“I did. This family is nuts.”
“No argument there. I always liked them.”
Violet looked at her mom and the fond smile on her face and decided to go for it. “Way different than your family. Think Grandpa and Grandma Bell can handle it?”
“Looks like they’re going to try, and that’s all we can ask of anyone.”
She recognized another “pearl of wisdom” as Mom always called them. Today, Violet had one of her own to add. “And then we have to let it be enough.”
Mom’s smile widened. “That’s exactly right. When did you get so wise?”
“Had a good teacher.” She scowled. “Now don’t go getting all mushy or I wouldn’t have said anything. But I wanted you to know I’m glad you took the project here even though I might get stuck wearing a uniform.”
There was no missing that weepy look in Mom’s eyes, but she battled the mush. With effort.
“Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to. Always does,” she said.
“Remember that, will you?”
“Regarding what, specifically?”
Violet shrugged. “About Dad mostly. Grandmama’s right. He needs us. Dude doesn’t have much of a life from what I can tell. We need to show him how to have some fun.”
“Well, I won’t argue that, pup. But he’s a grown man. I’m sure he’s happy with the way he’s living or he wouldn’t be living that way.”
“You don’t sound so sure.”
Mom bit back a grin. “Are you a mind reader now?”
“Um, don’t need to be.”
“Okay, I won’t deny it. I have no answers. I haven’t seen the man in fifteen years.”
They could talk. Violet liked that. Not all her friends’ moms were like that. Even though Mom was too stressed out and overprotective… Correction. Mom wasn’t really all that bad compared to the police chief. Violet couldn’t forget she had two parents now.
“BTW, I’m sorry I took off the way I did.”
Mom cocked her head to the side and looked at Violet as if she could see inside her head. Or wished she could. “Apology accepted. But I’m not sure if I should be worried. Seriously.”
“Don’t be. Everything’s under control.” She reached for the door handle. “Come on. I want to catch at least a class or two before the police chief calls off parole.”
Now Mom totally knew something was up. The look was all over her. She was trying to figure it out, but Violet knew she wouldn’t even come close.
“Don’t be paranoid.” The least she could do was try and reassure Mom. “You said we should do our research, and I’m not getting stuck in a uniform without checking out all my options. The recovery school district is on spring break this week, but the charter schools started back today. It was totally meant to be.”
That part was true. Of course, it wasn’t the whole truth, but Mom didn’t need to know the rest. Not yet, anyway. Not until Violet worked things out so this stupid mess would finally be over. Finally.
She hopped out of the Jeep and the door beeped behind her as Mom locked the car. She motioned to the officers in the unmarked car that they were heading inside.
“The website said they have early college credit classes with the university.” Violet glanced up and down the street as they crossed. “And I don’t think Dad will be able to complain about the neighborhood.”
“He’s the police chief, Violet. He deals with things that most people try to avoid dealing with, so it gives him a different perspective. That can also be good.”
Yeah, right. “Is that why he doesn’t have a sense of humor? I think Grandmama’s right. He needs to get a life.”
And Violet knew exactly who she wanted her dad to get a life with. Something else Mom didn’t need to know right now.
“I’m still surprised your father was okay with us coming here. I’m not sure exactly what our escort could do to rescue us sitting outside this big place.”
“Puh-leeze. Dad’s being an overprotective freak and he knows it. He flat-out said he didn’t think there was any way the old pervert could identify me.”
“He cares, and that’s a good thing.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Violet didn’t mind the caring, but the rest of this crap had to stop. Pronto. She was over it.
They went straight to the main office where a whole bunch of helpful people helped them.
“We’re assigning you someone to shadow,” the admissions secretary said. “We have a list of teaching assistants who are familiar with getting prospective students around to get a feel for the place.”
Hopefully this TA would be helpful in tracking down her reason for coming on campus today.
Great Eye guy.
Violet was done with the Criminal Minds crap. If the police chief couldn’t close the case, then she was going to help because she was not moving to New Orleans with him acting all jerky and bossy because he was worried about her safety.
So one Great Eye guy coming up.
Mom went to sit in the media center and work while she waited—one of Dad’s requirements—and the TA turned out to be a junior named Monica who was toying with International Studies for college and fascinated by all the places Violet had lived.
School was school. Really didn’t matter what country she was in. The buildings changed—sometimes a lot, depending on where they were. But basically kids were kids. And now that they had Facebook it was easy to make connections and stay in touch. So Violet played up the cultural differences and it didn’t take long to get Monica’s help.
NIC DECIDED TO SEND HIS officers to dinner in the Quarter for their work on the Dubos case as he tossed another file onto the desk, adding yet another low-bond case as evidence.
His cell vibrated. Grabbing it before it skittered off his desk and landed on the floor, he glanced at the display.
“Hello, Violet. Everything okay?” She usually texted.
“Swell, Dad, swell.”
Every red flag in Nic snapped to attention. He could hear that DiLeo pride loud and clear in her voice, and he braced himself.
