Star Bright (22 page)

Todd rushed behind him
with a paper in his hand, “Where are you going, we aren’t done
yet?”

“
I’m going
home. If I keep spending my time here, I’m going to forget my home
and what my family looks like.” He stepped into the elevator
determined to leave.

“
They are
always here and besides they aren’t your family.”

“
Yes they are,
and if you want your mess fixed you better keep that in mind.” He
said harshly, before the elevator doors closed.

Todd stood there looking
at the doors, helpless. He knew he couldn’t do anything else
without Dave’s approval and he surely wasn’t going home early for
his father to scold him for dodging work, the only thing left to do
was drink the bottle of whiskey he had in his desk. He turned
around and skipped to his office.

Dave parked his car at
the side walk. He liked having two cars parked in front of his
house, it gave him a feel of a family, he had longed for a family
when he was with Amy and now he had it, with Maria. He walked to
his door with two pizzas in one hand and a bouquet of red and white
roses in another. He wasn’t sure which flowers she liked, but a man
could never go wrong with roses.

Michael opened the door
before he could, “Hi buddy,” Dave said, stepping in.

“
Hi dad, mama
doesn’t like flowers.” Michael said before he took the pizzas and
jetted off to the living room. Dave stood there for a while,
shocked, but yet pleased Michael had called him dad again. He
understood he had to put up a show at school, but at home it was
different and very genuine. Michael saw him as a dad and it made
Dave very glad.

“
You need to
stop him from calling you that.” Maria emerged from the living
room, she walked to him and took the roses from him,
“Thanks.”

Dave saw how carelessly
she held them and knew he would have to find something that
appealed to this woman, most women would be cooing and smelling
them, but she held them like she would a dead branch, “Why should
I? He wants to and I like it.” he took off his coat and placed it
in the closet, “besides, now you don’t have any other choice but to
marry me.”

“
How about you
and Michael stop being delusional.” she walked ahead of him to the
kitchen, “This is going to end bad Dave and he’s going to get
hurt.” She placed the roses on the counter, reached into the
cupboard and took out several plates.

“
It doesn’t
have to.” He stood at the door and watched her move around the
kitchen. She looked like she lived there for years, like it was her
home.

“
Izzy already
had her dinner and I thought you would want to tuck her in. You
haven’t done that in weeks.” Maria said, changing the subject. It
always made her uncomfortable when he talked about their future,
which she wasn’t too sure they would have one.

“
Thanks.” he
blocked her way and kept her in the kitchen, “Why do you keep doing
that?” he took the plates out of her hands, walked to the counter,
pulling her with him, “We can eat out of the box. Why do you change
the subject when you get uncomfortable?”

“
You’ve
already answered yourself, it would be silly if I repeated it.”
keeping her head down.

“
Maria.” he
said gently, lifting her head with his fingers.

“
Michael is
going to finish the pizza.”

“
I’ll call for
another one, just answer me.”

She stared at him, her
lips bitten shut. She had a number of reasons why she wasn’t
comfortable with speaking of a future with him, she just didn’t
think he would be too pleased to hear them.

“
If you are
afraid I’ll turn out to be like Ricky, you couldn’t be more
wrong.”

“
I can’t take
that risk.” she said, stepping away from him.

“
I spent seven
years of my life married to Amy, not once did I lay a hand on her,
as much as I wanted to kill her a few times. I think that’s proof
enough.”

“
You are
right, Amy is enough proof but... what if it doesn’t work out?” she
shook her head.

Dave moved closer to her,
“There is no guarantee in life.” he pushed her hair back out of her
face, “We just have to risk it.”

“
I will be the
one risking it, you already have my entire life in a little black
folder. A journalist, that was clever, but not clever
enough.”

Dave sighed, his eye brow
rose in amusement. He had called the PI and asked him how he got
made, his answer of course wasn’t shocking. Miguel was in town and
a criminal of his caliber could spot a cop a mile away. He did his
homework on Miguel Martinez and found out he was a wanted man. He
was taking a huge risk coming back to this country which only meant
there was a piece of the puzzle missing, “I’m sorry about that. You
just looked so scared at times and I just wanted to protect
you.”

“
If I wanted a
hero, I’d call 911. I wasn’t even looking for a friend, but you
somehow became a constant in my life.”

“
I used the
kids, guys always do that when they want a hot chick to like them.”
Dave joked.

“
It kind of
worked, which reminds me, there is a one year old waiting to be
tucked in and a four year old busting with stories about his first
day in school.”

“
That doesn’t
mean you are dodging the talk.” he moved closer to her, forcing him
to bend his head to look at her.

“
I wouldn’t
dare.” she feigned shock.

He leaned down and kissed
her, longer than he had before. He smiled, tasting her soft lips
and he was glad when she kissed him back, allowing her hands to
drape over his shoulders. He pulled back and looked earnestly into
her green eyes, “Please, don’t stop Michael from calling me dad. I
promise I will be a better father to him than Ricky.”

Maria looked at him, his
sincerity tugged at her heart. She knew he would keep his promise,
but she still needed to protect Michael, “He’s never had a father.”
she said with a sob in her voice. She turned him around and pushed
him out the door, “We’ll talk about that later, right now you need
to spend time with them before they go to bed.”

He took her hand and
walked to the living room with her, “Okay, but tonight we are
setting a clear path for our future as a family, no dodging, and no
changing the subject.”

“
I’ll be on my
best
behavior
.” she pulled her hand out
of his when they got close to the kids. She sat on the single seat,
watching Izzy play, as Dave and Michael shared the couch and talked
about school.

