grinned, then stuck out her tongue. There were no rings of any sort piercing it. “You know I hate pain. The hair’s cool, isn’t it?” she asked, then stuck out her hands. “Look. My nails are the exact same color as my hair.”
“They are!” Emma exclaimed. “Cool!” She examined her aunt’s long, slender fingers carefully.
“Is it permanent?” Frannie asked, nodding toward her sister’s red head.
“Heavens, no. It washes out. I have to be in court tomorrow morning.”
“Is it a murder case?” Alex asked, his eyes widening.
“No, just someone who needs help,” Lois answered.
“I’m going to be a lawyer and help people when I grow up, too,” Emma said, gazing at her aunt with adoration.
“Me, too,” said three-year-old Luke, who often repeated everything his older sister said.
Lois ruffled her nephew’s hair affectionately. “I thought you were going to be a cowboy.”
“I think he’s going to be a demolition man. He destroys everything,” Alex said dryly.
“He’s not that bad,” Emma chastised her twin.
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the baby-sitter.
After going over a list of instructions with the teenager, Frannie gave each of her kids a kiss and hug, then headed out the front door with her sister.
“Is that for us?” Frannie asked when she saw a taxi at the curb.
“Yes. I figured you wouldn’t want to take your car, and you know how much I hate driving downtown. Besides, someone wanted to do me a favor,” she said as she ushered her sister toward the cab.
“And this is the favor? A chauffeur?” she asked, as a thickset man hopped out of the taxi to get the door for them.
“Yes. This is Lenny.” She tossed a smile at the man who fussed over them as if they were celebrities.
Lenny, Frannie discovered, was the brother of a woman Lois had counseled through a domestic crisis. Relieved that the man who’d made life so miserable for his sister had been put behind bars, Lenny had insisted on showing his appreciation by giving Lois free taxi service on his night off.
“It will be nice not to have to worry about traffic and parking,” Frannie said as she settled into the back seat.
“Yes, it will,” Lois agreed. As soon as the taxi had pulled away from the curb, she said, “You didn’t tell me that Alex is trying to find Dennis.”
Frannie sighed. “You know how he feels about money. He thinks we don’t have enough and that getting Dennis’s child support payments would make our lives much easier.”
“It would,” Lois said candidly. “That’s why you were looking for him, too. Remember?”
She shook her head. “Please, don’t remind me.”
“Frannie, he should pay. He’s their father.”
“At one time I felt that way, but not now. I don’t want his money and I certainly don’t want him back in our lives.” She hated the bitterness that always managed to creep into her voice at the mention of her ex.
“Well, Alex does, and he’s printed up a couple of hundred posters with Dennis’s picture on them. He’s going to put them all over town.”
A knot formed in Frannie’s stomach.
When she was silent, Lois asked, “You do know about the posters, don’t you?”
“I knew he was thinking about doing them. We talked about it a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I’d convinced him it wouldn’t accomplish anything.” Unsure if she needed to persuade her sister, she added, “It won’t, you know.”
To her relief, Lois said, “I didn’t say it would. If he hasn’t been found by now, I doubt anyone’s going to locate him. We know Dennis Harper’s not in the Twin Cities and chances of him being anywhere in the Midwest are next to none.”
“Which means it’s just a waste of time,” Frannie concluded.
“Not to Alex it isn’t.” She shot her sister a sideways glance. “That’s what’s really bugging you, isn’t it? The fact that Alex still thinks about his father.”
“Of course it bothers me,” Frannie admitted, knowing there was no point in denying it. “My kids have spent more time with their dentist than they have with their own father. Dennis was never a dad to them, just a man who drifted in and out of their lives when it was convenient for him. He doesn’t deserve to have any of their thoughts and he certainly isn’t worthy of a son like Alex. Believe me, if I had it in my power to make Alex forget Dennis ever existed, I would do it in a minute.”
“But he did exist. And it’s something Alex needs to deal with in his own way.”
“Why?” she cried out in frustration, although she already knew the answer. So did her sister, who chose not to say anything.
After a few moments of silence, Frannie said, “I hate knowing Alex even thinks about the man.”
“It’s normal, Frannie,” Lois said, putting a hand on her sister’s arm.
She chewed on her upper lip as she nodded. “It just seems as if every time I think I’ve managed to let go of my anger, I realize I’ll probably always be angry at Dennis. Not because of what he did to me, but because of what he continues to do to my kids.”
“Your kids are going to be just fine,” Lois insisted. “They’re bright, well-adjusted, and happy—and that’s because of you, not Dennis. So put him out of your mind. He’s not worthy of your thoughts—not even the nasty ones,” she said, grinning.
Frannie didn’t return the smile, prompting Lois to ask, “Hey, you’re not going to let this spoil our evening, are you?”
She shook her head, although the enthusiasm she’d felt earlier had waned. “I do wish Alex had shown me the poster himself.”
“I think he wanted to test the waters with me first,” Lois remarked. “And I’m glad he did. That poster has your phone number on it.”
Frannie groaned. “Tell me that doesn’t mean I’m going to have creeps calling my house in the middle of the night.”
“You won’t,” Lois stated confidently. “I suggested Alex use one of my office numbers, instead. I told him it was much safer to do that, and he said he’d have Josh redo the posters.”
“Thank you. That means that if by some strange twist of fate someone does call with information, you’ll be the first to know and you can tell me.”
“He’s not going to hear anything.”
Frannie hoped her sister was right. It had been a long, painful struggle, but she’d put her life back together after
