Pier Lights (19 page)

She listened as Dio made arrangements with
Harry to get her car and her things to Dio’s house. They worked it
every way around Sunday until Nelda jumped in and said to leave
Caroline in her care while Harry drove her car to Dio’s behind him
and they could both just come on back to get her again. Lina didn’t
argue. She leaned her head against Dio’s strong arm as Nelda
cleaned and bandaged her hands.

She felt him shift, felt him help her shift,
until he was reclined against the arm and several pillows and she
was sandwiched between him and the couch, his arm around her, her
head against his chest, an arm around his middle. Nelda had ordered
him to sleep an hour or so before he got back in the car. Harry
said something about him searching all night long.

Lina was nearly asleep again, cocooned
against him and covered by a thick blanket when she popped her head
up. “Dio?”

“Sleep, Lina. I’ll have to get to the
hospital soon to check on and lecture my mother, but I need sleep
first.”

“Yes, but ... did you say you loved me?” At
his amused grin, she shook her weary fuzzy unfocused head. “If you
didn’t, say so. I was so tired. I might have just... and of course
I’ll be so embarrassed if you didn’t but I thought... Did you?”

He shifted again to get closer to her face
with a hand aside her cheek, a thumb hooked around her ear. “Yes, I
did. And I do. Now go to sleep, baby. I’ll try not to wake you when
I get up but know I’ll be back soon if you wake up and I’m not
here.” He kissed her head.

Lina pulled herself closer to him, cringed
when she bumped her hand in the wrong spot, and met his eyes. She
tried to answer him but her voice wouldn’t come; her tongue
wouldn’t form the words. Instead, she kissed him, on the mouth, the
cheek, his eyebrows, his nose, his neck – he had such a glorious
sturdy strong neck with stubble that poked her lips and nose, and
he smelled like the ocean, like freedom, like forever. She put her
focus on his mouth, stuck her tongue inside to taste him, to hook
him, to tease him.

“Mm.” He forced her head back enough to
escape. Still, he looked amused. “Baby, we’re not alone. Yet. Hold
onto that thought for me.” His wet-sand brown eyes sparkled.

She heard a deep voice chuckle somewhere
nearby and a woman’s voice hush it. Caroline lay her head back
against him and turned to teasing his chest with a finger, until
her arm grew heavy and she let it fall.

Dio shook his head at the wreck that was
Lina’s car. The girl either didn’t take care of it or she bought it
dilapidated. His guess was the latter. It did make it to his place
in one piece and he pulled it into the barn. The old Ford could be
well usable again with some work. She needed her own car. At least
he hoped the foot would heal enough she would need a car and would
be able to drive it.

She deserved it.
Almost.
So she said. Vengeance. Someone had
hurt her on purpose. Maybe that’s why she pulled back from him
earlier. Heaven forbid if Dio ever caught the monster who did
it.

He wanted to move her things from her car
into his house, but Harry was waiting. So was his mother. With a
deep breath, Dio went on out to let Harry drive him to the
hospital. He wanted to talk to the old woman without Lina there. On
the way into Charleston, he debated how much to say, how much to
let his anger show.

Harry insisted on going in with him. Dio
argued.

“Boy, I’ve known that woman longer than you
have. You just let me deal with her if she gets out of her head
again. Take a walk if she upsets you and I’ll have her calmed when
you get back. I’m not about to let her interfere with this thing.
Neddie and I are so darned happy to see you with someone nice and
decent but also with the fire to deal with your ass on a
regular-like basis, and I’m not about to let the loony bird mess it
up. And don’t go looking at me like that. Like I said, I known her
longer’n you. Ain’t nothing wrong with calling what is, is.”

Dio supposed he couldn’t argue.

A nurse nearly jumped on him. “She’s been
calling for you all night and all morning. We left messages.”

“I wasn’t home. Is she all right?”

“Other than upset that you haven’t been
here, she’s just fine. The doctor’s about ready to release her. My
nurses are ready for her to go. No offense, but...”

“No, understood. You don’t think he could
find reason for her to stay a couple more days?”

“Not by my bidding.”

With another deep breath, he led Harry
in.

“Well, where on earth have you been,
Diomedes? And why did you bring that old goat into my room? I don’t
want him here. Where is that pretty girl who was with you? She
upped and disappeared this morning...”

