Lily pointed to her pants. Rose too.
"Fine, go to the bathroom, but this isn't over."
With that the girls disappeared into the house.
He knew the bathroom plea was an excuse to get away from him. Maybe it was for the best. He needed time to think. He needed a cold beer. Hell, he needed a new life.
* * *
"I think Daddy's mad," Rose said, opening the bedroom door so she could peer into the hallway. She listened for angry footsteps, but heard only silence.
"Is he coming?" Lily asked.
"No."
"Good." Her sister let out a sigh of relief.
Rose closed the door and sat down on one of the twin beds. She pulled her legs underneath her and rested her chin in her hands. "Maybe we shouldn't have tried to cook the pasta."
"We didn't know it was going to catch on fire."
"And we shouldn't have painted the chair," she added, knowing they'd been really bad.
"We had to, or else Mrs. Polking wouldn't have left."
"He's just going to get someone else to watch us."
"Not if Mama comes back."
"I don't think she is coming back," she said with a sigh. "It's been so long."
"Yes, she is. She promised. Maybe we should look for her."
"We don't know where to look."
"We could go down by the boats, where Mama took us that day. Maybe she's there."
Rose shook her head, feeling her stomach turn over at the thought. She hadn't liked their trip to see the boats. She didn't even want to think about it. "We can't cross the street by ourselves, and we don't even know where the boats are."
"I bet I could find them," Lily said confidently.
"We're not going. Mama said she'd come back. We just have to wait for her."
Lily's eyes sparkled with a new idea. "Maybe Mariah can help us." She took the crystal ball off the dresser and set it on the bed between them. They'd gotten it a week ago for their sixth birthday, a present from their grandmother, Sophia. Inside the glazed blue glass were the head and shoulders of a beautiful lady with long blond hair, a glittery face, and a bright pink wizard's hat. Their grandmother said she had found the wizard in an antiques shop. She told them it had belonged to a little girl who swore it could make magic -- but only for people who believed in it.
Lily rubbed her hand over the top of the ball.
A spark of light surprised her. "What was that?" she asked, her eyes widening with alarm. She felt butterflies in her stomach, the kind that came whenever a new nanny arrived.
"I don't know. It didn't do that when I touched it yesterday," Lily said.
"Well, ask the question."
Lily rubbed her hand over the ball again, drawing another flash of light. "Mariah, we want to find our mother. Do you know where she is? Do you know where we should go to look for her?"
The lady's mouth began to move. Lily looked over at Rose in awe, "Did you see that?" she whispered.
Rose swallowed hard. She felt scared, but she wanted to hear the answer.
Mariah's voice came across, sounding as lovely as a melody. "For children who believe in me, school is just the place to be."
"What?" Lily asked in confusion.
"Go to school?" Rose repeated in doubt. She didn't want to go to school. It was summer, and they'd already done kindergarten.
"I'm going to ask her again. I don't think she heard me right." No matter how many times Lily asked the question, the crystal ball remained dark and Mariah remained silent. "Maybe the batteries are dead," Lily said as she turned the ball upside down.
"Where do the batteries go?" she asked.
"I don't know. I can't find anything."
"Maybe we should ask Daddy."
Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't think so."
"I didn't mean out loud," she said, although it was getting more difficult not to talk to him, especially when he was being nice or when he kissed her good night. But they'd promised their mother they could keep a secret, that they wouldn't speak to their dad again until she came home. She couldn't give up now. If she did, Mama might never come back.
"We'll try Mariah later," Lily said. "Maybe she needs to rest.”
* * *
Michael stared at his waterlogged, smoke-filled kitchen in disgust. The cookbooks on the counter had been doused with water. The edges of the yellow-trimmed curtains that his mother-in-law had hung for them just after they moved into the house were charred around the edges. There were puddles on the floor with ashes floating like little boats in a murky river. What a mess -- just like his life.
He wished he had a magic wand that he could wave and everything would be all right again. He didn't know why he kept hoping for a miracle. He'd said enough unanswered prayers to know that magic and miracles did not exist.
He took off his suit coat and tossed it over the chair at the breakfast room table. Loosening the knot in his tie, he rolled up the sleeves to his elbows. Wading through a couple of inches of dirty water, he made his way to the refrigerator and opened the door. The inside was dark. Apparently the firemen had turned off the electricity, but the beers were still cold. Thank God!
He pulled out a can and opened it. One draught went a long way toward easing some of his frustration. As he took another sip he walked into the dining room, eager to get away from the kitchen disaster. That's when he saw the list of summer schools Mrs. Polking had left on the credenza. He reached for the paper, but his foot caught on the carpet and he stumbled, spilling beer all over everything.
"Damn." He shook the beer off the top of the paper, but the ink smeared and only one of the school names remained legible. "Happy Hollow School -- summer school programs, kindergarten through second grade," he read aloud. The school was in North Beach, just a mile away. Maybe he could convince the twins' grandmother to take the girls after school until he could find another baby-sitter.
Of course, he didn't have much credit left with the family. The girls had terrorized their aunt, uncle, and grandparents long before they'd started in on the nannies. And he hated to ask Sophia to baby-sit. She usually spent her afternoons at De Luca's, helping her husband, Vincent, and her son, Frank, run the family restaurant.
School was the best answer, at least until he could find another nanny. With any luck the teachers at Happy Hollow would be tough enough to take anything his girls could dish out.
Buy ASK MARIAH
Available in electronic format:
Almost Home
All She Ever Wanted
Ask Mariah
Daniel's Gift
Don't Say A Word
Golden Lies
Just The Way You Are
Love Will Find A Way
One True Love
Ryan's Return
Some Kind of Wonderful
Summer Secrets
The Sweetest Thing
The Sanders Brothers
#1 Silent Run
#2 Silent Fall
Deception
#1 Taken
#2 Played
Also Available in Print and EBook
Angel's Bay Series
#1 Suddenly One Summer
#2 On ShadowBeach
#3 In Shelter Cove
#4 At Hidden Falls
#5 Garden of Secrets
About the Author
Barbara Freethy is a #1 NY Times Bestselling Author, a distinction she received for her novel, SUMMER SECRETS. Her 28 novels range from contemporary romance to romantic suspense and women's fiction and several other titles have appeared at #1 on the Barnes and Noble Top 100 bestsellers, including DON'T SAY A WORD and ALL SHE EVER WANTED, and other titles have made appearances on the NYT and USA Today Bestseller Lists, including SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL and DANIEL'S GIFT. Her books have won numerous awards - she is a four-time finalist for the RITA for best contemporary romance from Romance Writers of America and her book DANIEL'S GIFT won the honor and was also optioned for a television movie.
Known for her emotiona
l and compelling stories of love, family, mystery and romance, Barbara enjoys writing about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary adventures. She is currently writing a contemporary series for Pocket books, entitled ANGEL'S BAY, set along the fictional coast of California. The latest book in the series, GARDEN OF SECRETS was released in September 2011.
Barbara has lived all over the state of California and currently resides in Northern California where she draws much of her inspiration from the beautiful bay area. Barbara loves to hear from readers so please feel free to write her.
For a complete listing of books, as well as excerpts and contests, and to connect with Barbara:
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Reader’s Guide
RYAN'S RETURN
LOVE WILL FIND A WAY
ASK MARIAH
Available in electronic format:
About the Author
Some Kind of Wonderful Page 34