One Daddy Too Many

by Debra Salonen

  He made it sound like a done deal.

  “I have to go. My sisters are throwing a thank-you party for all the volunteers who pitched in to find Maya. Even my future brother-in-law is flying for in it.” She didn’t stand up right away. She felt as if this was goodbye, even though she knew she’d see him again once he got settled.

  “Will the Sisters of the Silver Dollar dance?” he asked, his tone wistful.

  “I don’t know. We haven’t danced together since Dad died. But maybe it’s time to start liv…dancing again.”

  AFTER THE RELATIVE CHILL of the Bay area, Rob welcomed the heat of the desert. To his surprise, Vegas actually felt more like home than “home” had. The interior of his car was nearing meltdown when he got into it, but he put the top down anyway—and rolled up the windows and turned on the air-conditioning full blast. He wanted to feel the sun and breathe the dry desert air.

  Haley had given him a new CD which he blasted at boom-box levels as he drove to Yetta’s. He’d called his mother before getting onto the plane and she’d informed him that Kate was taking the day off because of the party. Jo planned to oversee the lunch shift then drop by later in the afternoon. “I probably won’t stay, though. My doctor gave me some medicine for my cough and it really knocks me out,” she’d added.

  There was a defeated quality in his mother’s tone that didn’t sound like Jo. He planned to investigate that next. After he talked to Kate. And Maya.

  Haley had asked him not to share the news about the baby until she told Jo. While she and Jo got along well, this was a life-altering event and Jo had enough on her mind at the moment with her health issues and new partnership.

  Rob was certain his mother would be happy for her ex, although she’d probably have a few things to say privately about his parenting skills. But Rob couldn’t complain. Not really. His father was human, flawed and imperfect. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn from his mistakes and be a better husband to Haley and a better father to Daisy.

  “I hope,” he murmured.

  He turned down the volume as he swung into the cul-de-sac. Yetta’s house sat straight ahead; Kate’s car was in the garage beside her mother’s. A few other vehicles were parked on the street. Was the party already going? Damn. He’d hoped to arrive ahead of the other guests.

  He quickly parked and walked to the door.

  A face appeared at about thigh level in the side window. Maya. He leaned down and said loudly, “Hi. Can I come in?”

  Her frown told him she wasn’t wild about the idea.

  “I have a present for you.”

  She looked skeptical. “What is it? One of the new fish died. Grandma helped me bury it at the cemetery where my grandpa lives.”

  “I’m sorry. I have the receipt. Maybe we can get another one to replace it. Is the black fish behaving himself?”

  “The other fish don’t like him, but he hasn’t eaten any of them.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?”

  She nodded, and a second later the door opened.

  The first voice he heard upon entering the foyer was Yetta’s. “Hello, Rob. How was your trip to California?”

  “Good. Fast. But I got to see my dad and Haley, so that was nice.”

  “I had a dream about them the other night. They were strolling on a moonlit beach. They seemed very happy.”

  Rob smiled and nodded. “Hey, you really are psychic. They just got back from Tahiti and they’re in absolute bliss.”

  The twinkle in her eye made him wonder if she knew the other part of the joy. He almost asked, but Maya distracted him. “You said you brought me a present.”

  “Maya,” her grandmother said, reproachfully. “That was rude.”

  “It’s okay. She’s right. I do have a present for her.” He whipped the book he was holding behind his back out for them both to see. “You like jokes, right? I even learned a couple. Want to hear one?”

  “Um…I don’t know. Maybe,” Maya said.

  She took the book but didn’t open it.

  Rob wasn’t sure what to do next. He looked to Yetta for guidance. She smiled and ushered him inside. “Come in and sit down while Maya remembers her manners.”

  The living room was simply decorated with eclectic touches—a well-used Persian rug, a beautifully framed copy of “The Kiss” and furniture that ranged from leather to antiques. The blinds were angled down to keep the sun and heat at bay.

  “Wow, in all the times I’ve been here this is the first time I’ve sat in this room. It’s beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” Yetta said. “A repository for our meager treasures.”

