A Sweet Magnolias Novel

“There’s no way of predicting such a thing,” Elliott said. “We just have to be grateful for every minute we do have.”

“I think she’s slowing down, though. I never noticed it before, but tonight she just seemed a little tentative to me.”

Elliott frowned. “Tentative, how?”

“I’m not sure I can explain it. Even though she’s been to the house before, she seemed a little uncertain about where things were. Didn’t you notice that? And just having you pick her up was a change. Usually she drives herself everywhere.”

“She told me she doesn’t like driving after dark anymore. A lot of people her age have vision problems at night. The streetlights and headlights bother them. And let’s face it, our neighborhood isn’t the easiest to navigate.”

“I suppose that’s all it is,” Karen said, then regarded him with a grin. “Enough doom and gloom and trying to anticipate something that’s in God’s hands. You and I are actually having a date night. How amazing is that?”

He gave her a slow once-over that had her blood stirring. “A date night, huh? Does that mean we get to park and make out before I take you home?”

She grinned at him. “Depends on how good this date is,” she said. “Do you still remember how to woo me?”

He winked. “I’ll definitely give it my best shot, especially with that payoff you hinted could be mine.” He reached for her hand, brought it to his lips even as he kept his eyes squarely on the road. After the kiss, he rested her hand on his thigh, covered by his hand. She felt the involuntary bunching of his muscle, the heat of his skin. It made her feel not only very feminine but powerful, knowing the effect she had on him.

After Elliott pulled into a parking space and cut the engine, he turned to her. His expression stern, he said, “Remember, no trying to figure out the secret ingredients or trying to sneak a peek into the kitchen. This is a date, not an undercover op to check out the competition.”

Karen chuckled. “I figured out all of Rosalina’s secret ingredients years ago. I don’t do any culinary spying here. I can just relax and enjoy my meal.”

“Ah, so it’s only in the restaurants in Charleston and Columbia I have to worry about what you’re up to when you claim to be going to the restroom,” he teased. “And whether you’re more interested in the food than in me.”

“I will always be more interested in you than anything,” she assured him, then added thoughtfully, “Unless somebody happens to have the perfect chocolate soufflé on the menu. I’d love to get a handle on that one.”

“Don’t let Erik ever hear you suggest that his isn’t perfect,” Elliott warned. “The man’s pastry skills are supposedly legendary, at least around South Carolina.”

“Pies, cakes, cobblers, I’ll give him all of those,” Karen said. “But making a soufflé is an art. And if you’ll think about it, Sullivan’s doesn’t have it on the menu, not ever. It’s because Erik knows his isn’t perfection. I’d love to surpass his skill at just one thing someday.”

“Google it,” Elliott suggested. “Find the finest chocolate soufflé maker in the state, and I’ll take you there.”

She regarded him with amazement. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

“If it would make you happy, anything,” he said. “Don’t you know that by now?”

She smiled. Mostly she did, but it didn’t hurt being reminded of it every now and then.

* * *

Date night was a huge success all around. Karen felt revived after an entire evening with her husband with no crises. The kids pleaded with Frances to spend the night, so Karen found her a nightgown and settled her into the guest room. Frances promised to make them all French toast for breakfast, before sending everyone off on their busy days.

When Karen crawled out of bed in the morning, she found Frances in the kitchen, already dressed. She’d gathered the ingredients for French toast, something she’d made as a regular treat for the kids when they’d lived next door. Now, though, she was just standing there regarding everything with a vaguely perplexed expression.

“Frances?” Karen said softly, trying not to startle her. “Is everything okay?”

Frances jumped slightly, her expression filled with dismay. “Oh, my goodness, dear, you scared me. I didn’t hear you come in.”

Karen gave her a hug. “You looked a little distracted.”

“I suppose my mind wandered there for a minute. I’m perfectly fine.”

Though her words were reassuring, something still felt wrong to Karen. Trying to act casual, she slipped past her and started the coffee, then asked, “How about some help? I could whisk the eggs, cinnamon and milk together for you.”

Her offer seemed to trigger something for Frances. “Absolutely not,” she said briskly. “I’ve been making French toast for years. I can handle it.”

