Elaina led them out the front door and down the sidewalk, around to the back where there was a row of garages not seen from the street. She stopped in front of the nearest and pushed a button on her keychain. The door rose, and Dani found herself betting on the vehicle she was about to see. She was rather counting on a large diesel pickup with jacked-up frame, high riding with roller bars and chrome light bar. By this point she would have believed anything.

Seeing a Cadillac was somewhat anti-climactic. Until Elaina turned it over. The engine roared to life like a beast poked in its den. It nearly blew flame, and the entire car shook with the thunder under the hood.

“Wow,” Dani said, eyes wide with a new respect for a car she would have dismissed out of hand if she’d seen it anywhere else, and not had the benefit of listening to the engine. “Where did you get this?”

“Police auction,” Elaina said, smiling. “No dear, you sit up front with me; let the boys take the back.”

Dani scrambled in, sinking into plush leather that cradled her body like it had been made for her. “Police auction?”

“Yes, apparently it was part of a big drug bust. Do you like it? Not only does it have a great sound, but there’s all kinds of extra storage space you wouldn’t expect in car like this.”

Dani’s tongue hurt from biting it so hard. She sat in the front as Elaina ordered, and watched as the men vied for shoulder room in the back seat.

Elaina drifted to the end of the driveway, checked both directions and... drifted onto the road. The engine was thrumming under her, but Dani couldn’t figure out why the car seemed to be moving so... she looked at Elaina’s feet and realized she wasn’t pressing the gas pedal at all. The car was simply moving under the force of the engine at idle.

They worked up to a speed of about 20mph before Luke caught on.

“Why are we going so slow?”

“Because I wanted to show you... do you see that building over there, the one with the white trim and the tile roof? That’s where Mrs. Jenkins lives. You remember I told you about her... oh, it must have been a year now, she was the one with the shingles. Well, they happened again.”

Luke glanced over his shoulder at the cars lining up behind them. His hand clutched at the seat in front of him, knuckles white. “We’re blocking traffic...”

“Yes, dear, you’re very perceptive. But look at that house. You’d think that someone with shingles couldn’t keep up that lawn, wouldn’t you? Well, she does have a gardener, of course, but it’s still an amazing...” She pointed to another structure, “That’s the Moynahans. They have a daughter about your age...” She turned to Dani, cheeks flushing a delicate pink. “Oh, I am sorry, it’s just habit with him now, I do apologize.”

“Mother...”

Dani waved away the apology, trying hard not to laugh. “It’s quite all right, but maybe we should hurry a bit?” She glanced in the side mirror, and shook her head. This was Florida, after all. Half the drivers on the road were creeping along with the geriatric set behind the wheel. Not that Luke’s mother was old. She shook her head to clear it, deciding that it was easier perhaps to just go along with the ride.

“She’s kind of skank anyway, so you needn’t worry. She’s not like Dani here. I don’t know the first thing about her, after all. I mean the Moynahans’ daughter...” Elaina continued chattering blithely, ignoring the snickers from the back seat. Dani shot her father and Marcus a look, starting to wonder if men ever actually grew up at all.

“MOTHER. Can we please get that statue?”

“Yes, dear. You know, I could just give you a couple of quarters, you could get another one.”

“No, thank you, I need that one.”

“But they really are a dime a dozen, they all look alike.” She turned to Dani. “I don’t know if you saw it, dear, but really, they’re all made by captured children in third-world countries.”

“I didn’t know that.” Dani nodded, and grabbed for the dashboard as Elaina slammed the brakes. “And there’s Jan Fielding’s house. Jan’s a good friend, a bit on the religious side, don’t get me wrong.” She put her hand on Dani’s arm. “I go to church religiously, but poor Jan, well, she really doesn’t have anyone else, so she buries herself in the church and everything they do. She’s very sweet, though, so it’s hard to hold it against her.”

“Mother, PLEASE! We need to get that statue!”

“Yes, dear, I understand.”

“Then why are we stopped here looking at a house?”

“Watch your tone,” Elaina scolded, and shot Dani a significant look. “You really will have to take him in hand; he could use a good scolding now and then.”

Dani was staring out the passenger window with a fit of uncontrollable giggling, trying desperately to get herself under control by counting plastic pink flamingos in the shrubbery. It wasn’t working.

Luke took a breath and spoke again in a measured and quiet voice. “Mother, why are we parked in the middle of the street when we should be getting the statue I sent to you?”

“Because Jan Fielding is the woman I gave it to,” Elaina said, looking in the rearview mirror to meet her son’s eyes. “It’s in there.” She pointed to the house.

Luke spun in his seat, dislodging the two men flanking him. “But—” He pointed out the rear window. “...your house is right there! I can see it from here! We could have walked!”

