Heart of a Marine (The Wounded Warrior Series Book 1) (39 page)

“I’d love to.”

Still holding her hand, Amber led her to the kitchen. The table was set with a Cinderella tea set and a plate of sugar cookies in the center of the table. “This looks great, Amber. Is this your tea set?”

“Daddy bought it for my birthday. Miss Emmaline and I have a tea party whenever she babysits me. Daddy said tea parties are rilly not for grown men. So I leave my dishes here.”

Bursting with curiosity about why Dwayne had left Amber with Emmaline this afternoon, and where he was, it was all she could do not to ask. They sat at the table. Marla admired Miss Emmaline’s hand-crocheted table cover. Amber poured tea as pale as water. She set down the pot and passed the cookies to her.

“We made these cookies when I got here from school today. They’re still warm. Miss Emmaline has a rill old recipe for sugar cookies. It has sour cream in it. Taste one.”

Marla took a bite of the big soft cookie, moaned with pleasure and rolled her eyes. “Mmm, so good.” She definitely had to have the recipe.

The three of them sipped tea and nibbled cookies like proper ladies. Uneasiness began to nag Marla. Dwayne might show up any minute. Tomorrow was a school day. Surely he wouldn’t leave Amber here too late.

“Um, I think I better go. I, uh, I have a couple of errands.”

“Don’t you want to wait till Daddy gets here? He went to get something special for Halloween.”

“Um, no, I can’t.” She stood. “Thanks you for the tea and cookies. I really have to go. I, um, I can let myself out.”

Eyes downcast, Amber said, “OK, but I know Daddy wants to see you.”

Oh yeah? Well, he hadn’t made any attempt to see her for the past three weeks. She didn’t know what she’d do if she bumped into him now. She made quick exit.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

“Trick or Treat!”

Marla opened her door for the umpteenth time holding a large bowl of wrapped candy for the neighborhood goblins. She’d barely had a chance to sit since she arrived home at five. Nobody was there. “Hello?” She stepped onto her porch and checked the walk in both directions. “If you want candy you have to show me how scary you are.”

It was full dark now and she didn’t see any children near her neighbor’s doors. She’d definitely heard a child’s voice. “Are you playing tricks on me?”

Silence.

Shrugging, she turned to go inside and kicked a picnic basket with a note taped on top. Not at all sure she wanted to check the contents she stood still then turned her head to check both sides of her porch. “What the—?”

She reached for the note and snatched her hand back when the basket shifted. Sidling past it, she stood in the relative safety of her doorway. She took a breath and yanked the paper off the handle. The note was written in childish cursive.

Hello, Marla Danaher. I don’t have a mama. Will you be my mama? My name is Dandy, but you can call me DD.

A barely audible whine sounded from the basket and it wobbled again. Marla’s heart pounded. A dog? Had someone left a dog on her porch? She knelt down, and with a trembling, tentative hand, lifted the hinged lid. A Yorkie puppy stared at her with imploring eyes far too large for its bitty head. It stood on its hind legs and pawed the air with a tiny foot.

Marla’s hands flew to her face but couldn’t stifle her sob. She blinked back tears, lifted the pup from the basket, and hugged it to her chest. “Oh, you sweet thing, you sweet adorable baby.”

Eyes damp, she hugged the tiny creature whose little heart tapped rapidly against her collarbone. “Oh, you precious baby.” A miniscule tongue lapped her chin and the small body nearly wriggled from her grasp.

Holding the pup in both hands, she lifted it level with her face. “Hello, Dandy DD. Would you like to live in my house?”

Marla stood and kissed DD’s nose. “You can come out now, Dempsey.”

Rustling of the large bush at the corner of her house gave away his hiding spot. Amber, dressed as Cinderella, blond wig and all, stepped into the light first, followed by her dad.

Amber bounced on her toes. “Do you like her, Marla? She’s rilly cute, isn’t she? Will you keep her?”

Marla nodded and met Dwayne’s gaze. Neither of them spoke. One corner of his mouth twitched a brief smile, and he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his heavy work pants. He mouthed,
I love you.

A Ping Pong ball-sized lump formed in her throat. She pressed her lips together and told herself to breathe.

Amber reached for the dog. “Can I hold her?”

By way of answer, Marla put the pup in her outstretched hands. Amber sat on the top step and cradled DD in her lap.