But despite her confident words, she seemed to hesitate as she went to work, her movements deliberate as if she was giving extra thought to what she was doing.

In the end, the French toast was perfect, and the kids gobbled it up with noisy exuberance. Elliott, who normally stuck to healthy egg whites or a high-fiber cereal in the morning, ate his share of the breakfast treat, as well.

As soon as the dishes were in the dishwasher, he offered to drop the kids at school. “Frances, why don’t I drop you off, too?”

“I’ll take her,” Karen said, wanting a little more time to see if she could pin down why things seemed so off with Frances on this visit. “I need my fair share of Frances’s attention before we let her get back to her normal routine.” She looked at her friend. “Is that okay? Are you in a rush? I’ll be ready in a half hour.”

“Actually I think I’d better go with Elliott,” Frances said, avoiding Karen’s gaze. “I have things to do this morning.”

Karen saw the lie for exactly what it was, an excuse to evade Karen’s questions.

“Sure, if that works better for you,” she told the older woman. “Next time maybe you can stay with us for the weekend. We’d all love that, wouldn’t we, Daisy and Mack?”

The enthusiastic chorus of responses from the kids brought a smile to Frances’s lips. “Then that’s exactly what we’ll do,” she said readily. “Mack, you can teach me how to play that video game you were telling me about. And, Daisy, I’m going to want to hear all about the father-daughter dance you’re going to with Elliott.”

Elliott urged them all to the door, then cast a last curious look back at Karen. “Everything okay?” he murmured.

“I’m honestly not sure,” she said, not even trying to hide her frustration. “You’d better go, though. We’ll talk about it later.”

He kissed her, his lips lingering against hers. “Great date,” he murmured against her mouth, a wicked sparkle in his eyes.

“Coming home was even better,” she replied, thinking of how tenderly he’d made love to her before they’d fallen asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

He grinned. “Yeah, it was.” He cupped her chin in his hand, held her gaze until heat stirred. “I’ll call Adelia today about the dresses, or would you rather do it?”

She gave him a wry look. “Asking your sister for a favor? We’re not quite there yet. She still hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” he protested. “She’s just overly protective of me. I’ll call.”

Just then, someone in the car hit the horn to urge him to hurry. Elliott chuckled.

“I’d better go before one of the kids decides they’re old enough to take the car for a spin.”

“Not to worry. Frances would never allow them to get away with that,” Karen said, but even as she spoke the words, she wondered if they were true. She’d seen signs that Frances was changing, and, though she had no idea just what those signs might mean, she suspected it couldn’t be anything good.

* * *

Elliott called his older sister at midmorning during a break between his spinning class and his jazzercise class. She answered the phone with the same harried, impatient tone she’d had at his mother’s a few days earlier.

“Things sound less than cheerful at the Hernandez casa this morning,” he said lightly. “What’s going on, Adelia?”

“Nothing,” she said, her tone clipped. “Why are you calling?”

“Actually I need a favor,” he said, “for Daisy.”

“Of course,” she said at once. Though she might not have totally welcomed Karen into the family, she had opened her arms and her heart to Daisy and Mack. “What does she need?”

“You know about the father-daughter dance at the school?”

“It’s all Selena’s talked about,” she said. “She says it’s lame, but she’s still begged her father to take her. Ernesto’s not thrilled, but he’s agreed. Now it’s up to me to keep him from backing out at the last minute and disappointing her. Are you taking Daisy?”

“She asked me to,” he said.

“I’m so glad. I was afraid she was going to feel left out.”

“The thing is, she needs a fancy dress. Our budget’s pretty tight these days.”

“And Selena has a whole closetful of dresses,” Adelia said, immediately understanding. “Why don’t I pick out a few and bring them by the spa? She can try them on at home tonight.”

“You could just take them over to Mama’s if that would be easier,” he suggested.

“And have Selena notice and make some thoughtless comment about Daisy getting her hand-me-downs? Bad idea.”

“Of course,” Elliott said, wishing he’d thought of the potential for hurt feelings. “I’ll be here the rest of the day. Drop them by, anytime. You can use the spa while you’re here, maybe have a workout.”

