Midnight Promises (32 page)

“Because the Cruz women—or Hernandez in Adelia’s case—don’t work. They stay home and care for their children. When Elliott and I were first together, believe me, that’s all I heard. I was accused of neglecting my children by working to support them. Elliott’s mother and Adelia were the most vocal.”

“That’s a pretty old-fashioned view,” Raylene said.

Karen shrugged. “It works for a lot of mothers and, if it does, more power to them. I couldn’t afford to stay at home. Somebody had to pay the bills.”

“Why do you suppose Adelia had such a sudden change of heart?” Raylene asked, her expression thoughtful. “She mentioned something about wanting a job for her own self-respect. Any idea what she meant by that?”

Unfortunately, Karen had a pretty good idea of exactly what Adelia had meant. She was at least emotionally breaking free of Ernesto, or at least that would be Karen’s guess. She wasn’t about to share such personal information with Raylene, though.

Instead, she shrugged. “I’ll bet a lot of women hit a point when they want their own identity aside from being a wife and mother.”

Raylene nodded. “You’re probably right. Bottom line, I am really glad she wandered in yesterday. I might finally be able to get a little more time to enjoy my own family life one of these days. Owning a business is a lot more demanding than I’d realized when I opened the boutique. At the time I was just so grateful to be able to leave the house and do something, I didn’t give a thought to all the hours involved. Now I want at least a tiny bit of my freedom back.”

“Adelia’s smart. She actually has a degree in business. I think she’ll be able to help you with a lot more than sales, if that’s what you want,” Karen said.

Raylene’s eyes lit up at that news. “Lucky me!”

Actually, Karen thought, Adelia was the lucky one. Though she wouldn’t have thought of her sister-in-law being anything other than a stay-at-home mom, she could see how this could be the perfect niche for her. And Raylene, who’d been through her own share of personal crises, would be the perfect support system for someone in Adelia’s situation.

* * *

Ever since he and Karen had argued over his role in making decisions for Daisy and Mack and her refusal to make a commitment to allowing an adoption, Elliott’s frustration with the situation had grown. Just yesterday Daisy had defied him over doing her homework, shouting that he wasn’t the boss of her. Though he was sure other children uttered the same words, to him they carried an entirely different meaning. Later she’d apologized, but the remark had stung.

With an hour break in his schedule, he made a quick call to Helen’s office.

“Is she free, by any chance?” he asked Barb, Helen’s long-time secretary.

“For another twenty minutes, she is. How fast can you get over here?”

“Two minutes,” Elliott promised. “I’m already on my way.”

He jogged around the corner and down the block, then up the front steps of the house Helen had recently bought and renovated into her new office. According to all reports, she’d been saying for months that she needed the extra space because she intended to bring in another legal partner. Given her determination to control every aspect of her life, no one, Elliott included, believed she’d relinquish a single client, even to some handpicked partner.

Helen was standing in the reception area when he arrived. “Is this about the partnership papers for the gym?” she asked. “They’re all signed, sealed and delivered. Everything’s nice and legal. And the loan agreement you had me draw up with the other partners is finished, as well. Everyone’s signed off on that. You should have your copy in today’s mail.”

Elliott shook his head. “That’s all great, but I’m here about something else.”

Alarm immediately registered on her face. “Come on in,” she said, gesturing for him to go into her office, then closing the door behind them. “Please tell me you and Karen aren’t thinking about getting a divorce, because I can tell you now, I couldn’t represent you. She and I have a history. I’d feel obligated to represent her.”

He smiled at her fierce sense of loyalty. “And that would terrify me, if it were why I’m here,” he said frankly. “Actually, I’m wondering about what I’d need to do to legally adopt Daisy and Mack.”

Her eyes lit up. “I’ve been wondering why you hadn’t already done that. Anticipating this, I cleared the way when we got Ray to give up his parental rights in the divorce. Sadly, it wasn’t much of a fight. He’d already moved on to a new life someplace in Nevada. I think he was busy conning some other poor woman. One of these days I’d like to file suit and go after him for all the back child support he owes Karen, but she wants to put all of it behind her. I don’t think she has the stomach for another fight with him. I honestly can’t say I blame her, but that money rightfully belongs to Daisy and Mack. It would make a tidy nest egg for their college fund.”

“The man was a sleaze, no question about it,” Elliott said. “Karen’s lucky to be rid of him.”

“And even luckier to have found you,” Helen said.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I do have a question, though. Why are you here, rather than Karen, or at least
with
Karen?”

He winced at the all-too-relevant question. “I was hoping you wouldn’t see anything odd about that,” he admitted.

Helen frowned. “Is she opposed to the adoption for some reason?”

He thought about the question. “Not opposed, exactly. She just seems hesitant about moving forward. She won’t say why, but lately I’ve gotten the feeling that she still doesn’t entirely trust our marriage to last. I suspect she thinks that my adopting Daisy and Mack would muddy the waters if we divorced.”