“This charter school isn’t half-bad, for the record, and you’ll never guess who I ran into here.”
Probably not, and he wasn’t in the guessing mood. “Who?”
“Great Eye guy.”
Nic could smell the setup from here, knew he and Megan had been had without question. He didn’t know how, but he knew it to the bone.
“Dad, you there?”
“I’m here. Well, what a coincidence.” He couldn’t keep out the sarcasm no matter how hard he tried.
“I know. That’s exactly what I thought.” She laughed. “I only know the kid’s first name, so I’m thinking if you want to talk to him, you’ll probably want to get down here pretty quick. He just went into guitar class. They’re on a block schedule here so the classes are really long. You can catch him if you hurry.”
He was already through the door. “On my way.”
With the light and siren, Nic made it to the campus in decent time. He pulled in one of the patrol officers who was parked in the street and had him run interference with administration. Once he had a name, he wanted the parents down here fast so he could talk with the kid. He accompanied the principal and a dean of students to the class, where he found Violet hanging out in the hallway.
“Hey…Chief.” She eyed the administrators uncertainly, obviously not sure whether or not they should know about the familial connection. “He’s still in there.”
Nic stepped aside to allow the principal to enter the class and call out the kid.
Jon Romo.
Finally.
But damned if the idiot kid didn’t try to make a break for it. He got into the hallway, took one look at Nic in his dress blues then took off down the hall, sneakers squeaking on the linoleum. The principal let out a loud yell and the dean of students took off after him.
Violet said, “Whoa!”
But Nic was already on the horn, calling Officer Daigneault
, who he’d left in the cruiser on the street. He caught the kid as he burst through the front doors of the school and had him up against the cruiser by the time they got outside.
“Well, Jon, you just earned yourself a ride to the station,” Nic told Great Eye guy before turning to the principal. “I’d hoped to talk to this student in your office with his parents, but unfortunately I don’t always get what I want.” He handed the principal his business card. “I’ll need the emergency card and parents’ information.”
Then he shook the man’s hand, thanked him for his time and told Officer Daigneault, “He’s yours.”
The kid went white as the officer put a hand on his head and herded him into the cruiser. Nic tapped the roof and the lights started flashing, a full show for this minifelon.
“We’ll collect this girl’s mother and be on our way.”
The principal escorted him and Violet to the media center, where they found Megan seated at a table working on her laptop. She glanced up and did a double take.
“Nic, what are you doing here? Is everything all right?”
Nic looked toward at his daughter. He’d hoped she had the grace to ’fess up, but he could tell she was stubbornly sticking with her coincidence story. “You want to do the honors?”
She shrugged. “You’ll never guess who I ran into. Monica and I were leaving AP Lang and he was standing at the lockers.”
“Who?” Megan asked.
“Great Eye guy.” Violet didn’t give her a chance to react before launching into evasive maneuvers. “Do you want to know why his tattoo is in that weird spot? Monica knows someone who’s a friend of his. It’s so his parents don’t see it.”
“Shame you couldn’t do that with your nose ring,” Nic said with a straight face.
“Damn shame,” Violet agreed, earning a scowl from Megan. “But, I mean, what luck, huh? I recognized the guy as soon as I saw him and wasn’t letting him out of my sight.”
Nic wasn’t surprised. After all, she’d tailed him through the French Quarter. But Megan clearly hadn’t decided what to make of this turn of events yet, so he bought her some more time. “How long until you called me?”
“Not long. I followed him to class, so I knew he’d stay put for a while.”
“And he never noticed you?”
She beamed. “I have a gift.”
“Like your Uncle Marc, the bounty hunter. He can tail anyone. You should consider law enforcement as a career.”
“Or crime.” She fingered her nose ring.
“You are out of control, young lady.” Megan got to her feet slowly, decision obviously made. “Do not stand there and pretend this was all a coincidence. I am not buying that for one second. You knew that boy would be here today.”
“How would I know that?”
“Violet,” Megan said in a tone Nic had never heard before.
His daughter obviously had.
She huffed in disgust. “This is retarded, Mom. He was taking forever. I was totally over it.”
“You knew your father was worried about your safety yet you maneuvered me—us—into letting you check out this school.”
“I needed to find the guy.”
“You lied to me.”
Violet shook her head vehemently. “No, I didn’t. You know we wanted to check out the schools around here and I told you I wanted to get us out of the house. All true.”
“If you were able to find this boy, why didn’t you simply tell your father?”
Violet spread her hands in entreaty. “I only found out his name when I got to talking to some of the kids here.”
Nic had to give her credit. For a teenager she was incredibly people savvy. She walked into a new school in a new city and started working the crowd.
“So, we ready to go?” Violet bent over to retrieve Megan’s laptop bag. “Can’t keep our bodyguards sitting outside all day, and these media center people probably don’t want us having this conversation here. It’s a library.”
Nic wasn’t going to open his big, bullying mouth and shove anyone into a corner. But he could back up Megan. “’Fess up now, delinquent, or I’m taking you down to the station.”
