Given (Give &Take) (10 page)

I
saw the subtle yet unmistakable look of words unspoken but understood pass between Rachael and her mom when I introduced Nadia to my future mother-in-law. I had no idea what Rachael had told Sylvia about my daughter, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

How could I blame Rachael? When she first met Nadia, it was here on the island and Nadia had been a disruptive force sent to do Enzo’s dirty work. But what about second chances? If I could welcome my daughter into my life—and how could I not?—couldn’t Rachael be a little more willing to give her the benefit of the doubt?

All I wanted was the chance to bring my family together.

Rachael didn’t trust easily—I knew that firsthand—but when earned, her loyalty was beyond measure.
I
had to trust that she and Nadia would reach that point.

“How do you all look so much alike?” Jan asked, studying me, MJ, and Nadia from her poolside chaise. “I mean, I get it. He’s your dad, but you’re like clones!” She laughed. “It’s unnatural!”

“Non,”
Paul said, swinging Nadia’s hand tucked in his. “She’s prettier.”

Rachael glanced up at me, waiting for some fatherly reaction. I didn’t have one. Maybe one day I would, but today wasn’t that day. I liked Paul and had zero experience being a father to Nadia.

“That’s sweet,” Rachael said, and I could tell she said it because someone should say something.

“Nadia,” Sylvia said, looking up to where we all stood and shading her eyes from her chair below, “did Merrick and Rachael tell you their news?”

We hadn’t. There hadn’t been time yet. Guess now was that time.

Nadia turned to me, her big, brown eyes round and curious. “What news?”

I took Rachael’s left hand and lifted it up for Nadia to see the ring. “We’re getting married.”

“That’s wonderful!” Nadia grabbed Rachael’s hand and admired the ring. “Did you set a date?”

“The Saturday after Thanksgiving,” Rachael said.

“Wow!” Nadia dropped Rachael’s hand. “That’s only like six weeks away.”

I caught Nadia’s eyes darting to Rachael’s stomach and somehow I hadn’t anticipated that reaction from anyone, but of course people would think she was pregnant.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not for any other reason than that was the date Rachael picked. We’re not in
a rush because of…” I gestured to Rachael’s middle. “Anything else.”

I wasn’t sure why, but Rachael’s eyes narrowed and her lips pursed like she was pissed. Then she pushed her shoulders back and the look was gone. Somehow, my explanation hadn’t sat well with her.

What else was new? I was stepping in it at every turn these days. Navigating between these two women was going to be impossible.

“Do you have a dress yet?” Nadia asked Rachael.

“Actually, I do. My mom brought it with her. It was my grandmother’s.”

There was a pause during which I was sure Rachael was going to offer to show her dress to Nadia, but she didn’t. “Why don’t we all go back to the hotel,” I suggested, “get some drinks, freshen up, and I’ll cook tonight. Rach, you can show Nadia your dress.”

Nadia clapped her hands together. “Oh, I’d love to see it!”

MJ and Maddie were already heading to the cloister around the courtyard. “I’ll get the grill ready,” MJ called back to me. Even he had been standoffish toward his sister.

There had to be a way to bring us all together as a family with Nadia included.

I reached out a hand to help Sylvia out of her chaise. “It’s your lucky day,” I said. “I owe Rachael key lime pie for dessert.”

“Thank you,” she said, taking my hand and standing. “Are we talking about the famous Turtle Tear key lime pie?”

“That exact one.”

“A bride who eats pie six weeks from her wedding?” Nadia said, laughing. “You’re brave! Hope that dress has an empire waist.”

Rachael tensed. “Out of everything I’m concerned about surrounding this wedding, pie is the least of them.”

Jan swung an arm around Rachael’s shoulders and started walking toward the cloister. “Wedding planning can be stressful. Just have fun with it.” I was thankful Jan was there to diffuse the situation. God knew I’d just make it worse if I opened my mouth.

Sylvia grabbed her bag stuffed with books, sunscreen, and other pool necessities and jogged to catch up with them, leaving me with Paul and Nadia.

“Beautiful place,” Paul said.

“Thanks.” I ushered them along behind the others. Nadia began speaking to Paul in French and my insides froze. Why it hadn’t occurred to me that she would speak to him in his language was beyond me, but the fact that she was telling him things I didn’t understand made me nervous. I told myself I would trust her, but I needed transparency to do it. Without it, my mind would run in circles out of my control wondering if she and Paul were sent here by my father.