“Has she said as much?”

He shook his head. “She won’t say anything,” he said, not even trying to hide his frustration. “She just pushes off the discussion to another time. I thought maybe if I talked to you, made sure there were no legal hurdles, I could convince her that it’s time to move forward on this. Daisy, Mack and I are all a little bit in limbo about my real role in their lives.”

Helen nodded. “I can see how that could get complicated. Kids need to understand who the authority figures are in their lives. I saw it with Maddie and Cal, when they got together. Though Cal didn’t adopt Katie, Kyle and Ty, he already had a role of respect in the family as Ty’s baseball coach. Plus he’s used to working with kids, and he had Maddie’s unconditional support to interact with them as a disciplinarian. Even her ex didn’t pull some kind of stunt and try to undercut him.”

Elliott nodded. “I’d be happy to settle for being a stepfather, if Ray were in the picture, but he’s not. I think the kids need to know they can count on me, that I’m in their lives forever. I think that’s going to be even more critical if Karen and I have a child of our own. I’d never want Daisy or Mack to feel as if they’re second-best in my affections.”

“And you’re willing to make that commitment? Even if something were to happen, if you and Karen were to split down the road, you’d expect to be a father to Daisy and Mack? You’d obligate yourself for child support, all of it?”

“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “A split’s not an option, but even hypothetically, yes, I’d want to remain in their lives as their father and support them. They were still very young when Karen and I began seeing each other. I feel as if I’ve raised them almost from birth, as it is.”

“Then I’d say the only hurdle you face is getting Karen to agree. I think the legalities would go fairly smoothly. Get her on board, and we’ll talk again,” she said, standing up and coming around her desk. She gave him a kiss on his cheek. “You’re a good guy, Elliott Cruz, but then, the smart women in this town have always known that.”

Elliott couldn’t help wondering if Karen would agree, especially when she found out he’d just gone behind her back. Again.

* * *

Karen picked the kids up from her mother-in-law’s house, managing to avoid any sort of interrogation while she was at it. She arrived home feeling triumphant. She still had an hour to get dinner on the table before Elliott was likely to get home. Now that the renovations had been completed, they had a few free evenings before the gym’s open house over the weekend and then the official launch next week, when his schedule likely would go crazy.

She managed to convince Daisy to go to her room to do her homework, but Mack trailed after her into the kitchen.

“When’s Daddy coming home?” he asked, stunning her.

“You know your father doesn’t live in Serenity anymore,” she said carefully. It was the first time Mack had even mentioned Ray in a very long time.

“Not him,” Mack said impatiently. “Elliott. I want him to be my dad. I want to call him Daddy.” He gave her a plaintive look. “Please. I hardly even remember my real dad.”

Karen drew in a deep breath. She knew Elliott would never manipulate her by planting such an idea in Mack’s head, so her son had to have come up with this on his own. It was proof enough that Elliott had been right about how desperately her kids needed some clarity.

“You want Elliott to be your dad?” she asked.

He nodded enthusiastically. “Daisy does, too.”

“You’re sure? She hasn’t mentioned it to me.”

“She doesn’t want you to be sad,” he said.

Karen held back a sigh at how her indecision had apparently been affecting Daisy and Mack. “Elliott and I will talk about it,” she promised.

“Tonight?” Mack pleaded, his face lighting up.

“Tonight,” she confirmed. “Now, take a juice box and go do your homework. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

It seemed that the decision about adoption was mostly out of her hands. How could she possibly deny her children and her husband something they all wanted? She’d never known her own father, so being without a male role model had just seemed the norm to her. With Elliott in the picture, her children understood what having a great dad could be like, yet she’d held the fulfillment of that dream tantalizingly out of reach with her doubts.

“No more,” she murmured, resolving to give them all what they wanted. She’d manage to quiet her fears somehow.

While the water for pasta came to a boil, she glanced through the mail and saw an envelope from Helen. Unable to resist, she opened it and found what appeared to be loan documents associated with the deal Elliott had made with the other partners at the gym.

The documents themselves were no surprise. The amount of money involved, however, staggered her. Maybe twenty thousand dollars seemed like nothing to them, but to her it suggested years of debt. It had taken several years of scrimping and saving just to wipe out the few thousand that Ray had left her obligated to pay off.

She was still staring at the document in shock, when Elliott came in. He glanced at her, but went straight to the stove where the water had apparently boiled down to nothing. He turned off the burner under the scorched pot, then regarded her with concern.

“What’s going on?”

She lifted her gaze and regarded him with a sense of betrayal. “Twenty thousand dollars?” she whispered, barely able to utter the words.

He winced at her tone. “You knew about the loan.”

“But you never said it was for that much.”