Violet narrowed her gaze and glared at him. “It wasn’t like it was all that hard. He has to be on Facebook or MySpace.”
Nic’s jaw dropped. Literally. “You tracked down that kid on MySpace?”
“Facebook.”
“How exactly?”
“Uh, friends.” There was definitely a duh in there. “I looked up the high schools. He’s got that cool tattoo so someone was going to know who he was. Once I knew what school he went to, I only needed to get here. I knew I’d recognize him.”
Megan started packing her laptop, winding the cord around her hand, stuffing it inside the case. “We won’t be waiting to have this conversation, Violet, so pencil it in for as soon as we get back to your grandmother’s. You can explain to me why you think this behavior is acceptable.”
Nic squelched the impulse to weigh in with his opinion. His efforts would be better spent interrogating Great Eye guy. Megan had this part under control.
And as he escorted Megan and Violet from the media center, Megan’s shampoo wafting through his senses, making him forget everything but how she would feel in his arms, Violet slanting rebellious glances his way, Nic knew there were things in life that were much, much more important.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
MEGAN JUST NEEDED TO WALK, to be out of the house and moving to shake off the residual effects of a difficult conversation with Violet. She’d come away understanding much more than her daughter had revealed—thankfully—and she needed time to figure out what came next.
This was always a challenge. Particularly when she had to get past her own emotions first because all too often worry and fear and indecision could get in the way.
Megan supposed she shouldn’t be surprised when Nic’s cruiser stopped as she cleared the front yard. She definitely wasn’t surprised by the way her heart started to pound a heavy, slow beat when the driver’s door swung wide and he stepped out, looking more devastatingly handsome than he ever did.
The years looked so good on him.
He propped an elbow on the roof. “Where you headed?”
“Just needed to walk.”
“Mind if I join you?”
“Please do.”
He wasn’t dressed to walk, but he gamely tugged off his tie and tossed it in the backseat. Then he walked toward her, unbuttoning his collar and rolling up his sleeves.
“How’d it go with Great Eye guy?” she asked, matching his pace as they headed toward St. Charles Avenue.
She didn’t look his way, not until she could control the crazy sensation swelling inside, a feeling of being alive, a feeling she hadn’t felt in so long. No man she’d ever dated had been able to make her forget she was a mom. Not the way Nic did. Not even close.
“I learned who the kid was working for, which means I can start unraveling this mess. Nasty business. We appear to have a judge on the take from a prominent bail bondsman.”
“Will you need Violet’s testimony?”
“Can’t imagine why,” he said with certainty, and Megan heaved a mental sigh of relief, felt as if such a weight had been lifted.
“Thank you for taking such good care of our daughter.”
“Thank you,” he repeated, and she glanced at him then, breath hitching when she met his gaze, recognized the melting expression she saw there.
“For what?”
“For taking such good care of our daughter.”
Megan looked at the sidewalk ahead through suddenly misty eyes, her throat tight, her focus on keeping one foot in front of the other. She didn’t know what to say.
There wasn’t anything to say.
She knew. Nic knew.
That was enough.
“So how’d the conversation with our daughter go?” he finally asked.
“She’s got a lot going on inside. I’m trying to ke
ep up with what she isn’t telling me.”
“That’s always the trick.”
“She’s got a life lesson happening right now, so I’m trying not to say too much. Whenever I open my mouth, she automatically doesn’t see anything I point out. It’s a knee-jerk reaction.”
“Like you said, she’s got a lot going on inside.”
That made Megan smile. “She got what she wanted—you. And a family. But she’s realizing she can’t control or anticipate everything. She always thought she had the most overprotective mother in the world. She didn’t count on you being worse.”
Nic chuckled, and Megan found that she liked sharing her thoughts about Violet. She’d been blessed with some wonderful friends through the years, Marie at the top of the list, and she’d valued discussing kids and parenting. But Nic was Violet’s father. Turned out that was entirely different.
The buck didn’t stop with her any longer. All those fears, natural fears that accompanied parenting, didn’t feel quite so overwhelming. If something should happen to Megan, Violet wouldn’t be alone. She had a family to be a part of, a father who was getting to know her.
Who already loved her.
Megan didn’t need to ask about that. Everything Nic had done revealed how much he cared. Someday Violet would look back and realize how fast he’d stepped up to the plate when she’d dropped out of nowhere into his life. Not because he was honorable, but because he cared. Violet would recognize that and appreciate that. The way Megan did. Because when she got right down to it, regardless of absolutely everything else, Violet began with two high school seniors who’d met and fallen in love.
“To be honest, Violet’s emotionally all over the place right now,” Megan admitted. “It was bad before she left. It’s worse with everything going on. She’s so excited about you and having a family—a big Italian family. It’s like her dream come true. She’s got to figure out what to make of all this, and she hasn’t had the chance yet. I think that’s what today was all about. She’s been frustrated because you have different expectations than she’s used to.”
Then There Were Three Page 22