In the Arms of the Wind (10 page)

“You don’t have to explain anything,” she said. “I shouldn’t have asked you about your personal life. It isn’t any of my business so…”

“But I want it to be your business, Kaycee,” he interrupted again. “I know it sounds strange—even psychotic maybe—but I am falling for you. Falling hard for you and I didn’t sleep a wink last night knowing I’d upset you. I was like a frigging teenage boy getting ready for Mass this morning I was so damned nervous. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me after the way I acted.”

She smiled and started to reassure him but the waitress brought their food. She looked up in surprise.

“Comes with owning the joint,” he told her, and when she looked at him, he winked.

“Burger and fries for the lady,” the waitress said as she put Kaycee’s food on the table and then placed Danny’s before him. “Hamburger steak, mashed taters with onion, green pepper and mushroom gravy, and green beanies for the boss man.” She popped her gum. “Anything else?”

“Steak sauce?” Danny asked.

Maxie snapped her fingers. “Yeah right! Sorry, Danny!” She scuttled away to fetch the steak sauce.

“I’ve got to try that,” Kaycee said as she reached for the salt shaker to salt her fries. “It looks delicious.”

“Girl, my grandmother brought this boy up right,” he said, taking up the shaker when she was finished with it. “I did my teething on hamburger steak.”

Kaycee squeezed a large dollop of ketchup on the side of the platter beside her fries. She dredged a fry through the glob then popped it into her mouth. “Let’s just forget last night happened,” she said.

He looked up from pouring the steak sauce on the meat. “Not all of it, I hope.” He wagged his brows. “The kissing part was nice.”

Kaycee nodded. “Yes, it was and worth repeating.”

“Next time with tongue,” he said.

“We’ll see,” she said noncommittally.

He dove into his lunch. “You’ll like it. I promise.”

Kaycee smiled but kept her thoughts to herself. She was very sure she’d like it.

“It was your mentioning her,” he said, not looking up at her.

Kaycee paused with the burger at her lips. “I beg your pardon?”

“Kathleen,” he said, still not looking at her. “I hear that bitch’s name and it’s like someone waving a red flag at a bull. To learn you know her, have a friendly acquaintance with her pissed me off no end. I could just hear her telling you what a prick I am.” He finally looked up. “I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. You had no way of knowing.”

She bit into the burger, holding his gaze as she chewed. “Tell me all about it and then we’ll never mention it again,” she said.

He let out a long breath. “What do you want to know?”

“The black eye?”

He was in the process of scooping up a large mound of potatoes and gravy onto his fork. “That black eye cost me like you wouldn’t believe,” he said. “I figure it alone set me back around five hundred grand.” He shoveled the potatoes into his mouth, chewed methodically then cocked his shoulders. “Thankfully Georgia’s an equitable property state so any property given to me as a gift before our marriage wasn’t considered marital assets and she couldn’t get her grubby hands on the condo. She wanted it but she wasn’t going to get it. My grandfather made sure of that. The trouble was, because of that damned black eye, he offered her a lesser condo at Rampart Villas in exchange for not telling the world I had hit her.” He picked up his root beer float and took a long, hard pull on the straw.

“You said the black eye was an accident. How’d it happen?”

He set the mug down. “It was the night I told you about when I had to kick the door in to get into my own home,” he said. “There was all my stuff in trash bags in the hallway. She was furious that I had been out all night on a stakeout. She followed me into the bathroom, accused me of lying to her about where I’d been and what I’d been doing. She told me she knew I was having an affair with Melissa Whigham and that I’d been with my whore all night.”

“The officer you mentioned?”

He nodded. “I hadn’t laid a hand on Missy but Kathleen didn’t believe me. I told her she was full of shit. I yanked my shirt off, threw it into the hamper. She grabbed it up, pointed to what she said was lipstick on the collar then came at me with those claws of hers and started raking them down my bare arms and chest. I jerked my arm up to keep her from going for my face and my elbow connected with her eye. She staggered back, hit her side on the vanity and slid to the floor.” He frowned. “I leaned over to help her up but she batted my hand away. The minute she looked up at me and smiled, I knew she’d set me up.”

