“I do that?” This was a painful revelation, and Elise swallowed hard. All she’d wanted was to protect Aurora from certain disillusionment.
Aurora nodded and the tears that brightened her eyes were testament to the truth of her words.
“I’m so sorry. I never realized … I—I did that.” The guilt was nearly overwhelming.
“But you do. Never once in all the years I was growing up did I hear my father say a negative thing about you. Not once, Mom, and yet I can’t remember you ever saying a kind word about him.”
“That is not true.” Elise had tried hard to hide her feelings toward Maverick from their daughter. Surely she’d succeeded—hadn’t she? Gazing into her daughter’s pain-filled eyes, Elise realized that she hadn’t.
Aurora’s shoulders rose in a deep sigh. “Please, Mom, I don’t want to argue about this.”
“I don’t, either.” Racked with self-recrimination, Elise patted her daughter’s knee. “Your father is … your father. I wish I’d given you a better one, but that’s my mistake, not yours.”
“See what I mean?” Aurora cried. “You don’t have anything good to say about him.”
“I was the one married to him, remember? I loved Maverick but we weren’t meant to be together.”
“I know he failed you. He admits it.”
“He failed you too.”
“In some ways, yes, he did,” Aurora agreed, “but in other ways he was a wonderful father.”
Elise understood that Aurora had to believe this. Maverick was the only father she had, and his behavior, his long absences, were all she knew. If she’d ever wondered why he traveled as much as he did, she’d never asked her mother.
“So,” Elise said. The numbness had started to leave her. “Your father is visiting Seattle.”
“Yes, he is.” Aurora seemed to be waiting for more of a response.
“I don’t have a single qualm about you seeing your father,” Elise assured her. “He hasn’t even met his grandsons.”
“He’s looking forward to that.”
Again Aurora stared at Elise as if expecting something more.
“I don’t have to see him,” Elise said. Any encounter with him would be impossible. If Aurora wanted permission to visit with her father, then that was fine with Elise. But when it happened, Elise didn’t plan to be anywhere in the vicinity. “Have him over for dinner or whatever. I’ll conveniently be out for the evening or however long you need.”
Maverick would thank her. Elise was fairly sure he wasn’t any more interested in seeing her than she was in seeing him. They hadn’t spoken in years. There’d been no reason for them to have contact, which was the way Elise preferred it.
“You won’t be able to avoid seeing Dad,” her daughter said, her eyes fluttering in every direction.
“What you do mean?” Elise demanded as a sinking feeling settled over her.
“Dad will be staying here.”
“At the house?” Elise was aghast. This couldn’t be true, but she knew from the undeniable confirmation in Aurora’s face that it was. The numbness was back in full force, and spreading down to her legs. “Does he know I’m living with you?”
Her daughter answered with a nod. “I told him, but he still wants to come.”
“For … how long?”
Aurora hesitated. “Two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Elise exploded. The book fell onto the patio floor as she sat upright. “That’s out of the question! You can’t possibly believe the two of us can remain in the same house—together—for that length of time.” She blamed Maverick for this. He’d manipulated their daughter into agreeing to it, no doubt because he was down on his luck and penniless. Elise wanted to weep. “I’ll find someplace else for a while,” she murmured, thinking out loud. Really, that would be her preference, but all her things were in storage and God only knew where she could move for that short a period.
“Mom, calm down.” Then, in a softer voice, she added, “Please. There’s no need to overreact.”
Sliding her legs over the edge of the chaise, Elise felt like burying her face in her hands, an urge she resisted. This was going to be a disaster, but her daughter didn’t seem to recognize that.
“Dad’s never asked anything of me before,” Aurora said. “I couldn’t refuse him.”
“He tried the pity approach?”
“No,” she snapped and seemed offended that Elise would suggest it. “He didn’t. Dad has always been generous and wonderful to David, me and the boys.”
“The man isn’t to be trusted.”
“That’s only the way you view him, but to me, he’s my father.”
Elise felt guilty all over again. She was determined not to say another negative word about her ex-husband. “Okay, so he’s going to visit for a couple of weeks.”
Aurora nodded.
“And you’re sure he knows I’m living with you?”
“Yes.” From the tone of her daughter’s voice, Elise suspected this was a complication Maverick hadn’t expected. Well, whatever he was after, whatever he wanted, he’d have to get it past Elise—and she, thankfully, was wise to him. She wouldn’t be so easily fooled.
“Where will he sleep?” The three-bedroom house was adequate in size but there wasn’t a guest room. Elise had taken the third bedroom and arranged it into a tiny studio-like apartment. She had a microwave, her own bathroom, a television area complete with rocking chair, and her single bed. That was all she needed. She had privacy, a small refuge from the world, and could retreat to her room in order to give her daughter and family their own space.
“I’m putting Dad in with the boys.”
That was a wise decision. Her grandsons, while an absolute delight, could be little hellions. Maverick was unaccustomed to being around children. Elise suspected he wouldn’t last long sleeping in the same room as Luke and John.
“This isn’t the easiest situation,” Aurora continued.
Elise rolled her eyes toward the sky. “That’s putting it mildly.” Then she instantly felt another wave of guilt.
“I need you to work with me, Mom, not against me.”
“I would never do anything to hurt you,” Elise told her daughter, hiding her distress that Aurora would even imply such a thing.
“But you want to hurt Dad.”
“That’s not true,” Elise denied hotly. “I don’t have any feelings toward your father one way or the other.” That was a lie and her face flushed with color as she said it.
“Mo—ther,” her daughter cried, challenge in each over-enunciated syllable. “You have so many unresolved issues with Dad, it would take days to list them all.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” Her daughter knew her well, but at this moment what mattered was maintaining a pretense of complete indifference. Somehow she’d survive these two weeks.
Aurora sampled her iced tea for the first time, her knuckles white around the glass. “I don’t want to get into that with you, especially now. I need your word that you won’t say or do anything, and I mean anything, to upset