“Last night.”

“No, it wasn’t last night. It was this
morning after you brought me my chicken dinner. It didn’t have
enough salt, by the way. Next time you tell them more salt.”

“Mom, it was last night while I was on the
way to get your dinner. Why would I have brought a chicken dinner
for breakfast? It was last night.”

She frowned. “Like I said. Where’d she run
off to? We were having a nice chat.”

Dio looked at Harry.

Harry moved up to her bed and took her hand.
“Now Cleo, you sent the girl off as though you didn’t want her
here. Said some not nice things to her.”

“I surely did not. She was a sweet girl.
Beautiful smile. Nice laugh. A nice girl, like I told Diomedes to
find. Not one like that little tramp who was here last night. She
won’t do at all. Dio, you need to stay with that nice one and send
the other on her way. Didn’t I teach you better than to juggle two
girls?”

“Mom... what? There was only one girl here
last night. Caroline. The sweet girl with the beautiful smile.
That’s Caroline, the only girlfriend I have, the only one I want.
She’s the one you sent away. What are you talking about?”

“Nonsense. I sent away that other one, the
one with the bad foot.”

“That was Caroline.”

“No
, Diomedes, the
other
one.”

He stared. How could he not have realized
how far over the edge she’d gone?

Harry took over. “Now you listen to me, Cleo
Troy. And you listen good. Dio has found himself a wonderful girl
you’re going to just love if you’ll let yourself. You stop seeing
her as two different girls and see her as she is and love her for
both sides, just as you loved Dio’s father for both his sides and
the way Dio loves you, bless his heart, for both your sides. And
you be nice to her. She’s a good ’un, Caroline is. And she’s moving
into your house with you and Dio and you’re going to be nice to
her. I’m gonna be there checkin’ to see that you are, you hear? You
do this for Dio. He has done bent over backwards for you. You do
this for him now.”

She looked up into Harry’s dark brown eyes,
his wrinkled face, his mostly gray hair, and she quieted with a
nod.

“That’s a good girl now. You know way back
when Dio’s daddy was working for my daddy, and I saw him start
bringing you ’round, I knew you would darn well be trouble for him.
I even warned him about you. He just laughed and said he liked
trouble and he looked forward to every minute of it. I darn sure
think he got himself more than he wanted but it was his choice and
I respected that. Now I look at Caroline and think she’s getting
herself into a whole heap of trouble with Dio, and with you, bless
your soul, but I see she can handle it and she’ll stick it out the
way Dio’s daddy stuck it out with you. You make it easier on her.
You understand me? I’m gonna tell the girl she can always call me
if you get too feisty and I’ll take her right out of there and
bring her home with me and Neddie till you can behave again.
’Course Dio won’t be so happy when she ain’t there for him, so you
might consider your son and make it easy on the girl so I don’t
have ta come and get her.”

“Just because my husband worked for your
father, Harry, that doesn’t give you the right to order me like
that.”

“No it sure doesn’t, but my love for Dio
sure does. Being his godfather and all gives me the right to look
after him. You made that choice years ago. Now you hafta live with
it.”

Dio moved up to his mom’s side. “Are you
here again? Can I talk to you now?”

She pulled her hand from Harry’s to take
Dio’s. “What have I done?”

“It’s all right, Mom. I’ve fixed it again.
But I need you to try, okay? I need you to be nice to Caroline at
least until she gets to know you and gets comfortable with us.”

“Has she seen you, Diomedes?”

“Yes. She has seen me. She didn’t cringe.
She didn’t run. She caressed my face the way you used to before
this.” He shouldn’t have said it. A look of guilt crossed her face
as she pulled it away. “It’s all right, Mom. I understand. All of
it. But please, do this for me. Be nice to her, to either one you
think you see, you be nice to her. She’s had some rough times like
we have. I don’t want her to leave. I want to keep her.”

Her eyes returned. “You can’t keep a girl
you don’t marry, Diomedes. I have told you that over and over. And
you can’t marry a girl you don’t love. You can’t. I won’t allow
it.”

“You’re right. I love her. I plan to marry
her. Then I plan to keep her. Forever.”

“She won’t do it. She’ll run like the
others, like everyone.”

“No. She won’t, not if you try to be nice.
She’s tough enough to deal with you. I know she is.”

