Spontaneous - Brenda Jackson [42]
He eased off the bed. “Now is a good time for us to go over those case files since you’ve read both reports.”
Kim watched him move across the room to get the reports from the table. He was only wearing a pair of briefs and she couldn’t help thinking, not for the first time, that the man was built. Her gaze traveled up his sturdy long legs, flat tummy and broad chest. And his tush could make a woman drool, especially when he was wearing tight jeans.
She glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. Her mother had gone to church and they would be getting together with her and Edward to go to the county fair around two.
Kim sighed. They had spent the entire day with her mother and the family yesterday, and intended to do the same for the remaining days she would be in Shreveport.
The thought of Wynona spending any time alone with Edward still bothered her, but she couldn’t make a flap about it or it might push her mother even deeper into the man’s arms. Edward Villarosas was certainly a charmer, or at least he tried to be.
She was supposed to leave next Sunday. She hoped, if nothing else, she could convince her mother to postpone her wedding plans for a while. She certainly intended to try.
KIM STEPPED AWAY from the car and glanced around. She recalled how each year when a county fair came to New Orleans, she’d looked forward to going. That was the only time her father actually acted like a normal human being.
He had enjoyed taking her and her mother, and before their eyes he would transform into another person. It was as if he’d needed—if only for a little while—the chance to act like a kid again. He would head for the roller coasters first, which was probably the reason she’d inherited a fondness for the daring rides.
Her mother, who’d come to stand beside her, smiled and then leaned down and kissed her cheek. As if she knew what she’d been thinking, Wynona said, “I know you don’t want to hear this, Kimani, but your father wasn’t all bad.”
Kim rolled her eyes. Her mother was right; she really didn’t want to hear it. She glanced over and saw Duan and Edward standing by the car talking. The conversation appeared to be going well. She turned back to her mom. It wasn’t the first time Wynona had tried convincing her of her father’s goodness, so it wouldn’t be the first time she’d had a problem believing it.
“Your father had a rough childhood,” her mother went on to say.
“Please, Mom, give me a break. The man used to beat the crap out of you all the time.”
“Yes, but only after he’d been drinking,” her mother said defensively.
“Then that was almost every Friday night,” Kim said. She really wasn’t in the mood to rehash this bit of family history.
“Please remember those other days when he would be the fun, caring husband that I married.”
Kim didn’t say anything but a tightness in her stomach pushed her to ask, “Do you know where he is and do you ever hear from him?”
From the look on her mother’s face Kim knew the answer. “You do know where he is and you do hear from him, don’t you?” she asked in what she knew was an accusing voice.
Her mother didn’t back down. “Yes to both, and the only reason he hasn’t contacted you is because he’s afraid you wouldn’t accept him, and that would truly break his heart.”
Kim frowned. “And I’m supposed to care about breaking his heart?”
Instead of answering, her mother rushed on, “He’s your father and he has gotten help over the years.”
“Good for him.”
“Kim, listen, we—”
“No, Mom,” she whispered so her voice wouldn’t carry to the men. “When it comes to my father, there is no we. I don’t hate him. I won’t waste that much energy. He has to come to terms with how he treated you. Treated us.”
“He never hit you.”
“No, Mom, he didn’t have to. He had you for his punching bag.”
“But he’s gotten better over the years. He’s even in the church now.”
Kim twirled her finger in the air and simultaneously rolled her eyes. “Whoop-de-do.”
“Kim.”
“Just what do you want from me, Mom?”
“I want you to find it in your heart to forgive your father. You’ve made the first step by finding