“Well, dear, you can walk back if that would make you happy. In the meantime, I need to park because I’m blocking the street. If you could please stop talking long enough for me to pull over.”

Marcus found something interesting in the door beside him, and Edwin was smiling and watching Elaina a bit too closely. Dani couldn’t stop laughing, her arms wrapped around her middle and doubled over so hard that her nose was touching her knees. “I...really...can’t...breathe...!” she complained between bursts of laughter.

“You have a lovely laugh, dear!” Elaina said to her and ran the front tire over the curb. The car fell with a bang that left the men in the back in a tumbled heap as she drove off it again. “We’re here!”

Jan Fielding was considerably older than Luke’s mother. Whereas Elaina was a trim, adorable woman in her fifties, Jan was... old. She answered the door, wearing slacks that came so far up her stomach it looked like she was hatching. The hem on the bottom of the pantlegs was halfway up her calves, making her look like she threw on her pants and just missed. Her blouse, a beautiful satin material that screamed money, was bunched up under the third chin. What was more striking was that the woman wasn’t actually fat, she just carried extra chins.

“Jan!” Elaina said. “This is my baby boy, Lucas.” She put a hand on Luke’s back and propelled him to the doorway, hissing under her breath, “Well, say hello, don’t be shy.”

Luke sighed. “Hi, you have a small statue that...”

“So, you’re the son!” Jan looked up at Luke with an expression that could curdle milk. Even Dani flinched. “I’ve heard a lot about you!”

“I... thanks. Listen, Mom gave you a...”

“And this is Danielle, his soon-to-be wife!” This time Elaina’s hand was on Dani’s back. A very sharp thumb stabbed her under the ribcage and she jumped, barely catching herself before she swung on the woman.

“Dani.” She held out her hand to introduce herself, shooting Elaina a look, vowing to not turn her back on the woman a second time.

“How do you do?” Jan said, and took the proffered hand. Dani’s face froze, and she surreptitiously wiped her hand on her shorts. “Don’t worry,” Jan said testily, “I was eating an orange when you rang the bell.”

“And this is Danielle’s father,” Elaina said, and—was that a flirtatious look she was giving him, her father of all people, as she introduced him? Dani froze, suddenly terrified for no reason she could name now that she realized there might be some reciprocation of affection.

“Dani,” Dani corrected, her mouth apparently on autopilot. Thankfully.

“Edwin.” Her father introduced himself and settled for an awkward wave hello.

“That’s confusing,” Jan looked at Elaina. “Is he Danny or Edwin?”

“I’m not sure,” Elaina confessed, throwing up her hands with a shrug. “I’ve been trying to figure that out all day.”

“Edwin,” he repeated, and gave Dani a look.

“I’m Dani.”

“Excuse me!” Luke interrupted, obviously well past done with niceties. “Mom gave you a small statue. A bird, I think it was. Do you still have it?”

“You don’t remember if it was a bird?” Elaina asked him, her brow knitting in a disappointed pout.

“Do you still have it?”

Jan blinked, looking at them all in turn. “No. Why would I have it?”

“Marcus.” Marcus raised his hand. For a moment he had everyone’s attention, and then subsided with a mumbled word that was probably better off unheard.

“No, I don’t have it!” Jan said crossly. “I told you that was for the bazaar!” She looked pointedly at Elaina. “I gave it to them along with a box of other useless crap I gathered around the neighborhood. You’d think out here you’d get something better than chia pets, and teakettles with the bottoms rusted out. But nooooo...”

“Well,” Elaina edged off the porch, seeming to be very interested in the flowers growing next to the door suddenly, “I’m sorry, but surely they can get something from it.”

“Sure, maybe a dollar. Maybe they’ll just throw it in the dumpster with all the other trash. What do you want it for? Hang on, I’ll get a quarter, you can go get another one.”

“Excuse me...but where’s the bazaar?” Dani asked, wondering why no one else was thinking to.

“Do I look like Mapquest? Elaina knows where the church is. Kids today...no idea about anything. I’d invite you in but I’m missing Jeopardy.”

Luke and Dani glanced at each other. He stood a moment, one hand on the back of his neck as though to work out a knot. When he finally turned and headed down the stairs, Dani followed.

Edwin offered his arm to Elaina and walked her back to the car.

“I’m driving!” Luke yelled over his shoulder, heading straight for the driver’s side door at a pace that would have made a mall walker proud.

“Nice to meet you,” Marcus said with a half bow, the only one to pause and thank the old biddy on the porch.

Except Jan slammed the door on him.

***

LUKE REFUSED TO ALLOW his mother to get behind the wheel again, despite her protestations.