Silence greeted the offer. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you suggesting I’ve put on a few pounds?”

Elliott had the sense he’d just inadvertently wandered into another of those minefields the females in his life were known for. “I would never suggest such a thing,” he said quickly. “Has Ernesto said something to you?” If so, he’d have a little chat with his brother-in-law about showing some respect to his wife. So what if she was carrying a little extra weight from those close-together pregnancies? Those were Ernesto’s babies she’d been carrying.

“Ernesto seems to have a lot of opinions lately,” Adelia said with rare bitterness. “I’ve stopped listening.”

Now Elliott knew he was smack in the middle of the minefield. No matter where he stepped, there was danger. “Want to talk about it?” he asked carefully.

“I do not,” she said tersely. “I’ll be by later with some dresses.”

Taking his cue from her, he let the matter drop. “Thanks.”

She hesitated, then said in a quieter tone, “It’s sweet, what you’re doing for Daisy.”

“It’s not sweet. I just don’t ever want her to miss out on things because her dad’s not around,” he said.

“And that’s sweet,” Adelia insisted again. “When are you and Karen going to have a child of your own?”

It was a question she, their sisters and their mother had been asking regularly practically since he and Karen had said, “I do.”

“When the time is right for us,” he said as he always did. Telling her simply to mind her own business was useless.

At least this answer seemed to silence her, though not for long, he realized, when she asked, “And when will that be?”

“Adelia, as my oldest sister, you will be among the first to know,” he assured her. “Right after Mama.”

“I want to be first,” she teased. “Who taught you everything you know about girls? Who else protected you from the bullies at school?”

“Not you, for sure,” he said, laughing. “You were all talk, and almost got me in more trouble than I could handle with that sassy mouth of yours.”

She laughed, the first genuinely carefree sound he’d heard since the conversation began. “It made you strong, didn’t it? And you were a huge hit with all the girls because I told you what women like.”

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. See you soon.”

“Te amo, mi hermano.”

“I love you, too.”

Even though his sisters had the ability to drive him crazy in less than a heartbeat, he couldn’t imagine his life without them. He wanted Karen to benefit from being surrounded by all that love, as well, but it had been slow going so far. Though their open hostility toward her had faded, his sisters’ caution was still firmly in place. One of these days he’d have to find a way to bridge that gap.

Karen had her share of friends, counted on them as she would family, but he knew from a lifetime of experience that the support of love and family made all life’s problems just a little easier.

5

Elliott walked into the gym at school with Daisy on his arm. Karen had piled her daughter’s light brown hair on top of her head in an arrangement of curls. The dress they’d chosen together was pastel pink satin that seemed to bring out the color in her cheeks and made her eyes sparkle. Or perhaps that was the excitement of attending her first real dance.

She stood in the doorway, looking around with an awed expression at the tiny white lights that decorated potted trees, the disco ball hanging from the ceiling that sent out shafts of color as it spun, and the usual colorful streamers that turned a big empty space into something special.

“It’s beautiful,” she said softly, turning to him with delight shining in her eyes.

“You’re beautiful,” Elliott told her sincerely. “You look very grown up. I think you may be the prettiest girl in the room.”

“Not really,” she said, though she looked pleased. “Are Selena and Ernesto here yet?”

“I don’t see them,” he said, scanning the room, which was already crowded with young girls and their fathers. The excitement was at a fever pitch, as was the noise level.

When the disc jockey began to play a slow song, Elliott looked down into Daisy’s hopeful face. “Would you care to dance?”

“Really?” she asked, sounding breathless with anticipation.

“That’s why we’re here, is it not? I imagine I can still make it around the floor a time or two without stepping on your toes.”

He showed her where to put her hands, then counted for her as she awkwardly tried to follow his lead. At the end of the song, she took a deep breath. “I’m glad it’s you and not a boy,” she said, her expression filled with frustration. “I’m no good at this. I’ll never have a date.”

“You’ll get the hang of it long before you’re old enough to go on your first date,” he promised just as he spotted Ernesto and Selena coming their way. His brother-in-law looked oddly out of sorts.

