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
