Let’s wait in the car.” They walked to the Green Monster and got in.

Cluny cocked his head at the sound of an approaching vehicle. “I bet that’s them now, yep, I recognize the sound of Dwayne’s truck.” He stepped out of his car for the second time.

Graciella flung open the passenger door. She met Dwayne’s truck as it pulled in the driveway. Marla rolled down the window and smiled. “You’re early.”

“Where have you been!” Graciella clasped her hands around her waist and bent forward. She gasped and sobbed.

Marla stepped out of the truck and reached for her. “Graciella, what is it?”

Cluny put his arm around her. “Baby, are you OK?” At a loss, he glanced to Marla.

Santos wiggled out of the backseat of the extended cab. “Mama?” He touched her shoulder gingerly. “Mama, what’s wrong?”

Graciella’s body wracked with sobs and she collapsed to her knees.

Cluny went down on his heels beside her. “Baby, talk to me.” He tried to tug her to her feet.

She lashed out with her arm. “Get away from me!”

Cluny staggered back. Mouth open and eyebrows drawn together, he stood frozen. Fear gripped his belly. The woman he loved was suffering and she wouldn’t let him touch her.

“Mama!” Santos cried. “Mama, what’s wrong?”

Amber, Dwayne, and Santos hovered next to Graciella.

Marla waved them back. “Everybody go. Leave.”

Cluny stepped forward. Dwayne put out his arm. “No, let Marla handle it.”

Cluny pushed away from Dwayne, doubled his fist, and directed a glare at his buddy.

“Don’t.” Hands up, Dwayne shook his head. “Don’t.”

“Uncle Cluny.” Amber threw her arms around him. “Listen to Daddy. Let’s go in the house.” She tilted her head and gazed up at him. “Uncle Cluny?”

Pent-up breath left his lungs like a pricked balloon and he lifted her in his arms. He buried his nose in her hair. Amber’s long legs dangled below his knees. She tightened her arms around his neck.

“Yes, sugar, let’s go in the house. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry.”

“I know you dint,” she whispered and hugged him tighter.

Dwayne put his hands on Santos’s shoulders. “Come on, son. Marla will take care of your mom. You get Queen out of Cluny’s car, and I’ll get Declan. Listen, I hear DD barking. She knows we’re here.”

Cluny caught Santos’s distressed expression and put Amber on her feet. “OK, let’s get Queen and go inside, pal.” He hugged Santos to his side, and they went to the car and opened the door.

Queen bounded out and stood on her hind legs in front of Santos, her big paws on his shoulders.

Startled at first, a weak smile bloomed on his face. “Hi, Queenie.” He put his fingers through her ruff and tugged her muzzle close to his face then giggled when her long tongue lapped at his mouth. “Yick.”

“Down girl,” Cluny and Santos glanced over their shoulders at Marla and Graciella before going in the house. He wanted to tell the boy everything would be OK, but because he was at a loss, he kept silent, and patted Santos’s back instead.

“Do you know what’s wrong with Mama, Macfearsome?”

“I wish I did. She was worried when nobody was home then she had a meltdown when you got here. I hope she’ll talk to Marla. I can’t stand to see her hurting, but she didn’t want my help.”

“I don’t understand. Mama loves you. She told me.”

“Hey, kids.” Dwayne put the baby carrier on the floor and pointed to the kitchen. “Let’s get some of that ice cream I promised you after Grampa Brad’s swimming lesson.”

“We can do it ourselves, Daddy.” Amber took Santos’s hand. “Come on. We have your most favorite, mint chip. Mom bought it especially for you.”

Instead of following them to the kitchen, Cluny went to the living room and collapsed on the couch. DD leaped into his lap and Queen dropped her heavy head on his knee. “Jesus H suffering Christ,” he groaned.

Dwayne sat at the other end of the sofa. “What did you do, brother?”

Cluny shot forward and glared at his lifelong pal. “What the hell kind of a question is that?”

