Heart of a Marine (The Wounded Warrior Series Book 1) (37 page)

Somebody, probably her mom, had removed any sign of Skipper. She wandered from room to room then finally to her garage, where she found his bed, toys, leashes, and dishes. Marla ran his leash through her fingers. Tears threatened. “I miss you Skippy, but you’ll be happy to know that I intend to give that big bad Marine a piece of my mind. He’ll be sorry he ever crossed Marla Danaher.”

* * *

Dwayne arrived at the Danaher home to fetch Amber, but she and Silvia hadn’t returned. The house was dark. He was about to leave when Brad’s car pulled into the driveway.

Brad called, “Dwayne, come in. The girls should be back any time.” He stepped from his car, opened the front door, and turned on the hall light.

Dwayne met him on the porch, shook Brad’s hand, and went inside. “I got done sooner than expected. Where did they go?”

“They went to get pizza and then a movie.”

Dwayne grinned. “Oh, boy. If they went to the Disney festival at the Regal, Silvia will be treated to Cinderella.”

Brad gestured in the direction of the living room. “That was the plan.”

Dwayne sat in a wingback chair next to the unlit fireplace. “I know that damn movie by heart. She can’t get enough of it. She ran out of Cinderella books so she wrote her own version for a class project.”

“Comes with the territory.” Brad switched on another lamp and sat across from him. “I had the pleasure of memorizing E.T. when Harry and Barry were her age.”

“That movie was made before they were born.”

“I think you’re right, but we had a video of it. Marla and Charlene used to hold the twins on their laps and watch it over and over. I doubt the boys would admit it, but they probably have a DVD of it to this day.”

“Would you care for a soft drink?”

“No thanks, Brad.”

They sat in silence for a while. Then, no longer able to put off the question, Dwayne asked, “When are you expecting Marla to return?”

“I picked her up at LAX this afternoon and dropped her at home.”

Heart pounding, blood rushing in his ears, Dwayne took a breath. “Do you think she’d…?”

Brad raised a hand and shook his head. “Not if you value your life. She’s in the anger and fury stage. She actually hurled some curse words on the drive home. I’ve never seen her in such a state.” He nodded and twisted his lips into an ironic smile. “She’ll be fine. Give her time. But I doubt she’ll give you another chance if you mess up again.”

Brad thought she
might
give him another chance? Hope warmed his chest. Now what? How long should he wait before attempting to talk to her? Then sadness and guilt made an unexpected appearance and he was full of doubt. He’d relived his outburst so many times, remembered the words he’d hurled at Charlene, but meant for Marla. Why would she even think of forgiving him, let alone allow him to touch her?

The front door opened. Brad rose. “Sounds like the girls are back.”

They met Silvia and Amber in the hallway. Amber wore yet another Cinderella T-shirt. Dwayne shook his head and grinned. “Hey, squirt. Looks like Mrs. Dahaner took you shopping at the Disney store. Did you have fun?”

Silvia nodded. “We both had fun. I forgot what it was like pretending to be a kid again.” She kissed Brad on the cheek. “How was your afternoon and evening? Did everything go as planned?”

“As planned.” He hugged her to his side. “Dwayne knows.”

“Knows what, Daddy?”

“I know lots of things. Now, it’s time to thank Silvia for your fun time and get home to bed. School starts day after tomorrow.”

They said their goodbyes, picked up the shopping bag Amber had set by the front door, and went into the warm September evening. All during the drive home his mind raced. He envisioned a hundred different scenarios in his head. How to approach Marla, what to do first, and when to do it.

Amber squirmed in her seat. “This isn’t the way home, Daddy. Where are we going?”

He snapped to attention and realized he’d turned into the development where Marla lived. “Whoa, I must have been on auto-pilot.” He chuckled and made a U-turn.

“This is where Marla lives.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about her. That’s why I took a wrong turn.”

“When is she coming home?”

“She got back today.”

Excitement in her voice she said, “Let’s go see her then.”

He shook his head and sighed. “Not yet, she’s still mad at me. We have to make a plan.”

“I know what to do.”

“What’s that, smarty pants?”

“Tell her you’re sorry and you’ll never yell at her again.”

