“I expected a greeting party,” Arnie boomed at the top of his lungs. “Granddad! Where are you?”
He urged her forward with a big grin and a double pump of boyish enthusiasm. “Come on.”
A long entry hallway of arches and large windows led to a beautiful informal living room done in shades of cream, blue, and gray. A log fire, suitable for taking the chill off a January day, crackled in a fireplace. Four double doors led out to a gorgeous patio.
“Arnie,” a big voice boomed.
They turned in unison, and she laid eyes for the first time on a man whose legend loomed large in Arnie’s life.
How to describe Darnell Templeton Wanamaker Senior? Hmm.
He was tall, and though advanced in age, it was easy to visualize him as a younger man due to the way he moved.
After enthusiastically calling out to his grandson, he switched his attention to her.
She gulped.
Arnie made the introduction in a voice brimming with pride.
“Honey, allow me to introduce you to my grandfather. Ned’s old man.” He sniggered. “I think you know the name.”
She giggle-snorted and bit the inside of her cheek.
Then beaming like a ray of sunshine, he said, “Granddad, this is Summer Warren.”
“Miss Warren,” Darnell Senior greeted her warmly and came toward her with his arms open. She was shocked when he pulled her into a hug and then stepped back to look her over.
“Please, Mr. Wanamaker, call me Summer.” She smiled. His kind welcome made her feel like a princess.
“Summer, it is.” He chortled. “And you must call me Pops. I gave it a lot of thought,” he quickly explained when Arnie looked stunned. “You’re the first of a new generation. Pops seemed user friendly.” He laughed.
“User friendly,” Arnie muttered with a shake of his head. “Always original, Granddad.”
He handed her the baby in a choreographed move they worked out in the car. She put her purse down and cuddled Ari on her shoulder.
“Pops, say hello to Arianne Leigh … Wanamaker.”
Ari stared at her great-grandfather. He studied her in return. Then in sweet unison, they smiled at each other.
He didn’t ask for permission and simply swooped in and lifted the baby out of her arms. Ari cooed and smiled.
Arnie put his arm around her shoulder, and they watched silently as their baby girl charmed the pants off an old man whose joy was palpable.
She calmed down. Darnell Senior might scare the snot out of some, but she saw a man who adored Arnie and was overjoyed with his grandson’s new family despite the unconventional way they got together.
They were given a large guest suite with a separate sitting room where the baby could sleep in her travel playpen. Pops apologized for not having a crib on hand. She felt his protective nurturing side—it was endearing and reminded her of Ned.
“While she’s snoozing, I’m going to pump,” she told Arnie. “She’s been rather insistent about preferring boob to bottle, but it’s time.”
He gathered the equipment and made sure she was comfortable and had everything she needed. Kissing her on the forehead, he said, “I have to talk to Pops. You okay?”
He seemed especially excited, and she wondered what he was up to.
“Sure. You go ahead. Just remember to come back and get me so I’m not wandering around lost.”
What have we learned today? Arnie thought as he watched his grandfather move around the study.
Well, to begin with, he found out the safe behind a cabinet door in the bottom of a bookcase was nothing but window dressing.
And there was more.
Like a scene from a spy thriller, Darnell Senior pressed a hidden button, and bingo, an entire segment of the huge bookcase opened to reveal a walk-in vault.
But there was even more.
The patriarch of the Wanamaker family had a highly sophisticated ocular scanner installed at the entrance and a web of security laser beams to thwart unauthorized access.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. He never loved the old man more.
“Before you ask”—Granddad chuckled—“only your father knows about this, and yes, he has right of entry.”
Arnie whistled with appreciation and awe. “Wow.”
The vault room was a deep, wide, and bowed in a half-moon configuration. Glass display cases interspersed with various-sized compartments gave the place a jaw-dropping vibe.
In the center of the room were two padded chairs and an ornate presentation table—the kind you’d find in the foyer of a mansion.