It was hours before the
conversation ended and Michael nodded off. Izzy fell asleep in
Maria’s arms minutes after Dave got home, but Dave didn’t want to
take her up yet, he just wanted the four of them in the same room,
acting like the family they all wanted to be, and were. They tucked
Michael in first before they put Izzy to bed, Maria was exhausted
too, but Dave seemed to be running on batteries. He wasn’t sure
when he would have an opportunity to talk seriously with Maria
again, and besides, she didn’t have an early day so she could sleep
in, he on the other hand had to be up before the sun.

He left Maria in Izzy’s
room whispering the three generations blessing to call Todd on his
cell phone, “Hey, be at the office at seven tomorrow, I want to get
things done by next week.” he hung up in the middle of Todd’s
whining.

Maria closed the door
quietly behind her and turned to Dave’s smiling face with an
exhausted look on her face, “I guess we aren’t going to sleep.” she
let her hair loose and ruffled it up to let some cold air in
it.

“
If you’d
prefer we could have the talk either in your room or mine.” Dave
said casually, “If you want to be comfortable.”

Maria stopped what she
was doing and eyed him suspiciously, “Nice try, we’ll talk
downstairs where it’s open, with several exits.” She led the way
down the flight of stairs.

“
I wouldn’t
make you do what you don’t want to do.”

“
That’s the
problem, I might want to do what you wouldn’t make me
do.”

When they got to the
bottom of the steps, Dave pulled her to him and held her against
him. The fast movement made her hair fall delicately over her eyes
making her look even more beautiful. Dave leaned down and lightly
brushed his lips against hers, “Why would that be a problem?” he
whispered on her lips.

Maria’s heart raced at
their closeness, her lips parted slightly in anticipation of a
kiss. She’d never felt such a response to a man in such a long time
and she liked it. Four months ago if he pulled her like that, her
hands would have been up covering her face, but now her hands were
at ease on his arms and her lips enjoyed the tease and temptation
his gave.

“
Well yes.”
she whispered, “there are a number of reasons why that would be
wrong, but I can’t think of any right now.”

“
No reasons,
then there is nothing to stop me from doing what you might want to
do, but don’t want to, and sure, I wouldn’t make you do anything
you don’t want to do.” he leaned down closer catching her lips with
his and kissing her so softly that it made her tremble. He rubbed
her sides gently, that made her body tingle, and reminding her of
the pleasures a man’s touch could bring, something she had long
forgotten.

After a few minutes of
what felt like Maria’s first sincere blissful kiss, she pulled away
laughing, “Did you just come up with a tongue twister?”

Dave smiled, caressing
her back, “What can I say, I’m a genius.”

Maria punched him in the
chest before she took his hand and led him to the couch, “Your ego
is bigger than this whole house.” she sat down and cuddled against
him, “but I do have to admit, you are a genius and the best at what
you do, so the ego is understandable.”

“
A jeer and a
compliment in one sentence, you must really like me.”

She sat up and looked at
him, “What can I say, you’ve grown on me.”

“
Does that
mean we can officially be together?” Dave asked eagerly, “Like an
item?”

Maria laughed, “That
sounded so high school. When was the last time you
dated?”

“
Freshman
year, college.” he confessed, “That’s when I met Amy, so it’s been
close to eleven years.”

Maria did a little math
in her head before she spoke, “You are twenty-nine? That’s pretty
young for a big shot lawyer.”

“
I’m actually
thirty.”

“
It’s still
pretty young. Wow, you really do have the right to have such a big
ego.” she admired him and gave him a lot more respect. She always
thought he was in his mid thirties or closer to forty with how
mature, focused, strong handed and arrogant he was.

Dave felt shy at her
compliment, “I love what I do and I try to give a hundred percent
to everything, I get that from my dad.”

“
So you must
get your looks from your mom, because you have this boyish
prettiness when you smile or when you’re really happy.” She placed
her hand on the side of his neck and played with his hair. He
hadn’t gotten the time to cut it and it wasn’t its usual
professional cut.

“
Who do you
take after?” Dave tried to concentrate on the conversation because
her fingers were sending volts along his neck and shoulder, if he
wasn’t sure she would get frightened he would jump her.

“
My mom says I
take mostly after Miguel, but I think I look more like her. Apart
from the eyes and chin, Michael takes after Miguel, which my mom is
positive about.”

“
You blame
Miguel for what Ricky did to you, don’t you?” He asked,
unconsciously. He couldn’t help but feel the compulsion to defend
her father, but he didn’t want Maria to feel like she didn’t have
someone to support her. But Miguel was trying, risking his freedom
to come back, why, Dave wasn’t sure.

Maria pulled
her hand out of Dave’s hair and stuck it in hers, “Yes and no.” she
pulled her lips in a quick tight smile, “It hurt me that he didn’t
come back to see me and how I was doing. Sometimes I think if he
had, he would have been like all dads and just kept me away from
Ricky when I thought I was
in love with
him
, or forcefully pulled me out of the
relationship when he first hit me.” she chuckled nervously, “I was
really hoping he would come back and just shoot Ricky, which I bet,
wouldn’t have been much of a problem for him.”

“
Why didn’t
you leave when he first hit you?”

“
Mama tried to
make me but.” she shrugged her shoulder unable to repeat the stupid
words, ‘I loved him, after a few months I just
couldn’t.”

“
Battered
women syndrome.” Dave said harshly, unable to keep the anger out of
his voice.

Maria looked at him and
smiled. She could see his tempered volcano was about to blow, but
she was prepared for it, it wouldn’t catch her off guard this time,
“That and he told me he would take Michael away from me if I dared
to leave him.”

Dave bit his tongue and
stayed quiet for a moment, he didn’t speak until he was sure his
anger wouldn’t make its way out, “How did you get your scar?” he
pointed to her forehead.