flapped his wings while she packed. She couldn’t accomplish everything in one day, so she took her time. There were forms to fill out to allow her to take Warchief back to the States, and there was the real-estate agent to see. She was going to put the cottage up for sale. After what had happened, she never wanted to come to Jamaica again.
It was like leaving home, because she’d grown to love it, but she’d have to find someplace else for a second home. Especially since pregnancy was a real possibility. She still hadn’t decided what to tell her parents. She just couldn’t bear telling them the truth.
She stayed in Jamaica for three days. Then, with the necessary forms filled out, she took Warchief to the airport in a sturdy pet carrier and left the island behind. Warchief was the one reminder of the past that she couldn’t bear to give up.
Hours later, she pulled up in front of her parents’ home. Her father was busy in his study, working on his sermon, which he always started on Fridays. Her mother was in the kitchen, and her head jerked up when she saw what Elissa was carrying.
“Oh, no!” Tina wailed. “It’s the green mosquito!”
“Now, now,” Elissa said gently. “He grows on you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Tina muttered, nibbling her lip and frowning.
Elissa set his carrier on a chair. Warchief took one look at Tina and began to whoop and blaze his eyes and make cute little parrot noises.
“I love you!” he cried. “Cute, you’re cute!” He gave a wolf whistle, and Tina, who’d never seen a parrot except in exotic pet shops, was charmed.
She dropped to her knees and peeked into the carrier. Warchief wolf-whistled again and blazed his eyes, and Tina laughed.
“You gorgeous bird,” she enthused. “I’d love to hug you.”
“I wouldn’t,” Elissa murmured drily. “He gets excited when he’s close to people. You could lose an ear, a nose—”
“I get the idea.” Tina chuckled and rose. “What about his cage?”
“It’s outside, in the car.”
Tina looked out the window. “How did you squeeze it into that subcompact rental?” she asked.
“With great difficulty,” came the reply. “But I did.”
Tina cocked her head and stared at Elissa. “Wait a minute. He was in Jamaica, wasn’t he?” she asked, nodding toward the parrot. “So how is it that he’s with you, when you were in Oklahoma? And where’s Kingston?”
“This is going to be an interesting story,” Elissa said. “So do you mind if I get the things out of the car and change clothes? You can make coffee, and then we’ll talk.”
Tina sighed. “Uh-oh.”
Elissa nodded. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“I’m sorry, darling.”
“It’s just as well I found out now,” Elissa replied, looking and sounding worlds more mature than she had when she’d left. “I might have married him and ended up ruining his life.”
“He asked you to marry him?” Tina asked.
Elissa nodded. “He gave me a ring,” she said, smiling at the memory of the fragile thing. Then she burst into tears. “Oh, Mama, I had to give it back,” she wailed, going into the taller woman’s outstretched arms. “He’s in love with his sister-in-law, and she’s getting a divorce, and he only found out after he’d given me the ring. I had to let him go—don’t you see? He’d have hated me for tying him down!”
Through all that muddled speech one thing was clear: that Elissa loved her man desperately and had given him up for love of him. Mrs. Dean smiled. “There, there, darling,” she cooed, “you did the right thing. Loving isn’t loving unless you have the strength to let go when you have to.”
“I’m so miserable,” she said brokenly. “I went to Jamaica and arranged to sell the cottage and got Warchief. Is it all right if I stay here for a while?”
“Honey, of course,” Tina said, shocked. “Why wouldn’t it be? This is your home.”
Elissa lifted her tear-stained face to her mother’s. She wanted to tell all, but she didn’t know if she could bear to. Her eyes filled with new tears.
Tina Dean brushed the damp hair from her daughter’s eyes. “I think this would be a very good time for you to have a talk with your father,” she said with a smile. “Do you know the old saying that you never really know people until you’re in trouble? Well, you’re about to get an education in human frailty. Come on.”
Elissa puzzled over that on the way to the study, where her father