He put his big hand on top of her head. Kids. Everything so simple to them. “How did you get to be such an old soul?”

“I don’t know what that is, but Grammakat told me I take after her.”

“As usual, she’s right.” Thank God she didn’t have his hair-trigger temperament. It hadn’t done him any favors.

For an active duty Marine, a hair-trigger temper could be put to good use in a combat situation. A soldier forgot his fear and focused on what needed to be done, no matter how perilous.

“She told me grammas know everything. Maybe you should ask her to help us make a plan.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Dwayne picked up the phone in his warehouse office. He dialed the local florist. “I want a dozen American Beauty roses delivered to Marla Danaher at Spring Grove Real Estate.” It was safer at this point than delivering them in person. The most he could lose was eighty bucks, not his front teeth. He’d read somewhere that women loved to show off flowers delivered to their place of work.

This afternoon he had to take Amber school shopping. As usual he’d put it off until the day before school started. She’d made a list of the supplies she needed and her legs had grown too long for last year’s uniforms. “Thank goodness for school uniforms.” At least he didn’t have to try to figure out what trendy clothes to buy for a girl going into second grade.

Cluny dropped by with his final receipts and invoices for the storage facility job they’d finished over a month ago.

“Must be nice to have so much dough lying around that you don’t have to bill me for weeks.” He smiled at Cluny’s dog Queen, a magnificent Belgian Malinois. “Come here, Queenie, you beauty.” He grinned at Cluny. “How’s she doing?”

Queen wore her service vest today. Cluny had acquired the retired Navy SEAL dog for help with his infrequent bouts of PTS.

“She’s doing great. We completed her training a few days ago. I’ve never known a dog as smart as her. She’s sensitive to the least change in my mood.”

“How does she react?”

“She leans on me or nudges me. Sometimes she whines. Mostly she stares into my eyes with a get-a-grip expression on her muzzle.”

“I hope you’re sleeping better.” Dwayne was well aware of his buddy’s on and off struggles ever since they’d been hit by the RPG, the same one that blew off his left foot. Very few people ever noticed anything out of order with Cluny. He managed to maintain a cheerful, upbeat attitude nearly a hundred percent of the time. When he couldn’t get enough restful sleep, Dwayne and those closest to him saw how it affected him during the day.

“Who wouldn’t sleep better with a beautiful female in his bed every night?” He grinned and patted Queen’s hindquarters. “Who’s my best girl?” The dog turned to face him, and Dwayne would have sworn she grinned at her master.

Cluny scratched her chin. “She’s a beauty queen. Her pop was Cairo. Royalty in my book.”

“Cairo. How do I know that name?” Dwayne tilted his head and his eyebrows drew together.

“Her pop, Cairo, accompanied SEAL Team Six on the bin Laden operation. That old dog could do anything, including parachuting out of an aircraft.”

Dwayne nodded. “Of course.” He couldn’t help comparing Queen, who looked like a smaller version of a German Shepherd, with Marla’s mouse, Skipper. Pound for pound, that tiny mutt was as brave as they came.

As if he’d read his thoughts, Cluny asked, “So, what have you heard from our former boss lady?”

Almost everyone who knew either him or Marla knew about the incident in Wyoming. “I just sent flowers to her office. I didn’t know what else to do at this point.”

“Her office? Mistake. You should have had them delivered to her house.”

“Why? I thought women liked to receive flowers publicly.” He wondered if it was too late to call the florist back.

“Don’t believe everything you see on TV. By delivering them to her office, you put her on the spot. Now she’s going to be bombarded with questions from her co-workers. Questions she might not want to answer.”

Dwayne grabbed the phone. “Shit!” He hit redial and fidgeted the few brief seconds it took them to answer. “This is Dwayne Dempsey, yeah, the American Beauty roses. No, no, I was just hoping you could deliver them to her house instead.” He smacked his forehead and raked a hand through his hair. “No, don’t worry about it. Thanks.”

“Already delivered?”

“Yep.”

Cluny chuckled. “Sorry, it’s not funny, but I have a vision of her showing up here and hurling them through your window.” He rose, picked up Queen’s leash and prepared to leave. “Good luck, Gunny. Hope I don’t see your obit in the paper tomorrow.”