“I drive for Disney!” she insisted as Edwin offered his hand to her; she took it reflexively that he might help her into the back seat. If his hand lingered a minute, Dani was sure no one noticed except her. She blinked and tried to process this, not sure how she felt about this development. Her mother was still alive, after all. She was discovering a hint of jealousy in the way her father was looking at another woman. It startled her, especially when she realized that she’d been fostering a tiny hope since she’d found out her mother was still alive, that maybe her parents could reunite and her family be restored.

And we could all live happily ever after. Damn, I need therapy. I can’t process this anymore.

“Disney! I hate to tell you this, Mother, but it shows!” Luke griped, firing up the engine and dropping the shifter into gear. The engine roared, and sprang to life like a demon had suddenly possessed the car. He hid it well, but Dani could see the surprise on Luke’s face. The gas pedal was obviously more sensitive than he’d anticipated. But then he hadn’t had the advantage of having sat in the front yet.

That’s good. Focus on the mundane. The car. The way it sounds. The way Luke looks like he’s just been put behind the controls of a tank and told to drive it in a figure eight marked out with Easter eggs.

“Ok, so how do I get to the church?” Luke called over his shoulder. He’d gotten a little firmer grip on the steering wheel. It had to hurt to speak with his jaw clenched like that.

“Go to the stop sign,” his mother said, pointing down the street.

“Then what?” Luke checked the mirror and moved out into the road. There were no cars at the moment, a good thing since the Cadillac leapt onto the pavement and tried to run off on its own. Luke swore and hit the brake. Hard. Dani’s hands shot out, palms smacking the dash as she gave him a dirty look. Really? Hadn’t the man ever driven anything even remotely combat-ready in the service? Hell, this thing couldn’t be any harder than a Humvee.

“I really think I should drive, dear!” his mother said from the back. Her hand was on the top of the seat beside Dani and she was white-knuckled. Dani gingerly took her own hands off the dash, only because Luke shot her a look that was equal parts frustration and hurt. As surreptitiously as possible she eased herself back in the seat and checked her seatbelt.

“Never mind!” Luke muttered, navigating around a car that was parked too far out into the street. “What do you have in this thing anyway?”

“A 500-cubic-inch big block V-8, but the torque works out a little higher, hi-performance cams, and nitrous injection. Why do you ask?”

“Nitro... Mother!”

Elaina shrugged. “I needed a hobby.”

“Mrs. Mc...” Dani started, but Elaina held up a hand.

“No dear, if you’re going to marry this one, you call me ‘Mother’.”

“I... uh, thank you... Mrs.—Mother. We’re at the stop sign, where to now?”

Elaina sighed, and rolled her eyes. “Well, I’d suggest that you park, but I don’t know if my opinion carries any weight anymore.”

Dani looked around. She tapped Luke’s arm and pointed to a building next to them. “I take it that’s the church?”

“Lovely, isn’t it?”

Dani had to admit it was. A deceptively large building, though between the clever architecture and the way the vines and shrubs grew around it, it was difficult to tell its true size from the road. Only the sign in the front identified it from the row of houses and medical offices that lined the street. Palm trees swayed in the breeze, and a bright cascade of flowers framed the doorway.

It was utterly charming and beautifully maintained.

It also appeared to be closed.

Not one to trust appearances, Luke sprang from the car as soon as it was in park and was at the front door in moments. “There’s no one here!” Luke gave a frustrated pull on the door’s handle. It was his third such pull, as though the very act of yanking on the handle repeatedly would change the situation somehow.

Dani rolled her eyes and slumped in the seat, cringing with embarrassment.

“Why would there be someone at a church on a Thursday?” Elaina reasoned, arms crossed and standing on the sidewalk before he’d even gotten back to the car. “We don’t do bingo.”

“Find something to break one of the windows,” Edwin suggested, joining her on the sidewalk, his head tilted to the side speculatively as he regarded the building.

“You will NOT!” Elaina stomped right up the sidewalk and whirled around, hands on her hips, planting herself firmly in front of one of the stained-glass windows that flanked the front door. “This is a church! Do you have any idea how much this window costs? Do you? Because I don’t, but it’s probably very expensive. Dani, get over here and guard the other one.”

Dani slunk still further down in the seat, thankful there wasn’t a soul she knew in Florida to see this.

Elaina threw up her hands and rounded on Edwin, abandoning her post to wag a finger in his face. “Do you think you’ve led such a good life that you can desecrate a church?”

“I would never dare to do such a thing.” Edwin rose to his full height. Just under six-foot he reached his full height rather quickly, but his smile and demeanor seemed to soothe Elaina. Somewhat.

Her eyes were wary, but she backed off. “Good.”

“But we need...”

