A light tap on his window jerked his attention from the woman beside him. He pressed the button and the glass slid down in a smooth ride. A tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed male replica of Marianna stared down at him. In his early thirties, the man had the air of one who knew what he wanted and had what it took to get it.
Ethan had the uneasy feeling this man wanted him, or at least Marianna, out of the car.
Marianna leaned forward and asked, “Joseph, what are you doing up?”
“When I hear a car pull up in the driveway and then silence, I’m going to investigate a bit.” Sarcasm dripped, but Ethan could tell the man wasn’t angry. Joseph, FBI agent and big brother. He could handle the FBI agent part; it was the big brother part that had him leery. But there was no way he was letting that little secret become public knowledge. Ethan gave Joseph a cool nod and held eye contact as he shoved open his door.
Joseph stepped back and Marianna took the cue to climb out her side. She walked around and slid her arms around Joseph’s waist. Ethan felt a twinge of jealousy that took him by surprise as her brother gave her a comforting hug. He wished she trusted him that way. Then he gave a mental roll of his eyes and told himself to get it together.
He said, “Marianna had another little incident early this morning.”
Joseph’s gaze sharpened. “What kind of incident?”
“Someone broke in my house. Twister scared him off. I called 911 but must have hung up too soon. I couldn’t tell if someone answered or not. Then I called Ethan and he came to the rescue. Now, I want to go to bed.”
Joseph’s expression said he wouldn’t be satisfied with that piddling explanation, but wasn’t going to push it for now because he could see the exhaustion on her face. Ethan’s respect for the man went up a notch…and it was already high to begin with.
The light flickered off, then on, then off, then back on—a way of getting a deaf person’s attention. Marianna pulled away from Joseph, turned and saw her mother standing on the porch, her fingers on the light switch. The glow from the ceiling fan light illuminated the area. She signed. “Hey, Mom, it’s just me. I’m moving back in for a little while, if that’s okay.”
* * *
Questions formed in her mother’s eyes, but she didn’t say anything, just motioned for Marianna to come in. Then she gave a pointed look at Ethan. Marianna signed, “Mom, meet Ethan O’Hara. He’s the detective working on Suzanne’s case.” Then she said, “Ethan, meet my mother, Maddelena Santino.”
Ethan walked toward the women, his smile sincere and charming at the same time. He signed, “Nice to meet you.” Surprise lit Maddelena’s eyes and Marianna gasped.
He directed a sad smile toward her as he signed and spoke at the same time. “Yes, I sign. I had a deaf sister. She was…she died…three years ago, but I’ve never forgotten her language.”
Marianna thought her jaw might hit the ground. Then her mother said with graceful hands, “It’s freezing out here. Everyone come in and let me feed you breakfast.”
Her mother’s answer to every disaster: Food. Right now, Marianna wouldn’t complain. With her life so crazy, she’d welcome the familiar routine. Plus, she was cold and wanted to get inside.
Once Maddelena had everyone settled, she fired up the gas stove and cooked a breakfast fit for a five-star restaurant. The rest of her family made their way into the kitchen, and the introductions began.
Her terror fading in the chaos of family, Marianna felt herself relaxing and enjoying Ethan’s shell-shocked look. She said, “You don’t come from a large family, do you?”
He shook his head. “Nope. It was just me for a long time. My sister was almost ten years younger. Then, she died….” He trailed off, his gaze fixed on two of her siblings arguing over who got the next piece of toast. Alonso, her sixteen-year-old deaf brother and youngest member of the clan, had lightning-fast reflexes and beat out Gina, her twenty-six-year-old hearing sister who was a real estate attorney in North Carolina. Gina had come home last week to visit and announce her recent engagement.
Gina punched Alonso in the arm hard enough to make him wince. She signed, “You need to learn to respect your elders, boy.”
Alonso signed back, “When I see an elder that deserves it, I’ll give it.”
Gina very maturely stuck out her tongue, then turned her back on him to plop another piece of bread in the toaster.
Marianna smiled at the craziness. She told Ethan, “If you think this is bad, you should see us all at Christmas!”
“I can’t even imagine.” He took a bite of his eggs and chewed, but she noticed he never took his eyes from the antics of her family.
She also noticed Alonso refused to look in Ethan’s direction. Lasering the evil eye on her brother, she subtly signed, “He’s not the cop who arrested you. Be nice.” Unfortunately, about six months ago, Alonso had been arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when a friend of his decided to shoplift. Protesting his innocence to this day, he still had an aversion to cops. Including his own brother, Joseph.
Alonso rolled his eyes and ignored her order.
Then she noticed Ethan’s frown. He placed his fork on his plate and reached for his phone, lifting it to his ear. He listened for a minute and a half, then hung up. His fierce expression was back, his tenseness from the break-in returning twofold.
She raised a brow in question.
He signed, “That was Catelyn. The lab found some evidence, and I need to get over there to find out what’s going on.”
“On a Saturday?”
He gave a small smile. “No rest for the weary.” When he stood, everyone looked up at him. He signed, “It was a pleasure to meet you all, but duty calls.”
Marianna’s mother frowned and signed back, “They don’t let you eat?”
Joseph shot him a sympathetic glance and saved him from having to answer by saying, “Mama, you know how it is in law enforcement. You’ve got to do what you can when you can.”
Maddelena rolled her dark eyes and signed, “Bah, you go do your job, then, but only if you promise to come back when you can eat a decent meal. And come to church with us tomorrow. We go to the church with the interpreter on the other side of town.”
Ethan said his thanks for the breakfast, made no comment about church and headed out the door.
Marianna stabbed a bite of pancake as she watched him leave, wondering why the fact that he was so comfortable with her family made her nervous.
* * *
Ethan climbed into his car, never so glad to get out of someone’s home. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed the crazy clan, but they made him think about the past. About what might have been.
Guilt pierced him as it did every time he thought about his sister, Ashley. And the more he was around Marianna, the more he thought about Ashley. A vicious cycle if there ever was one.
Poor Ashley. She’d been ten years his junior and stuck with him as the one person she could count on…and he’d let her down. True, it hadn’t been intentional, but in the end it hadn’t mattered. She’d died.
And his life had spiraled downward into a hole he’d almost been unable to claw his way out of. If it hadn’t been for his ex-partner, Mac McCullough, Ethan might still be drowning his sorrows in a six-pack each night. Mac had eventually quit the force and gone on to be a missionary overseas, but Ethan thanked God for the man every day.
His phone rang, yanking him from his memories. Thank goodness. “Hello.”
“Hey,