It was the paranoia of a man who’d been lied to and
manipulated his entire life. Identifying it for what it was didn’t stop it, but I wouldn’t let it stand between me and my daughter. I was stronger than that.

“That’s not how you do it,” Sylvia said, monitoring my baking skills. “You should sift your dry ingredients into one bowl and mix the wet in another.”

Nadia was upstairs with Maddie checking out Rachael’s dress. MJ had taken steaks out to the grill with Paul and Mr. Simcoe, who’d been catching a few z’s when we came back to the hotel. I was dying to make my escape out there with them.

“Why don’t we take over in here?” Jan said, pouring another glass of wine. “Grilling is a man’s job.” She made a caveman grunt and laughed. “Get out there with your men and cook the meat.”

“Good idea,” I said, handing over the mixing spoon to Sylvia. “I’m—”

Rachael started yelling upstairs. The three of us turned in the direction of the entryway, listening, but I couldn’t make out her words. “What’s she…”

Sylvia shook her head. Jan slugged back her wine. Maddie came running into the kitchen. “Quick!” she said, panicked. “I need seltzer water and a clean towel!”

I darted to the refrigerator. “I’ve got the seltzer. Towels are in the drawer beside the stove. What happened?”

“Nadia, uh,
spilled
her red wine on Rachael’s dress.”
Maddie yanked a towel out of the drawer and slammed it shut.

Sylvia gasped and threw her hands up over her lips.

“No,” Jan said, setting her glass down on the counter with more force than was normal.

Fuck. Just what I needed. All the women pissed at Nadia. “We’ll get it out.”

“Wine stains,” Jan said, shaking her head.

“We’ll fix it,” I said. “Accidents happen.”

Maddie snorted, grabbing the bottle of seltzer out of my hand and running out of the kitchen. Was she insinuating it wasn’t an accident?

“We better go up and see what we can do,” Sylvia said. She and Jan walked out of the kitchen like they were on their way to a funeral.

It was a dress. Yes, it had sentimental value, but nobody died. Why did women have to be so dramatic?

I picked up the mixing spoon, figuring I’d better keep up my end of the bargain and make Rachael pie. A minute later, Nadia came in looking like a beaten dog with her tail between her legs.

“She hates me,” she said, leaning against the island and setting down her empty wineglass.

“She doesn’t hate you,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure it was true.

“She doesn’t think it was an accident.” She looked like she was about to cry.

“I’m sure she’s just upset. Everything will be fine in
another twenty minutes. Trust me.” I grabbed a teaspoon from the drawer beside me and scooped up some key lime filling. “Taste this and tell me what you think.”

Her face softened a little as she brought the spoon to her mouth. “Mmm. That’s good!”

“Your old man can cook,” I said, joking, but the ease of calling myself her old man lit a reassurance in her eyes that I felt inside, too. We’d be okay as long as we stick together. We’d figure this out.

“I won’t argue with that,” she said, scooping a little more out of the bowl. “How’s the Weston Plantation coming along for MJ? I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it.”

MJ and I needed to talk. I wanted him to try to have a relationship with his sister. “It’s coming along great. They’re pretty much done with the house and moving on to the outbuildings. He’s had a landscaper in and they’ve been working since summer on the hundred and fifty acres.”

“What’s he planning on doing with it?” She picked up the recipe card and started taking over. I wasn’t about to stop her.

“Nothing. He and Maddie are going to live there.”

“That’s it?” She concentrated on transferring the crust mixture into the pie pan. “Seems like a waste.” She glanced up at me and shrugged. “You and Rachael live here, but run it as a resort, right? Seems shortsighted to not do anything with that big plantation house with all the space and outbuildings.”

My business sense perked up. “What would you do with it?”

A shy smile curved her lips. “Golf course. I’d make one of the outbuildings into a clubhouse with a bar. The other buildings could be rented for meetings or parties.”

It was brilliant. Simple and would work perfectly on the property. “We need to discuss your idea with your brother. It has a lot of merit.”

“My mom thought so, too.” Nadia popped the pan with the crust into the oven. “She’s a businesswoman, you know? Well, I guess you probably didn’t know.”

