Star Bright (29 page)

“
I’m Lily.
Dave has told me a lot about you.” His mother hugged her, and then
wrapped a hand around her waist.

“
Really?” she
looked up at Dave with a warning in her eyes, and he winked at her
with a smile, “I hope all good things?”

Lily turned Maria and
walked with her towards the house, “You really have been a great
support system for him after the Amy fiasco.”

“
Well, he’s
helped me a lot too.” she said smiling back at Dave.

“
I’m sure he
has.” Mr. Greer said under his breath. The statement sounded like
an accusation, with an undercurrent of suspicion and
disappointment.

Dave turned to him, his
jaw hard and his expression irate, “Of course father, why else
would I have her living in my house and raising my daughter as her
own.” he said harshly. Maria and Lily stopped and turned to face
them, both worried there was a volcano about to erupt.

Mr. Greer’s eyes bulged
out in shock. He stared at Maria, then at Dave, “Isn’t it too soon
after your divorce to be moving on?”

“
Actually not
soon enough, but I’m happy with my new family.” he spoke with a
wicked smile on his face.

“
What?” he
exclaimed, shocked. That was all the encouragement Maria and Lily
needed to move in.

“
Dave, let’s
go into the house and see Elizabeth.” His wife said
softly.

“
Are you
telling me you are already contemplating marriage?” he asked
harshly completely ignoring his wife, “Without consulting
me!”

“
As I told you
once before, it’s my life and I’ll do as I damn well
please!”

“
Oh look! My
mom is here!” Maria said pulling Dave behind her. She’d seen enough
of that angry exchange and she couldn’t see any more if she was to
trust her knees not to buckle under her.

Mr. and Mrs. Greer turned
and walked into the house as Maria and Dave stood at the curb. Dave
shifted his feet around, annoyed he’d let his father get to him. It
had been years since they had a talk without it ending in a fight,
and it was all because he didn’t want to work for him.

“
I thought you
said your mother was here?” He said harsher than he had intended
to.

“
Cool down, I
just used it as an excuse to get out of that situation.” she
shifted to stand in front of him, “What just happened? The
relationship you described to me wasn’t what I just
saw.”

Dave brushed his hand
over his face and looked down at Maria, “That was before I
discovered other job options apart from working for my
father.”

Rich families problems,
Maria thought to herself, “He’s a lawyer?”

“
He owns his
own firm in Boston. I wanted to be independent, to build my own
name, but he wanted me to continue his legacy.”

“
Let me
guess,
Dave Greer Sr.
cut you off and rebellious
Dave Greer
Jr.
moved to New York to prove a point.”
she joked, turning to face the approaching car, “and now you can’t
stand each other and your mother is caught in the
middle.”

“
Wow, your
psychic,” he said without humor, “Well, I’m glad you find it
amusing because I’m not going to be the only one in a bad mood in a
few moments.”

Miguel fidgeted on his
seat when he spotted Maria out the window. She was so grown up,
beautiful and happy. He felt his chest tighten as he imagined all
the good he had missed in her life and all the bad he could have
prevented.

Edna put a comforting
hand over his, “Calm down. Everything will be fine.”

“
She’ll hate
me, especially since I just appeared at her son’s birthday
party.”

Edna leaned in and kissed
him on the lips, “Your grandson’s birthday party.” She knew exactly
what they were walking into, and it was a thousand times worse than
what Miguel imagined, “let’s get it done once and for all. Rip it
off like a band aid.”

“
I should
leave my gun in the car, just in case she gets a hold of it and
shoots me with it.” He bent down and placed it under the driver’s
seat.

“
You walk in
there with a gun and she will kill you. Remember, you and Dave need
to talk.” When the car came to a stop she got out and hugged her
very excited daughter, “My baby!”

“
Mama, I’ve
missed you so much!” Maria hugged her mother tight, compensating
for all the months she couldn’t. She let go after a long while, but
kept one arm securely around her waist, “Mama, this is
Dave.”

“
I finally
meet the knight in shining armor.” Maria pinched her on her side
which only made her laugh, “It’s nice to meet you.” She let go of
Maria to hug him.

“
It’s nice to
meet you too.” he pulled away and looked at her, “and our guest?”
he pulled Maria to him and held her securely to his side. He wasn’t
sure exactly how she would react, but he was prepared for anything,
crying, screaming, he hoped for anger, but he was still prepared
for a meltdown.

Edna looked at him even
more nervous. She swallowed the bitter lump in her throat and
turned to her daughter, counting down to the eruption, “Honey, I
brought someone with me.”

“
Jane?” Maria
asked, excitedly bouncing on her feet.

“
No, me.” The
hoarse, heavily accented voice came flowing out before he stepped
out of the car.

Maria looked at him, her
smile slowly fading. His face was familiar to her, but she couldn’t
place him, “Mama, who’s...” her eye brows shot up as she slowly
recognized him, shave off the white goatee, change his green eyes
to brown, tighten his skin and grow out his hair, he was a
splitting image of Michael. “Miguel?” she whispered out.

Edna moved slowly closer
to her and grabbed her hand, which Maria immediately pulled away,
“Yes, I brought your father with me.”

“
Why?” she
asked harshly, tears stinging her eyes. She felt her temper flare,
but she didn’t know why. She had no reason to be angry at him,
apart from his abandonment and all the bad things he could have
prevented by staying with her. She was angrier at her mother for
taking him back and bringing him to her home.

“
Because you
and Michael need to know him and maybe catch up.”

“
Catch up?” a
pained smile pulled over Maria’s face, “I think it’s too late for
us to catch up, especially if we’ve never met.”

“
Maria, just
listen.” Dave whispered above her head, “It would mean a lot to
Michael if he met his grandfather. It would be the best gift you
could ever give him.”

