“What’s with the duffel bag?” the commander asked, interrupting Molly’s thoughts.
“You’re leaving?” Robin asked, panic in her voice.
Molly shook her head. “I have to go see a friend about Dad.” Despite Jessie’s outburst, the word flowed easily off Molly’s tongue, due completely to how Frank had pulled her into his home and his family.
Robin’s shoulders relaxed. She leaned forward, her hands folded over each other on the desktop. “I worry about leaving you and Jess alone when I go back to school.”
Robin attended Yale on partial scholarship with her father assuming responsibility for the rest. General Addams believed it was a parent’s job to pay for his child’s education and Molly respected him for it. They’d had more than one discussion that ended in an argument because he wanted to take over Molly’s student loans.
As much as she appreciated the offer, she wouldn’t hear of it. She paid her own way. She’d never emulate her mother’s behavior of taking from others. Living in this house was as much of a handout as she was willing to accept. It was a compromise she made in order to have a real family.
Molly laughed. “Don’t worry. Your sister and I won’t kill each other while you’re gone. I still hold out hope we’ll make peace, eventually.”
Robin nodded. “Just don’t think anyone would hold it against you if you did strangle her.” She grinned, then her gaze shifted to the suitcase once more. “So what can this friend do about our father’s arrest?”
“Praise the Lord and load the ammunition,” the macaw said.
Molly chuckled.
“I swear, I’m buying that bird a muzzle,” Robin uttered the threat made by everyone in the house at one time or another against the noisy pet.
Edna shook her vibrant red head.
Molly wondered if her grandmother had changed her hair’s shade yet again. On meeting the commander for the first time, Molly had immediately discovered she’d inherited the other woman’s passion for bold, standout colors. Although, Molly had to admit, since moving here she’d packed away her most vibrant outfits. Fear of not fitting in had been too great. But Edna changed her hair color weekly depending on which color of Miss Clairol she picked up at the local CVS. Molly never knew what the other woman would look like from one day to the next and she looked forward to the adventure. Edna and Molly had hit it off immediately, Edna becoming the maternal influence Molly had never had. Another thing she didn’t want to lose.
“I don’t know what you expect from the poor bird. I told you I rescued him from two men in South America, one a preacher, the other a pharmaceutical salesman.”
“You mean a drug dealer?” Robin asked sweetly.
Edna ignored her.
“Me padre,” the bird said next.
Edna smiled. “You do your namesake proud, Ollie.”
Robin laughed. “I’m sure Oliver North would be thrilled to know you named a foulmouthed parrot after him.”
“Bite me,” Ollie replied.
“Right back at you,” Robin muttered.
Molly chuckled again. “Now children, no bickering,” she said before turning her attention back to their problem. “I have an old friend who might be able to help with Dad’s representation.”
“Thank God because Dad’s lawyer is a halfwit,” Robin said.
“He’s an imbecile,” Edna agreed, her words accentuated by a sweep of her emerald green sleeve. “In fact, I’d like to see his degree.”
Molly swallowed a laugh. Despite her words, nobody would ever accuse the commander of being ditsy or stupid. She was book smart, people smart and street smart, all knowledge born of firsthand experience. After her husband died, she’d traveled extensively, visiting different cultures and countries until she had returned home to help her son raise his children. With Jessie she’d had her hands full.
“I was hoping the police would realize their mistake and free Dad, but that’s not happening,” Molly said. Having collared their man, the Dentonville, Connecticut police weren’t looking any further. “So I’ll be back after I try to talk my friend into taking Dad’s case.”
Robin jumped up from her seat in excitement. “Who is he and how do you know him?” She perched on the corner of the big mahogany desk, ready to hear all.
“Most importantly, can you be sure he’ll help us?” Edna asked, walking closer, cane in hand.
They’d cornered her, and Molly swallowed hard. “His name is Daniel Hunter.” Her words sounded rusty, foreign after a year of thinking about him but never speaking his name.
“Oh my God!” Robin practically squealed. “The man who represented the governor’s son on a rape charge and got him off? I watched the trial on Court TV.” Her half sister’s blue eyes sparkled like their father’s, the resemblance between them unmistakable.
While Molly had inherited her mother’s brown eyes, she’d been pleased to discover her bone structure bore more than a passing resemblance to the general’s.
“Am I right? Is that him?” Robin asked.
“One and the same,” she told her family. “Like I said, he’s an old friend.” She chose her words wisely.
“He’s gorgeous,” Robin said. “The girls would get together to watch him in my dorm. The man is a genuine hunk.”
“Hubba hubba,” Ollie said, shaking his big green feathers and scattering pellets onto the rug beneath him.
Hunter was a hunk all right, Molly thought, and felt a heated flush settle in her cheeks.
“So he’ll do this for you, right?” Robin asked.
The hope in her voice tugged at Molly’s heart and she wished she could give her half sister the answer she desperately needed.
“I can’t say for sure. We didn’t actually part on the best of terms.” She held no illusions. Hunter would not be happy to hear from her at all.
Molly glanced down, recalling the hurt and devastation in his eyes when she’d rejected him. Her stomach twisted with regret but she couldn’t change the facts. Hunter had grown up in foster care. The little boy who was convinced nobody could love him had grown into a man who believed the same. And Molly had done nothing but prove him right. He’d put his heart in her hands and she’d squashed it.
“You were more than friends with Daniel Hunter, weren’t you?” Edna asked with all the gentle wisdom provided by her years.