Considering I thought she’d been dead for the past twenty years, no, I didn’t know.

“She owns two car dealerships in Spain.” She crossed her arms and smiled at him. “Guess I got the family entrepreneurial genes, huh?”

“That’s what you want to do? Own a business?” Finally, something I could help her with.

“More than anything. I hope MJ doesn’t pass up the opportunity he’s sitting on. I’d love to see him bring out the potential in that property.”

A brother-and-sister-owned business? If we talked to MJ, he’d have to see the value in her plan. This could be just what they needed to grow closer. “We’ll have to pass your idea by him and see what he thinks.”

“Really? You’d talk to him for me?”

I thought we’d do it together, but I didn’t want to
disrupt the excitement and happiness I’d given her. “Of course!”

She hurried around the island with her arms open wide. “Thank you, Daddy!” Her embrace paired with calling me Daddy was enough to bolster my confidence one hundred percent.

Everything would turn out fine.

M
y grandmother’s dress was ruined, and it had been
no
accident. I’d never seen someone fake tripping so poorly in my life. It was like she wanted me to know she was pretending. And she didn’t even apologize! How much more obvious could she be?

And I thought Joan was bad with her sarcasm and bitchiness. I’d take a million Joans over one Nadia any day.

Merrick’s eyes were on me like a steel trap, like he was waiting for his ticking-time-bomb-of-a-fiancée to explode.

Nadia sat across from him, eating her steak as happy as could be with Paul beside her whispering French love sonnets or something in her ear. I had liked Paul in France, but now that he was with Nadia, I was sour on him, too.

“Nadia made the pie,” Merrick said to me, putting a hand on my thigh.

What did he expect me to say? That her pie would make up for everything? I couldn’t wear pie down the aisle.

When I didn’t respond, he sighed and removed his hand from my leg. Didn’t he see what her being here was doing to us? MJ and Maddie were shoveling food in as fast as they
could, having made the excuse that MJ had an exam to study for and they had to get back to the Weston Plantation tonight. They’d originally planned to stay for the weekend.

My mom and Aunt Jan sat on the end of the table beside me, staring daggers at Nadia. They were like my own elite force, my first line of defense. You could feel the divide across the table vibrating in the air. I felt terrible for Merrick, but what had been started couldn’t just be flipped off like a switch.

He turned to me and brushed my hair back before leaning in to my ear. “It was an accident,” he whispered. “Can we get past this, please?”

But it wasn’t an accident. He’d never believe that, though. He’d have to find out on his own. “I’d like some of Nadia’s pie, please,” I said, smiling at her. “I’m sure it’s delicious.”

Merrick passed me a plate and the pie. I cut myself a big piece and hoped she hadn’t poisoned it. I wouldn’t put it past her. She was up to something, but I wasn’t sure what.

MJ and Maddie stood up from the table. “Thanks for dinner. We have to get back. Mind if we take a boat to the mainland?”

Merrick pushed his chair back. “No, that’s fine. I was hoping to talk to you about something, though.”

“What’s that?” MJ asked, leaning his hands on the back of his chair.

“Well,” Merrick said, tossing his napkin on the table and standing up. “Nadia and I were talking earlier and she had a great idea for a business at the Weston Plantation.”

And there it was. Nadia’s motivation for coming to Turtle
Tear. For forging a relationship with her dad. She wanted what he’d given MJ. She wanted her piece of the pie.

I wanted to throw the whole pie in her face and had to keep myself from doing just that.

“We’re not opening a business,” MJ said, crossing his arms. Maddie glared at Nadia. “We’re keeping it as our home,” he said.

“I know. I know.” Merrick rounded the table. “It’s a good idea, though, and wouldn’t interfere with the main house, so I thought I’d run it by you, that’s all.”

Maddie gave me a look that said if I was planning to tie cement blocks to Nadia’s feet tonight and toss her in the water and leave her as gator food, I could count her in. Mr. Simcoe watched the exchange with growing curiosity. I could see the wheels in his head turning. I wondered if he would say anything to Merrick about it. Merrick had grown to take Mr. Simcoe’s wise advice as gospel.

Nadia watched her dad and brother with a blank expression. Too blank, like a chameleon trying to figure out which color to turn. MJ was an uncertainty to her. He wielded as much power over Merrick as she did—more, truth be told, although Merrick might tell himself otherwise.