Maria pulled out of his
hold and looked up at him feeling betrayed, “You had something to
do with this didn’t you?”

“
I was already
bringing him along.” Edna defended Dave, “he only found out
recently.”

“
Mama, this
man knows a lot more than you give him credit for, he probably
knows more about all of us than we do.” she turned to Miguel, “If
you weren’t my father, he would have called the police on you!”
Miguel’s eyebrows shot up as he stared at Dave, whose calm eyes,
were still fixed on the ranting Maria, “If you doubt me ask him. He
would probably get you arrested more for not being a father than
for being a criminal!”

“
Maria, watch
yourself!” Edna warned harshly.

“
Maria you
haven’t let him say a word.” Dave spoke in a calm tone, “You can’t
have a proper conversation if you are yelling and he’s
quiet.”

“
How about we
get your father out here too and all four of us can have a proper
conversation!” She answered back before she turned to Miguel, “If I
had my way you wouldn’t meet my son, but I know mama and Dave will
go behind my back, again. Because of them you’ll get a chance, but
let me warn you, you’d better be a constant in his
life.”

“
That wasn’t
so bad.” Dave smiled as he raised his hand to touch Maria’s face.
She swatted his hand away and pointed an accusing finger at him
before she marched back to the house, Edna close behind
her.

“
Thank you.”
Miguel felt proud seeing the fire in his daughter. The girl Edna
had described seemed like a coward who would run to a corner and
quiver in fear at the smallest hint of violence, but what he saw
was very different, “She’s got fire inside her and it’s all because
of you.” he said, getting in step with Dave as they walked to the
house.

“
I like seeing
her angry, it gives her more of her backbone back. I’m determined
to rebuild everything Ricky destroyed.”

Miguel’s jaw clenched at
the sound of Ricky’s name, “Speaking of the animal, I have a few
men around just in case he thinks of showing up.”

“
I have a few
around too, and others watching him.”

A cynical smile crossed
Miguels face and his eyes glittered in excitement, “Give me his
location. I plan on redeeming myself in my daughter’s eyes and
Ricky is a great opportunity.”

Dave didn’t like the look
on his face, “We’ll talk about that later, right now let’s enjoy
the party.” quickly changing the subject as Michael came running
out the house.

He ran straight for
Miguel and jumped on him, no need of any introductions,
“Grandpa!”

Miguel held him tight,
appreciating the affection Michael showed him. He’d dreamed of this
moment for so long and it was finally here, how he wished his
daughter had shown him the same affection, “My
grandson!”

Michael pulled away, a
huge smile dominating his face, “Grandpa, have you met my new dad?”
Proudly nodding towards Dave.

Miguel looked at Dave’s
ecstatic face and smiled, “Yes I have, and he’s a great
man.”

“
Who is in big
trouble with mama, or is it you grandpa?”

“
Both of us I
think.”

“
Well, I’m
glad I’m not in your shoes.” he whistled, “She’s
fuming!”

After close to an hour of
pouting and not speaking to Dave, Edna or Miguel she was forced to
talk to Dave when it was time to cut the cakes. She walked across
the living room dodging a few running and screaming kids to get to
where he stood with his parents. He chatted happily with his
mother, while his father stood on the other side of her glowering.
If Maria wasn’t in such a bad mood herself, she would have tried to
cheer up the grouchy Mr. Greer.

Maria approached Dave’s
mother with a smile, “Lily, it’s time to cut the cake, would you
like to help Izzy?”

“
Shouldn’t the
parents have that honor?” Dave asked with an amused smile on his
face. He didn’t think she would hold out for so long being mad at
him but, he was glad he was wrong. He preferred her temper to her
cowering.

Maria glared at him
before she turned back to Lily with a smile, “Yes, but I thought we
should include the grandmothers in this too, I know Michael would
love that.”

“
Do you know
what else Michael would love?” he jeered, raising the clown party
cup full of beer to his lips. He enjoyed annoying her, he enjoyed
her fiery green eyes even more. He always thought she was most
beautiful when she looked fragile and happy, but she looked even
more attractive when she was mad, it was a real turn on for
him.

Maria’s eyebrows creased
in anger as she bit down on her teeth hard. She wanted to shove the
cup down his throat for being so smug about the stunt he pulled.
She turned to Lily with a forced smile on, “have you met my
mother?”

Lily held her lips
straight to hide her smile and conceal her amusement. She
remembered how it used to be fun going at each other with her
husband when they were younger. She never minded the silly fights
because she knew they would always end in a very steamy
reconciliation. But now, he was such a stiff workaholic she didn’t
think he remembered how to sincerely laugh or smile.

“
No I haven’t,
but I’ll take that opportunity now.” she turned to her husband,
“Dave, you want to come with me? You could talk to Maria’s father
and get to know him better.”

Dave Sr. looked at his
wife with a blank expression. He wasn’t interested in socializing,
but in this small space his son called a house, there was nowhere
to hide. All he could think about was the golf game and cigar he
had missed just to listen to annoyingly loud children and
unintelligent party games. And now his wife wanted him to be
friendly with Maria’s father, whose name he didn’t care enough to
get, why on earth would he want to do that?

“
He doesn’t
have to if he’s not comfortable.” Maria added apologetically
reading into the man’s long silence.

Dave turned to his
father, his expression hard and tempered, completely annoyed at his
raised nose rudeness, “Don’t worry dad, he isn’t quite one of us
little people, your conversation might actually end up in an area
you love so much.”

Maria stared at Dave wide
eyed. She found Dave’s efforts to intentionally annoy his father
amusing, but not at Miguel’s expense. She may not like the man, but
she had no intentions of having him arrested at Michael’s birthday
party. Dave may be able to stop and think twice, but his father
seemed like a man who would lead a witch hunt just to add another
big case to his mantle.