Her eyes watered. “I want a daughter, you
know. I have always always always wanted a daughter. Not instead of
you. Along with you.”

“I know, Mom. I’m bringing you one. Love her
the way you love me and she’ll be that for you.”

“Yes. You bring me a girl who will be my
daughter. Then all will be well.”

Dio saw the warning look from Harry, but she
would. Caroline would accept. “The doctor thinks you’re ready to go
home, Mom. What do you think?”

She nodded.

“And you’ll follow orders so your cough
doesn’t come back?”

She nodded again.

“Okay. I’m going to go get Caroline and
we’ll both come back for you. And you’ll be nice to her, right? To
whatever girl you see with me, you’ll be nice?”

Another nod. Dio hoped she would remember it
long enough to get Caroline and his mom both home.

Lina grimaced as she made her way to Harry’s
front porch with the least amount of pressure on her palms as
possible. She wanted to watch for Dio, to see him pull in, on his
way back to pick her up and take her home. She wanted like nothing
else to be home with Dio. If needed, she would stay upstairs during
the day and avoid the old woman. Until she found a job. She thought
again about taking Hayes up on his offer. Even if it was something
she could do only on nights Dio worked so she could ride in with
him, it would be something. Until her foot healed enough to be able
to drive, Lina had no idea what else she could do.

He loved her. Dio said he loved her.

She looked out across the wide lawn and
gravel path to the small street and let her gaze trail over
neighbor’s houses to the scattered palm trees, up to the bright
blue sky and wisps of clouds. She wanted to swim. She wanted to get
out of the jeans and tee she’d worn all night and into her bikini
and the cold ocean water and release herself into the frenzied
abandon of the front crawl as waves tried to slap her back to
shore. Maybe if she taped her foot, it wouldn’t hurt too much.
Maybe Dio would take her.

Lina brushed strands of stubborn hair from
her face as the breeze tugged them from her ponytail. She needed a
shower. Long, hot, steamy. Dio’s shower was plenty big for both of
them. She saw herself in it with him, sudsing his massive chest,
playing in his hair and tracing it down to his stomach, sudsing his
... his sword. She felt herself blush.

What was wrong with her? She didn’t blush.
Ever.

She also didn’t let a man take care of her.
She didn’t let him tell her what she would do, where she would
go...

What the hell? There was a first time for
everything. She could at least let him be her first that way. To a
point.

Nelda distracted her with an offered glass
of lemonade which Lina gratefully accepted. And she sat next to her
on the old porch swing.

“Caroline, before Dio comes
back, there are a few things you should know.” Grasping Lina’s
hand, Nelda talked of Dio’s mother, of her father, of the way his
father’s father objected to the woman he chose because she was
a
loony bird
. “And
you know he was right, but you should also know she made the man
laugh like no one else ever did. His parents were hard. He needed
the laughin’. You see, what we look for in our mate is what we’re
missing in ourselves. The rest of it doesn’t seem to matter and it
doesn’t need to matter. He found what it was he most needed and he
grasped right onto that. People thought he was crazy. Maybe he was
indeed, but it didn’t matter none to him.”

Nelda shook her head. “People will think
you’re crazy for choosing Dio, not only because of his scar but
also because of his parents. They’ll say you’re walking into
trouble. And you will be. That woman won’t be easy on you. You
gotta know that right off. She’s hot and cold and here and ...
elsewhere, without more’n half a blink to warn ya. But don’t take
it personal. Be tough with her. And be tough with Dio if he jumps
you about it.”

“It runs in the family? So if we have kids,
they might be...?”

“Kids? You want young’uns with Dio?”

“Well...” Lina blushed again. She hadn’t
even thought that far.

Nelda gave her a big smile. “Nah honey, her
parents and all the rest of the family were all normal enough. They
musta just dropped her on her head is all. Kinda the way she
dropped Dio in... well now, I guess I better let him tell you about
that. Nah I don’t think you have anything such to worry your head
about. And I can see the two o’ ya having some right beautiful
young’uns, too. But if things get too tough now and then, you call
me and I’ll come help with the old girl. She won’t dare smart at
me. She knows better. And you will have to teach her better,
yourself. She is like a child, Caroline. You need to go in thinking
of her that way.”