Merrick clapped a hand on MJ’s shoulder. “Come on. I’ll drive you two over in the boat and we’ll talk on the way.” He turned to look back over his shoulder. “Be back in a bit,” he said to me.

It was happening already—I was fading into the background. No kiss good-bye. No invitation to ride along, just
a fleeting thought and a toss of
be back in a bit
over his shoulder.

This girl had to get off my island.

Later that night, Mom, Aunt Jan, Mr. Simcoe, and I sat at a table in the lounge playing gin rummy while Merrick and Nadia chatted by the fireplace. Paul had gone to bed, exhausted from the time change from France to Florida.

I was losing by a landslide, too focused on what Merrick was talking about to pay attention to the game.

“If you make it private,” he said, “you have dues to sustain the day-to-day operations, and special events are just gravy.”

“True,” Nadia said, “but it’s difficult to bring in new members without an established word-of-mouth recommendation.”

Merrick nodded. “I see your point.”

To me, her point didn’t matter. MJ and Maddie didn’t want to turn their backyard into a business. I knew what he was thinking: A family business would bring them all together. But he was wrong. It wouldn’t. I couldn’t sit there any longer and listen without saying something.

“I’m out,” I said, laying my cards on the table. “I can barely keep my eyes open.”

After kissing each of them on the cheek, I eased over to where Merrick sat. He took my hand and looked up at me. “I’m going to bed,” I said. “Come up with me?”

He looked from me to Nadia and back. “In a bit.”

I bent down so I was level with his ear. “I think you should come up now. I want to talk with you privately.”

Nadia stared into the fire, looking like she’d just lost her puppy. She knew how to play him; that was for sure. “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be up.” He pressed a quick kiss to my lips before turning back to her, dismissing me.

I reined in my annoyance and strode down the hallway. I’d give him twenty minutes and then come back down and drag him up by his hair. I understood this was his daughter and he was bonding with her, but he was also setting a dangerous precedent for me. I wouldn’t be pushed to the side for Nadia for the rest of my life.

Up in our bedroom, I sat on the bed and watched the clock. It was the longest eighteen minutes of my life before the door opened and he came in. He saw me sitting there and stopped. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you.” I had to play this cool if I wanted to get anywhere other than another argument. I held my hand out for him to come to me.

Merrick sat beside me, gathered me in his arms, and pulled me up the bed until we were lying with my head on his chest. “That’s better,” he said. “Are you having a good visit with your mom and Aunt Jan?”

I pressed my palm to his chest, splaying my fingers. I soaked him in, his heat, his heartbeat, the aura he let off that was all Merrick. He calmed me. “Yeah, I’m glad they came.”

“Nadia feels terrible about your dress.” His chin dipped as he looked down at me.

I couldn’t look him in the eye. “She does?”

“Well, of course. I’m sure she told you.”

“No. She didn’t.” I closed my eyes, waiting for him to respond. It took a moment.

“I’m sure she was just embarrassed and wanted to forget about it.”

Oh yeah, that was it. “So what’s the big idea you and Nadia thought up for MJ’s property?”

His head nodded even lower, trying to see my face. “Why do you say it like that?” He lifted my chin so I had to look at him.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m planning some hostile takeover of the Weston Plantation.”

I shot up on my hands, holding myself over him. “Why are you getting so defensive? I only asked what you two have been talking about all night.”

“I’m defensive? You’re the one all put out because I spent an evening talking with my daughter.” He pulled me back down onto his chest. “Stop, Rachael. Please. I need this to work.”

I blinked away the tears in my eyes. “I know.” I couldn’t see how it could work.

The next morning I woke alone. I found Paul out on the patio drinking coffee. “Morning,” I said, sitting down in the chair next to him.

“Good morning. Merrick and Nadia took the bike out.” He pointed into the distance beyond the pool cloister.

“Oh. Okay.” I knew my mom and Aunt Jan liked to go for morning walks before it got too hot out. “Looks like it’s just us then. Would you like some breakfast?”

“
Non.
Coffee’s fine.” He smiled and I caught a glimpse of Mama Renault in his expression.

“It’s a shame your mom and dad couldn’t come over with you. I enjoyed meeting them.”

“They don’t travel. Papa says he’s too old.”

“You and Nadia seem to be getting along well.” I managed to smile.