“Go to hell, McPherson. Have I ever mentioned how great it is to have friends who take so much pleasure in my misery?”

“Anytime, pal.”

* * *

The florist delivery man set the huge bouquet of roses on the receptionist’s counter and held up an invoice. The girl turned and pointed at Marla. He lifted the dark green vase and headed right for her.

Oh no. Please no.

“I believe these are for you, miss.” He grinned as if he knew a salacious secret and set them in front of her. “Have a great night.”

The little twerp winked. He actually winked.

She wanted to scream and demand he take them back. She didn’t want them. She didn’t want to look at them, and she was furious they smelled so good. Florist flowers weren’t supposed to have such a strong, romantic scent.

Two grinning realtors descended on her, squealing with excitement. “Who are they from?” “They smell heavenly.” “Look how beautiful they are.” “Have you ever seen such a sexy shade of red?” “Somebody has the hots for you Marla Danaher.” “Is it your birthday?”

One of them snatched the card and handed it to her. “Who sent them?”

Glaring, Marla took the envelope. The handwriting didn’t look like Dwayne’s bold slash. Maybe they weren’t from him after all. “I don’t know who they’re from, but probably a happy customer.”

“Open it!”

“I, um, I have to make an important follow-up call right now. I’ll look at it later.” She waved a dismissal and picked up her phone.

The two women wore identical expressions of astonishment at her incuriosity and returned to their desks but not before exchanging a
look.

She didn’t care what they thought. Her fingers touched the edge of the envelope, and she slid it to her lap then proceeded with her non-call call.

After a few minutes, most of the others in the office were either on the phone or counseling clients. She quickly lifted the point of the envelope and slid the card out.

Please forgive me. I love you Marla.

She got up, crossed the room, and tapped on Ted’s office door. He’d asked to speak with her when she had time.

“Come in.” He pointed to the door. “Close it and have a seat.” He stood and reached into the top drawer of the filing cabinet behind his desk, removed a thick file, and placed it on his desk blotter.

“You had news about the Cartwright deal?” She hoped it hadn’t gone sour. Ted knew she wasn’t prepared to risk such a large investment, so he couldn’t be planning to ask her about that again.

Ted grinned and slapped the file. “The old man has agreed to sell to us.”

“That’s great news, Ted! That means your group of investors raised enough money for the deal. Congratulations.” She smiled at the look of satisfaction on his face. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks. That’s the good news, now for the better news. Our consortium has decided to add a few smaller investors to help expedite the first phase of the development. Spread the wealth.”

Marla cocked her head. “Spread the wealth or spread the risk?”

He chuckled. “A little of both, but it’s not much of a risk.”

“How much? Investment and percentage?”

“Now you’re talking like a wise business partner.” He opened the folder and turned it to face her. “This is the core group. We’ve decided to add two more levels. One for the residential part of the plan and the other the hotel and golf course part of the plan. The percentage of profit is proportional to the investments shown here.”

Marla studied the detail and the graph. “So I’m assuming new investors can select either or both.”

“Right. Personally, I think the residential part is lower risk, even though home prices are still depressed. The first phase is two years down the road. We feel it will be on the upswing by then. What do you think?”

“I think thirty thousand is a lot more realistic figure for me to consider than the hundred thousand it would have cost me to get in, in July.” She ran her finger down the list of core investor names. “Has everyone here already ponied up?”

Ted grinned. “Every mother’s son of them. And daughter. Impressive, right? What do you think?”

She nodded. It looked like a sound business plan. Every name she recognized was a solid citizen. She wrinkled her nose when she read the name John Dempsey, Dwayne’s dad. That helped her make a decision. She didn’t want to have any more dealings with a Dempsey, even on a limited partnership basis.

Marla squinched her face. “You know what? I’m going to pass again, Ted. I really appreciate the fact you wanted to include me, but I’ve got other priorities in my life right now. I’m not sure what I plan to take on next.”

Ted smiled graciously and nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that, but I hope your future plans don’t include leaving the office. You’re a valuable asset.”

“No! I’m staying, and I look forward to drinking champagne at the grand opening of the project when that time comes.”