  He walked to the mantle to examine an interesting sword and scabbard. “Is Kate around?”

  “No, I’m sorry. She’s—”

  “With my daddy. My real daddy,” Maya said, pointedly.

  Yetta gave her granddaughter a stern look and said, “Why don’t you read a couple of jokes to Rob, Maya, while I call your mother and see what’s keeping her. Other guests are starting to arrive, too.”

  She left so abruptly Rob didn’t have time to get nervous—until he looked down and saw Maya staring at him, with those big brown eyes that seemed to gaze right to his core.

  He sat down in a convenient navy-blue tweed recliner.

  “That was my grampa’s chair.”

  Her tone was so accusatory he started to move.

  “But you can sit there. He doesn’t live here anymore. He moved to the cemetery.”

  Rob had no idea what to say. “Um, you’re sure he won’t care if I sit in his chair?”

  “It’s okay. He visits sometimes, but he’s not here now.”

  Rob looked around uneasily. “Good. Uh, so, what kind of jokes do you like best?”

  “Funny ones.”

  Of course.

  “Knock, knock,” she said, catching him off guard.

  “Um…who’s there?”

  “Boo.”

  “Boo who?”

  “You don’t have to cry. It’s only me.”

  He laughed. Her expression was so endearing he couldn’t help it. “That was funny. You’re good.”

  She didn’t smile back. “Your turn.”

  His stomach clenched the way it did the first time he addressed a new judge. He’d practiced on the plane. How hard could it be to impress a child?

  “What do you call a boat shivering on the bottom of the sea?”

  Her shoulders rose and fell. “I dunno. What?”

  “A nervous wreck.”

  She didn’t even crack a smile.

  Feeling more on the spot than he had when he told the partners he preferred to stay in Las Vegas than climb up a rung in the corporate ladder, he blurted out, “I know a secret.”

  She took a step closer. “What is it?”

  He lowered his voice. “I’m going to be a brother.”

  Her eyes went wide.“I’m going to have an uncle when my Auntie Grace gets married. Who are you going to marry?”

  The question made sense, he supposed, from her point of view, but he was quite sure she wouldn’t like the answer he was tempted to give her. “My situation is different. My father got married and his wife is going to have a baby. That makes me a brother.”

  “Oh. Well, my daddy is going to marry my mommy and they’re gonna have two babies that come at the same time. That’s called twins. Just like Dora the Explorer’s mommy.”

  She sounded so matter-of-fact that Rob had to shake his head to remind himself this was probably—hopefully—more Maya’s wish than the truth. Then he remembered something. His mother once told him that the family believed Maya had inherited her grandmother’s ability to see into the future. What if she was right?

  He heard a voice call out his name. “Rob?”

  Kate had entered the house through the kitchen. “Maya and I are in here,” he hollered.

  Seconds later Kate appeared in the doorway. Breathless and beautiful. He swore he’d never seen her more vivid and alive. Her hair was
swept off her neck. She was wearing a sleeveless sundress that skimmed her knees. She looked like a princess.

  She looks happy, he thought. His heart did a painful little dive toward his shoes. She’d just come from her ex-husband’s company, and she looked as radiant and in love as Haley had when she’d greeted Adam after Rob and his dad returned from golfing.

  “Hi, Kate.” He stood up. He’d made a mistake by presuming that he could simply show up and expect Kate to be as ready as he was to move forward. He was a fool. They’d spent one night together. That barely even constituted a date. He couldn’t simply propose. “Your daughter was keeping me entertained. What a little jokester!”

  Maya’s look made him even more nervous. Who was he to think he could ever replace her father?

  “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Come out back and say hi to everybody. Most of the members of your Dads Group are here.” She took his elbow and started leading him toward the back door. “Maya, do you have your swimsuit on under your shorts?”

  “Yes, Mommy.”

  “Good. Be sure to bring me your floaties to put on before you get in the water.”

  “But Jacob’s daddy brought noodles,” Maya said. “I can hold on to one of those.”