“Yes, dear, you need the statue; I heard you the first fifty times. You’re just going to have to wait, aren’t you? The sale starts tomorrow at nine. I know that means you’re stuck with me, and I’m going to ruin your plans... whatever they are. But you’re just going to have to deal with your disappointment like a grown man.” Elaina walked off while speaking, circling the parked car and, heading back around to the driver’s side, waed her arms in dismissal of children in general. She turned at the street and held out her hand. “May I have the keys to my car now?”

Not liking where this was going, Dani scrambled out of the car and found a place next to Luke on the sidewalk; he gave her a look that said quite clearly he thought she was a traitor. It was all she could do to not stick her tongue out at him just then.

“I can drive—” Luke started to say, but Dani’s thumb under his rib stopped him mid-sentence.

“But you’re the one who kept pointing out that everything was in walking distance. I’m sure you would enjoy the stroll. And it would do you a world of good, too.” The last was said rather darkly as Elaina leaned across the hood and snatched the keys from Luke’s hand and climbed into the car. Edwin quickly climbed into the passenger seat. Marcus looked like he was getting in the back, but a gesture from Edwin sent him backward onto the sidewalk where he stood, impassive and professional though Dani swore she heard him sigh.

The Cadillac roared to life again and Elaina pulled away from the curb, and turned the maneuver somehow into a U-turn. The turn radius barely cleared the available space, but when she was pointed the right way she lay down about four yards of rubber and smoked the rear tires.

“So...” Luke said in the silence following the squeal of melting tires. “That’s my mom.”

“Charming woman,” Marcus said flatly, and shook his head.

Luke did a double-take, apparently not having seen that they’d been appointed a bodyguard. He looked at Dani, who could only shrug.

I finally get some time alone with him and we get a chaperone.

Dani reached over and took Luke’s hand, trying to absorb his touch, to make the casual grasp somehow make up for the whole stupid, ridiculous day. The tension radiating off him should have come with a hurricane warning. Somehow being around his mother made her want to batten down the hatches. But was she really so bad?

Maybe if they weren’t all so frantic about that stupid thumb drive. Dani sighed, and laced her fingers through his own, relishing the feel of skin against skin, even if it was only two hands united. She’d been frustrated since they’d been so badly interrupted—was that only yesterday?

I need him. I physically need him. And it turns out he’s got mommy issues.

She sighed, leaning her head against his arm. He stared down the road, deep in thought. Did he even know she was there? Officially engaged, and the whirlwind romance was all wind and no whirl. She tugged his arm in the direction of his mother’s place and he followed, his fingers flexing in her hand, entwining around hers.

He knew she was there after all.

Suddenly she started giggling. She hated when she giggled, it sounded too much like a little girl, but she couldn’t stop it either. She was just so very...relieved. They were together. The sky was blue. Birds sang. Why not laugh?

“Just exactly what’s so funny?” Luke asked, taking a deep breath and looking at her like she was nuts.

“This.” Dani waved in the general direction of herself and him and Marcus slowly walking behind them. “When I was in high school, if I was with a boy, or worse, walking with a boy, Father would invariably send David out with me as chaperone.”

Luke glanced over his shoulder. He looked back at her smiled. “Give him a quarter,” he whispered, “see if he’ll go away.”

“Why should I give him a quarter? You’re the boy! You’re supposed to pay for the date.”

“He’s your bodyguard!”

“So?”

Luke barked a short laugh and grabbed her, pulling her under his arm. “I want you so bad,” he said under his breath, “I’m about to take you right here, on the street.”

“Now you know why Marcus is along with us,” she teased, and made a grab for his crotch. “For your protection.”

“I’ll take the risk.”

“When we return,” Marcus said slowly and distinctly, “if the two of you wish to examine your mother’s car more closely, as it seems to be in a private garage, I would be happy to divert any searches for either of you.”

Luke turned and regarded the man. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Tell me, Miss,” Marcus asked Dani. “How much did David charge for a similar service?”

“A dollar.” Dani smiled. Luke’s face reddened; he’d apparently thought he was being quiet. She poked him, hard, in the ribs. Right where she’d gotten him before. “Well, pay the man! One dollar!”

Luke dodged out of the way, and looked between the two of them as though trying to judge how serious they both were. Marcus held out his hand. Luke shook his head and pulled out his wallet and looked. “I don’t have anything smaller than a five.”

Marcus slowly extracted the five-dollar bill from the compartment, leaving the rest.

“That’s quite all right,” he assured Luke as he folded the bill. “I don’t mind.” He walked past a bemused Luke and nodded once to Dani. “Pardon me.”

Dani started giggling. She couldn’t help it. The look on Luke’s face was absolutely priceless. “I like him,” she said between breaths as Marcus slowly walked away.