“How’d Daisy talk you into being here?” Ernesto asked, his tone sour. “You wouldn’t catch me near this place if Adelia hadn’t raised a fuss.”

Elliott caught the shadow that passed over Selena’s face at her father’s thoughtless words.

Instead of talking back to her father, though, she whirled on Daisy. “That’s my dress!” she announced in a voice loud enough to carry to several nearby girls, who immediately giggled. “Mom must have dug it out of my throw-away pile.”

Elliott frowned at his niece. “Selena, enough!” he said sharply since Ernesto seemed to have no interest in correcting his daughter. “You’re deliberately trying to embarrass your cousin.”

“She’s not my real cousin,” Selena said nastily. “And you’re not her real dad.”

At Selena’s cruel words, Daisy looked stunned, then burst into tears and ran from the room. Elliott hesitated only long enough to give Selena a disappointed look. “I thought your mother had raised you to be kinder than that,” he said quietly. He held his brother-in-law’s gaze. “And you have nothing to say about this kind of behavior?”

Ernesto only shrugged. “What can I say? She’s her mother’s daughter.”

Elliott shook his head, wondering not for the first time what on earth was happening to his sister’s marriage. “I’ll deal with both of you later.”

He took off to find Daisy. She was pushing ineffectively at a locked door at the end of the corridor.

“Niña,” he said quietly. “Little one, I’m sorry.”

“I want to go home,” she pleaded, turning her tear-streaked face toward him.

“And I will take you, if that’s what you really want,” he told her. “But sometimes when people misbehave as badly as Selena did in there, the best thing to do is hold your chin up high and show people that you’re better than that.”

“But everybody’s laughing at me,” Daisy said, her eyes filling once more with tears. She regarded him with bewilderment. “I thought we were friends. Why would she be so mean?”

Elliott wondered about that himself. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I think perhaps she is very unhappy tonight.”

Daisy looked intrigued by his response. “How come?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, not wanting to suggest that Ernesto had let her down. “But I think she took her own unhappiness out on you. That was very wrong, but perhaps you will be the bigger person and find it in your heart to try to understand and forgive her.”

Daisy seemed to consider his words for a very long time before she met his gaze and asked with a sniff, “Do I have to?”

Elliott had to turn away to hide a smile. “No, little one, you don’t have to, but I hope you will. Despite what happened here tonight, we’re still family.”

She sighed heavily. “Okay, I’ll think about it.” She met his gaze. “But I still don’t want to go back. Please, can we go?”

“Why don’t we go to Wharton’s for ice cream?” he suggested. “How about that?”

She gave him a wobbly smile. “Ice cream would be good.”

On the way to Wharton’s, she wiped away the last of her tears and turned to him. “Before Selena said all those things, I had a good time, Elliott. Thank you for taking me.”

“Anytime,” he assured her. “And I had a good time, too. Next year’s father-daughter dance will be better. I promise.”

And first thing in the morning, he intended to get to the bottom of whatever had made his niece behave in such an uncharacteristically rotten way. His brother-in-law might be comfortable letting it slide, but he most definitely was not.

* * *

“Selena said what to Daisy?” Karen asked, her expression stunned when Elliott described the awful scene at the dance. “Why would Selena do such a thing? Daisy adores her. She must have been crushed.”

“At first, yes,” he admitted. “But a hot fudge sundae seemed to go a long way toward making her feel better.”

“At least this explains why she went straight to her room when you got back here just now and didn’t answer when I asked about the dance.”

“She felt humiliated, no question about it,” he admitted, looking chagrined. “For my niece to do such a thing…” He shook his head. “Honestly, though, I’m more worried about Selena right now. Something was not quite right with her tonight. I got the sense that Ernesto had no desire to be there and had made that plain to her. Maybe his insensitivity explains why she was so mean to Daisy.”

“That’s no excuse,” Karen said.

“Of course not,” Elliott agreed, for once not taking his family’s side. “I think there’s a lot more to the story. Adelia hasn’t been acting herself lately, either. I’ll get to the bottom of all of it tomorrow. And, trust me, Selena will apologize.”

“A forced apology won’t mean much,” Karen said.