“Shhh. The kids.” Dwayne waved his hands. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on with you and Graciella.”

“That makes two of us.”

* * *

Mortified at her breakdown, Graciella took deliberate, slow breaths. She squeezed Marla’s hand. “I’m OK, I’m OK.”

“Stand up.” Marla tugged her to her feet. “What happened? What did Cluny do? Tell me.”

She shook her head and smeared the tears from her cheeks. “He didn’t do anything.”

Marla reached in her pocket and took a small packet of Kleenex and handed it to her. “Let’s take a walk.” She placed a hand in the crook of Graciella’s elbow and directed her toward the sidewalk at the end of the long driveway.

She mopped her face and blew her nose. She’d never behaved like this in her entire life and was deeply embarrassed. Marla’s quiet closeness comforted her. She hadn’t had a woman friend to confide in since she’d left Sao Paolo, barely out of her teens. A deep sigh escaped her lips.

“Take your time. When you’re ready, tell me what happened.”

They’d covered nearly half a block before Graciella could speak. “It makes no sense, but I was terrified you weren’t home when we got here and…and then didn’t answer Cluny’s phone call. Why didn’t you answer the call?”

“We were almost home when Dwayne realized he’d left his phone at my parent’s house. I didn’t take mine when we went there after dinner. It’s still on my kitchen counter. Don’t you trust us to take good care of Santos?”

“It’s not a matter of trust. I do trust you, but I’ve barely had him out of my sight since he was born. On rare occasions my sister-in-law or Marvin’s parents watch him for a couple of hours. When we got here tonight, and you weren’t home, I imagined every awful thing that could have happened to him, to you. I was drowning in guilt because I’d thought only of wanting to be with Cluny.”

Yes, she’d left Santos to go shopping for a dress to impress Cluny. She’d left him overnight after the Independence Day barbecue so she could sleep with Cluny. Left him again this afternoon for the same reason. At the park she’d made plans with Marla to go shopping again and to the dinner-dance next weekend, which meant leaving him yet again. What kind of a mother was she?

“I don’t know what to say, Graciella. I won’t presume to tell you how to feel, but it seems perfectly normal to me to want to spend private time with the man you love. It’s not as if we only have so much love to give, and then there’s none left for anybody else. Did Cluny say or do something to set you off?”

Graciella laughed quietly. “Other than make beautiful passionate love to me, transport me to a level of emotion I’ve never experienced, express a tenderness I’ve never known. No.”

“That bastard!” Marla stopped walking and scowled. “How could he?” She perched her hands on her hips.

Graciella twisted her lips to suppress a smile. “Exactly. So tell me what’s wrong with me, Marla. Am I crazy?”

“Crazy in love maybe, and thinking you don’t deserve to be?”

“I do feel that way, and I know I shouldn’t. Santos asked me the other day if Cluny could be his dad.”

“Oh, dear.” Marla brushed windblown auburn hair off her face.

“I’m afraid of filling him with false hope, so I said it might never be possible for us to be a family.”

“What did he say to that?”

“He asked me if we could try.” A tear tracked down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.

“That sweet kid. It’s so simple for them isn’t it? They think if you love somebody enough everything will work out just fine.”

Graciella sighed. “I know I’m too protective of him. I’ve been trying to talk myself into letting him stretch his wings, but obviously I’m not doing a great job of it. He’s such a happy, confident child. I don’t want him to ever be hurt or disillusioned.”

“You already know that’s unrealistic.” Marla pointed to a bus bench. “Let’s sit here for a few minutes. It’s a long walk back.”

Graciella’s shoulders slumped. “So where do I start? How do I stop feeling insecure and guilty? What am I afraid of?”

“I wish I had the answers. You need to have a frank talk with Cluny. He’s a man, and he’s far from perfect, but he’d never say or do anything to deliberately hurt either of you. He’s a good man, Graciella.”