Overhead, a magnificent crystal chandelier twinkled, giving the space a classy touch.
He was so busy taking it all in that he barely noticed when Senior produced a tablet and an object similar to a key fob.
“Let me see,” Senior muttered. He was studying the tablet intently. “Okay, here we go.”
He tapped, swiped, and tapped again. Then he pointed the fob, and like magic, one of the display cases lit up, and he heard the distinctive sound of electronic locks moving.
“Everything in this case belongs to your father. And you. Some of it is Wanamaker stuff, but what you’re here for is your mother’s legacy.”
Arnie was speechless. He had a watch collection and a weird assortment of tie tacks and cuff links, but they were nothing compared to what he was looking at. He’d seen personal collections before. Impressive jewelry displays were nothing new to him, but seeing his mother’s jewels and collectibles in a stunning display left him flabbergasted.
“What you see on display are things from your mother’s life and marriage to your father. The Patterson heirlooms are in a bank vault. They’re all yours, of course.”
“Whatever, I don’t care about the Texas hillbillies and their oily treasures.”
“Now, now, my boy. Don’t snarl. That family and their drama make us look good. Your mother rather graciously graded them on a curve because she had to. Maybe you should do the same.”
“Oh, fuck them. Bunch of obnoxious twats. Mom’s brother, Billy Tom Joe Bob Sonny Jim, sends a Christmas card every year, but other than him and maybe his daughter, I have no use for another back-stabbing, dysfunctional bloodline.”
Senior found great amusement in Arnie’s snarky statement and chuckled. “You certainly didn’t win first place in the cousin’s sweepstakes.”
“Right?”
Stepping closer to the display, the still chuckling old man murmured, “Here we go.” He nodded at the display of dark blue velvet where his mother’s engagement ring sat.
“Your father commissioned the design. It’s a fourteen-karat white gold infinity band curving in twists of twinkling diamonds. The oval-cut center diamond is two carats.”
“Wow.”
“Will it do?”
More emotion than a guy could be reasonably expected to contain rushed into him. He heard his mother’s voice whisper, “Happy ever after, Arnie.”
“Yes,” he blurted out awkwardly. “Yes, yes.”
Senior’s smile was all teeth. He opened the case and gestured to it. “Go ahead. It’s all yours.”
Arnie’s hand trembled as he reached for the sparkling diamond stunner.
“Last year, after mentioning your involvement with a young lady, I took the liberty of having a jeweler inspect the setting and then clean and polish it.”
With the ring clutched in his hand, he threw his arms around his grandfather and smothered him with a hug. He murmured, “Do we have your blessing, Pops?”
“She’s a keeper, Arnie.”
They both wiped tears as the hug ended.
He studied the ring. “I hope it fits.”
Senior laughed. “If it doesn’t, grab some duct tape and tape it to her finger. Do whatever you have to for that young lady to say yes.”
“Are Dad and Stan coming tomorrow?”
Darnell Senior nodded and relocked the case. “I asked them to give us today. Poor Summer. She’s been through a lot.”<
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“Listen, Granddad, I want you to make a call for me.” He took out his phone, went to his list of contacts, found the name, and sent the info to his grandfather.
“The invitation is for dinner here, tomorrow. Do whatever you have to.”
“I guess this means I better have a chat with my housekeeper. What should I tell her? How many guests are you expecting?”
“The usual. Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, sit-down meal. I want the full Monty. Fresh flowers, of course,” he snicker-drawled. “Sunflowers if you can get them. Oh, and a magnum of champagne.” He made a quick guest list in his head. “Small, maybe seven or eight people.”
“I’m on it,” Senior assured him.
All of a sudden, Arnie asked, “Hey. Is there anything in here suitable for Arianne?”
“Hell yeah, there is,” he barked. “I was just waiting for you to ask. Check this out.”
Opening a different display case on the other side of the room, he pulled out a flat box and lifted the lid.