  “Maya, you know I want you in either a life vest or arm floaties when you’re near the water.”

  “Oh, Mommy…”

  Rob opened the sliding door. He almost added his two cents but didn’t want to get in the middle of their argument. A second later, he was surrounded by his eclectic group of friends, including Nathan Barnes, who immediately handed him Gretel. Or was she Lucinda?

  Kate was drawn aside by a woman Rob didn’t know. She appeared to go willingly. Rob guessed the need to clear the air between them was something he alone felt. Maybe it was his legal mind at work. He routinely convinced people of B when they thought they believed A. If she were still vacillating between him and Ian, Rob needed to sit down with a legal pad and lay out his argument. “You should pick me over Ian because…” There were reasons. Good reasons. He just needed a little more time to think of them.

  “How ’bout breakfast tomorrow, Rob?” Nathan asked.

  Rob hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation, so he had no idea how the idea of dining together had come about. “Um, it would have to be early. And I haven’t run in a couple of days. Maybe lunch. Later in the week?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Rob saw a flash of color. Orange. The color of Maya’s swimsuit. He turned to look over the head of the wiggling child in his arms. She was carrying a tube of hot pink Styrofoam that was at least twice her height. She was laughing and talking to a little girl who appeared a few years older than Maya. A prickling sensation ran down his arms. Something felt wrong. He couldn’t explain it.

  He spotted Grace’s cousin Gregor and motioned him closer. “Hey, Greg, do me a favor. Take this little beauty for a minute. I need to check on something.”

  He was about twenty feet away from the pool, but there was a milling crowd of adults, including Kate, between him and the spot where he’d last seen Maya. He scanned the area looking for anything orange.

  There she was. Sitting on the edge of the pool. Noodle in hand. Nice and safe. But she wasn’t wearing the flotation devices her mother had asked her to put on.

  He looked at the table where Yetta was sitting with several other adults. Just a few feet from the pool. The half-deflated armbands he recognized as Maya’s were on the ground behind her. Had Maya removed them without anyone noticing?

  “Maya,” he murmured under his breath. “Shame. Shame. I thought I taught you better.”

  He walked over and scooped up the plastic armbands then turned to the pool. Only a few seconds had transpired, but Maya had disappeared. No orange suit. But the hot pink noodle floated on the water on waves churned up by the five youngsters playing Marco Polo in the deep end.

  Rob didn’t stop to think. He threw down the floaties and sprang forward, clearing the distance to the pool in three long strides. He paused only long enough to spot her. Underwater. Struggling. Then he dove in, grabbed her arm and pushed to the surface with one adrenaline-charged kick.

  Kate was aware of a loud splash behind her but didn’t give it any thought until she heard someone cry, “Oh, my God. Maya.”

  Everything slowed down to strange, impossibly clear images that landed in her brain like raindrops on a wind-shield. Splat. A man in street clothes erupted from the water with Maya’s limp body balanced on his hand like a server with a tray. Splat. He went under—twice—until his feet found purchase. Splat. He surged through the water like an Olympian, carrying her daughter, who was coughing and choking, to safety.

  The people standing around her—her sisters and two old friends—moved toward the pool, carrying Kate with them. Her legs were useless. They didn’t seem to understand what she wanted them to do.

  “Maya,” she cried, clawing her way through the crowd.

  Rob seemed impervious to anyone else. His sole focus was on Maya. He worked so swiftly Kate barely had time to register what he was doing. Seconds passed. Long, terrifying seconds that felt like minutes. A lifetime. Then Maya started to wail. A harsh, painful, beautiful sound.

  Kate fell to her knees beside them and pulled her daughter into her arms. “Maya. Maya. Oh my God, what happened? How did…?” She couldn’t complete the question she was so overcome with emotion.

  Maya clung to her fiercely, still shuddering with convulsive coughing. She was crying. From fear, not pain, Kate sensed. Someone handed Rob a water bottle and he pressed it gently to her daughter’s lips.

