Daniel's Desire - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,32
I promise. Joe won’t show up until I’ve had a chance to meet with you and Kendra.”
“Fine,” she said, her voice tight.
“Molly, I won’t let you down,” he told her urgently. “I won’t. Mom said this is an emergency. I have to go.”
She sighed. “Of course you do. I hope everything’s okay when you get there.”
He imagined the hell that might be breaking loose if this involved his brothers. “So do I,” he said grimly. “So do I.”
Chapter Seven
Molly slowly hung up the phone. She’d heard the genuine worry in Daniel’s voice and knew he wouldn’t be putting off this meeting with Kendra if there weren’t a very real crisis at home. Still, she wasn’t looking forward to trying to explain that to Kendra. The girl was suspicious enough. This would only reinforce her general distrust of adults, her belief that no one could be trusted to keep their word.
“Who was that?” Kendra asked, regarding Molly warily.
“Daniel,” Molly admitted. “Now, I don’t want you to get upset, but he’s had an emergency. He’s postponing dinner.”
To her surprise, Kendra’s expression immediately brightened. “Good! Then we can go out, just you and me,” she said enthusiastically. “Who needs him?”
“At the moment, you do,” Molly reminded her.
“You’re not going to turn me over to that cop,” Kendra said with confidence. “You know I’ll just take off again if you try.”
Molly tried to explain the position she was in, the position all the adults were in who were aware of Kendra’s presence in Widow’s Cove. “Sweetie, there are a lot of people who have to balance what’s best for you against your parents’ interests.”
“Yeah, right. All they care about is protecting their own backsides in case my parents get mad at them.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?” Molly asked.
Kendra had the grace to look chagrined. “No, not really.” Her chin jutted up defiantly. “But I’m not going back there. No one can make me.”
“Actually, they can,” Molly said, fighting for patience. “But they won’t if you can give Daniel and Joe a valid reason why you shouldn’t have to go.”
“Why can’t I just stay with you?” Kendra asked plaintively. “I could go to school here. My grades are real good, and I’ve been studying all along, so I could probably pass final exams in any classes, even if I haven’t been here all year. Then everything would be great.”
“There are probably a million reasons why that won’t work,” Molly said with regret. “For starters, I’m not a relative. Nor am I licensed to be a foster parent. I run a bar and live upstairs. I’m single and—”
“But you care what happens to me,” Kendra replied, cutting her off. “Isn’t that the most important thing?”
“I’m sure your parents care about you, too.”
“If they did, they wouldn’t be making me go away.”
“Where, exactly, are they making you go?” Molly asked. Kendra made it sound as if they were sentencing her to hard labor. Molly couldn’t believe it was anything other than what her parents thought was best for her, though where that could be, she couldn’t imagine.
“Away,” Kendra said flatly. “That’s all that matters. They’re sending me away and I don’t want to go.” She spun around and slid off the stool, then headed for the kitchen.
“You can forget about dinner. I don’t want to go with you, either,” she said, flinging the words back at Molly.
Molly stared after her and sighed. It was plain that Kendra wouldn’t answer any more questions on that particular topic. Molly had to wonder if she would be any more forthcoming with Daniel.
In the meantime maybe Retta would have better luck probing for answers than she had had. Retta had always had a way of making Molly comfortable enough to talk about her innermost feelings, things she wouldn’t have dared to share with her grandfather. Maybe Retta could work the same sort of magic with Kendra.
Molly had always heard that life with a teenage girl could be complicated. She was beginning to see the evidence of that firsthand. She could only pray that she wouldn’t do or say anything to make Kendra’s life—or her own—any more complicated.
Five minutes after ending his call to Molly, Daniel turned into his parents’ driveway. There was a fancy, unfamiliar SUV parked in front, along with Patrick’s easily recognizable pickup. As soon as he spotted the cars, Daniel’s heart began to beat harder. There was no longer any question in his mind about what he was going to find when he walked through the