Dwayne took a step, removed his hands from his pockets, and held them open. The motion was a question. Marla answered by stepping into the circle of his embrace. He nearly crushed her. No words were exchanged. She merely rested her forehead against his neck and breathed his wonderful scent of soap, sweat, and newly sawn wood. The scent no longer detectable on her pillows.

He took a deep breath. “I’m so lousy at this, Red.”

She smiled against his neck. “I know.”

“Damn, I want you so much. Please find a way to forgive me, before I hang myself.”

She tilted her face to him. “I’m working on it, Dempsey.”

“That’s all I ask, Danaher.”

“Trick or treat!” A couple of stragglers came down her walk. Amber slid the bowl of candy to the step, reached in and took a handful for each kid, and dropped the treats in sagging pillowcases. They happily accepted the mini-Milky Ways, grinned, then patted DD’s head.

Dwayne whispered close to her ear. “I have to get Amber home. Tomorrow’s a school day. Please say I can come over tomorrow night. Rosie and Pete offered to keep her for the weekend.” He tightened his arms and ran a hand into the back of her hair. “Please, honey. I’m begging you. I’ll get down on my knees if I have to.”

She stroked his cheek. “Kiss me, and make it a good one, Dempsey.”

“My pleasure, Danaher.”

His kiss was a good one. In fact it was a great one. She didn’t want it to end. Light as a feather, she was ready to float away.

Amber muttered, “Everybody in the whole world can see you. You’re rilly embarrassing me.”

Dwayne dropped his arms but didn’t take his eyes off Marla’s. “Give DD to her mama, squirt. It’s almost your bedtime. We’re outta here.”

Amber got to her feet and held the puppy up. With trembling hands, Marla took it and pressed it to her cheek. She directed a pointed look at Dwayne’s eyes. “Um, DD?”

“Danaher and Dempsey?”

He pecked a quick kiss on her forehead then on DD’s head while sliding a surreptitious hand across her derriere. “See you tomorrow, Red.”

* * *

Every cell in Dwayne’s body vibrated at the thought of winning Marla back, of having her in his bed again, but not just that, having her in his life. In their life. He wanted a wife, and he wanted more kids. At least one kid with Marla. She’d be a great mom, a dream-come-true wife and partner. How could he have screamed at her like that? Why should she forgive him?

He glanced across the cab of the truck. Amber carefully sorted through her plastic pumpkin filled with candy. She chose some of her favorites, opened the console and dropped them inside. “These are special for you, Daddy.”

He grinned and rubbed her neck. “Thank you. Is that my reward?”

“Yes. Marla rilly likes DD, and she said you could come to her house tomorrow night. I think Plan B is working.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Are you going to have a sleepover over with Marla tomorrow?”

Holy shit, did his kid miss anything? He sucked in air between his clenched teeth, patted her head and answered, “If she’ll let me.”

“Don’t mess up, Daddy. We might not get another chance.”

A cough of laughter erupted from his throat. He pulled into their driveway and switched of his engine. “I’ll do my best, squirt. We need a woman in our family. And Marla is the only woman I want.”

She nodded slow and deliberate. “You know what, Daddy?”

“What, sweetpea?”

“I think I’m getting too old for Cinderella.” She brushed her hands across her sparkly costume. “I want to go shopping for clothes at Justice.”

He rolled his eyes. “We had this discussion before. I’m not paying forty-five dollars for a skirt or thirty-five dollars for a T-shirt for a seven-year-old child.”

“I’m the only one in my class who doesn’t get to buy clothes at Justice.” Her bottom lip stuck out far enough for a bird to sit on it.

“How would you know that? Every girl in school wears the same school uniform every single day.”

“They telled me!”

“It’s out of the question. End of discussion.”

“You’re mean!” She crossed arms over her flat chest and kicked her feet under the dashboard.

All of a sudden he longed for the endless evenings watching Cinderella DVDs and reading every Cinderella book ever published. He was deep in Shit Lake and had a huge hole in his boat.

Patience, all he needed was patience.

“Who are you, little girl, and what did you do with sweet Amber Dempsey?”

“Very funny.” She rooted around in the console and removed all the candy she’d given him and threw it piece by piece in the pumpkin. She scowled, yanked the car door open, jumped down, and stomped to the front door.

He whooshed out a sigh. “Whatever.”