“She’s a lovely girl. Nice family.” He reached over and patted my hand. He had no idea. Her family was wound tightly in a web of deceit, and that was what she grew up knowing. Nadia was lovely outside, but inside…

“How long will you be staying with us?” Possibly his answer would give me insight into Nadia’s plans.

“Just the weekend.”

“It’s too bad you can’t stay longer. Will Nadia be going back with you, or staying here?” I couldn’t help the anxious hope that she would be leaving.

Paul’s forehead creased in confusion. “She said she was moving here to live.”

My stomach rolled. That was what I was afraid of. “Oh. Right. I’m sure Merrick knows. I wasn’t sure she had decided yet.”

His face eased back into a smile. “I’ll miss her.”

“You’re welcome to come visit anytime.” Or better yet, he could take her back to France for the rest of her life.

The Harley’s engine rumbled toward us from far out. I shaded my eyes and watched, waiting for them to come into view. When they rounded the corner of the pool cloister, my heart lightened at the sight of Merrick’s smile—bigger than I’d seen it in weeks—and Nadia laughing, hanging on to her dad for dear life.

I found myself laughing, too, as they approached, instantly regretting having hard feelings toward Nadia. Maybe spilling her wine on my dress had been an accident she was ashamed of and eager to forget, even if it hadn’t looked that way. If it wasn’t, maybe she held animosity toward me for being close to the man she’d never gotten the chance to know.

I shouldn’t be so unforgiving. I had to try. For Merrick. For all of us.

They stopped just outside the patio gate and Merrick turned off the engine. “Looks like you guys were having fun!” I called.

Nadia flung her hair back over her shoulders, flushed and exhilarated. “That was awesome.”

She came through the gate and sat right down on Paul’s lap.

Merrick ran his fingers through his windblown hair and sauntered over to the table. “Good morning,” he said, bending to kiss me.

He pulled a chair out and sat down, stretching his arms over his head. “That’s the way to start a day.”

“I know, right?” Nadia said, bubbling over from his attention.

“I was thinking,” I said, eager to jump into the moment with both feet, “maybe you’d want to go to the mainland with me today to look at dresses?”

Her face fell. Merrick coughed and looked down at the ground. “I’m so sorry for ruining your dress,” she said. “The stain won’t come out?”

My intention of joining in their good times had the opposite effect and killed the mood. “It might yet. I just thought it would be fun to get out and see what the options were. Try some things on. What do you think?”

“Um. Okay. As long as we’re not gone too long. Paul leaves tomorrow afternoon. I want to spend as much time with him as I can.” She pressed a kiss to Paul’s cheek.

“Why don’t we come, too?” Merrick asked. “Paul and I can check out that sixty-inch TV I’ve had my eye on for the apartment in Atlanta while you ladies do your dress shopping.”

“That’s perfect!” Nadia said, bouncing on Paul’s lap.

The afternoon found Nadia and me in a small boutique with pink floral Victorian love seats and black-curtained dressing rooms. I stood on a carpeted riser in front of a gilded, fairy-princess-style mirror in an enormous, beaded monstrosity of a dress with more tulle than I ever imagined could be sewn on one garment. The lace and sequin train was entwined with gold velvet roping.

Nadia picked it out.

It was revolting.

“You look like a queen!” she said from where she perched on one of the love seats. “It’s perfect. My dad will die when he sees you in this!”

Yes, he would. Merrick would die of laughter if he saw me in this dress. “I don’t know,” I said, trying to spin around enough to look at the back. “It’s not really me.”

“Well, maybe you need to be less you and more what he needs you to be.”

Whoa. I couldn’t have heard her correctly. “Excuse me?”

She swiveled in her seat, trying to look uncomfortable with this discussion, but she couldn’t hide the spark of fire in her eyes from the pending confrontation.

I’d had her pegged correctly all along.

“I just mean, he’s a pretty big deal even if Rocha Enterprises is… well, after talking to him last night, I would say the company is only on hiatus. He’s done business all over the world. Did you know he designed a high-rise for a prince in Dubai?” She clasped her hands on her lap and let her head tilt innocently. “I’m just saying, if you love him, you’ll push him. He needs someone to get him back up on that horse, Rachael, and I’m sorry, but from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re content to let him lounge around on that island and waste his life.”