LITMIR.BIZ

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accomplished?” Kelly glanced down at a more subdued Aaron. His face was clean again, red from being rubbed by the washcloth.

      “Yeah, and it’ll last all of five minutes. If we’re lucky.”

      Kelly’s mother chuckled. A petite woman with fluffy apricot curls and a porcelain complexion, she doted on her two grandsons as if they were truly God’s gifts, which, Kelly imagined, they were. It was just too bad they had such louses for fathers. Seth Kramer and Franklin Anderson were as different as night and day—their only common trait being that they couldn’t handle the responsibilities of fatherhood.

      “Are we about ready?” Eva asked, and Kelly clicked off the beaters.

      “I think so.”

      It took another five minutes to carry everything into the dining room, find a booster chair for Aaron, get both boys settled and served up, but soon Kelly was cutting into a succulent slab of herb-seasoned pork. She finally relaxed a little, the tension in her shoulders easing as they ate and talked, just as they had growing up. Except there were two more chairs crowded around the Formica-topped table now, for two boys who were as dear to her as if they’d been Kelly’s own.

      “So what gives with all that business with the McCaffertys?” her father asked around a mouthful of pork. “I read in the paper there’s speculation about foul play.”

      “Isn’t there always?” Kelly asked.

      “With that group there is.” Eva’s eyebrows pulled together, causing little lines to deepen between them.

      “Yeah, they’re an untrustworthy lot, there’s no doubt of that.”

      “Amen,” Karla said as she cut tiny pieces of meat for her youngest son.

      Kelly didn’t comment. For years the name McCafferty had been tantamount to Beelzebub or Lucifer in the Dillinger home. She saw her mother give off a soft little sigh as Eva poured gravy onto her potatoes. “I suppose it’s all water under the bridge,” she said softly, but the pain of the old betrayal was still evident in the lines of her face.

      Ron scowled into his plate. “Maybe so, but it doesn’t mean I have to like ’em.”

      “John Randall is dead.”

      “And I hope he rots in his grave.”

      “Dad!” Karla said sharply, then glanced pointedly at her sons.

      “Well, I do. No reason to sugarcoat it. That son of a bitch didn’t care a whit about anyone but his own kin. It didn’t matter how many years your mother put in working for him, passing up other good jobs, he still cut her loose when times got a little rocky. And what happened to her pension, huh? There wasn’t any, that’s what happened. Bad investments, or some such crock of—”

      “Dad!” Karla said again.

      “Karla’s right. There’s no use discussing it in front of the boys,” Eva agreed, but the sparkle in her eyes had faded. “Now, if you’ll pass me the pepper…”

      And so the subject was gratefully closed for the duration of the meal. Their father even found his smile again over a piece of his wife’s lemon meringue pie.

      After the plates had been cleared and the dishwasher was humming with a full load, Ron challenged the boys to a game of checkers on a small table near the fire. Aaron climbed onto his grandfather’s lap and they played as a team against Spencer, who thought he could beat them both as he’d practiced how to outmaneuver an opponent on a computer.

      “The boys could really use a father figure,” Karla observed, watching her sons relate to their grandfather as she fished in the closet for her sons’ coats and hats. Sadly, she ran a hand through her spiky strawberry-blond hair. “All they’ve got is Dad.”

      “They do have fathers,” Kelly reminded her.

      Karla rolled her expressive green eyes. “Oh, give me a break. They have sperm donors, nothing else. Boy, can I pick ’em. Some people are athletically challenged, I’m love challenged.”

      “You and the rest of the women on the planet.”

      “I’m not kidding. I can see when anyone else is making a mistake, but I seem to have blinders on when it comes to my choice in men.”

      “Or rose-colored glasses.”

      “Yeah, those, too.” She was pensive, running long fingers along the stitching in Aaron’s stocking cap. “But then you never take a chance, Kelly. I mean, not on love. You take lots of chances in your career.”

      “Maybe I’ve been too busy.”

      “Or maybe you’re just smarter than I am,” Karla said with a sigh. “I don’t see you making the same mistakes I did.”

      “You forget I’m a career woman,” Kelly said, reaching for her coat. “A cop.”

      “So am I—a career woman, that is—and don’t tell me that being a beautician and owning your own shop doesn’t count.”

      “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Kelly said, laughing.

      “So…when are you going to tuck your badge away long enough to fall in love?”

      “As soon as you put down the perm rollers, shampoo and clippers.”

      “Very funny.”

      “I thought so.” She slipped her arms through the sleeves of her coat, hiked it up over her shoulders and began working on the buttons.

      “I think we both could take some advice from Randi McCafferty. You know she wrote a column for single people?” Karla asked, then added, “Of course you do—what was I thinking? You’ve been working on the case for weeks.” She held up Spencer’s coat, then called toward the living room. “Come on, boys. Time to go.” Both kids protested and Karla said to Kelly, “I was only kidding about Randi McCafferty’s column. The last person I would take any advice from is a McCafferty.”

      “Maybe they’re not all as bad as we think,” Kelly said as she reached into her pocket for her keys.

      “Oh, yeah? So now they’re sprouting wings and halos?” Karla shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

      There was a whoop from the living room as Spencer actually beat Aaron and his grandfather. Aaron burst into tears, and from the twinkle in Ron Dillinger’s eyes, Kelly was certain he’d let his eldest grandson win.

      “Come on, boys, time to go,” Karla called again. In an aside to Kelly, she added, “Getting them out of here is like pulling teeth.”

      “No!” Aaron cried, refusing to budge from his grandfather’s lap while Spencer just ignored his mother, no matter what tack she took. Eventually she wrestled her youngest into his ski coat, hat and mittens while Spencer, lower lip protruding in an exaggerated pout, shrugged into a quilted pullover with a hood.

      “You boys be good, now,” Eva said as she emerged from the kitchen without her apron. She planted a kiss on each boy’s cheek and slipped them each a tiny candy bar left over from Halloween into their hands.

      “I be good!” Aaron said, trying to tear off his mittens to get at the bit of chocolate.

      “Mom!” Karla admonished.

      “I just can’t help myself.”

      “Here, let me get it.” Kelly unwrapped the chocolate morsel, then plopped it into Aaron’s open mouth.

      “He’s like one of those nestlings you see on the nature shows,” Karla grumbled good-naturedly. “Aren’t ya, little eaglet?”

      Aaron grinned and chocolate drooled down his chin.

      “I’ve got to get out of here. Come on, Spence.” With that she bustled out the door, leaving Kelly to say goodbye to her parents.

      “Everything good

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