* * *

Marla set DD back in the basket and carried it to the kitchen. Dwayne had put a small bag of puppy chow and a chew toy in with her. Maybe she was hungry? She lifted her out and set her on the kitchen floor, where she peed a puddle the size of a small lake.

Oh joy
.

“OK then, DD. We start potty training.” A handful of paper towels and a spritz of Nature’s Miracle took care of the immediate problem. Marla gingerly held the sopping paper towels then shoved them through the doggy door and pushed DD through after them.

She waited a few seconds, opened the door, and stepped outside. “This is the doggy potty, DD.” Strolling across the yard, the Yorkie prancing behind, Marla gave her plenty of time to sniff and explore. DD got a big whiff of the wet towels once they made the entire circuit. Marla nudged them off the stoop with her foot, held DD next to them and said, “DD’s a gooood girl. Good girls pee out here, OK?”

No more accidents happened in the kitchen while Marla ate ice cream and DD nibbled on puppy chow. DD hadn’t had time to pee in the house again because Marla pushed her through the doggie door three times in the next hour, carried her to sniff the wet towels, and told her she was a good doggie. She’d forgotten what a pain in the neck it was to train a puppy.

The next day she took DD to work with her for the short time she planned to spend in the office. Staff members ooohed and aaahed over the tiny mutt, taking turns holding and hugging her. Even Ted.

Marla’s lack of sleep the night before descended quick and hard. The puppy had whined all night long, she’d had to take her outside half a dozen times. It was time to get DD out of there and catch a nap before Dwayne got to her place. A flutter in her chest at the thought of him unsettled her. “I’m not expecting any calls today, Jessie, but you know how to reach me.”

“Uh huh, I guess since the flowers didn’t work, Mr. Hunk switched to dogs? Can’t throw that little sweetie pie in the wastebasket, can you? I do hope the dark circles under your eyes were the result of a hot—”

“Bite me, Jessie.”

She didn’t expect him to show up before six thirty, and he hadn’t mentioned dinner, so just in case, she stopped at the store, bought a frozen pizza and a six-pack of Diet Dr. Pepper. DD didn’t make a peep, in fact she fell asleep in the clever cloth dog carrier while Marla zipped through the grocery aisles. “I’m dead on my feet, and
now
you sleep, you little stinker.”

No nap. No luck. Marla resorted to putting DD in the padded picnic basket, carrying it to the hall bathroom then closing both the bathroom door and her bedroom door, and plopping a pillow over her head.

She kicked, groaned, and tossed the pillow across the room. How could a puppy who weighed less than three pounds make such a pitiful, ungodly racket?

DD quieted the second Marla opened the bathroom door. She lifted the lid and stared at the tiny, sweet, furry face and sighed. “OK, baby girl, what am I going to do with you, huh? Sooner or later I have to sleep. I’m open for suggestions.”

At six on the dot, her doorbell rang. She dragged herself to the door, threw it open, and stared. Yes, it was Dwayne, whoopee-do.

“Whoa, honey, Marla, what happened?”

She turned, shuffled in the direction of the living room, and pointed at the fur ball dogging her bare feet. “That happened.” Doubling in pain when she slammed her big toe into the coffee table leg, she shrieked, “Ow!” and fell on the couch.

“Stay right there. I’ll get some ice.”

She heard him open the freezer door and root around in the ice cubes, open and close drawers then return to sit next to her. Her expression dared him to say anything when he spotted DD sitting on her chest gazing into her face.

“Put your feet in my lap, honey. Let me look at that toe.” He held her foot in his big hand, made a humming sound while he checked it out then applied the dishtowel-wrapped ice to her toe.

Yanking her foot back, she sucked in a breath. “That’s cold!”

“It’s ice.” He grabbed her ankle and pushed her foot back to his lap. “Hold still.”

She rolled her head from side to side on the arm of the sofa and whimpered, “I haven’t has more than five minutes sleep since you gave this monster spawn of the devil to me.”

“Uh oh.” He grimaced and rubbed her leg. “She looks so sweet and innocent. What’d she do?”

“She never sleeps, cries all night, pees on the floor and in the yard a hundred times a day. I’m exhausted. If you’re expecting dinner, you’ll have to fix it yourself. There’s a frozen pizza in the freezer. I’m useless.” Through narrow slits in her eyes she spoke to DD, “Stop staring, you microscopic demon.”