“This was your grandmother Josie’s pearl necklace. Back in the day, little girls had add-a-pearl jewelry. Every special day meant the addition of a pearl. Baptism, birthday, graduation. She loved what it represented and said she thought of it as a statement of her life. Look.”
Lifting a cushion in the box, he pulled out a piece of paper written in the distinctively beautiful scrawl Arnie associated with his grandmother.
“She left an explanation for each pearl laid out left to right.”
Arnie glanced at the paper. He couldn’t imagine a better gift for his baby daughter than something tying her to Josie Wanamaker.
“Play your cards right.” Senior snickered. “And I’ll hand over the silver cuff links she gave me for our wedding day.”
“I see you share my grandson’s love of questionable snacks,” Pops teased as Summer tore open a second pack of chocolate peanut butter goodness.
“What are these called again?” she asked.
“Tastykakes. An East Coast favorite. I have a carton shipped here whenever I know Ned, Arnie, or Stan are coming by. They’re called peanut butter tandy kakes. The company calls them kandy kakes now.” He snorted. “Used to be you could only get them in Philly and New York, but now Ralph’s sells them!”
“They’re lethal.” She giggled with her mouth full.
Pops lowered his voice. “Not on my nutritionist’s list of approved foods.” He put a finger to his mouth. “Shh. And don’t tell Bethany about my secret stash.”
“Bethany is your physical therapist?”
His facial expression made her laugh. “She’s a gold digger, and I’m a cradle robber,” he told her with gleeful cheekiness.
Summer smirked. “You’re going to have to qualify your statement.”
“Sure.” He chuckled. “Bethany Collins was looking for a sugar daddy when she started as my physical therapist. She’s younger, you see. Only sixty-two. Is the picture getting clearer?”
She gave him a dry look and sighed. “Bethany is a rich widow and a retired nurse. I asked Arnie.”
Pops held back a laugh.
“I say more power to you if you’re doing her on the side.” She gave him a wink.
Laughter filled the room when he boomed. “Side piece! Bwah!” He pounded his hand on the kitchen table and hooted hysterically. “She’s gonna love it.”
Ari watched her mommy and great-grandfather from her baby seat in the middle of the table. The three of them were hanging out while Arnie took a video call from King.
Summer was well aware of Arnie’s efforts to keep her involvement with the LAPD to a minimum. He wasn’t withholding anything from her and carefully explained all he was doing was handling the details without drawing her into it.
She was grateful for his help. She was also happy to spend time with his grandfather. Getting to know the men who shaped Arnie gave her valuable insight into the man she couldn’t imagine living without.
“I brought Ari’s baby book and some photo albums. Maybe after dinner, we can look through them if you want.”
He looked at her oddly. She wondered why, and then he filled in the blanks.
“Arnie told me you documented practically every minute of the baby’s life. Why did you do that?”
She lifted a shoulder and gave a weak shrug. “I’m a hopeless romantic.”
“You knew he’d come back, didn’t you?”
“I clung to the hope he didn’t leave because he wanted to, and if he did return, it didn’t seem right for him to miss out on so much.”
Senior nodded and studied her with a thoughtful expression. “He told me about you.”
She smiled.
“Last year,” he added quietly.
She continued smiling. Then his words pierced her brain, and she croaked, “What?”
With a nod, he confirmed his statement. “It’s true. Last year, in Santa Barbara. We were at the farm, in the greenhouse, and it just came out.”
“What did?” She was completely confused by what she was hearing.
He reached for one of her hands and held it in both of his. “I remember thinking he was different somehow and told him it was as if he suddenly looked up and saw the sun shining.”
Her jaw went slack, and tears gathered.
“Teasing him, I asked who she was. He owned it without hesitation, Summer. Said he met someone, but it was complicated.”
“Oh, my god.” That was it. That was all she could say.
He held her eyes. “I knew what he meant because I know what he does even though we never speak of it.”