  “Try a drink for me, sweetie. Your throat is probably sore from throwing up and getting chlorine down your nose.”

  After taking a sip, Maya turned and buried her face in Kate’s chest, sobbing as if she might never stop. Kate clasped her tight and looked at Rob. “What happened? Where are the floaties I put on her? How come nobody—?”

  He sat back, easing his legs out from under him. He was fully dressed. Right down to his shoes, which leaked water until he leaned over and took them off. “Boy, if she thought they squeaked before…”

  His low chuckle seemed out of place, but Kate could tell he was still coming down from the terrifying experience—her daughter’s.

  She looked at the pool then back to him, still trying to figure out in her mind what had just happened. “How did you see her? You weren’t even close.”

  He shrugged, the wet fabric of his shirt stuck to his shoulders. “Some sixth sense, I guess. I’ve only had to pull three kids—four, now—out of the water. There were always people around, but seeing a child on the bottom of the pool just doesn’t make sense. Your mind has to get past the horror before you can do something. A lifeguard reacts without thinking.”

  “Guess that makes him a bona fide hero, huh, sis?” Liz said, handing Rob a towel.

  He used it on his face and hair, but not before Kate spotted his blush. He was a hero. He’d saved Maya twice, although he probably didn’t know that his suggestion to spread the word about Maya’s abduction through his network of fathers had given them the break they’d needed to find Ian.

  Before she could express her thanks, Maya gave a little shudder in her arms. Kate stroked her daughter’s wet hair. “Oh, precious, I’m so sorry. I should have been watching closer.”

  “No,” Rob said, moving to his knees. “Maya should have left the floaties on.”

  His tone was stern. Gruff, even. Maya lifted her head and looked at him. “You took them off, didn’t you?”

  Her bottom lip started to quiver and tears filled her eyes. “I th…ought I c…ould swim. Gemilla can.”

  He reached out and gently touched her chin. “I know, sweetie, but Gemilla is older than you. She’s taken lessons at the public pool. But…” He smiled with a tenderness that melted Kate’s heart. “I’m very proud of the way you held your breath for as long as you could.”

  “The noodle slipped out of my hand and I was too
far away. I tried to kick but I couldn’t reach the side and water got up my nose and—”

  Kate squeezed her tight, blocking the image she could see all too easily. She buried her face in her daughter’s hair, afraid to let go until a hand on her shoulder made her open her eyes. “She’s going to be fine, Katherine. Let’s get her into dry clothes. I think she’s had enough swimming today, don’t you?”

  Kate let her mother take Maya, who started crying again as soon as she was in her grandmother’s arms. She watched them go into the house.

  Rob, who’d removed his shoes and socks and looked half-drowned himself, stepped to her side and offered her a hand up. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to have a little talk with the other kids about what just happened. They all need to learn to watch out for each other and not let the little ones near the water if they’re not wearing life vests.”

  “Yes, please,” she said. “Maybe the adults should listen, too. I can’t believe what just happened.”

  He put his arms around her and held her until she stopped shaking. “Everything’s going to be okay. This was a good lesson for her. She’s stubborn, and I think she honestly believed that she could swim. Maybe she’ll be more willing to learn now.”

  “Well, she won’t be allowed near the pool without a life vest on until you say so,” Kate vowed. “I’d better go check on her.”

  He nodded. “My bag is still in the car. I’ll get changed then do my spiel.” He bent down to collect his shoes.

  “You’re not going to leave, are you?”

  “I…um…I don’t know. I’d kinda forgotten about the party. We haven’t really had a chance to talk and—”

  Kate understood. They had a lot to say to each other, but she couldn’t abandon her daughter—or her guests. “Please stay. Grace and Nikolai should be here soon. My sisters and I are going to dance.” She felt her cheeks heat up. “We haven’t practiced. We’re probably going to suck, but Grace insists this is something you never forget, like…” She was going to say how to make love but was too embarrassed. She didn’t want him to know how much she’d been thinking about their night together. “Riding a bike,” she finished, lamely.