“But it is necessary, nonetheless,” he said with conviction. “People in this family do not behave in such a way.” He gave Karen an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry the night was ruined for Daisy. I wanted so badly for it to be special, a memory she could cherish.”

Karen could see how upset he was that a member of his family had caused her distress. “As you said, the sundae went a long way toward fixing things. I’m sure it will all blow over.”

He hesitated, then said, “There is one thing Selena said that I think we should discuss, something we could correct.”

Karen frowned at that. “Why is it up to us to correct anything that Selena said out of spite?”

“Because we can,” he said simply. “She said Daisy wasn’t her real cousin and that I wasn’t her real dad. We’ve talked before about me adopting Daisy and Mack, but we haven’t made a decision. Maybe it’s time we did.”

Karen nodded distractedly. The subject of adoption had come up in passing before. She’d let it slide, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Tonight, though, she simply couldn’t focus on such an important topic.

“We’ll talk about it,” she said, “but not now. I need to check on Daisy.”

Elliott’s sigh hinted at his exasperation, but she ignored it. Tonight Daisy came first. She was still seething over what had happened. At least this once Elliott hadn’t rushed to take his niece’s side. Sometimes, she thought, he wore blinders where his family was concerned. There had been a few occasions when Adelia, his other sisters and even his mother had been just as careless of her feelings. Thankfully, though, that was mostly in the past.

As she stood to go to her daughter, she leaned down and kissed him. “Thanks for taking such good care of her.”

“It’s my job,” he said simply.

She found Daisy in bed with the covers pulled up high. The dress, which had been the cause of tonight’s incident, was in a heap on the floor.

“You should have hung this up,” Karen said lightly, picking it up and putting it on a hanger.

“Why? I’ll never wear it again. I don’t want it here. Give it back to dumb Selena if she cares about it so much. And I don’t want to go to Grandma Cruz’s after school anymore, not if Selena is going to be there.”

Karen sighed at the stubbornly determined note in Daisy’s voice. She sat on the edge of the bed, still holding the dress as she met her daughter’s gaze. “We’ll discuss where you’ll go after school another time. I’d rather focus on what happened tonight. Maybe I can help you to understand it.”

“Selena’s just selfish, that’s all.”

Karen shook her head. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You know, don’t you, that what Selena said most likely wasn’t about the dress at all?”

“What then?”

“Elliott seems to think her dad wasn’t very excited about taking her to the dance, not the way Elliott was so happy to be there with you. I suspect Selena was jealous.”

Daisy sat up, her eyes wide. That her idol might have been jealous of her clearly intrigued her. “Of me?”

Karen nodded. “You know that Elliott adores you. It made him feel great that you asked him to take you to the dance. Ernesto seemed to think it was a chore or a duty he couldn’t get out of. I’m sure that hurt Selena’s feelings. Can you understand that?”

Daisy’s expression turned thoughtful. It was a lot to ask of a nine-year-old that she try to grasp the impact of an adult’s hurtful actions.

“I guess,” she said eventually.

“Then maybe you can think about focusing on how lucky you are to have Elliott as a stepdad and consider forgiving her,” Karen suggested.

“Maybe,” Daisy said grudgingly.

Karen leaned down to hug her. “Just think about it. Good night, angel. I’m sorry your first dance wasn’t everything you wanted it to be.”

“It started out okay,” Daisy admitted. “Elliott was teaching me to dance.”

“He’s got some very nice moves on a dance floor,” Karen said, smiling at the memory of dancing with him at their wedding.

“All the other girls were watching him,” Daisy admitted. “I think they all wanted to dance with him.”

“I imagine they’ll have a lot of questions for you on Monday morning,” Karen said. “But you’ll have to tell them he’s taken, that he belongs to your mom.”

Daisy giggled. “Mom!”

“Well, it’s true,” Karen said.

“I think he’s the best stepdad in the whole world,” Daisy said.

“I think so, too,” Karen said softly. The very best.

And when she weighed that against the petty annoyances that had come between them lately, there was absolutely no contest. The day she’d found Elliott had been the luckiest of her life. When the going got tough—and there was little doubt that it would again—she needed to remember that.