“Did she call the cops?”

“No, she knew better than to do that. She called my grandfather.”

From the tone of his voice, Kaycee knew that had been worse than calling the authorities.

“Was he angry?”

Instead of answering, he stabbed a couple of pieces of steak and ate them first.

“You’d have to know my grandfather,” he said, taking up his napkin to wipe his lips. “
Daideo
’s old school. Came over on a boat right after WWII. Met my grandmother as they were going through immigration.” He smiled. “Said he fell in love with her right then and there. Asked her father to be allowed to court, went through the whole shebang with the courting and the banns and all. They married a year later and by the end of another year my father came along. They had three more sons. One died in Korea, one became a priest and another one a doctor.
Maimeo
was the love of his life. He loves her still and she’s been gone for twelve years now.” He leaned back in the booth and his eyes took on a bright sheen. “Talks to her picture every night before he goes to bed and puts a kiss on the glass without fail.”

Kaycee felt her throat clog with emotion. “That’s beautiful,” she said. “And very sad.”

“Yeah, it is sad. He’s not a decrepit old coot. He could marry again but he won’t. Maire Margaret was the love of his life and he says she’s waiting for him in the Many-Colored Lands and will come to take his hand when he takes his last breath.”

“The Many-Colored Lands?” she queried.

“It’s an old Irish myth. The Lands are a stepping-stone between this world and the next, and those we love who have passed on are supposed to be there watching over us.” He shook his head. “As smart and pragmatic as my grandfather is, he believes that myth as the gospel truth.”

“Perhaps he needs to believe it,” she said gently. “In believing his lady is watching over him, she hasn’t really left him. She’s still with him.”

Danny gave her an assessing look. “Yeah, that makes sense.” He took up the root beer float. “When Kathleen called him and told him I’d hit her, he told her to tell me to stay there and not to leave. I knew better than to try. His men would have come after me sure as shit so I grabbed some clean clothes out of the bags in the hall, went to the other bathroom, took my shower, dressed, and when I was finished, he and Seamus were waiting in the great room when I came out.”

“Who’s Seamus?”

“His lawyer Seamus O’Leary.”

“Oh.”

“Kathleen was sitting curled on the sofa with a steak pressed to her eye,” he said. “Neither my grandfather nor Seamus had said a word to her. She’d tried to tell them her side of it but Seamus told her to shut up. At least she had sense enough to take his advice.” He drained what was left of the float then looked around, signaling to the waitress for a refill for him and Kaycee.

“She doesn’t strike me as being a person who likes to be told what to do,” Kaycee observed.

“Oh she doesn’t!” Danny said with a snort. “She was an only child and spoiled rotten by her parents. She wanted my balls on a silver platter and probably would have gotten them if Grandfather hadn’t stepped in to settle things.”

“He asked you what happened.”

He shook his head. “No, Seamus did all the talking. Grandfather just sat there with his hands folded, staring at me like I was a bug on the carpet. I told them what happened, showed them the scratches on my arms and chest, explained how she came by the black eye.”

“What was she doing while you were talking?”

“Trying to interrupt until Grandfather had had enough and yelled at her to shut up or else.”

“Else what?”

Danny chuckled. “He didn’t need to say and she didn’t want to ask. She zipped it from that moment on. He didn’t need to say another word.”

“Did he believe you? Your grandfather, I mean?”

“He knew I’d never lie to him. He also knew I’d never hit a woman without provocation. That was a given. I might have strangled her—and probably should have—but I wouldn’t have beaten her.”

“Then why was he looking at you the way he was?”

“Because he was disappointed in me. I’d let him down,” Danny said, as the waitress brought their refills then picked up their plates.

“Pie?” she asked. “It’s pecan today.”

Danny looked at Kaycee who declined then said he’d take a piece. He waited until the waitress had left before continuing.