She gulped and tried desperately to reorganize the facts as she knew them. What Pops was telling her was bigger than huge.
“He told me everything about how you were waitressing and very young.”
She blushed from head to toe.
With a gentle squeeze of her hand, he dropped a cherry onto the mountain of whipped cream crowning her day.
“He also made it abundantly clear you were a good girl and tried very hard to convince me he wasn’t a dog.”
Her brain scrambled to make sense of it all, and then he dropped a bomb.
“Quite literally, within a few minutes of this conversation, his phone rang. It was a call he had to take. The call complicating everything.” He paused. “It happened exactly as I described, Summer. It was his last day here, and then he disappeared for a couple of months.”
She dropped her head and laid her cheek on the hands holding hers. “I think you may have just saved my heart, Pops.”
“I debated whether to tell you. Meddling isn’t my thing. But I saw Arnie’s face when he brought you to me and heard the emotion in his voice when he introduced us. I knew then it was the right thing to do. No one is his equal. You’ll never find a better, more decent man than my grandson. I’m sure he’s managed to screw up plenty—all men do—but he’ll never let you down when it’s important.”
Every word Pops spoke was proof of Arnie’s love for her. The timing of the conversation he shared with her was the missing piece—the piece erasing all doubt.
He dreamed about pink bunnies and a running stream under a brilliantly sunny sky. Summer’s enchanting giggles filled the air. A breeze scented with wildflowers swirled around him.
“Catch me if you can,” she called out before dashing along the brook’s edge, leaping over rocks with bare feet.
Joy exploded in his heart. He laughed at her antics and tried to keep up.
The scene changed. They were in a secluded glen surrounded by towering green trees. Lying on their backs, they watched drifting white fluff in the blue sky and made up stories about the cloud formations.
She rolled her body on top of his, straddled his hips, and sat up. He loved looking at her. Every move and gesture was graceful and confident. Her eyes glowed with love.
He pushed her long blond waves off her shoulders and caressed her face. She pressed a cheek into his hand and sighed.
“I love you more than you k
now,” he murmured.
The scene changed again. Only this time, there were energy swirls and a sensation similar to having the floor drop away. When his head cleared, he came awake to find Summer, naked and very aroused, grinding on his dick. She was leaning over him, his hands entwined with hers and held above his head.
The heat and wet friction as she rode him stole his sanity.
“Summer,” he growled.
She bent to nip and lick his ear. “Hold on a little longer.”
Her gyrations grew fierce and demanding. She fucked so beautifully, and he moaned over and over.
Each time she slammed her hot, juicy pussy down onto his engorged cock, he grunted with spine-tingling pleasure.
The moment he reached the point of no return, he shook off her hands, grabbed her by the waist, and took over. She cried out as desire, arousal, and lusty passion took them on a wild ride to the finish.
He lifted her up and down on his cock. Within seconds, she was like a rag doll begging for more as a heated flood and ferocious contractions signaled her climax and transported him to the heavens.
His cock exploded, filling her with his hot seed while she cried out his name.
When the carnal storm passed, they whispered words of love, and before long, they fell back asleep.
Summer stretched and yawned as she slowly came awake. She turned, found an empty space next to her, and shifted onto Arnie’s pillow. She hugged it and inhaled his scent.
Her eyes drifted to the clock on the nightstand. It was 7:15.
With a deep yawn, she snuggled into the pillow, assumed Arnie was in the bathroom, detected nothing but quiet from the baby, and gave herself permission to sleep for ten more minutes.
An hour later, she woke again, this time with a start, and scrambled off the bed. Sliding her robe on, she belted it and dashed into the sitting room only to discover the baby gone.
Shaking the sleep from her fuzzy brain, she looked around for the baby monitor. It was missing. Hurrying back to the bed, she grabbed the second monitor and turned up the volume.
Finding Summer (Nightwind Book 3) Page 68