“I believe that in my heart, but we’ve known each other such a short time. Am I really in love with him? Is he in love with me, or is it merely physical?” Unable to sort her feelings, or even to trust them, her brain in turmoil, she swallowed threatening tears.

She must stop acting like an air-headed teenager, get her thoughts under control, and do what was best for the three of them. Cluny deserved a chance at happiness as much as she and Santos did. She’d quit throwing up chimeras, quit dwelling on scenarios of failure, quit acting on fool-headed emotion and use her brain.

Before you make failure a self-fulfilling prophecy, Graciella Jefferson.

“Thank you for taking me under your wing.” She touched Marla’s arm. “I want so much for it to work out between us. But it unsettles me that I fell in love with him so quick. How can I be sure it’s real?”

“My dad gave me a nice piece of wisdom when I was in turmoil, questioning my feelings over falling in love with Dwayne. He said, ‘You know when you know.’” She rubbed her arms against the chill in the air. “You do know.”

“That’s where children have it all over us, isn’t it? They don’t question their feelings. They just act on them.”

Marla nodded. “It’s getting cold. Shall we go back before Dwayne and Cluny come looking for us?”

“Yes.” Graciella walked alongside Marla. “Poor Cluny, he must be wondering if he’s got a crazy woman living under his roof. Earlier I told him Santos and I should go home now that Jamal isn’t around to threaten to us, but he said no, he wanted us to stay longer. He probably wishes he hadn’t said so now.”

“You do worry about every little thing, don’t you, my friend?” Marla bumped her lightly with an elbow. “You don’t need to be concerned about ‘poor Cluny.’ He’s a big boy who’s weathered a lot worse than a woman in distress. He’s paid a heavy price, but he’s solid.”

“You’re right.” She reached in her pocket for a scrunchy and pulled her blowing hair into a ponytail. “I upset Santos too. I’m a mess.”

“Yes, you are, but trust me it’s temporary, you’ll figure it out.” Marla stooped to pick up a newspaper on the sidewalk in front of a neighbor’s house. She stepped across the lawn and tossed it to the porch. “Mr. Johnson’s knees are bothering him. He’ll appreciate not having to walk so far.”

“You’re so thoughtful, Marla.” Graciella felt fortunate to have made such a friend. Marla’s confession about how conflicted she’d been when she’d fallen in love was encouraging. Everyone had fears and conflicts. “So, are we going shopping for sexy dresses Wednesday after our guys get home from work?”

“Absolutely. Now that I don’t have to be concerned about keeping my hands off Dwayne to avoid pregnancy, I plan to live it up. Watch out, Dempsey, you’ll never know what hit you.”

Graciella laughed. “You’re a very bad girl and he’s a lucky man.”

“We’re both lucky. We love each other and we have two great kids.”

Cluny, Santos, and Queen were waiting for her on the front porch when they got back to Marla’s. They wore identical wrinkled-brow expressions. She smiled, and it was comical how quickly they relaxed. She shouldn’t have put them through this drama. She’d do better because they deserved better.

Marla passed them without a word and went inside the house.

Graciella sighed and stepped into Cluny’s embrace then pulled Santos in with them. “Shall we go home?”

“Guess what, Mama? Amber’s grandpa gave me a swimming lesson. He said if I was going to be a SEAL, I’d have to be a strong swimmer. They have a swimming pool and everything, and he said me and Amber can come over there any time we want to. Oh, and her grandma made popcorn for us when we got out of the water.”

“Isn’t that nice? How did you do?” She kissed his forehead, noticing she didn’t have to bend much because he’d grown taller in the past couple of months.

“Pretty good. I even opened my eyes under the water, and I wasn’t scared.”

A stab of fear sliced into her at the thought of him going into a swimming pool without her there to watch out for him. He was afraid of the water.

Stop it! He’s fine!

Cluny held his arms around their shoulders and walked them to his car. He opened the passenger door and pushed the seat forward to allow Queen and Santos into the back. He whispered in her ear. “I love you, baby.”