“Both he and Seamus had tried to warn me about Kathleen but I didn’t listen. I thought I was in love.” He scratched his chin. “Actually I was in lust but was too stupid to know the difference.”

“She’s a lovely woman,” Kaycee acknowledged.

“She’s a fucking barracuda,” Danny replied. “You play, you pay, my grandfather told me the day I married her. He said, ‘Daniel, I hope the price isn’t more than you can afford.’” He cocked one shoulder. “My bad.”

“What happened then? After you’d explained about the fight?”

“Seamus asked Kathleen what she wanted.” He snorted. “At first she said she wanted me put in jail and a restraining order taken out saying I couldn’t come within five hundred yards of her or the condo. That went over real big with Grandfather, but to give him his due, he didn’t say a word. He let Seamus do all the talking. Seamus asked me what I wanted. I told him I just wanted an end to all the fighting.”

“Were you still in love with her then?”

The waitress brought his pie but he seemed to have lost his appetite for it. He pushed it aside and leaned forward, putting his elbows on the tabletop.

“No. She’d killed any love I might have had for her years before. I didn’t think Grandfather would agree to a divorce or an annulment, but that was the next thing out of Seamus’ mouth and that was what Kathleen had been waiting for. She pounced on the notion like white on rice, but it backfired on her.”

“How so?”

“She thought she’d keep the condo and all the furniture, her car, and I’d foot all the bills for her. Seamus told her no way. Grandfather would give her another condo over at Avalon Shores but she held her ground. She wanted my condo. Seamus said absolutely not. The condo had been a gift and wasn’t on the table for discussion. She threatened to go public with my hitting her. I could tell Grandfather was starting to lose his cool over the matter so I stepped in and said if she wanted to live at Rampart Villas that was okay, just not in my condo or on my floor. Eventually, she got a unit twelve floors down from mine and a restraining order slapped against her. She comes to my door, she’s toast.”

Kaycee mentally calculated the worth of a seventeenth-story condo at Rampart Villas and felt a cold chill wriggle down her back.

“After the details were ironed out, I walked Grandfather and Seamus out to the elevator. I remember Grandfather staring at the trash bags full of my stuff as we were standing there waiting. He turned and gave me this look that I’d never seen on his face before and I hope I never see again. He didn’t say anything, just looked at me then turned away. That look cut me right down to the marrow of my bones. I knew he thought I wasn’t man enough to stand up to my woman and I knew he was going to make me sorry I’d failed him.”

“Did he?”

“My maternal grandmother had left me the diners so I couldn’t touch them but my father had left me a substantial amount of money when he died plus stocks and bonds. I wound up cashing everything in to be rid of Kathleen. I’m still paying on that goddamn condo.” He sighed. “Full price, no discount. I have to keep up the taxes and insurance too. Grandfather wanted it to hurt as much as possible.”

“A pretty hard I-told-you-so, huh?” she asked, reaching across to put a hand on his arm.

“It’s a lesson I don’t care to repeat,” he agreed. “At least I don’t have to pay her fucking utilities and groceries so I can afford to eat now and then.”

Kaycee laughed at his woebegone expression. “Eat your pie,” she said.

He glanced at it. “Halve it with me?”

“Sure.”

He cut the wedge down the middle and handed her the fork first. His cell phone rang as she took her first bite.

“Gallagher,” he barked into the phone.

Kaycee watched his eyes narrow, skip to hers then away. A deep frown developed on his brow.

“I’ll be right there.” He slipped the phone back on his hip. “I’ll be by at six. Wear something casual but you’d better bring along a sweater. It gets cool on the water at night.”

“Trouble?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, averting his gaze. “I’ll see you later.”

And then he was gone, sliding out of the booth to the accompaniment of nearly every female eye in the place watching him stride away. Avid gazes followed the prime ass clothed in the dark brown trousers and the wide shoulders filling out the white oxford shirt with its long sleeves rolled halfway up a brawny forearm.